Would this have worked?

[M'rk son of Mogh]

I'm sure this idea has been brought up before, but I don't usually come into the Voyager area of the boards. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the show, but I watched every episode.

What if at the end of season 3 or 4, they killed off many of the main characters, or at least, put them in such amount of danger that they probably couldn't have escaped in perfect shape. The very last scene of that season has the sub-titles "30 years later", and we see a scene with an almost brand new crew, save the doctor who survived all this time.

The rest of the series has them halfway home, maybe 1 or 2 (heavily made-up or even brand new actors) original crew members (Paris? Tuvok?) and the holographic doctor looking the same as before, meant as the main connection to the previous seasons. But a new captain, a new first officer, new cast, aliens that were picked up along the way (maybe now Seven joins?), heavily damaged/repaired ship, and a continuing mission to get home.

Does anyone think this could have worked, or would it have been to jarring?

 

[LeadHead]

The original idea is quite intresting and I would have personally liked to have seen some grittier edge to the show. The lack of a cliffhanger at the end of season 4 and the start of season 5 was a totally wasted opportunity for some change to the show. I don't think that they would ever kill off half the senior crew like that and make that radical a change. But I could see the Crew repairing and relaunching Voyager from a class-M planet where they put down after a failed attempt to get home that caused nearly irreversable damage to the ship and required them to take a year or two to put her back together. Possibly a senior staff member could have died in this instance, their death shown via flashbacks probably saving the ship. The crew would be somewhat traumatized by this, be much less optimistic and hopeful and cause a lot of tension among them. Possibly cause a rise of tension between the Starfleet and Maquis if it was Janeways direct order to make the attempt or if it was something B'Elanna had dreamed up that failed to deliver.

There was so much in the way of dramatic possibilities for Voyager along this line. I so would have loved a season where things were really falling apart.

 

[kimc]

I so would have loved a season where things were really falling apart.

That's my main peeve with "Year of Hell". The original premise was an actual season where things gradually fell apart. Instead, they hit the reset button at the end of the two-parter.

Yes, there was potential there. How would the main characters react to serious injury, etc. Eventually, would the ship find safe harbor to set down for repairs? What would the culture that allowed that be like? How would the crew react to being grounded for a while? Etc...

Unfortunately, UPN didn't want story arcs so we got the reset.

 

[Mrs Paris]

I'm sure this idea has been brought up before, but I don't usually come into the Voyager area of the boards. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the show, but I watched every episode.

What if at the end of season 3 or 4, they killed off many of the main characters, or at least, put them in such amount of danger that they probably couldn't have escaped in perfect shape. The very last scene of that season has the sub-titles "30 years later", and we see a scene with an almost brand new crew, save the doctor who survived all this time.

The rest of the series has them halfway home, maybe 1 or 2 (heavily made-up or even brand new actors) original crew members (Paris? Tuvok?) and the holographic doctor looking the same as before, meant as the main connection to the previous seasons. But a new captain, a new first officer, new cast, aliens that were picked up along the way (maybe now Seven joins?), heavily damaged/repaired ship, and a continuing mission to get home.

Does anyone think this could have worked, or would it have been to jarring?

I would have hated that. One of the main things I LOVED about the show was the characters.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

^^
Don't you think there's potential for more characters to fall in love with? You fell in love with the first crew already, many of us have "fallen in love" with each crew of each series. Couldn't the same have potentially happened here?

 

[Lynx]

I'm sorry but a series where many of the original main characters had been killed off during the series would have been unacceptable for me.

Considering the fact that the "removal" of my favorite character made me quit watching the series for two years, considering that I quit for good when the same character was brought back only to be destroyed, considering the fact that I didn't like that another main character was dumped at the end of the series and considering the fact that one of my reasons for not really liking the "Voyager relaunch" books is that many of the main characters on the ship have been replaced, I'm sure that a scenario where some of the main characters are killed off would have made me quit watching the series.

I agree with Mrs.Paris's statement in her post above. The characters was the main reason for me to like the show, OK I liked the characters in the other series as well (with the exception for some of the "Enterprise characters) but the Voyager characters are still my favorites.

 

[Mrs Paris]

^^
Don't you think there's potential for more characters to fall in love with? You fell in love with the first crew already, many of us have "fallen in love" with each crew of each series. Couldn't the same have potentially happened here?

I guess it could potentialy happen, but I've watched ALL the other Star Trek series and have never loved a crew as much as I love the Voyager crew.

 

[Stag]

They sort of did this idea in Enterprise where Archer met up with his future daughter and descendants of his original crew in a season 3 episode. Didn't really work that well there.

However, I agree that we should have seen some turnover in characters more then Kes/7 of 9. My thoughts are these:

-Delta Quadrant is a dangerous place. Death is a reality, a main character or two could have been killed off someone like Harry, Chakotay or (this one is for you Mrs. Paris ) - Tom.

-If you know you are going to be stranded for 70 years, you know death is a real possibility, why not train back ups to the senior staff? Does Tom need to be at the helm every time? Maybe have some upstart ensign be as good a pilot as him. Or maybe a lower decks Lieutenant that could have helped out Tuvok with security. Not regular characters, but ones that appear every now and again.