Year of Hell Season?

[tcm121]

Hi everyone. I'm a long time fan but newbie to this website. Can't believe I've only just discovered it!

So apologies if this topic has been discussed to death in the past, but I'm curious to hear what your opinions are about the idea the Year of Hell story could have spanned an entire season of Voyager?

One thought I had about this was whether the story would become dull after a period? Is there enough in the story to keep us interested for that long? Then again there's no reason why a lot of the Season 4 stories could have been incorporated throughout, as was done with DS9 and the Dominion story.

Another issue I do have is, assuming the basic story remained similar, wouldn't it just be painful for an entire season to be wiped clean as a "change to the timeline" episode! Then again I suppose the ending could be changed, but the only real conclusion I can see for Janeway is to press the "reset" button.

More generally though, would a longer Year of Hell story have helped the series be more unique and different from TNG? I know the similarity is a complaint for a fair few fans. Personally not an issue for me as Voyager's the first series I really got into, but I can see where people are coming from. But would that "struggle" element have made the series more realistic given that they are one ship lost and trying to get home against all odds etc.?

Anyway these are just some of my initial thoughts. I'm really interested to hear what you guys think on the issue though on how, and if, it could have worked. Look forward to hearing from you!

 

[Guy Gardener]

Year of Hell was supposed to be season long at first and then when paramount Hammered Braga's dreams into a bite sized portion... Year of Hell was supposed to be Where Scorpion was, bridging season 3 and 4.

[John Lennon]Imagine there's no Borg, it's easy if you try[/John Lennon].

 

[Grathon Tolar]

A real pity, since I consider YoH Braga and Menosky's magnum opus, as well as my favourite VOY episode.

My only misgivings would be fitting it into an entire 26 episode season. There would need to be lots of requisite filler episodes and standard Trek pointlessness, which a besieged ship would complicate (cf. Quark in drag during the Dominion War, western planet during the Xindi arc).

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

An actual YoH would've been good to see, but even if they'd kept it at a two-parter not flipping the 'reset button' at the end would've been the best thing they could've done.

They could have shaken up the series, gotten rid of characters that weren't working and introduce new ones to take their place, had the ship stranded on a planet for a few episodes making repairs and making connections with other races--doing what the Federation does best.

It is example of another wasted opportunity on VOY.

 

[Grathon Tolar]

Coulda shoulda woulda. In hindsight, that's a great idea, but for what the show was, what the franchise was, and furthermore, what American network television was at the time, it's a leap that no one could possibly take.

Compare DS9, for instance. In syndication, it had slightly more freedom. It also had more visionary writers, yet they had a two-year-long total war arc without doing anything but killing a bunch of redshirts and a cast member on her way out.

In no way am I criticizing DS9, by the way; I'm simply illustrating that such a conceptual leap you describe was impossible.

 

[Pondwater]

A six episode arc would of been better but not a whole season.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I wish they had been given the opportunity to go ahead with it, because it sounds like it could have been really interesting. And I guess I've become biased towards serialized storytelling.

They would have had to figure out a way to do it without the reset button at the end, though, because that would have just been annoying.

 

[Guy Gardener]

What about if they find Earth at the end, but it's an alternate 1946 where the Nazi's are occupying half of North America?

 

[Makarov]

A whole season of Year of Hell sounds a little too close to BSG to me, where they pretend to be putting characters in serious danger and then predictably get them out of it somehow.

I'd only want this if it was closer to the end of the series and they werent afraid of changing up the crew - no reset buttons for the main crew. Otherwise it's better to just have encapsulated stories each episode.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I loved it when Marcus died.

He was too handsome, and had to go.

The sound women made watching him.

This quick sharp breath followed by long sigh.

I didn't like it at all.

 

[tcm121]

Yeah 6 episodes or so sounds right. It would've been so much more dramatic if the 98% temporal incursion had been a cliffhanger!

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I dunno, the Xindi arc really turned Enterprise around. I think YoH for a full season would have had similar success.

But also would have equally tanked the ratings.

 

[Grathon Tolar]

Indeed. Even DS9 started shedding viewers during my the Dominion War.

 

[Akiraprise]

I'd have liked to see it, but serialized story telling on the networks back then wasn't popular. UPN wanted a TNG knock off with stand alone episodes. I don't think they could have damaged Voyager as much as they did without a reset at the end, and a reset at the end of the season would have been totally lame. That ship was scrap yard worthy for sure.