VOY year 1

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Teaos
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VOY year 1

Post by Teaos »

Okay I have been watching a bit of VOy recenly along with the corresponding review on SFD.

And what I was thinking is, we always complain about Voyager magic reset button and absolutely no long standing story arcs.

So what wpuld have you liked to have seen each season.

Imagin you are the producer, you are guaranteed 100% that you get 7 seasons of this quasi lost in space rip off.

What story lines you introduce in the first season? You can take existing ideas in the show and improve on them if you wish or make whole new ones.

People always say they wish the ship stayed damage more, which I agree, but I also think it would get weird if every 8 episodes it had to find a port to do repairs in.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by Teaos »

As a start, personally I do like the idea of the Kazoon, a former slave race that overthrew their masters and are now somewhat out of their depth.

I think it has real potental, but I think the Kazon we are given are shitty Klingon rip offs.

I would have had it be 3-5 different slave species that rose up together a hundred years ago and are now in the position that they are almost at war with each other over the remains of the fallen empire.

Different species have diffent goals and resources, one might have claimed omst of the military, one the industry and one a lot of planets.

But like the Kazon, they can use the tech, but not to its full potental and it is slowly decaying.

So Voyager is in a very powerful but fragile postion. It could help, but who? And how? What side do they help? If they help one will the other attack them?

The crew faces kidnapping several times as a single officer is worth their weight in gold to the slave species.

Such potental wasted...
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by stitch626 »

Teaos wrote:Such potental wasted...
This is almost every Voyager episode/story arc.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by Teaos »

They did well on a few points, Sevens development was set at a good pace as was the Doctors. Ichebs addition latter in the series was okay, especially the story with his parents.

There have been good ideas, just not developed, or like Year of Hell which was great, rebooted at the end.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by Graham Kennedy »

For me the greatest squandering Voyager did was of the Maquis. A large part of the whole premise of the show was about having to take the maquis aboard and use them as crew, and a good deal of the pilot episode was devoted to this. And then it was just pretty much dropped like a cold fish. It was what, two or three episodes later that Janeway was cooing over how well the crew was bonding and becoming friends? The brought it up here and there, but for the most part they did nothing with it.

I would have had a long running B story where the Maquis are actively planning to take over the ship. I'd have episodes where it genuinely looks like maquis crewmembers are gaining Janeway's confidence and having the classic Trek "we've overcome our differences in dealing with the problem of the week", only to end with them in their quarters talking about how "It's working, she's starting to trust me now."

And I would have made Chakotay this guy who was purely out for his own advancement, playing both sides against the other as it suited him.

Like how about this : maybe there are a couple of hotheads in the Maquis who are impatient to take over. Chakotay tells them in front of the other Maquis to hold off but then in private to them, he is like "Well come up with a plan, if it's viable I'll back you." And when they do he urges them on and they try and take over the ship. It looks like they will succeed - only just at the last moment Chakotay kills them. And he makes a speech to Janeway about how his loyalty is with them now, and we're all in this together, and we have to let the past go.

But then later to the other Maquis he's like "You heard me tell them to back off... they were too impulsive, too reckless, they would have gotten us all thrown off the ship or dead. So I stopped them, and now Janeway trusts us all the more. Now we have the space and time to come up with a REAL plan."

All the time, you'd wonder who he would eventually side with - Janeway or the Maquis. And either way it would just be to get the best deal for himself.

Sooooo much more interesting than the Chakotay we got.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by Tsukiyumi »

Robert Beltran would most likely have loved that compared to what he got.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by Teaos »

My people have a story...

So with the flase friends plot and a properly done Kazon... that would have made a good 2-3 seasons.

You still have them make large jumps when presented the opportunity, or travel at a slower pace and only in the final season make a jump, or never.

How do you pad out the middle few season?

I remember the episode where they found the species with transporters that travel across the galaxy, they could have explored that a whole lot more, maybe after a real year of hell they are willing to break their moral code a lot more readily to get home, after askign nicely, after spending months playing nice, they are still told no, so Tuvoc and Chakotay team up and lead a assult.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by kostmayer »

I would have made a lot more of the Marquis in the Alpha Quadrant being all but wiped out by the Dominion whilst Starfleet did nothing. That must have rankled a few of Voyagers Marquis crew members.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by Teaos »

Would that have made them despondent or desperate?
What does defeat mean to you?

Nothing it will never come. Death before defeat. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. There is no defeat.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by kostmayer »

Good question. On the one hand, they'd be pretty damn pissed at the Federation and less inclined to follow Janeway and Starfleets way of doing things. On the other hand, they may decide that Voyager is the only home they have left. Some may even decide theres nothing to go back for and jump ship.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by Teaos »

I think desertion would have been a very real and constant threat to them. And the loss of officers would have need devestating since they had no chance to replace them.
What does defeat mean to you?

Nothing it will never come. Death before defeat. I don’t bend or break. I end, if I meet a foe capable of it. Victory is in forcing the opponent to back down. I do not. There is no defeat.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by McAvoy »

I agree with that the Marquis should have played s huge part with at least half the series. Maybe ending somewhere in season 3.

I also want to see the desperate nature they would be in. No reset button. Damage continues from one episode till the next. Have episodes just dealing with that drama. I want to see by season 7, Voyager looked cobbled together. Green and blue hull plating here and there. Sections plated over with no regard to aesthetics.

Have more alien crew members. Make Neelix a Han Solo type of character. Not a kitchen rat. Not a morale officer. Someone who wears very bland clothes and does stuff to help out.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by Tsukiyumi »

McAvoy wrote:I also want to see the desperate nature they would be in. No reset button. Damage continues from one episode till the next. Have episodes just dealing with that drama. I want to see by season 7, Voyager looked cobbled together. Green and blue hull plating here and there. Sections plated over with no regard to aesthetics.
They run out of photons early in the show, and replace the launcher with an alien weapon... maybe a Kazon torpedo launcher, maybe an energy cannon.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by Tyyr »

Starfleet vs. Maquis
This should have been a serious issue. The two groups could not be more diametrically opposed in every way. Philosophy you've got the PD worshiping Fed who will die for their principles vs. the Maquis who will do whatever it takes to win. Training wise you've got the best of the best book learning vs. people who learned what they know in the field under fire. Respect for the chain of command vs. total disdain for it.

The first season should have both groups at their throats. It should be a running theme that Janeway and Chakotay are sitting on a powderkeg and all 150 members of the crew are flicking their Bics on a daily basis. The best outlet to constantly reinforce this should be through Janeway/Chakotay and Torres/Kerry. Janeway and Chakotay should be constantly interrupting and going around each other. Have Janeway obviously confide more in Tuvok than Chakotay. Have Chakotay constantly going around Janeway to get things done. Chakotay is trying to protect the Maquis crew from the worst of Starfleet's harshness while Janeway tries to beat the Maquis into somewhat passable members of Starfleet. Meanwhile Torres and Kerry are butting heads continually as joint cheifs of engineering. Kerry is by the book and insists on precision and aherence to procedure while Torres is always rigging up work arounds and solutions. Things don't always work. Kerry's rigid adherence is causing issues as they are using up spares too fast and can't get replacements. B'Elana's cobbled together workarounds work sometimes, and sometimes they explode and start fires in engineering. The end of the first season has a two parter in which the two sides more or less come to blows. The Maquis have been cooking a plan to take over all season and after an incident where they come across some valuable piece of tech that could help them out but Janeway's principles won't let her, it's on. In the end Starfleet wins, you don't really know where Chakotay's loyalty stands, but B'Elana casts in her lot with Starfleet. Her jury-rigging manages to save the ship and Kerry bows out of contention for chief engineer. Nothing is really settled though and for the next three seasons the Maquis are a constant source of irritation. Some of them are going native and doing their best to be part of the crew but there are some hard core hold outs who only want to go home.

Ship Damage
Kind of goes without saying but the only way to make this feel less like TNG-rehashed is to carry through on the promise of the show. They don't have infinite spares, they don't have a starbase to stop off in every few months for a tune up. Over time things break and they have to improvise. Everything from patches to the hull to the chairs in Janeway's ready room. They run low on torpedos so they replace one of the forward launchers with some kind of cannon. Bioneural gel packs start breaking down so they have to get some fabricated and they never quite work right. Things just keep piling up. In the end I'd do something radical. About the middle of Season 6, I blow Voyager up. The original Voyager goes down in flames and they have to continue on in a different starship. Hell, have them pull a Star Trek 3 and swipe the ship of the people who destroyed Voyager.

Kes
They wasted Kes. For this we'll pretend the Ocampa are a real species and not the genetically engineered sex slaves/organ donors/instant army they obviously are. You have a chance to have a character live out their ENTIRE life on your show. She can go from eighteen months old to her eventual death in a natural way. DO IT. Tone down the psychic bullshit and just have her as this fresh faced girl whos signs up with Voyager. She's initially Neelix's girlfriend but once on Voyager they grow apart as he's constantly worrying, controling, etc. while she's just enamored with space travel. They grow apart and eventually break up. She's the Doctor's nurse, have her and Tom actually have that relationship we saw in Cause and Effect. The badboy who woo's her but eventually has to grow up as his wife ages. Let them have a kid and so on. Have her life play out. Eventually, I kill her. Probably when Voyager goes down something happens. She's starting into her elderly years and something happens and she has to sacrifice herself to save them. She does, saying farewell to Tom and wishing she could see Earth but telling him to take care of their daughter. He does, for about a season you see Tom coping as a single father then mid season seven have B'Elana and him start to get together.

Neelix
Instead of trying to force him as a break out character just have him be a character. Have him actually serve as a guide and a competant one but over the seasons he is less and less useful. By late season three he's completely lost. Most of season four is him dealing with having no clue about where they are and having Kes leaving him. Eventually about 2/3 of the way through season 4 he decides to leave of his own volition. He gets a good offer from a passing freighter heading back towards Talax and takes it.

Harry
Start him off as the fresh faced ensign but don't leave him there for seven years. Have him grow, especially though the Maquis arc and with Tom as his friend. Have him start off very straightlaced and uptight but through making friends with various members of the Maquis and Tom he starts to lose some of the Starfleet starch. Harry is our perspective character for Starfleet personnel dealing with being lost and having little realistic chance of ever seeing home. Season one has Harry making friends with the Maquis and Tom but mostly he's still trying to be the perfect Starfleet officer. When the Maquis and Starfleet go at it Harry and Tom are doing their best to try and take a middle road, Tom because he thinks it's safest and Harry because many of the Maquis are his friends. Eventually he winds up crossways with Janeway. She's pissed because her perfect little ensign was not towing the Starfleet line and his opinion of the Starfleet way is tarnished by Janeway's pigheaded adherence to her principles getting them stranded and now keeping them stranded. Season two through four is Harry moving more and more towards Tom's outlook on things. He's a pretty big supporter of B'Elana and Chakotay and it creates tension on the bridge crew. Harry's relationship with Libby is put to the test. At first he's dead set on staying true to her and getting home. However by the middle of season two it's becoming obvious that even if things go incredibly well they aren't going to get home in this decade and with no word from them she'll likely assume he's dead and be moving on with her life. This comes to a head at the beginning of season three when you have episode with the aliens on the generational ship. He has fully given up on Libby and this woman is his first real relationship after accepting that Libby is gone. It's also the moment where we really see that Harry no longer really gives a shit about impressing Janeway. When Seven is brought on board instead of being... Harry, Harry instead mans up and for at least a season he's trying to break through her "I'm Borg and you suck," attitude. When Voyager eventually gets destroyed Harry leads the charge to get their new ship back in good condition and with the crew working together moving him from newbie to seasoned Vet with even Janeway eventually complimenting him on his improvement and that she'd be promoting him past lieutenant commander if there was room.

The Doctor
Nothing, do not mess with his character just let him be.

Seven
Seven is too good not to bring in. She needs to be handled differently though. First thing, she doesn't keep the catsuit past the end of season five. By the start of season six she's in a proper uniform at the latest. Second, no Borg reset. She has issues being borg but unlike the real show every bit of character development won't be nixed by a malfunctioning implant. She gets to grow as a character. Still distinctly uncomfortable among individuals but getting better all the time. And yes, Harry/Seven because fuck it, why not.

Bad Guys
The Kazon have to be redesigned. Get rid of the brocolli hair, have them stop being imbeciles. That said, they aren't a threat past season 1. Voyager is running full speed home, no enemy is going to be a threat for long. The Hirogen/Viidians are a threat in season 2 and 3. The Viidians start tapering off towards the end of season 2 with only a handful of appearences in 2 then the Hirogen start to go away towards the end of season 3. The Borg come in during season 4 and remain the biggest thrown in Voyager's side for the rest of the run. The Krenem get their time to shine in season 6 eventually destroying Voyager.

Structure
Get away from Episodic story telling. Go the way of Enterprise and have stories usually be three to four episodes long with strong connection between episodes. Oh, an no spatial anomolies, or at least limit yourself to two a season.
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Re: VOY year 1

Post by Tholian_Avenger »

I don't know where the idea comes form that Maquis have a disrespect for the chain of command. Seriously, I don't, I might have missed an episode where it was mentioned.

I can see why they might have a neutral feeling about Starfleet, all the way to contempt (and even hate), but nothing so bad that it couldn't have been buried until the lot got back to near the Alpha Quadrant. I'm not even sure there would be that many disputes over the PD, they were Fed citizens until relatively recently, they were just screwed over by bad foreign policy to a peer state.


Different point:
I bet Seven would be most troubled when she was all alone, with the quiet of herself and the echos of her memories.
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