www.ditl.org

Voyager didn't have to be totally decrepit by the end of the series, but certainly running at a lower capacity - and retro fitted with Delta Quadrant technology.

Has anyone calculated the mortality rate on the average Starship yet?

Captain Seafort wrote:

Mikey wrote:It's still self-limiting. The condition of the ship is a symptom; if it were really shown to detiorate as it "really" would, they'd be flying a Sopwith Camel well before there was a conclusion to the series.

Not necessarilly. Look at nBSG, or the NX-01 during season 3, for example. In both cases they've depicted a slow, steady decline in the ships' condition without doing it so quickly that they fell apart before the end of the series. Dropping in occassional refits at alien stations would further extend the ship's effective life without resorting to the magic reset button.

Fair point. But, as I said, that is a symptom. The premise is still self-limiting.

kostmayer wrote:Has anyone calculated the moratality rate on the average Starship yet?

No, but on any of Picard's ships the morality rate is exceedingly high. Or, more properly, the moralizing rate.

Pedant!

And I reckon the morality and the mortality rate would be higher under Janeways command.

kostmayer wrote:Pedant!

I am not. Just offering a bit of pun-ishment.

Mikey wrote:

kostmayer wrote:Pedant!

I am not. Just offering a bit of pun-ishment.

Apparently directed at all of us.

I really can't argue with that.

Rochey wrote:

Voyager really was screwed over right from the start because its premise is simply unworkable.

I'd disagree with that. It's quite possible to have the premise of a ship searching for something over a long period of time, without constantly bringing up ways for them to get home that will inevitably fail.

For example, just off the top of my head, you could have something like this:
VOY is stranded, not due to Janeway's stupidity, but because the Kazon ship crashing into the array f***ed it up too badly for it to send them home.
Caretaker dies, but before doing so reveals to Janeway that there's another Caretaker in the quadrant that could help them. However, it doesn't know the exact location.
Then you could have VOY wandering around the quadrant in search of clues or leads to the second array. This allows you to have plenty of episodes unrelated to finding ways of getting home, while still making it clear that they have an actual goal in mind.

I tend to agree, although I also agree with Graham Kennedy in the sense that I don't think Berman and Braga would have come up with anything that sophisticated with Voyager. They sort of remind me of dogs - "Well, they liked Yesterday's Enterprise, so they'll like 20 more episodes with alternate timelines that unhappen. They like the Doctor, so let's make him the only character on the show with any development, etc."

It brings to mind Battlestar Galactica, which has gone on for a while with an ultimate goal in mind that does not fully take up every episode. Voyager, if well written and conceived, could have pulled that off but it just didn't have it in it. Plus, Ron Moore and his whole approach to making a show is like a virtual 180 from the Berman/Braga style. I think their collaboration ended up giving First Contact its strength and Generations its weaknesses.
This is what makes the DS9/Voyager schism interesting. It's hard to believe these two shows ran at the same time.

Mikey wrote:

kostmayer wrote:Pedant!

I am not. Just offering a bit of pun-ishment.

A good pun is its own reword.

Having the ship get more and more battered over ime would have opened up new plot lines rathe than limit what they can do. Have Janeway who was at first against trading tech with anyone realise that it is the only way they could possilbe survive in a hostile enviroment.

Would it be realistic to see Voyager devloppig from a single ship to a convoy of other ships, more or less produced by voyager's crew, along with some add-ons to Voyager, as well as perhaps some more aliens trying oto hop on to live off of voyager's wondrous technology, like the transporters and replicators. Along with that, the gradual decline of voyager itself, and her final dismantling to patch up the rest of the convoy?

VOY slowly falling apart wouldn't limit the possible episodes, it would open up new ones.
What if the life support system breaks down?
What if the replicators fail, forcing them to go looking for food and water?
What if they actualy ran out of torpedoes?
What if they ran out of shuttles?
What if the shield generator fails?
What if the Kazon, Vidiians and other minor races become a threat due to VOY's decreasing capabilities?
What if Janeway still refuses to trade with aliens, causing rifts and possible uprisings among the crew?
What if Janeway eventualy realises they need to trade to survive?
What if VOY slowly has to trade more and more of its own parts in exchange for food and water and fuel?
What if all this trading gains the attention of most local powers, all of whom would be interested in its technology?
What if VOY starts becoming the target for anyone with a small bunch of armed vessels?
What if VOY has to start scavenging hulks for spare parts?
What if they have to start tearing out Fed tech to replace it with working alien tech?
What if the EMH actualy breaks down for good?
What if crewmembers dying actualy had significance?
What if the fact that the Maquis are not Starfleet officers became of any importance?

There. Just off the top of my head I've listed loads of possibilities that could provide the source for either single episodes or continuing plot arcs.

Teaos wrote:Having the ship get more and more battered over ime would have opened up new plot lines rathe than limit what they can do. Have Janeway who was at first against trading tech with anyone realise that it is the only way they could possilbe survive in a hostile enviroment.

I agree - all I'm saying is that such deterioration has an inbuilt terminal velocity.

shran wrote:Would it be realistic to see Voyager devloppig from a single ship to a convoy of other ships, more or less produced by voyager's crew, along with some add-ons to Voyager, as well as perhaps some more aliens trying oto hop on to live off of voyager's wondrous technology, like the transporters and replicators. Along with that, the gradual decline of voyager itself, and her final dismantling to patch up the rest of the convoy?

I rather like that idea.

Something about Voyager always bothered me. I used to be really into those Fantasy Fighting books by Steve Jackson when I was younger. One of them was called "Starship Traveller" and was released in 1983. Read the storyline on Wikipedia, and tell me if it sounds familliar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Traveller