[mmoore]

Reprogram the doctor to not be such a putz
No holodeck fantasies
Delete the Borg
Throw Neelix out the nearest airlock

[MrQ1701]

I would have never had Kess in the show. I liked Neelix, but NOT Kess.

[MrQ1701]

Originally Posted by mmoore

Reprogram the doctor to not be such a putz
No holodeck fantasies
Delete the Borg
Throw Neelix out the nearest airlock

No Borg? With Voy set in the Delta quadrant wouldn't the absence of the Borg be a huge glaring oversight? Maybe they should have done LESS Borg oriented episodes, but no Borg would have been a tragedy

[mmoore]

Originally Posted by MrQ1701

No Borg? With Voy set in the Delta quadrant wouldn't the absence of the Borg be a huge glaring oversight? Maybe they should have done LESS Borg oriented episodes, but no Borg would have been a tragedy

Pfft. Using and reusing the Borg just showed a lack of interest in creating something original. I'd much rather have seen a "forehead of the week" instead.

[MrQ1701]

Originally Posted by mmoore

Pfft. Using and reusing the Borg just showed a lack of interest in creating something original. I'd much rather have seen a "forehead of the week" instead.

Like I said, the Borg were overused in Voyager. Less would have been more in book. But NO Borg would have been a gross mistake.

i would have liked to see different technologies aquired by Voyager, rather than the Federation technology all the time. With as much area Voyager covered, they could have aquired tons of cool new stuff.

[Beetlescott]

Originally Posted by MrQ1701

No Borg? With Voy set in the Delta quadrant wouldn't the absence of the Borg be a huge glaring oversight? Maybe they should have done LESS Borg oriented episodes, but no Borg would have been a tragedy

I disagree. I think, if anything, there should have been more Borg shows, like someone said, they were in the Delta quadrant, must have Borg!

[Beetlescott]

Originally Posted by BlackBox

First, ditch the entire cast.

Second, ditch all the characters.

The plot is fine, though, but the actual show just turned into MELROSE PLACE IN SPACE -- was so lame

May I ask how many episodes of Voyager you actually watched? I don't see it as Melrose Place at all. They had to have some character shows to keep in interesting. I find when someone has only watched a few of the first few episodes, or less, they have really no idea what, as Star Trek fans, they missed.

[Gunny1]

If *I* had a 'time machine', (...and an 'in' to Paramount Television Productions (*Grin*)...)

Take the basic premise...and extend it.

Two crews, one ship, 'unfriendly' territory for both. (Both within the ship and without, given the circumstances.)

Balance 'interior' versus 'exterior' danger - that is to say, inversely proportional, but with enough variation to keep suspense. Some episodes, focus on the interior 'rivalry' between the THREE factions - 'hard core' Starfleet, 'hard core' maquis, and the 'realists' who forgo previous alliances in favor of continued survival - call them the 'opportunists'...

(...also 'in play', but not revealed until much later - the 'fourth column' - a VERY FEW from each crew where idealism overrides any other previous commitment. Built up, slowly, when they 'go against type' in the defense of certain ideals...)

Other episodes, deal with almost solely 'exterior' threats... with an eye to how the interior division increases the danger, but that same diversity provides solutions that any single group wouldn't have come up with...

The ship herself is first 'idolized' by the Starfleet crew, hated by the Maquis... by second season, (almost) everybody hates her, all the work and trouble - the ship herself begins to look 'run down'... (Forshadowing: The 'idealists' are shown to SAY they 'hate' Voyager, yet their actions differ...)

By third season, the ship herself takes on a personality - BECUASE of what she's survived with the crew, rather than BECUASE of it, she become 'anthropomorphic' - is given a 'personality' in the minds of her crew. Certain members get special treatment, showing how they go out-of-the-way to keep Voyager in ship... indeed, a few speial 'lower deck' episodes show incredble lengths, that are 'brushed off' by the caracter themselves.

(Harry risks life and limb in an episode that shows he should get the Trek-equivelent of the Medal of Honor... yet, handing the part to Tuvok and unable to expalin the risks he took 'logically', shrugs it off as 'no big deal... (with the in-story 'double-take' being that Tuvok had been investigating a possible security breach, and by the time the part is handed to him, knows just what lenghts Kim went to in order to get it...)

Extend upon the intergration of the crew - i.e., the more they come to know them, the more 'human' they seem. (*This includes 7 and the EMH, but in a less 'forced' version... and the ship, in a MORE 'forced' version, matching reality. Ask any 'old Navy man' about his ship... *Grin*)

Final episode...? Everything is against them, and 'rational' decion would be to fragment and 'take the best deal' for each group... the fact that previously-hated aspects, including the ship herself, are threatened, instead of addding to the urge to 'defect', boomerang and stregthen the desire to resist - then the few 'idealists' attack. Not out of hope of winning, but just becuase 'certain battles are worth fighting'... and it's enough to rouse the entire crew to fight.

The battle rages back and forth over a four-episode arc, until it seems that the failure of the crew by a slim margin is yet nevertheless certain... and then have the crew saved to get home by that one, last hold-out 'opportunist'... who, having 'hijacked' the Voyager, comes racing in to save the day, revealing himself to have become so sucessful at hising his 'idealistc' nature that he'd even managed to fool HIMSELF... until the last minute, of course.

Final episode...? After getting home, the hidden idealist, as punishment, is 'forced' to basically rebuild the nearly-destroyed Voyager from the keel-up... but, having one the 'Federation's Highest Decoration for Bravery' in that last action, is basically given carte-blanc to do exactly as what he/she wanted to do in the first place, but had been deluding himself all along...

Last scene, the remaining crew to see the new 'Voyager' about to be sent out on her first crew... fade to black just before the reveal, with the presumption of a sequal series.

...but, hey, that's just me.

(*Grin*)

[Gunny1]

Gunny-Alternate version of 'Voyager'

Second-to-last episode, entitled 'The Finest Hour, Part II...'

EXT. SHOT
VOYAGER, badly damaged and throwing sparks, harried by a dozen smaller ships firing weapons, slowly passes screen from left to right...


SEVEN OF NINE
(Having suffered complete failure of all Borg systems by a Borg-specific 'dampening field' from the ALIEN SOCIETY, kept alive by the EMS risking decompilation of his program by acting as her central nervous system...)
System failures rapidly extending- attemption to compenstae...
(In EMH voice)
...bypass just as if it's open-heart surgery, but they never taught this at Starfleet medical... damnit, I'm a Docter, not a...
(in 'Seven' Voice)
...System failures contained, systems badly comprimised....
(In both voices)
......but holding....
(EMH)
...for now.

CAPTAIN JANEWAY is sprawled, wounded, on the command couch - CHAKOTAY, holding a phaser, is covering her with his own body, facing off against THE REALISTS holding the bride at gun-point.

JANEWAY
Fire phasers!; quantum torpadoes, full spread...!

TUVOK
Phasers inoperative, Captain. One torpedo remaining - magnetic launchers are damaged, however. Capacitors charging to fire, Captain. ...they will take twelve-point three seconds to cycle....

VOYAGER shakes under effects of weapons.

JANEWAY
(Ignores phaser rifles aimed at her - pushes CHACKOTAY's sheilding body aside, stands up.)
Come to three-seven-fout-point...!

HARRY KIM
Impulse drive just went down, Ma'am...!

SEVEN OF NINE
Warp coils damaged, Captain - short-order warp-bursts possible, but long-ranged warp-drive inoperaple...
(EMH voice)
...of course.


TUVOK
Aft sheilds down... foreward sheilds holding at thrity-one - Incoming commuication, Captain...

INT. of bridge, main viewscreen:

ALIEN COMMANDER
Attention Federation vessel - drop sheilds and prepare to be boarded. Do not attempt to resist - you, the ship, and the crew are our prizes of war...

Brief pause....

JANEWAY
(Muttered)
...damned if I'll give up the ship...
(Shouted)
Mister Paris - self destruct protocol, Janeway Alpha Seven-Niner-Two Omega Five!


TOM PARIS
Ma'am...?!

B'Elanna
(In Maquis outfit, holding Phase Rifle on Tom)
What...!?
Oh - sure, Starfleet! You do that! You've always wanted her to die... you never could stand compatition! Ever since I've been Chief Engineer, you've wanted to kill her! That's whay you... you... laughed at her! Why you... you...

TUVOK
(Dryly)
...risked his life to obtain the Phase Inverter you needed.

PARIS and B'ELANNA, chorused:
(looking at TUVOK)
How did YOU know...
(Look at each other)
YOU knew...?!

(Flashback - season 3, episode 9: B'Elanna, gaping, recieves the Phase INverter from the hand of an unseen person who has just run through phaser-fire to deliver the device B'Elanna has just spent the entire episode trying to wheel-and-deal through increasingly bizarre and difficult demands. Unlike the episode, the camera now pans up - to reveal TOM PARIS as her 'saviour... ...and pans back down his arm to the Phase Inverter, showing B'Elanna, looking at his reflection in the surface... )

B'ELANNA drops her phase rifle - PARIS begins tapping the keys frantically.

JANEWAY
(To KIM)
Let me talk to them, Mister Kim...
(To SCREEN)
Attention - this is Captain Katheryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager - rather than allow this ship to fall into enemy hands, I have initiated self-destruct protocols. Mr. Kim, leave the chanel open...

COMPUTER
Ten... Nine... Eight...

Many of the crew look suprised, then worried - the OPPORTUNISTS start to raise their weapons - then back down at the looks from CHAKOTAY and B'ELANNA...

COMPUTER
...Seven ...Six...

B'ELANNA
(Softly)
Tom...

PARIS
(Smiling gently)
B'Elanna...

COMPUTER
...Five ...four ...three...

CHAKOTAY
(To JANEWAY)
Kathryn... I should have told you - I...

COMPUTER
...one - zero.

The program PARIS entered activates - and VOYAGER fires it's last torpedo at the ALIEN FLAGSHIP, the jumps into warp...

[kevin]

Oh where to begin!! Some of the cast were fine - Mulgrew, Lien, well actually theye were the only good ones, ok recast the whole thing.

Ditch the EMH, have more conflict between the ships elements, have them deal with psychological issues arising from being 'lost', have the captain struggle to keep the ship as one, kill people off more randomly through exposure to new and unknown diseases, have the ship deteriorate, no restoring contact with starfleet, no Barclay, 90% less Borg, and personally I would not have had Voyager get home, but some other fate.