Amph "Set a Course For Home." Star Trek: Voyager

If you are about to begin the fifth season of DS9, then you're about to plunge into the greatest continuing arc in Trek history, the Dominion War. I'm almost envious. Voyager had some great moments and I wouldn't begrudge anyone who rates it above DS9, but you may rate DS9 just a bit higher after finishing the last 3 seasons. They do justice to every single character before the end and some of the space battles are among the finest you'll ever see on a TV show

 

Jedimarine I don't know if you?re joking or not but in Nemesis Riker is promoted and is Captain of the USS Titan.



Can anyone help me about a rumor that at one point it was considered that Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) was going to be Captain of Voyager I'm sure I remember hearing this back when Voyager first started, also to lend more evidence to this there's a funny thing in a Season 2 episode where Q says when he first encounters Captain Janeway that he thought Commander Riker would get command of Voyager so if anybody knows please help me.

 

Jedimarine

Yeah, you are right about it being a difficult series to end. Of course, they rushed through the last season and left a lot of areas unexplored, especially with character development. This just added to the feeling of it being incomplete that a lot of us were left with by the end.

 

I like Voyager. IMO Voyager is the closest in concept and tone to the originsl series, TNG was all about the starship as a tool of policy and statecraft. DS9 was all about Starfleet at war. Voyager was exactly like TOS, a starship full of scientists exploring space and it was just as much fun to watch. The only thin the ever irked about Voyager was that that after seven years stranded on the on the other side of the galaxy, Voyager should have looked like this:

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b2/ST-VOY_Year_of_Hell%2CPart2.jpg]

Other than that Voyager is alot of fun.

 

I heard that same rumor, and not only about Voyager, but DS9 as well. When they were still in the planning stages of DS9 there was talk of lifting Riker from that show, and the same thing for Voyager. In restrospect, I think they made the right choices both times. Riker as a character doesn't work as a show's top dog

 

The female commander was also considered for DS9 before ultimately going with Sisko. I remember hearing that they had a great guy in mind for Captain when Voyager got ready to roll, but the producers were fiercely determined to go female no matter what.

As far as the "Titan" thing goes for Riker...it was a joke...but even if not, that assumes the books have any significance on the TV show if it came back tomorrow, or another movie this christmas...which they do not.

In one way that is disgusting for the fervent Trek reader.

On the other hand, that universe certainly doesn't have to deal with an EU circus...the trumps are all very clear.

 

Riker for DS9, no. But Riker for Voyager, absolutely. I think he would have done wonders for the show. It would have taken away from the TNG movies though, so I guess ultimately - in retrospect, it was the best choice to keep him out. Bottom line is Voyager would have done great if the writing was better, and took advantage of the oportunities they opened up for themselves.

 

Let's face it, you take Riker from those films and you're not missing much. Data was unquestionably the #2 guy in all the TNG films, Riker's roles in those films could have easily been doled out to other characters or excised completely without losing a thing. Riker in Voyager would have worked better than DS9. For dramatic reasons alone, a brand new captain thrust into an unbelievably difficult situation, trying to make the best of things... But Mulgrew did OK. Wasn't Genevieve Bujold supposed to get that role?

 

Riker at least had an excuse to be a footnote in the films...he was usually directing.

Other then Picard/Data...the rest were horribly under-used. They each got basically one big moment over the course of the 4 films:

LaForge gets to be Klingon Eyes.
Troi gets hammered.
Worf gets to be cool on the Defiant.
Crusher...Crusher...?...gets to take up space and drag around blankets.

I still think that the bad guy in Nemesis should've been Wil Wheaton.

Star Trek: The Wrath of Wesley!

 

Sorry to knock this thread off track, but those films represented one wasted oportunity after another. Why, oh why, did they not try to carry a story over several films, a la Wrath of Khan through Voyage Home? Nemesis would have seemed like a much grander film had it been the culmination of a three film arc that included the conflict with the Borg and Romulans all in one huge story.

 

Because the studio wasn't going to green light Star Trek Films without a marketed success from the previous one.

In other words:

Studio heads sensed the impending collapse of Star Trek as early as Generations (which never lived up to the hoped for success)

Each green light was tentative...and if you pay close attention to releases...was carefully chosen to not have much in the way of competition (now granted there are always big films to compete against, but this is more of the demographic trends placement and not overcrowding a genre...so Trek wouldn't come out against another sci-fi film or against an action movie appealing to 13-35 year old males.)

I honestly believe that Insurrection was suppose to be the royal kiss off to studios and general audiences...Insurrection was so bizarre in it's story and premise, that it really only resonated with "some" Trek fans...It's still kind of a shocker they got the green light for Nemesis...must have been some real fanny smooching going on for that one...and likely a pre-approved script.

The Star Trek films tread the line of pop culture burn out...and the studios were very careful to monitor the demand for more trek before delivering on it.

 

Agreed...though I think they were hoping to shuffle Nemesis into that week before...get a #1 box office, and feed on older kids at the theater not wanting to see Harry Potter with little brothers and sisters. What they failed to factor was the draw of Potter to older kids and parents as well as regular movie goers holding their dollars for LOTR. In seriousness, given the season they were locked in for(you don't want to release a Trek film in February...doom by calendar there), it was the best possible time to release...it just was doomed anyway.

I still maintain if they had used Denise Crosby instead of the Picard clone, they would've been more successful. Oh, and not act like it's Star Trek "with an edge!" which is exactly how they promoted it.

Sorry, put a tattoo on a teddy bear...it's still a teddy bear...maybe just a weird teddy bear.

 

I always thought insurrection was one of the weakest movies, it was little better then a glorified TV episode. I thought Nemesis was a lot better, as for bringing back Denise Crosby thats a joke right I didn't think much of her on the show and I sure wouldn't have seen the movie if she had been the main villain.

 

Personally I think Berman missed an oppurtunity with First Contact to do an arc type of movie series with Next Gen.

 

QFT Juliet. I would like to discuss this further, but we're getting way too off topic here. I'll start a new thread.


Edit: New thread here.

 

I renamed the thread. We'll just keep it all about Voyager in here.

 

I don't know about an evil Wesley movie, although that is kind of an interesting image, but a movie about Wesley and the Traveler would be cool.

 

Wesley commands a band of Romulan Pirates.

Tremble before the DREAD PIRATE WESLEY!

 

Wesley isn't evil...

 

I never really liked Wesley. But moving on back to Voyager...

Who did everyone like better throughout the series? Tom or Harry? I lean towards Tom myself, but I'm looking for other people's opinions.

- Serena

 

Yeah Tom and Torres were probably my two favorite characters other than The Doctor. Seven gave an interesting aspect to the show as well. But the Doctor was hands down the best character of the show.

Edit: Just out of Tom or Harry? Definitely Tom. Harry wasn't bad, but wasn't good either.

 

Agreed. He was so smug and pompous at times that it was downright hilarious and don't forget his sly and creative insults.

I also kind of liked Neelix, especially when he was annoying Tuvok.

 

When Neelix and Tuvok get together you know it's going to be hilarious.

It's kind of hard to choose between Tom and Harry. I like them both. They are like two sides of a coin, but they work so well together anyway. Harry is professional and bound by duty, and Tom could care less about much of anything at the beginning of the series. They both rubbed off on each other during the show, and we were left with two people who were much better than the two we were first introduced to. And let's not forget, Harry is the first member of the crew who really gave Tom a chance, besides the captain of course.

 

I'd put Tuvok on an easy par with The Doctor.