You're hired to improve VOY

[Sionnach Glic]

Okay, some executives have decided that Season 1 of Voyager sucked, fired B&B, and hired you in their stead to decide the show's direction from Season 2 onwards.

So, what do you do? Remember, Season 1 has already happened, so you have to stick with that already established canon.

[Deepcrush]

Set the Warp Core to breach and leave.

[Graham Kennedy]

Make Janeway consistent. She's either to be the one who always sticks to her principles, or the one who will gradually drift into doing whatever it takes to get home. But she is NOT to be doing one one week and the other the next. For me when Voyager met the Equinox and Ransom asked if Janeway had ever broke the PD and she said "bent it a few times, not broken it"... that just utterly destroyed the character in my eyes. It could even have been a good moment if they'd shown that she was deliberately lying... but they didn't. It was clear that they just didn't care about the character, and Janeway would do and say whatever was convenient to the plot that week.

Fire up some conflict with the Maquis. By season 2 it was too late to do what I REALLY wanted to see with Voyager, but they brought the maquis in and then basically made them good little Starfleet officers within about five episodes... apart from now and again when some silly conflict would brew up (another sign of characters doing whatever the writers feel like this week.)

Be a little more consistent in Voyager's capabilities and state of repair. In a way I feel bad complaining about this, because I can see what they wanted to do with replicator rations and such. But so long as Voyager has antimatter, and can get hold of pretty much any old bulk material for the replicators, she should be a ship where people are able to do pretty much whatever they want. Voyager kept inventing things they needed for the power systems, none of which made much sense. I'd have had them looking for antimatter now and again, but that would be about it.

[stitch626]

I would have Neelix "eliminated" ASAP.

[Tsukiyumi]

I would have Neelix "eliminated" ASAP.

"Mr. Neelix, you really must see the airlocks; they're the best part of the entire ship."

"How so?"

"You'll see when we get there."

[Deepcrush]

Set the Warp Core to breach and leave.

Edit,

Save the Doctor's program and then follow the above.

[Aaron]

I take the cash they allocate for a budget, spend it on booze, hookers, blow and games. I stretch it out as long as humanly possible till they demand to see some examples of what I'm doing, then I bugger off to Venezuela.

[Tyyr]

Hmm, the twist of leaving season 1 as is codifies somethings I'd have rather had the ability to mess with, regardless.

1) Maquis. While the bird has mostly flown the coop and the Maquis have quickly settled into being good little starfleeters I'd rekindle it somewhat. Not outright confrontation and insubordination but certainly some disquiet among the crew. I'd have a B list crewman become one of the primary agitators for this group. It would all come to a head in a 37's style episode. This time when Janeway and Chakotay arrive at the cargobay they find a dozen or so crewman. A combination of the agitator maquis crewman and some of his followers who are leaving because they don't fit in, will never get home, Janeway's a bitch, etc. A long with a few crewman who just don't see how they're ever getting home and will take this planet over a life time spent in Voyager

2) The Ship. If I were in charge the condition of Voyager would get consistently worse. I'm the chief boiler engineer at a large powerplant. We have to shut down our units every 12 to 18 months for four to six weeks to do major maintenance on them. If we don't we start having failures. Small things can go wrong even with the regular maintenance but not as often. If we were to neglect our major outages we might run for up to two years without anything major going wrong, but after that we can start expecting to see failures on a regular basis as neglected maintenance piles up and things start breaking. Voyager is going to be running full speed for home for months on end. No starbase for maintenance, no extra crew to help get the jobs done quickly. All during season two things break but get fixed, no big deal. However as season two goes on B'Elana starts pointing out how they're burning through their non-replicable spare parts at a high rate and their replicable spare parts are starting to hurt as well as their need for spares starts to exceed what the damaged replicators can dole out. As the show progresses the ship has to spend more and more time scrounging, making do, and beg/borrowing/trading/stealing for what it absolutely has to have to keep running. Minor problems like sticking doors starts to get left behind due to the amount of work it take just to keep the ship moving forward. By the time you get to seasons 5 and 6 Voyager has lost a lot of that Federation spit and polish.

3) Supplies. Supplies would be a big deal, especially anti-matter. As the show dragged on it would take more and more for them to keep going. The need for anti-matter might even prompt Janeway to bend or break the prime directive a time or two.

4) Janeway. Sadly the first season established super-Janeway, the one woman command staff. Over the course of season two I'd have Janeway reducing that, pulling back from the super perfect know it all. Her crew is getting settled in and she's able to slip back into the traditional captain's role as a manager and decision maker. Next, she'd behave consistently. How would she behave? Well stranding her crew in the Delta Quadrant would come to an emotional head quickly for her. Early in season 2 she'd be having the kind of reservations she didn't start having until Night in season 5. Part of what would come out of her funk is the determination to make up for her screw up. While she does her best to keep to the principles of the Federation she isn't going to sacrifice her ship for them. For instance, the need anti-matter and an alien race has some. For the aliens it's a precious resource and they're in the middle of a war with another power on their world (same race). All traditional negotiations break down. Eventually Janeway offers them replicator technology in exchange for full tanks of anti-matter. The aliens agree. The downside, the aliens with the anti-matter are the oppressive totalitarian regime fighting a democracy. They try to rationalize it as the totalitarians no longer having a significant WMD, but they do now have a nearly undestroyable manufacturing capability. Janeway's bending and breaking of Federation law comes to the fore when they run into the Equinox. When Janeway gets ready to mount her high horse Ransom knocks her right back down by pointing out that their crimes are the same, only different by a matter of degree. She hasn't resorted to murder, just everything right up to it. This is sort of the peak for Janeway. From here on out as their ship gets closer and closer to home Janeway realizes that the best she can hope for is a court martial to come out of it. She's done her best to shield her crew from her actions but some of them, like Chakotay, will undoubtedly be going down with her. She doesn't relent though, and does whatever it takes to eventually get her crew home.

5) Equinox. It happens, the remains of their crew join Voyager. Maquis round 2. The Equinox crew has to deal with a hostile Voyager crew who see them as murderers and thugs. The Equinox crew see the hate as not only unwarranted but hypocritical. They point out that Voyager has always been one run of bad luck away from their situation, and they've already been willing to bend and break Federation law to get home. The Equinox crew has one good side effect as Equinox's chief engineer and her team bolster Voyagers and for the first time in a while they manage to make some headway into Voyager's ever worsening condition.

6) Relationships. Back in the early part of the show Janeway laments about whether or not the crew will start to pair off. Faced with what will likely be a decades long trip home, if they ever arrive at all, the crew has to start deciding what to do. The way the crew deals with their situation would be a big part of the show, putting much more focus on how the crew interacts with one another than Trek usually does. In this area the B cast of characters would shine. One thing that starts happening is that many of the single crewers start to pair off. Married or seriously committed crewmen have to deal with deciding how to handle their relationships. Do they hold out hope to see their loved ones again, or do they accept that they will likely never see them again and their loved ones have probably moved on as well? Janeway realizes she can't stop people from doing it, and trying to keep them purely professional will just make things worse. In the end she doesn't endorse or discourage it, and the crew realizes that while the rules have never been rescinded they also aren't being enforced.

7) B'Elana/Tom. As a bad boy Tom sucked. A Federation badboy is about as convincing as the toughest guy in Glee club threatening you. B'Elana's generic rage never did much for me. I think the best thing to ever happen to the two characters was their hooking up. As such they'd wind up getting together much sooner in the series. Their moving in together would be the impetus for the rest of the crew to start pairing off.

8) 7 of 9. Yep, they pick her up and dump Kes. It's for the best. The first thing I'd do is that after you get your chuckles for a few episodes of her walking around in a catsuit some of the more family oriented females of the crew, like B'Elana at this point petition the captain to make 7 put some clothes on. Janeway relents and 7 gets a Starfleet uniform. Which she can lose from time to time if ratings need a boost... or two. Secondly, she's allowed to developer. Instead of finding an excuse to hit the reset button at the end of every 7 episode she'd be allowed to continue to develop and explore her humanity. It would be bumpy with her borg half occasionally getting in the way but it would happen.

9) Home. Actually make it like they're trying to get home. One of Voyagers downfalls to me was that they spent a lot of time giving lip service to getting home but would stop to sight see any old thing along the way. If I was in charge they would be no stopping to investigate every nebula or odd transmission.

10) The Doctor. I change nothing, he's my favorite character of the show period.

11) The Borg. Voyager spends all it's time avoiding them. They lengthen their trip home just so they don't have to cross large areas of Borg territory. No attacking the Borg, no picking fights, Voyager does her best to stay away.

12) Neelix. Tempted to kill him off, but I'll avoid it. He's the cook. That's it. No silly ambassador position and his use as a guide starts to diminish in late season 2. Maybe have some issues with him trying to go through starfleet bootcamp or something to get up to Starfleet minimum requirements. Try real hard to not let him be the comic relief/annoying alien. Use him in more of a Phlox style, with his main role being to point out differences between the pampered Federation life style and the realities of the Delta quadrant. Make him the ship's scrounger and guide to how to live more simply.

13) Return. I wouldn't end the show with Voyager heading for Earth. Voyager would arrive home with 2 or 3 episodes to spare. Save some time to deal with the multitude of issues that come up from Voyager being gone. Janeway's fate, the Maquis, 7 of 9, Tom, etc. How do people who might have moved on with their lives deal with finding loved ones who've moved on with theirs?

Ultimately stay true to the show's entire premise. Don't make Voyager TNG with a running gag of "Oh yeah, we're going home aren't we?"

[Praeothmin]

Pretty good analysis Tyyr, and I agree with most of what you said:

1) Maquis.
I would also give them the choice of whether they want to stay or leave the ship, and let them go, with little to no supplies, as Voyager cannot spare any, being rare...

2) The Ship.
I would show the battle damage, worsening more and more, with alien hull plating replacing the original, damaged plates.
Alien com panels replacing original starfleet panels, etc...
Torpedoes would be used sparingly, as they would not be able to replenish them since they need all avaialble material, AM included, on more vital ship parts (like engines, and shields, and Phasers).
Would stop looking pristine early on with all the battles its going through...

3) Supplies.
I would see every type of supplies being needed.
Raw materials for the hull alloys, plasma conduits, basically every ship's parts, plus the AM.
Hydroponics bay is good, as well as a good chop shop, because not all parts can be replicated, some may take more energy, and may be easier done the old fashion way.
Many negociations, many through force for the rare, important supplies.
Technology exchange if neede...

4) Janeway.
Have her play straight after some nightmares about her rule-bending sessions.
Then have the crew do everything they can (especially the Maquis, with Chacotay leading) to obtain supplies, sometimes through questionable means (or "anyway we can" in Maquis speech), and have her find out in season 4, and see how she reacts, if she'll punish the guilty, and if so, at what cost to the crew morale, a crew who got used to getting things done, not worrying about getting what they need to survive, etc...

5) Equinox.
Keep the two ships, and have the weight of added lives depending on her be felt by Janeway.
Have her harden up, decide she's had it, and fuck the rules.
Transform the show into what good intentioned people can become when desperation hits, and make Voyager grittier.

6) Relationships.
Pretty much as Tyyr said: have them pair up, makes for more interesting stories when one looses a loved one due to "stupid" command decisions...

7) B'Elana/Tom.
Have them pair up early (end of season 2), like Tyyr siad, then kill Be'lanna in season 4.
Make Be'lanna less a whiny bitch and more an angry half-Klingon Chief-Engineer ("You want to do what to MY SHIP?").
And still kill her off...

8) 7 of 9.
Data with human potential and in a hotter form.
Keep her, allow some evolution, make her part of the crew, and when people are Fed up with how inefficient Janeway is, make Chacotay the Captain and her as First Officer...
Oh yeah, keep the catsuits though...

11) The Borg.
DO. NOT. PUSSIFY. THE. BORG. EVER.
Avoid at all costs and have different events bring 7 of 9 to the ship (Voyager's version of Hugh, for example, but a Hugh they keep because it wants to stay).
The Borg remain the big scary Badasses they were, and NO BORG QUEEN DAMN IT!!!!

12) Neelix.
Kill him off.
He's a moron, admitted many times at not knowing much of what he talked about, and after season 2, when Voyager was out of the territories he had covered, was franckly useless.
Have him say (again) how he knows about the alien of the week, and make it turn out real bad, get captured with a few crewmembers, and killed while Voyager attempts to save its crewmembers.
Thay have to choose who they save, and Neelix isn't one of them...

13) Return. I wouldn't end the show with Voyager heading for Earth. Voyager would arrive home with 2 or 3 episodes to spare. Save some time to deal with the multitude of issues that come up from Voyager being gone. Janeway's fate, the Maquis, 7 of 9, Tom, etc. How do people who might have moved on with their lives deal with finding loved ones who've moved on with theirs?

Great idea, but I would even go as far as using 10 episodes to deal with everything.
Oh, and one more thing:
NO GODDAMN BATMAN ARMOR OR TRANSPHASIC TORPEDOES...

[Graham Kennedy]

You know, I just would have LOVED to see the Maquis thing played up from the start. I know for this thread we're stuck with Season 1, but if I could do it from the start...

The Maquis would have been constantly scheming and plotting ways to take control of Voyager. Nothing overt, but quietly, behind the scenes, biding their time as they gradually tried to feel out disaffected crew members who might join them, found ways to get around security systems, and formulated a plan.

Meanwhile the Starfleeters would be on their guard against exactly this... but over time would gradually relax as they came to trust the maquis.

And Chakotay would be right in the middle, between the two. He'd be a Machiavellian figure, deliberately being the Good Starfleet Officer to Janeway whilst working with the maquis behind her back... but always, always holding off, not committing, making sure that no matter which way things fall he can turn around to the winners and say "hey, I was with you guys all along." Very ambiguous. For instance, typical plot : a crewmember finds out something about Chakotay that seems kind of incriminating. Chakotay laughs it, convinces the guy not to report it because it's a fuss about nothing. Later Chakotay assigns him to an away team he's leading... and the team gets into trouble... the guy is hanging off a cliff or something, Chakotay tries to drag him up... and then he's falling dead. Did he fall or was he pushed? Did Chakotay let him slip on purpose? Not even the viewer finds out. By the time Janeway comes to suspect him, he's so popular with the crew, and she has so little evidence, that there's really nothing she can do about it directly, so the two end up maneuvering around one another, plans within plots, jockeying for position... neither one ever really sure who knows what.

I'd LOVE to have seen something like that. It would be utterly unprecedented for a show like Trek, and done right it could be compelling stuff. Hell, I'd even be tempted to have the Maquis win and do the last season or two with Chakotay in command...

[Sionnach Glic]

The idea of Chakotay being a sort of political schemer, slowly trying to gain enough influence with the crew to stage a mutiny against Janeway and her loyal officers, would be great to see played out. It could culminate in Chakotay making a grab for power, ala nBSG's "The Oath".

[Praeothmin]

The idea of Chakotay being a sort of political schemer, slowly trying to gain enough influence with the crew to stage a mutiny against Janeway and her loyal officers, would be great to see played out. It could culminate in Chakotay making a grab for power, ala nBSG's "The Oath".

Except that Chacotay was always shown as being a pretty straightforward guy, and not at all a schemer...

[Captain Seafort]

Which was one of the biggest problems with Chuckles. He was meant to be a terrorist cell commander, not an interstellar Bill Oddie.

[Sionnach Glic]

Indeed. He was as believable as a terrorist commander as a newborn kitten.

[stitch626]

I think I would follow that to a point when his attempts cause more harm than he sees it worth, and as such he slowly changes to supporting Janeway (the one we would make, not the one from the series).