Side characters
Just finished Voyager and one of the biggest things that the writers could have done would have been to include a steady rotation of side characters into episodes.
The earlier seasons successfully rotated side characters into the stories often making the episodes more interesting. How often did we see Seska before she finally had an important thrust into the spotlight?
I think this would have solved the main complaints I've seen about the show as well: 1. Voyager became "the 7 of 9" show 2. Beltran had nothing to do 3. Repeating ideas covered in other episodes 4. Main cast isolated from the rest of crew 5. Why does Janeway care about crew of we only see her with the same handful of people? 6. Seven could have had a much better pairing with a side character(s) like the Delaney sisters 7. It would be less predictable who would die in an episode.
I think Joe Carey is an excellent example of a fumbled character. Yes he made is to season 7, but as soon as he appeared with speaking lines in season 7 I knew he was expected to die. ESPECIALLY since he brings up his wife and kids for the first time. Joe would have even been a more appropriate person for Tom to go to for advice during the first pregnancy episode over Tuvok; Joe is fellow lieutenant who knows B'lanna.
It would have been great to have episodes that centered on the senior staff and who their teams were. Imagine a Tuvok centered episode where his security team gets unexpectedly thrust from training to real life emergency. Or a Chakotay HR episode where he had to actually solve staff problems between the merged crews, or even the string broken hearts of the Delaney sisters' exes? The closest we got were very few B'lanna episodes, but there's so much lost opportunity. We could have even have had a Neelix/Tuvok episode wherein an imprisoned Suder started to feel more loyalty and belonging to the crew despite his imprisonment due to their care and attention, while the main cast actually tackled the ethical and practical ramifications of having a long term prisoner.
What would you have liked to see?
Just finished Voyager and one of the biggest things that the writers could have done would have been to include a steady rotation of side characters into episodes.
The earlier seasons successfully rotated side characters into the stories often making the episodes more interesting. How often did we see Seska before she finally had an important thrust into the spotlight?
I think this would have solved the main complaints I've seen about the show as well: 1. Voyager became "the 7 of 9" show 2. Beltran had nothing to do 3. Repeating ideas covered in other episodes 4. Main cast isolated from the rest of crew 5. Why does Janeway care about crew of we only see her with the same handful of people? 6. Seven could have had a much better pairing with a side character(s) like the Delaney sisters 7. It would be less predictable who would die in an episode.
I think Joe Carey is an excellent example of a fumbled character. Yes he made is to season 7, but as soon as he appeared with speaking lines in season 7 I knew he was expected to die. ESPECIALLY since he brings up his wife and kids for the first time. Joe would have even been a more appropriate person for Tom to go to for advice during the first pregnancy episode over Tuvok; Joe is fellow lieutenant who knows B'lanna.
It would have been great to have episodes that centered on the senior staff and who their teams were. Imagine a Tuvok centered episode where his security team gets unexpectedly thrust from training to real life emergency. Or a Chakotay HR episode where he had to actually solve staff problems between the merged crews, or even the string broken hearts of the Delaney sisters' exes? The closest we got were very few B'lanna episodes, but there's so much lost opportunity. We could have even have had a Neelix/Tuvok episode wherein an imprisoned Suder started to feel more loyalty and belonging to the crew despite his imprisonment due to their care and attention, while the main cast actually tackled the ethical and practical ramifications of having a long term prisoner.
What would you have liked to see?