Blog #15: Why 'Voyager' Failed, Part III

Relying on 'Holodeck' episodes is a sure sign of the lack of creativity:

Having the series take place in the Delta Quadrant was to create new adventures for this crew, yet it seemed like every second episode was a holodeck episode. Most other TV series would do a 'dream sequence' episode, which is a lame attempt at creativity in my opinion, like on 'The Sopranos'. But because this is Trek they can have these dreams be a reality on the holodeck. Holodeck adventures at times are OK, but seriously these Writers and Producers over exploited them because they lacked creativity.

 

 

Janeway was a poor Captain. Why did they not go with TNG's Riker as Captain, as was rumoured?:

When Star Trek: The Next Generation was in it's 6th season there was a rumour that the next Trek series would feature Riker as Captain. This made sense to me as it was about time he got a command of his own. He was ready to take that next step and had been offered several commands before so it would be right for him to decide to move on and offered to command this new Intrepid class starship. Actor Jonathan Frakes has been quoted as saying that he would have loved to have taken on the role of Captain in his own series. Riker had a 'Kirk' like quality to him and could have carried a series, but sadly it was not meant to be. Part of the reason could have been that they wanted Riker to stay with the TNG cast for the movies. But there is a simple solution: in the TNG 6th season episode 'Second Chances' a second duplicate Riker was introduced, Thomas Riker, who carried the rank of Lieutenant and went on to serve aboard the starship 'Indie'. That Riker could have been transferred to Voyager, perhaps achieving the rank of Lt Commander at that point and perhaps serves as second officer, like Data on TNG. It wouldn't be too far fetched to have most of the senior officers including the Captain killed off making room for Thomas Riker to step up ajnd take command himself. They did after all kill off the First Officer, Chief Engineer, Doctor and several other crew members in the pilot episode when the Caretaker brought Voyager to the Delta Quadrant. Thomas Riker could have been next in line to take command. And because this character is in a younger mindset than Commander William Riker actor jonathan Frakes would have had some creative freedom to play this 'other' Riker. Using Thomas Riker would have kept Commander Riker in the TNG movies as well. But sadly it was not meant to be and we were stuck with Janeway.

 

Anywho that ends Part III of the discussion on Why Voyager Failed. I could go on with why I don't like this series but I'm done for now. As they say whats done is done. My only hope is that whoever is developing this rumoured new Trek series isn't a fan of Voyager and doesn't use that series as a reference for the new one. See you next time!