Did Voyager even have a series bible?

[Yukaphile]

Past, "let's make this like TNG, start our own network?"

[hammerofglass]

If you google "Voyager series bible" a pdf version is the first result.

I think the writers ignored it most of the time. Abandoning Paris having a crush on Tuvok is a bit of a shame.

[Yukaphile]

[hammerofglass]

To be fair they may have meant something else by "drawn toward the rock-hard steadiness of Tuvok", but I'm not sure what it would be.

[CharlesPhipps]

Ron Moore had a massive 20 page rant that, sadly, is almost impossible to read because it doesn't separate into paragraphs. I did read it, though, and he talks about how essentially it was a hellish experience because none of the writers really wanted to write Voyager. They wanted to write TNG and got angry everytime he tried to use the premise of a ship caught far from home with no resources (i.e. what he did in BSG). They wanted to write about clean upstanding Federation citizens, Romulans, Ferengi, and so on. The Marquis and Delta Quadrant was like being stuck in an ironic hell for them.

He said they basically were irritated they'd been given a premise where that was hard.

Ron, having come off of DS9, was doubly frustrated.

[Yukaphile]

I've read it too.

[Makeshift Python]

Truthfully, this show probably should have had a more traditional TOS/TNG standalone format at its very conception. It's what UPN, Berman, and many of the writers ultimately wanted, rather than what Michael Piller had in mind. He was coming off high from his experience of DS9, and wanted to inject some of those ideas he was inspired from that show onto a starship show, but nobody seemed to be that interested in his concept of two crews on a lost ship.

That's partly why I have a little more admiration for those first two seasons. They're not particularly great, but there's certain elements unique to those early seasons that don't really carryover onto the post-Piller episodes. I like the relationship between Janeway and Tuvok, and thought the show did a good job of making Tuvok work and not just be another Spock clone like so many Vulcans seemed to be post-TOS. Chakotay is actually more confrontational, hands on, and opinionated. I like that moment in the mess hall where he demonstrates "the Maquis way" when one of his fellow compatriots complain about Starfleet rules and regulations.

Also notice that the first two seasons are the only ones to have a continuing story arc with Seska. I like the ideas with her character, even if it sometimes came off as heavy handed feminism. After she's killed, there's really no more continuing storylines after that. There's the Borg queen, but she's so sporadic and the writers admitted they never had any grand plans regarding her.

[AuRon]

You could argue that the show did have some continuity with Seven of Nine and the Borg. And maybe the Pairs/Torres relationship. It wasn't much though.

There was definitely a lot of wasted potential. Its understandable if the writers didn't want the show to be dark and edgy. But if that's the case then they shouldn't have gone with a premise that so naturally lends itself to dark and edgy storytelling. I could agree that going with a straightforward TNG approach would have been the best for what they wanted to do. Instead of being stranded in the Delta quadrant, just have them being sent in to explore that part of the galaxy.

But even then, there were other ways the show wasted stuff. Like Species 8472 (or whatever). Initially made out to be a huge threat, but then not. Also one of the rare cases of non human aliens, but then have them appear as humans. And the Hirogen. At first came off as large, Predator like aliens. But then changed to more generic Star Trek aliens with a hunting gimmick.

At any rate, if they hadn't gone with the premise they did, then people wouldn't keep thinking about what the show could have/should have been, and would have accepted it more for what it is. It also would have made it more believable that they would keep running into the same enemies if they still had to sometimes go back to a home base closer to the alpha quadrant. There also should have only been one ex-Maquis on there. Maybe Torres. The original premise can be a great idea, but maybe just wasn't right for Star Trek.

[Makeshift Python]

There was definitely a lot of wasted potential. Its understandable if the writers didn't want the show to be dark and edgy. But if that's the case then they shouldn't have gone with a premise that so naturally lends itself to dark and edgy storytelling. I could agree that going with a straightforward TNG approach would have been the best for what they wanted to do. Instead of being stranded in the Delta quadrant, just have them being sent in to explore that part of the galaxy.

Well that's the thing, it was Piller that created the premise and wanted to work with it, but apparently little of the staff did at all. Unlike with TNG and DS9, he was becoming the odd man out in the writers room. Scuttlebutt is that several writers felt constrained by Piller, Brannon Braga being among them, and had told Berman that if Piller didn't leave the show that they would. Once aware of this, Piller decided to cash in his chips as felt his time was over.

At any rate, if they hadn't gone with the premise they did, then people wouldn't keep thinking about what the show could have/should have been, and would have accepted it more for what it is.

I'm not even sure of that, to be honest. Even when I tried to just watch it under the format of standalone episodes that you kick off your shoes to after a long day at work, it doesn't even play as well as TOS/TNG did because it's not even consistent with itself. In the two classic shows you at least knew who the characters were as they were perfectly defined. I can't tell you who Janeway is because her morals and principles change at the whim of different writers, and then there's blank slates like Harry Kim.

I also think it didn't help that VOY had more changes in showrunners than any other Trek series and it was done all across seven seasons, whereas with TNG it all happened within two seasons before Piller set the ship in the right course. Specifically it had four different showrunners (Piller, Taylor, Braga, and Biller), so in a way it felt like four different shows with people who had different objectives. Contrast that to DS9, which had two showrunners with Piller and Ira Behr, and the transition between the two was seamless because they both shared the same interests, sensibilities, and goals for what they wanted out of DS9.

[Yukaphile]

Should have made it Andromeda. The Federation bringing their ideals to the Delta Quadrant. And ironically, that would fit in line with what those people purport to as "Gene's vision" more than what they did.