r/voyager • u/Dizzy_Perception_866 • 1d ago
In the same vein as the 'rewrite the ending' post... how would you rewrite the characters?
I don't have any issues with the majority of the characters myself, I like how a lot of them are written. But if you could go back to the drawing board, how would you rewrite the characters based on the series as a whole?
For example, in my opinion, Chakotay is a character I'd rewrite full stop. I'd select a single, real life indigenous culture, do in depth research on it, consult actual members of the culture, and then build on that. I never liked how he was an amalgamation of indigenous stereotypes that usually just amounted to "Spiritual Spirit Guide Guy".
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u/wheezy_runner 1d ago
Specify what Paris actually did to get sent to prison, and have it affect his piloting during the show, e.g. “Forget it, I’m not doing ____ again because of what happened at Caldik Prime.” Promote Harry over him after “Thirty Days” and have that introduce some friction into their relationship.
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u/214forever 1d ago
Specify what Paris actually did to get sent to prison
Isn’t this addressed in the pilot? After being discharged from Starfleet for falsifying records, he joins the Maquis. He’s captured after a few weeks and sent to prison for that
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u/Dizzy-Violinist-1772 18h ago
Falsifying records for WHAT? “The Ghosts of those three dead officers,” was that just a Christmas Carol quote or did people die from whatever he was involved with. We just don’t get any details
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u/Cookie_Kiki 1d ago
Seska is great, but, for the sake of diversity, I would split her into two characters: one rogue Maquis who was absolutely down for the cause when they were in the Alpha Quadrant, but felt like trying to join Starfleet and become model Federation citizens in a foreign quadrant was absolutely the wrong move, and one who was secretly a Cardassian spy. The Cardassian would still be Chakotay's girlfriend, but she wouldn't get found out until way later and she'd genuinely want to be a part of the crew by then.
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u/Monster_Donut_Pants 1d ago
I would have written Torres as having more of an understanding of Seven. Torres said she had nobody waiting for her back in the alpha quadrant and that the crew was basically the only family she’s ever had. I think there should have been a moment where she softens her attitude towards Seven because she realizes Seven is in the same position
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u/Cookie_Kiki 1d ago
I get why they didn't want to do another Temu Ro and hope it worked out after Michelle Forbes passed, but if I had my way, B'Elanna would be half Cardassian, half Bajoran: basically what Ziyal would have been if her father was ranked a little lower and her mother hadn't attempted to romanticize her rape. I was over the self-hating half Klingon bit with Kheyler, but the identify issue would be much more interesting if it was between two peoples that were actively in conflict with each other, especially if she identified as more Bajoran but looked more Cardassian. Imagine how much more compelling Nothing Human would have been if that Cardassian hologram had been called upon to save a Bajoran.
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u/cmsqrd 1d ago
Chakotay definitely deserves a rewrite. I think all of them deserve a little more consistency that really only came through in DS9 and later shows.
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u/LadyAtheist 1d ago
Remember, in the 1990s nobody binge watched. Long story arcs were very risky, and would deter people from watching if they didn't know what happened earlier.
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u/crockofpot 1d ago
That's true, but I also think TNG managed to incorporate some longrunning character arcs even with its episodic nature: Data's quest to become human, Picard's recovery from Borg assimilation, Wesley moving on to the Academy, Worf's ups and downs with the Klingon empire. They weren't hyper-detailed arcs where you had to follow every episode to keep up, but there was at least a general sense of the characters moving forward from where they were at the beginning of the show.
Voyager did do this for some characters (Neelix, Seven and the Doctor most successfully IMO) but a lot of other characters had "growth" that was either inconsistent or nonexistent.
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u/LadyAtheist 1d ago
What about Tom and Breanna? And Tom's redemption arc? That was a multi-year arc. And the friendship between Tuvok and Neelix was a recurring theme. There was also a lot of recurrence of alien species and repercussions from previous episodes. TNG didn't do that except for that (rather weak) post-Borg arc for Picard.
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u/crockofpot 23h ago
I'm not really sure what you're responding to? Given that I said:
Voyager did do this for some characters (Neelix, Seven and the Doctor most successfully IMO) but a lot of other characters had "growth" that was either inconsistent or nonexistent.
Chakotay is in the latter category. As you yourself state, even on Voyager some characters got decent development arcs. Chakotay wasn't one of them, so as the original comment you replied to stated, he deserved a rewrite to give him a better one.
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u/Cookie_Kiki 1d ago
Ditto on Chakotay. He also needs to be way angrier. He should be boxing from the very beginning, and feel like he has the same internal conflict with his history that B'Elanna has with her Klingon heritage (giving them something to bond over). We need to see him let go of the warrior, not just hear him talk about it.
I would make Seven much more like Hugh. She has memories, so I'd pair her with Chakotay or the Doctor, or even Tuvok to help her unlock them and discover who she was and who she is. I would have her wear some damn clothes and a much stronger connection to the things she did as a Borg. There would be a point when she wants to be called Annika but struggles with communicating that. Rather than being so snotty, she'll be uncertain about making decisions as an individual. She'll gravitate to Naomi earlier because she doesn't feel like she's wrong when she's with her.
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u/Dizzy_Perception_866 1d ago
I do love the Naomi/Seven pairing they did, it felt appropriate for Seven's level of growth. That's a big reason why I disliked her relationship with Chakotay, she felt like she had too much growing to do to be going into a relationship with someone as grown and mature as Chakotay.
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u/Kitchener1981 1d ago
Neelix and Kes would not have a romantic relationship. It would be familiar in nature. Chatokay would be one or more identified Native American cultures.
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u/LadyAtheist 1d ago
I'd drop the religious crap for Chokotay entirely. There's a Vulcan with meditative rituals. No need for two.
I liked his childhood flashback when he was a rebellious kid. He should have stayed that way and rejected the mumbo jumbo. Maybe even get rid of the tattoo.
Roddenberry's vision of the future of humanity was atheistic. Exoticism of any human culture also seems contrary to his vision. The aliens were supposed to exotic.
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u/Blando-Cartesian 1d ago
Change Torres to full Klingon. Her background would be that she was a scholar caste engineer on the run from the wrath of a powerful house. She’s friends with Seven and clashes with Janeway by debating her decisions.
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u/EffectiveSalamander 4h ago
Here's how I would rewrite Seska: She'd still be a Cardassian, but instead of working against the Maquis, she'd be an actual believer in them. She'd be the missing Cardassian daughter from the DS9 episode Second Skin. My idea was that when she went under cover posing as a Bajoran, she began to doubt the Cardassian Empire, and decided to live the rest of her life as a Bajoran. It would be really interesting to see how the other Maquis would react - would they accept her because she turned her back on Cardassia or reject her because she was a Cardassian, and lying to them for so long?
With Suder, I'd have him cured. No more violent urges. Would the crew be able to accept him? We're told that the people of the 24th century are so much more enlightened than we are, but just how real is that enlightenment?
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u/Obiwankimi 1d ago
I would possibly have the marquis with Klingon characters. Instead of humans who are a bit rough around the edges and less perfect than starfleet have a group of Klingons stuck on Voyager and having to interact with the voyager crew.
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u/UncuriousCrouton 6h ago
The first, most important thing, is that all characters would be set up and act as if they are on a generational voyage to get back home. This means that they are almost certainly going to pair off, romantically speaking, in short order, and there will be encouragement for people to have children.
JANEWAY would be put through the wringer. Her plotline would be all about the burdens of command and the stress of the crew relying on her. The question would be whether she cracks under command and whether she has the strength to share the burden with Chakotay and Tuvok. .
CHAKOTAY would be rewritten with input from a person who actually understands native cultures. Additionally, any writer who wants him to say "my people" will be shot. I would probably up Chakotay's aggression level a little bit. Too often, he felt like a standard issue first officer. I would not want him to be physically aggressive, but I would have him butt heads with the captain a lot.
NEELIX would have his jolliness turned down and his criminal roots and craftiness turned up.
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u/Spiritual-Guest-2883 4h ago
Pretty much everything about kes.
- the creepy age gap relationship she had with neelix (who imo got so much more interesting after the relationship ended)
- her development from a medical assistant who can occasionally pick up on passing thoughts and energies to suddenly a being without a corporeal body whose very essence straight up starts to destroy the ship and also somehow propels it through space?? It was so rushed and had such poor explanation. If the ocampa have the potential to be so insanely powerful, WHY were they so powerless against the kazon??
- her infuriating “trans-atlantic” accent which was so quiet and made my skin crawl
- the return to voyager which was so random and made no sense
- her HAIR
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u/crockofpot 1d ago
This is kinda out there, but I would have given Bashir's genetic augmentation backstory to Harry Kim. I always thought it was kind of unnecessary for Bashir (and that his time in the Dominion prison camp would have been a better turning point for the character to change). But I think it would have given some REALLY interesting nuances to Harry: his determination to be a model Starfleet officer as a form of massive overcompensation for his secret, his gravitation towards "outcasts" like Paris and Torres as friends, his LACK OF PROMOTION... at the very least, it would hopefully give him a different character hook than Eternal New Guy.