I've been rewatching Voyager on TV lately...
Again from TV Tropes, Brannon Braga did say that if Voyager was up to him, the show would have frequently been like the fan favorite episode "Year of Hell": enemies on all sides, dwindling resources, and crewman pushed to the ends of their rope - he later did get such a show with the reimaged Battlestar Galactica.
Now let's say, Berman does not get into the way, what is required to get a more darker, grittier, deadly Voyager series?
I thought about this a lot recently, and it appeared to me to this would mean a bit of a change on TNG (and DS9, but not so much) before (a lot of the people involved with VOY came from TNG and DS9) so VOY is on a different track when it starts.
To explain this, one has to consider the fact that VOY basically replaced TNG so it's based on the outline of TNG but a different setting. Obviously, the producers did not want to change a "running system/money making machine" too much. DS9 got a bit more freedom, since it is really a spin off idea (running concurrently with first TNG and then VOY).
From what i noticed by rewatching all 3 series, the main flaw was that every show needed about 2 seasons to find its course. Granted, that may be fine with TNG at least, but to repeat this ind DS9 and VOY is a bit startling to me. The error behind this was that the producers just provided a setting at start, with the writers to flesh out the series over time (considering that a lot of people worked and wrote for all shows, this could probably be avoided if somebody get's an idea about this). Thus, both DS9 and VOY got an major overhaul in Season 4 (DS9 with the Klingons and VOY with the Borg). As for VOY, even the producers admitted later on that it was a mistake to have the Kazon as main antagonists for not just one but two seasons (and those were season one and two).
So how to avoid this lingering for 2-3 seasons and getting VOY on a different track?
I think if TNG nearly gets axed after the first season, the producers might be more desperate and introduce more changes then they did in OTL in season 2. (With hindsight, i think changes like Pulaski for Crusher were much better then thought of by the fans at the time, but nobody could see that when they did this.) Also, some actors might quit early, so TNG gets more deaths than Tasha early on, so main characters dieing off might be an established fact by the time of VOY then. (Fun fact, Patrick Steward had a 3 year contract in the beginning, hence the option to get him killed in the Best of both Worlds). Furthermore, this would mean that TNG needs to be fleshed out and put on the right track faster, so this could become a rule by VOY as well, considering that an boring DS9 for two seasons would be definitely get axed then, so they would have to adapt faster as well.
Thus we get in an ATL Trek World a VOY series with a slightly different setting. For example, story arcs like the Kazon are restricted to one season, the Borg are introduced earlier in the series, main characters get killed (probably Harry Kim, as he was nearly axed from the show in OTL as well). Personally, i agree with TV Tropes mediocre performance of Robert Beltran as Chakotay, but to be fair to him, his character got a bad treatment by the writers and he had to play this crap. Basically the idea of Troi being Number One sounds good on paper only. Same for the Janeway, as rumors has it that Kate Mulgrew believes her character is bipolar due to the inconsistent characterization by the writers. In a more grittier VOY both characters could probably perform better (or get killed).
We also would get slowly, over the course of the series get a much more diverse crew, as humans and others getting killed and replaced by Delta Quadrant species. Personally I would favor a Hirogen tactical officer who replaces Tuvok (think of his injury in year of hell).
But one could imagine Kazon, Borg, Krenim, Hierarchy aliens and so on. At one point, Janeway (or whoever is in charge then) has to consider if their crew wants to get home to earth, still (if half of them is from the Delta Quadrant). The ship is also affected, such as the Borg modifications they got (and lost later on), by the end of the series the VOY will look quite different than in the beginning.
Bonus points for me would be if they stay consistent with the crew (137 in the beginning), like the survivor count in BSG, so no sudden popping up of Vulcan twins later on or forgetting side chararcters (think of Carrey) for 5-6 seasons and pulling them out again later.
Again from TV Tropes, Brannon Braga did say that if Voyager was up to him, the show would have frequently been like the fan favorite episode "Year of Hell": enemies on all sides, dwindling resources, and crewman pushed to the ends of their rope - he later did get such a show with the reimaged Battlestar Galactica.
Now let's say, Berman does not get into the way, what is required to get a more darker, grittier, deadly Voyager series?
I thought about this a lot recently, and it appeared to me to this would mean a bit of a change on TNG (and DS9, but not so much) before (a lot of the people involved with VOY came from TNG and DS9) so VOY is on a different track when it starts.
To explain this, one has to consider the fact that VOY basically replaced TNG so it's based on the outline of TNG but a different setting. Obviously, the producers did not want to change a "running system/money making machine" too much. DS9 got a bit more freedom, since it is really a spin off idea (running concurrently with first TNG and then VOY).
From what i noticed by rewatching all 3 series, the main flaw was that every show needed about 2 seasons to find its course. Granted, that may be fine with TNG at least, but to repeat this ind DS9 and VOY is a bit startling to me. The error behind this was that the producers just provided a setting at start, with the writers to flesh out the series over time (considering that a lot of people worked and wrote for all shows, this could probably be avoided if somebody get's an idea about this). Thus, both DS9 and VOY got an major overhaul in Season 4 (DS9 with the Klingons and VOY with the Borg). As for VOY, even the producers admitted later on that it was a mistake to have the Kazon as main antagonists for not just one but two seasons (and those were season one and two).
So how to avoid this lingering for 2-3 seasons and getting VOY on a different track?
I think if TNG nearly gets axed after the first season, the producers might be more desperate and introduce more changes then they did in OTL in season 2. (With hindsight, i think changes like Pulaski for Crusher were much better then thought of by the fans at the time, but nobody could see that when they did this.) Also, some actors might quit early, so TNG gets more deaths than Tasha early on, so main characters dieing off might be an established fact by the time of VOY then. (Fun fact, Patrick Steward had a 3 year contract in the beginning, hence the option to get him killed in the Best of both Worlds). Furthermore, this would mean that TNG needs to be fleshed out and put on the right track faster, so this could become a rule by VOY as well, considering that an boring DS9 for two seasons would be definitely get axed then, so they would have to adapt faster as well.
Thus we get in an ATL Trek World a VOY series with a slightly different setting. For example, story arcs like the Kazon are restricted to one season, the Borg are introduced earlier in the series, main characters get killed (probably Harry Kim, as he was nearly axed from the show in OTL as well). Personally, i agree with TV Tropes mediocre performance of Robert Beltran as Chakotay, but to be fair to him, his character got a bad treatment by the writers and he had to play this crap. Basically the idea of Troi being Number One sounds good on paper only. Same for the Janeway, as rumors has it that Kate Mulgrew believes her character is bipolar due to the inconsistent characterization by the writers. In a more grittier VOY both characters could probably perform better (or get killed).
We also would get slowly, over the course of the series get a much more diverse crew, as humans and others getting killed and replaced by Delta Quadrant species. Personally I would favor a Hirogen tactical officer who replaces Tuvok (think of his injury in year of hell).
But one could imagine Kazon, Borg, Krenim, Hierarchy aliens and so on. At one point, Janeway (or whoever is in charge then) has to consider if their crew wants to get home to earth, still (if half of them is from the Delta Quadrant). The ship is also affected, such as the Borg modifications they got (and lost later on), by the end of the series the VOY will look quite different than in the beginning.
Bonus points for me would be if they stay consistent with the crew (137 in the beginning), like the survivor count in BSG, so no sudden popping up of Vulcan twins later on or forgetting side chararcters (think of Carrey) for 5-6 seasons and pulling them out again later.