TV what if: Geneviève Bujold continues in the lead role on Star Trek: Voyager

Thande

Donor
Okay, a bit of a niche one here, but I think it's worth exploring. When Star Trek: Voyager began, French Canadian actress Geneviève Bujold was cast as Captain Nicole Janeway, but dropped out after just a few scenes of the pilot, apparently due to disagreements with the producers over how to play the character.

Now we all know how those producers' opinions worked out with Kate Mulgrew. :rolleyes:

So let's say that Bujold gets her way on a few issues and decides to remain in the role. Would Voyager have been any more successful than OTL? Particularly given that a lot of people put the start of Star Trek's long decay at this point...
 
Have you seen the few scenes leaked with Bujold as Janeway? Talk about wooden. I don't see a budding romance with Chakotay (although that plot point was nixed) and I don't see her as being particularly maternal towards either Kes or Seven of Nine. Quite frankly, I think she'd be disasterous in the role and Voyager would terminate before 7 seasons. Thankfully she had a strop and left.
 
I'm a big fan of Geneviève. Mainly after her scenes in Dead Ringers (the film starring two Jeremy Ironses, not the satire). And... erm... All I can think about are the slashfics with Seven, which become much more believable now.

After watching the scene on youtube... Wow. They should have kept her just for the accent variation :eek:
 
Now we all know how those producers' opinions worked out with Kate Mulgrew. :rolleyes:

I never thought she was so bad. More that the scripts were awful and we had all seen every possible variant of "wierd stuff on your own in deep space and then find a solution involving tachyon particles" about 500 times.
 
IIRC I was excited about Voyager until I found out that Kate Mulgrew would play the Captain. I watched about three episodes, then Mulgrew's grating style turned me off, and I never watched again.
 
The earlier seasons had Voyager struggling to find its feet and the Kazon/Vidiian storylines were irritating. But by the time the 4th season (and no, this isn't a Seven of Nine reference) came around, the show found its feet, the actors gelled more smoothly and they looked more relaxed around each other making Voyager more of an enjoyable experience to watch.

I remember reading in Star Trek Magazine they wanted to find a way to throw Data in the show - although that was a plot point that was quickly retired. How might that have evolved?
 

yellowdingo

Banned
Wouldnt have lasted...Kate Mulgrew had a ruthless "beat you to death in a back room while wearing gloves - I want answers!" quality. This one is like a school teacher in charge of a battlestar...
 

Sachyriel

Banned
I remember reading in Star Trek Magazine they wanted to find a way to throw Data in the show - although that was a plot point that was quickly retired. How might that have evolved?

Data is the Star Trek version o a WW1 soldier who's Politically Unreliable. Seduced by the Borg Queen easily, wh ythe fuck would they send him to the Delta Quardrant?

Make it X-rated with Seven of Nine, and I'd watch it...

...heck, I'd read it if it were a fanfic...
 
I remember reading in Star Trek Magazine they wanted to find a way to throw Data in the show - although that was a plot point that was quickly retired. How might that have evolved?

The same way it did with TNG - every other episode the ship is threatened by the holodeck/data going rogue, as opposed to just the holodeck.

Seriously, the amount of times it got them in trouble... Just so they could live out their fantasies...
 
I remember reading in Star Trek Magazine they wanted to find a way to throw Data in the show - although that was a plot point that was quickly retired. How might that have evolved?

I hadn't heard that, although I understand that at one point in the development process, Riker was going to be Voyager's Captain.
 

Thande

Donor
I think a major problem was that they wanted continuity with TNG but the script rules made it hard - if a TNG character appeared in VGR, the writer of the original TNG episode had to be credited and paid a stipend every time that character appeared.

As far as I know, that's why we have Tom Paris instead of Nick Locarno (identical character with identical backstory played by the same actor) and Vorik instead of Taurik (introduced in TNG "Lower Decks")

I'd heard the Data thing before but I haven't heard this Riker idea. I thought they were dead set on a female captain quite early on, just because it hadn't been done before.
 
The same way it did with TNG - every other episode the ship is threatened by the holodeck/data going rogue, as opposed to just the holodeck.

Seriously, the amount of times it got them in trouble... Just so they could live out their fantasies...

Frankly, if there's one thing that would be worth the shit it causes them, it's the holodeck.
 
Frankly, if there's one thing that would be worth the shit it causes them, it's the holodeck.

Not that you ever see them use it for its logical purpose!

The look on Picard's face when he walks in on Wesley's 3-dozen woman razzle pile-up gangbang. With his Mum...

Hm...

:)
 
The Riker thing was only mentioned in an episode, I don't think it was considered; Q says to Janeway he hoped Riker would get the command.

Voyager was more often than not badly written, particularly on the tech side, witness warp 10 shuttles, endless slightly different trans warp / quantum slipstream drives and crazy (though admittedly cool) overpowered future weaponery.

Voyager of all other series was probably the weakest, I don't think changing the captain would help!
 

burmafrd

Banned
Most Trekkers seem to think Mulgrew was usually OK, and on occasion good as Captain. BUT the whole premise of the series was flawed and never really thought out well. I do agree that year 4 or so was decent to good.
 
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