Abandoned ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ Finale Ideas Could Have Given the Sendoff It Deserved
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The way they did "Endgame" was a vicious slap across our face... they gave us fairly happy endings for most of the surviving characters: the Doc is accepted as a sentient being, Tom is a successful holonovelist, B'Elanna is an ambassador, and Harry's got his own command. Then, they have Janeway destroy that reality and replace it... with NOTHING!
I don't know about everyone else, but I want to know what DID happen to these characters, not what DIDN'T!
Seeing Voyager return in the best Disney-esque fashion in the teaser of Endgame gave the belief the crew would not have such ending in the conclusion. I found it humorous G.O.A.T. Janeway had spouts with herself which I came to the conclusion Star Trek: Voyager was never about the crew, unlike TNG and DS9 where there's moments I could share with my heroes, it was all about herself. Seemed bizarre the reason to go back in time was because of Seven or some other nonsense. I gave up on VOY the moment it started, the show had minimal expectations at best and that finale I didn't expect anything less.
I'm a bit confused with this part as either you gave up on Voyager when the show started in which case how did you see Endgame or you gave up at the beginning of Endgame which means you watched 99% of the show, which isn't really giving up at all.
It seems like the purpose of the Voyager finale was to...
1. Determine what all of the viewers wanted to see, regarding the fate of the characters they came to care about over seven years.
2. Give it to them.
3. Snatch it away and then blow a loud, disgusting, saliva-drenched raspberry in their face.
1. Determine what all of the viewers wanted to see, regarding the fate of the characters they came to care about over seven years.
2. Give it to them.
3. Snatch it away and then blow a loud, disgusting, saliva-drenched raspberry in their face.
(With Ken Biller on Endgame.)
I liked Endgame just fine. But then at no point did I expect them to show what happened after the ship got home. You get a rough idea from the beginning, then assume a happier version follows.
(And then Picard comes along and drops Seven into a grim alpha quadrant future
)
(And then Picard comes along and drops Seven into a grim alpha quadrant future
)
Or its potential.
At least Bragga got to fulfill his odd desire to kill off 7 in his horrible Hive comic.
I think Endgame was a good episode, I wouldn't maybe have made it the series finale. I know that you have to have some wham bam shocking actioneer event for a finalie.
Here's an Idea, have Endgame happen, the same way it was shown mostly on TV, Maybe without the "future" part but they still find the hub, and somehow get through, and destroy the Hub. but it was 3 episodes left before the finale. The next episode shows them back home, bunch of hugs, crying, good times had by all. Next episode have like a Starfleet briefing where they go over what happened with Janeway, somewhat of a clips show, but at the end Starfleet clasifies the future and borg tech that they have gotten, and Janeway is promoted to Admiral.
At the end of the Episode, shows the Delta side of the borg hub, with Hundreds of cubes, and them getting the Alpha quadrant portal re opened. and going through, showing the queen rebuilt and pissed.
Final episode is a balls out invasion and Janeway stealing the voyager with the crew and saving the day.
Here's an Idea, have Endgame happen, the same way it was shown mostly on TV, Maybe without the "future" part but they still find the hub, and somehow get through, and destroy the Hub. but it was 3 episodes left before the finale. The next episode shows them back home, bunch of hugs, crying, good times had by all. Next episode have like a Starfleet briefing where they go over what happened with Janeway, somewhat of a clips show, but at the end Starfleet clasifies the future and borg tech that they have gotten, and Janeway is promoted to Admiral.
At the end of the Episode, shows the Delta side of the borg hub, with Hundreds of cubes, and them getting the Alpha quadrant portal re opened. and going through, showing the queen rebuilt and pissed.
Final episode is a balls out invasion and Janeway stealing the voyager with the crew and saving the day.
My take on the ending is that it should have happened over several episodes. Barclay and SCE send over some new ideas on the quantum slipstream drive, and B'Elanna makes the modifications necessary. Meanwhile, there are increasing signs of Borg activity. So, there is an increasing atmosphere of fear, but also excitement at getting home. The penultimate episode brings this to a head: the Borg are closing in from behind at Warp 9.8, while Voyager's engines are racing along at 9.75, B'Elanna is frantically calibrating the drive. Several Borg boarding parties show up and are neutralized by basically the crew throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them. A few crew, including Harry, are hit with Borg weapons fire or assimilation injectors and the Doc is hard at work in Sickbay trying to stabilize them with 8472-inspired anti-nanite therapy. And a Borg cutting beam is cutting gashes in the hull, and Voyager is venting atmosphere and shaking like hell. Finally, B'Elanna has to choose between igniting the QS drive and fleeing engineering. She ignites it, and they zoom away, leaving the remaining Borg in the dust. The final Borg are dealt with. B'Elanna survives by carving up the intruders with a hidden bat'leth, and the Doctor's therapy saves Harry and the other victims. The slipstream field begins to destabilize, but Tom's mad piloting skills keep the ship in one piece. Then, they drop out of warp, a few light years from Earth. And that's the end of either Part 1 of the finale, or the penultimate episode. The last episode begins with Voyager in space dock, getting repaired, and details what happens once everyone is home.
I always assumed they would get home before the final episode and have some stories about the re-integration back home, it was disappointing they didn't.
I like the idea of surrendering Voyager to the Borg and launching a reverse assimilation virus, without time travel being involved. I'm glad they didn't kill Seven.
Seven is the last character you want to kill, not based on whether or not she's a good character but because she has the most interesting story to tell after she gets home. "Dying is easy, living is hard". Most of the characters futures are pretty predictable and straightforward, their arcs choreographed their endings. Seven spent four years among a crew of friendly mostly tolerant and understanding people she was able to form a community with, imagine what happens to her when that community dissolved and there she is cast off into the wild.
It's a copout when they kill off characters like Lal. It makes it so you can keep all the philosophical dilemmas they raise strictly in the abstract, come to your high minded moral conclusions, but never have to see them applied to reality with real personal consequences. Seven is the same. When you just kill them off you basically clean up your mess with a nuke so you don't have to do the more difficult and more interesting part of the writing.
I like the idea of surrendering Voyager to the Borg and launching a reverse assimilation virus, without time travel being involved. I'm glad they didn't kill Seven.
Seven is the last character you want to kill, not based on whether or not she's a good character but because she has the most interesting story to tell after she gets home. "Dying is easy, living is hard". Most of the characters futures are pretty predictable and straightforward, their arcs choreographed their endings. Seven spent four years among a crew of friendly mostly tolerant and understanding people she was able to form a community with, imagine what happens to her when that community dissolved and there she is cast off into the wild.
It's a copout when they kill off characters like Lal. It makes it so you can keep all the philosophical dilemmas they raise strictly in the abstract, come to your high minded moral conclusions, but never have to see them applied to reality with real personal consequences. Seven is the same. When you just kill them off you basically clean up your mess with a nuke so you don't have to do the more difficult and more interesting part of the writing.
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Of the ten lead characters on Voyager, they tend to fall into four tiers of "killability".
1. Expendable. If Harry had died in, say, Year 3, would anyone have noticed? About all anyone really seems to remember about him is that he was an ensign for 7 years. If he'd died when his low rank still made sense... Chakotay also qualifies, in part because they did so little with him and in part because if they snuffed the first officer, no one would be deemed safe afterward. I will count Neelix thus as well, because of the character's general unpopularity.
2. Expendable under Special circumstances. If Janeway had gone down with the ship getting her crew home, or Kes had expired at age nine, their deaths would have been acceptable. Otherwise, more problematic.
3. Important. While you could kill popular tier-2 characters like B'Elanna or Tom or Tuvok, you really don't want to.
4. Essential. These characters are the most popular and have the most storylines associated with them. Killing them off would likely enrage your fanbase and irreparably damage the show. Seven and the Doctor qualify, along with Janeway until the last episode (see #2).
1. Expendable. If Harry had died in, say, Year 3, would anyone have noticed? About all anyone really seems to remember about him is that he was an ensign for 7 years. If he'd died when his low rank still made sense... Chakotay also qualifies, in part because they did so little with him and in part because if they snuffed the first officer, no one would be deemed safe afterward. I will count Neelix thus as well, because of the character's general unpopularity.
2. Expendable under Special circumstances. If Janeway had gone down with the ship getting her crew home, or Kes had expired at age nine, their deaths would have been acceptable. Otherwise, more problematic.
3. Important. While you could kill popular tier-2 characters like B'Elanna or Tom or Tuvok, you really don't want to.
4. Essential. These characters are the most popular and have the most storylines associated with them. Killing them off would likely enrage your fanbase and irreparably damage the show. Seven and the Doctor qualify, along with Janeway until the last episode (see #2).
So, Braga wanting to kill popular characters in the series finale wasn’t confined to just Trip? Huh.
I was fine with "Endgame". However, "Endgame" could have worked better if they got home first, and then Janeway wanted to travel back in time to change the outcome. At least the various dilemmas to save one crewmember (Seven), or a bunch of crewmembers (Carey and others), or avoiding going to the Delta Quadrant altogether, or risk accidently extending the journey home could have been addressed.
I was fine with "Endgame". However, "Endgame" could have worked better if they got home first, and then Janeway wanted to travel back in time to change the outcome. At least the various dilemmas to save one crewmember (Seven), or a bunch of crewmembers (Carey and others), or avoiding going to the Delta Quadrant altogether, or risk accidently extending the journey home could have been addressed.
G.O.A.T. Janeway was promoted to Admiral and later ordered Picard to meet his clone.I liked Endgame just fine. But then at no point did I expect them to show what happened after the ship got home. You get a rough idea from the beginning, then assume a happier version follows.
(And then Picard comes along and drops Seven into a grim alpha quadrant future
I'd've settled for just telling us what happened to everyone.
To continue my last... I explained how they get back, now what happens afterward in Part II or the final episode.
After B'Elanna (who is very pregnant but still bat'leths like a boss) slaughters the last Borg, she lets out a bellow of pain.It is quickly realized that the fight put her into labor, and she is escorted to Sickbay. The Doc has everyone stabilized and can devote attention to her. Soon after, Owen Paris beams aboard. He finds his son, daughter in law, and newborn granddaughter in Sickbay. A happy reunion occurs.
The fate of other characters is determined soon after. Janeway receives a letter from Tuvok. He has made it safely to Vulcan where he reunited with his wife, mind-melded successfully with his son, and met his grandchild. All Maquis crew received a general pardon, and those who choose to remain in Starfleet will retain their rank. In darker news, a Starfleet security contingent arrives to take the Equinox survivors into custody. Janeway agrees to do what she can for them, but they have to answer for their crimes.
Tom is transferred to the SCE, who are eager to pick his brains about the Delta Flyer. Harry is promoted to full lieutenant, reunited with his parents and seen headed for his new post on an outgoing ship. He says if he does well, he should make lieutenant commander in a year. Janeway tells him she has no doubt that he will. The Doctor is set to be debriefed by Starfleet Medical: after Zimmerman's miraculous recovery, they are eager to discuss the unique knowledge he picked up in the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay is signed on by the Academy. With the quantum slipstream drive proven effective, Starfleet will soon be sending ships back into the Delta Quadrant, and his anthropological knowledge of its various cultures will soon be needed. The episode ends with him and Janeway speaking together, revealing that with her promotion to admiral, they will both be on Earth and will be able to catch up as often as they choose. They decide to go to dinner together, ending the episode.* J/C shippers will be driven to the heights of orgasm, while those who oppose the pairing can figure that they remain friends.
That's my take on how to end it. YMMV.
*The C/7 aberration never happens.
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