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Star Trek: Voyager could’ve killed the Battlestar Galactica reboot had one person stayed

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Star Trek: Voyager could've killed the Battlestar Galactica reboot had one person stayed

As a devoted Trekkie who has witnessed the evolution of the Star Trek universe across generations, I must admit that Ronald D. Moore’s near-miss with Voyager is a fascinating tale. While his contributions to The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine were nothing short of legendary, the experience on Voyager was a whole different beast.

Among all the Star Trek series, Voyager was the one I didn’t have a burning desire to be part of during my time with the franchise. Back when I was just starting out with Star Trek: The Next Generation, I penned some of its most memorable episodes. Later, I brought that same creative flair to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

To put it simply, the work environment on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine was significantly distinct compared to that of Voyager. While the former two were syndicated shows, Voyager served as a cornerstone for UPN’s programming lineup. As a new network, UPN was keen on gaining attention and viewers, making Voyager’s success crucial to their efforts, more so than the success of The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine.

The last two shows weren’t exclusively owned by a network; instead, they were sold to the highest bidder for syndication. Their futures were already guaranteed, which made the uncertainty impact the work environment on Voyager uniquely. When Moore visited Voyager briefly during the sixth season, he encountered a culture shock as he hadn’t anticipated this situation. Despite his short stint, he came up with an ingenious idea.

A concept that could have dramatically altered his vision for Battlestar Galactica. In an interview with Mick Joest from CinemaBlend, Moore disclosed that he almost transformed Voyager into a replica of Battlestar Galactica.

I was only on Voyager for a few months. But in that period, there was a storyline being developed that was the Voyager for a time starts shepherding some other ships, some alien ships, through some region. I don’t remember if it was a war-torn region or if it was some kind of spatial phenomenon or something. And I remember bringing up explicitly, ‘Oh, you could do a ragtag fleet here,’ sort of like [Battlestar] Galactica did, ‘And maybe that becomes something you do in multiple episodes. There’s a whole community here.’

As a devoted fan, I recall that the climax of season five and the commencement of season six was marked by the Equinox two-part episode. This epic tale unfolded the discovery of another Federation vessel within the Delta Quadrant, which had somehow managed to arrive prior to Voyager. However, unlike our starship, they encountered an entirely different reality – one marred by intense hostility and scarcity of resources for farming.

This situation forced the vessel to depend on extraterrestrials for fuel. They would seize a certain alien species and utilize their physical forms as energy for propulsion, which inevitably sparked conflicts between the two spaceships. However, Moore appeared uninterested in the outcome. In the initial ending of the series, the Equinox is annihilated, leaving its surviving crew to join the team on Voyager (although they are never seen again on screen).

It appears that Moore intended to have both the Equinox and another ship continue their journey through the Delta Quadrant jointly, picking up additional stranded vessels as they went. This concept is reminiscent of his reimagined Battlestar Galactica series where spacecraft united by a shared objective traversed the cosmos together.

As a devoted fan, let me share my thoughts on an intriguing twist in season two of the series. That’s when the Galactica stumbled upon another vessel, the Pegasus. Remarkably, the narrative arc bore a striking resemblance to that of Equinox, but here’s the catch: instead of portraying us battling extraterrestrial beings for fuel, the conflict revolved around the unchecked atrocities committed by the Pegasus crew.

If Moore hadn’t left Voyager before its seventh season, the revamped Battlestar Galactica might have taken a significantly different shape if it ever came into existence. Given that Moore appeared to be incorporating many of his ideas for the rebooted series within Voyager had he remained, this could have been a substantial influence.

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2024-10-22 15:23

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