Voyager War Story was shot down by Rick Berman

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Voyager War Story was shot down by Rick Berman

Despite its great premise, Rick Berman shot down the original idea for these Star Trek: Voyager Season 5 episode “Once upon a time,” forced the creative team to come up with something new. Voyager Season 5 has a high percentage of impressive episodes, including some that are consistently ranked as some of the Voyagers best episodes. Although it rarely gets as much love as some others, “Once Upon a Time” was important to season 5Notable for being the first major appearance of Naomi Wildman (Scarlett Pommers) as Voyagers youngest recurring character.

The premise of “Once upon a time” followed Naomi and Her experiences in a holodeck program called “The Adventures of Floater,” a program designed to teach children natural science and deductive reasoning.. Other members of VoyagerThe cast of characters is also prominent, including Neelix (Ethan Phillips), who tried to distract Naomi from hiding the fact that her mother is missing after an off-mission accident. However, the original rejected premise for “Once Upon a Time” would have featured Neelix and Naomi in a very different situation.

Why Rick Berman rejected Star Trek: Voyager’s “once upon a time” war premise

Berman didn’t want Voyager to have a war storyline for one specific reason


Scarlett Pommers as Naomi Wildman mediates an argument between Floater and Travis on the holodeck in Star Trek: Voyager, Season 5, Episode 5, "Once Upon a Time"

The initial premise for “Once Upon a Time” would have featured the rest of Voyagers crew dealing with a war while Neelix kept Naomi safe in a fantasy world in the holodeckSomething that executive producer Rick Berman shot down for a very specific reason. Talk to Cinefantastic After the episode aired, Voyager Writer Joe Menosky explained Berman’s reasoning for ultimately rejecting the idea, citing conflicts with another Star Trek series that is also currently in production. Read Menosky’s full quote below:

“Brannon Braga wanted to do the whole thing in a holodeck fantasy. Voyager went through a war outside that we only caught glimpses of. Rick Berman just didn’t want to see ‘wars’ on both Star Trek series. He rejected the idea. . “

The other show Berman was concerned about, of course, Star Trek: Deep Space NineWhich has been doing an ongoing storyline about the Dominion War since the end of season 5. DS9 is famous for its depiction of the Dominion War, and the storyline offered a unique angle that Star Trek Has rarely explored. Berman’s desire not to overwhelm the franchise with too many war episodes makes sense Given that Voyager And DS9 Are both on the air, but killing the original primes for “once upon a time” deprived Voyager Of a truly unique episode.

Star Trek: Voyager’s “Once Upon a Time” almost had a much more unique premise

The original premise for “Once Upon a Time” would have made the episode better

The original premise of “Once Upon a Time” would have made the episode much more memorable and possibly unique among its peers. Voyager installments. Writer Michael Taylor described the episode to Cinefantasticstating “The idea was much more daring. It would be real ‘Alice in Wonderland’, with Neelix and Naomi in this make-believe world for almost the entire show.“While “The Adventures of Flutter” was almost an Alice in Wonderland– like the world, The idea of ​​Neelix and Naomi both being forced to stay in the program would have elevated the intrigue of the plot significantly..

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The concept of Star Trek: Voyager‘s crew using the holodeck to protect Naomi while dealing with some big battles is truly fascinating, and the contrast between the whimsical fantasy world Neelix and Naomi would have to deal with while knowing that outside the holodeck, everything could go horribly wrong for everyone Otherwise would likely have kept audiences on the edge of their seats. Ultimately, there’s no way of knowing how “Once Upon a Time” would have played out, though Rick Berman’s decision not to give his original premise a chance is disappointing To say the least.

Source: CinefantasticVol. 31

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