Voyager: I really would have kept Kes

This is a comment to a poll post on Google+.

AFAIK, the powers that be introduced Seven, but then were short on money, so they had to remove either Kim or Kes, but Kim's actor was named one of "50 most beautiful people", and so it was Kes who had to leave.

Instead, I would have definitely kept Kes, but given the actress some time to recover from the stress of work during the show's hiatus.

And as one of "50 most beautiful people" that season, the actor who played Kim would have been easily lapped up by another show.

So, I would have certainly kept Kes as part of the primary cast, because Kes was the soul of the show. Imagine the friendship between Seven and Kes :-)

I would either have removed Kim, Neelix, and Chakotay (and maybe Tom) from the show, or at least from the primary cast, and given them recurring roles instead.

The PR spin would have been about keeping the show within budget.

And in-universe, there would have been a realistic story depicting discord within the crew about having a former Borg onboard, while at the same time they met USS Equinox or another old Starfleet ship.

Preferably, I really would have given the pink slip to Kim, but the episode "Nightingale" showed another potential future path for Kim et al.

The Avalanches - Frankie Sinatra

In reply to a video comment thread —
The video (linked, of course, because I'm loth to embeds)

I heard this track first on the radio, so I knew ahead how mischievous the song was. But before I even saw the video (first time today), then every time I listened to it, I always imagined a travelling carnival of rogues and creeps, à la Carnivàle (which tv series I haven't seen yet either), along with Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge!", and a fair amount of Tim Burton's film/art, such as "Big Fish", "Batman Returns", and "Batman Forever".

The plot of the video is something of a mix of anything Stephen King would write, and what Tim Burton would readily direct.

One. Drone. Voyager. Borg.

This is in reply to a thread in IMDb about actor Todd Babcock, who played in Star Trek: Voyager episode "Drone".

In one of my earlier posts, I'd listed several cute guys on Voyager, and "Mulcahey" made the list.

In "Star Trek: Voyager", "Drone" is one of the show's best episodes, and it could have been the beginning of a longer arc, given that "One" was based on the DNA of Ensign Mulcahey (Babcock).

While "Drone" the episode was more-or-less whole, they could have expanded the storyline in order to explore the fact, that "One" and Ensign Mulcahey were essentially relatives, and this could have been the base for additional drama.

Since "One" was so valuable because of the superior technology he possessed, then USS Voyager running from the Borg could have been the leitmotif for at least half a season. The ending would have been somewhat predictable in the story arc's grand telemovie two- or three-parter, but at least it would have kept viewers on the edges of their seats, and given the series a substantial ratings boost.

Given all of the above, a much more complicated and expanded Delta Quadrant would have been on order.

I should be perplexed, that they didn't make this storyline at least into a two-parter, but the show's standard was to have self-contained episodes.

Todd Babcock looked good enough to be a regular on the series, and maybe even Seven's date and an eventual beau. Given the fact, that starship Voyager was already so far into deep space, it's not inconceivable to speculate, that Mulcahey might have already been in a relationship with someone.

In episode "Collective", Voyager encounters a Borg cube full of child drones, who have been rejected by the actual Borg Collective, because the young drones are immature, and therefore unimportant. The story ends with the destruction of the cube.

Given the presence of such a large cube, there are several flaws in the story:

1. First off, Voyager could have gotten itself another transwarp drive from that cube, and gotten closer to home.
2. Secondly, the writers could have chosen to have the cube disabled instead of destroyed by malfunction, and the cube could have been appropriated by the Voyager crew to accelerate their way home through hostile Borg territory (this can always be conjured up from hammerspace); essentially masking themselves as Borg in order to avoid assimilation and possible certain death.

Were One per above premise kept alive longer, and included into that cube appropriation development, then the stories going forward could have been extremely interesting; Many of the unimportant episodes of Voyager would just not have happened, and the series' run could even have been extended by one or two seasons, with changes in primary crew. Even "Endgame" would have been very, very different and much more exciting.