Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Tom Paris

7. Bad Boy To Spaceman First Class

In the beginning, Tom Paris "[flew] at women at warp speed," including Lieutenant Stadi, Lidell Ren of the Banea, Kes, the Delaney sisters, and half of the rest of Voyager. Producers realised, however, that their 'Don Juan of the Delta Quadrant' was at odds with what Robert Duncan McNeill — a devoted family man — brought to the role. Paris' roguish, rebellious ways were slowly abandoned to make way for more of that "natural charm and personality".

"At some point Tom Paris became a blank slate," noted Brannon Braga in Star Trek: Voyager — A Celebration. A fresh start then gave Braga the opportunity to develop a whole new side of the character via Paris' fascination with 20th — and later 19th — century history and Americana. From there, Braga added, the writers got "a portal to do some interesting little stories with him as a kind of self-reflexive, post-modern, science-fiction experiment".

Amongst the better meta was 'Captain Proton, Spaceman First Class'. Proton quickly became a fan favourite, in fact, spun off, like Arachnia, into his own (real world) novel, Captain Proton: Defender of the Earth. Robert Duncan McNeill even pitched an idea for a return of the Voyager cast in the form of an "on the holodeck only" set of serialised Captain Proton shorts. And as for Fair Haven, 'Tommy boy' might want to have a closer look at those history books!