7. The Maquis On Voyager
The last season of the Next Generation had its highlights but it also suffered from the problem that a lot of TV series around that time suffered from once they had been going for a few years; the Enterprise crew had become too close, everyone was overly nice to each other and the writers were running out for things for them to do. There was no conflict to keep the show fresh, you had your enemy of the week but no drama on board the Enterprise. Deep Space Nine remedied that by being much darker, and by the time the third season rolled out, political and religious conflicts had formed as well as the impending threat of the Dominion from the Gamma Quadrant. So with the launch of Star Trek Voyager in 1995, the inclusion of the Maquis offered a dynamic to the show that was fresh. We knew the USS Voyager was going to be stranded 70,000 light years from home and joining them on the 70 year journey back to the Federation were the Maquis, a terrorist group that Starfleet had been trying to squash. How would the two crews work together? How would the differing ideologies of Starfleet and the Maquis co-exist? It presented us with drama as these groups of people from different sides of the wall try to work towards a common goal, their survival depended on it. The first couple of seasons had its moments. The Starfleet crew were not happy with Maquis members B'elanna Torres & Chakotay taking prominent roles as head of Engineering and second in command respectively, and it turned out that one of the Maquis crew, Seska, was actually a Cardassian spy in disguise and she created a bit of trouble for the crew. But overall it was apparent that there was no long term thought given to the Starfleet and Maquis dilemma The show soon returned back to the story-of-the-week formula and it was a shame, even Chakotay became ''Mr Starfleet'' overnight, forgetting almost all the issues he had with the Federation. Having a crew at war with each other and trying to get a battered ship home, that premise could have really made Voyager stand out. Instead it felt like a poorer 'Next Generation' mark two, but with extra nice. Conflict creates drama and there was hardly any conflict on Star Trek: Voyager. Early warning signs were there at the end of the pilot episode, 'The Caretaker.' Captain Janeway made a speech to the crew that the two crews were now going to work in harmony. It also told the audience at home that Star Trek Voyager was not going to be the exciting show we expected;
We're alone... in an uncharted part of the galaxy. We have already made some friends here, and some enemies. We have no idea of the dangers we're going to face, but one thing is clear. Both crews are going to have to work together if we're to survive. That's why Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew. A Starfleet crew. And as the only Starfleet vessel assigned to the Delta Quadrant, we'll continue to follow our directive to seek out new worlds and explore space. But our primary goal is clear. Even at maximum speeds, it would take seventy five years to reach the Federation, but I'm not willing to settle for that. There's another entity like the Caretaker out there somewhere who has the ability to get us there a lot faster. We'll be looking for her, and we'll be looking for wormholes, spatial rifts, or new technologies to help us. Somewhere along this journey, we'll find a way back. Mister Paris, set a course for home.