Star Trek: 10 MORE Behind The Scenes Decisions We Can't Forgive

We touched on this concept a bit in our first rant, but it's worth repeating here: Voyager spent way too much time on Earth for a show ostensibly about the struggle and yearning to get to, you know, Earth.

But when it finally came time to get the crew home in Star Trek: Voyager's series finale, "Endgame", writers Kenneth Biller and Robert Doherty opted to do it almost entirely off screen.

Just a quick recap: Star Trek: Voyager was about the epic journey of the USS Voyager to get home to Earth after being whisked halfway across the galaxy by Banjo Man aka the Caretaker. This journey across space included battles with the Kazon, the Hirogen, and, of course, the Borg, but also included numerous brief trips to alternate versions of Earth, or past versions of Earth, or duplicated versions of Earth. According to DS9 writer Ronald D. Moore, one of Star Trek: Voyager's biggest problems was that the ship spent way too much time hanging around some version of Earth as though it wasn't trapped in the distant Delta Quadrant:

There have been more episodes that have taken place on Earth, or alternate Earth, or past Earth than I think the original series did in its whole run, and the original series was set over in the Alpha Quadrant... Voyager is on the other side of the galaxy, and they have already run into some alien race recreating Starfleet Academy. They’ve run into Ferengi, the Romulans. It doesn’t feel like they are that far away from home.

Moore wasn't wrong and it's possible the producers knew this going into "Endgame", opting instead to subvert expectations by opening the episode with the crew already home... but again only in an alternate version of Earth. After much hardship and action and adventure, "Endgame" does in fact end with the crew arriving at Earth. Roll credits.

No tearful arrivals. No heartfelt reunion of Tom Paris with his estranged father Admiral Paris. No Harry Kim finally treating his parents to a clarinet solo. No Captain Janeway running through a picturesque Indiana field alongside her Irish Setter, Molly. Nothing.

Just before the climax of "Endgame", Harry Kim gives an impassioned speech ostensibly telling us "It's the journey, not the destination that matters." But in Star Trek: Voyager's case, the destination definitely mattered. The show robbed itself of its greatest chance for emotion and drama and catharsis by fading to black before its beleaguered crew could finally set foot on Terra Firma.