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[narrator] By the mid-1990s,
Trekkies would have not one

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00:00:03,922 --> 00:00:07,050
but two Star Trek shows
to give them their fix.

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[Picard] Good luck, Mr. Sisko.

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We were a few seasons
into Next Generation when they said,

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"Let's get another one going,"
and that was Deep Space Nine.

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So I said, "Man, this is really cool.
They're gonna do a whole 'nother series."

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One day that's going to be me.

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They are chugging out 20-some-odd episodes
a year of two different series.

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[narrator]
And then there was the big screen.

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When Next Generation ended,
it went right into its first feature film.

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They say time
is the fire in which we burn.

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[narrator] Prophetic warnings aside...

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Paramount said simultaneously,
"Let's get another show."

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[narrator] ...another Star Trek series?

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Everything Star Trek is exploding.

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[narrator]
But would the new series blow up...

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Welcome aboard Voyager.

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[narrator] ...or be more of a bomb?

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So beam aboard and hold on tight

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as we boldly go
into the depths of Star Trek.

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And you can see it all from here

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in The Center Seat.

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In 1994, development
began on a fifth Star Trek show

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adding to a growing family.

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We were the baby that came along

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when Next Generation was seven years old

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but Deep Space Nine
was only two years old.

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We had six stages
at Paramount going at one time.

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It was basically the Star Trek lot.

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[Larry] Walking down Star Trek
street at Paramount,

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here's Shatner and the entourage
out in the alley between the buildings.

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He's all decked out in his monster maroon.

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Then meanwhile, here's TNG,
they're trying to get their thing wrapped.

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Across the street you've
got the three stages of DS9.

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And then, in the offices,
you've got the art department,

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you've got people who are planning
what's gonna be Voyager.

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So you really have four
Star Trek projects in the works

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at one time in this insane summer of 1994.

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[narrator] The patriarch of this family

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was a man who would come to define
the Star Trek of the '90s.

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[Tim] Rick Berman, as
the executive producer of the shows,

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he is to carry the load of
all these multiple productions.

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[narrator] So much so that the era
would become known as The Berman Era.

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It's funny, I have heard
it referred to me was the Westmore Years.

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[narrator] Whatever it was called,
there was only one person

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who didn't want another show on his hands.

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My feeling was, "Let's take a break.
We're doing it too quickly."

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And their feeling was,
"We have ratings, do it."

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[narrator]
But there was a little more to it

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because Paramount's bold plans
for Star Trek

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were one part of a much riskier project.

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Paramount
and Chris-Craft United Television stations

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joined forces to start
the United Paramount Network.

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[narrator] Better known as UPN.

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And I went to run that.

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[narrator] Paramount had explored
this territory 20 years earlier

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when it tried to launch a fourth network
to challenge The Big Three.

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But armed with wunderkind executive
Luce Salhany

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and a new Star Trek show,

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Paramount was confident
this time would be different.

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Perhaps a little too confident.

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[Lucie] We had from September
until January. The middle of January,

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we had promised the stations
we would be on the air.

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[narrator] And if launching
a network in four months

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wasn't groundbreaking enough,
Voyager would be...

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The first time we would see
a female captain leading a show.

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[narrator] Still a controversial move,
it was in fact what Star Trek's creator

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had espoused 30 years earlier.

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It's another reflection
of Gene's whole thing

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about humanity encompassing
all of its elements.

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[narrator] Star Trek was
once again ahead of its audience.

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But not too far ahead.

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The only way the audience
would accept a female captain

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is if we made her as much
of a man as possible.

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[narrator] Which sounds like the male idea
of what a female should be.

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But producers had a plan to avoid that.

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Rick said to me, "We're gonna do
a series about a female captain.

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Do you wanna be a co-creator?"

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[narrator] To which Jeri responded...

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Yes. Yes.

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[Rick] I thought it was important

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especially because we wanted
to have a female captain

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that we had a female executive producer.

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Obviously.

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[narrator] And, obviously, Jeri had
some opinions about the female captain.

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I was one who felt very strongly that

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she should be allowed
to have compassion and sensitivity

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and maybe a maternalness,

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that she should be a complete human being.

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And most importantly, a sense of self.

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A real sense of self without apology.

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[narrator]
But the creators of Voyager knew

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that it would take more than
a female captain

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to set their show apart
from the crowded slate,

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because as previously established...

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Every Star Trek begins with,

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"How do we make it exactly like
the others except totally different?"

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Rick Berman, Michael Pillar,
and Jeri Taylor

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begin a series of secret meetings.

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Now, it was getting very, very difficult

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because there had been
The Original Series,

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there had been Next Gen,
there had been Deep Space Nine.

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So how do you come up
with something that feels fresh?

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[narrator] The answer was simply
to ask fans what they wanted.

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Paramount does focus research,

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and they ask fans if they would want
another Star Trek show.

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And fans say yes,
and they prefer a ship-based show.

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[narrator] That meant daring to chart
an unknown course for Voyager.

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[Jeri] It was Michael
who came up with the idea

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of losing them in deep space.

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[narrator] When a displacement wave
knocks the Voyager

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clear across the galaxy...

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[♪ dramatic music]

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Report!

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We're over 70,000 light-years
from where we were.

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[narrator] Not much to worry about.

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Just 75 years at maximum warp,
and they'd be home.

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We had an overall mission: Get home.

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[Jeri] It was radical enough
that it made me a little nervous.

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[narrator]
And others, a little disappointed.

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I mean, come on.

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What--where, where is the exploration?

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Where is the drive
to expand our knowledge?

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"No. We just wanna go home."

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It's a fine crew,
and I've gotta get 'em home.

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This is what will make it fresh.

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This is what makes it original.

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This is what makes it different.

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This is what will make it work.

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[narrator] And they were right
to be apprehensive

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because there was a price to pay
for sending Star Trek into the unknown...

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No Klingons, no Romulans,
no Cardassians, no Trill.

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[Jeri] The popularity of Star Trek

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has a lot to do with the Klingons,
the Romulans,

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that area of space
that we all know and love

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and producing such good stories.

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[narrator] ...completely breaking
with Star Trek tradition.

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[Larry] They're setting themselves up
with this incredible challenge.

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[narrator] And that challenge was...

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Is the audience going to accept that?

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Are they going to buy it?
Are they going to resent us?

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[narrator] Let's find out
as the premiere script came together.

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This trio dared to introduce
new alien races,

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ranging from the tragic...

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She is Ocampa.

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Why would you be interested
in such worthless creatures?

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[narrator] ...to the comic.

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[Robert]
I must admit, I haven't had access

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to a food rebel--
uh, uh, replicator before.

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[narrator] Even the very bones
of Star Trek were getting a new twist.

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[man] Computer, initiate
emergency medical holographic program.

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[narrator] That is to say,
the ship's new doctor was now just an app.

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Please state the nature
of the medical emergency.

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When I read the character description,
it said,

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"A computer program of a doctor.

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Colorless, humorless."

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But I had heard
they'd seen, like, 900 actors

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and they wanted someone funny,

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but I didn't think the part
was funny on paper.

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[narrator] So in his audition,
Robert adlibbed a line,

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a little something extra
to show his chops.

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The last scripted line,

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the doctor has been left active
in sick bay, and he has nothing to do.

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Doesn't anyone know how to turn off
the program when they leave?

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And after that last line,
I took a long deadpan look

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at the 16 people watching me,

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and I said,
"I'm a doctor, not a nightlight."

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[narrator] Bones couldn't have
said it better himself.

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I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer.

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[narrator]
But even a computer-generated doctor

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needed a snappy name.

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[Larry] The Doctor was going to be named
Dr. Zimmerman for the entire first season.

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Right before we premiered,
they changed my credit

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from "Doc Zimmerman,
Robert Picardo" to "The Doctor."

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[narrator] And suddenly,
Star Trek's new doctor

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sounded a bit like a certain
more famous Doctor from across the pond.

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And in that moment, unwittingly,

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I ripped off 50 years
of British science fiction television.

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[narrator] Other new characters
had problems much bigger

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than what they were named.

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Kes, this is a surprise.

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Kes, as an Ocampan,
has a very short lifespan.

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[narrator] Living not much longer
than your average pet.

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It was a character who gave us
an interesting perspective on mortality,

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you know, how finite a human lifespan is.

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[narrator] Producers found their mayfly
in a young actress from Illinois.

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Jennifer Lien who played Kes,

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a very, a very good actress.

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[Roxann] I thought
Jennifer Lien was wonderful.

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Extremely talented, and I thought
excellent choice for that role.

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She played it to the hilt.

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[narrator] And there were plenty
more characters to cast.

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We need a Robin McNeill type
to play Paris.

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I'm already doing a job.

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[narrator] It's true.

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He'd already played a small part
in The Next Generation.

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But not to worry.

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Fine. He's another character. Okay.

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Well, then I guess I'm yours.

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[narrator] Another Next Generation
veteran was Ethan Phillips,

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who would swap spiky teeth
for pointy ears and a Mohawk.

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00:09:18,935 --> 00:09:20,353
Neelix.

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00:09:20,437 --> 00:09:21,521
[narrator] Eventually.

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The initial script
suggested something different.

205
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[Ethan] It said he was, um, an android

206
00:09:26,484 --> 00:09:28,236
and, uh, I didn't know what that--

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I figured it was a guy who had,
like, an "oid" hanging from his ch--

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00:09:30,447 --> 00:09:31,865
I didn't know what the hell it was.

209
00:09:31,948 --> 00:09:35,035
[narrator] Well, at this point,
no one knew what much of anything was

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00:09:35,118 --> 00:09:37,829
because, without its beloved Klingons,

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Star Trek needed a new band
of would-be villains.

212
00:09:40,749 --> 00:09:42,000
Hail the Maquis.

213
00:09:42,709 --> 00:09:44,336
[Brannon]
One of the ingredients was

214
00:09:44,419 --> 00:09:46,546
this group of rebels
called the Maquis.

215
00:09:46,629 --> 00:09:49,424
The renegades that had broken away
from the Federation.

216
00:09:49,507 --> 00:09:51,092
They're our antagonists

217
00:09:51,176 --> 00:09:53,845
that we're gonna have to come
to some kind of understanding with.

218
00:09:53,928 --> 00:09:56,139
[narrator] And leading
these potentially sinister insurgents,

219
00:09:56,222 --> 00:09:58,266
Robert Beltran as Chakotay.

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00:09:58,350 --> 00:10:00,852
Commander, you and I
have the same problem.

221
00:10:00,935 --> 00:10:03,688
I think it makes sense to try
and solve it together, don't you?

222
00:10:03,772 --> 00:10:08,318
[narrator] And this rogue faction
soon found itself aboard Voyager.

223
00:10:08,401 --> 00:10:09,778
[man] Watch out, Captain.
They're armed.

224
00:10:09,861 --> 00:10:13,990
That to me was the most
interesting part of the pilot.

225
00:10:14,074 --> 00:10:16,534
We are going to have conflict
not only with aliens

226
00:10:16,618 --> 00:10:19,454
and other stuff that
we meet out in the universe,

227
00:10:19,537 --> 00:10:21,664
we're gonna have it onboard the ship.

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00:10:21,748 --> 00:10:25,085
[narrator] And although this could have
been the source of a lot of tension...

229
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Didn't go anywhere.

230
00:10:26,461 --> 00:10:29,089
I didn't think this Maquis thing
would last. And I was right.

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00:10:29,172 --> 00:10:33,093
[narrator] In fact,
it didn't even survive the first episode.

232
00:10:33,176 --> 00:10:34,552
Permission to speak freely.

233
00:10:34,636 --> 00:10:37,138
I was hoping that they would
play with that a little bit longer.

234
00:10:37,222 --> 00:10:40,058
There's conflict embedded
in the whole situation.

235
00:10:40,141 --> 00:10:44,187
[narrator] But writers soon realize
the conflict scenario didn't make sense.

236
00:10:44,270 --> 00:10:47,232
Now, was it because I didn't
wanna deal with it and I ignored it,

237
00:10:47,315 --> 00:10:49,484
or is it because they're stuck
on a desert island?

238
00:10:49,567 --> 00:10:51,277
We are not at home.

239
00:10:51,361 --> 00:10:55,281
There is no purpose for them
in the wrong quadrant of the galaxy,

240
00:10:55,365 --> 00:10:57,283
and we're on a lifeboat.

241
00:10:57,367 --> 00:11:00,036
What kind of trouble are
you gonna make on a lifeboat, man?

242
00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,832
[narrator] So instead of conflict,
the Maquis brought the opposite.

243
00:11:03,915 --> 00:11:06,167
[Kate] Both crews are going to have
to work together

244
00:11:06,251 --> 00:11:08,044
if we're to survive.

245
00:11:08,128 --> 00:11:10,713
[narrator] Diversity
in the starship's crew was mirrored

246
00:11:10,797 --> 00:11:13,633
by real diversity in Voyager's cast.

247
00:11:13,716 --> 00:11:15,051
My grandparents are from Mexico.

248
00:11:15,135 --> 00:11:18,721
We are mestizos.
We are half-European, half-native.

249
00:11:18,805 --> 00:11:20,181
I'm Puerto Rican.

250
00:11:20,265 --> 00:11:23,935
And as I was growing up, I didn't really
see anybody that looked like me on TV.

251
00:11:24,018 --> 00:11:28,982
[narrator] Star Trek's infinite diversity
was once again challenging its audience.

252
00:11:29,065 --> 00:11:31,651
They asked me, "Well, how could there be
an African-American Vulcan?"

253
00:11:31,734 --> 00:11:33,236
Well, I think the phrase is

254
00:11:33,319 --> 00:11:35,864
"infinite diversity
and infinite combinations," isn't it?

255
00:11:35,947 --> 00:11:37,949
[narrator]
And for the true pedants out there,

256
00:11:38,032 --> 00:11:41,995
it's worth pointing out that
the planet Vulcan has multiple suns.

257
00:11:42,078 --> 00:11:44,539
Meaning it's hot.

258
00:11:44,622 --> 00:11:47,208
So what is the temperature gonna be like
on the equator of that planet?

259
00:11:48,293 --> 00:11:49,377
[narrator] But the producers had left

260
00:11:49,461 --> 00:11:52,130
their toughest
casting decision until last.

261
00:11:52,213 --> 00:11:56,259
And for the captain, even getting
the name right was a challenge.

262
00:11:56,342 --> 00:11:57,802
First name was Elizabeth.

263
00:11:57,886 --> 00:12:01,514
It turns out there is a real-life
Elizabeth Janeway of high repute.

264
00:12:01,598 --> 00:12:04,893
She is the wife
of economist Eliot Janeway.

265
00:12:04,976 --> 00:12:07,520
So, oh, no, we can't use
a real person's name.

266
00:12:07,604 --> 00:12:08,897
So then it becomes Kathryn.

267
00:12:08,980 --> 00:12:12,233
And then 20 years later,
Jeri Taylor has a chance to interact

268
00:12:12,317 --> 00:12:14,944
with the real-life Elizabeth Janeway,

269
00:12:15,028 --> 00:12:17,280
and she says, "You know,
we almost named her for you

270
00:12:17,363 --> 00:12:18,490
but we couldn't name--"

271
00:12:18,573 --> 00:12:20,325
and Elizabeth Janeway
says, "Oh, my God.

272
00:12:20,408 --> 00:12:22,327
I would have been thrilled
if you'd named her Elizabeth."

273
00:12:22,410 --> 00:12:25,079
[narrator] Instead,
Elizabeth was now a Kathryn,

274
00:12:25,163 --> 00:12:27,707
but who best to embody this new matriarch?

275
00:12:27,790 --> 00:12:30,460
They had to find this middle ground

276
00:12:30,543 --> 00:12:32,337
of someone who could show a heart

277
00:12:32,420 --> 00:12:34,422
and be kind of, in many respects,

278
00:12:34,506 --> 00:12:38,551
a mother to her crew
but also be in charge.

279
00:12:38,635 --> 00:12:43,306
We struggled to find
an actress to do that.

280
00:12:43,389 --> 00:12:46,309
I mean, we read
hundreds of people, literally.

281
00:12:46,392 --> 00:12:49,521
[narrator] Leaving no stone unturned
in their search for a captain,

282
00:12:49,604 --> 00:12:54,192
producers considered nearly
every established TV heroine ever.

283
00:12:54,275 --> 00:12:55,652
Erin Grey from Buck Rogers.

284
00:12:55,735 --> 00:12:57,654
Attention, alien spacecraft.
Do you read?

285
00:12:57,737 --> 00:12:58,821
Linda Hamilton.

286
00:13:00,031 --> 00:13:02,116
- There's Susan Gibney.
- We made a good team.

287
00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:03,618
Lindsay Wagner,
the Bionic Woman.

288
00:13:04,786 --> 00:13:07,622
[narrator] But this catalogue
of kickass lead to nothing.

289
00:13:07,705 --> 00:13:11,417
They brought in an actress
who had obviously had some success

290
00:13:11,501 --> 00:13:14,671
with Mrs. Columbo,
good working actress, Kate Mulgrew.

291
00:13:14,754 --> 00:13:17,882
[narrator] And I know what you're
thinking, but she didn't get the job,

292
00:13:17,966 --> 00:13:19,551
at least not yet.

293
00:13:19,634 --> 00:13:20,885
We weren't all that taken,

294
00:13:20,969 --> 00:13:24,764
and so didn't even
offer her a second reading.

295
00:13:24,847 --> 00:13:27,517
[narrator] But then a big name
put her hat in the ring,

296
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,311
albeit a hat that no one saw coming.

297
00:13:30,395 --> 00:13:34,691
It was made known to us that
Genevieve Bujold was interested in this.

298
00:13:34,774 --> 00:13:38,861
[narrator] Genevieve Bujold
was an Academy Award-nominated actress.

299
00:13:38,945 --> 00:13:41,739
She was a name.
She was more associated with art films.

300
00:13:42,323 --> 00:13:44,242
Brother, I must fight. I must.

301
00:13:44,325 --> 00:13:47,328
Everybody was excited beyond belief.

302
00:13:47,412 --> 00:13:49,372
I pushed hard for Genevieve Bujold

303
00:13:49,455 --> 00:13:52,792
because I was a huge fan of hers.

304
00:13:52,875 --> 00:13:57,589
We asked her to read,
and she didn't wanna do that.

305
00:13:58,881 --> 00:14:01,259
I think she felt it was demeaning to her

306
00:14:01,342 --> 00:14:04,512
that an actress of her stature and caliber

307
00:14:04,596 --> 00:14:06,264
to be asked to read a part.

308
00:14:06,347 --> 00:14:09,934
[narrator] Not wanting to offend
the Oscar-nominated actress...

309
00:14:10,018 --> 00:14:12,729
[Jeri] We made the decision
not to ask her to read

310
00:14:12,812 --> 00:14:16,065
but to give her the part,
convinced that it would be wonderful.

311
00:14:16,149 --> 00:14:18,192
[narrator] But not everyone
shared the hunch.

312
00:14:18,276 --> 00:14:20,236
[Rick] And I remember very, very clearly

313
00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:22,905
telling both Michael Piller
and Jeri Taylor,

314
00:14:22,989 --> 00:14:24,782
who were enamored with her,

315
00:14:24,866 --> 00:14:27,285
that I didn't think it was gonna work.

316
00:14:30,872 --> 00:14:34,792
[narrator] Star Trek: Voyager
had landed a genuine marquee star

317
00:14:34,876 --> 00:14:37,003
to be its first female captain.

318
00:14:37,086 --> 00:14:40,131
People know Genevieve Bujold
is a marketable name.

319
00:14:40,214 --> 00:14:43,051
[narrator] But not everyone
was quite so excited.

320
00:14:43,134 --> 00:14:45,970
There was a part of me
that knew it wasn't gonna work.

321
00:14:46,054 --> 00:14:50,266
[narrator] And with a very
expensive pilot on the line,

322
00:14:50,350 --> 00:14:52,894
Voyager needed to hit the bull's eye.

323
00:14:52,977 --> 00:14:56,689
Voyager absolutely was,
was our premier show.

324
00:14:56,773 --> 00:14:59,317
[narrator]
Luckily, they had an A-list cast.

325
00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:03,446
The Cardassians claim they forced
the Maquis ship into a plasma storm

326
00:15:03,529 --> 00:15:05,782
where it was destroyed,

327
00:15:05,865 --> 00:15:08,618
but our probes
haven't picked up any debris.

328
00:15:08,701 --> 00:15:13,122
After one day's shooting,
we were a little dismayed.

329
00:15:13,206 --> 00:15:15,458
She was very passive.

330
00:15:15,541 --> 00:15:17,752
And I literally can't hear
what she's saying.

331
00:15:17,835 --> 00:15:19,212
That was the first sign.

332
00:15:19,295 --> 00:15:22,256
Excuse me, Captain.
Is that--do we--now? You mean now?

333
00:15:22,340 --> 00:15:24,884
We might be able to disperse it
with a graviton particle field.

334
00:15:24,967 --> 00:15:26,886
Do it. Red alert.

335
00:15:27,970 --> 00:15:31,224
I think this was
a very conscious choice on her part,

336
00:15:31,307 --> 00:15:34,310
that she didn't need to be strong

337
00:15:34,394 --> 00:15:37,480
or imperious or controlling.

338
00:15:37,563 --> 00:15:41,859
Dramatically, this did not translate well.

339
00:15:41,943 --> 00:15:45,863
It created the effect that she didn't care
if she was there or not.

340
00:15:45,947 --> 00:15:49,784
[narrator] The film actress also struggled
to fit her big screen expectations

341
00:15:49,867 --> 00:15:51,994
into small screen realities.

342
00:15:52,078 --> 00:15:54,706
This was a woman
who had just done feature films.

343
00:15:54,789 --> 00:15:56,165
She had never done television.

344
00:15:56,249 --> 00:15:59,085
She was used to doing
one page a day. We do seven.

345
00:15:59,168 --> 00:16:01,337
You know, with dialogue
changing every 10 minutes.

346
00:16:01,421 --> 00:16:05,049
[narrator] Day one of shooting
had become a slow motion train wreck.

347
00:16:05,133 --> 00:16:08,094
And we talked to the director
and said, you know,

348
00:16:08,177 --> 00:16:11,180
"We need to have a little more
substance from this woman."

349
00:16:11,264 --> 00:16:12,890
And he said, "I know.

350
00:16:12,974 --> 00:16:15,727
And I have tried,
and it's not happening."

351
00:16:15,810 --> 00:16:18,646
[narrator] Perhaps things
would be better on day two.

352
00:16:18,730 --> 00:16:20,022
It was exactly the same.

353
00:16:20,106 --> 00:16:22,483
[narrator] Genevieve
had gone down a rabbit hole,

354
00:16:22,567 --> 00:16:25,319
and she decided to stay there.

355
00:16:25,403 --> 00:16:29,157
She basically went into her trailer
and wouldn't come out.

356
00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:31,868
Then our shooting schedule went to hell.

357
00:16:31,951 --> 00:16:33,828
The studio got incredibly upset.

358
00:16:33,911 --> 00:16:37,081
[narrator] This was starting
to cost Paramount serious money.

359
00:16:37,165 --> 00:16:40,793
The problem is if you fire her,
you have to pay her for the whole season.

360
00:16:40,877 --> 00:16:42,795
It's a lot of money, even for Star Trek.

361
00:16:42,879 --> 00:16:47,800
[narrator] But before push came to shove,
Genevieve offered an olive branch.

362
00:16:47,884 --> 00:16:50,803
She summoned the three of us,
Rick, Michael, and I,

363
00:16:50,887 --> 00:16:55,600
to her trailer and said she just
didn't feel she could go on with this.

364
00:16:55,683 --> 00:16:59,270
This was not the right choice for her.
It was not the right part.

365
00:16:59,353 --> 00:17:02,899
[narrator] And while sympathetic,
the producers were more than anything...

366
00:17:02,982 --> 00:17:04,567
Deeply relieved.

367
00:17:04,650 --> 00:17:07,403
[narrator] A move
that instantly saved Paramount money

368
00:17:07,487 --> 00:17:10,156
but landed the production
in choppy waters.

369
00:17:10,239 --> 00:17:13,201
Our Academy Award-winning
actress is going.

370
00:17:13,284 --> 00:17:15,077
Scandal. Scandal. This is the doom ship.

371
00:17:15,161 --> 00:17:16,537
This is the ship of the dead,

372
00:17:16,621 --> 00:17:18,372
the Star Trek
that will never get off the ground.

373
00:17:18,456 --> 00:17:21,542
[narrator] It was back to square one,
and with time against them...

374
00:17:21,626 --> 00:17:23,252
They go back through the files and say,

375
00:17:23,336 --> 00:17:25,755
"Maybe we should give
a second read to some people."

376
00:17:25,838 --> 00:17:27,924
[narrator] And thanks
to a little detective work,

377
00:17:28,007 --> 00:17:31,385
they discovered Ms. Columbo, again.

378
00:17:31,469 --> 00:17:34,889
And so Kate came in and read.

379
00:17:34,972 --> 00:17:36,432
[narrator] For a second time.

380
00:17:36,516 --> 00:17:38,976
But that didn't mean
she was doubly prepared.

381
00:17:39,060 --> 00:17:40,645
I didn't watch any Star Trek.

382
00:17:40,728 --> 00:17:42,814
In fact, somebody once said,
"Oh, Patrick Stewart is here."

383
00:17:42,897 --> 00:17:45,608
I was at a party, and I said,
"Who's Patrick Stewart?"

384
00:17:45,691 --> 00:17:47,026
And they all gasped.

385
00:17:47,109 --> 00:17:50,071
[narrator] Well, in any case,
at the second audition...

386
00:17:50,154 --> 00:17:51,781
I was free in the audition room.

387
00:17:51,864 --> 00:17:54,826
I was able to give my take
on Kathryn Janeway.

388
00:17:54,909 --> 00:17:58,287
[narrator] It was less gasping
and more sighs of relief.

389
00:17:58,371 --> 00:18:02,083
And it was such a profound difference

390
00:18:02,166 --> 00:18:05,169
between what Genevieve had done
and what Kate was doing.

391
00:18:05,253 --> 00:18:07,338
And I remember as I left the room,

392
00:18:07,421 --> 00:18:11,342
if I didn't do it literally,
I felt that I was winking at Rick Berman.

393
00:18:11,425 --> 00:18:12,802
[narrator] So there's no surprise that...

394
00:18:12,885 --> 00:18:15,388
My first choice
and all of our first choice was Kate.

395
00:18:15,471 --> 00:18:18,558
[narrator] But Kate had little time
to get accustomed to the chair.

396
00:18:18,641 --> 00:18:22,186
I think I had about a weekend
to pull myself together,

397
00:18:22,270 --> 00:18:25,022
but it felt like I was being
shot out of a cannon.

398
00:18:25,106 --> 00:18:27,608
It was... so intense.

399
00:18:27,692 --> 00:18:30,361
[narrator] And if learning her part
overnight wasn't enough...

400
00:18:30,444 --> 00:18:32,488
She was under a tremendous
amount of scrutiny.

401
00:18:32,572 --> 00:18:34,782
[narrator]
With jittery studio suits hovering,

402
00:18:34,866 --> 00:18:37,827
Kate had inherited
the toughest of tough crowds.

403
00:18:37,910 --> 00:18:39,829
I only remember coming onto the bridge

404
00:18:39,912 --> 00:18:43,082
and having to perform
that initial monologue.

405
00:18:43,165 --> 00:18:44,375
We're alone...

406
00:18:45,501 --> 00:18:48,337
in an uncharted part of the galaxy.

407
00:18:48,421 --> 00:18:51,507
With a lot of men in suits
standing at the lip of the bridge,

408
00:18:51,591 --> 00:18:53,843
arms folded, "Is she gonna do this?

409
00:18:53,926 --> 00:18:57,388
Because we've got a wonderful actor
in the wings."

410
00:18:57,471 --> 00:19:00,266
[narrator] Kate was not only
the producer's last chance,

411
00:19:00,349 --> 00:19:03,561
she was turning
into the sisterhood's last stand.

412
00:19:03,644 --> 00:19:05,813
There were all these rumors
that if we didn't find

413
00:19:05,897 --> 00:19:08,649
the right woman
to play Captain Janeway

414
00:19:08,733 --> 00:19:12,528
that the studio might
make it a male after all.

415
00:19:12,612 --> 00:19:16,157
[narrator] Suddenly Kate wasn't
the only cast member getting nervous.

416
00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:19,285
[Robert] If Janeway were now a man,
then one of the other characters

417
00:19:19,368 --> 00:19:22,371
that was presently a man
might be turned into a woman.

418
00:19:22,455 --> 00:19:25,583
So we were all a little nervous
about losing our jobs.

419
00:19:27,335 --> 00:19:29,170
[narrator]
With the fate of a new network

420
00:19:29,253 --> 00:19:32,715
and the entire Star Trek franchise
on her shoulder,

421
00:19:32,798 --> 00:19:34,634
Kate Mulgrew dug deep.

422
00:19:34,717 --> 00:19:36,427
And when that kind of attention is on you,

423
00:19:36,510 --> 00:19:39,764
it's very hard to relax
and inhabit the character

424
00:19:39,847 --> 00:19:43,601
with a kind of grace and confidence
that only comes over time.

425
00:19:43,684 --> 00:19:46,228
So I had to really act.

426
00:19:46,312 --> 00:19:47,396
Let's see what happens.

427
00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:49,231
[Kate] I had to pull myself together,
and I thought,

428
00:19:49,315 --> 00:19:51,776
"Well, this is what it's going to be like.
It's going to be tough."

429
00:19:51,859 --> 00:19:54,779
Kate came on set,
we were filming in the corridors,

430
00:19:54,862 --> 00:19:57,031
and everybody burst into applause.

431
00:19:57,114 --> 00:19:59,408
Oh, my gosh.
We can get back to work now.

432
00:19:59,492 --> 00:20:02,203
Kate Mulgrew came in and just took
charge of that role from the beginning.

433
00:20:02,286 --> 00:20:05,873
And she was clearly the captain.
She was in charge.

434
00:20:05,957 --> 00:20:09,627
And you could totally buy a ship
full of people following her orders.

435
00:20:09,710 --> 00:20:11,003
It just felt right.

436
00:20:11,087 --> 00:20:14,215
[narrator] But there were still plenty
of other things they could get wrong,

437
00:20:14,298 --> 00:20:19,595
like the entire plot for the two-part
premier episode, called "Caretaker."

438
00:20:19,679 --> 00:20:23,224
They're supposed to be an advanced race,
but they can't find any water?

439
00:20:23,307 --> 00:20:26,769
[narrator] The Kazon
were no substitute for the Klingons.

440
00:20:26,852 --> 00:20:31,315
You know, you've got, like, warp-capable
spacecraft, but you're thirsty?

441
00:20:31,399 --> 00:20:33,317
I mean, it just seemed kind of silly.

442
00:20:33,401 --> 00:20:36,570
[narrator] And, incidentally,
it wasn't just the Kazon who were thirsty.

443
00:20:36,654 --> 00:20:39,657
And it was, you know, a hundred degrees,
and I was in that makeup.

444
00:20:39,740 --> 00:20:41,575
[Neelix] They all trade,
and they all kill each other for it.

445
00:20:41,659 --> 00:20:42,827
[Ethan] Everybody was bitching.

446
00:20:42,910 --> 00:20:44,996
Finally, I just got so sick
of listening to the bitching, I said,

447
00:20:45,079 --> 00:20:47,164
"Listen, guys, I got a mattress
glued to my head,

448
00:20:47,248 --> 00:20:48,708
you guys should shut the... up."

449
00:20:48,791 --> 00:20:51,043
My friends, it's good to see you again.

450
00:20:51,127 --> 00:20:52,253
Oh.

451
00:20:52,336 --> 00:20:55,881
[narrator] Well, the script wasn't quite
holding water for Brannon Braga, either.

452
00:20:55,965 --> 00:20:59,427
My only contribution to the pilot,
I think, was that I thought

453
00:20:59,510 --> 00:21:03,222
the initial drafts were missing
some kind of weirdness.

454
00:21:03,305 --> 00:21:04,390
[narrator] Well, not for long.

455
00:21:04,473 --> 00:21:05,558
[Aunt Adah] Come up here.

456
00:21:05,641 --> 00:21:09,020
I have a pitcher of lemonade
and some sugar cookies.

457
00:21:09,103 --> 00:21:11,939
You're being catapulted
to the Delta Quadrant.

458
00:21:12,023 --> 00:21:14,442
We need a little Twilight Zone-ness
going on,

459
00:21:14,525 --> 00:21:17,653
and I think their answer to that
was this banjo man thing.

460
00:21:19,238 --> 00:21:21,574
[narrator]
But not just your regular banjo man.

461
00:21:21,657 --> 00:21:24,285
He turns out to be
a super powerful dying alien.

462
00:21:24,368 --> 00:21:25,828
[narrator] Who really looks like this

463
00:21:25,911 --> 00:21:29,957
and was responsible for the wellbeing
of the subterranean Ocampas.

464
00:21:30,041 --> 00:21:32,918
We had no idea that our technology

465
00:21:33,002 --> 00:21:35,796
would be so destructive
to their atmosphere.

466
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:37,757
[narrator] But aside from a cool banjo,

467
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,010
The Caretaker also
has a very powerful array

468
00:21:41,093 --> 00:21:42,803
that could send Voyager home.

469
00:21:42,887 --> 00:21:46,432
But in doing so, it would fall
into the hands of the Kazon

470
00:21:46,515 --> 00:21:48,851
who would use it
to steal the Ocampas' water...

471
00:21:48,934 --> 00:21:51,062
And they won't be able to survive.

472
00:21:51,145 --> 00:21:53,898
[narrator] ...leaving Captain Janeway
with a tough choice:

473
00:21:53,981 --> 00:21:56,942
either use The Caretaker's array
to get home

474
00:21:57,026 --> 00:21:59,236
or destroy it and save the Ocampa.

475
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:00,780
But it means being stranded.

476
00:22:00,863 --> 00:22:02,198
I'm aware everyone has families

477
00:22:02,281 --> 00:22:04,158
and loved ones and homes
they wanna get back to.

478
00:22:04,241 --> 00:22:05,534
So do I.

479
00:22:05,618 --> 00:22:09,622
But I'm not willing to trade the lives
of the Ocampa for our convenience.

480
00:22:09,705 --> 00:22:11,165
We'll have to find another way home.

481
00:22:11,248 --> 00:22:14,126
And she carries that burden with her
for the entire series.

482
00:22:14,210 --> 00:22:17,213
But it was very brave
to cut all the moorings loose.

483
00:22:19,548 --> 00:22:21,717
[Tim] We're like castaways out there.

484
00:22:21,801 --> 00:22:25,096
We are on our own,
and we are in unexplored space.

485
00:22:25,179 --> 00:22:26,847
They've taken away the safety net.

486
00:22:26,931 --> 00:22:31,143
There is no Klingon, Romulan,
Cardassian to fall back on.

487
00:22:31,227 --> 00:22:36,398
What you hope is that by going
into a completely fresh area of space,

488
00:22:36,482 --> 00:22:39,360
you have enough potential material

489
00:22:39,443 --> 00:22:43,823
that you don't have to have
a favorite enemy.

490
00:22:43,906 --> 00:22:46,742
[narrator] Furthermore, since
they're still on a one-way trip home,

491
00:22:46,826 --> 00:22:49,203
that meant there would be
no doubling back.

492
00:22:49,286 --> 00:22:50,830
Even if we encountered, you know,

493
00:22:50,913 --> 00:22:52,915
a really interesting species
like the Vidiians,

494
00:22:52,998 --> 00:22:54,708
you know, as soon as we were
past somebody in space,

495
00:22:54,792 --> 00:22:56,710
we wouldn't be coming back
and seeing them again.

496
00:22:56,794 --> 00:22:59,296
In a way, it was a little bit
of a drawback.

497
00:22:59,380 --> 00:23:02,883
The fact that Voyager
was constantly moving under--

498
00:23:02,967 --> 00:23:06,554
on a trajectory to get home
was not a drawback

499
00:23:06,637 --> 00:23:09,849
in terms of encountering species
a second time,

500
00:23:09,932 --> 00:23:13,394
because a species like the Vidiians,
they could be far-spread.

501
00:23:13,477 --> 00:23:16,772
They can live on other worlds.
They have warp ships too.

502
00:23:16,856 --> 00:23:19,108
Like--and so what, by the way?

503
00:23:19,191 --> 00:23:20,943
It forces you to come up with new stuff.

504
00:23:21,026 --> 00:23:23,863
[narrator] Producers were confident
this "lost in space" Star Trek

505
00:23:23,946 --> 00:23:25,197
would find an audience...

506
00:23:25,281 --> 00:23:27,116
We'll find a way back.

507
00:23:27,199 --> 00:23:29,076
[narrator]
...even if they couldn't find home.

508
00:23:30,327 --> 00:23:31,787
And they were right.

509
00:23:31,871 --> 00:23:34,999
And, of course, Voyager
premieres in January 1995

510
00:23:35,082 --> 00:23:36,500
to extraordinary viewership.

511
00:23:36,584 --> 00:23:39,712
[narrator] 21.3 million viewers.

512
00:23:39,795 --> 00:23:41,839
We're the second highest-rated network.

513
00:23:41,922 --> 00:23:43,424
And it was big for UPN.

514
00:23:43,507 --> 00:23:47,303
[narrator] But unlike the Kazon,
this audience wasn't thirsty for more.

515
00:23:47,386 --> 00:23:49,680
You never know
what an audience is going to do.

516
00:23:49,763 --> 00:23:51,056
[narrator]
Soon after the premiere...

517
00:23:51,140 --> 00:23:54,977
The numbers diminished,
and that was distressing,

518
00:23:55,060 --> 00:23:57,980
and we weren't certain why.

519
00:23:58,063 --> 00:24:00,983
[narrator] And neither was UPN,
but they forged ahead.

520
00:24:01,066 --> 00:24:03,861
They had really left themselves
with no other option.

521
00:24:03,944 --> 00:24:07,364
And depending on one show
to launch an entire network,

522
00:24:07,448 --> 00:24:10,284
is--it, it seemed to be--well,
I guess they know what they're doing.

523
00:24:10,367 --> 00:24:12,745
[narrator] There was at least
one place where they could find out

524
00:24:12,828 --> 00:24:16,207
what the audience really thought
of Voyager and Captain Janeway.

525
00:24:16,290 --> 00:24:18,626
In March of 1995,

526
00:24:18,709 --> 00:24:22,963
there is the first Star Trek convention
since the show came out.

527
00:24:23,047 --> 00:24:25,633
And they opened it up
for a question-and-answer time.

528
00:24:25,716 --> 00:24:28,928
So this middle-aged man
gets up and he says,

529
00:24:29,011 --> 00:24:34,433
"The jury is still out on you
as captain of Voyager,

530
00:24:34,516 --> 00:24:39,730
as a woman leading a Star Trek series,
and as you as an actress."

531
00:24:41,148 --> 00:24:45,402
And you could have heard
a pin drop in that room.

532
00:24:46,737 --> 00:24:49,198
If memory serves she responded,

533
00:24:49,281 --> 00:24:51,617
"Well, I'm sorry you think that way."

534
00:24:51,700 --> 00:24:55,162
How many Star Trek fans
does it take to screw in a light bulb?

535
00:24:55,246 --> 00:24:56,247
Four.

536
00:24:56,330 --> 00:24:58,165
One to screw it in,
and then three to argue

537
00:24:58,249 --> 00:25:00,751
about how much better they did it
on The Original Series.

538
00:25:00,834 --> 00:25:05,130
[narrator] Within a few episodes,
Voyager's voyage appeared doomed.

539
00:25:05,214 --> 00:25:06,548
[Jeri] If you don't have viewers,

540
00:25:06,632 --> 00:25:09,635
then you don't have a show
that's going to continue.

541
00:25:09,718 --> 00:25:12,179
[narrator]
For now, Paramount had a show,

542
00:25:12,263 --> 00:25:15,266
but they barely had a network
to run it on.

543
00:25:15,349 --> 00:25:18,310
We called ourselves a network,
but we only had a few nights.

544
00:25:18,394 --> 00:25:19,603
We only had six hours.

545
00:25:19,687 --> 00:25:21,647
We weren't a legitimate network
at that time.

546
00:25:21,730 --> 00:25:25,109
[narrator] United Paramount Network
had a credibility issue.

547
00:25:25,192 --> 00:25:28,445
And it was, you know, universally
called the "U Pretend" Network.

548
00:25:28,529 --> 00:25:30,155
Let's pretend we're a network!
Okay.

549
00:25:30,239 --> 00:25:32,283
[narrator]
And the other science fiction on it

550
00:25:32,366 --> 00:25:34,994
wasn't looking terribly legitimate either.

551
00:25:35,077 --> 00:25:38,455
Give us one good reason
why we be in business with you again?

552
00:25:41,834 --> 00:25:43,669
That's two good reasons.

553
00:25:43,752 --> 00:25:46,297
There was no sense of what the brand was.

554
00:25:46,380 --> 00:25:48,716
Voyager's the biggest thing there,
and they all have high hopes

555
00:25:48,799 --> 00:25:51,093
that it's gonna bust UPN
into the stratosphere.

556
00:25:51,176 --> 00:25:52,511
[narrator] Well, it hadn't.

557
00:25:52,594 --> 00:25:54,513
But UPN doubled down.

558
00:25:54,596 --> 00:25:59,810
The feeling was that something
needed to give some oomph to the show.

559
00:25:59,893 --> 00:26:01,395
[narrator]
And it's not like they could rely

560
00:26:01,478 --> 00:26:04,523
on Captain Janeway's love life
to spice things up.

561
00:26:04,606 --> 00:26:08,152
They were extremely mindful
of writing for a woman.

562
00:26:08,235 --> 00:26:11,196
There was a little less
of the bravado of Kirk

563
00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:13,907
or the derring-do of Picard,

564
00:26:13,991 --> 00:26:16,410
and a little more of the humanity
and warmth

565
00:26:16,493 --> 00:26:21,623
that we so often think in this culture
belongs to the female gender.

566
00:26:21,707 --> 00:26:23,542
[narrator] It may have been
a noble approach,

567
00:26:23,625 --> 00:26:25,627
but it left the writers
backed into a corner

568
00:26:25,711 --> 00:26:28,714
when it came to adding
a little bit of onscreen sizzle.

569
00:26:28,797 --> 00:26:31,216
I had given up any hope of a marriage,

570
00:26:31,300 --> 00:26:33,761
any hope of having a child of my own.

571
00:26:33,844 --> 00:26:37,097
Well, I guess that's what we get
for having a woman in the captain's seat.

572
00:26:37,181 --> 00:26:40,017
[narrator] ...because what really
unnerved the producers

573
00:26:40,100 --> 00:26:43,979
was the prospect
of a female captain with desires.

574
00:26:44,063 --> 00:26:45,105
Get out.

575
00:26:45,189 --> 00:26:49,068
They were so concerned
that the audience might think

576
00:26:49,151 --> 00:26:52,196
that Janeway has a thing for Q

577
00:26:52,279 --> 00:26:58,077
that they took that kind of color
off of our palette.

578
00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,662
[narrator] But so she wouldn't be
completely sexless,

579
00:27:00,746 --> 00:27:04,041
they designed a safe
romantic companion for her.

580
00:27:04,124 --> 00:27:07,252
An interesting and intriguing man...

581
00:27:07,336 --> 00:27:09,338
[speaking in foreign language]

582
00:27:09,421 --> 00:27:13,967
...who could challenge her
and yet be compassionate with her.

583
00:27:14,051 --> 00:27:16,720
[narrator] There was only one man
who fit the bill.

584
00:27:16,804 --> 00:27:18,889
And I loved all
the Leonardo De Vinci stuff.

585
00:27:18,972 --> 00:27:20,265
Welcome.

586
00:27:20,349 --> 00:27:24,269
[narrator] That's right.
The 16th-century Italian Renaissance man,

587
00:27:24,353 --> 00:27:27,022
or at least a holographic
projection of him.

588
00:27:27,106 --> 00:27:31,485
There was a group of very
sort of strident women

589
00:27:31,568 --> 00:27:33,779
who were infuriated

590
00:27:33,862 --> 00:27:35,906
that we would have her

591
00:27:35,989 --> 00:27:39,451
have a relationship with a mock person

592
00:27:39,535 --> 00:27:40,869
rather than a real person.

593
00:27:40,953 --> 00:27:44,498
That somehow that lessened her
or denigrated her.

594
00:27:44,581 --> 00:27:46,875
This is Leonardo De Vinci
we're talking about.

595
00:27:46,959 --> 00:27:48,419
Simulation or not,

596
00:27:48,502 --> 00:27:51,255
he's one of the greatest creative minds
in Earth's history.

597
00:27:52,464 --> 00:27:54,466
In my mind, it was the perfect solution

598
00:27:54,550 --> 00:27:58,720
because it was a place she could go
when she needed to talk about something

599
00:27:58,804 --> 00:28:01,557
and have a friend
who would talk about it with her.

600
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,601
[narrator] But during the years
adrift in space,

601
00:28:04,685 --> 00:28:06,979
other relationships had blossomed.

602
00:28:07,062 --> 00:28:10,065
The Doctor had a very unique
relationship with Kes

603
00:28:10,149 --> 00:28:13,694
because ostensibly he was mentoring her
as his medical assistant.

604
00:28:13,777 --> 00:28:15,696
What are the bones of the middle ear?

605
00:28:15,779 --> 00:28:17,656
Malleus, incus, and stapes.

606
00:28:17,739 --> 00:28:22,870
But she really was mentoring him
in his developing sense of entitlement

607
00:28:22,953 --> 00:28:24,913
as a--as an artificial intelligence.

608
00:28:24,997 --> 00:28:28,792
Doctor, did you notice how rudely
that officer treated you?

609
00:28:28,876 --> 00:28:30,169
No more so than most.

610
00:28:30,252 --> 00:28:32,337
[narrator] Kes and The Doctor
were doing their part

611
00:28:32,421 --> 00:28:34,089
to keep Voyager on the air.

612
00:28:34,173 --> 00:28:37,134
She was an extraordinary actor.

613
00:28:37,217 --> 00:28:41,388
Um, absolutely unedited and present.

614
00:28:41,472 --> 00:28:43,849
[narrator]
Despite some gripping performances,

615
00:28:43,932 --> 00:28:47,478
it became clear the actress
was in the grip of something else.

616
00:28:47,561 --> 00:28:53,358
She began to become distracted,
inattentive.

617
00:28:53,442 --> 00:28:55,444
There was just something off.

618
00:28:55,527 --> 00:28:57,196
When you say hello,
"Hey, Jenny, how are you doing,"

619
00:28:57,279 --> 00:28:58,947
she--you don't--you're not sure
what kind of response

620
00:28:59,031 --> 00:29:00,741
you're gonna get back from her.

621
00:29:00,824 --> 00:29:04,620
Jennifer was extremely quiet and private.

622
00:29:04,703 --> 00:29:06,371
Really monosyllabic.

623
00:29:06,455 --> 00:29:08,665
We don't know
what was going on in her life,

624
00:29:08,749 --> 00:29:10,083
but whatever it was,

625
00:29:10,167 --> 00:29:13,295
it didn't allow her
to perform her duties on set.

626
00:29:13,378 --> 00:29:18,800
[narrator] The previously focused actress
was turning into a multi-take factory.

627
00:29:18,884 --> 00:29:20,385
[man] One more time, please.

628
00:29:20,469 --> 00:29:22,679
And you'd have to do take two,
take three, take four.

629
00:29:22,763 --> 00:29:27,351
[Jeri] I asked her to come
into my office and probed gently

630
00:29:27,434 --> 00:29:29,603
to see if there was something
going on in her life,

631
00:29:29,686 --> 00:29:31,897
if there's anything I could help her with,

632
00:29:31,980 --> 00:29:35,067
and she simply wouldn't speak at all.

633
00:29:35,150 --> 00:29:37,361
She completely shut down.

634
00:29:37,444 --> 00:29:39,655
I don't think anyone knows
what was going on,

635
00:29:39,738 --> 00:29:43,158
but clearly there was something
emotionally... upset.

636
00:29:43,242 --> 00:29:46,912
And I think all of us
were kind of getting the...

637
00:29:46,995 --> 00:29:50,749
the feeling that Jennifer maybe
really didn't wanna be there.

638
00:29:50,832 --> 00:29:53,168
I think maybe the grind
was starting to get to her.

639
00:29:53,252 --> 00:29:55,963
[narrator] Sadly, the producers
never got to the bottom

640
00:29:56,046 --> 00:29:58,590
of whatever was troubling the actress.

641
00:29:58,674 --> 00:30:01,593
She would not open up about it.

642
00:30:01,677 --> 00:30:04,888
She would not consider
getting any help for it.

643
00:30:04,972 --> 00:30:07,307
It was more powerful than she was,

644
00:30:07,391 --> 00:30:09,893
and she was simply unable to continue.

645
00:30:09,977 --> 00:30:12,688
[narrator] With one of
the most popular characters in trouble

646
00:30:12,771 --> 00:30:14,940
and ratings still sliding,

647
00:30:15,023 --> 00:30:18,068
by the end of season three,
it was obvious...

648
00:30:18,151 --> 00:30:20,988
You have a network
that's demanding changes.

649
00:30:21,071 --> 00:30:23,365
[narrator] ...and resistance was futile.

650
00:30:28,787 --> 00:30:32,332
[narrator] Due to actress
Jennifer Lien's personal crisis,

651
00:30:32,416 --> 00:30:36,628
Star Trek: Voyager was set to
lose a crewmember in season four.

652
00:30:36,712 --> 00:30:38,714
Jeri Taylor fought the network

653
00:30:38,797 --> 00:30:41,091
who wanted to just cut things off,
you know?

654
00:30:41,174 --> 00:30:42,926
"Oh, she's gone." And Jeri's like, "No,

655
00:30:43,010 --> 00:30:45,387
she deserves the dignity
of a farewell as a character."

656
00:30:45,470 --> 00:30:47,973
[narrator]
So Kes got a glowing goodbye.

657
00:30:48,056 --> 00:30:50,809
The way that we wrote her out
was kind of like killing her off

658
00:30:50,892 --> 00:30:54,688
in that she sort of evolved
into a greater form of energy.

659
00:30:54,771 --> 00:30:57,399
[narrator] With the departure
of a popular character

660
00:30:57,482 --> 00:30:59,860
and ratings in a downward spiral,

661
00:30:59,943 --> 00:31:02,821
Voyager would live or die by season four,

662
00:31:02,904 --> 00:31:05,866
and so producers came up with the plan,

663
00:31:05,949 --> 00:31:07,951
best summed up in four words:

664
00:31:08,035 --> 00:31:10,120
Bring Back The Borg.

665
00:31:10,203 --> 00:31:11,204
My God.

666
00:31:12,414 --> 00:31:14,916
Everybody was really excited
to be able to use the Borg.

667
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,711
[narrator] Star Trek was returning
to the tried and true.

668
00:31:17,794 --> 00:31:22,341
The Borg, a villainous alien species
from The Next Generation,

669
00:31:22,424 --> 00:31:26,178
would be imported as a way
to introduce some danger.

670
00:31:26,261 --> 00:31:28,930
The Borg are gonna be our Klingons
in the Delta Quadrant.

671
00:31:29,014 --> 00:31:31,308
They're gonna be our recurring villain.

672
00:31:31,391 --> 00:31:34,227
Because, you know, obviously it had been
established in The Next Generation

673
00:31:34,311 --> 00:31:37,648
that Borg was in the Delta Quadrant,
and here we were in the Delta Quadrant.

674
00:31:37,731 --> 00:31:40,150
Their space appears to be vast.

675
00:31:40,233 --> 00:31:44,029
It includes thousands of solar systems,
all Borg.

676
00:31:44,112 --> 00:31:47,282
[narrator] But the return of the Borg
was only half the story.

677
00:31:49,493 --> 00:31:51,411
We had the first all-digital villain,

678
00:31:51,495 --> 00:31:54,956
I believe, in all of Star Trek,
which I called 90210.

679
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:57,167
- 1234. Yeah. Yes.
- Yeah. 675309.

680
00:31:57,250 --> 00:31:58,251
[narrator] It's actually...

681
00:31:58,335 --> 00:32:00,420
Species 8472.

682
00:32:00,504 --> 00:32:03,715
Species 8472 was designed
to be like the scariest aliens

683
00:32:03,799 --> 00:32:05,175
that we had encountered yet.

684
00:32:05,258 --> 00:32:06,843
[narrator] With a scary price tag.

685
00:32:06,927 --> 00:32:08,220
This is in the early days of CG,

686
00:32:08,303 --> 00:32:11,014
and having a CG character
was expensive and, and difficult.

687
00:32:11,098 --> 00:32:13,475
You know,
we only were able to see that creature

688
00:32:13,558 --> 00:32:15,727
15, 18 seconds worth of film, maybe.

689
00:32:15,811 --> 00:32:18,897
[narrator] But not even
the power of 1990's computing

690
00:32:18,980 --> 00:32:21,650
could outmatch what they had planned next.

691
00:32:21,733 --> 00:32:23,360
What if there was a Borg crew member?

692
00:32:23,443 --> 00:32:26,071
[narrator] The answer
to that question became a character

693
00:32:26,154 --> 00:32:29,449
that would pose all sorts of challenges
for the Voyager crew.

694
00:32:29,533 --> 00:32:33,412
[Maria] Her original name was Phira
in the meetings that they had,

695
00:32:33,495 --> 00:32:35,914
but they always knew that her name
was gonna be a number.

696
00:32:35,997 --> 00:32:36,998
Seven of Nine.

697
00:32:37,082 --> 00:32:40,460
[narrator] Numbers destined to become
the bane of Captain Janeway's life.

698
00:32:40,544 --> 00:32:43,630
And this is Janeway,
who's about to take the biggest risk

699
00:32:43,714 --> 00:32:45,340
a captain has ever taken,

700
00:32:45,424 --> 00:32:47,718
where Janeway
wants to make a deal with the Borg.

701
00:32:47,801 --> 00:32:50,971
The present situation
requires that we consider your plan.

702
00:32:51,054 --> 00:32:53,765
[Lisa] We had treated the Borg
just as this...as this mass, you know?

703
00:32:53,849 --> 00:32:57,018
That they specifically
did not have individuality,

704
00:32:57,102 --> 00:33:00,772
and yet we had to develop
this individual character

705
00:33:00,856 --> 00:33:04,109
who had been, you know,
assimilated when she was a child

706
00:33:04,192 --> 00:33:08,822
and so had not grown up
as an individual herself.

707
00:33:08,905 --> 00:33:11,241
And so, once we kind of freed her
from the Collective,

708
00:33:11,324 --> 00:33:12,534
you know, against her will,

709
00:33:12,617 --> 00:33:15,579
then it was like she almost had to,

710
00:33:15,662 --> 00:33:18,081
to go back
to being a child again in a way,

711
00:33:18,165 --> 00:33:21,168
to, to find her own personality
and her own voice.

712
00:33:21,251 --> 00:33:24,212
Seven of Nine gave us the opportunity
to show the struggle

713
00:33:24,296 --> 00:33:25,714
of somebody who's...you know,

714
00:33:25,797 --> 00:33:27,966
as badly broken as a human can be

715
00:33:28,049 --> 00:33:32,012
and watch her journey back to humanity.

716
00:33:32,095 --> 00:33:34,139
And that's not something
that had been done before.

717
00:33:34,222 --> 00:33:36,349
[narrator]
The inspiration for casting was to move

718
00:33:36,433 --> 00:33:39,686
as far away
from the traditionally Borg as possible.

719
00:33:39,770 --> 00:33:42,189
And maybe
it's a very statuesque...you know,

720
00:33:42,272 --> 00:33:45,275
we talked about kind of a Grace Kelly,
cool demeanor.

721
00:33:45,358 --> 00:33:46,693
[narrator] Or put another way...

722
00:33:46,777 --> 00:33:47,778
A babe.

723
00:33:47,861 --> 00:33:49,362
[narrator] ...a Borg babe.

724
00:33:49,446 --> 00:33:51,907
We had lots of casting sessions

725
00:33:51,990 --> 00:33:54,367
because we needed a, a, a good actor.

726
00:33:54,451 --> 00:33:56,912
[narrator]
Producers considered a number of actors.

727
00:33:56,995 --> 00:33:58,079
All right.

728
00:33:58,163 --> 00:33:59,164
[narrator] But in the end...

729
00:33:59,247 --> 00:34:02,918
[Rick] Michael, Jeri, and I
all agreed on Ms. Ryan.

730
00:34:03,001 --> 00:34:04,586
[narrator] That's Jeri Ryan.

731
00:34:04,669 --> 00:34:09,174
It truly was not Jeri Ryan's appearance
that got her the job.

732
00:34:09,257 --> 00:34:11,301
She read it the best of anyone.

733
00:34:11,384 --> 00:34:15,680
I wanted Seven of Nine to come on
and freshen up each and every character

734
00:34:15,764 --> 00:34:18,308
and have her own relationship
with each character.

735
00:34:18,391 --> 00:34:21,311
[narrator] This was a case
of being careful what you wish for.

736
00:34:21,394 --> 00:34:25,524
[Rick] All of a sudden a new woman
arrives who is part alien

737
00:34:25,607 --> 00:34:27,526
and who is stunning,

738
00:34:27,609 --> 00:34:31,154
and the press
put a lot of focus onto her.

739
00:34:31,238 --> 00:34:33,323
[narrator] Which was music to UPN's ears.

740
00:34:33,406 --> 00:34:35,325
She became very popular.

741
00:34:35,408 --> 00:34:37,285
Please welcome the lovely Jeri Ryan.

742
00:34:37,369 --> 00:34:40,163
[narrator] Which was exactly
what producers had wanted.

743
00:34:40,247 --> 00:34:43,667
I think people that weren't in
the Star Trek world or fans of Star Trek

744
00:34:43,750 --> 00:34:46,878
were made aware
of this, this new character coming on.

745
00:34:46,962 --> 00:34:49,047
I mean,
there was a huge amount of publicity,

746
00:34:49,130 --> 00:34:53,260
so we had a lot of new eyes on,
on Voyager that we didn't have before.

747
00:34:53,343 --> 00:34:54,344
[narrator] However...

748
00:34:54,427 --> 00:34:55,637
It upset the cast.

749
00:34:55,720 --> 00:34:57,806
Some people were really bothered by this.

750
00:34:57,889 --> 00:34:59,975
The issue that I had
with Seven of Nine's character

751
00:35:00,058 --> 00:35:03,895
is that she sounded a lot like I did,
which is redundant.

752
00:35:03,979 --> 00:35:08,567
You are erratic, conflicted, disorganized.

753
00:35:08,650 --> 00:35:10,277
Every decision is debated.

754
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:11,820
Every action questioned.

755
00:35:11,903 --> 00:35:15,907
If you have a diverse cast,
and every cast member plays off the other,

756
00:35:15,991 --> 00:35:18,785
if you have two characters
that are too similar,

757
00:35:18,869 --> 00:35:20,287
then you don't get that dynamic.

758
00:35:20,370 --> 00:35:24,165
[narrator] So onscreen conflict
was mirrored by off-screen tension.

759
00:35:24,249 --> 00:35:25,250
I'd, uh...

760
00:35:26,710 --> 00:35:28,503
prefer not to discuss Seven of Nine.

761
00:35:28,587 --> 00:35:32,090
And I think that I was startled
by, uh, her presence.

762
00:35:32,173 --> 00:35:34,593
And I think the tension
and the electricity

763
00:35:34,676 --> 00:35:37,012
between us was quite palpable.

764
00:35:37,095 --> 00:35:39,681
To come in and,
and, and do all this work

765
00:35:39,764 --> 00:35:41,975
and carry the show as the lead character

766
00:35:42,058 --> 00:35:44,728
and then to have to, to take a backseat...

767
00:35:44,811 --> 00:35:47,606
[narrator] Producers
had introduced a breath of fresh air,

768
00:35:47,689 --> 00:35:51,234
only to find the core cast
gasping for oxygen.

769
00:35:55,322 --> 00:35:58,241
[narrator] Seven of Nine
had made a splash with viewers

770
00:35:58,325 --> 00:36:01,620
but now found herself
navigating troubled waters

771
00:36:01,703 --> 00:36:04,164
on an increasingly rancorous set.

772
00:36:04,247 --> 00:36:07,083
Voyager becomes
a more unpleasant place to work.

773
00:36:07,167 --> 00:36:09,836
I get so many close-ups.
If she gets a close-up, I get a close-up.

774
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,005
There was times where one
wouldn't come out of the trailer

775
00:36:12,088 --> 00:36:14,174
until the other one
came out of the trailer.

776
00:36:14,257 --> 00:36:16,801
[David] I remember one day,
I was coming onto the set in the morning.

777
00:36:16,885 --> 00:36:19,763
Kate comes storming up to me and she said,

778
00:36:19,846 --> 00:36:21,514
"Why do you shoot her that way?"

779
00:36:21,598 --> 00:36:24,476
And I said,
"What--what are you talking about?"

780
00:36:24,559 --> 00:36:26,645
She said,
"Well, you do these shots along her body,

781
00:36:26,728 --> 00:36:28,897
and, and you do this and you do that."

782
00:36:28,980 --> 00:36:31,942
I didn't know what to tell her,
because it was true that I was doing that.

783
00:36:32,025 --> 00:36:37,739
But, also, it's because you can't help
but show her physicality.

784
00:36:37,822 --> 00:36:40,116
I felt she was objectified a bit.

785
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:43,411
Because you have to remember,
Voyager went on the air

786
00:36:43,495 --> 00:36:45,497
as a, as a feminist statement.

787
00:36:46,957 --> 00:36:50,794
Yeah, we really embraced her looks.

788
00:36:50,877 --> 00:36:54,214
We did. I mean, that outfit was,
was something else.

789
00:36:54,297 --> 00:36:56,841
[narrator] And for the show's star,
it seemed like the arrival

790
00:36:56,925 --> 00:36:59,302
of Jeri Ryan wasn't exactly welcomed.

791
00:36:59,386 --> 00:37:02,263
I can definitely see Kate
being threatened.

792
00:37:02,347 --> 00:37:04,891
Kate is human.
I've worked with her a lot.

793
00:37:04,975 --> 00:37:07,560
But that's something actors are taught.

794
00:37:07,644 --> 00:37:09,729
"No, you've gotta fight for yourself.
You gotta fight for your lines.

795
00:37:09,813 --> 00:37:12,273
You gotta fight for your scenes.
You gotta fight for your publicity.

796
00:37:12,357 --> 00:37:13,733
All you have is your name."

797
00:37:13,817 --> 00:37:16,111
It's this fear.
All that comes from fear.

798
00:37:16,194 --> 00:37:18,071
[narrator]
The battle lines had been drawn,

799
00:37:18,154 --> 00:37:22,492
and cast members found themselves
having to choose a side.

800
00:37:22,575 --> 00:37:26,162
I stepped away. I stepped back
and just allowed things to settle.

801
00:37:26,246 --> 00:37:30,041
I felt terrible for Kate

802
00:37:30,125 --> 00:37:34,963
because it was,
I think, very difficult for her.

803
00:37:35,046 --> 00:37:38,591
Jeri was just, uh, trying to do her job.

804
00:37:38,675 --> 00:37:42,595
Why screw it up with these stupid,
uh, ego things?

805
00:37:42,679 --> 00:37:45,306
[narrator] But whatever friction
was going on behind the scenes,

806
00:37:45,390 --> 00:37:49,185
it was somehow
creating real electricity on-screen.

807
00:37:49,269 --> 00:37:52,147
In the end, that relationship
between Janeway and Seven of Nine

808
00:37:52,230 --> 00:37:54,983
was not only classic but essential,

809
00:37:55,066 --> 00:37:58,486
I think, to the growth
and the movement of Voyager.

810
00:37:58,570 --> 00:38:00,697
It only served the relationship.

811
00:38:00,780 --> 00:38:02,907
And Jeri Ryan did a wonderful job.

812
00:38:02,991 --> 00:38:06,286
There was depth to the character.

813
00:38:06,369 --> 00:38:10,081
The wild child coming in
and discovering humanity

814
00:38:10,165 --> 00:38:13,168
turned out to be really
the heart of the show.

815
00:38:13,251 --> 00:38:15,587
You're experiencing difficult emotions.

816
00:38:16,629 --> 00:38:17,964
Guilt.

817
00:38:18,048 --> 00:38:20,258
Shame. Remorse.

818
00:38:20,341 --> 00:38:22,594
Then you haven't lost your humanity.

819
00:38:22,677 --> 00:38:26,306
And it ends up being a completely
effective addition to the cast

820
00:38:26,389 --> 00:38:28,600
and also her performance
was extraordinary.

821
00:38:28,683 --> 00:38:30,769
Jeri is... was incredibly talented.

822
00:38:30,852 --> 00:38:34,397
And for any lingering thoughts of,
"Oh, they've just hired a bimbo here,"

823
00:38:34,481 --> 00:38:35,982
I mean, that was quickly put to rest.

824
00:38:37,442 --> 00:38:39,235
Just the person I was looking for.

825
00:38:39,319 --> 00:38:42,238
She brought that miraculous nuance.

826
00:38:42,322 --> 00:38:46,743
She's both kind of invulnerable
and vulnerable at the same time.

827
00:38:46,826 --> 00:38:48,286
[Rick] She just got better and better,

828
00:38:48,369 --> 00:38:51,122
so we, we, we kind of
hit a home run with her.

829
00:38:51,206 --> 00:38:55,627
[narrator] As real-life traumas
reduced cast morale to a new low,

830
00:38:55,710 --> 00:38:57,128
the show reached a new high.

831
00:38:57,212 --> 00:39:00,423
[Mark] The introduction of Jeri Ryan
briefly did help the ratings.

832
00:39:00,507 --> 00:39:02,425
People won't give up on us so soon.

833
00:39:02,509 --> 00:39:06,429
[narrator] But even with Seven of Nine
and a spike in ratings,

834
00:39:06,513 --> 00:39:11,184
you might start wondering whether
the problem wasn't Voyager at all.

835
00:39:11,267 --> 00:39:14,479
We were at a disadvantage
in terms of outreach.

836
00:39:14,562 --> 00:39:19,150
Some regions didn't carry UPN,
plain and simple.

837
00:39:19,234 --> 00:39:22,278
In a lot of cases,
were some bad UHF channels.

838
00:39:22,362 --> 00:39:25,281
UPN, you can get with a pair of,
you know, rabbit ears on a TV.

839
00:39:25,365 --> 00:39:28,451
It was like the worst situation
you wanna be in,

840
00:39:28,535 --> 00:39:31,287
the flagship show for UPN.

841
00:39:31,371 --> 00:39:32,372
God help them.

842
00:39:36,626 --> 00:39:39,254
[narrator]
With the producers doing everything right,

843
00:39:39,337 --> 00:39:43,049
UPN just couldn't attract viewers.

844
00:39:43,133 --> 00:39:45,218
But it got even worse.

845
00:39:45,301 --> 00:39:48,596
I had made the decision
before season four started

846
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,640
that I was going to retire
at the end of it.

847
00:39:50,723 --> 00:39:53,518
And, uh, it was time. I was ready.

848
00:39:53,601 --> 00:39:55,895
[narrator]
Into the void stepped Brannon Braga

849
00:39:55,979 --> 00:39:58,606
as co-executive producer and showrunner.

850
00:39:58,690 --> 00:40:01,401
Brannon was the person
who had sort of risen

851
00:40:01,484 --> 00:40:04,654
and the one who seemed like
he had the chops.

852
00:40:04,737 --> 00:40:10,451
I was completely caught off guard by it,
but got excited at the idea.

853
00:40:10,535 --> 00:40:12,245
[narrator] Braga's involvement
in the show was about

854
00:40:12,328 --> 00:40:15,832
to go much deeper
than his predecessors might have liked.

855
00:40:15,915 --> 00:40:18,877
Jeri Ryan and I
became involved in season five.

856
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:20,879
And they started living together.

857
00:40:20,962 --> 00:40:24,549
[narrator] The furor of Seven of Nine's
arrival and unexpected rise

858
00:40:24,632 --> 00:40:26,968
had only just started to die down.

859
00:40:27,051 --> 00:40:29,304
I'm sure that actually
just added fuel to the fire.

860
00:40:29,387 --> 00:40:30,471
How is it ever fair?

861
00:40:30,555 --> 00:40:33,933
You're dating somebody
who you have the ear of all the time.

862
00:40:34,017 --> 00:40:35,185
You know, you write for your girlfriend,

863
00:40:35,268 --> 00:40:37,812
and it was a very difficult situation
for everybody.

864
00:40:37,896 --> 00:40:41,774
I remember the day
I had to go to Kate Mulgrew's trailer

865
00:40:41,858 --> 00:40:45,361
to tell her 'cause I knew I...that
Jeri and I were becoming more serious.

866
00:40:45,445 --> 00:40:48,406
And I told Kate,

867
00:40:48,489 --> 00:40:50,491
and she was absolutely wonderful,

868
00:40:50,575 --> 00:40:53,620
and she said, "Are you in love?"

869
00:40:55,872 --> 00:40:59,083
I said yes, and she said,
"I'm happy for you."

870
00:40:59,167 --> 00:41:00,543
Kate was amazing.

871
00:41:00,627 --> 00:41:03,880
But I like to think
it didn't affect my job,

872
00:41:03,963 --> 00:41:05,798
being the boss at that point.

873
00:41:05,882 --> 00:41:08,843
[narrator]
Robert Beltran decided to test that.

874
00:41:08,927 --> 00:41:11,012
Jeri and I were sitting
in the makeup table,

875
00:41:11,095 --> 00:41:13,264
getting ready,
and I said, "You know, Jeri,

876
00:41:13,348 --> 00:41:16,476
I would like to have a scene
where, where Chakotay kisses you,

877
00:41:16,559 --> 00:41:20,939
but it'll never happen
because Brannon would get jealous."

878
00:41:21,022 --> 00:41:22,857
Uh...

879
00:41:22,941 --> 00:41:24,484
And she laughs, "Oh, my God,

880
00:41:24,567 --> 00:41:26,277
I'm gonna tell him what you said.

881
00:41:26,361 --> 00:41:27,862
That is so funny."

882
00:41:27,946 --> 00:41:29,697
And I said,
"Yeah, tell him that I don't think

883
00:41:29,781 --> 00:41:31,699
he has the balls
to write a scene like that."

884
00:41:31,783 --> 00:41:34,244
[narrator]
Oh, Brannon had the balls, all right.

885
00:41:34,327 --> 00:41:35,370
Remain still.

886
00:41:35,453 --> 00:41:37,914
[narrator]
And he was juggling them.

887
00:41:37,997 --> 00:41:39,791
A lot of balls, actually.

888
00:41:39,874 --> 00:41:43,920
As the season goes on,
it is like running as fast as you can

889
00:41:44,003 --> 00:41:45,421
to keep up with production.

890
00:41:45,505 --> 00:41:48,383
We were all really, really fatigued.

891
00:41:48,466 --> 00:41:52,470
We used to get our revisions
and sides at 12:00 at night

892
00:41:52,553 --> 00:41:55,098
for the next day, so we would be
in the makeup chair

893
00:41:55,181 --> 00:41:58,101
trying to learn whatever
the revisions were for that day,

894
00:41:58,184 --> 00:42:00,728
and those days were typically really long.

895
00:42:00,812 --> 00:42:03,481
They averaged 15 hours, 16 hours.

896
00:42:03,564 --> 00:42:06,150
[narrator]
And the schedule was overwhelming.

897
00:42:06,234 --> 00:42:08,528
Not least for the showrunner himself.

898
00:42:08,611 --> 00:42:13,324
I remember one day in my backyard,
thinking about a story,

899
00:42:13,408 --> 00:42:16,494
and I remember,
it was like walking into a brick wall.

900
00:42:16,577 --> 00:42:18,788
And I went, "Oh, I think I'm done.

901
00:42:18,871 --> 00:42:22,083
I think I have to move on from the show."
Like, I was getting burned out.

902
00:42:22,166 --> 00:42:26,296
[narrator] Brannon stayed with Star Trek,
but beamed over to a new series,

903
00:42:26,379 --> 00:42:28,798
Enterprise,
leaving Kenneth Biller in charge

904
00:42:28,881 --> 00:42:31,676
of Voyager's climactic final season.

905
00:42:31,759 --> 00:42:34,137
A lot of people
wanted to see us come home.

906
00:42:34,220 --> 00:42:37,140
And that would have been
the story that, you know,

907
00:42:37,223 --> 00:42:39,142
everybody expected them to write.

908
00:42:39,225 --> 00:42:45,106
I had always envisioned
the last shot of the series

909
00:42:45,189 --> 00:42:48,151
with Voyager landing,

910
00:42:48,234 --> 00:42:50,945
and the families all being there,

911
00:42:51,029 --> 00:42:54,866
and the crew getting off of the ship
and their home.

912
00:42:54,949 --> 00:42:58,870
- Then Janeway's dog runs up.
- And, and, yes, Janeway's dog runs up.

913
00:42:58,953 --> 00:43:02,332
And, in fact, I tell everybody
that they're not gonna do

914
00:43:02,415 --> 00:43:03,833
what you expect them to do.

915
00:43:03,916 --> 00:43:08,504
[narrator] But for the series finale,
Voyager suddenly came home,

916
00:43:10,048 --> 00:43:12,967
which indeed took fans by surprise...

917
00:43:13,051 --> 00:43:14,385
Yeah.

918
00:43:14,469 --> 00:43:17,638
[narrator]
...slyly jumping 26 years into the future.

919
00:43:17,722 --> 00:43:20,016
[Janeway]
Computer, end display.

920
00:43:20,099 --> 00:43:22,060
[Tim]
We only did a flash of it in the episode.

921
00:43:22,143 --> 00:43:23,394
You could see the Voyager
coming through.

922
00:43:23,478 --> 00:43:26,647
There was just a, a, a newsreel playback
or something she's watching.

923
00:43:26,731 --> 00:43:28,316
I was not satisfied with the way it ended.

924
00:43:28,399 --> 00:43:32,070
I, I really... I really... didn't like it.

925
00:43:32,153 --> 00:43:34,238
[narrator] After seven long seasons,

926
00:43:34,322 --> 00:43:38,201
Voyager had completed its mission,
but at grave cost.

927
00:43:38,284 --> 00:43:40,036
I'm your friend.

928
00:43:40,119 --> 00:43:41,454
Kathryn Janeway, remember?

929
00:43:41,537 --> 00:43:43,664
[narrator]
Lieutenant Tuvok lost his mind...

930
00:43:43,748 --> 00:43:44,999
You're an impostor.

931
00:43:45,083 --> 00:43:47,752
[narrator] ...and with Chakotay
and Seven of Nine dead,

932
00:43:47,835 --> 00:43:50,004
it was up to Voyager's captain,

933
00:43:50,088 --> 00:43:53,257
now an admiral, to right her wrongs.

934
00:43:53,341 --> 00:43:57,053
But when I'm through,
things might be better for all of us.

935
00:43:57,136 --> 00:44:00,640
[narrator] Because it could all be fixed
with a little time travel.

936
00:44:02,266 --> 00:44:04,185
I thought it was a great showcase
for Kate Mulgrew

937
00:44:04,268 --> 00:44:07,146
because she had to play
two different versions of herself.

938
00:44:07,230 --> 00:44:10,066
Am I the only one
experiencing déjà vu here?

939
00:44:10,149 --> 00:44:12,568
It was the captain's responsibility
to get us back home,

940
00:44:12,652 --> 00:44:14,821
and that's why they
wrote it the way they did

941
00:44:14,904 --> 00:44:17,115
and they focused it on Kate;
it's Kate's story.

942
00:44:17,198 --> 00:44:21,202
[narrator] In a tour-de-force performance,
Kate Mulgrew does it all.

943
00:44:21,285 --> 00:44:24,914
Kate filled that role
in every way imaginable.

944
00:44:24,997 --> 00:44:26,499
Now, Mr. Tuvok.

945
00:44:26,582 --> 00:44:31,045
[narrator] As Admiral Janeway
sacrifices herself, defeating the Borg,

946
00:44:32,296 --> 00:44:36,801
while Captain Janeway
brings the crew home, safe and sound...

947
00:44:38,469 --> 00:44:39,470
You did it.

948
00:44:39,554 --> 00:44:43,099
[narrator]
...the last episode ended with a bang.

949
00:44:43,182 --> 00:44:46,644
But on set,
the bang was more of a whimper.

950
00:44:46,727 --> 00:44:49,439
They were taking
the briefing room set apart.

951
00:44:49,522 --> 00:44:52,608
The moment we uttered the last line,
the walls were coming down

952
00:44:52,692 --> 00:44:56,112
so that they could build
the new Enterprise set in its place.

953
00:44:56,195 --> 00:44:57,488
That kind of bothered me.

954
00:44:57,572 --> 00:44:59,615
You're just watching...
literally watching the show

955
00:44:59,699 --> 00:45:01,534
disintegrate in front of your eyes.

956
00:45:01,617 --> 00:45:05,121
We were all a little bit upset,
the fact that there wasn't more thought

957
00:45:05,204 --> 00:45:08,916
about making the last day
perhaps a group scene

958
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:10,209
that we could all be together.

959
00:45:10,293 --> 00:45:12,211
And I know Rick Berman
didn't come down to the set

960
00:45:12,295 --> 00:45:15,756
to say thank you and goodbye
or anything like that.

961
00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:18,926
I think our cast had the, uh,

962
00:45:19,010 --> 00:45:21,596
"don't let the door
hit you in the ass" feeling.

963
00:45:21,679 --> 00:45:24,432
The goodbye wasn't ever really a goodbye.

964
00:45:25,850 --> 00:45:29,645
There are some series
that quit when they're ahead,

965
00:45:29,729 --> 00:45:33,774
and you feel like they could have
gone on for a little longer.

966
00:45:33,858 --> 00:45:36,861
Uh, I have the feeling that Voyager

967
00:45:36,944 --> 00:45:40,323
was done when it was done.

968
00:45:40,406 --> 00:45:43,075
There was not anything left to mine in it.

969
00:45:43,159 --> 00:45:45,995
[narrator] UPN would limp on
for a few more years

970
00:45:46,078 --> 00:45:49,916
before also going quietly off the air.

971
00:45:49,999 --> 00:45:54,295
Despite all of Voyager's struggles,
you cannot deny the fact that...

972
00:45:54,378 --> 00:45:57,798
Seven years is a good run
for a, for a show.

973
00:45:57,882 --> 00:46:00,843
[narrator] And that's where this story
might well have ended.

974
00:46:00,927 --> 00:46:03,554
[Larry]
But years after it's got first run,

975
00:46:03,638 --> 00:46:07,725
I am thrilled and amazed that streaming
has been so kind to Voyager.

976
00:46:07,808 --> 00:46:10,937
[narrator] It's enabled
a whole generation of young fans

977
00:46:11,020 --> 00:46:14,023
to discover
and appreciate Captain Janeway.

978
00:46:14,106 --> 00:46:17,735
I saw what it meant
to these young women...

979
00:46:17,818 --> 00:46:18,819
[woman] Admiral?

980
00:46:18,903 --> 00:46:20,238
[Kate] ...to have a woman in command.

981
00:46:20,321 --> 00:46:21,781
And I'll never forget one girl.

982
00:46:21,864 --> 00:46:25,618
She said, "You know,
my father and I watched Janeway."

983
00:46:25,701 --> 00:46:28,538
And these were
in the early days of my education

984
00:46:28,621 --> 00:46:31,249
when I really thought
I was going to go into research.

985
00:46:31,332 --> 00:46:34,627
And by the end of the first season,
I turned to my father and I said,

986
00:46:34,710 --> 00:46:38,172
"I'm not going to stay in an office.
I wanna go up."

987
00:46:38,256 --> 00:46:40,132
[Larry] You've had
this whole generation of fans,

988
00:46:40,216 --> 00:46:41,676
especially the girls--

989
00:46:41,759 --> 00:46:43,135
I call 'em the Janeway's Army--

990
00:46:43,219 --> 00:46:45,555
that have taken to heart
everything about Voyager.

991
00:46:46,681 --> 00:46:51,143
What an extraordinary opportunity
as an actress to drive this forward.

992
00:46:51,727 --> 00:46:55,690
And because I was the first,
there's a kind of terrific pride in this,

993
00:46:55,773 --> 00:46:58,484
so I hope that they take from that pride

994
00:46:58,568 --> 00:47:00,861
their own sense of pride.

995
00:47:00,945 --> 00:47:02,363
Find out who you are,

996
00:47:02,446 --> 00:47:05,700
have the courage to be
who you are, and own it.

997
00:47:05,783 --> 00:47:09,996
[narrator] Voyager has proven to be
as popular as it has been inspirational.

998
00:47:10,079 --> 00:47:12,999
I think it's amazing that,
of the top ten streaming shows

999
00:47:13,082 --> 00:47:17,628
of all the Star Treks, six of them,
of the top ten, are from Voyager.

1000
00:47:17,712 --> 00:47:20,089
[narrator]
No small feat given the competition

1001
00:47:20,172 --> 00:47:23,509
from well over half a century
of science fiction.

1002
00:47:23,593 --> 00:47:28,014
If you stand back
and look at the entire franchise

1003
00:47:28,097 --> 00:47:31,851
from the original to today, it's huge.

1004
00:47:31,934 --> 00:47:34,061
It's just unbelievable.

1005
00:47:34,145 --> 00:47:37,565
[narrator] To be precise,
seventy-nine Original Series episodes,

1006
00:47:37,648 --> 00:47:41,819
twenty-two animated episodes,
six original cast movies,

1007
00:47:41,902 --> 00:47:45,823
four Next Generation movies,
seven seasons of The Next Generation,

1008
00:47:45,906 --> 00:47:48,367
seven more of Deep Space Nine,
seven of Voyager,

1009
00:47:48,451 --> 00:47:50,494
four of Star Trek: Enterprise,

1010
00:47:50,578 --> 00:47:52,788
four seasons of Discovery,
two of Picard,

1011
00:47:52,872 --> 00:47:55,416
along with Lower Decks,
not to mention the movies

1012
00:47:55,499 --> 00:47:59,045
from the Kelvin timeline,
and much more to come,

1013
00:47:59,128 --> 00:48:01,213
including the return of Captain Janeway

1014
00:48:01,297 --> 00:48:03,090
in Star Trek: Prodigy.

1015
00:48:03,174 --> 00:48:04,592
That's what I mean about Star Trek.

1016
00:48:04,675 --> 00:48:07,178
It's just the reverberations
are, are endless.

1017
00:48:07,261 --> 00:48:09,221
[voice echoes]

1018
00:48:10,014 --> 00:48:15,019
[theme music playing]