Star Trek Voyager Producer: "Picard Would Have Thrown Chakotay In The F***ing Brig”

Star Trek: Voyager

Summary

Star Trek : Voyagerproducer Ken Biller thought that Captain Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) would have punished Commander Chakotay ( Robert Beltran ) much coarse than Captain Janeway ( Kate Mulgrew ) did in a season 2 episode . Biller was an implemental part ofVoyager ’s creative team , start hisStar Trektimelinetenure as a writer and tarradiddle editor inVoyager ’s first season . By time of year 2 , Biller had adopted a producing role , andby the death of the series he had been upgrade to executive producer and showrunner . Biller also directed two episodes ofVoyagerand contributed storey theme to countless others .

One of Biller ’s early writing credit onVoyagerwas season 2 , installment 11 , " play , " which extend a plot line that start out in time of year 1 , instalment 11 , " State of Flux . " During " Maneuvers " , Seska ( Martha Hackett ) and the Kazon slip a piece of transporter technology from the USS Voyager , instigate Commander Chakotay to disobey direct orders from Captain Janeway and leave on a solo mission to retrieve it . Although Janeway was angry with Chakotay for cash in one’s chips against her order , there terminate up being no tangible penalization for his action besides a stern talking - toin Janeway ’s ready room at the end of the episode .

In its seven seasons , Star Trek : Voyager introduced many new cheek to the Trek population . Here is a partitioning of the show ’s main shape and graphic symbol .

Star Trek: Voyager Producer Says Picard Would Have Thrown Chakotay In The Brig

Ken Biller thought Picard would have given Chakotay a much harsher punishment

Ken Biller receive full account credit for " Maneuvers " , but one matter he was n’t allowed to let in was a harsh punishment for Chakotay ’s actions during the episode . Speaking toCinefantastique , a sci - fi / fantasy film magazine that often coveredStar Trek ’s 1990s - era seriesincludingVoyager , Biller stated that he had originally want to write a panorama where Janeway throw away Chakotay in the brig for disobeying her orders . Biller also stated that he consider the famousStar Trek : The Next GenerationCaptain Jean - Luc Picard would have had no qualms about dishing out penalisation like this for Chakotay . Read Biller ’s full quote below :

" Picard would have thrown him in the f***ing brig . That ’s what I wanted to do , but I get a deal of resistivity on it and at long last had the scene rewritten on me . He ’s the first officer and we involve him , but there should have been some consequences to him disobey the senior pilot . "

Biller understandably feel strongly about Chakotay ’s legal action during " Maneuvers " and about the appropriate penalty for them . TheVoyagerproducer is right-hand in say that Picard in all likelihood would have been hard on Chakotay for what he did , but is also right that since Chakotay wasVoyager ’s First Officer , it was laborious to correct him with something like time in the brig . This was specially true on a show likeVoyagerwhere the gang were strand in the Delta Quadrant . Voyager ’s status imply that they could n’t give to misplace an officer for any amount of time , especially one as important as Chakotay .

Captain Janeway Did Throw People In The Brig For Disobedience

Janeway was not above disciplining her crew with time in the brig

However , Captain Janeway did demonstrate that she was not above throwing her crew in the brigif the post warranted it . The most notable instance of Janeway disciplining someone with time in the brig was season 5 , episode 9 , " Thirty Days , " whereTom Paris ( Robert Duncan McNeill)spent 30 days in the brig for disobeying a direct ordination and violating the Prime Directive . Paris was also demoted as punishment for his action , showing that Janeway was perfectly open of dolling out harsh sentences when she feel that the offense was bad enough .

Of course , Tom Paris was notStar Trek : Voyager ’s First Officer , and by violating the Prime Directive his actions were technically worse than Chakotay ’s . Still , " Thirty day " demonstrates that Biller was well within his rights to write Chakotay confront a harsher penalization for what he did during " Maneuvers . " If Voyager could run swimmingly for 30 Clarence Day without Paris at the helm , then it stands to rationality thatJaneway could have sentenced Chakotay to even a day or two in the brig without much trouble . at long last , not have Janeway punish Chakotay more harshly does make her look somewhat hypocritical in hindsight .

informant : Cinefantastique