Voyager Writer Evaluation

Brannon Braga Parallax 3 Phage 2 The Cloud 3 Emanations 5 Cathexis 2 The 37's 1 Projections 4 Non Sequitur 1 Cold Fire 5 Threshold 1 Deadlock 4 Flashback 4 Remember 3 Future's End, Part I 2 Future's End, Part II 1 Macrocosm 3 Darkling 2 Rise 2 Distant Origin 5 Scorpion, Part I 3 Scorpion, Part II 2 Year of Hell, Part I 5 Year of Hell, Part II 4 Prey 1 The Killing Game, Part I 2 The Killing Game, Part II 4 Living Witness 5 Hope and Fear 3 Night 1 Drone 3 Timeless 3 Latent Image 5 Dark Frontier 3* Think Tank 4 Someone to Watch Over Me 1 11:59 2 Warhead 5 Equinox, Part I 4 Equinox, Part II 4 Dragon's Teeth 4 Memorial 5 Fury 1 Life Line 4 Unimatrix Zero 2 Unimatrix Zero, Part II 3 Human Error 4 Author, Author 5 Endgame 3* Average Score 3.08

Joe Menosky Cathexis 2 The Thaw 5 False Profits 2 Remember 3 Future's End, Part I 2 Future's End, Part II 1 Alter Ego 3 Darkling 2 Distant Origin 5 Scorpion, Part I 3 Scorpion, Part II 2 The Gift 3 Year of Hell, Part I 5 Year of Hell, Part II 4 Concerning Flight 3 The Killing Game, Part I 2 The Killing Game, Part II 4 Living Witness 5 Hope and Fear 3 Night 1 Drone 3 Timeless 3 Latent Image 5 Dark Frontier 3* The Fight 3 11:59 2 Equinox, Part I 4 Equinox, Part II 4 Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy 4 Dragon's Teeth 4 The Voyager Conspiracy 2 Blink of an Eye 5 Good Shepherd 1 Muse 3 Unimatrix Zero 2 Unimatrix Zero, Part II 3 Average Score 3.08 Michael Piller Caretaker 4* Time and Again 2 Ex Post Facto 4 Tattoo 3 Meld 4 Death Wish 3 Basics, Part I 5 Basics, Part II 5 Average Score 3.78

Jeri Taylor Caretaker 4* Eye of the Needle 5 The 37's 1 Elogium 1 Persistence of Vision 4 Alliances 4 Investigations 3 Resolutions 3 Coda 4 Real Life 2 Day of Honor 3 Hunters 4 One 5 Nothing Human 5 Average Score 3.47 Bryan Fuller The Raven 4 Mortal Coil 5 Retrospect 3 Living Witness 5 Drone 3 Bride of Chaotica! 4 Gravity 2 Course: Oblivion 1 Juggernaut 4 Relativity 4 Barge of the Dead 5 Alice 2 One Small Step 3 Spirit Folk 1 Fury 1 The Haunting of Deck Twelve 3 Flesh and Blood 4* Workforce, Part I 5 Workforce, Part II 4 Friendship One 3 Average Score 3.33 Andre Bourmanis Fair Trade 3 Waking Moments 3 Demon 4 Riddles 4 Imperfection 5 Nightingale 2 Human Error 4 Average Score 3.57 Mike Sussman Meld 4 The Swarm 3 The Haunting of Deck Twelve 3 Unimatrix Zero 2 Unimatrix Zero, Part II 3 Shattered 5 Repentance 5 Body and Soul 1 Prophecy 4 Author, Author 5 Renaissance Man 3 Average Score 3.45

Kenneth Biller Faces 3 Jetrel 5 Initiations 4 Elogium 1 Twisted 3 Maneuvers 4 Lifesigns 2 Tuvix 1 The Chute 4 The Q and the Grey 3 Unity 5 Before and After 3 Worst Case Scenario 3 Nemesis 2 Random Thoughts 4 Demon 4 Extreme Risk 3 Thirty Days 5 The Disease 2 Juggernaut 4 Warhead 5 Pathfinder 2 Virtuoso 1 The Haunting of Deck Twelve 3 Repression 2 Critical Care 3 Flesh and Blood 4* Prophecy 4 The Void 4 Workforce, Part I 5 Workforce, Part II 4 Human Error 4 Q2 3 Natural Law 3 Endgame 3* Average Score 3.30 Lisa Klink Resistance 4 Innocence 4 Remember 3 Sacred Ground 0 Warlord 3 Blood Fever 4 Favorite Son 3 Displaced 4 Revulsion 4 Scientific Method 4 Message in a Bottle 4 Retrospect 3 The Omega Directive 3 Average Score 3.31

Yeesh, what a mess of data, right? The above tables list every episode that each of the major (wrote more than 6 episodes) authors in the show had story or screenplay credit or shared credit for. What I think is interesting is that no one writer has an abysmal score. Despite the bad rap that Brannon Braga gets, he still averages above a three, and was involved in the creation of several of the best episodes of the series. Piller's got the highest average, though it helps that he wrote so few, and that includes the double-length Caretaker and the two-part Basics.

An increasingly popular trend in television (in general) is to have a single creative vision for a show, whether it is Joss Whedon or Aaron Sorkin. The two sci-fi shows that have followed this model (Babylon 5 and Firefly) have both attained a great deal of popularity, which has in turn led to some to speculate that a single creative vision is the best way to do things. Well, if your only two data points are Voyager and Babylon 5, it would be tough to argue with that reasoning, but I'll give it a shot.

Looking at the above tables, giving the reins to any single one of the above authors probably wouldn't have yielded significantly better results than the product we have. Perhaps the show would have been more internally consistent, but we also would have lost some of what the other voices involved had to say about this crew and their situation. I don't think that the multiple visions model is a dinosaur just yet, just that Voyager may not be its greatest spokesperson. I think that Battlestar did a great job as a kind of hybrid show, with a two person creative team leading a focused crew of writers, but that's not necessarily the only way either.

A single-vision show may not have ever let Sacred Ground see screen time, but a multiple-vision show might've been able to save Babylon 5 season five. See, JMS wasn't sure he was going to get a fifth season, so he wrapped up his most important plot lines in season 4. As a result, once the fifth season was confirmed, several of the characters arcs were completed. Instead of giving those characters new challenges and ways to grow, the fifth season focused on new or background characters that the audience (read: me) had not become invested in.

Bottom Line: I look forward to new shows with interesting ideas, regardless as to how they were created. That's all. I crave ideas.