Do you have any ideas on what specifically you would change about the Voyager finale? Aside from getting rid of The Pairing That Must Not Be Named.
I don’t have a super specific vision... more a general direction.
Really it breaks down to actually doing some character arc resolution stuff. Endgame (when it is not focused on WTF pairing pulled out of nothing) feels perfunctory, mechanical (just like that NOTP).
We don’t get to see the actual reward of being home for real (announcing they are in the alpha quadrant isn’t the same as seeing them actually engage with it). There’s no indication of how they are going handle the Maquis situation (you actually could have a bit of conflict where they debate whether jumping home is the right call, given the way that Admiral What’s His Face is talking/asking about the Maquis crew members). Other than Tom and B’Elanna having their baby (which mostly serves as an excuse to put her out of commission) the plot doesn’t actually engage at all with any of their character arcs. (Well I guess Janeway’s guilt, but I feel like the way that is executed sends a really crappy message.)
I don’t mind the quick trick to get home, but instead of spending the time freed up by that doing a “gotcha” middle finger to the audience and characterization by focusing on a chemistry-less out of nowhere atrocity of forced “romance” I would have liked to see subplots/moments that actually resonated with who these characters are and what they have been through together.
Throughout the series, especially when there is a big finale two parter (”Scorpion”, “Equinox”, etc), Janeway and Chakotay argue about "the plan” and she goes “I’m the captain and I am going to note and ignore your (reasonable) concerns”. Then later there is a problem that happens and they mend fences. Wouldn’t it have been great to see them actually work through the conflicting concerns instead and come up with a better plan/contingencies as a result before instead of during the crisis? Or maybe a role reversal where she’s the cautious one (which we do get in “Timeless” I know). Some sort of conclusion for that repeating theme.
What about Tuvok and not just having his role in the finale be as fodder for Janeway’s woman!pain? Or Harry, give him something to do that lets him finally earn that promotion.
And yes, of course I would have liked to see some resolution for the OTP.
Now that I’m typing this all out, I actually really like the idea of a non chronological finale episode, where we see them already back and getting debriefed and then while the characters are “explaining” it flashes back to the actual events. You could put a lot of little implications about what happened once they were back and you could maintain suspense by taking a character and not showing them in the “current” sections until the very end (honestly it would be really effective to have it be Janeway and let people stress about whether she was going to end up sacrificing her life to get them home) only to show them alive and well back on Earth.
