P/T: Redefining 24th Century Relationships

Roxann Dawson and Robert Duncan McNeill's on-screen relationship was the only successful romance featured regularly in Voyager's seven-year odyssey. But both recently said they felt the relationship could have been taken further.

"Sometimes [the relationship] was on the back burner, sometimes it was addressed." Dawson told Sci Fi Weekly. "I think sometimes they were able to address the relationship in a creative, new way, and sometimes they missed opportunities to really redefine a 24th-century relationship between two really strong-willed people."

McNeill agreed. "I think they were kind of used when they needed to. And otherwise they really ignored it. One week, we'd have a couple of scenes about our relationship and about our romance, and the next couple of episodes, we wouldn't even talk to each other on the show. So they really just used it when it was helpful to a particular story."

The Tom Paris actor believed that showing such a relationship was a very brave step for the Voyager writers to take. "Just even hooking them up romantically on some sort of a formal basis is a big step. Once you've got two series regulars together that way, it's hard to un connect them, and it can lead to very soap-opera storylines," he said. "So they were very nervous to even begin that storyline."

Dawson commented that this method of storytelling is an inevitable by product of the weekly on-hour format. "In general, the goal of the series is to have each episode to be able to stand on its own," she said. "So it sometimes will require the false feeling kind of ending in order to wrap up the story. But I think it's part of the problem and the challenge in telling a story every week that occurs in one hour."

Both actors were proud of the storylines in the show's final season. "This year, I think they decided to take advantage of having these characters together," McNeill said. "And say, 'Look, what would happen?' I mean, they're finishing up this voyage, they've all come back different people from this trip, and what if we really dramatically manifested this idea in these characters getting married, and having a baby."

One of Dawson's favourite episodes was 'Lineage' in which B'Elanna's pregnancy was revealed. "[The episode] was a wonderful way to look at how B'Elanna was torn about her own pregnancy," she said. "You really sensed her two sides warring in that. She really had a hard time coming to terms with her pregnancy. That episode was very well written and had a lot of layers; it could be appreciated on [many] levels."

Robert Picardo has similar feelings about tonight's episode, 'Renaissance Man.' "So many of my scenes with Janeway had just been getting dressed down for having screwed up," he said. "[This is] a whole different colour between the two of us. And because Kate [Mulgrew] and I have become such good friends over the course of the show, it was really a lot of fun to have an episode the theme of which was Janeway and the Doctor discovering a friendship, and not just a mutually respectful working relationship."

The episode will highlight new features of the relationship between the two characters. "The Doctor bemoans the fact that she socialises with other crew members but not with him," Picardo said. "And through this experience together, Janeway basically says if you want to get to know me better, let's start."

"[Captain Janeway] and the Doctor are on an Away mission, and the captain is put in mortal jeopardy," he explained. "The Doctor has to go back and steal technology on a very short time frame or else the captain is going to be killed. The audience doesn't know right away that the Doctor is doing something good. They think someone has taken [him] over, or that he has been re-programmed by someone."

The full interview with the Voyager stars is available Sci Fi Weekly and includes many more comments from Picardo, McNeil and Dawson, and also the views of Tim Russ and Ethan Phillips.

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