I’ve always had a soft spot for Star Trek: Voyager. Sure, it wasn’t as iconic as The Next Generation or as smart as Deep Space Nine, but it made up for that by being extremely weird. Voyager episodes included an Irish village in the holodeck becoming sentient and attempting to burn the crew at the stake for being witches, their holographic doctor’s daydreams attracting the attention of an alien race, an entire civilization evolving in real-time before the crew’s eyes and… well, whatever was going on in “Threshold.”
Now it seems that Paramount may be considering a Voyager spin-off show and I can guarantee it’s not what you think it is. In various episodes Lt. Tom Paris used the holodeck to live out 1930s B-movie style sci-fi adventures as the swashbuckling Captain Proton. Actor Robert Duncan McNeill obviously enjoyed making these episodes and, during an interview on the Primitive Culture podcast, revealed that he’s pitched reviving Captain Proton as a radio drama podcast.
These adventures (presumably taking place on the holodeck during the Voyager’s trip home) would feature various members of the old cast in different roles. It’s a fun idea, especially as doing it as an audio play means it’s easy to imagine the characters in their prime, expand the scope of the story and keep budgets down.
McNeill confirmed he’s been in contact with Alex Kurtzman’s company about the idea and Kate Mulgrew – Captain Janeway herself – has said she’d definitely appear. She described her role as ‘Queen Arachnia’ on Captain Proton as the “greatest fun” she’d had in her seven-year tenure on Voyager, saying “I never say never, and never say die”.
Let’s hope we hear some confirmation of this soon. ViacomCBS have been working with iHeartRadio to expand their podcast offerings and this would be a great fit.