The Ready Room 187: We’re Gonna Edit Out All This Klingon Stuff, Right?

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Mike Sussman talks Voyager Season Seven.

As Voyager entered its final season, fans had a lot of questions. Would the crew get home? Would it happen before the finale? Would Neelix and Seven make the trip to Earth? Would Janeway and Chakotay finally hook up? Would Harry die one more time? Lots of questions. We know what we ultimately got on screen, but what went on behind the scenes?

In this special episode of The Ready Room, we’re joined by someone who was there in the writers room, Mike Sussman. After successfully selling the story that would become “Unimatrix Zero,” Mike then landed a spot of the writing staff for Voyager’s final season, and would go on to become a writer and producer on Enterprise.

Mike joins C Bryan Jones, Larry Nemecek, and Charlynn Schmiedt to discuss many moments and aspects of Season Seven, including “The Haunting of Deck Twelve,” “Prophecy,” “Repentance,” and of course “Unimatrix Zero” and the Borg. We also discuss writing The Doctor, stories pitched but not produced, the development of Enterprise while wrapping Voyager, and much more.

In our news segment, we discuss a restoration project for the original Enterprise filming model, get an update on Portal 47, and look back at the impact of Robert Wise and The Motion Picture on Star Trek.

News
Red Shirt Diaries Season Two Premiere (00:01:54)
Restoring the original Enterprise shooting model (00:08:09)
Robert Wise and the impact of The Motion Picture (00:18:55)
Portal 47 update (00:33:29)

Feature: Voyager Season Seven with Mike Sussman
Going from Fan to Staff Writer (00:44:59)
Mike’s Early Spec Scripts and Pitches (00:54:00)
Joining the Voyager Staff (01:01:06)
The Haunting of Deck Twelve (01:07:30)
Third Chances and the Enterprise Transition (01:13:34)
Voyager in the Shadow of Enterprise (01:18:20)
Prophecy and Delta Quadrant Klingons (01:20:48)
Unimatrix Zero and the Borg (01:28:48)
Repentance (01:34:32)
Writing the Doctor (01:38:49)
A Talented Writing Team (01:42:06)
Voyager’s (Alternate) Ending(s) (01:44:20)
Conflicts with Enterprise? (01:51:05)
Looking Back as a Fan (01:54:11)

Hosts
C Bryan Jones and Larry Nemecek

Guests
Mike Sussman and Charlynn Schmiedt

Production
C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Renee Roberts (Associate Producer) Zachary Fruhling (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Will Nguyen (Content Manager)