>>> For some people, like Mike Okuda, it is both a fan interest and a
> source
>>> of a regular paycheck.  They generally have a pretty good feel for
> what
>>> fans like, balanced against the realities of television production
> and
>>> life at Paramount.
 
> BK> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
> BK> Not just Paramount.. it's also life in the franchise which is
> another
> BK> issue completely.
 
> I intended that to mean the bigger picture of the Voyager production
> team, Star Trek management, Paramount corporate influences and corporate
> partnerships to exploit the franchise.
 
> I really don't see Voyager's problems as a writing problem, although of
> course the writing has been problematical.
 
For years.
 
 
> Any writer is going to come up with good and bad ideas.  It is management
> that should be reinforcing the good ideas and redirecting the bad ones.
> Instead, management seems to favor the ideas most fans see as bad --
> like the macro-virus in Star Trek: Die Hard.  :-)
 
Yep..  and it also relates to the poor writing in Hollywood these days which 
is in itself a deadly cycle..   
 
 
> By the way, this week's episodes, The Gift (second new episode of the
> season) is one of the best I have seen in some time.  Toward the end,
> the B-plot is ruhed a bit, but overall it is a good episode.  Knowing
> that you don't regularly watch, you might see if you have an hour free
> for this one.
 
Sorry but I don't watch it.. in fact with my schedule.. the little box 
doesn't get turned on that often anymore.
 
However.. the high point of this year was: I didn't have to work the Emmy's! 
Don't ask me if I watched them. ;)
 
 
                                       BK
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