Bryan Fuller explains why a season-long “Year of Hell” arc never happened on Star Trek: Voyager

Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine and Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager’s “Year of Hell”

With Star Trek: Voyager continuing to celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, the podcast Inglorious Treksperts sat down with Bryan Fuller to discuss writing for the series. TrekMovie.com reported on the interview, giving insight on the challenges faced in the writer’s room and how it diverged from other Star Trek productions. Star Trek: Voyager came to screens in 1995 while Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: First Contact were both in production. How would Star Trek: Voyager fit the mold, and manage to stand out?  

In the interview, Fuller elaborated on defining the series and the difficulty as a writer in bringing the Starfleet and Maquis crews together. “I think Voyager initially was trying to be The Next Generation and finally decided what it was going to be around season four,” Fuller said.  “We lost very quickly the dynamics of the Maquis interacting with a Starfleet crew...These characters are coming from a place that is culturally different, so they can’t just be regular members of the crew.” Fuller went on to give credit to showrunner Brannon Braga and writer Joe Menosky for helping define what Star Trek: Voyager would become, saying, “It was really their two voices more than anybody else...There was an appetite for these bigger, bolder science fiction stories.”

One of those “bigger” and “bolder” stories Star Trek: Voyager took on was the two part episode “Year of Hell” from the fourth season. Originally pitched as a season-long story arc, Fuller remembers feeling let down by the decision to only produce two episodes. “We wanted ‘Year of Hell’ to last the entire season,” Fuller said. ”We would go back to it every once in a while to remind the audience that it's the larger story.”

Not everyone saw it in the same light. While Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was a serialized production, that was not at all what one producer had in mind for Star Trek: Voyager. Fuller reflected on this, saying, “There was an interesting division between what Rick Berman wanted the show to be, which was episodic...and how we wanted to be - creative storytellers playing with the Star Trek toy box.”

To listen to the full interview, visit IngloriousTreksperts.com. Of course, you can watch “Year of Hell” parts I and II along with all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, streaming now on CBS All Access.