Despite its great premise, Rick Berman shot down the original idea for the Star Trek: Voyager season 5 episode "Once Upon a Time," forcing the creative team to come up with something new. Voyager season 5 had a high percentage of impressive episodes, including several that are consistently ranked as some of Voyager's best episodes. Although it rarely gets as much love as some others, "Once Upon a Time" was important to season 5, notable for being the first big appearance of Naomi Wildman (Scarlett Pomers) as Voyager's youngest recurring character.
The premise of "Once Upon a Time" followed Naomi and her experiences in a holodeck program called "The Adventures of Flotter," a program designed to teach children natural science and deductive reasoning. Other members of Voyager's cast of characters also featured prominently, including Neelix (Ethan Phillips), who attempted to distract Naomi to conceal the fact that her mother was missing after an away mission accident. However, the original rejected premise for "Once Upon a Time" would have featured Neelix and Naomi in a very different situation.
Why Rick Berman Rejected Star Trek: Voyager’s “Once Upon A Time” War Premise
Berman didn't want Voyager to do a war storyline for one specific reason
The initial premise for "Once Upon a Time" would have featured the rest of Voyager's crew dealing with a war while Neelix kept Naomi safe in a fantasy world in the holodeck, something that Executive Producer Rick Berman shot down for a very specific reason. Speaking with Cinefantastique after the episode aired, Voyager writer Joe Menosky explained Berman's reasoning for why he ultimately rejected the idea, citing conflicts with another Star Trek series that was also currently in production. Read Menosky's full quote below:
"Brannon Braga wanted to do the entire thing in a holodeck fantasy. Voyager was going through a war outside that we only caught glimpses of. Rick Berman just didn't want to see 'wars' on both Star Trek series. He rejected that idea."
The other show Berman was concerned about was, of course, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which had been doing an ongoing storyline about the Dominion War since the end of season 5. DS9 is famous for its depiction of the Dominion War, and the storyline offered a unique angle that Star Trek had rarely explored. Berman's desire not to oversaturate the franchise with too many war episodes makes sense given that Voyager and DS9 were both on the air, but killing the original premise for "Once Upon a Time" deprived Voyager of a truly unique episode.
Star Trek: Voyager’s “Once Upon A Time” Almost Had A Much More Unique Premise
The original premise for "Once Upon a Time" would have made the episode better
The original premise of "Once Upon a Time" would have made the episode much more memorable and possibly unique among its fellow Voyager installments. Writer Michael Taylor described the episode to Cinefantastique, stating "The notion initially was much bolder. It was going to be real 'Alice in Wonderland', with Neelix and Naomi in this make-believe world for almost the entire show." While "The Adventures of Flotter" was almost an Alice in Wonderland-like world, the idea of Neelix and Naomi both forced to stay in the program would have elevated the plot's intrigue significantly.
The concept of Star Trek: Voyager's crew using the holodeck to protect Naomi while they dealt with some great battle is truly fascinating, and the contrast between the whimsical fantasy world Neelix and Naomi would have had to deal with while knowing that outside the holodeck, everything could be going horribly wrong for everyone else would likely have kept audiences on the edge of their seat. Ultimately, there's no way to know how "Once Upon a Time" would have played, but Rick Berman's decision not to give its original premise a chance is disappointing to say the least.
