Back in early 2021, 455 Films, the folks who brought fans FOR THE LOVE OF SPOCK and DEEP SPACE NINE: WHAT WE LEFT BEHIND, held a new crowd-funding campaign for their third Star Trek-themed documentary film, TO THE JOURNEY – LOOKING BACK AT STAR TREK: VOYAGER. The previous two productions each took in about $650K from donors. But the Voyager documentary blasted past those numbers, doubling total contributions with more than $1.3 million from 12.4K backers—plus an additional $50K from a second Indiegogo in 2022 funding a series of special theatrical premieres when the film was completed.
Three premieres are happening this month, the first of which took place on Thursday night at the Paramount Theater at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. The second will be next Tuesday in New York City on the upper West Side (in the same space that houses The Leonard Nimoy Theater), and the final one will take place in London at the Princess Anne Theatre on November 21.
If you don’t have tickets for these premieres yet, you likely won’t be able to get them (at least, not cheaply!), as they were offered exclusively to donors and were gone pretty quickly! Indeed, I missed my opportunity a few months ago by waiting too long. However, my good friend (and fan film donor-tuned-producer-turned-actor) RAY MYERS had an extra ticket and offered it to me. In exchange, I offered Ray our guest bedroom to save on hotel costs while he’s in Los Angeles (Ray lives near Dallas, TX). And thanks to a series of severe tornadic storms rolling through the central Texas on Friday, all return flights into Dallas were canceled, and I get to host my friend a whole extra day!
No sooner had Ray and I arrived at Paramount at 6pm Thursday—me in my Picard season 3 jacket and Fan Film Factor shirt; Ray dressed much more casually and debonaire—than I noticed L.A.-based fan filmmaker DAVID CHENG, also wearing a Picard season 3 jacket…
So yeah, we matched. And quite a few attendees came in uniform to the premiere, ranging from TNG to Voyager to First Contact to Picard-era—along with some creative variants. Ray was put to work almost immediately checking in people by a friend of his who was one of the event organizers….
That gave David and me a chance to hang out in the lobby, chat, and take a few photos…
We also ran into some other members of the fan film community, including ANDY HOLT, who played Admiral Nogura in the final episode of STAR TREK CONTINUES, “To Boldly Go: Part II,” and BILL VICTOR ARUCAN, who has appeared in a number of David’s own Star Trek fan films…
Most people there were very friendly fans…much like a Star Trek convention. And of course, what’s a convention without guests? Unfortunately, we didn’t get the entire Voyager cast, and I am told that some of the others will be showing up at the New York premiere next week. However, we did have ROBERT BELTRAN, ROBERT PICARDO, TIM RUSS, and GARRETT WANG. Many behind-the-scenes folks also showed up, including RICK BERMAN, DAVE ROSSI, LOLITA FATJO, DAN CURRY, BRYAN FULLER, MIKE and DENISE OKUDA, and a whole bunch of others, including Star Trek archivist LARRY NEMECEK and, of course the producers and directors of the documentary itself. After the film, anyone associated with the making of Star Trek: Voyager was invited to come up on stage and pose for a group photo. I took one from my seat about 3/4 of the way toward the back of the auditorium…
Before the film began, Lolita Fatjo started off a set of tributes to the recently-deceased JERI TAYLOR, co-creator of Voyager (along with the aforementioned RICK BERMAN and MICHAEL PILLER) as well as showrunner for a portion of the series run. All four Voyager cast members in attendance and a couple of others told stories of their interactions with and memories of this beloved woman. Here’s a photo I took of Bob Picardo during his short tribute…
Garrett Wang told one of the most poignant of the stories as he recounted a meeting he’d had with Rick Berman and Jeri Taylor toward the end of Voyager‘s third season. Garrett had been living la vida loca for the first three seasons of Voyager, going off to Las Vegas literally each weekend. Eventually, he began to develop a bad habit of arriving late for his call times—which is about the worst thing anyone in Hollywood can do because it costs the studios money, and you prevent others from doing their jobs if their jobs depend on you being present. He was always very sorry, but when your behavior isn’t changing, “sorry” alone isn’t enough.
Garrett was brought into Rick Berman’s office, and he and Jeri Taylor were both there, apparently playing bad cop and good cop, respectively. Rick proceeded to tear into Garrett, ripping him a new one, and when Rick finished, Garrett looked to Jeri as the kind, gentle voice of compassion that she had always been to him (and the entire cast and crew). Certainly, she would say something to make him feel at least a little less bad. But what she said was this: “Garrett, we all really like having you on the show. And because of that, I sincerely do not want to have to write a Harry Kin death scene. Please don’t force me to do that.” And the meeting ended. Garrett cleaned up his life and never went back to being the irresponsible youngster he had been before. He grew up in the moment that Jeri Taylor said those words to him.
After those half-dozen speakers, the documentary began. And I was eager to see how it compared to the previous two efforts from these same filmmakers, JOSEPH KORNBRODT and DAVID ZAPPONE, especially the amazing Deep Space Nine: What We Left Behind from just a few years earlier.
I can’t really say that one documentary was better than the other, since both were so good…in very different ways. But that, in itself, is a strong compliment because I’m one of those Trekkers for whom DS9 is my favorite Trek series, while Voyager is somewhere in the middle of the list—and I am well aware that, for a good number of fans, the opposite is true. Nevertheless, I went into this screening with my mental bar set pretty high, since I had been so blown away by the previous documentary film. However, I am happy to say that To The Journey cleared the bar with room to spare!
First of all, the overall editing was perfectly done. The presentation of information (almost entirely through interviews with cast and crew, including executive producers Rick Berman and Jeri Taylor, along with a few scattered fan comments and a person instructing Garrett Wang on a zero-G parabolic plane flight) was dynamic and kept the pace feeling engaging and not tedious. No interview segment felt too long or boring, and the selection of clips from the series was just enough rather than too sparse or too indulgent. They told the stories that the documentary needed to tell.
And those stories were fascinating to learn. Of course, they started out with the creation of the series and the significance of casting a female in the leading role as Captain Janeway. I was surprised to learn that some male actors were also considered for the part and that BRANNON BRAGA said during casting that he would quit the show if they didn’t choose a woman actor for the captain. And indeed, while having a female captain in a Star Trek series seems pretty normalized now (DISCOVERY, LOWER DECKS, LEGACY if it happens), back in 1995, it was a huge step into the unknown!
They also discussed Voyager‘s significance to the successful launch of the United Paramount Network (UPN) and spent a good amount of time on the selection—and subsequent departure of—Canadian actress GENEVIÈVE BUJOLD, who originally played Janeway for about two days of filming. The documentary also presented differing takes on how and why she left from different interviewees, leaving the viewer to try to decide who was being truthful, and who was being “Hollywood polite.” In the end, it was pretty easy to draw one’s own conclusions.
I must admit to being surprised at how openly and honestly the documentary addressed a number of the more controversial issues, rumors, and challenges that hit during the show’s seven-season run. In addition to the almost-firing of Garrett Wang after season three, the film also didn’t shy away from the departure of actress JENNIFER LIEN (Kes) after the third season and the equally-uncomfortable friction between the cast and new addition JERI RYAN (Seven-of-Nine).
To hear the cast speak so openly about their unprofessional and unfair behavior when it came to the new curvaceous blonde in the cat suit brought on to boost the ratings in season four, and to hear their sincere regrets and contrition years later, was refreshingly real and welcome in an industry known for its deep and long-lasting petty grudges (as well as failures to admit mistakes and then apologize for them). And speaking of grudges, you’ll definitely want to see former close-buddies BRANNON BRAGA and RONALD D. MOORE spill the beans on their years-long feud following the wrap of DS9 and Ron’s very short-lived tenure coming to (and abruptly departing from) Voyager.
Each character, and the actor who played them, got time in the spotlight. This allowed folks like ETHAN PHILLIPS and ROBERT PICARDO to steal the show with some whimsical stories and hilarious interactions. Others like ROXANN DAWSON got to shine for having so successfully made the transition from actress to respected Hollywood director. TIM RUSS’s musical accomplishments were highlighted along with ROBERT BELTRAN’s seriousness as an actor, while ROBERT DUNCAN McNIELL was shown to be every bit Tom Paris on both the inside as well as the outside. They even featured a short segment on Tuvix!
Of course, there’s no way to thoroughly address everything from a television series that successfully completed 182 full-length episodes over seven years, and so a number of things were relegated—through necessity of runtime—to “…and the rest” status. This included a short tribute to GENE RODDENBERRY along with a brief segment on MICHAEL WESTMORE’s legendary make-up work and blink-and-you’ll-miss-them spotlights on the visual effects and scenic art department. Totally understandable, though, as the film still clocked in at nearly two full hours.
But despite those all-to-brief portions at the end, For The Journey did NOT disappoint in any way, and I would heartily recommend it for any Star Trek fan, even if (like me), Voyager wasn’t your favorite series. If nothing else, I challenge you not to shed at least a little tear watching KATE MULGREW and ROBERT PICARDO recall the filming of Kate’s final scene as Janeway.
Watching this documentary and the work that went into creating not only the retrospective but also Voyager itself made me feel a surge of pride to be a Star Trek fan. Sure, I didn’t work on the series itself (although I did consult with licensing and help in a small way with the creation of the Voyager-themed Borg Invasion 4D ride at Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas), but being a dedicated Star Trek fan is still a significant part of Voyager‘s success. After all, what would Star Trek be without its fans? It certainly wouldn’t be the nearly six-decade mega-sci-fi-franchise powerhouse it continues to be to this day.
So lift a glass, my friends, and when you have a chance to finally watch it, make a toast To The Journey!
To The Journey: Looking Back at Star Trek: Voyager is expected to be released on DVD and Blu-ray in Spring 2025.