Summary. Jennifer Lien's departure from Star Trek: Voyager was due to creative limitations and the ill-judged romance angle between Kes and Neelix. Kes's short lifespan as an Ocampa limited the storytelling possibilities for her character, contributing to her departure from the show.
Neelix was looking for a steady bed and source of meals when he joined the Voyager crew. However, over time, he was as much a nut for meeting new species and studying new phenomena as the rest of them. Thus, it seems like it makes sense that Neelix would leave behind where he came from for the great unknown.
Lien has suffered issues with mental health and substance abuse for many years. It's likely the reason that her career on Star Trek: Voyager was cut short, and why she was unable to find other long-term roles in television or film despite being very attractive when she was younger.
She retired from the series (and the franchise) in 1998, handing over her position of Executive Producer and showrunner to Brannon Braga, but continued to serve as creative consultant for the show during its last three seasons.
First appearance of Kes's longer hair style instead of the very short hair style from seasons 1, 2, and part of 3. Jennifer Lien, the actress who played Kes, was apparently sensitive to the make-up and adhesive used to apply her Ocampa ears.
Star Trek Voyager Cast: Then and Now (1995 vs 2024)
Did Jennifer Lien wear a wig?
Kes's wardrobe primarily consisted of tunics, and Lien wore a bob cut wig. Lien tested combinations of wigs and prosthetics, which cinematographer Marvin V. Rush filmed for Berman's final approval. Westmore kept the prosthetic simple to facilitate working on 30 Ocampa characters for the pilot episode.
Summary. Jennifer Lien's departure from Star Trek: Voyager was due to creative limitations and the ill-judged romance angle between Kes and Neelix. Kes's short lifespan as an Ocampa limited the storytelling possibilities for her character, contributing to her departure from the show.
The showrunners reluctantly terminated Lien's contract as a member of Voyager's main cast due to unresolved personal issues that affected her performance. She was replaced by a new character, Seven of Nine, played by Jeri Ryan. In 2000, Lien returned as a guest actor for a season six episode titled "Fury".
Kate Mulgrew's opposition to Seven of Nine as a character led to Mulgrew treating Jeri Ryan poorly on-set, and a rumored feud arising between the two actors while Star Trek: Voyager was in production.
Unlike previous Star Trek series, Voyager's ending was not a surprise. The plan to end was already in place when producer Branon Braga left after season 6 to begin work on Star Trek: Enterprise.
Neelix came across as a slimy, jealous character a lot of the time. While Kes did eventually outgrow him, and they split up in a moment pioneered by her, it felt less sad and more of a relief that audiences won't have to be subjected to their uncomfortable relationship anymore.
"Homestead" is the 169th episode of Star Trek: Voyager and the 23rd episode of the seventh season. One of the final episodes of the series, it marks the departure of Neelix from the crew of the Starship Voyager. Episode no. The episode was directed by LeVar Burton and aired 9 May 2001 on UPN.
"Fury" featured the return of Jennifer Lien as Kes, a character who had been a series regular for the first three seasons. She said on her return that "It just feels like [I've been gone] a day.
Did the actor who played Neelix also play a Ferengi?
In 1990, he began his Star Trek career playing the Ferengi doctor Farek in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Ménage à Troi". He went on to play the Talaxian character Neelix on Star Trek: Voyager in 1995, and stayed with the series through its entire seven-season run.
After Seska and the Kazon abduct Tom Paris from the Talaxian ship, Neelix suggests on his broadcast that it was Paris who had betrayed them all. Captain Janeway privately reveals to Neelix that Paris's insubordination, departure and joining the Kazon was all part of an act to flush out a suspected traitor on board.
No matter how they came together, and despite how many times their struggles were seen from a man's point of view, Janeway and Seven of Nine set a surprising standard for relationships between two strong, successful female characters. They had vastly different worldviews. They didn't even really get along.
Fellow Star Trek: Voyager (1995) actors Ethan Phillips and Robert Picardo are among her closest friends. She remarked at a convention that they got her through Voyager's seven-year run. Husband Timothy Hagan proposed to her on the set of Star Trek: Voyager (1995).
This was confirmed at a convention in 2014 when "Voyager" co-creator Brannon Braga said: "We were running out of things to do with Kes. We had to make room in the budget for a new character in the cast so there was a pragmatic reason but it was primarily a creative decision."
How did the cast of Star Trek Voyager get along? The TNG cast all got along swimmingly. They had fun with their roles, Patrick Stewart had learned to loosen up and have fun with the crew, and by the end of the show everyone felt like a family.
Captain Chakotay and the USS Protostar accidentally traveled through a temporal anomaly in the Delta Quadrant, and they ended up on Solum about 50 years in the future. Chakotay launched the Protostar in 2383, which landed him and his starship in the 25th century, about 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Picard.
Neelix departs the show in the seventh season's 23rd episode "Homestead". The ship encounters a colony of Talaxians, the last of his species that he is likely to see as the ship travels further from his home, and he chooses to stay with them. The character returns for a cameo in the series finale, "Endgame".
Kate Mulgrew is the main reason Janeway and Chakotay never happened. While it may seem like Voyager's creative team dropped the ball, it was a request from Kate Mulgrew that stopped the Janeway/Chakotay romance in its tracks.
There were complications during the birth, and the child died. However, a subspace accident had duplicated Voyager and the duplicated child was returned to Samantha when her counterpart was killed. (VOY: "Deadlock") The child was later named Naomi.
