Star Trek: Voyager Almost Had A Storyline That Became The Bones Of Battlestar Galactica

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Ronald D. Moore is a legend in the sci-fi world, going back to when he was part of the tumultuous "Star Trek: The Next Generation" writers' room. Even in that environment, he wrote some of the show's most beloved episodes, and Moore would eventually create the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot, which remains one of the most cherished science fiction shows ever made. It turns out that show's roots can also be traced back to "Trek."

Moore was briefly part of the staff of "Star Trek: Voyager," which ended in 2001 after seven seasons. The series focuses on the crew of the eponymous Starfleet starship pulled to the far side of the galaxy, over 70,000 lightyears away from Earth, and their attempts to find a way home. Speaking to CinemaBlend in 2024, Moore explained some of the storytelling on "Voyager" mirrored the original "Battlestar Galactica." Here's what he had to say about it:

"I was only on Voyager for a few months. But in that period, there was a storyline being developed that was the Voyager for a time starts shepherding some other ships, some alien ships, through some region. I don't remember if it was a war-torn region or if it was some kind of spatial phenomenon or something. And I remember bringing up explicitly, 'Oh, you could do a ragtag fleet here,' sort of like [Battlestar] Galactica did, 'And maybe that becomes something you do in multiple episodes. There's a whole community here.'"

"Battlestar Galactica" technically owes its existence to "Star Wars," not "Star Trek," but the show focuses on robotic Cylons who attack their human creators, attempting to wipe them out. Only about 50,000 humans survive, all gathered in a rag-tag fleet with the only surviving colonial warship, the Galactica, at the center of it all.

It's not terribly difficult to see the similarities between the story being kicked around for "Star Trek: Voyager" and the one that eventually became the basis of "Battlestar Galactica." Ronald D. Moore wrote on "Star Trek: Voyager" season 6, which our "Voyager" season ranking considers one of the worst.

That's certainly not a comment on Moore, and the big story that he's discussing here didn't even end up happening — though it was repurposed. Speaking further in that same interview, Moore explained how the story evolved:

"I remember saying at one point that maybe there's an election. Maybe there should be an election aboard Voyager. Cause is Kathryn Janeway really gonna be the captain of this thing for the next 75 years or whatever it was? And they all looked at me like I was insane! Like, 'We're not gonna have an election on the Voyager.'"

"It was a Starfleet vessel. So it's a slightly different thing," Moore concluded. "Even then, I was thinking towards ideas of a lone ship out on its own for an extended period of time, and what would the realities of that be? How would you form a social structure? What are the aspects of your civilization that you would take with you?"

Those ideas eventually materialized into 2003's "Battlestar Galactica" miniseries, which paved the way for the full show's debut in 2004. While Moore has regrets about the ending of "Battlestar Galactica," it etched its place in the annals of television history, remaining beloved more than 20 years removed from its inception. "Star Trek" was indirectly responsible for giving birth to it, which is pretty fascinating in retrospect.

You can grab "Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series" on DVD or Blu-ray from Amazon.