Rick Berman: Right so here's the thing, Voyager's floundering a bit. Garrett was late for work once so I now hate him but he's technicailly one of the Most Beautiful People in the World, and Jennifer's becoming a problem. I like beautiful people so naturally we're getting rid of Jennifer since she wasn't in People magazine. Let's replace her with some vapid eye candy.
Jeri Ryan: *appears in a catsuit*
Rick Berman: Perfect
Jeri Ryan: *speaks*
Rick Berman: Oh fuck, she has a brain and she can act
Rick Berman: Shit
Brannon Braga: But if she's hot and she can act doesn't that mean we should just do lots of stuff with her character and forget this was ever an ensemble thing?
Rick Berman: Oh my god you're right! Let's make the show revolve around her. And let's try and pair her romantically with the less hot older looking guy as a substitute for ourselves!
Bob Picardo: That's great, I get more to do and Jeri's wonderful
Rick Berman: Actually who am I kidding, I'm a hot older guy, let's just ditch this thing she's built with the Doctor and pair her up with the hotter older man.
Braga: Well Rick, you're not a hot older guy... but I've got money riding on this creative choice. Surprise guys, you're gonna be a couple now for totally unbelievable reasons that destroy a lot of what we've been working towards with both the Doctor and Chakotay.
Robert Beltran, Bob Picardo and Jeri Ryan: Wait what?
The rest of the cast: Hello? Remember us? We exist!
Exactly this.
