Star Trek: Voyager Abandoned A TNG “Inner Light” Twist To Janeway/Chakotay Romance

Star Trek: Voyager almost incorporated a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode premise for one of Captain Janeway's (Kate Mulgrew) and Commander Chakotay's (Robert Beltran) most romantic episodes, but abandoned the idea before it aired. TNG was the blueprint for the other 1990s-era Star Trek series, meaning that Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine often borrowed heavily from it for story ideas. It isn't at all surprising then that Voyager would be interested in copying one of TNG's most popular episodes, "The Inner Light," for an important episode at the end of season 2 involving Janeway and Chakotay.