When auditioning for the part of the holographic doctor, Robert Picardo was asked to say the line "Somebody forgot to turn off my program". He did so, then ad-libbed "I'm a doctor, not a light bulb" and got the part.
Geneviève Bujold was originally cast to play Captain Janeway, but a few days into filming the first episode, she abruptly quit.
At one point, several male actors read for the role of Janeway in the event Paramount had cold feet over casting a female lead. Among the actors who read for the part: Nigel Havers and Gary Graham
The character of Tom Paris was a last-minute creation. Originally, Nicholas Locarno, (also played by Robert Duncan McNeill) a Starfleet Academy cadet who had been expelled in the episode "The First Duty" of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), was to have been the person that Captain Janeway released from prison to help track down the Maquis ship. However, using Locarno in "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) would mean the producers would have to pay royalties to Ronald D. Moore and Naren Shankar (the writers of "The First Duty") every time Locarno appeared in an episode. Rather than do that, the producers created the character of Tom Paris, who shares a similar back story as Nick Locarno (both had been cashiered out of Starfleet having caused the death of another officer).
Each of the three live-action Star Trek series after the original "Star Trek" (1966) has had a cameo appearance by a character from its predecessor series in its premiere episode: "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) had Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Scotty, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) had Captain Picard, and "Star Trek: Voyager" had Quark. Voyager also had William Riker, Deanna Troi, Reg Barclay, Geordi LaForge and Hikaru Sulu in guest appearances, and footage of James T. Kirk appeared in Deep Space Nine.
The Doctor's name was originally going to be "Dr. Zimmerman" (after longtime Star Trek production designer Herman F. Zimmerman), but this was dropped. Several early episodes, however, identify the character as Zimmerman in the closed captions. It was later established that Zimmerman was the name of The Doctor's programmer, and the character appeared in episodes of Voyager and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993). The real last name of actress Jeri Ryan also happens to be Zimmerman.
Just before Voyager began, Tim Russ appeared as a human crewmember on the Enterprise-B in Star Trek: Generations (1994). He also appeared as a member of a terrorist gang stealing explosives from the Enterprise-D in episode: #6.18 of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), "Starship Mine" in which he suffered a nasty demise.
Each of the three live-action Star Trek series after the original "Star Trek" has had a cameo appearance by a character from its predecessor series in its premiere episode: "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Scotty, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" had Captain Picard, and "Star Trek: Voyager" had Quark. Voyager also had William Riker, Deanna Troi, Reg Barclay, Geordi LaForge and Hikaru Sulu in guest appearances, and footage of James T. Kirk appeared in Deep Space Nine.
Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo and Ethan Phillips are the only three Voyager cast members to appear in any of the Star Trek movies. Mulgrew had a cameo as the newly-promoted Admiral Janeway in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). Picardo and Philips both had cameo appearances in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) with Picardo reprising his role as The Doctor, and Philips playing a Maitre d' in a holodeck program.
Thus far, all five Star Trek series have featured at least one character who is the first of their species in Starfleet. In Voyager there are two: the holographic Doctor (EMH), and Icheb (Brunali/Borg). Neelix (Talaxian), Kes (Ocampan) and Seven of Nine (Human/Borg) also served specific functions on the ship, but were never formally inducted.
Jeri Ryan turned down the role of Seven of Nine four times; she only accepted the part after repeated lobbying by executive producer Jeri Taylor.
The number 47 pops up many times on computer screens, serial numbers, dates and so on. This tradition was started by writer/co-producer Joe Menosky and was soon picked up by the rest of the production team. Menosky said that he choose that particular number because when he was a graduate student at Pomona College, the professor of mathematics, Donald Bentley proved as a joke that all numbers are equal to 47.
The character of Ensign Samantha Wildman was named after a real person, a little girl who died tragically in an accident. The girl's organs were donated to save the life of the wife of episode writer Jimmy Diggs. The real Samantha loved animals, so Ensign Wildman was cast as the head of Voyager's xenobiology department.
The Paramount soundstage where the majority of the Voyager interiors were located, was condemned and demolished following the completion of filming of the series finale in 2001. The Next Generation crew quarters, transporter rooms, and portions of Engineering were the only sets that became part of the U.S.S. Voyager following the filming of Star Trek: Generations (1994). All other TNG Enterprise sets were demolished.
"Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) was the first official program to air on the United Paramount Network (UPN) during its inaugural season in 1995. Of all the programs that were part of UPN's inaugural season lineup (including "Pig Sty" (1995), "Platypus Man" (1995), "Marker" (1995), "Nowhere Man" (1995), and "Legend" (1995)), Voyager was the only show to last more than one season. Upon the conclusion of the Voyager's 7th season (and the series itself), UPN almost immediately began to air the next Star Trek spin-off series: "Enterprise" (2001).
Near the end of the series, Dominic Keating tried out for a role in the show. He was turned down because Rick Berman wanted him for his new series, "Enterprise" (2001).
The introduction of Seven of Nine is credited with saving the series from possible cancellation after its first few seasons, as the sexy character sparked a revival in ratings.
The show's first season ended prematurely when UPN decided to air several season one episodes at the beginning of season two, instead.
Like its predecessors, the series used a large filming model of the starship where the show takes place. It wasn't until the last few seasons that a computer generated (CGI) starship replaced the 6-foot model. Nevertheless, the "USS Voyager" seen in the opening credits (which date back to late-1994), is totally CGI.
Seven of Nine's full designation is Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One.
This is the only Star Trek series whose title sequence remained unchanged throughout its run, aside from one casting change (the replacement of "Jennifer Lien as Kes" with "Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine"), and the changing of Roxann Dawson's name from the original Roxann Biggs-Dawson. The characters' ranks were also dropped from their names later during the series run.
Seven of Nine's real name, as revealed in an early appearance, is Annika Hansen.
In some early episodes, Neelix is seen training with Tuvok in ship's security. The writers' original intent was for Neelix to get a Starfleet commission and join Tuvok's security staff full-time, but this was eventually dropped (although in the alternate timeline of "The Year of Hell", Neelix does become a Starfleet security officer).
The 'Star Trek Crews' from all the Star Trek series were ranked #2 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (1 August 2004 issue).
Before the premiere, it was announced that the male Native American character (Chakotay) would have a wolf as a "spirit guide" and would be seen frequently during the series, however, the wolf never appeared. (Though we did see Captain Janeway's and learned comedically that B'Elanna Torres tried to kill hers.)
Captain Janeway's birthday is May 20.
In the opening credits of the first episode, the character name Tuvok is not identified with a rank, in order not to give away his identity as a Starfleet officer working undercover. In later seasons, rank designations were removed from the character names, except for Janeway.
In the series finale, "Endgame", Janeway gives Tuvok a picture of the Voyager crew. The picture is in fact a fifth season promo photo issued by Paramount Pictures.
In the season 3 episode "Future's End" there is a gray figure on Rain Robinson 's desk in the observatory. This figure is of a Talosian, who in the pilot of _"Star Trek" (1966) The Cage (#1.00)_ are the race that took Captain Christopher Pike captive. Also, she has a model of the S.S. Botany Bay standing on her windowsill, a ship, which according to _"Star Trek" (1966) Space Seed (#1.22)_ was launched during the "Eugenic Wars" in 1996, the year in which the episode takes place.
Tom Jackson was offered the role of Chakotay but turned it down.
Anthony Montgomery, who would later play Travis Mayweather on "Enterprise" (2001) auditioned for two different roles on Voyager. One such role was Sek, Tuvok's son.
Michelle Forbes, who had played Ensign Ro in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) and turned down the chance to continue the character in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993), was invited to return as Ro in Voyager, but once again turned down the role. It is speculated that the character of B'Elanna Torres was developed as a result.