The Production Guide
Script To Screen: Voyager's Return
by Martin Willey

Script To Screen

• Script: Linden
• Script: Yes or No
• Script End
• Call Sheet Main Mission
• Call Sheet Voyager
• Call Sheet Experimental

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Filming for Voyager's Return started on Wednesday 7th August 1974, starting with all the Main Mission/ Koenig's office scenes. They would spend 5 days on the Main Mission set.

Here we examine the call sheet for the last day of Main Mission filming, on 13th August.

Linden has launched in Voyager to head towards the Sidon ships. In the first scene shot, scene 130, Aarchon appears on th e screen to demand "What is the purpose of this John Koenig?". After finishing the shots, the crew quickly did the corridor scenes (on stage H), and started the scenes in Medical, which they would complete on the following day.

Main Mission operative Loftus Burton is called "Loftus (Voyager) Burton" here; the previous day he was listed as "Loftus (Computer) Burton". It's possible he was speaking the dialogue for Voyager ("This is the voice of Voyager One") during these shots; the actual dialogue was added in post-production. The camera is normally positioned where his desk is (front right in Main Mission), so Loftus Burton is only glimpsed briefly in two reverse shots.

The dialogue for Aarchon was filmed separately on 14th August, 2 days later. Actor Alex Scott was not present to read his lines, so either another actor read them on set, or the assistant director Ken Baker.

The other corridor scenes are much later. In scenes 102-13, Linden leaves Medical (passing security guards Tony Allyn and Quinton Pierre). Scene 113 is the confrontation between Haines and Linden in the door of the travel tube. There are lots of Alphans here- Quinton Pierre walks past again. The other Alphans are unnamed, but one of the astronauts (number 4) is John Clifford, while the medic is Paul Kirby. This is the first scene for Barry Stokes as Haines.

Finally the crew return to L stage, alongside Main Mission, for shots in the Medical Centre. With all the other scenes to complete, most of these shots were completed the following day, on 14th August.

The first two scenes, scene 36A and 90, were obviously shot, but was cut from the episode (see below). Scene 90 was finished, scene 36A was completed the next day.

In scene 101, alone now, Linden gets dressed. In scene 111, Helena and Mathias find him gone. Both were scheduled for the 13th, but shot on the 14th August.

Scene 36A Medical

This scene first appeared in the 5th August pink pages, and was filmed on 13th and 14th August. It was cut from the episode. It was scripted to appear immediately after the first command conference, when Helena says "We'd better find out all we can about fast neutrons". In the final episode, the computer voice is not heard at all (probably to avoid confusion with the voice of Voyager One's computer). Here is the scene from page 13A:

Scene 90 Medical

This scene was in the original 29th July script, with one pink line amendment. The Voyager has just landed, but they have not yet boarded the ship. Helena is checking Linden when Koenig and Bergman arrive. This is the scene from page 45, which was filmed on 13th August but cut from the episode.

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Copyright Martin Willey