Star Trek: Voyager’s Paris & Torres Relationship Almost Didn’t Happen Says Robert Duncan McNeill

Summary Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres might not have become a couple if a Star Trek: Voyager season 3 episode had turned out differently.

"Blood Fever" was originally meant to feature Tuvok more heavily but was changed to Tom at the last minute.

The episode accelerated Tom and B'Elanna's romance and solidified their relationship, leading to their love confession in season 4.

Tom Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill revealed that Star Trek: Voyager almost didn't make his character and B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) a couple in season 3. After their official get-together at the beginning of season 4, Tom and B'Elanna became the only stable couple among Voyager's cast of characters for the rest of the show's seven seasons. Their relationship ended up going further than most Star Trek couples, culminating in their marriage and the birth of their daughter in season 7.

While the seeds of Tom and B'Elanna's future romance were planted as far back as season 1, any explicit hint of their relationship wasn't cemented until Voyager season 3, episode 16, "Blood Fever." During the episode, Ensign Vorik (Alexander Enberg) infected B'Elanna with his Vulcan Pon Farr, causing her to choose Tom as he mate while the two were trapped in a system of caves on an alien planet. However, "Blood Fever" almost forwent setting up Tom and B'Elanna as a couple in favor of a different storyline.

Robert Duncan McNeill Explains Why “Blood Fever” Wasn’t Supposed To Start Tom And B’Elanna’s Relationship

Another character was supposed to feature more heavily in "Blood Fever"

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In an interview with Star Trek Monthly, issue 28 around the time of the episode's airing, Robert Duncan McNeill revealed that "Blood Fever" was originally supposed to star Tuvok (Tim Russ) and B'Elanna as the episode's duo, but that it was changed to Tom at the last minute. According to McNeill, Voyager's creative team decided to replace Tuvok with Tom almost on a whim, but the decision ultimately had huge implications for Voyager's storyline due to it fully cementing Tom and B'Elanna's future relationship. Read McNeill's full quote below:

"Originally that episode was written for B'Elanna to go into Pon Farr and to be trapped in the caves with Tuvok, who would help her go through this and deal with it because he's Vulcan and he's been through it. At the very last minute, literally like the day before we started shooting that episode, they thought, 'Why don't we make it Tom Paris and B'Elanna trapped, and let's see what happens with that.' So they made this change."

Logically, having Tuvok be the one to help B'Elanna in "Blood Fever" would have made sense. As McNeill pointed out, Tuvok had experienced the Pon Farr and was equipped to help B'Elanna manage her symptoms if not alleviate them. Tuvok was still a big presence in "Blood Fever," and was the first person to realize what was wrong with B'Elanna as well as Voyager's source for Vulcan knowledge about Pon Farr. However, the decision to jump-start Tom and B'Elanna's relationship was a good one, as the romance might have never come to fruition otherwise.

Would Paris And Torres Still Have Become A Couple Without “Blood Fever”?

Tom and B'Elanna's future as a couple might have been more rocky

Although it's possible Tom and B'Elanna would still have gotten together had "Blood Fever" played out differently, the chances would have been much slimmer. The Paris/Torres relationship had been teased subtly in earlier seasons, but "Blood Fever" brought their feelings out in the open and was arguably the catalyst for the two finally admitting their love for each other at the beginning of Star Trek: Voyager season 4. Tom and B'Elanna's love confession coming so quickly on "Blood Fever's" heels seems like no coincidence when looked at in hindsight.

Ultimately, Star Trek: Voyager made the right decision to feature Tom more heavily in "Blood Fever" and the episode was the perfect beginning to Tom and B'Elanna's love story.

It's impossible to say exactly how Tom and B'Elanna's relationship would have evolved without "Blood Fever." However, the development of their romance would likely have taken much longer, which may have cheated audiences out of seeing nearly as much of their relationship progression or resulted in the creative team getting bored and dropping the storyline entirely, leaving a lot of unresolved potential. Ultimately, Star Trek: Voyager made the right decision to feature Tom more heavily in "Blood Fever" and the episode was the perfect beginning to Tom and B'Elanna's love story.

Source: Star Trek Monthly, issue 28

Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.