I always thought that Voyager should have taken the same approach that FarScape did as far as its execution. They had a vaguely similar premise (explorers being slingshot into a distant part of the galaxy far away from home) but Voyager never had a real sense of danger. FarScape very early on made it clear that Crichton is living in a very dangerous place, and that "Character Shields" didn't really exist (not even main characters like D'Argo, Crais and Zhaan made it through unscathed. Hell, even Crichton and Aeryn died a couple times over the course of the series). It also very quickly got into an arc that helped drive the series, (Wormhole Weapons, tracing its origin to I think episode 8) because while the original premise of Crichton trying to make it home made for a good overall plot, it just wasn't enough on its own to keep the intensity up.
This is why the first halves of seasons 1 and 4 were the weakest. In season 1 it took time to find its footing until they brought in the Ancients and, later, Scorpius, while Season 4 LOST its footing when SciFi meddled with the story (it was their orders to reintroduce the crew a couple at a time). Seasons 2 and 3 were by far the most consistent, because while they weren't without their standalone episodes (Crackers Don't Matter is STILL one of the best episodes of ANY television program I've ever seen) they also focused more heavily and consistently on the Wormhole Weapons plot, which kept the series moving.
Voyager never seemed to REALLY develop that more immediate storyline that FarScape did, at least not until FAR too late for them to do any good with it. The open-endedness of their "We have to get home!" plot worked perfectly for TNG (very loosely arced by the Q episodes) but the formula just couldn't work for Voyager in the same way. This is WITHOUT the handicap of the casting and just the presence of Berman and Braga.
