> Instead of having Voyager getting back to Earth in the last minute of the finale, I would have gotten them back with about three or four episodes left. Then dedicate those final episodes to what happens after they get back: Can Seven-of-Nine fit back into normal Federation society? Would Starfleet let her? What about the rebels that Voyager was chasing in the pilot that are now integrated into the crew of a Starfleet vessel? Where there people that the Voyager crew left behind? How would the friends and family of Voyager's crew react to the sudden return of the crew, seven (or however many) years after they've been presumed dead?

I don't recall how long, but the Voyager crew and StarFleet had been in communication for probably the entire the last season, and they had played with some of these ideas. I remember Seven of Nine talking with her family, the formal rebels receiving reprieves, and a story set on Earth while StarFleet was trying to make contact with Voyager.