

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

An alien scientist finds evidence linking his species' ancestry to Earth, but government officials refuse to accept his evidence because it conflicts with existing doctrine.

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Summary

Teaser

A pair of Voth, a species of reptilian humanoids, named Forra Gegen and Tova Veer conduct an archaeological investigation in a cave on an M-class planet. They search the cave with their flashlights and Veer discovers a tattered piece of cloth; while he does not appear to recognize it, it is a gold-colored Starfleet Operations division uniform. Gegen journeys a bit further into the cave where he delicately unearths a Human leg bone. Upon realizing what it is, he emits a series of clicking sounds to summon Veer and scans the bone with a small round device similar in function to a tricorder.

Veer asks if the discovery is a genetic match, although to what he does not say and Gegen confirms it is. "Could this be it? The proof?" Veer asks eagerly. "If it is," responds Gegen, "We've just made the most important discovery in Voth history." He shines his light on a nearby Human skull as he speaks and the camera fades out.

Act One

Now aboard their vessel, Gegen and Veer have laid the bones collected out on a table, forming an approximation of what the skeleton would look like if complete. They study the incomplete skeleton much as paleontologists would study a dinosaur fossil and determine it is related to the Voth. They decide to present their findings to the Ministry of Elders.

However, Minister Odala does not take kindly to their findings. She claims the similarities are coincidental, accusing Gegen of questioning Voth Doctrine. Once he realizes that he will get nowhere with her, Gegen decides to mount an expedition on his own.

His daughter Frola wants to believe in him but she finds it hard to believe that the Voth are related to mammals from elsewhere in the galaxy. Unfortunately, Tova informs him that he has been charged with heresy against The Doctrine and all of his supporters have abandoned him. Determined to find the truth, Forra and Tova set out on their own.

The two of them find one clue on the uniform of the corpse they recovered: they need to find something called USS Voyager.

Act Two

"Across the vastness of space, to find one ship among a sea of stars is no simple matter, and for many weeks we found nothing. And then, fortune glanced in our direction. A trader from a space station bordering the Nekrit Expanse informed us of a curious group of explorers claiming to be from the other side of the galaxy. The merchants there spoke of a vessel called Voyager. They were able to help us clarify certain details. With this new information, we began to acquire other items and new evidence. Our most significant find: a canister of warp plasma from Voyager's engines. For now, we are scanning space for a matching signature. Little is known about these explorers but they call themselves Human, and they claim to be traveling home to a distant planet. My thoughts are with you, Frola, as are those of my colleague Veer."

On the ship, Gegen jokes with Veer, who is clearly interested in Gegen's daughter, Frola. Suddenly Veer detects an energy transmission and after coming out of warp, he and Gegen see a ship 90 light-years away traveling at warp 6.2:

After deciding to observe Voyager, the two board Voyager undetected under an interphase cloaking device and wander around the ship looking at several things such as the computer, the "male and female interacting" and "courting behavior" between Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres. As they observe, they seem to think of the Humans as primitive compared to their own species. On the bridge, still cloaked, they assume that the social hierarchy is matriarchal due to Kathryn Janeway being the captain. At this time the crew discovers two unknown hidden beings on board. Gegen and Veer attempt to leave only to realize they cannot transport off their ship. While the bridge is being sealed by a level 10 force field, Gegen and Veer teleport to the mess hall. Lieutenant Tuvok makes the two appear and when Veer instinctively shoots Chakotay with a small dart, Gegen instantly transports himself and Chakotay away to his vessel.

Act Three

In sickbay, Janeway attempts to converse with Veer to find that he speaks with clicks. The Doctor finds that his body temperature and metabolism have dropped as he enters protective hibernation and Janeway orders others to examine the new species.

On Gegen's ship, Chakotay discovers that Gegen is a molecular paleontologist, and Gegen explains that he couldn't reach Veer in the mess hall and took Chakotay instead as a living specimen of Human. Gegen questions whether there are any of his species on Earth, but Chakotay asks Gegen to drop the force field around him. After Gegen shuts off the force field around Chakotay, he and Chakotay make formal first contact between the two.

The Doctor finds that the DNA of the Voth and Humans are remarkably similar (47 genetic markers in common, a conclusion Gegen and Veer had reached earlier) and Janeway makes the conclusion that the Voth evolved on Earth. Janeway goes to holodeck 2 and tries to picture the closest relative to the Voth from Earth. On the holodeck, she and The Doctor see various reptiles from the Cretaceous era, most notably a hadrosaur. The Doctor predicts that the hadrosaur continued to evolve after the extinction of other beings to the present Voth civilization.

On Gegen's ship, Chakotay and Gegen propose that any existence of the intelligence of the dinosaurs could have been deep under the surface, never to be found by the Humans on Earth. Gegen begins to see that the Humans and mammals as a whole are not as inferior as he once thought. When Chakotay requests to beam back to Voyager, Gegen denies his request and says that he must bring Chakotay to the Ministry to prove that Humans exist.

Back on Voyager, Tuvok and Paris are attempting to understand the Voth cloaking technology. Suddenly an enormous Voth city ship several times the size of Voyager de-cloaks. Voyager goes to red alert, then begins to be probed with an energy beam that cuts through the shields before the entire vessel is beamed into a large hangar onboard the Voth ship.

Act Four

With Voyager inside the massive Voth city ship, the ship and weapons begin to lose power and Janeway orders to crew to repel boarders. Heading for the bridge, Tuvok is shot by a dart from behind and orders Paris, who is with him, to leave without him. The Voth manage to easily take over the ship, with Janeway and Harry Kim being interrupted by them while attempting to restore power. The Voth interrogate the Humans about their origin. When Janeway mentions Earth, Haluk suspects Gegen of spreading rumors. At the same time, Paris is able to make it to main engineering with a Voth personal cloaking device. He knocks out a Voth with his non-functional compression phaser rifle and attempts to fire a full spread of photon torpedoes through the city ship, however the Voth are somehow able to detect and block his attack.

Meanwhile, Gegen gets a communication from the Ministry threatening to destroy Voyager if he doesn't return. Gegen tells Chakotay that without his support, the council will discredit his theory and suppress the truth. Chakotay volunteers to accompany him to provide "living proof". Gegen reluctantly sets course back to the city ship. Professor Gegen meets the Ministry again and is accused of going against The Doctrine. He does not retract his statements, so Odala begins the trial.

Act Five

On trial, the Ministry further accuses Gegen of disputing Doctrine through the Distant Origin Theory and being a destructive influence on society. After given a chance to deny of the evidence, Gegen refuses. The Minister states that the Humans are not related at all to counter Gegen's theory. Chakotay responds by saying that Voyager's fossil records prove otherwise. The Ministry stops and begs Gegen to admit that his interpretation and theory is wrong. Gegen again refuses and claims that the entire Voth civilization is from the Human planet of Earth.

When the Minister brings forth Veer and questions him about the theory, he states, rather unenthusiastically, that Gegen's research was flawed. The Minister praises him for his testimony and he shuffles off sadly when she dismisses him. Once again, Gegen is questioned about his theory whether or not he has been mistaken. Gegen questions why Veer would have spoken against him, strongly suspecting that the Minister threatened the younger scientist in some way, perhaps from taking away his honors all the way up to threatening the man's family. He challenges the plan of the Voth to keep their "myth" of their history and beliefs. When the Minister asks yet again, Chakotay speaks against the Minister about how their beliefs are so clouded just as Gegen's theory is and that Gegen and he found out that the genetic structure of Voth is incredibly similar to almost every species found on Earth, which is too much to be coincidence. Chakotay states that the Doctrine was changed when transwarp technology was introduced, just as Gegen's theory is attempting to be introduced. The Minister states that she does not want to believe the theory because it might show weakness on the Voth's behalf, depicting them as a race of cowards who fled their home. Chakotay responds that the Voth culture had a great past, surviving on Earth against great odds and subsequently coming to leave Earth and thrive in a distant part of the galaxy, their denial of the past shows the denial of their true heritage. To deny this heritage would be to ignore what their ancestors accomplished, and all that they sacrificed, in order to save the species.

Despite Chakotay's plea, Gegen is found guilty and is sentenced to life imprisonment on a detention colony, which he accepts. However to the scientist's horror and protests, the Minister then tells Chakotay that he and the entire Voyager crew are to be imprisoned along with Gegen and their ship destroyed. At the last moment, Gegen, defeated and unwilling to see the Voyager crew being dragged into his predicament, gives in to the Minister's desire and heartbroken, recants his theory. Satisfied, the Minister reassigns Gegen to a "more rewarding vocation" in metallurgical analysis and frees Chakotay, ordering Voyager to leave Voth space.

Back on Gegen's personal ship, the scientist, professing at not being that good at chemistry, sadly resigns himself to an unremarkable career in metallurgical analysis and thanks Chakotay for his help and friendship. Chakotay commends him on his bravery, and gives Gegen a small hand-held globe of modern Earth in the hope that one day the Voth will see it as their home. Chakotay bids Gegen farewell with "Eyes open" that Gegen returns, before beaming back to Voyager.

Memorable quotes

"It would be in your best interest if I never saw you again."

- Minister Odala to Chakotay

"Did your eyes see the planet of our origin, the true home of our race? Was it beautiful? Was it covered by oceans? By sand? Were there nine moons above your head? Were there none?"

- Forra Gegen, to the Human skull



"I'll see you tonight. BYOB."

"What?"

"Bring your own bat'leth."

- Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres



"Note how the female through the feigned antagonism encourages the male in his attempt to mate."

- Gegen to Veer, while observing Paris and Torres' verbal sparring



"Tuvok, I hope that's your stomach."

- Tom Paris, upon hearing the clicking sounds of the Voth while Voyager was being boarded



"Who's that?"

"My helmsman. Sounds like he's about to blast a hole in the side of your ship."

- Haluk and Captain Janeway



"We are not immigrants! I will not deny twenty million years of history, and doctrine, just because one insignificant Saurian has a theory!"

- Odala, to Forra Gegen



"Someday every Voth will see this as home."

- Forra Gegen, to Chakotay while holding a globe of Earth



"This should do the trick."

"An apple?"

"You said you wanted an organic test subject."

"I was referring to a bio-cylinder, but the fruit will suffice."



- Tom Paris and Tuvok, while testing the Voth personal cloaking device

Background information

Story and script

This episode started as a premise that co-writer Joe Menosky described as "basically dinos with automatic weapons." Menosky added, " That was the fun of it. [Co-writer] Brannon [Braga]'s a big action guy, a perverse horror story kind of a guy. That's the direction we had. " He also referred to the premise as "basically Aliens II, as it were, with automatic weapons." ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 86)

" He also referred to the premise as "basically Aliens II, as it were, with automatic weapons." ( , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 86) Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky then took this premise and several other story ideas to executive producer Jeri Taylor's office. While they were there, executive producer Rick Berman happened to walk into the office and influence the story considerably. Joe Menosky remembered, " He happened to come into the room when we were talking about this show. The first story notion that Brannon laid out to Rick in Jeri's office was [the action-oriented story idea] and Rick just hated it. He said, 'All I see is a bunch of lizards with AK-47's. Where's the humanity? This should be Galileo.' As soon as he said Galileo, I thought, that's perfect. I've done a lot of research in Italian history, so I knew exactly what he was talking about [....] Rick Berman's participation at that basic story level made this episode happen. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 86)

" ( , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 86) As they proceeded to work on the episode, Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky continued to use, as a historical point of inspiration, Galileo's trial by the Catholic Church. Joe Menosky said of the episode, " It's our retelling of Galileo's trial, in science fiction, Star Trek terms. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 86)

Star Trek " ( , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 86) The writers enjoyed detailing the alien culture of the Voth. " What was really fun about this episode, " Joe Menosky reminisced, " was basically creating a culture, and all the little sort of texture details, knowing that we might not ever see these guys again. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112)

" Joe Menosky reminisced, " " ( , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112) This episode's final draft script was submitted on 23 January 1997. [1]

Cast and characters

The story's Galileo-related roots were personified in the character of Gegen, who Brannon Braga described as "this Galileo lizard." ( Star Trek Monthly issue 28, p. 17) Joe Menosky noted, " It's as if Chakotay were on trial along with Galileo. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112)

issue 28, p. 17) Joe Menosky noted, " " ( , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112) Joe Menosky was thrilled by the performance that Chakotay actor Robert Beltran gives in this episode. Moments after citing the episode as one of two Season 3 Voyager installments (the other being the third season finale " Scorpion ") that have "these scenes where Chakotay basically talks for an entire page of dialogue without break," Menosky remarked, " Robert Beltran was just awesome in 'Distant Origin'. He's just got massive amounts of charisma. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 94)

installments (the other being the third season finale " ") that have "these scenes where Chakotay basically talks for an entire page of dialogue without break," Menosky remarked, " " ( , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 94) One aspect of this episode that Brannon Braga liked was "the acting", generally. (Star Trek: Voyager Companion, p. 179)

Production and effects

Reception and aftermath

Continuity and trivia

Video and DVD releases

Starring

Also starring

Guest stars

Special guest star

Concetta Tomei as Minister Odala

Co-stars

Uncredited co-stars

References

47; ability; academic circle; accusation; accuser; analysis; anodyne relay; apple; area of research; asteroid; automated message; autonomic nervous system; auxiliary power; bat'leth; behavior; bio-cylinder; body temperature; BYOB; cartilage; Circle of Archeology; Circle of Exobiology; Circles of Philosophy; Circles of Science; cold-blooded organism; common people; communicator; computer extrapolation; containment field; courting behavior; cranial capacity; Cretaceous; damage; dart; data storage device; decalcification; Delta Quadrant; dilitus lobe; dinosaur; dispersion frequency; Distant Origin Theory; Devonian; DNA; DNA analysis; Earth; endotherm (aka warm-blooded organism); Eryops; evidence; eye; field trip; first contact; fossil; Fourth Colony; genome projection algorithm; gigahertz; hadrosaur; Hanon IV; Hanon IV sector; harpoon; heart rate; heresy; hibernation; Hogan; Hokath; holodeck; Holographic Voth; identification code; interphase; interrogation surgeon; immigrant; Jefferies tube; kilometer; Klingon martial arts program; lagoon; land mass; lower lifeform; mammalian; mass extinction; matriarchy; medical tricorder; mentor; metabolism; metallurgical analysis; microcellular scan; Milky Way Galaxy; minister; Ministry of Elders; molecular paleontologist; molecular physiology; napping; Nekrit Expanse; non-saurian race (non-saurian); paleontological database; phase variance; phaser burn; photon torpedo; plasma conduit; polymer; portation; prejudice; professor; proper name; red alert; refugee; replication technology; saurian; society; spatial fluctuation; spatial displacement; subspace frequency; sulfur; temperature; test subject; tetryon radiation; thoracic region; translation matrix; transwarp; tricorder; Towt; turbolift; vocation; vasodilation; verbal interplay; Voth; Voth city ship; Voth Doctrine; Voth research vessel; warp plasma; weapons control



