Distant Origin (episode) — memory alpha

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

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.

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."

The Voth observing Voyager — The Voth observing *Voyager*

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: Voyager.

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.

A hadrosaur seen on the Holodeck, possibly the ancient ancestor with the unknown species

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

"Your vessel is under our control — "*Your vessel is under our control.*"

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

Interior of the city ship with Voyager inside — Interior of the city ship with *Voyager* inside

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

"Deny your origins on Earth, and you deny your true heritage."

- Chakotay to Minister Odala

"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

"Eyes open."
"Eyes open."

- Chakotay and Forra Gegen as they part (Chakotay is using Gegen and 's motto that indicates Gegen's approach to science and truth)

"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

"An ancient race of Saurians, probably the first intelligent life on Earth, surrounded by some of the most terrifying creatures that ever lived. And yet they thrived, developed language and culture and technology. And when the planet was threatened with disaster, they boldly launched themselves into space, crossed what must have seemed like unimaginable distances, facing the unknown every day. But somehow they stayed together, kept going, with the same courage that had served them before, until they reached this quadrant, where they laid the foundation of what has become the great Voth culture. Deny that past, and you deny the struggle and achievements of your ancestors."

- Chakotay to Minister Odala, defending Forra Gegen

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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
One aspect of this episode that Brannon Braga liked was "the acting", generally. (Star Trek: Voyager Companion, p. 179)

Production and effects

According to the unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 182), the opening shot of this episode was an establishing shot leftover from the production of the third season premiere "Basics, Part II".
Also according to Delta Quadrant (p. 182, et al.), this episode reuses a stock set that was previously utilized in the Season 3 installments "The Chute" (as the Akritirian maximum security detention facility), "Fair Trade" (as Bahrat's space station) and "Unity" (as the Cooperative's colony).
Make-up supervisor Michael Westmore was challenged by the large quantity of Voth shown in this episode. "We only had time to make one basic head," he recalled, "so we did a face cast of one of the females and designed a different version for the rest of them. Then they had the gloves, which were basically one size fits all. We had six or seven of them running around, and that's a lot for ST:VOY." (Star Trek Monthly issue 32, p. 75) Both director David Livingston and visual effects producer Dan Curry were highly pleased with the final look of the Voth. Livingston enthused, "Michael Westmore created this really compelling makeup." Curry agreed, "That was a virtuoso makeup job by Mike Westmore and his department." (VOY Season 3 DVD special features)
During production, Gegen actor Henry Woronicz wore an undersuit padding lot (as did, presumably, the other performers portraying Voth). [2]^(X)
While filming this episode, David Livingston endeavored to accentuate the other-worldly quality of the aliens. He recalled, "I chose to shoot them with a really wide-angle lens, in close, to magnify and get as much detail and distort even the makeup that [Michael Westmore] had done. And by doing so, it made them look even more terrifying and weird and stuff. To me, distorting those dinosaurs was going to be really cool. So we put the camera right up against their face, and they did – they look really weird and somewhat, a little bit terrifying. It's a technique to make the makeup even weirder. You can't do that to Humans, because if you do that to Humans, they look distorted and stuff. But you can get away with that on aliens." (VOY Season 3 DVD special features)
Although David Livingston usually found that filming trial scenes was very difficult to make visually interesting, shooting the trial in this episode was much easier for him. He remarked, "Trials are really hard, because you want to keep it moving […] That one worked out okay because you had weird things to look at. You can do really weird angles of coming up, and really strong profiles, and do weird kind of tracking shots because you're in a weird courtroom. That particular trial scene was okay, because of the elements that we had to work with." (VOY Season 3 DVD special features)
Representing the holographic dinosaurs in this episode involved the use of physical models, as opposed to CGI depictions. The first stage of visualizing the holograms was the creation and utilization of life-size mock-ups. "There are a couple of moments where we saw dinosaurs recreated in the holodeck," Dan Curry recalled, "so [Janeway and The Doctor] could determine how [the Voth had] evolved […] And so the actors would have a sense of how big they were, I made full-scale mock-ups of how big the dinosaurs would really be, putting them together like slot puppets so they could stand up, even though they were made out of two-dimensional foam core." (Red Alert: Amazing Visual Effects, VOY Season 3 DVD special features) "That way the director and the actors would have something to relate to on the set as a reference," Curry further explained. "Their sight lines would be good, and we'd have a reference when we replace it with the detailed miniature dinosaurs." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 111) The two dinosaur models that were used in the episode's final version had their own separate genesis. "The actual sculpture that was used for the Eryops was […] made out of modeling clay that a sculptor named Jordu Schell made," Curry remembered, "and then I did the final painting on it. And the large parasaurolophus-type creature was one that we rented." The latter type of holographic dinosaur was actually much smaller than it appears on screen. Dan Curry noted, "On screen, it looked like it was about 12 feet high." (Red Alert: Amazing Visual Effects, VOY Season 3 DVD special features)
Visual effects were also used to depict the Voth vessels. Mitch Suskin, who served as visual effects supervisor on this episode, related, "There are a couple of [alien] ships in the show, a lot of shots of these enormous ships […] We see a cloaking effect, and the Voyager gets beamed inside of their enormous mother ship." In fact, the Voth city ship was said to be one of the largest ships ever created for Star Trek. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112)
The effect of the Voth ships speeding through space was adapted from the second season installment "Threshold". Mitch Suskin explained, "There's an effect that was established in ['Threshold'] which is the episode where they're experimenting with transwarp. We're just going back to the transwarp effect. These people [meaning the Voth] have technology where they travel in transwarp, so we see them come out of transwarp a few times." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112)
Brannon Braga was ultimately highly satisfied with the visuals of this installment. He said of the episode, "It looks great. Great effects." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112) On another occasion, Braga stated that he enjoyed "the effects, and the directing…" of this episode. (Star Trek: Voyager Companion, p. 179)

Reception

Ultimately, Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky were both very pleased with this episode. Moments after describing the possibility that dinosaurs had evolved to be bipedal organisms as "sort of a neat science fiction idea," Braga enthused, "It's the perfect episode in my mind." (Star Trek Monthly issue 28, p. 17) However, Braga also commented, "It was one episode that was just about perfect." Moments later, he remarked, "It was a very complex [and] ambitious show that really turned out great." (Star Trek: Voyager Companion, p. 179) Shortly after completing work on Voyager's third season, Braga said, "We think it's the best show that we did this season, and I think it's the best show I've written on Voyager. It's a very special episode." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 91) He also included this episode among a few examples of third season Voyager installments that he thought were good (the other episodes being "Scorpion" and "Unity"). He said of this particular installment, "That's a classic that I'm really happy with. That's good." (Star Trek Monthly issue 29, p. 13) For his part, Menosky commented, "I think [it's] classic Star Trek, with all the kind of Humanity that Trek is supposed to have." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 86) In fact, Menosky believed this episode captures the flavor of some of the most successful installments of Star Trek: The Next Generation. "It felt as close to TNG in spirit, as anything I've ever been involved on, since I've been writing for Voyager, frankly closer to the spirit of the kind of best TNG's than a lot of TNG's I've done." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112) Menosky particularly liked "the courtroom scenes" of this episode, saying, "I think [they] are just really wonderful." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112)
A particular facet of the episode that Joe Menosky thought was "very unique" is the alien perspective that the installment initially takes. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112) Brannon Braga also thought this element was notable, believing that it partly made the episode's entire story very unusual. He observed of the episode, "It's a 'what if' science fiction premise [....] It's a really rich metaphor for the creation/science debates and Galileo-type struggles. And it's got a totally unique structure, which is them tracking us [....] It's rare that a Star Trek episode can have all three of those things, and this one does." (Star Trek Monthly issue 28, p. 17)
Story consultant Michael Piller was so impressed by this episode's teleplay that he sent a memo to Joe Menosky which said, "The best Voyager script I've ever read." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112)
Executive producer Rick Berman also liked this episode. He referred to it as "a great Voyager episode" and also said, "It's a really classic piece of Star Trek." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 111, p. 8)
This episode achieved a Nielsen rating of 4.4 million homes, and a 7% share. [3]^(X)
Cinefantastique rated this episode 2 and a half out of 4 stars. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 111)
Star Trek Magazine scored this episode 4 out of 5 stars, defined as "Trill-powered viewing". (Star Trek Monthly issue 32, p. 93)
The unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 183) gives this installment a rating of 8 out of 10.
The undersuit padding lot that Henry Woronicz wore for this episode was later sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [4]^(X)
In 2017, Kirsten Beyer cited this as one of three favorite VOY episodes (the other two being "Living Witness" and "Scorpion, Part II"). [5]

Continuity and trivia

This is the third time the crew of Voyager discover a direct connection to Earth in the Delta Quadrant, having previously encountered descendants of Humans abducted from Earth ("The 37's") and descendants of aliens who have visited Earth ("Tattoo"). It is also the seventh time they have discovered a connection between the Alpha Quadrant and Delta Quadrant more generally, having previously discovered a wormhole connecting the two quadrants ("Eye of the Needle"), a Cardassian weapon ("Dreadnought"), Ferengi ("False Profits"), and former Borg that were assimilated in the Alpha Quadrant ("Unity").
Voyager's crew complement in this episode, according to the Voth's sensors, is 148 lifesigns (not including The Doctor). While this is consistent with the number of occupants of the Federation Habitat on the Nyrian biosphere vessel in "Displaced", it is inconsistent with the crew complement of 152 established in "The 37's" and the (minimum of) 12 crew deaths that have happened since that episode. The difference of 7 may be attributed to a mistake in the sensor readings, or to additional crew members recruited from the Delta Quadrant.
The Human bone fragments and piece of uniform found by the Voth scientists' belonged to Ensign Hogan, who was killed by a native lifeform on that planet in the third season opener "Basics, Part II".
The Voth visit Bahrat's space station in this episode to acquire information on Voyager, which is an acknowledgment of the events of "Fair Trade". The canister of warp plasma they get from a Tak Tak trader on the station was presumably acquired during the trade mission seen at the beginning of "Macrocosm".
The events of this episode are referred to in the seventh season episode "Friendship One".
The Star Trek: Voyager Companion, p. 284 states that the throne chair that Minister Odala is sitting on was later reused as Doctor Chaotica's throne in "Bride of Chaotica!" and that it was originally created for the Coneheads movie.
Reference to 47: the number of genetic markers shared between Humans and Voth.
Janeway and The Doctor mention that Earth's hadrosaurs were cold-blooded. While long the prevailing theory, by the time the episode aired in 1997, films such as Jurassic Park four years earlier began to cement the idea of dinosaurs as warm-blooded animals (which first began taking shape as part of the "Dinosaur Renaissance" with the discovery of Deinonychus in the 1970s) in the popular consciousness, though at the time it was still relatively groundbreaking. Today, the idea of dinosaurs as cold-blooded has generally been discredited in both scientific and public circles.
None of the main characters appear for the first fifteen minutes of the episode.
The name "Gegen" might be derived from German "gegen", which means "against, contra" - a possible reference to his stance against the established Voth doctrine.
The Voth's humanoid appearance is likely due to the intervention of the Ancient humanoids as was explained in TNG: "The Chase", as an explanation why so many sentient species end up sharing the same basic bipedal form.