Jammer's Review
Star Trek: Voyager
"Distant Origin"
Air date: 4/30/1997
Written by Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
Directed by David Livingston
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"I'll see you tonight. BYOB."
"What?"
"Bring your own bat'leth."— Tom and B'Elanna
Nutshell: Flawed and uneven, but reasonably decent. Good execution on the director's part, and an effective ending.
Based on yet another silly Voyager preview (boy am I sick of their bad, bad trailers) that not only advertised the episode as "special" (again), but also attempted to capitalize on the upcoming Jurassic Park sequel by using the title "LOST WORLD" in big block letters, I went into "Distant Origin" with some serious skepticism. Would this be an obligatory episode about "dinosaurs" just so it could capitalize on a hot marketing item? Fortunately, the answer is no; this episode managed to be pretty entertaining and dialog-oriented, and it was a pleasant surprise in many respects.
At the same time, I should also stress that "Distant Origin" was far from perfect, and had some notable flaws. For one, the basic premise is overblown to the point of near-absurdity. The episode also somewhat suffers from another problem: It doesn't seem completely certain what it wants to accomplish dramatically—at least not until near the end.
"Distant Origin" exemplifies the "uneven" outing—it ultimately tells a reasonable story, but it takes a while for it to get where it's going. By the time it reaches its destination, we realize that it's been a rough ride with drama all over the map—it feels cobbled together out of a bunch of different pieces.
Let's start with the somewhat overblown premise. This is yet another supposition by the Voyager writers that an "element of Earth" managed to make its way into the Delta Quadrant—and, further, that Voyager happens to encounter it. I'm willing to exercise "suspension of disbelief," but, come on—do the writers really need to be doing these "attention-grabbing surprise" stories so often? In "The 37's" we had kidnapped humans somehow brought to the Delta Quadrant by an evil race of aliens, and among these humans was Amelia Earhart, no less. In "Tattoo" we had a race of aliens that, by total coincidence, were the descendants of the ancestors of Chakotay's tribe. In "Unity" we had a colony of humans and other Alpha Quadrant races who used to be Borg but broke free of the collective and settled down in the Nechrid Expanse. Now we have "Distant Origin," an episode that tops all previous examples of the "element of Earth" with the idea that Earth's dinosaurs didn't go extinct—but that they evolved into sentient, intelligent beings who invented space travel and left the planet. Sound absurd? Excessive? What more could you expect from Braga and Menosky, the kings of high-concept weirdness?
Yet, in context, Braga and Menosky manage to make this surprisingly tolerable—and even engaging. When it comes down to the story they eventually tell, I still don't think they needed to reel us in with "Look! Dinosaurs!", but once the premise is laid out, it works surprisingly well, mostly because it chooses an effective character to follow.
That character is Gegen (Henry Woronicz), a scientist of the Voth people. Gegen's research of the "distant origin theory" suggests that the Voth migrated from a place elsewhere in the galaxy, and that their civilization was not founded on the world they now reside. (Naturally, Earth turns out to be this distant origin.) Gegen's discovers what may be corroborating evidence when he stumbles upon human skeletal remains and DNA from the planet where poor Ensign Hogan was eaten (see "Basics, Part II"). From here, Gegen, along with his assistant Veer (Christopher Liam Moore), embarks on the search for the rumored Starship Voyager, which may hold the answers to age-old questions. Interestingly, the first quarter or so of the episode takes place entirely from Gegen's point of view, which supplies the audience with a fresh perspective of the Voyager crew.
I liked the way the episode used past episodes as clues to aid in Gegen's research. The aforementioned acknowledgement to "Basics, Part II" worked pretty nicely, and the reference to "Fair Trade" was welcome, although I don't think it quite worked. (Unless I'm missing something, I don't recall Neelix giving anyone at that station warp plasma from the Voyager. He used some other plasma, all of which was expended in an explosion anyway.)
I also thought the way Gegen and Veer proceeded to investigate the starship Voyager once they had tracked it down was pretty cleverly executed. The phase-cloak technology seemed reasonable enough and consistent with Trekkian lore—some may remember that this technology was established as a Romulan experiment back in TNG's "The Next Phase."
The episode suddenly turns to action when the Voth officials decide they must "kidnap" the Voyager in order to hide what Gegen plans on revealing as the truth that supports his distant origin theory. There's a scene where the Voth capture the Voyager by beaming it inside their own city-ship. The episode then supplies an invasion sequence within the darkened interiors of Voyager. If there's one thing this sequence demonstrates, it's how the Voth's technology is far beyond anything the Voyager crew has encountered. (Although, I must admit that their "poison darts" are strangely primitive-seeming.)
The show's ending puts Gegen and his theories on trial; the Voth leader, Minister Odala (Concetta Tomei), charges him with heresy against "Doctrine," the Voth's fundamental dogma of values and beliefs. In a way, Gegen is in the same situation as was Galileo: His scientific truths are trapped by the boundaries of the contemporary ideology—an ideology firmly established, and interpreted by a current administrator unwilling to see change. Gegen's distant origin theory greatly bothers Minister Odala—she sees it as backward and wrong, and fears its implications on the Voth as a people. The message here (not so subtly conveyed, but conveyed well nonetheless) is the argument of progress versus tradition. As Chakotay explains in a Meaningful Speech Scene (but a nicely performed Meaningful Speech Scene), change is not easy, and it takes courage to be unconventional. Gegen is respectable because he seeks The Truth in his research. Minister Odala's way, on the other hand, of forcing Gegen into retracting his theory (threatening Gegen's freedom as well as the freedom of Voyager's crew) represents the fear of new ideas and the facet of society that maintains the status quo.
One troubling aspect of the episode is the question of how the Voth became the advanced civilization they have become, while relying on a dogma that embraces the status quo. I wouldn't call this a flaw in the story so much as an issue that raises some interesting questions.
I must also stress one thing that really helps the episode's cause: David Livingston's direction is absolutely first rate. At times, the atmosphere in "Distant Origin" is quite intense, using jarring close-ups, compelling low- and high-angle shots, dark lighting, and canted camera angles. The trial scene in particular is a technical standout of fresh photography, but pretty much the whole episode was shot effectively such that I took notice.
It's hard to believe that an episode that begins with a premise as weird as "The civilization that evolved from Earth's dinosaurs and traveled to the Delta Quadrant" can settle back into a respectable tale about the fear of progress and change—but this is exactly what "Distant Origin" does. The episode's story events ultimately do fit together in the long run, even if they don't work very well in the short run. And even though it doesn't do much to offer insight to any of the regular characters, the show does paint Gegen quite well. And even though the premise is outlandish, the final story being told is reasonable. Figuring Livingston's atmospheric direction into the equation, I'm going to give "Distant Origin" a slightly generous three stars. This episode is one of the best-produced so-so episodes that Voyager has yet come up with.
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25 comments on this review
Too bad VOY couldn't pull more of these shows up with maybe the exception of 11:59.
-Jayspm
1. I think this may be a sci-fi homage of sorts to the legend of Atlantis. I forgot where but I've read other stories (all fiction) where such a proposal was put forth: that the Atlantians were so advanced, they were capable of space travel.
2. There have been suggestions at times that certain dinosaurs "could" have evolved into sentient and intelligent beings. Jurassic Park 3 even suggests something of that sort iirc in reference to the Velociraptor.
A bit absurd? Sure...but no more than warp drive or transporters or replicators. Or even time travel. Come on, it's a sci-fi show, dare to dream a little.
I would prefer to think that was just one of many possible theories, and something that just occured to Chakotay at the time as a quick solution to the question. It seems far more likely that the Voth were taken from Earth whilst they were still "dinosaurs" by some advanced race of the time, perhaps for display in some ancient alien zoo. Cliché? While I could do without another tale of aliens abducting earthlings, its far more likely than Chakotay's idea.
On the holodeck they contended that one can extrapolate what evolution would do to an organism over a period of many millions of years. However, this is impossible as one cannot foresee what random mutations will occur in any given genotype over time. In addition, it is also impossible to foresee which given mutations will be ultimately selected for as this depends on entirely random events in the environment. This episode supports the common lay misconception that evolution aims for specific designs, like intelligence or upright posture. However, evolution is fundamentally aimless. Anyone with the most rudimentary grasp of biology knows this.
This begs the question how dumb is Joe Menosky, as he wrote both The Chase and Distant Origin? Did this guy ever go to school? It almost seems as if he is on an agenda to unify evolution with intelligent design or something crazy like that.
I found the episode engaging. The Voth prosthetics were great and the actors did well with it. One of Trek's better efforts.
The major logic flaw in plot terms is that the Voth, it would seem, have tech far in advance of even the Borg (Voyager weaponry and Treknobabble was dispensed with as a trifle). And, specially given the improved performance of Transwarp tech and the friendly Voth scientist who hung around with them at the end, one might have expected Voyager to benefit a great deal more from the encounter than transpired in the story.
This is my SINGLE favourite episode of Voyager, and one of my favourite episodes of Star Trek ever produced (and I've heard that Michael Piller thought so too). Everything was absolutely stellar: script, acting, make-up, directing. For a species that appeared only once, a lot of thought went into the design of the Voth – the cool needles, the protective hibernation, the fly-eating, the sense of smell, etc. It makes them seem more real and, ironically, alien.
As you mentioned, starting the episode from Gegen’s perspective gave us a fresh change of pace, and for once used interesting continuity from previous episodes. I also thought the invasion scene was very nicely done. Here is a species that is definitely more technologically advanced then we have ever seen are truly unbeatable (unlike the Borg or the Dominion).
The final act is a tour-de-force of powerful dialogue and commentary on contemporary issues with perfect execution. In a way, this isn’t just about Galileo, but also Copernicus and Darwin and all the other scientists who faced adversity because their discoveries contradicted the beliefs of the time, a problem we still encounter today, unfortunately. Chakotay’s defence of the Voth’s plight is particularly poignant, seeing as he comes from a tribe that is very proud of their heritage. I have always found social commentary to be the most effective use of his character (following on “Unity” and continuing through “Scorpion”, “Nemesis” and others). And then comes the moment of true sacrifice where Gegen (who is essentially the protagonist of this story) is obviously willing to give up his own life for his beliefs, but realizes he cannot give up the lives of others. Truly tragic stuff.
The only other episode I can think of that deals with this issue is DS9's "In the Hands of the Prophets", but in that episode the issue was kind of secondary to the assassin-plot machinations. Here it takes the center stage, and so it should.
Anyway, rad ep.
Some on this post have mentioned similarities between Distant Origin and TNG's The Chase. However, these two episodes are contradictory. The Chase introduced a Panspermia-style explanation for the fact that so many Milky Way intelligent races look humanoid. They were all "seeded" by the genome of an ancient parent race. This also explained their similar DNA, a necessary explanation for characters like B'Elanna Torres, a Klingon-Human hybrid.
Contradicting this, the saurians of Distant Origin find no common genetic markers between the humanoid races in the quadrant. Only with humans do they find a very distant evolutionary tie.
According to The Chase, all humanoids share a common genetic make-up - enough to intermarry in many cases. According to Distant Origin, most humanoids do not share common genetics - and those that do, necessarily evolve on the same planet.
Another example of the reviewer's misunderstanding of the meaning of the word "premise"--the evolution/dinosaur theme/idea is not the premise, it's the means by which the premise is proved. The premise is more or less what I stated in my previous post, that "evolved" has less to do with technology or abilities or grandeur and more to do with ideals and one's loyalty to them.
When the premise is engaging and strong (as it is here, otherwise the final act would have nothing to say), the means to that end are all but irrelevant. What the means happen to be in this episode 1) draw attention to the theme of evolution, naturally, and 2) give the executors of the script license to have some fun which we can all appreciate.
Where you saw "hey, look dinosaurs", I saw a scripting veneer which reflected the deeper themes of the episode.
I feel I must point out the arbitrary bias in the language of your Voyager reviews as well. You point out the "Meaningful Speech Scene" regarding Chakotay--why wasn't the same cynical label given to Eddington's speech in "For the Cause"? It's the same affect for the same purpose (dramatically speaking) and even comes at about the same point in the episode. Yet, there you treat it like a totally fresh and uncontrived device. This is unfair.
This is a 4-star episode which could reasonably be docked half a star for the capture-the-ship scene which totally loses momentum (albeit briefly).
For once, it's nice to see an episode that doesn't start with absolutely indispensable crew members in shuttle crafts in dangerous parts of space while being out of Voyager's com-range.
Or it's nice that the episode didn't start by their scanners detecting some silly iron or other such non-important detail.
Or it's nice that the episode didn't start by the crew doing something that is obviously a waste of time.
Seriously??? I swear Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky just aren't happy with a script until it strains credulity to its breaking point.
Couldn't they have just made the Voth's "distant origin" be simply somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant? Distant relatives of...I don't know, the Saurians who invented Saurian Brandy or something? Or the Gorn?
The truly important part of the story was that it was, more or less, an allegory of the Galileo trial, which was as worthy a Star Trek idea as they come. It would have worked no matter where the Voth's true "distant origin" actually was. But they just HAD to have dinos didn't they? This episode could have been a true classic if it weren't for that.
Braga is quoted as having said he thought the dinosaur angle was "a neat science fiction idea." Maybe so, but it wasn't a neat Star Trek idea.
And for what it's worth, my kids loooooved the dinos.
Distant Origin was a call-back to classic science fiction and I loved it, skillfully done. 3.5/4
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