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| An alien scientist ponders his most significant find. |
Forra Gegen (Henry Woronicz) is a Voth paleontologist who, along with his assistant Veer (Christopher Liam Moore) has advanced a theory of "distant origin" - a theory that the Voth people are not native to the Delta Quadrant but originated someplace else. Their latest find appears to prove that theory: a skeleton, with the remains of a gold uniform, that carries genetic markers similar to those of the Voth.
Minister Odala (Concetta Tomei), of the ruling Ministry of Elders, is not pleased with Gegen's findings, and has him charged with "heresy against the Doctrine" for supporting a theory that contradicts the Ministry's teachings. Gegen and Veer are forced to flee. But Gegen has one clue to follow, something he salvaged from the remains: An identification code that shows that the corpse was part of a ship.
"We are looking for something called Voyager!"
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: Amusingly, Gegen and Veer's first thought while watching the Voyager crew hop to Janeway's every utterance is that human society must be "a matriarchy of some sort." Janeway's scientific curiosity is piqued by the common genetic markers shared by both humans and Voth, and she can't resist investigating that. She refuses to show any weakness to Haluk (Marshall Teague), the sadistic Voth security advisor who threatens to torture her, and even enjoys a brief gloat at his expense when Tom appears to have given her an advantage - though to her credit, she does not buckle in any way when that advantage proves to be an illusion.
Chakotay: He quickly befriends Gegen, earning the Voth scientist's trust by being reasonable and non-threatening even after being kidnapped. He shares what he and Janeway determined about the genetic similarities between the Voth and the humans, and clearly sympathizes with Gegen's desire to make the truth public to his people. He insists on speaking in Gegen's defense at the Voth trial, and reassures Gegen that the truth will some day come to light even after the trial's outcome proves undesirable. All of this could make this a very strong Chakotay episode... but Robert Beltran is wooden throughout, all but erasing memories of his very good work earlier this year in Unity.
Tom Paris: Is flirting more and more heavily with B'Elanna, who is clearly responding more than she'd probably like. He shows his resourcefulness in the second half, when he evades the Voth boarding party and makes a good stab at rescuing the ship by using the Voth cloaking technology against them.
THOUGHTS
Distant Origin is basically Voyager's version of the very good fourth season TNG episode, First Contact. A substantial portion of both episodes is portrayed from the points-of-view of aliens in a first contact situation with our regulars. Both episodes see alien characters who are sympathetic and ones who are villainous, and both deal with worries over how the alien society would react to the discovery of the humans.
Distant Origin is a much weaker episode than First Contact was, however. That episode was much more sophisticated, its characters genuinely three-dimensional. Even the episode's most overt villain was clearly trying to do what he believed was right. This episode features two sympathetic alien characters, whose search for the truth puts them literally on the run from rulers whose conduct is such that I half-expected to hear Darth Vader's theme playing over their every appearance.
I will say that the episode's first half works quite well. Writers Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky show the entire first third of the show from Professor Gegen's viewpoint, giving the regulars a delayed entrance and then showing the regulars from the aliens' point of view for several additonal minutes. This section of the episode is highly engrossing, and it's amusing to watch Gegen and Veer's take on the interactions among Voyager's crew. Even after the viewpoint switches to Janeway, things remain engaging as she unwittingly furthers Gegen's research by following up the similar genetic markers in their DNA and the aliens.
Then the Voth show up to present an unnecessary external threat, and the episode falls apart. The obvious intent is to mirror historical cases where scientists were condemned as heretics for sharing their findings - notably Galileo, whose punishment for insisting that the Earth moved around the sun was moderately similar to what befalls Gegen in this episode. And if the "tradition-versus-progress" and "fact-versus-doctrine" elements had been explored more fully, this might have been something first-rate.
Instead, we get an entirely unnecessary subplot in which the Voth capture Voyager. Why? The proceedings against Gegen would play out much the same without a threat against the ship, and Prime Directive worshipper Janeway would hardly be inclined to interfere in any case. Why not allow the Voyager crew to simply witness and reflect on the issues of Gegen's trial, instead of distracting from those issues with some hastily drummed-up "jeopardy?"
The whole thing concludes with Chakotay making a speech. A speech that is not only heavy-handed and sanctimonious, but is long and woodenly-delivered by Robert Beltran. At least when Picard picked up his sledge-hammer to batter home the lesson of the week, actor Patrick Stewart was able to invest it with a certain level of passion and vigor. Beltran sounds like he's reading the whole thing for the first time as he speaks it. It actually comes as a relief when he fails to change Odala's mind and instead seems to make her final judgment that much harsher.
What makes all this so frustrating is how good the episode might have been. Had Haluk and particularly Odala been shown as being more three-dimensional, and even been given a hint of a point (as was the case in First Contact), then this could have been one of Season Three's best episodes. Instead, it's only a little better than the previous show was - and all the more disappointing for how much better it should have been.
Overall Rating: 5/10.
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