Distant Origin

This is a really well thought out and "realistic" offering. A couple of Saurian paleontologists from Voth have theorized, with great evidence, that their race originated on Earth during the time of the dinosaurs. But because they have a leadership that doesn't allow for challenges to its dogma, they are seen as threats. They escape in a ship and locate Voyager, the inhabitants of which will provide evidence of their theories. All that said, millions of years of entrenched dogma are hard to overturn through evidence and power loves to keep power. One of the very finest of the Voyager series.

Concetta Tomei's performance as Minister Odala is convincing and absolutely electrifying. This is the only TV episode of any show I think is worth watching just for one actor's performance. Even though you know everything for Voyager and Chuckles will be ok in the end, Minister Odala really makes you worry for them.

Beltran seems to play Chuckles very timidly in his Speech. I'm not sure if he's really doing that or if Tomei's Odala just makes it seem that way. Her glare alone is extremely intimidating, and that's with extensive facial prosthetics to boot. Her race could have been great ongoing antagonists for the show. Far better than that motorcycle gang they dealt with for two years.

Speaking of which, this episode also makes good use of the planet in that train wreck Basics. And while Voyager got a lot of flack for very limited continuity and consequences, this episode makes great use of prior episodes.

It's also told from a different point of view, which is nifty, a bit like TNG's First Contact episode.

Just don't watch the trailer before watching the episode. As almost always with Voyager, the trailers are terribly misleading.

This episode covers the classic battle between scientists with new learning and religious obstinacy or "doctrine" as it's referred to here.

What's great about this episode is how cleverly it brings this debate into play. For the first ten minutes we don't even see the Voyager crew. only the Voth archeologists and their discovery of human remains. They take a scientific approach to uncovering the mystery of "Voyager" and the ultimate interaction between the Voth scientists and Voyager crew is both fascinating and humorous at times.

Just a great job of writing this episode and the casting and acting of the Voth. The Viyager crew does their usual great job as well and this episode is up there with the best of Star Trek.

Veteran Trek Director David Livingston is given a try at writing, and he transwarps it out of the park.

This is the hardest science that I've ever seen inserted in Star Trek's fiction, an absolutely fascinating episode that clearly references the inquisitional trial of Galileo Galilei, with added dinosaurs. It even holds true to the result and consequences of Galileo's persecution, a bold move for a mass appeal show.

There's even a delightful nod to Larry Niven's "Known Space", letting you know that Livingston is absolutely on top of the canon.

If you have the slightest interest in science fiction, even if you have no interest in Voyager, or in Star Trek, this episode is required reading as a standalone flash of genius.

Again, good writing. Sometimes the show can remind me of the outer limits. Clever little stories from a different point of view. I really liked the characters this time. Even the unlikable character has some charm. Cool stuff happens.