History Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS1E8Emanations

[[caption-width-right:350:Eight episodes in; time to get started on [[ButtMonkey making Harry Kim's life suck.]]]]

On ''Voyager'', the Vhnori woman awakens and, after some terrified confusion, introduces herself as Ptera. Janeway explains how subspace vacuoles are depositing her species' bodies in the asteroids. Ptera is horrified that her culture's afterlife appears to be a sham. Tuvok comes up with a possible way to send Ptera back to where she came from and beam Kim back aboard through the rift. Ptera agrees to try in spite of the risks, reasoning that she's already died once, but the experiment is a failure, and Ptera dies in the process. Janeway has her body transported back to one of the burial asteroids.

* AbortedArc: The 247th element is immediately forgotten when the crew discover corpses on the asteroid.

''Voyager'' finds an asteroid belt that seems to be rich with a new element. Chakotay, Torres and Kim beam in to investigate and instead find a burial site for a humanoid species. Suddenly a subspace vacuole forms, and they try to beam out, but the transporter gets one of the bodies instead of Kim. They discover that the body still has life signs and can be revived, so they beam to sick bay to do so. Meanwhile, Kim finds himself in a coffin-like device in the middle of a funeral and breaks out, startling the participants.

Kim discovers that he's among the Vhnori, a species that euthanizes their dying in the device he's in to send tothe Next Emanation. They therefore think he comes from their afterlife and are alarmed when he says he only found their species' corpses there. They subject him to a barrage of tests. In the process, Kim meets Hatil Garan, an invalid whose family has decided to send him to the Next Emanation. Kim's stories make Hatil doubt his enthusiasm to be euthanized, causing problems between him and his family.

On ''Voyager'', the Vhnori woman awakens and, after some terrified confusion, introduces herself as Ptera. Janeway explains how subspace vacuoles are depositing her species' bodies in the asteroids, and now her own ship. Ptera is horrified that her culture's afterlife appears to be a sham. Tuvok comes up with a possible way to send Ptera back to where she came from and beam Kim back aboard through the rift. Ptera agrees to try in spite of the risks, reasoning that she's already died once, but the experiment is a failure, and Ptera dies in the process. Janeway has her body transported back to one of the burial asteroids.

* AbandonedArc: The 247th element is immediately forgotten when the crew discover corpses on the asteroid.

* AuthorTract: "Emanation" is a timely message about the pitfalls of euthanasia -- in very broad stokes. The planet in question in honeycombed with "hundreds" of assisted suicide centers, to the degree that it is [[PlanetOfHats literally their one defining characteristic]]. This leaves Ensign Kim (our audience participation character) little to do but get detained and funneled into the mortuary where he awaits certain death.

* ButtMonkey: Harry Kim's first death. [[TheyKilledKennyAgain It won't be his last...]]
* CaptainObvious: Chakotay believes the fact that the dead bodies they find are naked (it later turns out they are actually not) says a lot. Specifically, [[ShapedLikeItself that Vhnori do not believe in dressing their deceased.]]
** Which is itself a bit of ArtisticLicense. Chakotay has no reason to believe the tomb is a standard burial ground for the culture. For all they know, the tomb was a dumping ground for unclaimed criminals that were stripped and executed for their crimes. Chakotay's archeological SherlockScan was supposed to establish him as an archaeologist, but he sure makes a lot of broad assumptions based on his own culture for someone who is supposed to be an expert on studying other cultures, something B'Elanna even points out to him.
* ChekhovsGunman: That Bajoran transporter operator with the Maquis insignia? Pay attention to her in future episodes...

* FantasticallyIndifferent: Averted; at the end of the episode, Captain Janeway orders Harry to take a few days off to come to grips with his experience.
-->'''Janeway:''' This may not make much sense to you now, a young man at the beginning of his career, but one of the things you'll learn as you move up the ranks and get a little older is that you wish you had more time in your youth to really absorb all the things that happened to you. It goes by so fast. It's so easy to become jaded, to treat the extraordinary like just another day at the office, but sometimes there are experiences which transcend all that.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Harry Kim's first death (but not the last).
* FreakOut: Ptera when first waking up on Voyager instead of the afterlife.

* HesDeadJim: Averted, then played straight, then averted again.
* IndianBurialGround: InSpace The Vhnori cave is similar to a Native American burial cave, with accompanying {{Aesop}} about respecting the site.
* {{Irony}}: Chakotay refuses to allow Harry and B'Elanna to scan the bodies, in order to respect the Vhnori dead. Later a Vhnori doctor remonstrates Harry for not doing so, as it would have given them some answers about their 'afterlife'.

* LeaveNoManBehind: Averted; Janeway is about to give up when Harry is transported back to Voyager JustInTime.

* MauveShirt: Seska's name is mentioned several times, even though she's [[ChekhovsGunman apparently just an extra]].

* TechnoBabble: It's not a good sign when the episode starts with it.

Ensign Harry Kim is accidentally transported to a planet where they think he has returned from the dead, while ''Voyager'' resurrects a person who thinks that she has gone on to "the next emanation."

* The47Society: There are now 247 elements known to Starfleet!

Can you imagine what we could make with this stuff? [[MadeOfIndestructium Probe casings that could go into the core of a sun]], ultra-thin reactor shielding.

* TheWarOnStraw: Neither Hatil and Ptera embody the reasons why people would consider euthanasia. Hatil is not in constant physical pain; he's just been disabled and his family made the decision on Hatil's behalf because caring for him is inconvenient. Ptera has a condition that is easily cured with Federation medical technology, implying that the acceptance of euthanasia has also stifled medical research.

* IndianBurialGround InSpace The Vhnori cave is similar to a Native American burial cave, with accompanying {{Aesop}} about respecting the site.

* IndianBurialGround InSpace The Vhnori cave is similar to a Native American burial cave, with accompanying {{Aesop}} about respecting the site accordingly.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The episode was written when euthanasia was a hot news topic after Oregon passed the Death With Dignity Act.

* StrawVictim: Hatil is not in constant physical pain; he's just been disabled and his family made the decision on Hatil's behalf because caring for him is inconvenient. Ptera has a condition that is easily cured with Federation medical technology, implying that the availability of euthanasia has also stifled medical research.