History Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS3E22DistantOrigin

* ScienceMarchesOn: The Voth are clearly established as ectotherms (cold-blooded) and harbor FantasticRacism against endotherms, particularly mammals. Although paleontologists had been uncovering evidence since the 1970s and 1980s that dinosaurs were endothermic, the episode was released in 1997, at a time when this notion was only ''just'' being brought into popular consciousness thanks to films such as ''Film/JurassicPark''. Today, scientists and popular culture are both in nearly unanimous agreement that dinosaurs ''were'', in fact, warm-blooded, and are biologically closer to modern birds than they are to their reptilian ancestors. This is particularly true of theropods such as the dromaeosaurs[[note]]colloquially known as the raptors, including genus ''Velociraptor'' and ''Deinonychus''[[/note]] in which some species sported feather precursors, if not anatomically modern feathers.

* FromACertainPointOfView: To the Voth, the distant origin theory means they are mere refugees with no right to the region of space they control. Chakotay urges Minister Odala to consider themselves as {{Bold Explorer}}s who established another homeworld against all odds, but she rejects this argument.

* HigherTechSpecies: The Voth have technology far enough above Voyager that the ship is utterly helpless and can travel at a speed orders of magnitude faster, but nothing remotely as advanced as you'd expect from a people who had been space-faring for tens of millions of years.

* NoSell: None of the phasers on ''Voyager'' can fire, thanks to the Voth dampening field. That doesn't stop Tom from [[PistolWhipping using one as a bludgeon]].

* ScienceMarchesOn: The Voth are clearly established as ectotherms (cold-blooded) and harbor FantasticRacism against endotherms, particularly mammals. Although paleontologists had been uncovering evidence since the 1970s and 1980s that dinosaurs were endothermic, the episode was released in 1997, at a time when this notion was only ''just'' being brought into popular consciousness thanks to films such as ''Film/JurassicPark''. Today, scientists and popular culture are both in nearly unanimous agreement that dinosaurs ''were'', in fact, warm-blooded, and are biologically closer to modern birds than they are their reptilian ancestors. This is particularly true of theropods such as the dromaeosaurs[[note]]colloquially known as the raptors, including genus ''Velociraptor'' and ''Deinonychus''[[/note]] in which some species sported feather precursors, if not anatomically modern feathers.

** Tuvok catches one [[ShotMidSentence mid-sentence]] later on.

* AgeOfReptiles: The Voth evolved from dinosaurs durind that era.

* AgeOfReptiles: The Voth presumably evolved from dinosaurs durind that era.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The computer is somehow able to accurately extrapolate how ''Parasaurolophus'' would look with an extra 65 million years of evolution. It's impossible to predict how any species will look if it continues to evolve.
* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Janeway tosses a phaser to Chakotay as he rushes out to find the alien intruders.

* The47Society: Humans and Voth share 47 genetic markers, leading to the conclusion that they're from the same planet.

* ScienceFictionWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Another connection with Earth for fans to gripe about. However this trip took so long the ancestors of the Voth apparently forgot their origins in the mists of history. They've also discovered transwarp since then, explaining how they can cover a distance Voyager spent a year crossing.

* StarshipLuxurious: The Voth city ship is so large it beams Voyager inside it with plenty of room to spare.

* RecycledInSpace: The entire episode is a retelling of Galileo's difficulties with the Pope regarding Heliocentrism--only with dinosaurs.

* WholePlotReference: The entire episode is a retelling of Galileo's difficulties with the Pope regarding Heliocentrism--only with dinosaurs.

** Tuvok catches one mid-sentence later on.

-->"Note how the female through the feigned antagonism encourages the male in his attempt to mate."

--> '''Chakotay:''' I've had the opportunity the last few days to learn something about your culture, and your great accomplishments. Consider your breakthrough into Transwarp -- an incredible achievement! And yet, your ancient doctrine predicted terrible disasters if it were even attempted. That held your race back for millennia. Until someone took a chance and challenged that prediction. They succeeded, and your society entered a new chapter of exploration, and your doctrine was changed accordingly. I know from the history of my own planet that change is difficult. New ideas are often greeted with skepticism, even fear. But sometimes those ideas are accepted, and when they are progress is made. Eyes are opened.\\
'''Odala:''' When I open my eyes to this theory, what I see appalls me. I see my race fleeing your wretched planet, a group of pathetic refugees crawling and scratching their way across the galaxy, stumbling into this domain. And I see a race with no birthright, no legacy. That is unacceptable!\\
'''Chakotay:''' I see something very different, Minister. 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. Deny your origins on Earth, and you deny your true heritage.\\

* TranquillizerDart: Tuvok catches one mid-sentence.
--> "There appears to be a dampening fie--"

* WorldBuilding: Even though the Voth were only meant to appear in one episode, there's an effort to portray their culture in various minor ways.

* WholePlotReference: The entire episode is a retelling of Galileo's difficulties with the Pope regarding Heliocentrism--only with dinosaurs.

** ''Eryops'', the last common ancestor of cold-blooded and warm-blooded animals on Earth, is stated by the Doctor to have lived about 400 million years ago, during the Devonian period, when in fact it lived more than 100 million years earlier, during the Permian period. In addition, the ''Eryops'' shown in the episode more closely resembles the ''Gorgonops'', a type of synapsid, which were the ancestors of mammals, not dinosaurs.

** It also refers to ''Parasaurolophus'' as "Genus: ''Hadrosaur''". ''Parasaurolophus'' may have been part of the family Hadrosauridae, but it's a different genus from ''Hadrosaurus''.

* AnswerCut: Janeway wonders why they haven't seen the computer's extrapolation of an evolved humanoid reptilian in a museum of natural history on Earth. Cut to Chakotay and Gegen discussing the issue.