A great episode from Star Trek: Voyager season 3 was saved from obscurity by Rick Berman, according to writer Joe Menosky. Rick Berman became Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s right-hand man at the beginning of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and ascended to the role of franchise leader after Roddenberry passed away during TNG‘s run. Berman was responsible for shepherding the Star Trek timeline through its most popular era in the 1990s and early 2000s, and this included being an executive producer on all seven seasons of Voyager.

Although later seasons of Voyager were undoubtedly better than earlier ones, season 3 was arguably where the show began to turn a corner. The seasons contained some incredible episodes, such as the two-part-time-travel epic “Future’s End,” and storylines tended to be better overall as the series picked up momentum and Voyager‘s cast of characters gelled with each other. However, one great episode toward the end of Voyager season 3 might never have been a hit if it weren’t for Rick Berman.

Joe Menosky Explained How Rick Berman Saved An Important Star Trek: Voyager Season 3 Episode

Berman’s story change ensured the “Distant Origin” went from good to great

In an interview with Cinefantastique in 1997, Joe Menosky detailed how Berman was instrumental in making sure that Voyager season 3, episode 23, “Distant Origin” succeeded. “Distant Origin” dealt with the crew of the USS Voyager encountering an alien race, the Voth, who were descended from a species of dinosaur on Earth. The episode had a great classic Star Trek premise, incorporating real-world science and allegory, but according to Menosky, it only got that way because of Berman’s suggestions when the idea was pitched. Read Menosky’s full quote below:

“He happened to come into the room when we were talking about this show. The first story notion that Brannon laid out to Rick in Jeri’s office was the action-oriented story idea and Rick just hated it. He said, ‘All I see is a bunch of lizards with AK-47s. Where’s the Humanity? This should be Galileo.’ As soon as he said Galileo, I thought, that’s perfect. I’ve done a lot of research in Italian history, so I knew exactly what he was talking about. Rick Berman’s participation at that basic story level made this episode happen.”

Thanks to Berman’s suggestion of including a “Galileo” figure as the episode’s protagonist, “Distant Origin” became one of Voyager season 3’s better episodes. The character of Gegen (Henry Woronicz) added a wonderfully humanizing element to the plot, and basing most of the episode from the Voth’s point of view brought in a more exciting perspective than the traditional Voyager episode. Additionally, “Distant Origin” ended up being very popular among Voyager’s creative team, receiving praise from several writing and production staff members. This also spoke to the impressiveness of the episode’s story overall.

Voyager’s “Distant Origin” Is A Classic Star Trek Episode Thanks To Berman

“Distant Origin” has all the hallmarks of the greatest Star Trek episodes

Without its connection to real-life events, “Distant Origin” might never have become so popular. Joe Menosky further enthused in the same Cinefantastique interview that the episode had a lot of unique things going for it, even going so far as to say that it was like a great episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. According to Menoksy, the episode “…felt as close to TNG in spirit, as anything I’ve ever been involved on since I’ve been writing for Voyager,” and was “frankly closer to the spirit of the kind of best TNGs than a lot of TNGs I’ve done.”

This is high praise, considering that TNG was the gold standard for Star Trek TV shows at the time. “Distant Origin” does have many of the hallmarks of a great TNG episode, including the very human debate about science versus religion from an alien perspective. Given that Rick Berman began his Star Trek tenure on TNG, it isn’t surprising that he would be able to shape episodes for other series like Star Trek: Voyager that included some of TNG‘s distinctive features.

Source: Cinefantastique, Vol. 29