After hearing about its original premise, I wish Star Trek: Voyager had gone all the way with its season 4 doppelgänger storyline. As a Voyager aficionado, I feel safe in saying that season 4 was when everything began to hit its stride more definitively. With the addition of Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Voyager's cast of characters truly gelled together, and season 4 arguably had more good episodes than bad, unlike some of the seasons before it. One of these better episodes was season 4, episode 24, "Demon," which set up an interesting arc that continued into season 5.
During "Demon," the USS Voyager's crew landed the ship on a Y-class "demon" planet to gather more deuterium for this power supply. However, things took a turn when the crew discovered a biomimetic substance that duplicated the genetic pattern of anyone who came into contact with it, creating doppelgängers of several characters. The debate about whether to allow more doppelgängers to be made became the episode's main focus. Eventually, Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) allowed the entire ship and crew to be duplicated, leaving their counterparts on the planet when the real Voyager departed.
Star Trek: Voyager Should Have Gone Further With Season 4's Doppelgänger Story
The original idea was much more expansive
Voyager's doppelgängers appeared in one other episode after "Demon," but according to writer Joe Menosky, they were originally set to play a much larger role in season 4. In an interview with Cinefantastique, Voyager's creative team including Menosky outlined the shelved idea for an episode about the doppelgängers making it back to Earth before the real crew and causing havoc. Personally, after reading the initial ideas for the episode, I can't help but be disappointed that it wasn't ever created. You can read Menosky's full quote below:
"Brannon Braga had some great images. One was opening with Voyager above Earth, this great homecoming sequence. There are fireworks in the sky, and everybody is going down to their homecomings. Janeway has a wonderful tearful reunion with Mark. She kisses Mark and she then snaps his neck, end of teaser. Then he had this image of like a thousand Voyagers converging on Earth. Somehow, these duplicate Voyagers were being created that didn't even know who they were."
The episode's production likely would have been huge, which is probably why it never got past the development stage. Still, the possibilities for something like this strike me as endless. Having a Voyager season 4 episode set back on Earth would have given the show a chance to connect back to the wider Star Trek timeline, incorporating other familiar characters in the process. Additionally, the creative team's ideas make the episode sound action-packed, likely something that would have elevated it among other season 4 installments. In reality, the way Voyager wrapped up the doppelgänger storyline was a lot more depressing.
Star Trek: Voyager Doppelgänger Episode Was So Much Sadder Than Its Original Idea
"Course: Oblivion" made the storyline extremely sad
The next time Voyager's duplicates appeared was in the season 5 episode "Course: Oblivion," which is, in my opinion, one of the saddest Voyager episodes ever. The episode opened with the crew celebrating several accomplishments, but things took a dark turn when everyone discovered they were actually the real Voyager's doppelgängers, and that their new warp core was killing them, causing the substance they were made of to break down. The rest of the episode was a race against time as the duplicate crew tried to contact the real Voyager for help, only to be completely disintegrated before they could.
"Course: Oblivion" pulled a clever fake out on the audience by opening the episode with Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) and B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) getting married. The real Tom and B'Elanna wouldn't tie the knot until the season 7 episode "Drive," but Voyager deciding to begin "Course: Oblivion" with such a big event couldn't have failed to draw in viewers.
Even though the real Voyager was alive and well, I still find it impossible not to feel terrible for the duplicates and their fate. Watching any version of characters you love die slowly always affects the viewer. Of course, if Star Trek: Voyager had decided to go with the original idea of having the duplicates be evil, whatever episode they returned in wouldn't have been so heartbreaking. It's up to anyone's preference which is better, but even though "Course: Oblivion" is a great episode, part of me would have liked to see a more action-oriented premise like the original storyline.
