The inspiration behind Star Trek: Voyager’s Course: Oblivion

Star Trek: Voyager offered a bleak episode in Course: Oblivion

Written by Bryan Fuller, the fifth season episode of Star Trek: Voyager was a sequel to the episode “Demons” in which the Voyager crew encountered mimetic beings that could not survive in a nitrogen-rich atmosphere. When “Demons” ended, the beings were left behind…or so everyone thought. “Course: Oblivion” brought them back in a way that can only be described as bleak and heart-wrenching.

Not only was Fuller inspired by the first episode, according to Star Trek: Voyager —A Celebration, he took some inspiration from a rather poignant The Twilight Zone episode, entitled “After Hours.” Twilight Zone fans will remember this one for the mannequins who take turns, one at a time, to live as a human every thirty days. There is no saving them as that is just how their “lives are.”

Course: Oblivion is one of Star Trek: Voyager’s controversial episodes

Not every fan loved this episode as some considered it irrelevant. Nick Sagan, who co-wrote the teleplay with Fuller, told Star Trek Magazine, that they also felt cheated for having followed an entire episode about a crew that didn’t actually exist. And the real crew only appears at the final minutes. But Sagan said that the story was about the poignancy of Voyager’s journey.

"“There’s something about trying really hard and not being quite able to achieve it, which is a reality to a lot of people […] [The episode’s] about a need to be remembered, a need to be recorded, and that’s the special tragedy about making a log, a kind of capsule – we know that the ‘Demon’ crew dies. It’s about loss and remembering, death and grief.”"

Thematically dark, Course: Oblivion shows the mimetic crew desperately trying to reach safety before their time runs out, and viewers watch as their cells degrade to the point where they can no longer sustain life. In the end, even the mimetic ship dies, and the real crew of Voyager can only continue on their own journey. Much like most of The Twilight Zone’s episodes, this one leaves the viewer with a “what if” feeling, and that’s what Sagan called it….”a wonderful, what if episode.”