Emanantions (S1E09)
Airdate: 13 March 1995
Written by: Brannon Braga
Directed by: David Livingstone
Running Time: 45 minutes
One of the foundational pillars of Star Trek has always been the spirit of exploration, a mandate that traditionally extended to the furthest reaches of space, the strangest alien species, and the most complex scientific anomalies. However, the "Great Beyond"—specifically the metaphysical concept of an afterlife—remained an area that the franchise’s authors were hesitant to venture into. This reluctance was partly born out of necessity, as the original Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) had to be extremely careful about subjects that might be touchy for its religious-minded viewers. Furthermore, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the series, was a staunch secular humanist who did not consider the subject of faith-based afterlives worthy of his life's work. Years after his death, Star Trek: Voyager would courageously address this subject, beginning with the Season 1 episode Emanations. This narrative choice marked a significant departure from the procedural adventures of the previous decade, offering a rumination on death, belief, and the economic pressures of existence that few science fiction stories dared to explore with such graphic intensity.
The episode begins with Voyager discovering signatures of a yet undiscovered 247th chemical element within the ring system of a huge planet. The crew finds a cavern in one of the rocks in the ring and dispatches an away team, led by Commander Chakotay and Ensign Harry Kim. There they find a large number of humanoid bodies, wrapped in a cobweb substance and in various states of decomposition, and quickly conclude that the cavern serves as a burial ground. They also discover that the burial ground is still in use when a "subspace vacuole" opens and deposits a new cobweb-wrapped body. When the next vacuole starts to develop, the away team is ordered to evacuate, but not before Harry Kim is caught in the vacuole and disappears; he is immediately replaced by another body of a female humanoid, wrapped in cobweb. .
Kim finds himself in a mortuary, being stuck in a pod-shaped device. He bangs on it to be opened and finds humanoid aliens who call themselves the Vhnori. Kim learns that the Vhnori believe that the vacuoles, which appear naturally in their home world, are a gateway to what they call "Next Emanation" or afterlife. Because of this belief, they have developed ways to transport their dead through special devices, and the practice also includes those who are dying, lonely, or who simply wish to die. Kim, while in the mortuary, finds a Vhnori named Hatil (Jeffrey Allan Chandler), who recently had an accident, became crippled, and is a burden to his family, which is why he has decided to go to the "Next Emanation." The presence of Harry Kim baffles him and makes him question his beliefs about the afterlife, creating a profound philosophical conflict that drives the episode's emotional core.
Meanwhile, the body of the Vhnori woman is beamed up to Voyager and brought to sickbay where the Doctor revives her. The woman, named Ptera (Cecile Callan), becomes hysterical when she realises that what she considered an afterlife is actually an alien ship. Voyager suddenly begins experiencing vacuoles that deliver Vhnori bodies. Eventually, Voyager crew decides to send Ptera back to one of the emanations, in the hope that she would get back to her world and help find Kim. The plan fails and she instead rematerialises, this time being dead for good.
Kim, while talking with Hatil, learns that some of the Vhnori who don’t want to go to the process simply run away to the mountains. He decides to help him take this route by switching places. Kim is wrapped in a burial shroud, enters a pod, and finds himself back on Voyager. Later, he discusses his experience with Captain Janeway, being reminded of his own mortality. Janeway tells him that the bodies that have accumulated on the asteroid apparently possess some neural energy responsible for creating the 247th element, so it’s not impossible that some kind of afterlife indeed exists for the Vhnori. She also tells Kim that she should take some time to come to terms with his experience and gives him two days of rest, acknowledging the trauma he has endured.
Emanations was deeply personal project for the scriptwriter Brannon Braga, who had contemplated writing an episode about death for the long time. He was also fascinated by the concept of euthanasia and how it would play out in a society that doesn't take death as the end of everything, concluding that there would be immense pressure for people to end their lives for economic reasons. Braga struggled with the execution of this idea within the confines of the episode's format, often feeling the constraints of the clock and the budget limited his ability to fully flesh out the implications of his thesis. This internal struggle is evident in the episode's pacing and the way certain plot threads are left dangling.
The episode is notable for David Livingston’s direction, which employed unusual camera angles to create a sense of disorientation and unease. His work is even more impressive considering that he had a flu during the production, which undoubtedly added to the physical strain of filming. The director was slightly unsure how to differentiate scenes set on the Vhnori homeworld from the series' regular settings, a challenge that likely contributed to the specific visual style he opted for, which Rick Berman initially resisted but eventually accepted. The episode was also praised for its special effects depicting the ringed planet and the asteroid burial ground, often considered the highlight of special effects on broadcast television at the time. The sight of the bodies strewn across the caves inside these asteroids is atmospheric and effective, creating a visual language that speaks to the brutality of the Vhnori existencce.
Garret Wang later praised the episode because it focused on his character and allowed it to grow, while helping develop acting skills that he would need for the rest of the series. He was, however, unhappy that the episode hadn't explored the issues in greater depth, a sentiment shared by many critics who felt the episode was more talky than it needed to be. The episode uses some of the DS9-specific tropes like "O'Brien must suffer," but here it is Harry Kim who bears the burden of the narrative, a change that, while welcome, doesn't fully resolve the tension of his character arc.
Despite its strengths, the episode is not without its flaws. The major flaw is a detail at the beginning when Chakotay, realising that they arrived at a burial ground, complains about using tricorders to collect the data, because this was considered disrespectful. In some ways, the character being described as Native American, and more "spiritual" than anyone else on Voyager, looks very much like too explicit overture to "political correctness" characteristic of 1990s television. Today’s audience could interpret this as an ethnic stereotype rather than a genuine character trait, breaking the immersion for viewers who are tired of the trope. Jerry Hardin, great character actor who had many appearances in Star Trek, is underused in the role of Neria, Vhnori scientist and thanatologist, who examines Harry Kim, robbing the story of a potentially richer layer of intellectual debate.
The episode was generally well-received, although Brannon Braga expressed regret that some of the issues couldn't be properly explored because of time format and budget limitations. The episode could have explored what it meant for the Prime Directive: Should Harry lie to them to avoid breaking the Prime Directive? Is lying to them about their religious beliefs moral? Alternatively, it could have gone down the route of showing what happens when people realise what they had believed their whole life is wrong. Either of these directions would have been more interesting than what we got. The episode was criticised for lacking the courage to commit to its own idea, with some critics feeling the "new element" was an embarassingly cheap "science idea" for Trek and the portrayal of euthanasia pressure was incredibly ham-fisted.
Emanations is, despite its flaws, very good episode that dared to deal with some deep and difficult philosophical issues, while successfully employing Star Trek template. It showed that Voyager had great potential in Season 1 to continue carrying the torch of the franchise and the best things you could find on science fiction television. Tim Russ (an actor playing Tuvok) thought that Emanations were stories that challenged concepts, ideas, attitudes and traditions — all things that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry originally wrote science fiction about. While it may not be the most memorable episode of the first season, its ambition to deconstruct the finality of death in the face of scientific discovery remains a compelling and haunting watch. The episode attempts to tie spiritual beliefs to scientific facts rather than to dismiss all religion outright as barbaric superstition, even if it drops more questions about the Vhnori than it answers. Ultimately, it clearly shows writers' willingness to explore the "Great Beyond," even if they didn't quite reach the destination.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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