Summary
An early episode ofStar Trek: Voyagerseason 4 had three small Easter eggs fromStar Trek: First Contact.First Contactwas the second of four movies featuring the cast ofStar Trek: The Next Generation,andpremiered in November 1996 during the middle ofVoyagerseason 3. Although the two projects were about two very different points onthe Star Trek timeline, the film and the show had several important connections to each other.
Voyagerseasons 3 and 4 built on loreFirst Contacthad established about the Borg and the Borg Queen, andFirst Contacteven featured two members ofVoyager’s cast of characters, Robert Picardo and Ethan Phillips, as side characters. These were the biggest crossovers between the two projects, butgiven how muchVoyagerseason 4 owedFirst Contactfor its Borg storylines, the series didn’t stop there. An early episode of season 4 included some surprisingFirst ContactEaster eggs.
Every Star Trek Movie Ranked (From Worst To Best)
There have been fourteen Star Trek movies over the last 40 years, but which is the boldest big-screen adventure to go where no man has gone before?
Star Trek: Voyager’s “Day Of Honor” Has 3 First Contact References
“Day of Honor” relied heavily on First Contact
Voyagerseason 4, episode 3, “Day of Honor” focused onTom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill)and B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) stuck out in space in EV suits after a shuttle explosion, andthese suits were whereVoyagerandFirst Contactcame together. Not only were Tom and B’Elanna’s specific suits reused from the film, but Tom said the words “first contact” while flirting with B’Elanna, and suggested that they “interplex the comm systems” to contactVoyager. InFirst Contact, the suits are worn to stop the Borg from creating an interplexing beacon to reach out to reinforcements.
“Day of Honor” is notable for being the episode where Tom and B’Elanna finally begin a romantic relationship, one that would continue for the rest ofStar Trek: Voyager’s run and result in their marriage and the birth of their daughter in the finale.
Likewise, B’Elanna stated that zero-gravity environments made her feel “sick to my stomach,” echoing a similar sentiment expressed by Worf (Michael Dorn) duringFirst Contact.Having B’Elanna as another Klingon character say the same thing as Worf was a funny coincidence, and also another small way to tie the two projects together. Although these references in “Day of Honor” are all relatively minor, the amount of them is noticeable and raises questions about whyVoyagerwould tie this particular episode ofFirst Contactso heavily.
Why Voyager Referenced Star Trek: First Contact So Much In “Day Of Honor”
Voyager didn’t choose First Contact to reference arbitrarily
As previously stated,Voyagerseason 4 andFirst Contactdidn’t air too far apart.First Contacthad premiered less than a year before “Day of Honor”, andinterviews withVoyager’s creative team at the time indicated that the film was heavily on their minds during the transition between seasons 3 and 4. Besides the fact that creative teams forStar Trekmovies and TV showsoften overlap,Voyager’s writers were also keeping in mind a lot of thingsFirst Contactestablished about the Borg so that they could incorporate the most up-to-date facts into the show.
With all this in mind,Star Trek: Voyager’s writers seem to have simply added a few funFirst ContactEaster eggs for eagle-eyed audiences to pick up on.
Although “Day of Honor” itself wasn’t as heavily Borg-related as the previous season 4 episodes, it’s fairly clear from the dialogue thatFirst Contactwas still at the forefront ofVoyager’s creative teams' minds. This was probablyhelped by the fact that the EV suits were reused from movie to show, creating a more tangible link between the two. With all this in mind,Star Trek: Voyager’s writers seem to have simply added a few funFirst ContactEaster eggs for eagle-eyed audiences to pick up on.
Star Trek: Voyager
Cast
The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they’ve never faced before.
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact is the eighth feature film in the Star Trek franchise and the second to star the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Directed by Jonathan Frakes, the film follows Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew as they pursue the Borg to prevent them from altering Earth’s history by stopping Zephram Cochrane’s first warp flight and the subsequent first contact with an alien species.
