10 Most Messed Up Deaths In Star Trek: Voyager

With such a knowing title, the episode Course: Oblivion couldn't really have been headed towards an ending any less than tragic. Having the title displayed as usual just after the credits had rolled was more than just a hint in this case, but it certainly didn't detract from the next 38 minutes or so. Done well, dramatic irony plus death is the most kind of messed-up. As we learnt the true nature of the dichromate duplicates along with them, we also (in theory) knew something they didn't: they were well and truly f**ked from the beginning.

We all like to think we're unique, when in reality, we're just variations on a theme. The dichromate crew were not the originals, but as copies, they were practically indistinguishable from the real thing. There was something beyond the uncanny, therefore, in seeing what was, for all intents and purposes, our beloved cast of characters of five-ish years slowly degrade and die one by one until the ship itself became a cloud of particles.

Moreover, and in spite of their best efforts, none of what had distinguished the 'silver blood' crew from the 'real' Voyager after their paths had diverged at the end of Demons would be preserved for history. Surely the most 'messed-up' part of the whole episode came when the signal beacon, or 'time capsule,' containing all the ships logs and records was destroyed in the launch tube. If, to paraphrase another one of those 'messed-ups' from the franchise, death is that stage where you exist in the minds of others, then the worst fate is 'oblivion' in the sense of 'the state of being forgotten'.