10 Star Trek: Voyager Episodes That Were Almost Completely Different
8. Scorpion
The finale for Voyager's third season and the opening of its fourth, Scorpion went through several variations before the writers landed on the idea of the Borg. In fact, to be more specific, the idea of the Borg was there early, though the alliance had not been. Star Trek: First Contact had recently been released to much fanfare, and the third season episode Unity had shown a colony of Collective as well.
It was the decision to shake up the cast for the fourth season that pulled Scorpion forward. Year Of Hell, having been telegraphed in Before & After, was set to bridge the seasonal gap, though it ended up being pushed out to the first two-parter of season four.
Another idea for the episode would have seen Voyager and her crew triumphantly returning to Earth, basking in the fanfare, before they are all revealed to be biometric duplicates, then proceeding to cause chaos on the planet. While the idea was shelved, the genesis of it would be recycled for the later episode Course: Oblivion.