Star Trek: 10 Things We NOW Know About The Holodeck

Unusually for a two-part episode, and not to be confused with earlier outings like Caretaker, Star Trek: Voyager's fourth-season serial The Killing Game was aired with both parts on a single night. That means that part one aired, finished, an ad break appeared, and part two began. According to Cinefantastique, Vol. 30, the reaction to this story had a big impact on the evolution of the holodeck.

In The Killing Game, Voyager has been overrun by the Hirogen. Most of the crew is locked in several battle simulations, including a recreation of a French town in the height of World War II. The episodes were presented as a combination of spectacle (lots of explosions) and story, with a particularly chilling scene featuring a Nazi officer convincing a Hirogen Hunter to continue his brutal way of life.

Quoted in the subsequent issue of Cinefantastique, co-executive producer Joe Menosky said:

Because of the success of airing 'The Killing Game' in a single night, the network and the studio were really interested in doing a Voyager movie, a two-part episode that was aired on a single evening.

This led to the TV movie Dark Frontier and also to the later TV movie Flesh & Blood. The expansion of the holodeck into the surrounding corridors inspired the holo-station seen in that later story, which would also serve as a sequel and resolution to the Hirogen arc.