The Star Trek Episode That Only Exists Because Of A Sex Joke

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 22 seconds ago

Star Trek has, historically, had a complicated relationship with sex. On the one hand, Captain Kirk famously earned a reputation for sleeping with any woman (alien or otherwise) who gave him a second glance, and The Original Series set pop culture on fire with a sexy, dancing Orion slave girl. On the other hand, the sequel show, The Next Generation, was comparatively chaste: sex and even romance were relatively sparse, and Patrick Stewart went out of his way to beg writers to get Captain Picard active more often. 

The pendulum had swung back the other way by the time Star Trek: Voyager came out. This is a show where revved-up Vulcans push mind melds, Captain Janeway bones a hologram, and Tom Paris has such loud relations with B’elanna Torres that the entire deck can hear it. Oh, and they tamed a female Borg and then made her wear a catsuit so tight even Kirk would blush. But that’s not the worst of it: you see, an entire Voyager episode was created because of a sex joke!

Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby!

The episode in question is “Elogium,” which has an A plot about tiny spacefaring organisms that glom onto the hull and start draining power from the ship’s systems. That’s bad enough, but their presence induces weird changes in Kes. Eventually, the Doctor discovers that these space critters have prematurely activated Kes’s mating cycle, something that wasn’t supposed to happen for another three or four years. Now, as Captain Janeway explores how to save her ship, Neelix and Kes must explore whether they are ready to have children.

During the Golden Age of Star Trek, freelancers and other fans were always encouraged to pitch stories and even send unsolicited scripts. The episode was originally pitched by both Steve J. Kay and Jimmy Diggs, the latter of whom was a Vietnam War veteran. The A Plot of “Elogium” was inspired by Diggs’ time in the Navy, when he was cleaning his vessel on a starless night. The darkness was only lit up by the ship’s own lights, which ended up attracting thousands of fish. The sight of these creatures really moved Diggs, who imagined the glittering fish as moving stars, illuminating his journey through the galaxy. 

Captain, We’ve Lost Our Sex Appeal

Obviously, those fish inspired the space critters that are attracted to Voyager’s hull in “Elogium.” But the producers thought the episode still needed a B Plot, which is why Jeri Taylor pitched the idea of these interstellar creatures triggering Kes’s mating cycle. Diggs later confessed to The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine that Taylor’s idea caused him to make a spur-of-the-moment joke while pitching. “I said, when the crew discovers a way to rid themselves of the creatures and the beings eventually drift away from the vessel, Tuvok can say, ‘Captain, I believe that we’ve lost our sex appeal.”

According to Diggs, his joke amused Brannon Braga, who then said the “magic word” that every writer longs to hear: “sold.” Afterward, Diggs was understandably proud of his success, saying, “Star Trek bought my very first story because of that one, funny, tag line.” First is the keyword here, as Diggs went on to successfully pitch more Star Trek episodes than any other freelance writer in franchise history. This included “Doctor Bashir, I Presume,” which revealed that the titular physician had received Khan-like genetic augmentation. Diggs also pitched Voyager’s “The Omega Directive,” which would, decades later, inspire the galaxy-threatening plot of Starfleet Academy’s first season.

While Jimmy Diggs never became a major Hollywood writer outside of this franchise, he has the honor of pitching some of Star Trek’s coolest stories. He also had the dubious honor of cementing Voyager’s reputation as Trek’s horniest show. Sure, future shows would try to entice viewers with everything from Klingon boobies to erotic underwear massages. But only Voyager can boast that it created an entire episode thanks to someone’s well-timed sex joke.