It is 1996. You are watching UPN on a Wednesday night. Suddenly, a very young, pre-fame Sarah Silverman pops up on the bridge of a timeship—well, technically, she’s in a SETI lab in Los Angeles—and she’s flirting with Tom Paris. Most people remember Sarah Silverman in Star Trek Voyager as a "cool bit of trivia." A "hey, look who it is" moment before she became the Queen of shock humor.
But it was almost so much more.
Honestly, the story of Rain Robinson isn't just about a guest spot. It's about a massive "What If" that could have fundamentally altered the DNA of the Delta Quadrant. Imagine a version of Voyager where the sarcastic, 20th-century scientist joins the crew permanently. No, seriously. It almost happened.
Why Sarah Silverman Was in Star Trek Voyager to Begin With
The two-parter "Future's End" (Season 3, Episodes 8 and 9) is basically a love letter to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The crew goes back to the "present day"—which was the mid-90s at the time—and they need a local guide. Enter Rain Robinson. She's a scientist at the Griffith Observatory, she's obsessed with finding aliens, and she's got that quintessential Silverman deadpan.
She's the one who detects Voyager in orbit.
She's also the one who has to deal with Tuvok and Tom Paris wandering around Venice Beach in flannels. It’s peak 90s Trek.
Most guest stars in Trek are either aliens under five pounds of latex or stiff scientists. Silverman was different. She was... real. She brought a specific, grounded energy that made the futuristic crew look even weirder by comparison. She wasn't just there to read technobabble; she was there to provide a human lens.
The Surprising Reason She Took the Gig
You’d think a rising comic would want a sitcom. Silverman didn't. In an interview with Star Trek Monthly back in the day, she admitted she was bored of sitcom scripts. Everything was a "situation comedy" where the jokes felt forced.
She liked Voyager because it was a drama.
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"I saw so much more potential for real humor in this Star Trek... to be able to do a show which is an hour-long that takes itself seriously enough that I can look at this character realistically, was just exciting."
She wasn't looking to be the "funny character." She wanted to be a character who happened to be funny. That distinction is why Rain Robinson still feels fresh when you rewatch those episodes today. She wasn't winking at the camera. She was just a girl in 1996 LOSING HER MIND because a Vulcan was sitting in her office.
The Character Who Almost Stayed
Here is the part most fans don't realize: Brannon Braga, the show’s co-executive producer, was obsessed with her performance. He loved the "freshness" she brought. There was a very real discussion behind the scenes about bringing Rain Robinson onto the ship permanently.
Think about the mechanics of that.
How do you get a 1996 astronomer into the 24th century? Maybe a freak transporter accident. Maybe she's forced to flee because she knows too much. Whatever the "how," the "why" was clear: the writers wanted an audience surrogate. They wanted someone who could say, "Guys, this is insane," whenever Janeway decided to blow up a nebula.
Rain Robinson vs. Seven of Nine
The timing of this is wild.
Silverman appeared in the middle of Season 3. By the end of Season 3, the producers knew they needed to shake things up. The show was struggling. Ratings weren't where they needed to be. They needed a new spark.
If they had gone with Sarah Silverman, the show would have become a fish-out-of-water comedy/drama. We would have seen Rain Robinson trying to learn how to use a replicator or complaining that the 24th century doesn't have good mustard.
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Instead, they went a different direction.
They brought in Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine in Season 4.
It’s hard to argue with the results. Seven of Nine became one of the most iconic characters in Trek history. She brought the Borg conflict to the forefront and gave Janeway a perfect foil. But there’s a small, vocal part of the fandom that still wonders if the show would have been more "human" and less "Borg-of-the-week" if Silverman had stayed.
The Tragic Aftermath (In the Books)
If you only watch the show, Rain's story ends with a kiss from Tom Paris and a "see ya later" as Voyager heads back to the future. It’s sweet. It’s tidy.
The Star Trek novels, however, decided to make it incredibly dark.
In the book Hearts and Minds by Dayton Ward, we find out what happened to Rain after the crew left. She doesn't just go back to her quiet life at the observatory. She eventually gets involved with Gary Seven (from the Original Series episode "Assignment: Earth").
It gets worse.
The story implies she eventually resigns in bitterness after learning that the "supervisors" of Earth's timeline—the people she worked for—could have prevented the 9/11 attacks but chose not to because it was "meant to happen." According to the lore, she lost her father in the attacks.
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It's a heavy, tragic ending for a character that started as a fun, quirky guest spot.
Why We Still Talk About Rain Robinson
Sarah Silverman in Star Trek Voyager works because it was a perfect collision of two different worlds.
- The Chemistry: Her back-and-forth with Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris) was some of the best romantic tension the show ever had. Sorry, B'Elanna, but it's true.
- The 90s Aesthetic: "Future's End" is a time capsule. Watching Silverman navigate a world of dial-up internet and giant desktop monitors while Tuvok stares at her is pure nostalgia.
- The "Pre-Star" Factor: There is something inherently cool about seeing a legendary comedian before they were "THE" Sarah Silverman. She was just an actor trying to do a good job in a sci-fi show.
If you’re a fan, you’ve probably noticed that Star Trek: Lower Decks or Strange New Worlds carries a bit of that "Rain Robinson energy"—that willingness to be funny and self-aware without breaking the stakes of the universe.
What You Should Do Next
If it's been a decade since you've seen "Future's End," do yourself a favor and fire up Paramount+.
Watch for the subtle stuff. Look at the way Silverman reacts to the Doctor's mobile emitter. Notice her timing. It’s a masterclass in how to play a "normal person" in a world of space gods and time travelers.
After you've rewatched it, check out the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Relativity" in Season 5. It doesn't have Silverman, but it completes the Captain Braxton time-loop saga that started with her character. It gives the whole "Future's End" arc a much more satisfying (and confusing) resolution.
Also, keep an eye on Star Trek: Picard or future spin-offs. With the franchise leaning heavily into its own history, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing in the world to see a reference to a certain 20th-century astronomer who once helped save the future.
The Delta Quadrant might have missed out on a permanent Sarah Silverman, but the two episodes we got remain some of the best "pure fun" in the entire series. Sometimes, a guest spot is exactly what it needs to be: a brief, bright flash in a very long journey home.