So... What Happened to V'Ger?

[Albertese]

At the end of TMP, the V'Ger craft (arguably perhaps the biggest single space craft we've seen in Trek*) just peacefully fades away around the Enterprise leaving, it would seem, no trace. What do you suppose happened to it? Did it evaporate, having finished its mission to touch the Creator? Did it access an parallel reality? This would seem unlikely, given that Spock says that V'Ger is incapable of conceiving of parallel universes. Though perhaps joining with Will Decker gave V'Ger the human intuitiveness it needed to access such realities.

Maybe it was all a dream?

What do you guys think?

--Alex

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*I'm not sure how many could qualify as bigger. Maybe the Voth city ships? Don't say the Dyson Sphere as that wasn't a ship. When the Enterprise was pulled into the front section of V'Ger, There is a line that our heroes were 17 km in. So, I'm going to bet the whole thing was 100 km long at a minimum.

 

[StarCruiser]

It "evolved" to the next level - at least, that is what's implied in the film...

I would assume it became some kind of non-corporeal life.

 

[Desert Kris]

It transcends into a non-corporeal life form. Explores higher planes of existence, possibly contacting and trying to learn from other life in alternative dimensions. I expect it tinkers with creating new things; tries to find a way to have one or more children, and maybe even creates worlds or universes as well. I like to think it looks in on humanity occasionally, pushing us to learn sometimes, while at other times helping our efforts to understand our universe in subtle ways. Maybe it's the reason there aren't so many God-like entities that are seen constantly throughout TOS; 70 years later the next generations mostly deal with Q.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

I like to think the Edo god from "Justice" was V'ger-Decker-Ilia:

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It "evolved" to the next level - at least, that is what's implied in the film...

I would assume it became some kind of non-corporeal life.

Yep.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

It went bald.

 

[StarCruiser]

V'Ger had hair?!? Maybe that's what shorted out the radio!

 

[Kemaiku]

According to Ex Machina, it becomes a new entity called The Voyager, traveling off to other planes of existance.

 

[arch101]

According to Ex Machina, it becomes a new entity called The Voyager, traveling off to other planes of existance.

That was a great book!

 

[Maurice]

That was a great book!

To each their own. I found the book pedestrian and too concerned with dot-connecting. And... daddy issues.

And it's very clear what happened to V'ger. It's right there in dialog smacking you in the face in the film.

"V'ger must evolve"
"Other dimensions. Higher levels of being"
"What V'ger needs to evolve is a human quality. Our capacity to leap beyond logic."
"This machine wants to physically join with a human?"
"Yes, Captain. We witnessed the birth."​

How much plainer do people want it? It's not like Decker and Ilia end up in a hotel suite and see themselves age...

 

[RColtrane]

It went bald.

V'Ger had hair?!? Maybe that's what shorted out the radio!

Yet V'ger still has more hair than Shatner!

 

[Desert Kris]

And it's very clear what happened to V'ger. It's right there in dialog smacking you in the face in the film.

"V'ger must evolve"
"Other dimensions. Higher levels of being"
"What V'ger needs to evolve is a human quality. Our capacity to reach beyond logic
"This machine wants to physically join with a human?"
"Yes, Captain. We witnessed the birth."​

How much plainer do people want it? It's not like Decker and Ilia end up in a hotel suite and see themselves age...

Right, those lines of dialogue are the basis of some of my speculations. Take those hints and think big, and there's enough information to go on. What do higher life forms do? Anything Q or the Metrons or the Organians do. Create worlds, protect an aspect of the universe that needs protecting, condescend to lesser life forms about how unenlightened they are, generally work in mysterious ways.

 

[Maurice]

^^^Questions are more interesting than answers.

 

[Kor]

The bonding with Decker went horribly wrong, and now a suffering entity is limping around the galaxy.

Kor

 

[publiusr]

I think Decker and Ilia were to figure in some early ST II ideas--some power couple or other.

 

[Discofan]

Or maybe it discovered that existence is meaningless and self-destructed.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I think Decker and Ilia were to figure in some early ST II ideas--some power couple or other.

They were planned to be the young regulars, yes. The "In Thy Image" telemovie script restores Ilia at the end, and Decker would have returned in the first one-hour script chosen.

 

[RColtrane]

The bonding with Decker went horribly wrong, and now a suffering entity is limping around the galaxy.

Kor

Such as The Doomsday Machine from TOS. It went from one galaxy to another eating planets to suffocate its psychological problems. Ironically, both Matt and Will Decker ended up inside a huge machine

 

[arch101]

Years ago, Stephen Collins expressed interest in Decker/ V’ger returning late in TNG’s run. He’d be kinda like Bowman in 2010 or something like that. Given what’s happened to Collins since then, I don’t think we’ll be seeing him again.

 

[Discofan]

Such as The Doomsday Machine from TOS. It went from one galaxy to another eating planets to suffocate its psychological problems. Ironically, both Matt and Will Decker ended up inside a huge machine

They stacked the Deckers...