Other mistake: In this episode Voyager sends the doctor to a federation ship in the alpha quadrant through a transmission using an alien communication network. Right before he is sent you see him in the astrometrics lab and he steps up on a platform wearing his mobile emitter. His program is then sent through the data stream and the mobile emitter is sent with him. Then when he arrives it is not there. Firstly, the mobile emitter can't be sent this way, only the doctor's program can. It can be beamed but that was not the case here. Secondly, in other episodes where the doctor is taken offline while wearing the emitter they show it drop to the ground. They don't do that here as it appears to dematerialize with him. (00:07:00 - 00:08:00)
Star Trek: Voyager (1995)
1 other mistake in Message in a Bottle - chronological order
Plot hole: In this episode Kes states that she has to decide now whether to have a child or not because Ocampa women can only get pregnant once and deliver one child. If that was the case they would have died out a long time ago, or never even evolved, as two people only getting one offspring would reduce the population to 50% of the original figure each generation.
More quotes from Star Trek: Voyager
Trivia: Robert Picardo plays the Voyager's Holographic Doctor. Picardo played the same role in Star Trek: First Contact.
Thirty Days - S5-E9
Question: Was Tom successful in his mission or did the torpedo that was launched by Tuvok from Voyager stop him from succeeding?
Answer: The torpedo stopped him from succeeding.
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Suggested correction: It's also possible that it's simply required of Ocampan women to give birth the first time they go through it, and can then experience it again.
Greg Dwyer
Nothing in the dialogue suggest Ocampa's can have additional children. While we can speculate about fictitious species, it's still a plot hole due to writing. Kes states she's going through the "elogium" which is a time of change where her body prepares for fertilization. She then explicit states the "elogium" only occurs once. While the doctor compares it to puberty, the elogium is both sexual maturity and "heat", that is, the time a female is ready for fertilization.
Bishop73
But it doesn't ever state the normalcy of birthing for Ocompans. Perhaps sextuplets is the norm?
Kes frequently used the word "child." If it was normal to give birth to more than one, she would know this and should say "children."
Bishop73
Do not forget that this is all done through the universal translator. For all you know the Ocompan word for child and children is the same so the translator cannot tell the difference.