Doctor (Star Trek)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Doctor / Emergency Medical Hologram | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Species: | Human hologram |
| Gender: | Male |
| Eye color: | Brown |
| Home planet: | Jupiter Station |
| Affiliation: | Starfleet |
| Posting: | USS Voyager chief medical officer |
| Portrayed by: | Robert Picardo |
USS Voyager's Emergency Medical Hologram, better known as The Doctor, is a character on the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. The Doctor was played by Robert Picardo.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The Doctor started his service on the USS Voyager as an Emergency Medical Hologram built into the starship's sickbays as a stop-gap measure for use if the ship's doctor should be temporarily unable to perform his duties (in point of fact, the Doctor, like all other Star Trek "holo" environments or personages, is not a hologram in the truest sense of the word, but a volumetric display). In the first episode, Voyager's entire medical department was destroyed and all medical personnel killed, and the EMH was called into duty. Given that the EMH was originally intended primarily as a medical expert system and not as an artificial life form as such, the Doctor essentially had to develop his own psychology almost from scratch, and this placed considerable strain on the character during the early parts of the series.
In order to try to develop a realistic personality, the Doctor not only manufactured learning experiences for himself (the episode Real Life), but also had an increasing number of spontaneous experiences (Heroes and Demons, Projections, Lifesigns, Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy among others). Because of these, the Doctor's program evolved to become more lifelike, with emotions and ambitions, and developed meaningful and complex relationships with many members of the ship's crew. The Doctor also developed talents as a playwright and artist, and became a connoisseur of the opera.
A recurring theme in the series was the set of ethical questions surrounding an artificial, but apparently sentient being. One of the most interesting moments in this development was when the Doctor suffered an emotional breakdown: when faced with two patients that each had an equal chance of survival, the Doctor chose to rescue Harry Kim simply because he knew Kim better, and experienced a conflict in his programming when he could not reconcile this decision logically. When the stress this caused nearly led to his program breaking down, his memories of the experience were deleted. However, when the Doctor later discovered clues as to what had happened, Janeway was eventually convinced that the Doctor had a right to learn to cope on his own rather be treated as though he were just another defective piece of equipment (Latent Image). The crew overcame these initial attitudes toward him, eventually treating the Doctor as an equal.
However, both Starfleet and beings encountered by the Voyager crew did not always accept the Doctor as a sentient being with all the rights afforded to a living person. This sparked particular interest when he sent a holonovel to a publisher on Earth, detailing the manner in which holograms could be treated by Starfleet. Originally, his characters were closely based on actual members of Voyager's crew, but twisted to appear more vicious than they really were, leading to fears among the crew that people may assume that Voyager was really like that. Tom Paris managed to convince the Doctor to make adjustments without sacrificing his theme, but the Doctor was then forbidden to make any subsequent changes as he lacked legal rights. Although the crew's subsequent legal efforts didn't result in the Doctor being ruled a 'person', he was accorded the status of 'artist', and was able to rewrite the novel; four months later, it was known throughout the Alpha Quadrant as a very thought-provoking piece of work.
In the earlier episodes, the Doctor always said "Please state the nature of the medical emergency" when he was activated, because it was the standard greeting of his program. He was later modified to say whatever he chose, when activated.
The Doctor later acquired a mobile emitter (see "Future's End, Part 2") from the 29th century, which allowed him to move about freely. Previous to this, he had been confined to Sickbay or the Holodeck. The mobile emitter also made him ideal for missions where lack of oxygen, or a toxic environment would have proven fatal to the rest of the crew.
One recurring theme in the Doctor's life was his lack of a name. Starfleet did not give him a name, and for a long time, the Doctor maintained that he did not want to have a name. Later, over the years, he adopted such names as 'Schmullus', 'Schweitzer' (after Albert Schweitzer), 'Van Gogh', 'Kenneth', and several others. The captioned dialog of early episodes, and early promotional material for the series' premiere, referred to him by the last name 'Zimmerman', after his creator.
In the episode "Blink of an Eye", Voyager becomes trapped in the orbit of a planet where linear time passes at a highly-accelerated speed. The Doctor beams down to the planet, where he gets lost, then lives for three "years," having a relationship with a woman, and having a son whom he names 'Jason Tabreez'.
The Doctor's programming soon evolved to the point where he fell in love with Seven of Nine, though she did not reciprocate those feelings. Also, in an alternate future shown in the episode, "Endgame", the Doctor adopts the name 'Joe', then eventually marries a human female, named Lana (played by Amy Lindsay).
Robert Picardo also had a cameo in the movie Star Trek: First Contact, where he played the emergency medical hologram of the USS Enterprise-E. Doctor Beverly Crusher activated him as a means of distracting the Borg as they escaped. He replied, "I'm a doctor, not a doorstop", an homage to Doctor McCoy's famous line "I'm a doctor, not a..." (the Doctor also made this reference several other times, on Voyager).
His character's growth and gradual humanization throughout Star Trek: Voyager provided one of the more compelling arcs in the series. The Doctor often filled the role of the token "outside observer", making him in many ways a character similar to Mr. Spock, Data, Odo and T'Pol.
[edit] Emergency Command Hologram
The "Emergency Command Hologram" is first coined by The Doctor, in the episode, "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy", where he creates a program that allows him to daydream. In the daydream, he adds routines which allow him to take command of Voyager, in the event that the command crew were disabled. The daydreams are picked up by a Hierarchy vessel in a nearby nebula and are thought to be real events. Once the crew discover that the Doctor is daydreaming, they became aware of some of his wishes by viewing his daydreams in the holodeck, including his desire to be an Emergency Command Hologram. Captain Janeway promises the Doctor that she will consider his proposal.
The ECH made its debut the following season in "Workforce", where the crew is forced to abandon ship because the ship stumbles upon a subspace mine, which releases great amount of tetryon radiation. The only way to keep the ship moving is for the doctor take over the command functions.
Also, in the episode "Renaissance Man" the doctor is needed as the ECH, in order to eject the warp core.
[edit] Another Doctor
Unlike 21st-century computer programs, the Doctor's program could not be copied or backed up. This was something of an awkward point in the show, but it was a necessary shortcoming from a dramatic point of view, because if the Doctor could be effortlessly restored from a backup copy, he could never really be in peril. There were many instances in the show when he worried about "decompilation" or "irreparable damage to his matrix" that would render him effectively dead. Also, although it is possible to run multiple copies of an ordinary computer program at the same time, there was never more than one instance of the Doctor running simultaneously. The exception to this rule occurs in "Living Witness", which presents a peek into the future of a backup copy of the Doctor.
[edit] Key episodes and milestones
Episodes in which the Doctor's character is expanded or plays a key role.
- Caretaker - Introduction to his character; first long-term activation.
- Projections - Experiences identity confusion.
- Future's End - Acquires his mobile emitter.
- Darkling - Attempts to graft other personalities onto his own.
- Real Life - Creates a holographic family.
- Message in a Bottle - Is transmitted to the Alpha Quadrant, to deliver a message.
- Living Witness - Must defend the memory of the Voyager crew in the future.
- Latent Image - Discovers some of his memories have been blocked by Janeway.
- Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy - Adds daydreaming to his program.
- Virtuoso - Influences a planet's musical development.
- Flesh and Blood - Leaves the crew, to help sentient holograms seek vengeance.
- Author, Author - Fights for his rights as a sentient lifeform.
- Endgame - Returns home to the Alpha Quadrant.
[edit] External links
- The Doctor article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Official biography at StarTrek.com
| Regular characters on Star Trek | |||
| The Original Series | Kirk | Spock | McCoy | Scott | Uhura | Sulu | Chekov | Chapel | Rand | ||
| Animated Series | Arex | M'Ress | ||
| The Next Generation | Picard | Riker | Data | La Forge | Worf | B. Crusher | Troi | W. Crusher | Yar | Pulaski | ||
| Deep Space Nine | B. Sisko | Kira | J. Dax | Odo | Bashir | O'Brien | Worf | J. Sisko | Quark | Rom | Nog | E. Dax | Garak | Martok | Damar | Dukat | Weyoun | Winn | ||
| Voyager | Janeway | Chakotay | Tuvok | Paris | Torres | Kim | Doctor | Neelix | Seven | Kes | ||
| Enterprise | Archer | T'Pol | Tucker | Reed | Phlox | Sato | Mayweather | ||
