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Doctor (Star Trek)
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The Doctor is an Emergency Medical Hologram, "Mark I" character from the television series Star Trek: Voyager, played by actor Robert Picardo. The character also appeared in the now-closed Star Trek: The Experience Borg 4-D Adventure at the Las Vegas Hilton.
The "EMH" is a holographic computer program designed to treat patients during emergency situations, or when the regular medical staff is unavailable or incapacitated. Programmed with all current Starfleet medical knowledge, the Doctor is equipped with the knowledge and mannerisms of historic Federation doctors, as well as the physical appearance of his programmer, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman.
Character bio
The character of the Doctor began his service on the USS Voyager as the standard Emergency Medical Hologram built into almost every newer Starfleet ship's sickbay.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
The Doctor is an Emergency Medical Hologram, "Mark I" character from the television series Star Trek: Voyager, played by actor Robert Picardo. The character also appeared in the now-closed Star Trek: The Experience Borg 4-D Adventure at the Las Vegas Hilton.
The "EMH" is a holographic computer program designed to treat patients during emergency situations, or when the regular medical staff is unavailable or incapacitated. Programmed with all current Starfleet medical knowledge, the Doctor is equipped with the knowledge and mannerisms of historic Federation doctors, as well as the physical appearance of his programmer, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman.
Character bio
The character of the Doctor began his service on the USS Voyager as the standard Emergency Medical Hologram built into almost every newer Starfleet ship's sickbay. The EMH is for use should the ship's doctor be incapacitated. In the series' first episode, Voyagers Chief Medical Officer, along with his Vulcan nurse, were killed. The EMH was called into duty. Originally intended as a temporary medical backup system, and not as an artificial life form, the Doctor eventually developed his own personality. This placed considerable strains on his program during the early parts of the journey.
Attempting to develop a realistic personality, the Doctor not only manufactured a holographic family, he had an increasing number of other 'human' experiences. This resulted in the Doctor's program evolving to become more lifelike, with emotions and ambitions. He developed meaningful and complex relationships with many members of the ship's crew. The Doctor also developed talents as a playwright, artist, photographer, and even became a connoisseur of the opera.
A recurring theme was the ethical aspects of an artificial, yet apparently sentient, being. In Episode 105 "Latent Image" triaging two patients with an equal chance of survival, with only enough time to treat one, the Doctor chose Harry Kim, a friend. The other patient, Ensign Jetal, died. The Doctor was overwhelmed with guilt, believing that his friendship influenced his choice. When the stress nearly led to his program breaking down, Captain Janeway had these specific memories deleted. The Doctor later discovered clues to this experience, thus Captain Janeway was convinced that he had a right to learn to emotionally cope rather than be treated merely as a defective piece of equipment.
The Doctor submitted a holo-novel titled "Photons Be Free" to a publisher on Earth, detailing the manner in which holograms were sometimes treated by Starfleet. His characters were closely based on Voyagers crew, but exaggerated to appear more intense and vicious, creating fears among the crew that people may assume it was factual. Tom Paris convinced the Doctor to make adjustments without sacrificing his theme. The Doctor lacked legal rights as Starfleet did not classify him as a sentient being". Thus he was forbidden to make any subsequent holonovel changes. Captain Janeway's subsequent efforts resulted in the Doctor being accorded the status of 'artist', (though not a "person"). This permitted him to rewrite the novel. Four months later, it was known throughout the Alpha Quadrant as a very thought-provoking piece of work.
The Doctor's standard greeting was "Please state the nature of the medical emergency" when activated, though later modified to say whatever he chose. (He was later given the ability to deactivate himself.)
The Doctor later acquired a mobile emitter from the 29th Century, previously confined to Sickbay or the Holodeck this allowed him to move about freely. This was first revealed to the crew during a single-handed rescue of Chakotay and Torres from freedom fighters in Arizona. The mobile emitter made him ideal for missions where the environment would be harmful or otherwise fatal to the crew. In "Friendship One", the Doctor joins a rescue mission to a planet in nuclear winter disguising himself in a natives radiation suits. He tosses a phaser to Tuvok, who stuns the weapon bearing natives, allowing the crew to beam out to Voyager.
The Doctor's programming evolved to the point where he fell in love with Seven of Nine, though she did not reciprocate. In an alternate future episode, "Endgame", the Doctor adopts the name 'Joe', and marries a human female, named Lana (played by Amy Lindsay).
The character growth and gradual humanization provided a compelling arcs in the Star Trek: Voyager series. The Doctor often filled the role of "outside observer", a role on other Star Trek programs portrayed by such characters as Mr. Spock, Data, Odo and T'Pol.
Emergency Command Hologram
The "Emergency Command Hologram", aka "ECH", is first coined by the Doctor in the episode, "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy", in which he creates a program that allows him to daydream. In these grandiose daydreams, the Doctor adds routines which allow him to take command of Voyager in the event that the command crew were disabled. A dramatic morph transformation ocurred changing his uniform from blue sciences to command red; his rank pips subsequently appearing. The daydreams are picked up by a Hierarchy vessel in a nearby nebula and believed to be real events. Once the crew discover that the Doctor is daydreaming, in the holodeck they view his dreams, including his desire to be an Emergency Command Hologram. Captain Janeway promises to consider his proposal.
The ECH made its debut the following season in "Workforce". After an incident with a subspace mine that releases a great amount of tetryon radiation, the crew is forced to abandon ship. To keep the ship moving the Doctor takes over the command functions.
In the episode "Renaissance Man", against the wishes of the crew, the Doctor uses his ECH program to eject the Warp core, .
At the STAR TREK: The Experience closing ceremony Robert Picardo's original Voyager ECH Production Wardrobe costume made a surprise appearance compliments of Miamiscifi.com. Many complimentary photo ops with guests were enjoyed. It was an opportunity to see a "real" production starfleet uniform up close and in person to examine its construction, design and true life colors.
Backup copies
Unlike most computer programs, the Doctor's program was never copied or backed up. Voyager has a limited memory capacity; the Doctor's entire program uses 50 million gigaquads ("Lifesigns"). This limitation was also mentioned in "The Swarm." However, "Living Witness" depicts a future in which a backup copy does exist.
Name
One recurring theme in the Doctor's life was his lack of a name. Starfleet did not assign a name and initially the Doctor maintained that he did not want one. Later, he adopted such names as 'Schmullus', 'Smallus' (by a Vidiian patient), 'Schweitzer' (after Albert Schweitzer), 'Van Gogh', 'Kenneth', 'Jones', and several others. The captioned dialog of early episodes, and early promotional material for the series' premiere, referred to him as 'Dr. Zimmerman', after his creator, Lewis Zimmerman. In the series finale, a future is shown where he has chosen the name "Joe." As the episode involves time travel and changing history, this name cannot be considered canonical.
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
- "Heroes and Demons" - The doctor's first 'away mission' to the holodeck, to rescue crew members trapped in a renegade program.
- "Future's End" - Acquires his mobile emitter
- "Lifesigns"-Falls in love for the first time with a Vidiian woman.
- "Darkling - Attempts to graft personalities of historical figures into his program
- "Real Life" - Creates a family on the holodeck
- "Message in a Bottle" - Transmitted to the Alpha Quadrant, to deliver a message
- "Living Witness" - An alternate future wherein a back-up version of the Doctor is activated 700 years in the future and must defend against claims that Voyager was a warship
- "Latent Image" - Experiences psychologial trauma as a result of a patient's death
- "Someone To Watch Over Me"- Experiences romantic feelings towards Seven of Nine.
- "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" - The Doctor experiences being in command of Voyager against several attacking ships
- "Virtuoso" - The Doctor experiences fleeting fame.
- "Critical Care" - Kidnapped from Voyager to serve in an alien hospital
- "Body and Soul" - Forced to incorporate his program into Seven of Nine allowing him sensory experiences
- "Author, Author" - Fights for his rights as a sentient lifeform
- "Renaissance Man" - The Doctor uses his unique abilities as a hologram to best the crew.
- "Endgame" - Returns home to the Alpha Quadrant.
Enterprise EMH
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, while 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). When the Borg break in, he attempts to offer them cream for itchy skin caused by their implants.
Casting
Robert Picardo initially auditioned for Neelix. Despite Ethan Phillips getting the part, Picardo was asked by the producers to come back and audition for the Doctor—something that shocked him, because usually actors would be passed over completely. During his audition for the role of the Doctor, Robert Picardo was asked only to say, "Somebody forgot to turn off my program." However, he then ad-libbed, "I'm a doctor, not a light bulb!" (Picardo was initially afraid that he may have ruined his chances—ad-libbing, he explained, was something that one just 'did not do' in an audition.)
External links
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