Saying that “Star Trek: Voyager“s Emergency Medical Hologram evolved beyond his programming would be an understatement.
He was developed as part of a job plot (the Enterprise-E had its own identical EMH in “First Contact”), and only came online because the USS Voyager’s original doctor was killed en route to the Delta Quadrant. And yet this photonic doctor quickly established himself in the waiting room of “Trek’s” greatest doctors – in fact, there is little more than a laser scalpel between him and the equally hot-headed Dr McCoy.
Of course, his exceptional medical expertise – pre-programmed by his creator, Dr Lewis Zimmerman, to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance – is rather less remarkable than his unique bedside manner. From the moment of his first activation, he was effortlessly (if not always intentionally) funny, a welcome distraction from the serious business of the crew’s epic journey home. “I’m a doctor, not a peeping tom/battery/dragon slayer (and many more; delete as needed),” became a familiar McCoy-celebrating refrain.
It was also clear from the start that EMH is descended from the same lineage as Spock, Data and Odo, outsiders who see humanity from a different perspective, and then grow over the course of their respective series.
Ironically, actor Robert Picardo had initially been skeptical of the role before setting foot in Voyager’s Sickbay. “I turned down the audition for the Doctor because it just didn’t sound interesting,” he said StarTrek.com. “It sounded like an automaton. I asked to read to (thalaxic chef/morality officer) Neelix instead.”
That part eventually went to Ethan Phillips, but Picardo was invited back to audition for Emergency Medical Hologram, beating out a reported 900 other wannabe holographic doctors for the role. And despite these initial reservations, Picardo realized that he had arguably the best role in “Voyager.”
“I got the role without understanding that the character would be the Spock-like character,” he said. “The person who basically inherited it was Data, who had no feelings and longed to be a real boy in the same way that Pinocchio was. I thought that, because Tuvok was a Vulcan character, he would deal with those problems. When I realized that I had been cast as the plum, it was a wonderful surprise. I went from thinking that I had the most boring role in the show to being the best role in the show.”
Few characters in “Star Trek” history have had a more satisfying story arc than the Doctor had across seven seasons of “Voyager.” He developed a passion for opera (which is continued in “Starfleet Academy”), and wrote a hit polemical holo-novel called “Photons be Free”.
He became so popular with the “Trek” fanbase that the writers broke in a futuristic 29th-century holo-emitter – effectively Arnold Rimmer’s hard light station from “Red dwarf” — which allowed the Doctor to set foot outside the confines of Sickbay and go on away missions. He was also given the ability to deactivate himself when not needed, and the ability to give himself a name. After a few early efforts failed to stick, he eventually settled on “Joe”.
But the doctor didn’t just pretend to be “a real boy”. On Voyager, he lived the full human experience, to the extent that he seemed fully qualified to act as a mentor to Seven of Nine as she rediscovered her own humanity after her disassimilation from the Borg. Being a teacher came to feel like his most natural calling, when he got a job instructing cadets in both “Star Trek: Prodigy” and now the distant future of “Starfleet Academy”.
But the eight centuries that have passed since Voyager returned home have left their mark on the Doctor. The wrinkles on his face may be artificial – he introduced an aging subroutine to his holomatrix to make his peers feel more comfortable – but the trauma of watching generations of friends live and die is very real.
“That’s 800 years of digital memory, where the memory of a beloved colleague from 793 years ago is as fresh and clear as someone you saw yesterday,” Picardo told SFX magazine. “Only science fiction can present an actor with a challenge like trying to wrap your mind around it! For a human actor who is certainly as preoccupied with questions of mortality as anyone my age, it’s a fun leap of faith to try to put those personal concerns aside and imagine what it must be like to have generations of organic counterparts grow old and die from affecting your interpersonal relationships around you.”
In “Starfleet Academy’s” latest episode, “The Life of the Stars,” we see how being immortal has caused EMH to build emotional barriers around himself. While entire centuries have passed, the pain of watching his child die in a holographic simulation (“Voyager” episode “Real Life”) is still too much to bear – even with holographic cadet SAM’s (Kerrice Brooks) life in the balance (who is tasked back to her photonic homeworld of Kasq to save her) he finds it impossible to open up. He’s done everything he can to prevent her from seeing him as a mentor, and now—as she lies on her deathbed—he can’t even hold her hand.
“The only thing that allows me to carry my infinity is not having to love anyone,” he admits to Captain Nahla Ake, a long-time Lanthanite character who also has some experience with losing the people she loves most.
But even when you’re almost as old as Yoda, it’s possible to surprise yourself— and the viewing public.
The unconventional configuration of spacetime in Kasq’s neck of the woods offers a unique opportunity. In an echo of the doctor’s experiences at Gotana i The “Voyager” episode “Blink of an Eye” – in which he saw centuries of development on an alien world – three days on Earth equals five years on the holographic home world. This time dilation gives the Doctor the chance to spend 17 years (or a little over a week, depending on your point of view) giving SAM a childhood. This pre-made father figure is just what she needs to anchor her glitching holomatrix.
And so, some 30 years after the Doctor first asked us to state the nature of the medical emergency in Voyager”, a character who started out as a comic relief thousands of light years from home has grown up well and truly.
Some sci-fi icons are immovable constants, and we often love them for it. But the Doctor’s ability to evolve – and surpass his original programming – makes him truly timeless.
New episodes of “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” debut on Paramount+ on Thursdays.
