emh voyager name

Lewis Zimmerman

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Doctor Lewis Zimmerman was a noted 24th century Human scientist and holo-engineer , responsible for the creation and development of the Emergency Medical Hologram , or "EMH", and considered to be the father of modern holography . He was also the model for the image of the EMH Mark I , a fact that he found to be a great source of embarrassment when wide scale use of the Mark I was discontinued and the holograms later re-utilized to perform menial tasks.

• 1.1 Long-Term Medical Hologram research
• 1.2 "Father/son" reunion
• 3.1 Appearances
• 3.2 Background information
• 3.3 Apocrypha
• 3.4 External link

Biography [ ]

Dr. Zimmerman's service record

He was born in Grover's Mill , New Jersey on Earth to Gregory Zimmerman and Sandra Fritz in the year 2320 . He graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2342 .

He was assigned to the Holo-Programming Center at Jupiter Station in 2361 and by 2373 , Dr. Zimmerman was Director of Holographic Imaging and Programming at Jupiter Station.

Long-Term Medical Hologram research [ ]

Working with Julian Bashir in 2373

In an attempt to further the capabilities of the EMH, Zimmerman sought to create a new Long-term Medical Holographic program , and selected Julian Bashir as the template. Zimmerman traveled to Deep Space 9 to begin his work. He interviewed many residents of the station, to get a complete picture of Bashir.

In Quark's , Bashir asked Zimmerman to not invite his parents to the station. Zimmerman did the opposite and asked Richard and Amsha Bashir to come to the station immediately. Zimmerman later stumbled across the fact that Bashir had been genetically-engineered as a child, and had to withdraw Bashir from consideration as a suitable template.

Zimmerman was briefly involved with Leeta when he asked her to work in the bar on Jupiter Station. They were on their way to a transport when Rom appeared and told Leeta he loved her. Zimmerman was initially disappointed until he met a female passenger . He asked her if she was familiar with the Earth text, the Kama Sutra . ( DS9 : " Doctor Bashir, I Presume ")

"Father/son" reunion [ ]

Zimmerman with Voyager 's EMH and Deanna Troi

Dr. Zimmerman lived and worked at Jupiter Station constantly, and rarely left. His only companions were holographic figures, including a fly named Roy , an iguana called Leonard , and his personal assistant Haley (who was the first sentient hologram Zimmerman programmed). He was especially close to Haley and considered her more than a hologram.

By early- 2377 , Dr. Zimmerman was terminally ill and only expected to live a few more months.

In preparation, he began dictating his last will and testament , leaving his entire collection of holographic art , including the 21st century masterpiece " Woman in Four Dimensions ", to Reginald Barclay , as well as his holographic research about miniature holograms for espionage purposes, on the grounds that Barclay was the only person who appreciated them. Barclay, himself, affectionately referred to Zimmerman as " Doctor Z ". ( VOY : " Life Line ")

In an attempt to find a cure, Barclay contacted the USS Voyager via the Pathfinder Project . Voyager carried a Mark I EMH, The Doctor , whose unique knowledge and abilities Barclay hoped would help. Analyzing Zimmerman's medical records, The Doctor noted some similarities between Zimmerman's condition and the Vidiian Phage , which he had been partially able to treat in the past and which gave him hope that he could do the same to Zimmerman. Reasoning that other doctors would not be experienced with the treatments, The Doctor requested that he be sent to the Alpha Quadrant to administer the treatment himself.

Zimmerman initially refused to be treated by The Doctor, whom he saw as inferior to the later Mark III and Mark IV EMHs, reprogramming The Doctor's equipment and transferring him to other parts of the station, forcing The Doctor to reconfigure his appearance to a Tarlac masseuse to even try and get close to Zimmerman to examine him. Lieutenant Barclay recruited Counselor Deanna Troi to mediate between the EMH and Dr. Zimmerman and try to resolve their differences, Troi reflecting that part of Zimmerman's problem was his anger over the final fate of the Mark Is given how much he had personally invested in them. The situation became so frustrating that Barclay, Troi, and Hayley created a fake glitch in The Doctor's program to encourage the two to work together, Zimmerman being forced to acknowledge that The Doctor was more than a Mark I when he was informed that Voyager wouldn't accept a Mark IV EMH in The Doctor's place as they would simply want their friend back, as he had believed that a Mark I was incapable of making that kind of impact on others.

Beginning his work on The Doctor, Zimmerman initially contemplated making various additions to the EMH's programming, but when The Doctor protested at Zimmerman's inability to accept him as he was, Zimmerman's anger and frustration at what had happened to the Mark Is came to the fore, ranting about the negative reaction of Starfleet to the other Mark I EMHs and his own grief at the garbage cleaners they had become. As Zimmerman sank into a chair in depression, The Doctor offered an awkward moment of comfort to him, reminding Zimmerman that he was still doing the job he was designed for and was actually rather good at it. This encounter marked the first steps in their near-father/son relationship, with The Doctor confessing that he'd hoped Zimmerman would be proud of his achievements if the two of them ever met, and Zimmerman admitting that, for all his anger about the fate of the other Mark Is, he was grateful that at least one of them was still doing what Zimmerman had designed them for. Before The Doctor departed, Zimmerman slightly grudgingly posed for a photograph with his "son", and said that The Doctor could drop them a communication the next time his ship got the chance to do so. ( VOY : " Life Line ")

The holonovel Photons Be Free was written with acknowledgment made to Dr. Zimmerman. During the subsequent court case to defend The Doctor's rights as a person, Barclay noted that The Doctor's attempt to save Zimmerman was reminiscent of a son seeking the father's approval. ( VOY : " Author, Author ")

Hologram [ ]

In addition to the use of his likeness as the Emergency Medical Hologram, Zimmerman himself was integrated into the Jupiter Station Diagnostic Program Alpha-11 . ( VOY : " The Swarm ")

In 2372 , The Doctor, while experiencing holo-transference dementia syndrome appeared as Zimmerman. ( VOY : " Projections ")

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• DS9 : " Doctor Bashir, I Presume "
• " Projections " (hologram)
• " The Swarm " (hologram)
• " Life Line "

Background information [ ]

Lewis Zimmerman was played by actor Robert Picardo .

Executive Producers and Star Trek: Voyager co-creators Rick Berman , Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor spared a thought for the creator of the holographic doctor character while the series was in the early developmental stages. In a summary of notes Taylor wrote (dated 6 August 1993 ), she reported, " We spoke of a programmer who created the doctor but made him a bit bland. " However, Taylor and her executive producing partners initially intended Reginald Barclay to fulfil this "programmer" role, imagining that he had created the holographic doctor in his own image. ( A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager , p. 182)

In the pre-production of Voyager and the scripts which were written for VOY Season 1 , "Doc Zimmerman" was intended to be the name of The Doctor. An early, British ad promoting the series still referred to him by this name, as well as the TV Guide article promoting the new series. He was named for Herman Zimmerman , the production designer for first-season TNG as well as DS9, Enterprise, and the four TNG movies.

Zimmerman's first name was spelled "Louis" in the script for "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", though the spelling "Lewis" was seen on-screen in "Projections" and was also used in scripts for Star Trek: Voyager (at least in the case of "The Swarm").

Ronald D. Moore commented on Zimmerman's lack of rank insignia in "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", despite wearing a Starfleet uniform: " This is a mistake, but an understandable one. Dr. Zimmerman's appearance was guided by his appearance on the Voyager episode in which he was recreated on the holodeck. In that episode, he didn't wear a rank insignia either, and our costumers simply followed that choice in doing our episode. Why he didn't have one on Voyager is a good question. " ( AOL chat , 1997 )

Apocrypha [ ]

Zimmerman returns to DS9 in "So a Horse Walks into a Bar...".

His mirror universe counterpart ( β ) is depicted as a Terran scientist working for the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance to develop a telepath in the novella The Mirror-Scaled Serpent . The Ocampa Kes , who had become trapped in the Alpha Quadrant after a brief encounter with the Caretaker , was sent to him to be experimented upon.

External link [ ]

• Lewis Zimmerman at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein

• U.S.S. Voyager
• Photonic NPCs
• Mission contacts
• Non-player characters
• Lieutenant Commanders
• Entaba System
• Delta Quadrant
• VisualEditor
• View history

The Doctor , formally known as the Emergency Medical Hologram Mk 1 , is a sentient holographic male Human . He is best known for his tenure as the U.S.S. Voyager 's Chief Medical Officer while the ship was lost in the Delta Quadrant from 2371 to 2378.

• 2 Missions involved
• 3 Other involvement
• 6 External Links

History [ | ]

In 2371 the Chief Medical Officer of the U.S.S. Voyager was killed when the ship was hurtled 70,000 light years into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker , prompting The Doctor to be activated in his place. Over the following years, he would grow and develop beyond his original programming, becoming an invaluable member of Voyager' s crew.

In 2373, during a temporal incident involving time travel back to 20th-century Earth , The Doctor acquires a mobile emitter , allowing him to leave the confines of Voyager' s sickbay and holodeck and even participate in away missions. In 2378, he returns to Earth with Voyager .

In 2382 , the Doctor sues Starfleet which wants to confiscate the mobile emitter in order to study the device. Based on the " Data -precedent", the Doctor wins the lawsuit as he is considered a sentient being and the loss of the emitter would greatly decrease his quality of life. The following year , the case is re-opened, as the Data-precedent merely clarifies the Doctor not to be Starfleet's property, without implications for him being sentient or not. Around the same time, the Soong Foundation , which is dedicated to promote the rights of artificial lifeforms, announces its plans of creating their own line of mobile emitters.

In 2389 , the Soong Foundation is defending the Doctor. In the hopes of eventually freeing the 600 other EMH Mark Is working in dilithium mines, his lawsuit is expanded to encompass all sentient artificial lifeforms in the Federation. Five years later , the lawsuit is finally concluded, with the Judge Advocate ruling that the Doctor is indeed a sentient being and has the right to choose how he wants to live. None of the other EMHs are freed yet, though.

With the mobile emitter being his approved property, the Doctor accepted a commission as a Lieutenant Commander in Starfleet and took the post of Chief Medical Officer at the research facility on Galor IV in 2395 . Here, he also cooperated with the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, who were allowed to study the mobile emitter.

By 2410 , the Doctor is assisting in the efforts of the Delta Alliance to explore the newly-accessible Delta Quadrant.

Missions involved [ | ]

Other involvement [ | ]

• Doctor's Orders : Struggling to find his place in the world, Stamets pays a visit to Corridor Seven and meets with the EMH Mk. I .

Images [ | ]

The Doctor as he appears in “Mindscape” .

The Doctor disguised as a member of the Hierarchy in “Alliances” .

The Doctor using his Emergency Command Subroutines in “Takedown” .

Notes [ | ]

• The Doctor is voiced by Robert Picardo , the actor who portrayed the character during Star Trek: Voyager .
• Although the Doctor holds the Starfleet rank of Lieutenant Commander, he does not wear any rank insignia. While using his command subroutines, however, he does wear Captain rank insignia and the commanding officer variant of the Odyssey uniform.
• Aside from the duty officer version of Leeta , the [ EMH Mk I ] is the only Duty officer in-game who is based on the likeness of a Star Trek actor. He is also the only one that is freely available to players through normal gameplay.
• [ Doctor (Bridge Officer) ] , a Bridge Officer based on The Doctor's likeness, has also been made available to players attending Star Trek conventions.

External Links [ | ]

• The Doctor at Memory Alpha , the Star Trek Wiki.
• The Doctor at Memory Beta , the non-canon Star Trek Wiki.
• 2 Playable starship
• 3 Delta Recruitment

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

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The EMH Mark I was a computer program with a holographic interface, designed by Doctor Lewis Zimmerman and with his own form, whose role was to act as an emergency doctor should the medical personnel of a starship or facility become disabled. In normal circumstances, the EMH would be used in the short-term until the real doctors could be treated, or replacement medical personnel arrived. However in the Doctor's case, Voyager was sent over 70,000 light years into the Delta Quadrant , and there were no replacement medical personnel.

• 1.1 Activation and Early Years
• 1.2 Gaining Freedom
• 1.3 Renaissance Man
• 1.4 Life in the Alpha Quadrant
• 1.5 25th century
• 2 Alternate timeline
• 3.1 Connections
• 3.2.1 Appearances
• 3.2.2 References
• 3.3 External links

Life Aboard Voyager [ ]

Activation and early years [ ].

The Doctor was first activated aboard Voyager on stardate 48308.2 , shortly after Voyager had been flung into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker . Upon his activation he learned that the entire medical staff had been killed during the journey to the Delta Quadrant and that he was the only medical officer aboard. ( VOY episode : " Caretaker ")

The Doctor suffers a malfunction

The Doctor's early days aboard Voyager were difficult for him. With the Doctor only being a hologram in the eyes of the crew, they often treated him as a piece of technology, and because of the Doctor's programming his bedside manner was seen as rude by the majority of the crew. The general attitude shown to him made the Doctor believe he was unimportant to the crew and that he was often left out when it came to important information, such as the arrival of Kes and Neelix aboard Voyager , and the repair of his holographic imaging matrix after Voyager encountered a quantum singularity . ( VOY episodes : " Parallax ", " Time and Again ")

However, the Doctor soon made a friend in Kes, who as well as having an interest in studying medicine, served as a champion for the Doctor's rights to Captain Janeway , which meant that he was treated with respect by the crew, and had control over his own activation sub-routines. Kes also began to tutor the Doctor in the social graces to improve his bedside manner and overall attitude. She also suggested that the Doctor find a real name so that he could feel more like a member of the crew. ( VOY episodes : " Eye of the Needle ", " Heroes and Demons ") Around the time Tutopan pirates robbed Voyager of its main computer, the Doctor had taken the name, Dr. Zimmerman, after his creator, but must have decided against it soon thereafter, returning to simply "the Doctor". ( VOY novel : Violations )

The Doctor on his first away mission

A few months into Voyager 's journey home, the Doctor participated in his first away mission to the holodeck after several officers had been taken from the Beowulf holoprogram . He discovered that they were being held by a being of photonic energy after Voyager took aboard some photonic energy. The crewmembers were released, when the Doctor returned the other being. ( VOY episode : " Heroes and Demons ")

A few weeks later, an accident aboard Voyager while the Doctor was in the holodeck, led him to confuse illusion and reality. He was visited by Lieutenant Reginald Barclay , one of the engineers that worked on his programming, who told him that he was in fact Dr. Zimmerman and was trapped in a holodeck simulation of Voyager at the Jupiter Station . He was convinced by Barclay that the only way to escape was to destroy the holographic Voyager by firing a phaser at the warp core . Thankfully, Chakotay managed to convince the Doctor that he was about to destroy his own matrix, and the Doctor was freed from the holodeck. ( VOY episode : " Projections ")

The Doctor and Dr. Pel on a date

In mid- 2372 , Voyager received a Vidiian scientist named Dr. Denara Pel , who was near death due to the phage . The Doctor was determined to find a cure for her and placed her body in stasis while he worked on it. Before doing so, he transmitted Dr. Pel's synaptic pathways into a hologram that depicted her as she would look without the phage.

Based on experiments conducted on Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres the previous year, the Doctor took samples of her Klingon DNA as a starting point for his research. As the two worked together on the project, the Doctor became enamored with Dr. Pel and made several additions to his program in order to gain her romantic interest. Unfortunately, the Doctor was unable to develop a cure for the phage, but was able to prolong Dr. Pel's life so that she could return home. ( VOY episode : " Lifesigns ")

The Doctor and Dr. Pel contacted each other a few months later, after Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay were infected by a parasite on an uninhabited Class M planet . Lieutenant Tuvok , while temporarily in command of Voyager , gave in to the crew's demands to contact the Vidiians and discover if they had a cure that would allow Janeway and Chakotay to leave the planet. The Vidiians used the incident as an excuse to attack Voyager , but Dr. Pel contacted the Doctor and beamed the cure aboard. ( VOY episode : " Resolutions ")

In early 2373 , the Doctor played an part in the defeat of the Kazon-Nistrim . After Voyager was captured by the Kazon and the crew marooned on Hanon IV , the Doctor along with Lon Suder helped sabotage the backup phaser couplings . This allowed Tom Paris and a small Talaxian fleet to retake the ship and save the crew, after Paris disabled the main phaser couplings and Voyager was damaged when the Kazon attempted to use the backups. The Doctor was briefly disabled when Seska locked out Starfleet voice commands after turning him off, preventing Suder from reactivating him, but the Doctor left a message for Suder, assuring the former killer that the Doctor had confidence in his abilities to retake the ship. Suder was successful in doing so, but was killed by a Kazon soldier. ( VOY episode : " Basics ")

A few weeks later, the Doctor had reached the limits of his storage capacity due to all the modifications he had been making to his program. He began experiencing amnesia, and during a medical procedure on Tom Paris, he forgot all of his medical skills, and diagnostics revealed that his program was in danger of disintegrating completely. After consulting the holographic Diagnostic Program Alpha-11 , it was decided that the only option was to overlay the Doctor's program with the diagnostic program. While this was successful, the Doctor returned to a state similar to that when he was first activated. However, over time memories began to resurface. ( VOY episode : " The Swarm ")

Gaining Freedom [ ]

Around stardate 50312, Voyager was pulled in orbit around Earth in the year 1996 by the Federation timeship UTS Aeon . Shortly after arrival the crew of Voyager learned that a local businessman named Henry Starling had stolen the Aeon and had used its technology to create the computer age on Earth, and that he intended to use the Aeon to travel to the 29th century .

While trying to stop Starling, the businessman was able to download the Doctor's program from Voyager 's database. Starling was able to alter the Doctor's program using advanced 29th century techniques, so that he could torture him for information. He also gave the Doctor a mobile emitter which would enable him to travel anywhere. When the Doctor was later recovered by Voyager he retained the emitter and a whole new lease of life opened up for him. ( VOY episodes: " Future's End , Parts I & II")

With his new found abilities to feel pain and move freely around the ship, the Doctor worked on other ways to improve his program and quality of life. He experimented with downloading personality subroutines from many historical figures including Lord Byron , Mahatma Gandhi , Socrates , Marie Curie and T'Pau . Unfortunately, this experiment proved a failure when he experienced personality disorder which resulted in a darkly emotional doctor. On an away mission, the dark doctor became jealous when Kes befriended a local named Zahir , and nearly led to the deaths of both Kes and Zahir . ( VOY episode: " Darkling ")

In late 2373, the Doctor decided to create a "perfect" holographic family, Doctor's Family Program Beta-Rho and chose the name Kenneth for himself. For several weeks the Doctor lived a seemingly blissful life, until Lt. Torres visited for dinner and suggested adding randomness and "realism" to the program. As a result, his teenage son Jeffrey became rebellious, he had arguments with his wife Charlene , and lost the formerly close bond he had possessed with his daughter Belle . The family bonded together better shortly after, as a result of Belle's death from a mortal Parrises squares injury. Despite wanting to delete the program, The Doctor was persuaded to continue to run the program by Tom Paris. ( VOY episode : " Real Life ").

The Doctor was then sent to find warehouse on a "medieval europe" type planet to keep the inhabitants from destroying themeselves with the weapons. As he first arrived he came across a knight named sir Koros and his squire Weylyn fighting a dragon-like creature. The doctor was able to stun it. The doctor said that he was a wizard of the order of Starfleet. Unfortunately, the creature destroyed his phaser and his equipment but was saved from it by Weylyn. Weylyn then led the doctor to his liege. ( VOY comic : " Avalon Rising ")

Renaissance Man [ ]

The Doctor activated his command subroutines again in 2377 in an attempt to rescue Captain Kathryn Janeway from the aliens who had kidnapped her. His holographic matrix altered to allow him to pose as various members of the crew, such as Janeway, B'Elanna Torres , and Chakotay , The Doctor was eventually able to evacuate engineering and subsequently activate the ECH program. As the Emergency Command Hologram , The Doctor had the authorization to eject Voyager's warp core ; he then tried to free the captain by exchanging the core as ransom. He was able to rescue Janeway and recover the core but when the excess subroutines inserted by the aliens nearly caused his program to collapse, he made several embarrassing "deathbed" confessions including his love for Seven. Having recovered, he subsequently spent a whole week in sickbay out of sheer embarrassment but was eventually convinced by Janeway to rejoin life on the ship. ( VOY episode : " Renaissance Man ")

Life in the Alpha Quadrant [ ]

When Voyager finally returned to the Alpha Quadrant, the Doctor's rights as a sentient were placed in jeopardy by the "holo-strike" orchestrated by Oliver Baines . After being arrested by Starfleet, he was released, and allowed to join a "think tank" with Seven of Nine . ( VOY novels Homecoming , The Farther Shore )

Having previously been declared a 'person', in 2380 he testified at a hearing to determine the rights of the Soong-type android prototype B-4 . The Doctor's experience as an early version of the Emergency Medical Hologram utility who had grown past his original design parameters was deemed relevant to the case. ( novel Articles of the Federation )

Since he was now free to do whatever he chose, he swiftly resigned from Starfleet and joined the Photon Rights Movement , where he was already recognized as a celebrity. ( VOY novel : The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway )

He had been working at the Federation Research Institute along with Seven of Nine and a variety of other very intelligent individuals on various projects for the Federation. The Doctor then took up a project with Lewis Zimmerman and Reginald Barclay at Jupiter Station to program and develop the Emergency Medical Vessel , a ship part of Project Full Circle , equipped with quantum slipstream drive and a variety of advanced holograms, with The Doctor serving as chief medical officer, and began exploring the Delta Quadrant. ( VOY novel Full Circle )

When Kathryn Janeway was resurrected by Q and Kes, the Doctor was the first member of Voyager 's crew to meet her, confirming her identity through both his memories of the scans he'd taken of her over the years and testing her by asking about the book she'd been reading when she helped him through his ethical breakdown, the Doctor being nearly moved to tears as he enthusiastically hugged Janeway after confirming her identity. ( VOY novel The Eternal Tide )

When Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant to deal with Janeway's return to life and recent events in the Full Circle project, Zimmerman discreetly programmed the Doctor to forget his old feelings for Seven of Nine given her new relationship with Cambridge, Zimmerman reasoning that he was helping the Doctor move on from his old feelings so improve his efficiency, with Janeway and Chakotay unable to legitimately object despite their moral objections to Zimmerman's decision. ( VOY novel Protectors )

A series of unexplained power surges resulted in the Doctor's memories becoming segregated as part of Barclay's attempt to save his existence, but when a mysterious Seriareen, Xolian, attempted to possess Lieutenant Nancy Conlon , the Doctor was only able to save her by tricking Xolian into 'possessing' him and trapping him in the segregated memories of Seven of Nine, deleting those memories to destroy Xolian. ( VOY novel : Atonement )

In 2382 , Starfleet ordered The Doctor's mobile emitter be transferred for research purposes to Galor IV . The Doctor filed a lawsuit to prevent this from happening; the JAG office issued an injunction until further research could be done and a final ruling made. By 2389 , The Doctor had still not been declared a 'person'. In 2395 , The Doctor accepted a commission in Starfleet, gaining the rank of lieutenant commander and an assignment at Galor IV. The Doctor believes that his fight over the mobile emitter was because he, "needed Starfleet to respect me." This was confirmed in an interview he had with the Federation News Service . ( STO website  : The Path to 2409 ; STO novel : The Needs of the Many )

25th century [ ]

The Doctor in 2410

In 2410 the Doctor returned to the Delta Quadrant to work in humanitarian relief efforts under the auspices of Delta Quadrant Command . His shuttle and a capital ship from the Alpha Quadrant Alliance responded to a distress signal from an Ocampan freighter only to come under attack by the Vaadwaur who had been trying to conquer the region. The attack was ordered stopped by Overseer Gaul , who requested a meeting to discuss peace terms.

At the meeting at Neelix's old space station in the Entaba system it rapidly became clear that by "peace" Gaul meant for the AQA to switch sides. He was rebuffed and in retaliation tried to massacre the Talaxians on-station, but was largely stymied by the combined forces of the Doctor, the AQA admiral present, and the arrival of a Turei battle group and USS Voyager . Afterwards the Doctor reported that the USS Blackwell had boarded the freighter and found it empty, and criticized Gaul for sending a false distress signal. ( STO - Delta Quadrant mission : " All That Glitters ")

Alternate timeline [ ]

In an alternate timeline, the Doctor had been promoted to Admiral after Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant. ( DS9 - Millennium novel : The War of the Prophets )

Appendices [ ]

Connections [ ], appearances and references [ ], appearances [ ].

• VOY - Myriad Universes - Infinity's Prism novella : Places of Exile

References [ ]

• PIC novel : Firewall

External links [ ]

• The Doctor article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• 1 The Chase
• 2 Preserver (race)
• 3 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Oct 31, 2023

The Best of The Doctor

The Emergency Medical Hologram will see you now.

StarTrek.com

" Please state the nature of the medical emergency. "

" Doesn't anyone know how to turn off the program when they leave! "

Originally designed for emergency purposes only, the acerbic Emergency Medical Holographic (EMH) was forced to run full-time when the Intrepid -class starship, U.S.S. Voyager , is stranded in the Delta Quadrant, propelling The Doctor to the ship's chief medical officer.

Portrayed by the excellent Robert Picardo, every episode with The Doctor is great as we witness his trajectory across the series' seven seasons. Here we've picked 8 of our favorite episodes we deem The Doctor's finest hours.

"Virtuoso"

In the sixth-season episode, the Voyager crew meets the Qomar, which typically closed off their homeworld to outsiders, while helping their ship make necessary repairs. While tending to some of his new patients' medical needs, and humming along during the process, the Qomar became exposed to music for the first time. Enthralled with The Doctor's voice, he and the rest of the crew are invited to their planetary alliance where he's starring in a musical concert in order to introduce the concept of music to its inhabitants.

Following his performance, The Doctor receives a standing ovation, and then Voyager 's communication systems is inundated with transmissions — fan mail for the maestro. Pleased with all the attention, The Doctor lets his duties slip believing the crew doesn't appreciate his talents and hands over his resignation, taking the Qomar up on their offer to stay behind on their planet when Voyager leaves.

Soon, The Doctor learns that the species of mathematicians could not see and appreciate the passion, beauty, and artistry he brings to music; they're more fixated on the mathematical angle and design a superior holomatrix that can hit notes The Doctor cannot. While lamenting his short-lived musical career, the EMH discovers who truly appreciates him and his talents.

"Living Witness"

The Doctor is reactivated 700 years into the future at the Kyrian Museum of Heritage where the Captain Janeway and the Voyager crew are depicted as violent people who did not hesitate to destroy anything or anyone standing in their way of getting home in inaccurate recreations. Not only that, they're blamed for a civil war with the Vaskans that nearly wiped out the Kyrian race.

The fourth-season episode has viewers reflecting on how historical accounts could be weaponized and maintain the status quo of unresolved ideological tensions as The Doctor works to correct the accurate portrayal of events.

"Real Life"

In this third-season story, The Doctor attempts to expand the horizons of his programming by creating his perfect holo-family — his wife Charlene, his teenaged son Jeffrey, his daughter Belle, and him as the patriarch named Kenneth.

After Kes and B'Elanna visits them during a family meal, B'Elanna modifies the holoprogram to be more realistic, much to The Doctor's displeasure. As his relationships with his family spirals, The Doctor learns Belle suffered severe brain trauma after an injury. Unable to prevent her death, The Doctor stops the program. However, it's the advice of Tom Paris to return to the program and face the pain that life sometimes delivers.

"Latent Image"

The fifth-season episode shows us The Doctor's fondness for his Holo-Imager. While scanning Harry Kim, he finds scarring near the ensign's spine that he doesn't recall performing. He soon discovers he's missing certain memory files that have been deleted from his program.

Calling upon Seven of Nine to help him run a self-diagnostic, they learn that it's Janeway who has been tampering with his short-term memory buffer as well as holo-images around a particular incident. The captain was trying to spare him from a painful time that caused a conflict in his programming after he was forced to perform a life-saving procedure on one officer, knowing that the other would have to die.

With his memories restored, The Doctor begins agonizing over the same question of how he could choose one life over another. There is a battle going on between his original programming and what he has become. The crew keeps vigil with him, hoping that eventually he will forgive himself and learn to accept his decision.

"Author, Author"

Similar to Data's plight in "The Measure of a Man," the seventh-season episode tackles The Doctor's rights when his holonovel, "Photons Be Free," which depicts the Voyager crew in a terrible light, is published without his permission.

Janeway questions if he feels oppressed, but The Doctor defends his work, claiming it's a work of fiction with an important message — he intended to draw attention to the plight of his "brothers" in the Alpha Quadrant, other EMH Mark Ones like him who have been condemned to menial tasks. Before he's able to make edits that don't hurt the feelings of the people he cares about, he learns that his publisher has proceeded with the previous draft.

Janeway demands a recall and apology, and points out that authors have rights, but the publisher Broht responds that under Federation law, holograms have no rights. This pushes into motion a hearing that seeks the same rights for The Doctor as any flesh-and-blood person.

"Revulsion"

This fourth-season episode has the Voyager crew appreciating The Doctor's unique —and stable — personality. When they investigate an automated distress call from an alien holoprogram who reports that his crew is dead, Dejaren is pleased to find another "lifeform" like himself.

The hologram says that his crew became infected with a deadly virus, which killed them all. Dejaren is awed by The Doctor's freedom and abilities; his crew never let him out of his chamber or treated him as anything other than machinery. When B'Elanna is repairing Dejaren's systems, he lashes out at her, castigating her organic body and way of life. The Doctor discovers the hologram is pathologically bitter toward "organics." Things take a turn when Dejaren is unable to convince The Doctor that holograms were a higher form of life.

"Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy"

Listed as Robert Picardo's favorite comedic episode in an interview with StarTrek.com in 2010, the sixth-season episode explores one of The Doctor's daydreams.

Disappointed because he wanted to travel with the Away Team to an unknown planet, The Doctor experiments with his programming by giving himself the ability to daydream, which he does so at the most opportune moment when alien raiders spy on Voyager , hoping to strip it for its parts. Fortunately for them, the daydreams confuse the raiders on the ship's actual defenses.

However, as the raider is embarrassed that he confused the daydreams for actual realities, and fearsome of revealing the truth to his superiors, he warns The Doctor of the impending attack but requests the EMH to enact his Emergency Command Hologram to trick his commanders.

"Body and Soul"

When the crew encounters a species who hunted and destroyed "photonic insurgents" aka holograms in this seventh-season episode, Seven of Nine ends up hiding The Doctor's program in her Borg implants, which gives him control of her body and functions.

This allows The Doctor to have sensory experiences like taste and touch for the first time, giving Jeri Ryan and Robert Picardo to exercise their comedic chops.

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Star trek: 10 things you didn't know about emh programs.

Star Trek has always featured wondrous pieces of technology, and the Emergency Medical Holographic (EMH) program is one of the most intriguing.

In the newest Star Trek series, Picard , one of the most fascinating thing going on in the background are Rios' holographic programs. Since he runs this ship on his own, without much of a crew, he relies on the EMH and such to keep him safe and keep him company. This isn't the first time a ship has relied on an EMH before.

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Star Trek: Voyager lost their chief medical officer in their trip to the Delta Quadrant. Because of this, they had to use their EMH as their main physician. They named him "The Doctor" and he became a vital part of their ship-wide family. He even saved the ship on his own a few times. Between the Doctor and Rios' EMH, let's talk about ten things you didn't know about EMHs.

There Were Multiple Models

Even though Voyager 's Doctor is the most popular EMH, there were many other versions made. For example, when the Doctor was flung across space in "Message in a Bottle", he met up with a newer, more clean cut model. Unfortunately, he was told his model got discontinued for being too cranky.

Now, in Picard , fans also get to see a future model in Rios' EMH. Clearly, now EMH's can have their appearance matrices change to be whatever the user wants. And, for who knows what reason, Rios chose to have the EMH look just like him. While it'd be funny to think that all Starfleet ships have a crabby Robert Picardo on hand, they all have a different variety.

They Weren't Meant To Be Ship Doctors

One of the first things that happened in Voyager was several officers, including their ship's chief medical officer, losing their lives while being tossed to the Delta Quadrant. Because of this, Janeway made the call to turn him on longer and the EMH became Voyager's only lead doctor on-board.

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However, this is never supposed to be the case. They were only made to assist in certain situations, at best helping the CMO during a crisis. Instead, the Doctor had to cover it all on his own. This also included being on for much longer than any hologram ever is meant to be. But, apparently Picard 's Rios likes breaking that rule, too.

One Pioneered Hologram Rights

During his time on Voyager , The Doctor when from being a typical hologram to a much more complicated person with his own goals and dreams. One thing that he really loved was the arts. Characters could find him singing, acting, or writing stories throughout the series.

However, when The Doctor wrote an entire novel and sent it to Earth for publishing, the publishing company tried to take over his rights because he was a hologram. In the same vein of "Measure of a Man" (but much more light-hearted), The Doctor won his creative rights and made the first big step in giving holograms rights of their own.

Their Program Was Faulty (In The Best Way)

EMHs were never supposed to be able to form the very human traits of aspiration, envy, pride. However, The Doctor's creator was a bit... flexible with his programming, basing their appearance and prickly nature on his own. This put his holograms on the path towards being able to expand on those very flawed human traits and become more than a simple hologram.

They weren't supposed to be able to, but The Doctor did. Over time, he fell in love, became a father, wrote a novel, learned how to command, and so many other things that he never should've been capable of.

They (Initially) Have No Control Over Themselves

When EMH's were made, every part of their existence was controlled by the humans around them. They were meant to listen to the crew's orders and couldn't even turn themselves on or off. The Doctor, in early season, often complained about people forgetting to turn him off, leaving him alone and trapped in sick-bay for hours with nothing to do.

With time, Voyager's crew gave The Doctor more freedoms. This included control over his own systems and even a mobile emitter so he could walk around the ship, not just be trapped in the few rooms with hologram emitters.

They Can Fall In Love

One of the first things that completely changed the Doctor's perspective on himself was falling in love. He, like the rest of the crew, at first saw himself as a simple hologram that was being left on too long. However, the more emotions he felt and connections he made with other people, the more he realized there was a lot more going on with him. Though it often broke his heart, The Doctor loved openly and it was one of the most endearing and human things about him. He deserved to be loved just like anyone else on the ship.

With The Right Tools, They Can Go Anywhere

If a ship comes with an EMH, the rule of thumb is that the EMH stays in sick-bay and goes nowhere else. However, that wasn't always the best case scenario when it came to Voyager and their Doctor. After all, he was their only medical professional and he couldn't leave that room.

Eventually, B'Elanna and the engineering crew built him a mobile emitter. This let him go wherever he wanted, as long as he attached the device to his body. It basically would download his program and emit it on a smaller scale across the ship. He even got to go on away missions. Holograms can definitely be more than meets the eye.

Some Races Hate Fully-Functioning Holograms

During their travels across the Delta Quadrant, the Voyager crew encountered many species. Some had bad history with holograms and reacted pretty violently when they found out Voyager had one as their Doctor. Picture the extreme measures the Romulans are taking against synthetics in Picard and that's about the level of hostility.

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Once, The Doctor even had to hide in the cybernetic parts of Seven of Nine 's brain to avoid being caught and deleted by some anti-hologram scientists and travelers. Their people forbade holograms from even coming into their system,

They Can Be Transported Across The Galaxy

In one of The Doctor's best solo episode, Voyager found a way to send his programming across the galaxy. His program got sent to a deep-space ship that had been taken over by Romulans and the only Federation crewman left capable was their own EMH. Together, they had to figure out how to stand each other and take the ship back from the invading Romulans.

"Message in a Bottle" was a great episode and showed off the unique science of holograms. That science was later used to send the Doctor back to Earth to try to help save his ailing creator's life. Also a fantastic episode and use of the Doctor's unique technological capabilities.

Voyager's Doctor Was Revolutionary

Before Deep Space 9 's Vic Fontaine and Voyager 's Doctor, holograms were never seen as real people, just fictitious fantasies that people played with. The closest before them that fans got to real sentience and respect was the infamous Minuet, who actually was an alien of sorts. And even Vic Fontaine was still a guy trapped in a holodeck, used for people's entertainment. The crew grew to love him, but his framing was still very "he is here to entertain humans".

The Doctor was revolutionary. He wasn't just there to entertain or assist. His life went beyond that, growing into a much more well-rounded and complex character than his programming initially allowed. He was revolutionary and in future Star Trek series, it might be neat to see how that changed hologram politics and treatment, just like how synthetic interest evolved because of Data.

NEXT: Star Trek: Data's 10 Most Human Relationships