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What happened to choosing a name for the doctor?

MatthiasRussell

MatthiasRussell

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
In season 1, choosing a name for the doctor was a big deal, in the show and to fans. Soon, a name became unimportant and largely forgotten. Why both in the show and among production was this endeavor given up on?

Did you want them to name the Doctor?
 
You seem to be watching the series at the exact same point as I am.

I'm under the (potentially mistaken) impression that "The Doctor' will be chosen since this early on they keep calling him 'EMH'.
 
It's my one pet peeve about the character. I definitely would have preferred they went with "Doc Zimmerman," "Doc Hollow," or even just simply "Doc" as Paris sometimes called him from the pilot rather than drag the issue out over the entire series.

From the alternate future in "Endgame":
PARIS: It took you twenty-five years to come up with "Joe"?
 
It's not getting a name that I kept waiting for, but fot him to don the hair from the "Before and After" future. Every season I kept waiting for it.... but never happened:( I thought it looked good on him.
 
I went to a trek exhibit soon after voyager started where the doctor was identified as "Zimmerman." Since it was an official exhibit, I figured that was what they were going to settle on, but nope. It is just odd that this was left open. I mean, there was already a "the Doctor" in science fiction.
 
KingDaniel said:
It's not getting a name that I kept waiting for, but fot him to don the hair from the "Before and After" future. Every season I kept waiting for it.... but never happened:( I thought it looked good on him.
Click to expand...

They forced him to wear a rug in China Beach but he hated it. As a child, I thought he was shaving his head for the scenes set in the future after the war.

C.E. Evans said:
It's my one pet peeve about the character. I definitely would have preferred they went with "Doc Zimmerman," "Doc Hollow," or even just simply "Doc" as Paris sometimes called him from the pilot rather than drag the issue out over the entire series.

From the alternate future in "Endgame":
PARIS: It took you twenty-five years to come up with "Joe"?
Click to expand...

If he made that decision right after Joe Carey died, that would have been awesome, but to wait 25 years and then adopt that very same name anyway because his wife told him to, underlines how little anyone ever thought of Carey.

I laughed my ass off yesterday at IMDB. "Zimmerman" is Jeri Ryan's "real"/"original" surname. It would have been to laugh if he's standing in front of that actress trying to find the best name ever and he chooses one she already cast off.
 
MatthiasRussell said:
I went to a trek exhibit soon after voyager started where the doctor was identified as "Zimmerman." Since it was an official exhibit, I figured that was what they were going to settle on, but nope. It is just odd that this was left open. I mean, there was already a "the Doctor" in science fiction.
Click to expand...

They did originally plan to name him "Zimmerman" during the first season - so sure were they, that they instructed the novel writers to call him that. And so he's called Dr. Zimmerman in the first (or is it first two?) Voyager books.

He was also called "Doc Zimmerman" in the Voyager trailers on old DS9 VHS tapes.
 
After all his development into a person, while of course having a name, as the Doctor himself alluded to, would mean a great deal, his growth into personhood and acceptance as a being who had earned the respect of Janeway and co., and a friend of equal standing placed his selfhood at what truly mattered...but, yep....after some point of acheiving a ruling in his favor from the Federation judicial system,and seen as an individual in full legal measure, finally adopting a John Hancock would be on high order of business....
 
Qew said:
ROFL. "Joe". If that isn't an EPIC FAIL i don't know what is.
Click to expand...

I think Joe was his alternate timeline wife's dead relative's name that he took after IIRC.

I remember my old TV at my old house had a close caption box on it and it always showed "Zimmerman" when the doctor is talking off screen.

Maybe he kept that as his family name? Joe Zimmerman instead of just "Joe".
 
Yeah... 'Joe' basically stemmed from the events of an alternate timeline which now won't come to pass.
Besides, if we take the novels into consideration, the Doctor is in the DQ.
Although... there's still a chance he could end up with that blonde girl again once the DQ mission is over (that is if he gets back to the AQ at all).
 
Maybe the Admiral pulled him to one side and advised the lightbulb against choosing a name so prudently before his hand is forced by his libido.
 
I gathered that too, lol. I'm loving netflix!
Click to expand...

Netflix streaming is awesome! I've been enjoying Star Trek this whole summer. Perfect way to relax when it's hot out. Instead of spending upwards of $300 for all the series, I can just start up Netflix streaming for a few months during those really slow TV times (summer and winter holidays) and relive the joy!

As for his name, I really love Doc and Doctor. To me, those were his names. Whenever I refer to him, he's The Doctor.
 
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