Voyager's "Medical Staff"
- Thread starter Dale Sams
- Start date
That would take away the drama element, though. It's giving Data emotions, making Spock see there's more than just logic, letting Geordi stop having to use his eyebrows so much--all things that can happen in movies, but for a continuing show, it's too much of a game-changer. Let them be cured & it's just another appliance alien on the ship; YAWN. But...this diseased thing running the sickbay? Able to cure others & not itself? Dramatic irony by the tonne, son(ne). Puts a whole new spin on helping out random planets with their medical crises, too: they could either go the "WTF, WHY IS THERE A VIDIIAN HERE?! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO PULL?!?" route or the "I don't know what that is but HOLY SHIT IT'S UGLY WTF KEEP IT AWAY FROM ME" route.
Agreed!
I think it also brings up a great moral and ethical dilemma that's very real.
If a doctor is infected with a illness, should they still be allowed to practice?
They couldn't have had other crewmembers doing complicated surgery in a few years but they could have had people doing basic medical functions. Everyday stuff where there was no danger of anyone dying, the same training Paris had. You don't need an M.D. for that.
I've always wondered why the medics on board Voyager didn't receive more training to assist the Doctor full-time (I am pretty sure that they exist);surely training them would allow sickbay to handle more cases (instead of having just the EMH,Kes and Tom handling everything)
Competent medics and trained/qualified Doctors would mean that the EMH would be turned off and never turned back on again.
It's quite possible that he didn't want to die, and this is how he guaranteed his existence.
It's quite possible that he didn't want to die, and this is how he guaranteed his existence.
What I want to know is why medical training for Paris and Kes always seemed to involve the Doctor showing them stuff. We never saw them in holo simulations or anything, and that's exactly what I would do if I needed a new doctor or nurse for the ship: stick them in a MASH unit or similar during the worst part of some gawdawful war or another. They'd get it sorted PDQ, I think. 
Or why the Doctor didn't grow another Doctor to act as exclusively as a tutor.
That's not a bad idea: reclass a holodeck as a second "emergency sickbay" where 5 or 6 holodox could walk around & treat people; slight cosmetic variances could help keep them separate (imagine Picardo with Bajoran ridges, as an Andorian, a Vulcan, etc.). Also, name them all Dr. Rosen-something.
Oh Robert Picardo, you were always my favorite Voyager character. Thinking about what would have happened to the show if you left... I don't know if I could have kept watching.
As a somewhat realistic plot-continuation, if for some reason they had lost Robert (instead of Jennifer Lein), I imagine that they would have simply made an episode where Starfleet "upgrades" Voyager's systems with the "New And Improved LMH" Zimmerman had been designing in DS9.
As a somewhat realistic plot-continuation, if for some reason they had lost Robert (instead of Jennifer Lein), I imagine that they would have simply made an episode where Starfleet "upgrades" Voyager's systems with the "New And Improved LMH" Zimmerman had been designing in DS9.
I don't have an issue with the ships original medical crew.....you could just say they had a doctor, chief nurse, a few medically trained staff who perished during Caretaker and an emergency medical hologram.....for alpha quadrant missions, probably enough)
But i agree that not training staff after caretaker was ridiculous
More ridiculous for me though was the way they didn't bend over backwards to protect the doctor. You would think they'd realise his importance and pull out all the stops to create backups, safety nets, anything to ensure he was extremely secure and locked in for the coming decades
But instead, they couldn't give a toss....they continued to treat him like a screwdriver with no particular value or importance to the crew....during swarm, B'llanna has more important things to do when it appears that the doctor may turn into a cabbage and be lost....WTF!!...you lose this guy and you're screwed big time! Kes is the only one that thinks..."hey, maybe we should save the only guy on the ship that knows how to perform complex surgery and tackle unknown diseases"
Throughout the whole series, the bridge crew continually dismiss him as an annoyance.Seven takes over from Kes in being the only one that might recognise his value. In latent image, Janeway still perceives him as a piece of irritating technology. Hell, even in Endgame, old man Paris talks to him like he's a jumped up lightbulb....."you've called yourself Joe and married a human female....really, but you're just a pointless thing"
If a violent crazy super alien made me choose between keeping Janeway or the doctor alive.....i would not hesitate...Chakotay or Tuvok could do an adequate job running the ship...heck, even Kim....but who could replace the doctor....no one!!
But i agree that not training staff after caretaker was ridiculous
More ridiculous for me though was the way they didn't bend over backwards to protect the doctor. You would think they'd realise his importance and pull out all the stops to create backups, safety nets, anything to ensure he was extremely secure and locked in for the coming decades
But instead, they couldn't give a toss....they continued to treat him like a screwdriver with no particular value or importance to the crew....during swarm, B'llanna has more important things to do when it appears that the doctor may turn into a cabbage and be lost....WTF!!...you lose this guy and you're screwed big time! Kes is the only one that thinks..."hey, maybe we should save the only guy on the ship that knows how to perform complex surgery and tackle unknown diseases"
Throughout the whole series, the bridge crew continually dismiss him as an annoyance.Seven takes over from Kes in being the only one that might recognise his value. In latent image, Janeway still perceives him as a piece of irritating technology. Hell, even in Endgame, old man Paris talks to him like he's a jumped up lightbulb....."you've called yourself Joe and married a human female....really, but you're just a pointless thing"
If a violent crazy super alien made me choose between keeping Janeway or the doctor alive.....i would not hesitate...Chakotay or Tuvok could do an adequate job running the ship...heck, even Kim....but who could replace the doctor....no one!!
You know when your windows gets fucked up, and you go find your windows disk, so that you can reinstall? An hour later you have lost all your personal data, but you have all a completely fresh and crisp working version of Windows minus the bugs and viruses that were annoying you.
B'Elanna said something like "Reboot him, I don't have time for this shit."
If you didn't care about his personality, it was a non-problem.
B'Elanna said something like "Reboot him, I don't have time for this shit."
If you didn't care about his personality, it was a non-problem.
If they lost Picardo they probably would have met a hot alien who is a really good medic.
They did.
The EMH had sex with her.
The EMH had sex with her.
You mean like when i've looked at some really excellent porn and got infected
Don't have a windows disk....i just restore to a previous date
I was talking more generally about the attitude the crew had concerning the doctor throughout the series....they just didn't seem to value him or recognise that his role might actually be of some importance....i think it might have been that because he wasn't human, they subconsciously felt that his existence didn't matter as much....and therefore, by extension, his role didn't matter as much....even though his skills actually made him perhaps the most valuable member of the crew
That was an overt point constantly being drummed throughout the series.
His fucking book for instance was the worlds smallest violin.
His fucking book for instance was the worlds smallest violin.
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