The thing the fascinated me about the Holodoc from the beginning was the fact that he was trapped in sickbay (except of course to got to the holodeck). If anyone needed medical assistance anywhere else on Voyager, or on another ship, or on the surface of a planet, he could be of little help, because of his confinement. This was one of the character's defining elements for me. When he got hold of the mobile emitter (and very early in the series' run, might I add), he seemed to become just another "I must explore my humanity" Trek trope. I enjoyed the character when the series was in first run---and it goes without saying that Picardo's a brilliant actor---but in retrospect, I think they screwed the pooch with that mobile emitter thingie. The 'Doc lost a lot of his pathos, IMO.
Was the Mobile Emitter a Bad Idea?
- Thread starter Python Trek
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It was a brilliant, overdue idea. The Doc needed to leave sickbay in order to continue to grow into the man that he would (almost) be by the end of the series. I'm surprised really that the crew didn't get it sorted sooner, considering they have a big fat holodeck sitting there that they could replicate or cannibalise. It did happen in season four when the Hirogen were on board.
I guess it sort of fell by the wayside, like his name.
I guess it sort of fell by the wayside, like his name.
Line of sight, the doctor could have had all sorts of adventures near the ship...
And if the ship had landed for repairs, what would be coolest to guard it that a 200 foot EMH?
Then...
Watch him wrestle a T-Rex or drop kick an approaching shuttle kamakazi shuttle craft.
And if the ship had landed for repairs, what would be coolest to guard it that a 200 foot EMH?
Then...
Watch him wrestle a T-Rex or drop kick an approaching shuttle kamakazi shuttle craft.
lol, noit that I'm disagreeing with you or anything, but doesn't this boil down to, "They had to do what they did in order to do what they did"?
It was early when I posted that! 
What I meant was that it was good character development, which therefore allowed him to continue to develop until the end.
What I meant was that it was good character development, which therefore allowed him to continue to develop until the end.
Opps you did it again.
Development is about developing until you've developed.
Development is about developing until you've developed.
Well, he definitely developed. From his first development at the start, he developed into a developing developer, who developed until the end where his development developed!
I give up!
No, the mobile emitter wasn't a bad idea, because it allowed frankly the best actor on the series, the opportunity to fully put his talents to use, without confinement to the sickbay...
Having said that, it would have been interesting if it had gone like CLB describes in "Places of Exile" where he gets uploaded into a mainframe, and can make multiple avatars appear in different places and take control of android bodies...since the doctor is an AI it's an interesting way to go about it...
Especially when you consider that the mobile emitter is a great concept...until they just slap it onto his sleeve and suddenly he can move...telling the computer to download him makes sense, because the emitter is basically a flash drive, and he's being transferred (presumably by some form of WiFi, from the ship's computer, to the drives inside the emitter) the doctor is, is billions of lines of code...the image of him is just an image, so it's the equivalent of pressing your flash drive to the monitor and expecting your .doc to be downloaded without telling it to do anything...
Having said that, it would have been interesting if it had gone like CLB describes in "Places of Exile" where he gets uploaded into a mainframe, and can make multiple avatars appear in different places and take control of android bodies...since the doctor is an AI it's an interesting way to go about it...
Especially when you consider that the mobile emitter is a great concept...until they just slap it onto his sleeve and suddenly he can move...telling the computer to download him makes sense, because the emitter is basically a flash drive, and he's being transferred (presumably by some form of WiFi, from the ship's computer, to the drives inside the emitter) the doctor is, is billions of lines of code...the image of him is just an image, so it's the equivalent of pressing your flash drive to the monitor and expecting your .doc to be downloaded without telling it to do anything...
I think it was a good idea because it let him interact with the crew more. Besides, I think it was inevitable that they would have finally managed to install some emitters on the bridge and elsewhere for practical purposes.
The only gripe I have with it that it's future technology that the Voyager should never have acquired. They could have as well have Torres develop a mobile emitter, or let them get it from an alien race.
Yeah, funny how Janeway won't give the Kazon any technology but she's fine with bringing back 29th century goodies.
The backpack from Author Author would have been fine for the Doc...to be fair...he's a hologram so weight won't be a problem for him...
and that sort of ties in with the wonderful lunacy that is the Voyager writers room...
BB: Hey Ken, so we've been writing about the Doctor...
KB: Yup
BB: And we've given him this whole arc where he becomes a person...and we've had it culminate in what is going to be a slow struggle to regain his memories....
KB: Yup again...
BB: So, what if instead of carrying on with that, we just shoehorn in some 29th Century Technology that can let him leave the sickbay, and even though we know that it'll be really obvious because the timetravellers will be able to read about it in a history book...they won't choose to take it because Picardo's the one with his name in the credits?
KB: I'm not sure...
BB: But then we could have him walk down dark corridors...
KB: [Chuckling] Ok, you got me, you know i'm a sucker for dark corridors...hell it's my dream to one day make an entire series about them!
JM: What if we stayed true to the series? I mean, we've not done much with Torres lately, so maybe she could develop some kind of prototype emitter, and we could introduce jeopardy the first time it's used and ultimately culminate in something meaningful, and entertaining...
BB: ...
KB: ...
BB: ...no
and that sort of ties in with the wonderful lunacy that is the Voyager writers room...
BB: Hey Ken, so we've been writing about the Doctor...
KB: Yup
BB: And we've given him this whole arc where he becomes a person...and we've had it culminate in what is going to be a slow struggle to regain his memories....
KB: Yup again...
BB: So, what if instead of carrying on with that, we just shoehorn in some 29th Century Technology that can let him leave the sickbay, and even though we know that it'll be really obvious because the timetravellers will be able to read about it in a history book...they won't choose to take it because Picardo's the one with his name in the credits?
KB: I'm not sure...
BB: But then we could have him walk down dark corridors...
KB: [Chuckling] Ok, you got me, you know i'm a sucker for dark corridors...hell it's my dream to one day make an entire series about them!
JM: What if we stayed true to the series? I mean, we've not done much with Torres lately, so maybe she could develop some kind of prototype emitter, and we could introduce jeopardy the first time it's used and ultimately culminate in something meaningful, and entertaining...
BB: ...
KB: ...
BB: ...no
Lets face it - they could have replicated emitters for all of the main areas of the ship. If they built a mobile emitter with their current level of technology and it was as big as a suitcase it could have been hidden inside the volume of the Doc's projected body. Alternately they could have built him an android body controlled remotely.
The mobile emitter is a non-issue.
The mobile emitter is a non-issue.
Transporters already have no scientific basis and the same for replicators. They just exist to make the story easier. I feel the same way about the Mobile Emitter.
I think it was a long overdue idea.
I think it was a long overdue idea.
Transporters are based on the premise of conversion of energy into matter and back again ... something that occurs in the universe itself.
We've also done teleportation on a microscopic scale... or was it subatomic?
Either way... the scientific basis for the premise of both technologies exists.
So I don't see the problem.
The mobile emitter... I think that limiting the doc to sickbay was a bad idea.
The crew was using the excuse that the Doc's program was too complex for simple projection which could have worked until the mid season.
But expanding that by installing holo emmiters throughout key sections for example to allow the Doc access to critical areas in early seasons would be good.
I was thinking that he wouldn't have gained full access to the entire ship until the 'Killing Game' when the Hirogen turned Voyager into a huge holodeck.
Or something along those lines.
Ultimately, giving the doc mobile emitter was a good idea as it helped him get out of sickbay and grow.
Seska gave them a replicator and they were too stupid to know how to use it.
Score one for Janeway.
What are you talking about?
They ingeniously turned a kitchen appliance into a WMD.
Janeway was forced to surrender week after week while stocked tot he gills with actual weapons.
They ingeniously turned a kitchen appliance into a WMD.
Janeway was forced to surrender week after week while stocked tot he gills with actual weapons.
The 'Doc often changed his "clothes", and he was accidentally shrunk once, but why didn't they use his "shape-shifting" abiliites more often? Could've been fun.
Renaissance Man.
Lots of shifting.
On the lead up to that story were Seven boffing the holokotay, because of the inexact advertising, there was speculation that she thought it was the real Chakotay but the Doctor was acting out a sexy farce.
Escaping the the sick bay was his quest. The box set. A starting character. Further on were expansions. Were he powered up and upskilled. the doctor is a video game.
Janeway knew this.
Which is why she didn't use her moderatorgodpowers to install holo emitters everywer because it would ruin the first level for all the nubes and weekend gamers.
Lots of shifting.
On the lead up to that story were Seven boffing the holokotay, because of the inexact advertising, there was speculation that she thought it was the real Chakotay but the Doctor was acting out a sexy farce.
Escaping the the sick bay was his quest. The box set. A starting character. Further on were expansions. Were he powered up and upskilled. the doctor is a video game.
Janeway knew this.
Which is why she didn't use her moderatorgodpowers to install holo emitters everywer because it would ruin the first level for all the nubes and weekend gamers.
One thing the writers on Voyager proved right from the start is that they had no concept of how to deal with limitations of any sort. This is the same show that specifically said that they had a limited number of torpedoes that could not be replaced...and then proceeded to ignore that.
The moment having the doctor confined to sickbay or even the ship became even a minor inconvenience out came the 29th century technology and voila...limit eliminated...no work needed on the part of the characters. The solution is just given to them via time travel. Of course that's how the ultimate plot of the show was resolved as well...so at least they were consistent in their laziness.
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