What if the holographic doctor was on TNG instead?

[Makarov]

I think the doctor is the most clever aspect of Voyager, so what if he was actually on TNG instead of VOY? Say, after Pulaski left instead of bringing on crusher they got Picardo to do the same character.

What do you think of that idea, would it be too much for audiences since TNG was the first to introduce the holodeck? Too many machine-like characters since they already had Data? Too many bald guys? I'm really curious what a scene with Picard and Picardo would have been like.

 

[doubleohfive]

Well, for starters, the Moriarty episodes probably wouldn't have been as fun.

 

[bbjeg]

Data's personal arch would clash with the Doctor's though I won't say Picardo's personality wouldn't make TNG better.

(Also this thread would get more even responses in the General Trek forum.)

 

[Guy Gardener]

The EMH was on TNG. At least there's a high probability that he was there unused in probably season seven since when we did see him on the movie, Bev says "I swore I would never use this thing" which hardly sounds like a regret that she's breaking a promise made 5 minutes ago.

Did any one say that Voyager was the first ship the EMH was on?

Becuase even Kes was not confused, okay kes thought he was a person, by the EMH.

 

[Makarov]

It's so strange that they had an EMH on board and never used it, Crusher was pretty good but no one would be better than the combined personality of hundreds of doctors. I would just do the same thing with every position on the ship, the best captains, best security officers, all combined into different holographic crew members.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Well, there's also a question of outfitting the sickbay with holoemitters (since I doubt that they would have been in the original schematics drafted in 2357.) which would mean tearing up the duraniaum floors, walls and ceilings for months. Of course, it's effortless to convert one of the holodecks into a new sickbay or a temporary sickbay which already had emitters. Hell they could have built Sickbay two across the corridor from sick bay one, and then turned sick bay one into whatever sickbay II used to be, therefore leaving no hickup in their continuous excellent service to the crew.

Beverly was in Charge of Starfleet medical in season 2. I assume that that means that she oversaw the entire fleet and not just the one building on Earth, which means that she was an Admiral, a Commodore or a Commandant, and then received a hefty demotion to go play mommy to a 17 year old.

(If he was younger, much younger, her biological imperatives would not seem insane, but then if Wesley was younger, much younger, she never would have left him with Riker. Did Wesley sleep in Riker's quarters? You can't leave socks on the doors on Enterprise D. No door handles. Did her son have to move back in with Bev when she came back? Well at least Wes was gone by the time Riker and Beverly did the dance with two backs in season 4. Ensign Crusher would need more than a sock to protect him from the mental image of that.)

The EMH project, which would have taken quite a while to invent, so as the Head of Starfleet Medical, Bev would have signed a lot of paperwork attached to the project years before there was a functioning product.

Barclay designed the interpersonal routines.

Barclay was still on he Enterprise in 2372 when they fought the Borg and met Zephram Chocrane...

Unless he "built" the Doctor's personality between Enterprises, then it all happened before 2367 when Reg got his post under Picard.

 

[bbjeg]

^I don't think tearing up the duraniaum floors, walls and ceilings would have taken months. They have transporters, tracking beams, and technobabble at their disposal.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Structural integrity is a bitch.

Did you ever see the episode of the Goodies where they were having their loft renovated, and the contractors curtained off the half they were working on first, but after 8 months, when they finally summon the balls to confront the contractors, they hadn't started yet because they were still in the middle of a 14 month teabreak?

 

[Avro Arrow]

It's so strange that they had an EMH on board and never used it, Crusher was pretty good but no one would be better than the combined personality of hundreds of doctors.

Well, it is an *Emergency* Medical Hologram. Apparently the Enterprise never had to face a situation where their entire medical staff was killed/incapacitated/overwhelmed with medical problems/whatever that would necessitate activating an "extra" doctor. Presumably the medical staff on a Galaxy class ship with 1000+ people is a lot larger than on an Intrepid class ship with 150 people.

Besides, we know from "Caretaker" that the bedside manner of the standard EMH is, well... a bit lacking. This is probably all Dr. Crusher would have seen of them, so I can completely understand her reservations. The Doctor was a special case.

 

[Akiraprise]

Structural integrity is a bitch.

Reroute tertiary tractor power through the holoemitters via the portable transporter pattern enhancers... Voila. EMH in sickbay.

 

[Guy Gardener]

How long did it take them to jigger stellar Cartography into Astrometrics?

 

[Captain Kathryn]

I think the doctor is the most clever aspect of Voyager, so what if he was actually on TNG instead of VOY? Say, after Pulaski left instead of bringing on crusher they got Picardo to do the same character.

What do you think of that idea, would it be too much for audiences since TNG was the first to introduce the holodeck? Too many machine-like characters since they already had Data? Too many bald guys? I'm really curious what a scene with Picard and Picardo would have been like.

I think the Doctor's story would have conflicted with what they were trying to do with Data. I think it makes sense that Data came first, had his story. Then came Odo, then the EMH and Seven of Nine.

Also the fact that the EMH was *the only Doctor* on Voyager was the entire REASON he was left running. TNG would not have had any excuse to have a holographic Doc.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The audience wouldn't have accepted him as sentient if they hadn't spent seven years watching Data.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Also the fact that the EMH was *the only Doctor* on Voyager was the entire REASON he was left running. TNG would not have had any excuse to have a holographic Doc.

You have no idea how much more golf Beverly wanted to play on the holodeck than her free time allowed.

 

[Nebusj]

The audience wouldn't have accepted him as sentient if they hadn't spent seven years watching Data.

I would think audiences default to any character played by a human being as being sapient, actually.

It might have been interesting if the holo-Doc were never sapient but other characters kept falling into the habit of thinking this person-like thing that kept talking to them actually was a person. That probably wouldn't fit within the Star Trek worldview well, though, and its (admirable) attitude that a moral agent can come from anything.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Sonja Gomez said "please" and "thank you" to replicators.

Of course, she was in QWho when they met the Borg.

After that maybe she said "Now b####" and "Go f### yourself"?

 

[Avro Arrow]

^ You don't wanna piss off the replicators. You'll never know what ends up inside your food...

 

[Timewalker]

^I don't think tearing up the duraniaum floors, walls and ceilings would have taken months. They have transporters, tracking beams, and technobabble at their disposal.

Captain: Have the photon torpedoes been delivered?
Crewman: Yes, Captain.
Captain: Do we have all the crew on board?
Crewman: Yes, Captain.
Captain: What about the technobabble?
Crewman: Sorry, Captain, it won't be delivered until Tuesday.

How long did it take them to jigger stellar Cartography into Astrometrics?

Just the one episode, wasn't it?

 

[Titch]

The Doctor and TNG, to be honest I don’t think it would have worked. The doctor’s character exploded when he got the mobile emitter. We got to see the conflict between the Federations very high values on what life is or isn’t. The time episode in Voyager was written damn well. And it worked well into the story arc.
TNG used that card up when they brought back Tasha’s daughter. Don’t get me wrong a damn great episode but they couldn’t do it again. And without the emitter the doctor just wouldn’t have worked. The other reason for some reason having an anger doctor on TNG didn’t work. We saw that with Dr Pulaski I don’t think TNG was ready for the EMHs character it worked perfectly on Voyager

 

[Admiral Bear]

Sonja Gomez said "please" and "thank you" to replicators.

Of course, she was in QWho when they met the Borg.

After that maybe she said "Now b####" and "Go f### yourself"?

And all the male crew said, Baby, you make me wish I had three hands.