What ifs never considered yet

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Okay, so what if:

* The Doctor saved Ahni Jetal and not Harry Kim?
* Characters chose other disciplines. Like if Spock and Bones switched jobs? Aside from the Dr. Spock jokes, that is...

Think of others...

 

[Forbin]

Ship's Councilor Worf.

 

[Captain Rob]

TNG - Chief Tactical Officer O'Brien

 

[somebuddyX]

Tom Paris was a runabout.

 

[at Quark's]

Lwaxana Troi as weapons officer. In the middle of (peaceful) visual communication with an alien vessel suddenly firing torpedoes:

"How DARE you think such naughty thoughts! I'm the daughter of the Fifth House, holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed!"

 

[2takesfrakes]

What if Bones went to AA meetings and sobered up, finally?

 

[Voth commando1]

What if Janeway was more accepting of the ECH idea from the start?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

What if Voyager was less meddling and incompetent in False Profits?

If either they decided it was none of their business, or they didn't leave their shittlebay completely unguarded with shuttles that could be started without any kind of security authorization or ignition codes.

Then Voyager gets home before the war heats up and the Maquis still exist.

Do the former Maquis become prisoners?What is Voyager's role in the war, are they on the front lines in the big battles?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Okay, so what if:

* The Doctor saved Ahni Jetal and not Harry Kim?

More to the point, why didn't somebody come right out and tell him to stop being such an arrogant jackass? Like he's the only doctor who's ever lost a patient.

 

[DimesDan]

More to the point, why didn't somebody come right out and tell him to stop being such an arrogant jackass? Like he's the only doctor who's ever lost a patient.

Wasn't it more a case that The Doctor saved Harry because he knew him better and had a greater emotional connection with him than the random red shirt that was introduced to aid in the drama of his cascade failure and the narration of the story.

As for being an arrogant jackarse, one would hope that no doctor doesn't get emotionally distraught (because unlike The Doctor, we're meant to have emotions) over the loss of a patient, as if they didn't and they were totally fine with it, I would say then, that they were being an "arrogant jackarse."

And I know it was touched on a few times in episodes and the books, but what if Picard had died when the Cube exploded.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

What if Bones went to AA meetings and sobered up, finally?

This is actually an interesting idea. Like, a story about Bones having one too many drinks and some crisis hits and he bungles his responsibilities. Then has to reckon with his addiction. That could be really interesting. Not sure how you'd make it more "Trekkie" but I like the concept.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

More to the point, why didn't somebody come right out and tell him to stop being such an arrogant jackass? Like he's the only doctor who's ever lost a patient.

I don't see how you can call it arrogant to be distraught over having let emotional considerations drive a moral choice that cost a person their life without applying a very broish anti-emotional view of the world.

The Doctor had lost patients before, but every time his decision process that led to the loss squared with his professional ethics. The idea of having made a selfish decision as a tiebreaker when there was no practical reason to prioritize one life over another sent him into a feedback loop between his ethical subroutines and his new personality subroutines his programming was not equipped to handle.

He was trying to find the center of the maze, and ended up spiraling out to the edge.

 

[Voth commando1]

He wasn't having a breakdown because he lost a patient or really because it was an equal chance of saving one or the other he was braking down because he had a stronger connection to Kim then Jetal. His new friendships and attachments arose in struggle against his innate programming.

We can be sure he eventually resolved the issue but that episode is a milestone for when the Doctor exceeded what he originally was.

 

[somebuddyX]

What if Worf was a Klingon exchange officer? I had a bunch of ideas for an alternate TNG and one was Sgt. Worf serving as Tasha Yar (or Macha Hernandez's) second in command. His parents were still alive and living on the Klingon Homeworld but Worf and his father were estranged due to their opposing views on the Federation.

 

[JDobbs]

What if Picard never got stabbed through the heart? Oh wait, that was already covered.

Q: "To put it bluntly Picard... You're not that important"

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

He wasn't having a breakdown because he lost a patient or really because it was an equal chance of saving one or the other he was braking down because he had a stronger connection to Kim then Jetal. His new friendships and attachments arose in struggle against his innate programming.

As I recall, the Doctor was faced with a form of the problem known as "Buridan's ass". His programming caused him to be stuck on making the choice between saving Kim or Jetal. So (and I hate to sound harsh here) even if the Doctor's friendship with Kim subconsciously influenced his choice...so what? ANYTHING that helps the Doctor make a choice is a good thing, because if he waits too long, BOTH patients will die.

To put it another way: Jetal wouldn't have wanted the Doctor to agonize over her for so long that he let both her and Kim die.

And if the Doctor was really as cruel as he thought he was: he would never have had that conversation in the first place. The very fact that he was conflicted about his decision, proves he was right in making it.

 

[The Wormhole]

The Doctor saved Ahni Jetal and not Harry Kim?

Largely nothing different.

What if Janeway was more accepting of the ECH idea from the start?

20% of the content in Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy would have been instantly excised, but otherwise, nothing different. By the end of that episode Janeway was convinced to start researching the ECH idea, and it was ready for implementation in Workforce. Even if Janeway had instantly taken to the idea when the Doctor first proposed it a few days before, nothing else would have changed.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Largely nothing different.

I don't mean to the episode itself, as far as The Doctor's breakdown. I mean what if from then on, he was gone and she or another character took Kim's place? What kind of character could you see them having in Kim's job instead of Kim?

 

[The Wormhole]

I don't mean to the episode itself, as far as The Doctor's breakdown. I mean what if from then on, he was gone and she or another character took Kim's place? What kind of character could you see them having in Kim's job instead of Kim?

No, that's my point, largely nothing would be different. Harry Kim just didn't have that important a role at that point. At most, the Borg Queen would have to taunt someone else in Unimatrix Zero. "See you soon, Tuvok/Tom/Neelix/Ayala/gray haired black guy."

It's like asking what if the Enterprise NX-01 left the repair station in Dead Stop without realizing Mayweather were still alive and plugged into the station. Nothing would be different at all.

 

[Jedman67]

The episode was great from the point of exploring the Doctor's programming and limitations. The setup that caused the emotional breakdown, of saving Harry or the girl was just awful.