Captain’s log: stardate 53556.4

Raf Green and Kenneth Biller pen this Doctor (Robert Picardo) episode that debuted on 26 January, 2000.

The holographic Doctor begins to contemplate leaving the Voyager when they arrive at a planet where the diminutive aliens (including guest star Paul Williams) have never developed music, and he becomes a bit of a celebrity when his singing voice, and love of theatre, and music is revealed.

As the Doctor begins to deal with fame, and new found celebrity, his friends watch as it seems to go to his head, and he prepares to leave the Voyager in pursuit of his dreams, much to the chagrin of Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan).

But fame is fickle, and the heart can bend and break as the Doctor discovers. When his new life is hinted to be different from how he imagined it, and this advanced species isn’t afraid to create and improve on holographic and musical technology the Doctor has to consider who he is, and what he truly wants.

This is a solid episode for Picardo’s character, even if his gripes about not being respected by the crew (something the writing brings to the forefront of the episode) doesn’t seem to be as relevant as once it was.

The Doctor is wonderful in this episode, and seeing the effect he has on the crew as he contemplates leaving is much more poignant than the celebrity he briefly enjoys with the alien race.

Captain’s log: stardate unknown

Brannon Braga came up for the story for this episode, and the teleplay was penned by Robin Burger. It first aired on 2 February, 2000.

Members of an away team mission begin to have horrible flashbacks to an alien race they can’t remember meeting and a horrible event that they may have taken part in. Chakotay (Robert Beltran), Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), Harry (Garrett Wang) and Neelix (Ethan Phillips) are all tortured with these memories, even as they try to make sense of them.

As Janeway investigates the quartet suffer from flashbacks and PTSD. Their stories are horrifying, but out of character for the people Janeway knows. But the horror, and the memories seems to be virulent, and it begins to effect others, including the captain.  As the Voyager backtracks the Delta Flyer’s path, they discover an alien monument.

The monument serves as a memorial that not only marks the horrors of war, but also lets those who come into contact with it remember it, experience it, in an effort to keep it from happening ever again.

And though they are stuck with the memories, the crew repair the memorial, and leave it running to remind others who follow.

The Human Adventure continues next week when I explore more of Star Trek: Voyager – The Complete Series on DVD, available from Paramount Canada.

Boldly go…