S6 E04: Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy

The Doctor has been letting his mind drift lately; we see him serenading the crew with opera (while Tuvok undergoes Pon Farr), all the female crew members fighting over him at a staff meeting (including Janeway - imaginary Tom's look of disgust is pricelesss), and even seeing him take command of the ship as the ECH (Emergency Command Hologram) after members of the crew are incapacitated. These daydreams are the work of a new addition to his program (we know how well that worked last time), but the new code malfunctions, trapping him in his imaginary state. Actually, this malfunction isn't the fault of the Doctor's poor programming skills (this time); an alien in a cloaked ship has been using him to spy on the crew before attacking. However, all this espionage has revealed are the daydreams, not reality, so the alien's job is in danger when his superiors realize what is going on. He contacts the Doctor through his link, and, in order to save face, he instructs the Doctor on how to repel his people's attacks - including the instructions that he must appear to be the captain of the ship. Janeway consents to the plan after information from the alien succeeds in penetrating their cloaks - but things go awry when the alien's commander changes up the assault plan just as they arrive. The Doctor improvises and saves the day by bluffing about having a "photonic cannon" (which is consistent with his command daydreams).

I frequently reference the GEOS.tv episode ranking when trying to determine the overall public opinion about Voyager episodes. The sample size is significant, though I assume that the population of people willing to spend hours rating each individual Voyager episode leans more heavily towards those who enjoy(ed) the show a great deal. This is the last episode in the top ten that I hadn't seen, though episode rating on the GEOS has not been terribly predictive of what I'm looking for in an episode. In fact, only one of the top ten episodes even received a five out of five score (Living Witness). Five of the episodes are parts of two-parters; I understand that, they stick out more in people's minds. Similarly, Message in a Bottle is also kind of an "event episode", seeing as it has one of the bigger guest spots of the series, and the way it is played for humor makes it stand out as well.

Two of the remaining episodes, this one and Worst Case Scenario, seem to also fall into that category. Worst Case Scenario, despite my overall blase attitude towards it, did present its story in a fresh way, and carried itself with a fair amount of humor. I rolled my eyes at this episode's introduction at first - I get it, Picardo can sing. Why are we doing this again? But then the tone turned comedic when he started altering the words to La donna è mobile to reference Tuvok's Pon Farr (when is that happening for real?). To be fair, it is par for the course at this point for illusions to have more screen time than reality for Voyager, but the turn this song took the episode in is very unique and memorable.

Other than the humor, we have a largely by-the-numbers Doctor plot. The Doctor's dissatisfaction with his treatment by the crew in the beginning of the episode doesn't ring true (a la Latent Image) with the way the crew actually treats him at this point in the series. His reveries, while entertaining, are awfully pedestrian for someone as self-assured as the Doctor. And while I don't doubt that he would be tickled by the admiration implied by every female crew member fighting over him, I still think it's unusual that he would have sexual desires himself. Companionship is one thing; I can see how a desire for that could grow out of a sentient program that is made to interact with other people, and even how romance could be kind of 'grafted' on to that desire. But outright sexual fantasies are strange for a creature without sexual needs.

Still, Picardo is always up to the task at hand, and entertains throughout. When his dreams are forced to become a reality by the end, his ambition and Janeway's caution meet halfway in a satisfactory manner. Having had half the crew see his fantasies live and in person - oh, I guess I didn't mention that part. Yeah, Torres routes his daydreams through the holodeck when they can't immediately snap him out of it, and everyone watches him do things like break Torres' heart and pain Seven naked. What a nightmare. Anyways, the alien who also saw these images helps reassure the Doctor that this imagination is healthy, and that message is taken to its conclusion when his imagination thwarts his attackers.

Watchability: 4/5

Bottom Line: Standard Doctor fare, plus decently interesting comedy.