ROBERT PICARDO SPEAKS
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[#35 LIFESIGNS]

We've seen the Doctor's first romance in, I think, Season 2, in an episode called [#35 Lifesigns] where the Doctor basically falls in love with this terribly disfigured Vidiian woman he is treated. And he creates a holographic template of the way she would look if she had no disease, and he falls in love with the real her, the horrifyingly deformed her, not this beautifully radiant holographic being that is trapped inside her. So there are wonderful analogies for life in the Doctor's discoveries, you know, in that particular case learning to love the inner person and not to be distracted in love by someone's physical exterior. Of course, in the final episode ([#171 and #172 Endgame]) the Doctor marries this hot young babe, so apparently I forgot that lesson I learned in Season 2.

[#35 Lifesigns]

[#171 and #172 Endgame[

[#82 MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE]

[Message in a Bottle] is perhaps the broadest comedy we attempted on Voyager. I have at least two line readings that sound like Walter Matthau. Working with Andy Dick (a friend of Picardo's; he plays EMH Mark 2) was a great deal of fun, and once I got over my fears that we would get a close-up box in TV Guide with some frightening blurbs (... "Picardo and Dick, What A Pair"...) I looked forward to the show airing and the fans' response. 'USA Today' called us the "Frasier and Niles of Space" (a reference to the USA sitcom 'Frasier')

[#84 PREY], [#116 SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME]

I remember when Kes left the show, I was not only sad to our core break up, because we'd all been together from the beginning, and sad to see Jennifer (Lien) go, but I also felt that my character had the most intimate relationship with Kes. She was really his mentor in teaching him how to be more human and when she left I went to Brannon (Braga) and said: "I'm afraid the Doctor has no one he can really let down his guard with, and he'll go back to being sort of just a pompous windbag if he can't show that other side of the character to his good friend." And he said: "Well, why don't we think of a way that you can relate to Seven of Nine, in a different way." So I gave that some thought for a couple of days, and I called him up and I said: "Suppose we take the relationship I had with Kes and turn it around." So I suggested the social appropriateness exercises that we would do occasionally, how to behave under these circumstances, culminating in how to behave on a date when, of course, the Doctor falls in love with her.

the social lessons begin
[#84 Prey]

Seven recites tonelessly: "'Please remain still so that I can treat your injuries. Thank you. I'm sorry, did that hurt. I'll try to be more careful. Thanks for being a patient patient. Have a pleasant afternoon.'" To the Doctor: "This is absurd."
Doctor: "Not at all, keep going."
Seven: "This vernacular is not applicable to my duties on Voyager."
Doctor: "I created these exercises three years ago to familiarise myself with the social graces. I found that if I repeated them several times each day the words became almost second nature. Let's continue. Exercise 2 The Workplace Encounter. Kes used to help me with this one. I'll be the nurse, you be the doctor."
They read from PADDs:
Seven: "'Please hand me the hypospray.'"
Doctor: "'Of course, doctor, immediately.'"
Seven: "'Thank you.' Looks at instrument."
Doctor: "No, don't read that part, only the dialogue."

the Doctor wants to express his romantic feelings for Seven but realises that she does not like him in that way
[#116 Someone To Watch Over Me]

[#105 LATENT IMAGE]

Perhaps my favourite show dramatically was [#105 Latent Image] because it was so different. It was written by Joe Menosky for a start, who I think is just a terrific writer. He first told me about the script, saying: "I'm working on something for the Doctor. He basically discovers he has a soul." I said: "What do you mean?" He said: "Well, the Doctor has to make a Sophie's Choice (the British English term is "Hobson's Choice") and by choosing to save one patient he has to lose another and he cannot reconcile the guilt from having condemned a crewmember to death simply by helping one that he knew better." I loved the writing in that. I have a scene in the messhall where I come in and start chatting with Neelix and then I'm no longer talking to Neelix, I've gone completely inside my own head, and I am suffering that same moment of indecision over and over again: why did I do this, why did I do that? which caused this, and how do I live? how do I live with the knowledge that I've done that? I think it's as nice a dramatic moment as I've ever had.

Paris tells the Doctor he has to decide which patient to save; the Doctor rails against the dilemma he had to face

[#144 LIFE LINE]

I'm the first actor of the fourth Star Trek series to get a writing credit, a story credit for an episode called [#144 Life Line]. And that was really a father-son story. There's a story between the holographic doctor and his creator who's an engineer who just developed a program but the same issues existed between the man who created my program and his holographic offspring that exist between a parent and child. From the child's perspective: "Why don't you love me the way I am? Why aren't you proud of my accomplishments?" and the parent's going: "You're not the way I expected you to be. You're not the way I designed you to be." And they eventually come to an understanding with each other. So I think the show turned out very well. And I of course play my character and my programmer, so I had the opportunity to work with an actor I've admired for a long time.

I found it a great pleasure to work with myself. I found myself to be demanding, enthusiastic, generous of spirit, and of unfailing good humour. Although, I did have a tendency to talk about myself too much to myself. There was also the gnawing fear that I would not be able to measure up to myself. But, when all was said and done, I had to give myself very high marks, and I would recommend working with me to anyone. (laughs)

Behind-the-scenes: [Pathfinder] and [Life Line]

[#155 AND #156 FLESH AND BLOOD]

[Flesh And Blood] was the only two-part episode that really featured a Doctor's story, and I thought it was a very very exciting two hours.

Another reason I remember it is another close friend of mine played the guest lead, Jeff Yagher, who's a friend of mine, I guess at least ten years. It was a pleasure to have Jeff on the show and he did a terrific job playing this messianic character, this fellow-hologram who was going to liberate all holograms from the oppression of organic masters. He started out as a character the Doctor's very taken with, and he speaks a language the Doctor seems to understand and be sympathetic to.

the Doctor with the hologram followers of Iden, on board the hologram's ship seized from the Hirogen

Iden, played by Jeff Yagher

As the show progresses he just goes completely off the deep end and starts having these delusions of basically being a messiah for holograms, and the Doctor has to back off from him initial enchantment with this character and say: "You're out of your mind. You know, this is wrong, what you're doing. You're doing terrible things to justify your end." And it was quite a good show.

There's one scene where the Doctor has to die in virtual reality, has to experience not only pain but the pain of death, so that he'll have more sympathy for his fellow-holograms who were designed by the Hirogen to be their prey in their holoprograms, so that the Doctor would feel what it was like to be constantly hunted and to die a painful death, and then be rebooted and have the whole terrible sequence happen over again. And that scene where I had to rush through the underbrush being chased and then captured and then disembowelled by a Hirogen was one of those scenes that I wouldn't want to do again.

[#170 RENAISSANCE MAN]

On being asked for his favourite moment in [Star Trek Voyager]: I suppose my favourite was the moment the Doctor believes his program is about to be irrevocably lost, and he blurts out his love for Seven. And then, of course, he doesn't disappear. He stands there with egg on his face. It was great fun to play.

the Doctor shoves Kim aside in his haste to reach Seven, go down on his knees before her and confess his love

DIRECTING

Robert Picardo directed [#56 Alter Ego] and [#128 One Small Step]. The latter story — about Voyager's discovery of a lost command module from the first manned mission to Mars — is one that he is particularly proud of, because he is an active supporter of The Planetary Society, a space advocacy organization founded by Carl Sagan. Robert serves on the Society's Advisory Council with the likes of science fiction authors Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke and astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Behind-the-scenes: [#128 One Small Step] includes Robert Picardo's involvement with The Planetary Society.

Robert Picardo, directing [#128 One Small Step]

Robert Picardo, directing [#128 One Small Step]

the Ares IV module orbiting Mars in 2032

did the director make sure these moments were included in the episode?!
[#56 Alter Ego]