User Reviews

This episode has two entirely separate plots, the first involves a hostile race of aliens whose ships are small but act as a swarm to attack any vessel violating their territory. The second plot was the more important though; the Doctor starts to find that his memory is failing, it could be fixed by simply rebooting his program although that would mean a loss of all his memories since he was first activated in the Delta Quadrant. B'Elanna comes up with the idea of using a holodeck simulation of Jupiter Station where he was created to diagnose the problem. This program contains a holographic representation of Dr. Zimmerman who examines the Doctor's program but can't think of a solution. Ultimately Kes has an idea although they can only try it once as once it has run the Dr. Zimmerman program will be lost.

This was an interesting episode which looked at the nature of The Doctor, it was interesting that they worked hard to save his memories showing how much the crew's opinions about his nature have changed; in early episodes they wouldn't have believed he had feelings let alone worried about them. Robert Picardo put in a fine performance as the two Doctors and Jennifer Lien was good as Kes, her character always comes across as the most caring of the crew. The plot involving the Swarm of alien ships was less interesting but not bad, I liked the fact that even after Voyager managed to safely pass them we knew no more about them than we did to begin with.

I have always thought that the best character on "Star Trek: Voyager" was the Doctor (Robert Picardo). His manners were often abrasive, he had a snarky sense of humor and seemed nothing like the ultra-nice crew. So imagine my pleasure in seeing TWO...well, sort of, in one episode!

When the show begins, some aliens appear on Paris and Torres' shuttle--shooting them and then disappearing. However, when they get back to Voyager and Paris needs medical treatment, the Doctor begins to act as if he's forgetting how to treat patients. And, through the course of the show it gets MUCH worse (my favorite is when he repeatedly tries to treat a dead patient). So, to try to figure out what's wrong, the crew activate a program that will help them troubleshoot the system...and it turns out to be another embodiment of Dr. Zimmerman--the same guy who created the holo Doc and used his own personality liberally in creating the helper program...though it's even grouchier! I was very happy watching both of them and also felt it was quite touching watching Kes interacting with them as well.

The other plot involves the aliens who shot the two crew members at the beginning. They are apparently part of a nasty race that attacks intruders in their space with a swarm-like attack--with tiny ships attaching themselves to the invaders and boring their way inside. How can they possibly defeat such an enemy--especially when they come upon the bodies of other species that wandered into the system?!

Overall, this is a pretty exciting and very enjoyable episode. I thought it quite creative and engaging--more so than a typical installment of "Voyager".

The main plot—Picardi's Doctor has taken on so much "personality" in his programming, his circuits are degrading!—is a brilliant allegory on brain disease, with an entertaining action subplot involving a "swarm" of small ships who work as a singular unit (sort of like the Borg), on the attack to any "intruder" that "invades their space". Neelix admits that he knows very little about this species but does tell Janeway that those who enter their space never return…or if their ships do return; those onboard aren't alive to talk about it. But this is dedicated almost exclusively to Picardi, and he doesn't disappoint. But this is also a great episode for Jennifer Lien's Kes, doing all she can to rescue her friend from total degradation. I think anyone who has watched their loved ones deteriorate totally understands how Kes feels when Doctor doesn't recognize who she is, and then later pieces of memory return to give her momentary hope. I just felt this whole plot was exceptionally well written and acted. The addition of the program of Doctor's creator, Livingston (also Picardi, resembling Doctor's personality at the very beginning), Kes' spark of idea to help figure out possible resolutions for her friend's dilemma, is a real blast. Kes, without the help of Torres (Janeway needs her in Engineering as the swarm have sent off a beam that is stifling the warp engines) or even Paris (Janeway needs him at the con on the Bridge), has to strategize on her own to come up with a plan, looking to Livingston's holographic program for answers. The swarm is quite a visual dynamo, with all these thousands of ships, with the appearance of small bugs, especially when they begin to attach to the hull of the Voyager. Janeway, recognizing the swarm's "mentality" and using their own technology / attack against them, proves she's a wily, cunning Captain, relying on her talented officers to assist in outwitting those that threaten her ship. They scatter and flee when the Voyager gives them a dose of their own medicine. But the episode's tailored to Picardi's strengths, enabling him to play two distinct characters yet give them similarities because one is the program of Doctor's inventor (so there would be personality and physical likenesses) while the other is his achievement. Kes appealing for the Doctor to retain two years of experience (he would have been fixed through a type of "reboot" but lost everything he's seen and felt over that span of time on the Voyager) if at all possible, and Janeway agreeing he deserved that, tells us he has meant such a great deal…like Robot in Lost in Space, Doctor is no longer just some program but a friend that has others who care about him.

The Doctor starts losing his memory, meanwhile Voyager must deal with crossing a hostile alien race's border without triggering their overwhelming defense force.

This episode does a great job of balancing humor and pathos. There are genuine moments of emotional intensity - the fear of the swarm going after Voyager, the sadness of The Doctor forgetting Kes and later experiencing holographic Alzehiemer's. Then there are also light-hearted and some outright funny scenes such as the holographic Dr. Zimmerman, the Doctor's opera experimenting on the holodeck, and some flirtatious banter between Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres. This is the funniest episode of Voyager so far in my watch-through.

I find all the main characters here to be clicking with each other, in a story that has emotional nuance. Just a great mix of sci-fi concepts, action, philosophy, and character interactions. My only grumble is the intense technobabble that fixes The Swarm issue went over my head, that could have been a little tighter. The tech fix for The Doctor is a good example of how technical issues on the ship should be fixed and explained to the audience - that one felt genuine, earned, and clever.

While I will admit that my heart was warmed by the genuine concern displayed by Kes towards the doctors 'illness', this episode lacks a sense of cohesion for me and the undercooked motivations of the swarm impacted my ability for immersion.

The exploration of computer alzheimers was the one compelling aspects of this episode but that could have been flushed out a bit more in my opinion with more interactions with the crew or somehow tied into the swarm attempt to take the voyagers energy.

I was pondering the opening scene of the episode when the swarm boarded the shuttle and zapped Torres/Paris ------ I expected them to be infected with some type of parasite or control mechanism but this ultimately amounted to nothing at all?!

I do enjoy the camaraderie between the Doctor and Kes but I need a deeper purpose in a star trek episode to keep me engaged. Perhaps they should have concentrated on the doctor's plight for the entire run of the episode instead of mixing in the action sequences with the swarm?

This episode could have stood on its own had they went with one plot or another. The fact that the captain never reconciled killing and damaging another race is not constant with her character, even having Tuvok give a half mock of surprise that she doesn't care about this race does not fall in line with star fleet rules. The doctors degrading program could have been written better and expanded as a "what if" on Alzheimer's.

More Doctor than you ever wanted… or needed.

Turns out Doc is learning opera. Why? Why would an emergency medical hologram want to learn opera? Are you asking us to believe that his programmer anticipated the possibility that the EMH would be used indefinitely on a ship stranded in the Delta Quadrant and designed an appreciation for Italian arias into his sub-routine so that he might enrich himself culturally? Gimme a friggin' break...

The Doctor- once limited to Sick Bay, then transferred to the Holodeck, and eventually able to go anywhere a human can- is over-staying his welcome. And that's a shame because I liked the character a lot. What was once limited and fascinating is now limitless and tedious. Did the writers realize that they were putting characters into comas or giving them diseases every week just to justify the Doctor's massive screen time and endless story lines? I did, and it's starting to pi$$ me off.

Here, the ship is under attack by a Plot Device- aliens without a name- as an excuse to tell the story of Doctor's degrading program. And we do that, of course, by featuring Robert Picardo in a dual role! Seems even the ship's computer feels Doc is stretched too thin as he begins losing his memory. Luckily the holodeck diagnostic program features the original doctor who designed the program so Picardo is able to linger on the final syllables of double the weekly wordssssss.

We're told the only way to save him is to reset his memory, and upon reboot he certainly can't remember Kes, yet seconds later he's singing the aria from the opening sequence, leaving us to believe that the writers couldn't make up their minds, and didn't! Move on...

GRADE: C-