Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy)

The surprise of this episode was that there are no commas in the title. I always thought there were, but there weren't. That may sound like a rather negative way to begin a review since it suggests there was nothing memorable or special about it if that's the kind of tiny detail that first comes to mind, but it actually points to a deeper situation with Trek of today that was reiterated here: they used to care about the tiny details in those days, and the tiny was one of the big aspects I loved about it. Take the instance of the Doctor's formal petition, filing a grievance about his role which Chakotay gives to the Captain to deal with. Tuvok reminds her that either Chakotay or himself (First and Second Officers), are allowed by protocol to deal with such a matter. That kind of little slip of information, built across the years into a vast, believable world is no longer the care of those that make Trek, and hasn't been since this modern era began in 2009/2017. Another instance of this was when the Doctor referred to Pon Farr in his comedic opera, making it quite clear that seven years is the space between, not that Vulcans reproduce on a more regular basis purely for enjoyment, and yet ever since 'Enterprise' we've been shown they're the same as any other race in that regard, no abstinence, they're just pointy-eared humans that don't require extreme levels of self-control just to get by. This has demeaned them as aliens, and it's only become worse in recent years with Spock and T'Pring in 'Strange New Worlds' - it's like they don't care about established biological facts, or indeed, any kind of facts (see Eugenics Wars date alteration).

I'm already going off on a tangent away from 'Voyager,' and I don't mean to, but the point is that details matter, and one of the delights of this episode is its use of them. In this case the Doc is allowed to kick back and have some fun exploring a new aspect of his makeup, and so we see him live out his daydream fantasies, a little addition he's made to his program. Anything the Doc does has been done before with Data, you can pretty much be sure, and of course Starfleet's famous android dabbled with actual dreaming in 'Birthright' and nightmares in 'Phantasms,' but there is some difference here: for one, this is a mostly comedic approach while Data's explorations were most serious and mysterious. And two, Data's experiences came as a gift from his 'Father,' Dr. Noonien Soong, whereas the Doctor's 'Father' wouldn't have cared a jot about whether his creation could dream, or indeed exceed his programming at all, something that would be later explored in this very season. So it's up to the Doc himself to unravel the nature of his existence and true potential (Please state the nature of my existence). Where Data was more interested in becoming human, to a greater degree resembling the goodness of his Starfleet family's virtues, the Doctor has always been a less 'restricted' personality due to the template of Dr. Zimmerman, his creator, and so we can laugh at his egotism and failure to see his own pomposity or absurdities.

While this had been played out in full on the series to this point, it had by no means been exhausted, as the proliferation of Doctor episodes in these last couple of seasons can testify, but laughing at a character's eccentricities can only go so far before it stunts growth and lessens believability in him as a person, which is why this episode is the first classic of the season: it has the comedy, but it builds on beyond that a great sympathy for the Doctor's state of being and his desires that mean he could do, and be, so much more than he is. In one sense he's vastly constrained by his position on the ship, but then he's also a unique being that requires maintenance from these people. If anything you'd think he'd have wanted to become an Engineer in order to 'physician, heal thyself,' which he's not in a position to do in the series since he concerns himself with frivolous creative pursuits such as holo-photography, or holography, or whatever. If he truly wished to become independent then he should be able to fix himself without help, but that's by the by. The real issue is that he can imagine himself exceeding his medical limits, perhaps in a similar way that Kes left the ship, pursuing a new existence beyond what she knew (something else that would be explored again this season). If they do (I don't know if they already have), bring him back in modern Trek then he's probably the character with the greatest potential to be in any avenue of life because he could do anything, but that breadth of possibility is also the means to destroy the character (I used to think it would be fascinating to explore the idea of a holographic Captain if we ever got new 'future' Trek again, but I'm wiser now...).

At least while he's on Voyager the Doctor has a set role which he is essential to. Everyone aboard is needed in their roles, but the Doctor is feeling that he could and should have the opportunity for advancement. And typical of him he shoots straight for the top with the ECH, the Emergency Command Hologram! Obviously it's his fantasy so he doesn't need to think about the practicalities, he just goes for the ultimate prize, and on the face of it, it's a sensible suggestion for a starship to have a replacement Captain. Only, what does that do for the command hierarchy? Before they had holograms they already knew who would be next in command: the First Officer, then the Second Officer, then... etc, working down the ranks - indeed, the 'TNG' episode, 'Disaster' is a great example of what could happen if communication breaks down and someone on the Bridge must step up (in that case Deanna Troi as the highest ranking officer). That's one reason that is such a great story because it shows people out of their comfort zone dealing with an unexpected and undesirable outcome - not that Deanna was a disaster herself, she eventually acquits herself well, if I remember, but if they'd had an ECH to turn to then the drama would have been lost. Of course there's always malfunction to turn to, they could wipe out the ECH temporarily, but the concept is worrying when you think about it: to take it a stage further, why not have Emergency Holograms for every role, and then why not have a ship crewed by them permanently?

I never really thought about the implications of the Doctor himself on the series. If they hadn't had him then someone would have had to learn to become a doctor and that could have been a fascinating journey (seen to some degree with TJ in 'Stargate Universe,' someone who had experience as a basic medic, but is forced to become much more). Not that I'd have wanted to excise the Doc, he's one of the best characters of the series in the classic Spock/Data/Odo mould, and has been a joy, but the trouble with holograms is that they throw up far too many thorny issues over how they should live, whether they should be allowed to expand, if they are slaves, at what point do they become sentient, should they have preventive measures to make sure that doesn't happen...? The issues are endless, which is why the Doc had so many episodes written about, and for him, I understand that. He could be a little too cartoony on occasion, but in this context he was great fun as he acts out all kinds of outlandish scenarios (through which we learn B'Elanna doesn't have the Klingon ridges on her feet - it may have been a daydream, but I'm sure the Doctor would have imagined in biologically accurate terms!). There is a little turn towards the danger of fantasy taking over your reality, a theme seen in multiple Treks (ironic, or perhaps useful, in a franchise aimed at people that take it very seriously, even religiously for the misguided few), such as 'Generations' for example (I wonder if the similarity with that film's music in the piece at the end when the Doc's been successful was deliberate or not?), but this isn't the episode to explore that on top of everything else.

It's more about the Doctor having the right to grow beyond his role, which he's already been given much latitude in, but as Tom Paris says, is it their fault if being Chief Medical Officer isn't enough for him! He's in a unique position, as all on the crew are, which is that they aren't in a traditional Starfleet career, they didn't sign on for a deep space mission, it was only supposed to be short range science missions after the effort to extract Tuvok from the Maquis. Consequently, while the Doc may well dream of days when he can rise up the ranks, explore new roles and generally live life even fuller than he already does, he is constrained by duty and circumstance to being what he is, and he should be trying to improve in that area. Which, with Kes' help in particular, he did, when you consider how he went from being a snappy curmudgeon to the joyful, happy man he is at this point. The series is definitely going backwards to try and eke out new ways to uncover things about the characters, as we saw in the previous episode when B'Elanna was more like her old combative self of the early episodes. It's true that, as the Doctor says, he doesn't have any limits, but that's because he's a product of technology rather than biology. He could be in danger of becoming a threat in the same way as artificial intelligence is gearing up to exceed our whimsical plans for it (not that it's likely to rise up as genuine intelligence, but that unscrupulous powers will be able to track and control all people through its ability to use or manipulate data), so he does have imposed limits through the structure of Starfleet and human morality, etc.

That's the thing, and can be seen in today's world of belief that you can be or do anything you imagine in your fantasy, even if it's not reality: if you truly accept anything as possible, then there is no morality, which is a chilling deduction of where we're heading in society. But again, I'm sidestepping away from the episode - it does show that even the most lighthearted Trek story can provoke deeper philosophical questions (unlike nowadays, when it's all basic action fare). You can have the laughs, but it's the sympathy for the Doctor, and surprisingly, for the alien who has been watching him, that lifts the episode beyond farce. They could easily have kept it going with increasingly bizarre or ridiculous scenarios for the Doc's daydreams to play out, but instead it goes to his sadness, and then humiliation at being seen in his fantasy worlds. That's the toughest thing for him, as someone with such a high opinion of himself, and is a violation of his privacy, but it was done to help him out of his predicament as he was sliding into fantasy becoming permanent reality, as we later learn due to the Hierarchy's interference. Is that what they're called? Because the pudgy potato-heads we see on their pudgy spud ship, was always checking with the Hierarchy for orders, so we never heard the name of their race or if they were part of this Hierarchy or only took orders from them.

That was another win for the episode, a terrific new alien race, perfectly suited to a comedy: they're like tortoises or turtles, their bald, fat heads sticking out of their military uniforms like it's a shell, and with an endearing enthusiasm that certainly made the main alien someone you sympathise with, despite being the villain. It was farfetched that Janeway would go through with his and the Doctor's plan to present the latter as the ECH, just to stop the former from being in trouble with his superiors, but he had turned to treason and given them all the details he could, and it was a dangerous situation if they'd had to fight it out, so maybe not so hard to believe after all? It was lovely that this underling sees some kind of freedom and inspiration in the Doctor, despite realising he's witnessing imagination rather than reality, and so you care about the potato-head and whether he gets in trouble or not. It's close to being a Ferengi type of episode in that the aliens wouldn't work in a more sinister or serious scenario, but in this form fit just right, like potatoes in a balanced dinner. There are hints of 'Cyrano de Bergerac,' with Janeway giving the Doc words to say when he's playing the Captain role, and perhaps even something of Captain Proton since the Doc is quite overblown in his acting, but is also being a superhero (the four pips phasing into being on his collar was a masterstroke!), and the whole thing was very well directed by a name I didn't recognise, John Bruno.

Apparently the main alien was called Phlox, though I didn't notice it in the dialogue, obviously taking on new resonance once 'Enterprise' gave one of its main cast the same name (though in that case my theory has always been they called him Dr. Phlox because it sounded like Dr. Spock, which so many casual viewers of Trek confused as Spock's title, in turn being confused by the famous child psychologist (I think), of the same name!). While on the subject of names, I loved the actor's who played the boss alien: Googy Gress. If they'd told me that was the alien's name I'd have accepted it without comment, so what a great one! Even Majel Barrett gets in on the fun in her usual role as the voice of the computer - as far as I recall, not since 'TOS' was she able to cut loose and muck about with the computer's personality (I don't recall the episode, but she was behaving all kittenish to the Captain), with lines like 'warp core breach, sooner than you think' instead of the usual countdown, or 'last chance to be a hero, Doctor.' Again, another aspect of classic Trek that you don't get any more: a consistent voice for the computer that ran from the original all the way up to 'Enterprise' (in the few times they had a computer voice). I felt they should have had one consistent person in the new era, ideally someone who sounded like Majel (Judi Durand, the voice of the DS9 station, would have been perfect!).

All this and the Doctor gets to sing yet again, for the second time this season, or third (he was singing in 'Equinox, Part II,' and I think he sang in B'Elanna's episode, 'Barge of The Dead'), only this time it was a proper performance. They really have some fun with Tuvok, (going wild twice in as many episodes!), he suddenly comes under the influence of Pon Farr and is crying and laughing for the first time this season (but not the last - see 'Riddles'), and then in the greatest indignity he gets taken down by a nerve pinch when he's rampaging as a Borg! So it wasn't a good episode for Vulcan dignity, but at least it was all in the imagination! All the characters feel a part of the story, which is important - even someone like Kim gets a bit of continuity relevant to the Doctor's jitters, sharing his feelings of when he started sitting in the Captain's Chair when leading the night shift. There was one perplexing moment, which was when they incarcerate the Doc in Sickbay behind a forcefield while they try to work out what to do. Surely he can walk through energy fields? Maybe he was too caught up in his daydreams and so didn't have the mental capacity to phase out in order to walk through? I thought it could have been the Mobile Emitter which obviously couldn't go through a field, but he wasn't wearing it then... One of the most gratifying moments of the entire episode for me was when the Doctor is believed. To all experience he comes on the Bridge with the ravings of someone still caught up in his daydreams, and at first that's what Janeway thinks, but she doesn't shut him down and when he gives Kim a way to prove what he says he's shown to be in the right. It was something that stood out, that even though it could be the boy who cried wolf, he is given a chance and is proven instead of being dismissed. Janeway shows what a great Captain she can, at times, be.

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