Voyager S2E3 "Projections" Review by AnswerMan

Horrible:Meh:Adequate:Good:Fantastic

The Doctor is automatically activated by a red alert (did we know that's how it works? I don't think we did). He finds out through the not-so-forthcoming computer that everyone has left the ship using escape pods. I love the way the computer interacts with people in such a coy way, like everything is a game of 20 questions. The crew have to word their questions just perfectly to get the answers they seek. Don't bother asking for the pale blue handled scalpel, there are none on board. Oh the robin's egg scalpel? Yes, we have those. Anyway, just when he decides that since without a crew he has no purpose he should deactivate  himself, Torres pries her way through the sick bay door. The computer says that there are no life signs on board, so the sensors must be damaged. The tricorder registers nothing on Torres as well, so it must be broke. These aren't clues. At all.



Torres tells The Doctor that the captain is on the bridge, buried by a collapsed bulkhead. She sends him to the bridge using a new system of holographic projectors that have been installed without the resident hologram's knowledge. There he finds her a bit shaken up but ok. Just then Neelix calls, being extra whiny and annoying, and we go the mess hall where we're suddenly involved in a cartoonish fight between a Talaxian and a Kazon. It's idiotic and silly, and even though one of them is armed with a phaser rifle, the guy with the frying pan wins. Sigh. But there's a bigger revelation in the scene, The Doctor is bleeding, and experiencing pain. Back in the sick bay, he realizes that he has life signs, and no one else does. When Janeway gives the computer the order to cease all holographic projections, (plot twist) everyone but The Doctor disappears.

That's when Barclay shows up to convince The Doctor that he is the real Zimmerman, is on a holodeck, and is experiencing confusion due to radiation that has flooded the facility. All of Voyager, its crew, and its story are just a program for testing EMHs. "None of this is real" becomes the battlecry of the show. Then Chakotay shows up with an opposing theory, that he's on the Voyager holodeck and his program is stuck in a feedback loop with the ship's computer. Allow me to summarize the next 15 minutes for you:

Barclay: "Radiation!"
Chakotay: "Feedback loop!"
Barclay: "Radiation!"
Chakotay: "Feedback loop!"

Barclay's solution is to destroy the ship to finish the program, which gives The Doctor pause. But Chakotay's plan is to just wait and die while they try to figure it out. The jig is up on Barclay's story when he brings in Zimmerman's wife to reason with him, and it's Kes. So we now know that he's full of shit. Suddenly the simulation ends, and sure enough he's on Voyager's holodeck. The Doctor continues to go on about his business, when by Kes's behavior he realizes that (plot twist) he's still in a malfunctioning program.

"Radiation!"
"Feedback loop!"
"Radiation!"
"Feedback loop!"
"Rabbit season!"
"Duck season!"

Then the simulation ends again (this time for real), and the whole thing was exactly as Chakotay said, just another wonky day on the always-malfunctioning holodeck. The Doctor has a reflective moment, where he analyses why his program, when facing destruction (or death) chose to focus not on possible ways out of the situation, but rather on his humanity. He was also acting out a bit of fantasy, with the ability to move about the ship and being married to Kes. But the sticking point was that the program was making him decide if he was a real person or not. In the end, he sticks his hand outside of the sick bay to make sure that he chose correctly.

This episode is truly a showcase for Robert Picardo's talent. Every scene is a The Doctor scene, and he sells every moment. Not only is The Doctor by far the most interesting character on the show, but Picardo is by far the most talented. Combine that with a plot that keeps you guessing, and this is definitely Good Trek. My only complaint is that the second time the doctor "came to" in the holodeck, I expected another twist, not the same scenario that just played out three minutes prior. Something like the Kazon did attack and were hap-hazardly messing with his program or something. The way it was, the final explanation just wasn't very satisfying, because we had just seen it. Oh and that whole scene with Neelix should have been cut.

Published April 13, 2017