"What makes us human?" is a common thread in episodes of the various Star Trek series. Each show had a character that acted as the fil for this question, a character who could look at humanity from the outside and through his or her actions, comment on humanity's strengths and foibles.

The original voyage had Spock. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had Data. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" had Odo. And "Star Trek: Voyager" had the Doctor, adding Seven of Nine at the end of the third season.

Played by Robert Picardo, the Emergency Medical Hologram, commonly referred to as the Doctor, was on one level very human, but on another not at all. Patterned after the self-absorbed Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, the Doctor is often condescending, but as Picardo himself once said, "He has a soul in the making."

"Virtuoso" made it to my list of best Star Trek episodes because the Doctor was my favorite character on "Voyager," and I felt this episode showed him at his dichotomous best. Picardo portrayed the Doctor as cantankerous and caring, arrogant and adorable. And in this episode, those two sides are pushed to extremes.

In this Season 6 episode, the U.S.S. Voyager encounters a temporarily disabled ship belonging to the snobbish, xenophobic Qomar, an alien species that bases its entire culture on math and science. Some of teh crew require medical attention, so they end up in sickbay for treatment by the "primitive computer matrix," much to their dismay.

Then they hear the Doctor casually singing "I"ve Been Working on the Railroad," and are smittedn with this wonderful new way to express mathematics. (Apparently, the Qomar are unfamiliar with music). Soon, the Doctor is caught up in the Qomari adulation and begins to become more pompous than he ever was before.

Unfortunately, the episode is as dichotomous as the character on which it focuses. Jamahl Epsicokhan, of JammersReviews, summed up the episode this way: "Various four-star moments and zero-star moments rolled into one watchable but uneasey episode." Edward James Hines, who wrote reviews for "Voyager" episodes on for TrekNation, was not so kind, writing that the episode was "one of the top 10 worst of the entire series," calling it a "ridiculous, infuriating piece of fodder."

At the core of "Virtuoso" is the question of whether an EMH has the right to self-determination. Under normal circumstances, the answer would easily be no. However. Voyager is in rather extraordinary circumstances, and so its its EMH. The Doctor has been given more freedom than an ordinary EMH to explore and broaden the confines of his program. So now, what was meant to be a short-term program has evolved into a seld-exploring personality.

The strengths of this episode lie in eh superb acting of both Robert Picardo and Jeri Ryan, who plays Seven of Nine. "Virtuoso" is a karmic fable in which pomposity leads to downfall. However, as Kenneth Silber of Space.com wrote, "The Doctor remains a sympathetic character throughout. His behavior is understandable, if not always commendable, and his compatriots' anger seems rooted partly in jealousy and chauvinism."

The Doctor basks in the Qomari glorification and, when Tincoo (a Qomari female played by Kamala Lopez Dawson) writes a composition just for him, he believes he's in love and submits his resignation to Janeway. Some, like TrekNation's Michelle Erica Green, feel that the "debate about holographic rights was nonsensical," while others, like Epsicokhan, disagree. The Doctor has become more than just a hologram, in many ways he's become more than the sum of his programming and therefore merits such a discussion.

This episode also explores the Doctor's relationship with Seven of Nine, and their scenes together are some of the best. When Seven learns of the Doctor's decision to leave the ship to live with the Qomar, she is devastated. The scene where he tells her good-bye had Seven spouting sarcastic, biting dialog while the emotions flitting across her face belied her words.

"I was surprised, frankly, how strong her feelings were," Picardo would later say in an interview. "I thought she was terrific, but it caught me off-guard. She really very much played it like a jilted lover. Jeri and I nver discussed that scene or how we were going to play it, so I remember being quite surprised at the strength and depth of her feelings while shooting."

But the best emotional contras of the episode comes at the end. Despite his often arrogant, self-important front, the Doctor is a vulnerable, emotional being. What, in the long run, could the Qomar, who make Vulcans look emotional, offer him? Fame is fleeting and their emphasis on math and science over all else proves ultimately incompatible for the sensitive EMH.

Tinco creates a "superior" hologram that can sing a ranges beyond the Doctor's abilities and summarily dismisses him. For his final performance before the Qomar, the Doctor singe a song of love lost, pouring his heartbreak into the performance. True to their nature, the Qomar are unimpressed and prefer the sterile collection of notes the replacement hologram sings afterward. The Doctor finally sees the folly of his fame.

Although glorification of the individual may be irrational, as Seven of Nine says in a conversation with Capt. Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), irrational we must be. For to be human is to be irrational -- just like the Doctor, just like the Qomar fans, and just like us Star Trek enthusiasts counting down the Top 40 Star Trek Episodes of All Time. "Virtuoso" makes it at No. 36.

Virtuoso
Star Trek: Voyager

RANKING: 36
WRITERS: Raf Green (story), Kenneth Biller
DIRECTOR: Les Landau
ORIGINAL AIR DATE: Jan. 26, 2000

Carma Spence-Pothitt is a staff writer for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Pikesville, Md.PLEASE NOTE: We are experiencing technical difficulties in providing contest entries for The Roddenberry Countdown Quest. While we work to resolve those issues, you can submit your entry form by including the following information in an e-mail to SyFyRocks@aol.com: Full Name, Valid E-mail Address, City/State/Country, Clue Answer, and Product Number to Clue Answer as found at Roddenberry.com.

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