The Doctor’s overactive imagination leads Voyager into real trouble.
When the Doctor issues a formal grievance to the Captain about his treatment onboard Voyager, Janeway denies his requests. He wants to be made an Emergency Command Hologram—in effect, a backup captain in extreme circumstances. Bored with the limitations of his current program, he takes solace in his daydreams, which cast him as a Casanova with the female crewmembers and as an ECH. Meanwhile, an alien ship in a nearby nebula taps into the Doctor’s cognitive subroutines, monitoring everything he is experiencing, to examine life on Voyager.
Further daydreaming ensues, and the Doctor is suddenly fending off a Borg attack. When Janeway is incapacitated, the Doctor assumes control of the bridge and defeats the Borg sphere with a photonic cannon. The alien ship watches all of this in awe, unaware that it is not really happening. Believing Voyager and the Doctor are an awesome force with which to be reckoned, they plan a stealth assault.
As the Doctor’s daydreams intensify, he realizes the cognitive projections he inserted into his program are causing the algorithms to malfunction. As a result, he is daydreaming all the time. When Janeway observes him on the holodeck acting out his acceptance of the new ECH program, she understands how much it means to him to expand his program and realize his full potential. Meanwhile, the alien following the Doctor’s every move finally discovers that what he has been watching is not real. Unfortunately, assault vessels are already on their way to attack Voyager.
The Doctor’s matrix is finally stabilized, but he soon finds himself in another daydream. In order to warn the Doctor of the impending attack, the alien transmits a simulation of himself into one of his daydreams and explains how he got caught up in his world of imagination. Now, to save Voyager, the Doctor must assume the role he has been playing in his head. This starts with convincing Janeway that there are indeed ships on the attack, although sensors aren’t picking them up. After presenting reconfigurations the alien gave him to compensate for the cloaking field, he shows her this is not just another fantasy.
The alien will supply Voyager with the resonance frequencies of his ship’s phasers, and all the Doctor has to do in return is act as the Captain so the alien’s superiors don’t discover his mistake. The plan goes awry, however, when the assault is changed at the last minute. Now, Voyager is in real danger, and the aliens will not relent. After trading a few shots, the Doctor bluffs with a threat of using the photonic cannon. They are forced to retreat, and the Doctor really does save the day. He is rewarded with a commendation from Janeway and the promise of research into the possibility of expanding his program.
CAST
CAPTAIN KATHRYN JANEWAY
KATE MULGREW
CHAKOTAY
ROBERT BELTRAN
B'ELANNA TORRES
ROXANN DAWSON
TOM PARIS
ROBERT DUNCAN MCNEILL
NEELIX
ETHAN PHILLIPS
THE DOCTOR
ROBERT PICARDO
TUVOK
TIM RUSS
SEVEN OF NINE
JERI RYAN
HARRY KIM
GARRETT WANG
GUEST STARRING
JAY M. LEGGETT
GOOGY GRESS
Teleplay by: Joe Menosky
Story by: Bill Vallely
Directed by: John Bruno
HIGHLIGHT LISTING
STAR TREK: VOYAGER: “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”—The Doctor’s overactive imagination leads Voyager into real trouble.
