Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Doctor
As EMH on Star Trek: Voyager, the Doctor was far more than the sum of his subroutines.
The Doctor wasn't just a doctor. Designed by Lewis Zimmerman, the Emergency Medical Hologram was a technological marvel, programmed with over five million medical protocols, thousands of reference sources, the experience of 47 medical officers, and the medical knowledge of over three thousand cultures. In short, the Doctor was the medical database.
Many in Voyager's crew would have questioned his self-proclaimed "splendid bedside manner," especially in the beginning. At first, some treated the Doctor like a walking, talking, library, though he soon became a valued colleague and friend, and a champion for holographic rights.
On the way home, a 'gift' from the future freed the Doctor from sickbay. Other upgrades and subroutines led to opera and sexual relations! In the Alpha Quadrant, he continued his career as both a doctor and a mentor to a group of aspiring cadets.
The Doctor has served on two starships Voyager, and the Dauntless in between. He might get to step aboard the Voyager-J in the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. We should probably get to know this galactic golfer a bit better before the back nine. So, to quote the Doctor himself, "How much dirt do you need?"
10. No For Neelix
It now seems impossible to imagine anyone other than Robert Picardo as the Doctor. Before January 1995, Picardo didn't, in fact, want the part. In rehearsals for a play at the time, Picardo wasn't 'technically available' for TV either. That didn't stop him from auditioning for the brand new Star Trek show, just not for its EMH.
"I [didn't] get the joke," Picardo admitted on the DVD extra Voyager Time Capsule: The Doctor, noting,
I read the audition scene, and the Doctor character [was] described as colourless, humourless, a computer program of a doctor. That [didn't] sound like much fun. I didn't see how that could be a rewarding experience to play.
Picardo had his eye firmly set on another character — Neelix. Picardo did indeed read for Voyager's cook in chief, but producers turned him down. They were still keen for him to try out for Voyager's misanthropic medic. Picardo managed to sneak in a little improvisation, which he has credited with getting him the job.