10 Things We Learned From The Star Trek Voyager Cast Reunion
4. Robert, Robbie And Bob
Robert Beltran.
Robert Picardo.
Robert Duncan McNeil.
That's a bit confusion, especially when only the first name is called out over the intercom! The actors revealed on the reunion panel that they came to an agreement very early on in production.
Robert Beltran retained his full name, potentially due to his rank as second in command of the ship. Therefore, when 'Robert' was called out over the intercom, it was for Beltran to head to stage (though, from his point of view, he wouldn't be doing much on that stage - more on that coming!).
Robbie McNeil, as he would come to be known by the cast and crew, got the younger version of his name. He, along with Garrett Wang, represented the younger generation of the officers as it was. Plus, with his character being something of a joker and a jack the lad, it fit him a little better.
That left poor old Bob Picardo! As the emergency medical hologram, he was the more serious of the three characters in the beginning, something that Picardo somewhat lamented during the reunion. Being trapped in sickbay the whole time, he didn't get to experience much in the way of character development early, and in fact he worried that his character would fade way into the background.
Quite the opposite happened - on gaining his mobile emitter, The Doctor became one of the more entertaining characters, enjoying his newfound freedom.