Summary
- Picardo suggested a unique relationship for The Doctor and Seven of Nine after Kes left, with The Doctor becoming her mentor in reclaiming her humanity.
- The Doctor saw himself as a better teacher of humanity than humans, and taught Seven of Nine how to behave appropriately using role play.
- Their relationship had comic potential and culminated in an episode where The Doctor falls in love with his star pupil. #StarTrekVoyager
Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Picardo explains the origin of how his character, The Doctor, fell in love with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). Picardo played The Doctor, Voyager's sentient Emergency Medical Hologram, in all seven seasons. Jeri Ryan ed Voyager at the end of season 3 and Seven of Nine became arguably the show's most popular character. Voyager teased a romance between Seven and The Doctor, although Seven and Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) briefly became an item at the end of the series, to the dismay of fans.
Appearing on The Shuttlepod Show recorded prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Robert Picardo spoke in depth to hosts Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, Erica LaRose, and producer Mark Cartier about how The Doctor's romance with Seven of Nine came about on Star Trek: Voyager following Kes (Jennifer Lien) leaving the series. Read his quote below and watch the video from The Shuttlepod Show. The time stamp begins at 1:04:28:
The relationship I had with Seven came out of a suggestion I made to Brannon [Braga, executive producer]... When Kes was leaving our show, Kes had been the Doctor’s confidant. Kes was the one character that he felt, because she was the youngest, she treated me like a person. At the same time, I’m ostensibly mentoring her to be my assistant in Sickbay. She is really mentoring me in my developing sense of self, and what I’m entitled to and all that as an artificial intelligence.
So when she leaves, I said to Brannon, “I’m really concerned that I’m just gonna go back to being the arrogant windbag again for the rest of the crew, which is fun, but we’ve already seen he has a different side. And now who do I show that to? I don’t have a confessor anymore. And he said, “Well, we have this new character coming. Seven of Nine. Think of a unique way to relate to her…” I went back to Brannon a week later and I said, “Wouldn’t it be fun if I take the relationship with Kes, flip it around, and the Doctor now thinks that he’s a better teacher of how to be human than a human?”
She’s been a Borg, she has to reclaim her humanity, [and] I have to teach her how to behave appropriately in various professional and social situations. And I’ll do it with role play… and I’ll teach her how to behave. Because as a Borg, she has zero social skills and zero affect. Not unlike the way I had been at the beginning of season 1, but now I had developed. So it had loads of comic potential… but that culminated in that episode where I fall in love with my star pupil.
Robert Picardo Returns As The Doctor In Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2
Robert Picardo finally returns as The Doctor in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, a surprise revealed by producers at STLV: 57-Year Mission. Picardo hasn't played the EMH since the end of Star Trek: Voyager, where he appeared in 164 episodes. In Prodigy season 2, The Doctor arrives to escort the teenage former crew of the USS Protostar to their new posting, the Lamarr Class USS Voyager-A, under the command of iral Kathryn Janeway. Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 is set about 5-6 years after Star Trek: Voyager ended, but in that time, The Doctor and iral Janeway are now on a first-name basis.
In the early 25th century, Seven of Nine became Captain of the USS Enterprise-G, as seen at the conclusion of Star Trek: Picard season 3. As an ageless hologram, The Doctor could potentially encounter Seven again in Star Trek: Legacy, Picard's proposed spinoff. It's also possible for Seven to appear in the animated Star Trek: Prodigy in the future. However, it's doubtful any romance will between The Doctor and Seven of Nine will bloom after Star Trek: Voyager.
Source: The Shuttlepod Show