Robert Picardo On Reprising His STAR TREK: VOYAGER Role for Animation

Robert Picardo as the Doctor in STAR TREK: PRODIGY. Image: Paramount.

Robert Picardo is certainly a fan favorite. His portrayal of The Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager was a delight to watch over the seven-year run.  He went from being a matter of fact, get to the point automaton, to a person of devotion to his captain and crew, and a mentor to both Kes and Seven of Nine.  In short, he was able to grow past his programming and become Human in the way the Data of The Next Generation couldn’t.

Partly because his programming had to be enhanced and his systems had to be expanded for the long-term use that it had not been designed for.  And while Data had been locked into the parameters of his positronic matrix, The Doctor had an intuitive AI matrix that learned, adapted and eventually became self-aware.

To the point that Janeway even trusted him with command in times of crises that inhibited the command crew.  

Yes indeed, fans love The Doctor. 

So, when we got our first glimpse to the season two trailer and saw him welcoming the Prodigy crew, we were excited indeed to see Mr. Picardo added to the cast.  Then came the dreaded Paramount + expulsion and we were all left wondering, ‘where and when’. 

Now that we’ve (most likely) binged the entire second season, we’ve seen our beloved physician back in action, not only as a mentor and crew, but also part of a small band of trusted advisors to Janeway, taking part in not-quite-authorized mission to find and save Chakotay.  

Our friends at TrekCore were able to catch up with him and get the scoop on his inclusion to the second season, how he got back into character and what, if any, the future is for our beloved hologram.  

When TrekCore asked him how he felt about reprising his Voyager role, Picardo responded,

…I had heard the Prodigy team was thinking about Season 2 and were interested in bringing back the Doctor… So, I wasn’t exactly surprised when they reached out to me. I didn’t know what I’d be doing, of course, but when I started to read the scripts, it was fun to see how well they used the character. How they played upon how much he loved talking about himself; that he was still self-absorbed and delighted to talk about whatever holo-novel he was working on.

He goes on to relate how the writing team used his character as comic relief, just as he’d done on Voyager, yet his character was also given some very dramatic direction as well. He indicated that it wasn’t too tricky getting back into character, citing a pandemic project that coincidentally helped him recover his holographic footing:

I had started a YouTube channel, inspired by Brent Spiner who had done a hilarious video series. I just thought that was a great way to keep up your skills as a performer, but also give loyal fans little gifts of amusement.

My daughter Gina suggested I do something that was sort of Star Trek-related, and after thinking about it a bit I decided to start doing famous speeches from my time on Voyager, performed in a beautiful, natural setting. So, I did these things I called ‘technobabble al fresco,’ like 20 or 30 of them. Most were word-perfect from Voyager episodes, but then I started having some fun trying to fool the fans who were watching – and I would make up something that sounded like it might have been from Voyager.

He then went on to relate that having done this had already put him back in the mind of The Doctor, had already slipped back into his holographic shoes.  

He also related how he had approval of the look of his computer-generated character and how it was nice to see his younger self back on screen.  He also had to be sure to get The Doctor’s ‘voice’ correct, as he’s almost 25 years older (hard to believe it’s been that long already) than he was when Voyager wrapped.  Our voices get deeper as we age, so he rewatched the episodes to get it back in his head, and throat.  

He also stated how he really doesn’t like his portrayal of the ‘clinical’ Doctor from the first two seasons.  He much preferred what the Doctor transformed into beginning from the third season onward.  Our season one and two Doctor would have thought writing a holo-novel to be a waste of his time, let alone being ‘inspired’ to do so even if he had the notion.   

He also stated that he would love to do a third season of Prodigy with the cast and crew, as the look of the characters is great.  The show is beautiful in appearance, and working with his dear friends and new ones was great.  

Here is a final quote from him on its possible future:

The Hagemans are just very good writers, and lovely people. They love Star Trek, they love the show, and most importantly, they love the new characters they’ve created — these would-be cadets. Their looks are all so unique, and so are their voices. The great thing about animation is that you can do things that are so imaginative… but are still a bit beyond what you could do in live action. The look of the show is just delightful.

The fans seem to love it, and hopefully the numbers are good enough that Netflix would decide to produce a third season. That would be great.

We certainly agree with him here, the show is phenomenal, and fans of Legacy Trek have embraced it, us old-timers along with the (excuse the pun) next generation of fans.  

To read in even more depth, as well as Mr. Picardo’s thoughts about returning to live action Trek, piggy back inside a Borg vessel and set a course for TREKCORE.com.