After 30 Years, Star Trek Just Quietly Rewrote a Classic ‘Voyager’ Episode

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy gives the Doctor (Robert Picardo) a new role in the 32nd century as a teacher, and this shift took a quietly tragic turn in the episode "The Life of the Stars." When Sam (Kerrice Brooks) begins experiencing glitches that could end her life, the Doctor travels to her home planet Kasq to try to save her — a clear follow-up to the Voyager episode "Real Life," in which he created a holographic family and lost his daughter Belle after B'Elanna Torres altered the program.

The new episode reframes that Voyager storyline as a tragedy. B'Elanna and Tom Paris's attempt to make the Doctor's family more “realistic” comes off as callous when the Doctor reveals he still mourns Belle, and the tragedy deepens once his programming is considered: he has spent nearly eight centuries agonizing over someone who felt as real to him as any person.

The contrast with B'Elanna and Tom, who fell in love, married and had a daughter, makes their earlier advice look misguided.

star trek, starfleet academy, voyager, the doctor, robert picardo, real life, belle, b'elanna torres, tom paris, kasq