STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY Gives VOYAGER’s Doctor New Role Eric Diaz | usagoldmines.com

Episode eight of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, “The Life of the Stars,” focuses once again on SAM, the living alien hologram played by Kerrice Brooks. In this episode, SAM nearly dies. Luckily, she is saved thanks to a new bond forged with the other holographic lifeform at Starfleet Academy, the Doctor (Robert Picardo). Here’s how Starfleet Academy’s eighth episode not only enriched the character of SAM, but also called back to a classic Doctor-centric episode of Star Trek: Voyager.

SAM’s Brief Holographic Life Is Put in Jeopardy in Starfleet Academy

Ever since the traumatic events of episode six, cadet SAM (Series Acclimation Mil) has been experiencing problems maintaining photonic cohesion. To use TRON terminology, she’s been “de-rezzing.” During class one day, she collapsed on the floor. Her fellow cadets take her to the Doctor, who is also a holographic being created 800 years earlier. Captain Ake realizes that SAM must return home to her home planet of Kasq to see if her holographic species can fix her. The Doctor reluctantly goes on the journey to Kasq with Captain Ake and SAM.

During the trip to Kasq, SAM asks the Doctor, the only other photonic lifeform living at the Academy, why he’s been holding her at arm’s length since day one. While he hasn’t been outright rude, he hasn’t exactly been cuddly either. In this episode, he wouldn’t even hold SAM’s hand in a moment of need. One would think that in the 800 years since the events of Star Trek: Voyager, he would have become more human, not less. But in fact, the Doctor has reasons for his attitude toward SAM that go back to a fan-favorite Voyager episode.

“The Life of the Stars” Is a Stealth Sequel to Voyager‘s “Real Life”

In the third season Voyager episode “Real Life,” which aired in 1997, the Doctor creates a holographic program that allows him to experience what it would be like to have a family of his own. He has an almost 20th-century sitcom existence with a wife and two kids in the suburbs. He exists in this program whenever not needed by the crew of Voyager as their Emergency Medical Hologram. In this program, he took the name Kenneth. He had a wife, Charlene, and his kids were Jeffrey and Belle. At first, his holo family was a bit too perfect. But with input from his friends on Voyager, he programmed them into more flawed, believable people.

In this less-idyllic program, the Doctor’s daughter Belle has a terrible accident. He considers just shutting down the program, but Lt. Tom Paris tells the Doctor that to truly understand what it means to be human, he has to face the grief of losing a loved one. So he reenters his domestic family program, and tearfully says goodbye to his dying daughter, Belle. He then shuts down the holo simulation, and never mentions his family again in any episode of Voyager. But as we soon learn in Starfleet Academy, the Doctor never forgot that family. And it led to his making a very bold choice in this episode.

To Save SAM, Her Makers Create a Lifetime of Memories for Her

SAM’s so-called “Makers” on Kasq try to fix her malfunctions but fail. Ultimately, the Kasqians admit that when they created her, they did not give her programmed memories. Childhood memories are what help people cope with trauma in adulthood, and her programming, for lack of a better word, wasn’t equipped to handle the recent trauma of seeing friends die on the Miyazaki. When SAM was created, her makers programmed her with the personality of a human around the age of 17. But while her bubbly personality was the equivalent of a teenager, she didn’t have the memories to go with them. That’s when Captain Ake comes up with a solution.

The Doctor Becomes SAM’s Father in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Captain Ake asks the Kasqians if they will give SAM memories, the equivalent of someone who is truly 17. And she suggests a parent to raise her, which is the Doctor. At first, the Doctor refuses. He confesses to Captain Ake that he’s carried the memories of his dead daughter for 800 years and never wants to feel the pain of being a parent again. SAM has always reminded him of Belle, and he admits through tears that’s why he never let her get close. But to save her life, he volunteers. And in a matter of minutes, SAM and the Doctor experience years as parent and child. In moments, Voyager’s former Emergency Medical Hologram becomes the dad of a teenager.

Because of the Doctor’s noble actions, the Kasqians save SAM, and she returns to Starfleet Academy. The Doctor is now her father, and he shares the memories of SAM as his daughter. This will no doubt change their dynamic going forward. But it also makes up for the fact that Voyager chose to never mention this traumatic event for the Doctor ever again. Now at last, we know the Doctor never got over the pain of losing a family. And because of SAM, he can succeed at being a father in a way he never could in the 24th century.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season one is now streaming on Paramount+.