Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Finally Brings Back A Beloved Character We Haven't Seen In Decades
The second and final season of "Star Trek: Prodigy" was released on Netflix on July 1, 2024, to almost no fanfare (as is the wont of Netflix). All 20 episodes of the season are now available, and Trekkies will be happy to know that the series connects to extant "Star Trek" lore in new and exciting ways.
For one, the series begins on board the U.S.S. Voyager-A, the improved, larger version of the central ship in "Star Trek: Voyager." Admiral Janeway is also still in command, serving on a ship populated mostly by students and cadets, all using the craft as a scientific research vessel. The idea of a high-powered school in space is an intriguing concept and could serve as the premise for a "Star Trek" spinoff in an of itself.
Also on board the Voyager-A is the Doctor (Robert Picardo), the emergency medical hologram initially activated in the first episode of "Voyager." As Trekkies can tell you, the Doctor served as the chief medical officer on the U.S.S. Voyager after its medical staff was killed in a high-speed, cross-galaxy travel cataclysm. Although the EMH was meant to serve only in emergencies, the Voyager crew left his program running. Constant use, however, cause the Doctor to develop a personality and a consciousness. By the end of the series, the Doctor was fighting for the rights of holograms, engaging in hobbies (he likes opera and photography), and even falling in love.
Later, the Doctor was given a futuristic mobile emitter that allowed him to stray away from the hologram emitters in sickbay and go wherever he wanted. Armed with such agency, the Doctor became a full-fledged Federation citizen.
After "Voyager" ended, however, Trekkies were left to wonder what happened to him. Thanks to "Prodigy," we now know.
Robert Picardo is back as the Doctor
To remind readers, the final episode of "Voyager," called "Endgame" (May 23, 2001), flashed forward to a possible future wherein the U.S.S. Voyager managed to return to Earth, with 20 years having already passed. Janeway, regretting a decision she made decades before, steals a time travel widget and goes back in time to the "present" of "Voyager" to confront her younger self. The older Janeway orders the younger Janeway to make use of Borg technology to get back to Earth faster, although the younger Janeway is a little miffed that her older self would be so reckless with time travel.
In that alternate future, audiences saw the Doctor back on Earth with a wife, although little information was given about her. After the younger Janeway returned to Earth earlier, that alternate version of the Doctor was presumably erased from history. Little was seen of the Doctor after the events of "Endgame."
"Prodigy" sees the Doctor still serving in Starfleet, wearing an updated uniform, and standing on the bridge of the Voyager-A with Admiral Janeway in command. He is the chief medical officer on board the new Voyager. Importantly, the Doctor is still played by Robert Picardo, reprising his role. Picardo is now 70 and he sounds a little older than he did in 2001. However, thanks to the magic of animation, the Doctor hasn't aged a day.
Because the Voyager-A is a flying school, the Doctor seems to serve as an assistant principal of sorts. He's also the one who directs Dal (Brett Gray), Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), Zero (Angus Imrie), Murf (Dee Bradley Baker), and Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas) to their stations on the ship.
Star Trek: Prodigy pairs an old friend with a new ship
It's a relief to see the Doctor is still alive and working for Starfleet. It stood to reason that he would remain a Starfleet doctor, given that he was created by a Starfleet medical computer. It might have been interesting to see him change careers after "Endgame," but that would have required perhaps too much exposition for "Prodigy," a series about teen characters on their own adventures.
Instead, the presence of the Doctor is reassuring to '90s Trekkies. Even his mobile emitter is the same (as it should be; it was extrapolated from 29th century technology). Some characters, we find, simply progressed along a predictable career track and are still happy with their lives in Starfleet. Also, because the Doctor is seemingly immortal, he's likely in no hurry to change careers and feels he has several more centuries in Starfleet before he even needs to start thinking about another career path. Rather unfortunately, though, Picardo will not live for multiple centuries (as far as we know), but he seems game enough to return to the role 23 years after he last played it in a canonical fashion.
It's also worth noting that Chakotay (Robert Beltran) is likewise back for the new season of "Prodigy" as the beleaguered captain of the U.S.S. Protostar, who needs to be rescued from the other side of a time hole. Chakotay was not as widely beloved a character as the snippy holographic Doctor, but he was the first officer on the Voyager and starred in most of the show's episodes. In the first part of the series, he merely stands back, letting the teen characters engage in the bulk of the action.
"Star Trek: Prodigy" is streaming on Netflix.