Posted in: Paramount+, TV | Tagged: star trek, star trek: prodigy, star trek: voyager, Starfleet Academy

Starfleet Academy: Robert Picardo on The Doctor's 900-Year Growth

Robert Picardo reflects on The Doctor's growth from Star Trek: Voyager to Prodigy to 900 years into the future with Starfleet Academy.

Sadly, as most humans are only bound to live within 100 years in an average lifespan, we have science fiction and fantasy to picture what life beyond that span can be like. One of those franchises that is regularly explored is Star Trek. Just as generations were able to enjoy the handful of times The Original Series case crossed over into The Next Generation, the Paramount+ era opened doors to continue the stories of the syndicated era casts, especially Voyager, as Robert Picardo is with his return to the franchise in Prodigy, and now Starfleet Academy. The actor who played the holographic Doctor on the UPN series spoke at Trek Talks (via TrekMovie.com, which benefits the Hollywood Food Coalition about the legacy he's built as the character, being protective of that legacy, and building on that in the upcoming series.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Star Robert Picardo on Reprising His Role for the Paramount+ Series

Picardo played The Doctor for all seven seasons on Voyager and also joined fellow alums Kate Mulgrew and Robert Beltran to voice his animated counterpart on Prodigy on season two, which sees him follow his former captain, now fleet admiral of the Federation. The upcoming series from Gaia Violo will see him fully grown as a holographic being and teaching at the Academy.

The actor broke down his journey. "… he started with nothing. The Doctor had an extraordinary arc over the seven years, and brick by brick, building a character that was quite human-like from something that had no personality or affect at the start. … This much has been said in the press about the show, 'Starfleet Academy' is set in the far distant future in the 32nd century. Starfleet, which basically fell apart in this future tragedy called 'the Burn,' has been reconstituted, and this is the first entering class at Starfleet Academy in more than a hundred years. And my character is teaching there. And I think that frankly, at least according to our producer, who we both know well, Alex Kurtzman, he said that that seeing the doctor teach cadets on 'Prodigy,' his exact words, that it made complete sense, that he would be teaching cadets in Starfleet Academy in the future. So I really do think that my stint on Prodigy helped open that.. [door]."

As far as how Picardo had to change his approach to Starfleet Academy, "That was another thing I thought about deeply. How is he different? What does it mean to be a 900-year-old, continuously activated artificial intelligence? What is 900 years of digital memory? Digital memory is not like human memory. If we have a memory from five, six, eight years old, and looking back decades of that memory, it's not like having a memory of something that happened a year ago or yesterday. Its digital memory is completely clear, which means that a beloved colleague, like Captain Janeway, for The Doctor, you are as present in his memory, 900 years on, as when he was working with you in the 24th century."

You can check out the rest of the article for more, including his poignant look at how the Doctor sees past relationships and his evolution. Starfleet Academy, which also stars Holly Hunter, Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, Zoë Steiner, Tig Notaro, and Sandro Rosta, premieres in 2025-2026.

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