Star Trek: Voyager — 6x13 — Virtuoso

Aired 2000-01-25

SpaceOpera.com rating:7

Average reader rating:6.09

Synopsis

The Doctor experiences fleeting fame.

Remarkable scenes

The first scene with the Qomari.
The recital.
The doctor: "If you consider the height of the average Qomar, it's obvious that anyone seated in the back five rows will have an obstructed view!" Torres: "You're right. They won't be able to see anything but the top of your head. The glare could blind them."
Torres: "I'm an engineer, not a costume designer." Not exact, but I'll count it. Count 32 for "I'm a doctor, not a (blah)" style lines, which McCoy was famous for.
Seven of Nine's red alert scene.
Seven reading the doctor's fan mail: "What does he do in his spare time? To how many decimal places can he calculate Pi? This one wants to know his favorite quadratic equation."
The doctor's final performance.
Seven reading the doctor's fan mail: "Dear Doctor: I regret that your last performance was not as successful as you'd hoped. There are still those who appreciate your unique talents and admire you as an individual. I'll always consider myself your loyal fan." Doctor: "Who is it from?" Seven: "It's signed, 'Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One.'"

Review

This episode is highly innovative, funny, and entertaining. It's nice to see the extremely talented Robert Picardo get to flex his singing muscles again. It's pretty clear the doctor isn't leaving the show, but the moral dilemma the show presents regarding the doctor beginning to mirror the arrogant, egotistical behavior of the Qomari is genuinely interesting and the the way the doctor falls out of favor with his new fans is pretty sad. I most enjoyed Seven of Nine's part in the story. She had so few scenes, but each was so well used. The episode would have been lacking without her scenes. As such, it was most fitting to have Seven of Nine do the final scene. A nicely done episode.

4 reader comments

There was one thing that bugged me throughout the episode, and that was that they never gave any good explanation why the aliens specifically wanted to hear the doctor. Is there something wrong with anyone else singing or playing music? I also felt the plot was somewhat weak, so despite the fact that i'm going contrary to nearly everyone else, I give this one a 2.
by Tony | 08/31/2008 at 2:50 am

what i did not like about this episode is why 7/9 did not preform with the doctor on any of the (shown) operas. i would have like to see her sing with the doctor like she normally does in the cargo bay and the Holodeck.
by Conor Lum | 05/05/2012 at 1:02 am

I was expecting a duet as well.
I figured that the aliens liked the doctor's voice so much and not other music because the doctor's voice is so perfect - digital precision instead of a human voice or human played instrument. Thinking along those lines, Seven has the perfect Borg voice tone as well. That is why I was expecting a duet at the end.
by JR | 07/13/2012 at 3:07 pm

So if Voyager's computer core expressed a desire to leave should they grant that as well. Frickin doctor, what a pain in the ass. He is just a program. He aint no Data.
by Rick Smith | 04/11/2013 at 3:16 am