Star Trek: Voyager Reportedly Wanted to Give The Doctor a Name That Sounds Horribly Bad

One of the most beloved characters of the show Star Trek: Voyager is The Doctor. Played by Robert Picardo, the character is depicted as an AI hologram who is in charge of medical emergencies aboard the USS Voyager. The character featured in all seven seasons of the show and was a fan-favorite throughout its run.

One of the running gags of the show was that The Doctor did not have a name. Many names were assigned to the character during the show but none of them were revealed to be his actual name. However, an early draft of an episode reportedly almost christened him as Doctor Smokes, but avoided it after rewrites.

The Doctor’s Planned Name In Star Trek: Voyager Would Have Been Terrible

Roberto Picard played the role of The Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager to perfection. The beloved AI system was known for its role as the USS Voyager’s chief medical officer. A digital hologram, The Doctor is constantly trying to give himself human experiences in order to learn more about humanity and become a better caretaker.

Originally set to be just the in-ship Emergency Medical Hologram, The Doctor is promoted to being the chief medical officer after the USS Voyager after the death of the original medical officers and nurses. While he begins as just an EMH, he slowly begins to turn more human as he interacts more with the members of the ship.

One of the running themes in the show is the ever-changing name of The Doctor. While he has used many names such as Dr. Schweitzer and Schmullus, he has largely been unnamed in the series. After a few seasons, the gags fizzled out and he was only referred to as The Doctor, Doctor, or Doc. However, he almost got a terrible name which was avoided.

According to the Star Trek blog Red Shirts Always Die, one of the drafts of the episode ’Parallax’ in season 1 almost had a scene in which he fixated on the name Doctor Smoke. Short for ‘Doctor Smoke and Mirrors’ for his status as a hologram, the name was apparently christened by Tom Paris. However, the scene was thankfully cut off in subsequent drafts.

Robert Picardo Auditioned For A Different Role

The Doctor became one of the most beloved characters in the Star Trek show. While he ultimately named himself Joe in the alternative timeline shown in the finale, he will forever be remembered as The Doctor. However, despite the iconic portrayal, actor Robert Picardo was reportedly unimpressed in the beginning and auditioned for Neelix instead.

Speaking to Star Trek.com, Picardo mentioned that he was first confused about the nature of The Doctor as he was a hologram. He was reportedly unsure about how he would be handling the instruments if he had no material density. Hence, he asked to audition for Neelix instead. He said,

I turned down the audition for The Doctor because it just didn’t sound interesting. It sounded like an automaton. I asked to read for Neelix instead, and I only asked because an actress friend of mine named Megan Gallagher had been on Deep Space Nine once or twice at that point, including the famous episode “Little Green Men.” Megan said, “There’s this other part, an alien named Neelix, why don’t you look at that?”

However, the actor was reportedly rejected for the part of Neelix but somehow went to audition for The Doctor again. He mentioned that the producers had auditioned nearly 900 actors and then finally chose him.

Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.