History Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS4E13MessageInABottle

* DidntThinkThisThrough: While they play it for laughs with a C plot on ''Voyager'' of Tom and Harry trying to program a replacement EMH, it makes a clear point. Tom is simply nowhere near competent or skilled enough to be a replacement CMO for the Doctor. Janeway's decision to more or less pressure the Doctor to transmit himself across an alien relay network to a Starfleet ship and hope he makes it really seems reckless in the extreme given the fact that if the Doctor is lost, they will essentially be losing perhaps the one irreplaceable member of ''Voyager'''s crew. While getting word to Starfleet of ''Voyager'''s situation would be ideal, it's hardly an immediate life-or-death situation and could have had catastrophic consequences for the crew if they lost their single qualified Doctor.

A vast alien communications relay gives Voyager a narrow window of opportunity to contact a Starfleet vessel, so the Doctor is transmitted to the Alpha Quadrant. Unfortunately the vessel is an experimental prototype that has been seized by Romulan commandos, and the Doctor must gain the co-operation of its Emergency Medical Hologram Mark Two (guest star Creator/AndyDick JustForFun/InSpace) to take back the ship. HilarityEnsues.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: While they play it for laughs with a C plot on Voyager of Tom and Harry trying to program a replacement EMH, it makes a clear point. Tom is simply nowhere near competent or skilled enough to be a replacement CMO for the Doctor. Janeway's decision to more or less pressure the Doctor to transmit himself across an alien relay network to a Starfleet ship and hope he makes it really seems reckless in the extreme given the fact that if the Doctor is lost, they will essentially be losing perhaps the one irreplaceable member of Voyager's crew. While getting word to Starfleet of Voyager's situation would be ideal, it's hardly an immediate life-or-death situation and could have had catastrophic consequences for the crew if they lost their single qualified Doctor.

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: The Doctor [[PaperThinDisguise disguises his voice]] in a way that an ordinary human would, when he could have simply imitated one of the many Romulan crew members he interacted with. Though as he doesn't demonstrate that skill until Season 7's "Rennaisance Man", he may not have developed the software to do that yet.

* InstantAIJustAddWater: Averted; worried that he's going to be stuck as ''Voyager'''s doctor, Tom ropes in a reluctant Harry to create another EMH. It starts reciting a medical textbook word-for-word until the program crashes, whereupon Harry downloads the textbook onto his PADD, hands it to Tom and tells him to start reading.

* ItsPronouncedTropay: As Neelix only read the recipe for chili, he pronounces jalapenos with a hard J, making it sound more like Jolla-penas.
* KarmaHoudini: Played with. The Romulan Empire doesn't get into a war with the Federation getting caught red handed in attempting to capture Starfleet's new prototype warship (though due to the Dominion War, the Federation has more pressing matters) and killing its crew with [[ImplausibleDeniability soldiers clearly wearing Romulan Imperial Fleet uniforms]]. But Starfleet did destroy a Romulan warbird, recaptured their stolen warship, and captured the commando unit responsible for stealing the ship. Considering that the commander of the mission was taking the ''Prometheus'' somewhere other than his assigned target, though, it's likely the Romulan Empire decided to claim he was acting on his own behalf rather than provoke future conflict by claiming responsibility for a failed mission. Also, since the Federation wants the Romulans to come in on their side against the Dominion, it's in everyone's interests to cover the matter up.

* SeenItAll: Played for laughs as the Doctor tells the EMH-2 about his past experiences, particularly about having sex.

* WhileYouWereInDiapers: "I was saving Voyager from annihilation when you were only a gleam in your programmer's eye!"

-->'''Doctor:''' They said they would contact your families to tell them the news and promised that they won't stop until they've found a way to get Voyager back home. And they asked me to relay a message: they wanted you to know you're no longer alone.

* {{Catchphrase}}: It's pretty weird to see this being uttered by Andy Dick.
-->'''EMH-2:''' Please state the nature of the medical emergency ... what the hell are you doing in my Sickbay?\\
''(Doc responds with FascinatingEyebrow)''

* KarmaHoudini: Played with. The Romulan Empire doesn't get into a war with the Federation getting caught red handed in attempting to capture Starfleet's new prototype warship (though due to the Dominion War, the Federation has more pressing matters) and killing its crew with [[ImplausibleDeniability soldiers clearly wearing Romulan Imperial Fleet uniforms]]. But Starfleet did destroy a Romulan warbird, recaptured their stolen warship, and captured the commando unit responsible for stealing the ship.
** Considering that the commander of the mission was taking the ''Prometheus'' somewhere other than his assigned target, it's likely the Romulan Empire decided to claim he was acting on his own behalf rather than provoke future conflict by claiming responsibility for a failed mission. Also since Federation wants the Romulans to come in on their side against the Dominion, it's in everyone's interests to cover the matter up.

* PhlebotinumBreakdown: It had been shown as far back as TNG, and would be shown in later VOY episodes, that starship computers ''can'' create semi-sapient holographic individuals with specialized skill sets. In the case of Moriarty on TNG, this was actually a bad thing because he was created entirely by accident with one poorly-phrased command. But, just for this episode, they cannot cajole ''Voyager'''s computer into creating a hologram that even exhibits lifelike behavior, much less simulate any skills.

* SeriesContinuityError: Possibly with the Doctor not knowing who or what the Dominion is. "Caretaker" took place several months after the events of ''Deep Space Nine'''s disastrous first contact with the Dominion ("The Jem'Hadar" and "The Search"). Knowledge of the Gamma Quadrant would have been public by the time of ''Caretaker'' and thus the Doctor ''should'' have known.
** However, Starfleet only really had minimal intel on the Dominion at that point in the 24th Century chronology. Plus, the Doctor ''was'' programmed for ''medical'' emergencies and didn't come online until after they got pulled into the Delta Quadrant. So the EMH not recognizing the Dominion thus arguably ''can'' be justified.

* BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce: [[LethalChef Neelix]]'s attempt to make "Rodeo Red's Red-Hot, Rootin'-Tootin' Chili" puts three crewmen in Sickbay with heartburn.

'''EMH-2:''' (''({{beat}})'') Long story.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: While they play it for laughs with a C plot on Voyager of Tom and Harry trying to program a replacement EMH, it makes a clear point. Tom is simply nowhere near competent or skilled enough to be a replacement CMO for the Doctor. Janeways decision to more or less pressure the Doctor to transmit himself across an alien relay network to a Starfleet ship and hope he makes it really seems reckless in the extreme given the fact that if the Doctor is lost, they will essentially be losing perhaps the one irreplaceable member of Voyagers crew. While getting word to Starfleet of Voyagers situation would be ideal of course, it's hardly an immediate life-or-death situation and could have had catestrophic consequences for the crew if they lost their single qualified Doctor.

* TooYoungToDieLamentation: The Mark Two has only been active for six weeks, so starts bemoaning that he'll never have the Doctor's ListOfExperiences.
-->"My brilliant existence cut short; no time to explore the universe, no time to smell the roses, no time for ... [[MustNotDieAVirgin sex!]]"

* MustNotDieAVirgin:
-->'''Mark II:''' My brilliant existence cut short... no time to explore the universe... no time to smell the roses... no time for... sex...

* TheTriple / MustNotDieAVirgin: The EMH-2 laments how his holo-life is going to end mere weeks after he's been brought on line.
-->"My brilliant existence cut short; no time to explore the universe, no time to smell the roses, no time for ... sex!"

'''EMH-2:''' Before you leave, perhaps you could [[SexualEuphemism download those subroutines into my database]].\\

* DidntThinkThisThrough: While they play it for laughs with a C plot on Voyager of Tom and Harry trying to program a replacement EMH, it makes a clear point. Tom is simply nowhere near competent or skilled enough to be a replacement CMO for the Doctor. Janeways decision to more or less pressure the Doctor to transmit himself across an alien relay network to a Starfleet ship and hope he makes it really seems reckless in the extreme given the fact that if the Doctor is lost, they will essentially be loosing perhaps the one irreplaceable member of Voyagers crew. While getting word to Starfleet of Voyagers situation would be ideal of course, it's hardly an immediate life-or-death situation and could have had catestrophic consequences for the crew if they lost their single qualified Doctor.

* [[DieHardOnAnX "Die Hard" On The Prometheus]]: Hey, you're the one that wanted more away missions, Doc.

* InternalReveal: Starfleet and the Federation of course finally learn what the audience has known for over three Seasons: That ''Voyager'' (and the ''Val Jean'') were ''not'' destroyed in the Badlands, but were pulled across the galaxy and left stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

'''EMH-2:''' ''({{beat}})'' Long story.

* ForgottenPhlebotinum: In ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' and the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The Wounded", it's explained that each Starfleet ship has its own unique [[OverrideCommand prefix code]], which allow another Starfleet ship to access their computer and make commands remotely, thus preventing an enemy who doesn't know it from maintaining control. Curiously, none of the Starfleet ships sent out to stop the ''Prometheus'' think about using it.

* CatchPhrase: It's pretty weird to see this being uttered by Andy Dick.

A vast alien communications relay gives Voyager a narrow window of opportunity to contact a Starfleet vessel, so the Doctor is transmitted to the Alpha Quadrant. Unfortunately the vessel is an experimental prototype that has been seized by Romulan commandos, and the Doctor must gain the co-operation of its Emergency Medical Hologram Mark Two (guest star Andy Dick JustForFun/InSpace) to take back the ship. HilarityEnsues.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* KillEmAll: After the Romulans first took the ''Prometheus'', Commander Rekar made sure to have the entire crew killed, even though it meant they'd have to figure out most of the systems on their own. Considering the number of times we've seen a tiny handful of Starfleet personnel retake a ship or station from the enemy despite being hugely outnumbered, this was probably a sensible precaution on his part.
-->'''Rekar''': You'd be surprised how stubborn humans can be.[[note]] Of course, he [[DidntSeeThatComing wasn't expecting]] an equally-stubborn Starfleet ''hologram'' to show up...[[/note]]

'''EMH-2:''' Before you leave, perhaps you could [[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow download those subroutines into my database]].\\

* ProjectedMan: Taken UpToEleven with the Doctor being transmitted 60,000 light years!

* ItsALongStory[=/=]ShoutOut: To ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' (who were partway through season 6 at the time).

A vast alien communications relay gives Voyager a narrow window of opportunity to contact a Starfleet vessel, so the Doctor is transmitted to the Alpha Quadrant. Unfortunately the vessel is an experimental prototype that has been seized by Romulan commandos, and the Doctor must gain the co-operation of its Emergency Medical Hologram Mark Two (guest star Andy Dick InSpace) to take back the ship. HilarityEnsues.

* BorrowedCatchphrase: The EMH-1's activation greeting has clearly been passed into the nextmodel.

** The Doctor brags of having crossed Borg space ("Scorpion"), travelled through time ("Future's End"), and encountered alien invasions ("Scorpion"), macro-viral infestations ("Macrocosm") and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking sexual relations]] (either "Lifesigns" or "Real Life").