Line #27 Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E13Virtuoso


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/voy_virtuoso_141.JPG]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFb7M7WuJcQ Where's]] [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]] to pop in and stare at him till he takes that thing off?]]
3	''Voyager'' comes across an alien culture that has never heard music before and is enamored by the Doctor's singing. When he becomes an overnight celebrity on their planet, he considers resigning his commission aboard Voyager to live the life of a star.
4	-----
5	!!This episode provides examples of:
6
7	* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Fame goes to the Doctor's head; he starts addressing the Captain by her first name and acts like a jerkass to B'Elanna.
8	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Janeway's reaction to the Doctor's fan mail. She quickly loses her sense of humor on seeing the corridors of Voyager crowded with his fans.
9	* AdvancedCivilizationHollowImagination: The Qomar are brilliant when it comes to mathematics and science, but limited in terms of creativity, to the point that they have never developed the concept of music. Even when Tincoo attempts to create music, it's tuneless and unlikely to be appreciated by anyone else, due to how coldly and rigidly-scientific it is.
10	* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: Of course, the Doctor himself is only appreciated for bringing the musical arts to the Qomar until Tincoo develops a holographic replacement of him that can reach vocal ranges the Doctor himself cannot.
11	* AllLoveIsUnrequited: The Doctor even sings an old Neapolitan ballad on the subject after Tincoo dumps him.
12	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: The aliens ended up developing an analog program similar to The Doctor who is designed exclusively to perform insane melodic constructions far beyond the normal speech patterns he was designed with. He asked Torres to help boost his capabilities, but she lets him know they would have to remove other aspects of who he is in order to do so.
13	* BagsOfLetters: A future tech example, as ''Voyager'''s computer systems are all clogged with fan mail for The Doctor from the Qomar.
14	* BecomeARealBoy
15	-->'''EMH:''' When I'm standing on that stage performing, and I see those rapt faces in the audience, I feel I finally know what it's like to be made of flesh and blood.
16	-->'''Seven:''' You simply crave attention, applause, ''fan mail''.
17	-->'''EMH:''' What if I do?
18	-->'''Seven:''' Those things are irrelevant.
19	-->'''EMH:''' To you, maybe. But to me, it makes me feel appreciated, even loved. Not for what I've been programmed to do, but for who I've become.
20	* BigLittleMan:
21	** The Doctor is introduced treating a Qomar who's apparently sitting in front of him, except it turns out all the Qomar are rather short.
22	** The Doctor is shown singing opera; it's actually a small holographic figurine, which is only revealed when the Doctor sticks his HugeHolographicHead next to it to sing a duet.
23	* BookEnds: The Doctor singing "I've Been Working On The Railroad".
24	* ButtMonkey: The Qomar rudely interrupt Harry and the Kimtones because they'd rather listen to the Doctor. However one attractive female appears interested in this handsome clarinet player...because he might introduce her to the Doctor.
25	* CallBack:
26	** "Prime Factors" also involved a species that was only interested in what Voyager had to offer because it was new.
27	** The Doctor impresses the Qomar by humming "Pop Goes The Weasel". In TNG's pilot episode "Encounter At Farpoint", Data was whistling the song on the holodeck when he meets Riker, showing him how devoted he is to becoming more human.
28	* TheCastShowOff: Besides Creator/RobertPicardo's efforts, there's also "[[FakeBand Harry and the Kimtones]]".
29	* {{Catchphrase}}:
30	** "What's the nature of their medical emergency?"
31	** When the Doctor tells Seven he's leaving, she responds coldly, "I will adapt."
32	* TheCameo: Paris Themmen, who played Mike Teevee in ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'', appears as a Qomar.
33	* CelebrityIsOverrated: The Doctor realizes that the aliens were not really enamored with him and his talents so much as the raw mathematical vibrations that was turned into music. Once the aliens started creating their own pieces that reached far beyond the vocal register even the Doctor could emulate, [[WhiteDwarfStarlet he lost all popularity in an instant]].
34	* ChickMagnet: This time for real [[CelebCrush when the Doctor becomes famous for his music]]. He has to deactivate himself to escape a couple of amorous fans in Sickbay.
35	* DebateAndSwitch: When the Doctor raises the JustAMachine issue, Janeway points out that [[TheNeedsOfTheMany he's their only medical doctor on Voyager]]. The Doctor is determined to leave regardless so she grants permission "as a friend", but it's hard to believe TheCaptain would do so unless the plot required it.
36	* DuckSeasonRabbitSeason: An indirect, serious example of this occurs when the Doctor and Janeway are debating about his decision to leave the ship. The Doctor initially objects to Janeway apparently treating him like he's just another component of ''Voyager'', but when Janeway asks if he's sure the Qomar can support him the Doctor's first response is to talk about how they're capable of maintaining his program and Janeway clarifies that she was talking about them supporting his ''emotional'' needs.
37	* FirstNameBasis: The Doctor accidentally calls Janeway by her first name when his fame gets to his head.
38	* ForeheadOfDoom: Lampshaded when the Doctor insists B'Elanna design an opera house for him.
39	-->'''B'Elanna:''' What's wrong with the sight lines?
40	-->'''EMH:''' 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!
41	-->'''B'Elanna:''' You're right. They won't be able to see anything but the top of your head. [[DeadpanSnarker The glare could blind them!]]
42	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The JustAMachine debate for "Flesh and Blood"; there's even a TitleDrop for that episode.
43	* FriendshipMoment: Seven's fan letter.
44	* HaveYouComeToGloat: The Doctor asks this of Seven after he goes back to ''Voyager'' with his holographic tail between his legs. Seven reads him her fan letter instead.
45	* HumblePie: The Doctor gets a big old plate of it by the end of the episode, ashamed that he let his ego get so great that he didn't realise that the Qomar were more interested in the technical aspects of music rather than the emotional scale he was trying to explore.
46	* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: B'Elanna Torres: "I'm an engineer, not a costume designer."
47	* InfiniteSupplies: Janeway gets up the Doc for using his precious replicator allocation on his souvenirs. Turns out the Qomar have turned over an entire factory for the job, and are willing to redesign a lecture hall into an opera house.
48	* InformedAttribute: The Qomar and ''Voyager'' frequently make mention early on that the Qomar are vastly more technologically advanced than ''Voyager'', but this is never demonstrated. The closest thing to a demonstration is that the Qomar themselves seem to possess extreme natural mathematical aptitude.
49	** Tincoo however is able to develop a more sophisticated hologram in a short time, something that represents years of work for Dr Zimmerman.
50	** It may be more that the Qomar are superior in certain, less obvious ways and interpret this as them being superior in all regards, with the crew basically [[SureLetsGoWithThat just accepting it as they're trying to be polite]][[note]]the Qomar may also conflate 'complicated' with 'advanced'. Their ship's propulsion systems are so delicate that they're disabled simply by Voyager scanning them, and immediately blame Voyager's "primitive" scanners for the failure.[[/note]].
51	* InstantFanClub: The Doctor impresses the Qomar just by humming a few bars of "Pop Goes the Weasel".
52	* IJustWantToBeLoved: The Doctor in the romantic and platonic sense.
53	* IronicEcho
54	-->'''EMH:''' Then shouldn't I be given the same respect as any flesh and blood member of this crew?
55	** Later...
56	-->'''Janeway:''' You're expected to follow orders just like every other flesh and blood member of this crew.
57	* IronyAsHeIsCast: Singer/songwriter Music/PaulWilliams playing a being with no concept of what music is.
58	* JustAMachine
59	** With Janeway...
60	-->'''Janeway:''' You're a part of this ship.
61	-->'''EMH:''' You sound as if you're talking about a piece of equipment.
62	-->'''Janeway:''' [[ThatCameOutWrong That's not what I meant]].
63	-->'''EMH:''' Then shouldn't I be given the same respect as any flesh and blood member of this crew?
64	** And Tincoo.
65	-->'''EMH:''' I thought you wanted me.
66	-->'''Tincoo:''' I did, but now I've developed a far more sophisticated piece of technology.
67	-->'''EMH:''' Technology...
68	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: When Janeway explains the concept of "fans" and celebrity to Seven... on a show that's part of a franchise with [[TakeThatAudience one of the most well-known fanbases in pop culture]].
69	* MoodDissonance (InUniverse): The Doctor's ballad moves Janeway to tears, while the Qomar just listen politely until it's over.
70	* MoodWhiplash: The Qomar are complaining about the poor standard of medical care and trying to switch off the Doctor's vocal subroutines to stop him from snarking back at them until he starts singing, causing them to become instantly fascinated.
71	* NotSoDire: Seven calls for a RedAlert, saying the Qomar are attempting to sabotage Voyager by clogging up their comm system with tons of irrelevant data. Is this the obligatory Crisis Of The Week to provide StuffBlowingUp for the promo trailer? No, [[ComicalOverreacting Seven is just overreacting]] to an inundation of fan mail.
72	* NeverTrustATrailer: The [[http://youtu.be/QMloFB1Mglc trailer]] does not feature one second of footage from this episode. Much of it comes from "Tsunkatse," which would air two weeks later.
73	* TheNapoleon: The Qomar are very short and very full of themselves.
74	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The Doctor [[OtherMeAnnoysMe shuts off his 'superior' model]] in the middle of a sentence, normally his own BerserkButton.
75	* OtherMeAnnoysMe: The singing hologram has a Qomar forehead and is just as arrogant as...the Doctor.
76	* PlanetOfHats: The Qomar are smug isolationists that have never heard music before.
77	* PlayingSick: The Doctor had fans playing sick so that they could get close to him.
78	* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Inverted from the usual when the Doctor denies Tincoo is his girlfriend after she's already demonstrated her lack of romantic interest in him.
79	* SnarkToSnarkCombat: The Doctor vs. the Qomar.
80	-->'''EMH:''' I assure you there is nothing primitive about me. I am programmed to perform more than five million medical procedures.
81	-->'''Abarca:''' Does that include bloodletting?
82	-->'''EMH:''' No, but I'll be happy to add it to my repertoire.
83	* StockFootage: The matte painting of the Zahl colony from "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E8YearOfHell Year of Hell]]" is reused here as the Qomar homeworld.
84	* StylisticSuck: Played with. The song composed by Tincoo [[HellIsThatNoise sounds god-awful to human ears]], but the Qomar audience goes absolutely ''nuts'' for it.
85	* TakeAThirdOption: Knowing the Doctor is torn over whether to leave ''Voyager'', Tincoo decides to solve the problem by building a singing hologram, and can't understand why the Doctor is so upset.
86	* TheseusShipParadox: Invoked when the Doctor asks B'Elanna to modify his program so that he can sing Tincoo's composition even when that would involve potentially deleting his medical subroutines to make space for the new data. B'Elanna points out that if he has to change that much of himself to sing, would he really be ''himself'' afterwards?
87	* TranslationByVolume: Tincoo starts talking to the Doctor this way, having decided his technology is so primitive he won't be able to understand them otherwise. [[SnarkToSnarkCombat When the Doctor starts doing it back]], the [[{{hypocrite}} Qomar don't like it]].
88	* TranquilFury: Seven of Nine, while acting cool and collected, is clearly ''pissed'' when the Doctor decides to leave the ship.
89	* VirtualCelebrity: The Doctor when he shows off his musical talent.
90	* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The Doctor claims that Janeway is objecting to his leaving for this reason.
91	* WeirdnessMagnet: Tuvok suggests throwing the Doctor's fans off ''Voyager'' because they're interfering with ship's functions.

Context Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS6E13Virtuoso