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The Doctor suffers from a computer malfunction; Voyager is attacked by a swarm of alien warships.

Summary

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"Helmsman's log, stardate 50252.3. While USS Voyager takes on supplies, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres and I are investigating some intermittent sensor readings we picked up this morning."

After detecting an anomalous sensor reading, Lieutenants Tom Paris and Torres investigate in a shuttle while Voyager collects resources. During the investigation, the signal reappears and two aliens beam aboard the shuttle. The aliens seem to be attempting to communicate, then subsequently raise their weapons and fire on Paris and Torres, knocking them unconscious.

On Voyager, The Doctor is trying his hand at opera. He's attempting to sing O, Soave Fanciulla, a duet from Act 1 of the Earth opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, on the holodeck with a holographic re-creation of Giuseppina Pentangeli. However, the hologram of Pentangeli also duplicated her vanity and demanding temperament. They stop during the first part when The Doctor accuses his partner of rushing the tempo. She retorts that he has no feel for the music and that it's like she's singing with a computer. When they finally begin to sing again The Doctor has to stop once again because he can't remember the words, much to his partner's irritation and contempt. He blames it on her for getting him so upset that he can't even remember how to sing anymore. Just as he wants to delete her he is contacted by Captain Kathryn Janeway. She informs him there is an emergency and that he needs to report to sickbay. Just before he deletes his diva he informs her that he may consider singing with Maria Callas next time instead.

Torres reawakens aboard Voyager and describe the events on the shuttle to the crew. Due to the neuroelectric shock, Paris is still unconscious and needs further treatment. While performing some common medical procedures, The Doctor seems to stutter a bit, becoming forgetful.

In the captain's ready room, the senior staff meets to discuss the incident. Neelix informs the staff that he has heard of these aliens described by Torres but shudders at the thought of encountering them. He informs the captain that nobody knows much of this race but what is known is that they are very territorial.

Back in sickbay, The Doctor continues to perform a procedure to help Paris. He begins to realize that he's having trouble remembering the procedure, and asks for Kes for assistance. After this incident, The Doctor reports his failings to Torres. To solve the problem, Torres transfers The Doctor into the holodeck, where Kes learns from a holographic recreation of The Doctor's creator, Lewis Zimmerman, that The Doctor's program is degrading from having been online far longer than it was originally designed for.

Meanwhile, Ensign Harry Kim devises a method to slip through the alien territory unnoticed by modifying the shield generators to effectively hide the ship from the sensor net. It is noted that traveling at warp 9.75 for twelve hours would take them a third of the way through the most narrow portion of the alien territory. Despite Tuvok's protest, Janeway insists on the plan and sets it in motion.

Once at the border of the alien territory, the stealth shielding is activated and the ship begins traveling through. They note a swarm of the alien vessels, all powered down and initially inactive. However, sensors indicate a separate ship that doesn't appear to belong in the area, so they drop out of warp to investigate. Their scans indicate that it is a Mislenite freighter and that there is one life sign on the ship. From the freighter, they beam onboard Chardis. He tells them that he inadvertently traveled into Swarm space and his ship was attacked by numerous Swarm vessels. Rather than attacking with weaponry, they drained the energy from his ship and attempted to crush it.

While investigating the ship, one of the alien craft that had still been attached to it powers up and scans Voyager. It emits a pulse that cancels the stealth modifications to the shields and Voyager is detected by the Swarm vessels.

They pursue Voyager and attempt to incapacitate the ship. Several of the alien crew, similar to those seen by Paris and Torres, attempt to teleport to the bridge and overwhelm Voyager's crew. During these raids, Ensign Kim tries a new tactic: he sends a feedback loop pulse to the Swarm, causing most of the ships attached to Voyager to be destroyed. The Swarm backs off and they continue on their way, unabated.

Thanks to Kes convincing the Zimmerman hologram that The Doctor must be saved, The Doctor's program is fixed by overlaying a holomatrix from the Zimmerman hologram. This process restabilizes the program's circuits and appears to have at least partially kept most of The Doctor's memories intact. The Doctor does not remember any of his personal relationships but still remembers his opera.

Memorable Quotes

"Computer, pause music."<br\> "What now?"<br\> "I just forgot the words."<br\> "I have so far never forgotten the lyric, that's the difference between amateur and professionali."<br\> "It's just a momentary lapse, no need to over-react."<br\> "I want another partner!"<br\> "Addio, (goodbye), Madam, next time I'll take my chances with Maria Callas! Computer, delete the diva."<br\> "Imbecille, penso veramente... (Imbecile, I think truly...)" as her program goes offline.<br\>

- The Doctor and Giuseppina Pentangeli


"All the sopranos seem to have the most irritating personalities. These women are arrogant, superior, condescending; I can't imagine anyone behaving that way."

- The Doctor


"What did that do?"<br\> "I'm blind! I can't see!"<br\> "Okay."<br\> "That is extremely disconcerting; please don't do it again!"

- B'Elanna Torres and The Doctor


"Don't touch that!"

- Dr. Zimmerman


"He's a sick man. This is where sick people come."

- The Doctor referring to a patient and Sickbay


"I'm a diagnostic tool, not an engineer!"

- Dr. Zimmerman


"I can see where you get your charming personality."<br\> "Not to mention my hairline."

- B'Elanna Torres and The Doctor


"We are aware of that option. Would it be possible to expand his memory circuits instead?"<br\> "Of course. Schedule it for your next maintenance layover at McKinley Station."<br\> "I'm afraid that isn't possible - we're thousands of lightyears from Federation space."<br\> "Well, there's nothing more I can do. Either reinitialise it or live with the knowledge that eventually this EMH will end up with the intellectual capacity of a parsnip."<br\> "(panicking) What are you saying?!"

- B'Elanna Torres, Dr. Zimmerman and The Doctor

Background information

  • This is the only episode of Star Trek: Voyager that Michael Sussman wrote alone as well as the only episode of Voyager's third season that he worked on. Having previously contributed the story for the second season installment "Meld", Sussman - following his work here - later went on to co-write nine subsequent episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and twenty-two of Enterprise.
  • Actor Robert Picardo believed The Doctor's condition in this episode was analogous to Alzheimer's Disease. In fact, the episode may have been partly conceived of as such an analogy. Shortly before Voyager's third season began its initial airing, Robert Picardo (who had been informed of the episode prior to working on it) enthused, "We're doing an interesting Alzheimer's analogy which I'm very excited about [....] It's a very interesting script idea [....] I'm very thrilled by the analogy with an obviously readily identifiable Human condition and it should be a very exciting story." (Star Trek Monthly issue 20) Picardo also commented, "It's a very interesting story with a clear parallel to Alzheimer's Disease in humans." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #10)
  • It was Robert Picardo himself who originally came up with the idea of having The Doctor sing. "That came from a wild suggestion of mine that was taken seriously," Picardo noted. (Star Trek Monthly issue 20) He made the suggestion more than a year before working on this episode. Shortly after completing this work, he said, "On a humorous level, I suggested to Jeri Taylor over a year ago that the Doctor develop an interest in opera. That just seemed so wildly inappropriate." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #10) In addition, Picardo himself also provided The Doctor's singing voice for this episode. (Star Trek: Voyager Companion) The actor subsequently said of his character's singing, "I think that's a fun element, that the Doctor now has something he does in his discretionary time, like any other crewman on the ship. So, I hope we bring that back." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #10)
  • Robert Picardo found that playing both The Doctor and the holographic Dr. Zimmerman in this episode was "interesting." He jokingly added, "I was the guest star. Now I can complain and bitch about what a jerk the co-star was." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine', issue #10)
  • Torres actress Roxann Dawson enjoyed her character's scenes with The Doctor in this episode. "That was a great opportunity to work with Bob Picardo and to explore B'Elanna's relationship with the Doctor," the actress enthused. "I liked the fact that he's a character who's starting to affect me for the first time. I loved the fact that, to B'Elanna, he had always been just a computer, and in this episode she got to see he had this... humanity." She also said of their relationship, "I love the fact that the Doctor can tick me off so much at one moment, but at other moments there is an element of respect, when he does something that impresses me. For example, when I thought we were losing him and his memory [i.e., in this episode], I suddenly realize that I need him, that he has grown on me." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #12) Robert Picardo also enjoyed the scenes of this episode that involve both The Doctor and B'Elanna Torres, describing them as "some good moments." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine', issue #10)
  • From this episode onward, Foundation Imaging became the regular CGI supplier for Star Trek: Voyager. CGI effects designer Ron Thornton said of Foundation, "The first episode that we did spaceship work on for Voyager was 'The Swarm,' where thousands of little spaceships ended up attacking Voyager." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #16)
  • The real Zimmerman would later be seen in DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume" and VOY: "Life Line".
  • A screen with different noses, eyes and ears is seen in the Jupiter Station lab. It also features facial features with blue skin, so it can be assumed that Doctor Lewis Zimmerman worked with Andorian or Bolian holograms (or holograms of other blue-skinned species).
  • This episode marks the first time anybody says "EMH".
  • Following the appearance of The Doctor singing in this episode, several subsequent episodes feature The Doctor singing with vocals that were, as in this episode, provided by Robert Picardo himself. (Star Trek: Voyager Companion)
  • Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres begin a flirtation in the teaser of this episode that, as the series progresses, ultimately develops into them becoming married and having a daughter, Miral Paris. Commenting on that scene of this episode when interviewed later in the third season, Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill said, "'The Swarm' was fun for me because I had my first little flirting scene with B'Elanna in that one. I see that they're going to develop that somehow. They're going to do it slow and steady, I think. I'm looking forward to seeing how that develops." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #11)
  • In a conversation between The Doctor and Kes, they reference The Doctor's activation, as seen in VOY: "Caretaker", as well as The Doctor having massaged Kes' feet while she considered having a child, which occurs in VOY: "Elogium".
  • This episode is the second in a row (after "The Chute") to feature Tom Paris being gravely wounded.
  • Although this episode takes place before VOY: "Future's End", according to The Doctor's comments, the stardates suggest otherwise.
  • Robert Picardo initially thought that the predicament in which The Doctor is left at the end of this episode would affect future episodes. While he was under this impression, he stated, "I think that the audience has a sense, when they see me, of what I am and what I'm likely to mean to the weekly story. It's a nice feeling that my character seems defined. So, of course, we're throwing a monkey wrench into all of that." Again referring to this episode, he observed, "At the very end [...] everything is very up in the air. It's a great concept and it presents an interesting challenge to me as an actor, because I may have to start the character over from scratch." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #10) About a year later (during production on Voyager's fourth season), Picardo commented, "There's a tremendous desire among the makers of our show to keep things self-contained. They don't like to serialize that much and, if they do, it's only as a two-parter. They tend not to carry arcs through a number of episodes. So, we really had to throw out the whole notion of the Doctor losing all of his memory, being rebooted and having to redevelop his personality. We couldn't really follow through with that in a way that I would have hoped we would. It was still a strong episode and an acting challenge for me, but I do regret somewhat that we couldn't have carried the aftermath of that experience through a number of episodes." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #18)
  • At some point after he learned that Paris would be gravely injured in this episode, Robert Duncan McNeill complained to Voyager's team of writer-producers. "I said to the producers, 'I thought we were going to make me an action hero this year, not a victim,'" McNeill explained. "I [kept] winding up on the verge of death." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #11)

Video and DVD releases

Links and references

Starring

Also starring

Guest star

Co-stars

Uncredited co-stars

References

adaptive heuristic matrix; algorithm; analgesic; antimatter reaction chamber; autonomic nervous system; axon; Bristow, Freddy; Callas, Maria; Caruso, Enrico; cascade failure; Christmas tree; cortical analeptic; Diagnostic Program Alpha 1-1; dilithium matrix; duck; Emergency Medical Hologram; Emergency Medical System; ethorin pulse; evasive pattern gamma-4; Freni, Mirella; galactic background noise; Galli-Curci, Amelita; gigahertz; gigaquad; high school; holo-array; holographic matrix; hydrocortilene; inflammation; interferometric pulse; Jupiter Station; Jupiter Station Holoprogramming Center; Lake Como; level 4 diagnostic; level 4 memory fragmentation; matrix overlay; McKinley Station; memory circuit; Mislen; Mislenite; Mislenite freighter; motor cortex reconstruction; myelin; myelin regenerator; neural pathway; neuroelectric weapon; neuron; O, Soave Fanciulla; occipital lobe; opera; optical subroutine; parsnip; Parrises squares; Pavarotti, Luciano; physician; polaron burst; preganglionic fiber; Program Zimmerman Alpha-1; refraction pulse; retinal imager; resonance particle wave; sensor net; shield frequency; shield polarity; snake; Soral; somatic nervous system; spinal column; subroutine; Swarm species; Swarm species vessel; synapse; T'Penna; Tabran monk; tachyon detection grid; tenor; universal translator; vasoconstrictor; yellow dwarf; Zimmerman, Lewis

Previous episode:
"The Chute"
Star Trek: Voyager
Season 3
Next episode:
"False Profits"
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