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VOY · SEASON 55×11

Latent Image

NOMADIC PICK · ESSENTIAL VIEWINGThe Doctor's most powerful hour.
FIRST SHOWN (US)
20 January 1999
ON
UPN
STARDATE
None given
DIRECTED BY
Mike Vejar
PRODUCTION NO.
206

WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Joe Menosky; story by Eileen Connors and Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky

IN BRIEF

SPOILER-FREE

While taking holo-images of the crew, the Doctor finds evidence of an operation he cannot remember performing, and someone aboard Voyager seems determined to keep it that way.

SYNOPSIS

SPOILERS
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSISHIDE SYNOPSIS

During a routine medical scan, the Doctor discovers that Harry Kim once underwent brain surgery that only the Doctor could have performed, yet he has no memory of it. Digging through his files, he finds deleted images of an ensign named Ahni Jetal, whom he does not remember either. Each time he gets close to the truth, his memory is wiped again. Eventually Janeway admits what happened: after an earlier shuttle attack, Kim and Jetal were both critically injured, and the Doctor could save only one. He chose Harry, his friend, and the resulting guilt caused a feedback loop in his program that threatened to destroy him, so the crew erased the memory. Once restored, the memories send him into crisis again. Seven argues that the Doctor deserves the same chance to come to terms with his past as any person, and Janeway agrees, keeping vigil as he works through his grief.

DID YOU KNOW?

  1. 01The concept came from intern Eileen Connors, who pitched the holo-imager story. Brannon Braga added the latent image plot device.
  2. 02Robert Picardo has called it his favourite Voyager episode and the most important for the development of the Doctor.
  3. 03The name Jetal was first intended for a Betazoid in “Counterpoint”, who became Jurot instead, so the name was reused here.
SOURCES WE CHECKED