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Robert Picardo doesn’t think the EMH and Seven of Nine belonged together

By Rachel Carrington

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 08: Robert Picardo attends "Star Trek" Day on September 08, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount+)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 08: Robert Picardo attends "Star Trek" Day on September 08, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount+) /
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Robert Picardo played the EMH on Star Trek: Voyager for seven seasons.

In season four of Star Trek: Voyager, the Emergency Medical Hologram (Robert PIcardo) lost the one individual he was closest to on the ship—Kes (Jennifer Lien). Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), an ex-Borg drone, arrived to essentially take Kes’ place, leaving the doctor without a mentor, someone to help him develop his humanity while he taught her medical skills. Picardo was concerned as to where this would leave The Doctor until he managed to flip things around by suggesting he be the one to teach Seven of Nine what it’s like to be human.

Over the course of the next four seasons, The Doctor and Seven grew closer, even to the point where he found himself developing feelings for her in the season five episode “Someone to Watch Over Me” when he was teaching her about dating. But the feeling was unrequited, and that is just fine with Picardo who, in an interview with Startrek.com, said he didn’t think it would have been appropriate for The Doctor and Seven to end up together.

Robert Picardo thought the EMH’s relationship with Seven of Nine was best left as it was.

Though plenty of fans were onboard for an EMH/Seven romance, Picard wasn’t one of them. He said there was a lot of teasing about them ending up together, but he considers it much better “to have the audience wish for something than for it to actually happen.”  So he does not wish the pair had ended up as a couple.

Picardo was right in that it wouldn’t have been appropriate for The Doctor and Seven of Nine to be together as a couple. He was, essentially, her doctor as much as he was her friend. He was privy to more information about her than any other crew member aboard Voyager. That would have made a relationship more than a little awkward, and though I’m certainly not glad that the series ended with Seven of Nine in a relationship with Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran), Seven of Nine needed The Doctor as a friend. And he needed her.

Next. Robert Picardo has a pitch to play The Doctor again in a Star Trek series. dark

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