Starfleet Academy is the biggest new entry in the Star Trek franchise in a long while, and the show has a fresh young cast with a few familiar faces in it. The biggest is Robert Picardo as the holographic EMH Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Prodigy, now a teacher at the Academy. While fun to have him around, there is the obvious question of how Picardo can play the role at his age.
Speaking with SFX Magazine, Picardo revealed that the question of his age would be answered in a unique way: the EMH added a subroutine to his program to make him appear older over time. Picardo also talked about having second thoughts about returning as The Doctor because of his age. The actor said via Cinemablend:
"Well, you always do, because Voyager is a well-loved iteration of Star Trek. There’s a question of how the fans will accept me as a character who, in theory, never changes, even though the actor playing their beloved hologram is 30 years older, a little heavier, a little shorter."
This is a clever way to acknowledge Picardo being older. Trek has played with this before, as on Picard, Q (John de Lancie) briefly appeared as he did on The Next Generation, using de-aging tech. Upon seeing an older Jean-Luc Picard, Q changed himself to look older as well. Likewise, the show came up with an explanation for how android Data could appear as an aged Brent Spiner.
It’s a good touch that adds to The Doctor’s appeal at Starfleet Academy. (Continued...)