Because of his original purpose, it makes sense that the Doctor wouldn’t have held a Starfleet rank during Voyager.

However, in Prodigy, he still doesn’t have pips. This leads to my questions:

  • Can a self-aware hologram hold rank or a non-com position in Starfleet?
  • If so, how would the Doctor attaib it?

According to the STO wiki, he doesn’t wear them by choice but does have a rank. That might be a reasonable explanation; I can’t imagine Janeway not at least trying to field commission him.

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
1 point

In Voyager, he’s shown to have pips. In fact, switching him over to Command mode shows a deliberate animation of pips showing up on hid collar.

However, it is possible that this is something that only applied on the Voyager thanks to their excsptional circumstances, and regular Starfleet doesn’t recognise it as a “proper” rank.

  • Can a self-aware hologram hold rank or a non-com position in Starfleet?

Technically, yes, in practice, it would be a bit more complicated. A lot of the Federation still has issues around recognising the personhood of inorganics, and a good many of them would hold the early Voyager attitude of seeing him as a regular hologram/tool that the Voyager got too attached to, like the Enterprise did with their Data.

  • If so, how would the Doctor attaib it?

The regular way, in theory. The ranking system technically doesn’t change depending on what species you are, other than some minor twiddling to account for your species’ characteristics.

It would be silly to expect a species who can’t speak to give verbal commands, for example, or give them a crew who is not receptive to telepathy.

In practice, there’s a lot more complications, like how the crew of the Sutherland nearly mutinied against Data because they believed him to be a dispassionate computer weighing lives at data points.

permalink
report
reply
2 points
*

In Voyager, he’s shown to have pips. In fact, switching him over to Command mode shows a deliberate animation of pips showing up on hid collar.

The EMH is never shown with pips on Voyager. The “ECH” was shown with pips appearing on its first appearance, however:

spoiler

The entire ECH subroutine was created as the result of The Doctor’s daydreaming, so the visualisation of a rank appearing out of thin air makes sense in that context.

The only other time the ECH mode was used in a genuine emergency (Season 7, Episodes 16/17), he did not have pips.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Daystrom Institute

!daystrominstitute@startrek.website

Create post

Welcome to Daystrom Institute!

Serious, in-depth discussion about Star Trek from both in-universe and real world perspectives.

Read more about how to comment at Daystrom.

Rules

1. Explain your reasoning

All threads and comments submitted to the Daystrom Institute must contain an explanation of the reasoning put forth.

2. No whinging, jokes, memes, and other shallow content.

This entire community has a “serious tag” on it. Shitposts are encouraged in Risa.

3. Be diplomatic.

Participate in a courteous, objective, and open-minded fashion. Be nice to other posters and the people who make Star Trek. Disagree respectfully and don’t gatekeep.

4. Assume good faith.

Assume good faith. Give other posters the benefit of the doubt, but report them if you genuinely believe they are trolling. Don’t whine about “politics.”

5. Tag spoilers.

Historically Daystrom has not had a spoiler policy, so you may encounter untagged spoilers here. Ultimately, avoiding online discussion until you are caught up is the only certain way to avoid spoilers.

6. Stay on-topic.

Threads must discuss Star Trek. Comments must discuss the topic raised in the original post.

Episode Guides

The /r/DaystromInstitute wiki held a number of popular Star Trek watch guides. We have rehosted them here:

Community stats

  • 62

    Monthly active users

  • 39

    Posts

  • 166

    Comments