https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp218
Although the holodeck is a piece of technology that was overused as a story-telling crutch in some iterations of Star Trek, it did give us some interesting ancillary characters who showed up on a recurring basis. Perhaps the first of these is Dr. Moriarty from TNG, but a sillier version is this Doctor Chaotica from Voyager.
Doctor Chaotica is a sworn enemy of the planet Earth in the comic book-like holodeck program Captain Proton. This is a 50's or 60's style black and white show, as portrayed on the screen. As you might expect, this is a favorite fantasy world escape for Tom Paris and Harry Kim during the Delta Quadrant voyage. Chaotica appears in three episodes, but he is most prevalent in an episode called Bride of Chaotica.
In that episode, the Voyager ship is stuck in subspace and photonic lifeforms encounter the ship, mistaking the Captain Proton holodeck program for the real personnel aboard the ship. Doctor Chaotica kills one of the aliens, beginning a war which can only be prevented by the crew taking some prominent roles in the Captain Proton story. This includes Tom and Harry as the usual protagonists, and also Captain Janeway as Queen Arachnia, who Doctor Choatica has a serious crush on. If it sounds ridiculous, it absolutely is, but you could tell Janeway and the other characters were reveling in the chance to act a stage play while also saving Voyager from a minor crisis.
QUOTE:
Dr. Chaotica: But this is my greatest achievement...the death ray.
Janeway (as Queen Arachnia): it looks like a formidable weapon.
Dr. Chaotica: the greatest in the cosmos.
Dr. Chaotica: But this is my greatest achievement...the death ray.
Janeway (as Queen Arachnia): it looks like a formidable weapon.
Dr. Chaotica: the greatest in the cosmos.
That story was also a little more believable than your average "holodeck gone mad" episode because the problems were brought on by aliens misinterpreting the technology on Voyager rather than a malfunction. Chaotica's other best appearance is in the season 7 episode Shattered, but he plays just a small role in that multiple timeframe or timeline episode. Nevertheless, it lets Janeway revisit the Queen Arachnia character once again.
Sometimes it is fun to have a silly supervillain rather than a serious conflict every single week on a Star Trek show. For that purpose, Doctor Chaotica was one of the best recurring characters, at least if you take those episodes in that frame of mind. Plus, it's also fun and understandable to want to revisit the good old days of simple comic book and television with clear bad guys and good guys, in view of the complex shades of gray real life is during Voyager's timeline as well as our own modern era.
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Contact me with segment suggestions @BuckeyeFitzy on Twitter! Thanks!
Sometimes it is fun to have a silly supervillain rather than a serious conflict every single week on a Star Trek show. For that purpose, Doctor Chaotica was one of the best recurring characters, at least if you take those episodes in that frame of mind. Plus, it's also fun and understandable to want to revisit the good old days of simple comic book and television with clear bad guys and good guys, in view of the complex shades of gray real life is during Voyager's timeline as well as our own modern era.
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Contact me with segment suggestions @BuckeyeFitzy on Twitter! Thanks!
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