Character Insight No. 288: Danara Pel

Welcome back to Character Insight! This week, we cover Danara Pel, a recurring character from Voyager.

https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp288 

Danara Pel is a doctor from the Vidiian race who appears in a couple episodes of Voyager.  In Lifesigns, which focuses primarily on her, she is seen in her role as a doctor treating many of her fellow Vidiians who have contracted the Phage.  She herself has had the Phage since childhood, and it is beginning to break down the brain tissue connected to her cortical stimulator when she contacts Voyager for help.

The Doctor saves her by putting her real body in stasis and her brain patterns into a holographic body so that he can work with her and use her expertise on the Phage.  She ends up falling in love with the Doctor, and it almost leads to her sabotaging her real body's treatment because she doesn't want to go back to dealing with the Phage.  However, the Doctor still shows compassion for her regardless of her appearance, which is a good lesson for viewers as well as her.

QUOTE (from Lifesigns)

Pel calls the Doctor Shmullus, which was the name on one of her favorite uncles from childhood.  The Doctor refers to himself a few times by this name, calling back to this episode and his brief relation with Pel.  In the episode Resolutions, the Doctor reaches back out to Pel to help him treat a poisonous insect bite that Janeway and Chakotay have contracted, and she is able to provide the antiviral serum they need before they suffer permanent damage.

It might be inferred that the romantic relationship between the Doctor and Pel turned into a sexual relationship, as he later indicates in another episode that he has engaged in such activity but Pel is the only character to that point we see that close with him.  Regardless, Pel is the only character in her holographic form that we see who is a healthy Vidiian without the Phage.  Perhaps someday her race can return to that state, if the efforts of this doctor are any success.

Pel provided an interesting story to add some depth to the holographic Doctor, but she also taught viewers some valuable lessons about life, including dealing with disease and appearances.  She therefore provides a key character central to one of the best episodes of this series.

Danara Pel was played by Susan Diol.  Diol has acted in countless TV shows and movies over a 30 year career, including in the TNG episode Silicon Avatar.  One of her most notable appearances is as Audrey, George's girlfriend with the big nose in the Seinfeld episode The Nose Job.

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