[kevin]

I guess the simplest answer is that I could in no way care about the character.

I understand why the show had a character like that in the mix, of course, but obviously there has to be an in-road to care about a character and for me the EMH had nothing whatsoever to make me care.

[Roysten]

I suppose the audience are suppose to be empathetic towards the crews initial treatment of him as an object rather than a person, thinking about it that's justified to begin with as that's precisely what he is.

I guess his grouchy manner may prevent some people sympathising with him more. This the case with you you reckon?

[chator]

Originally Posted by kevin

Sorry, I really have no care for the Doc period. I wanted to delete him very quickly and even at that his style of arc had been done already in Trek.

Just little to get warmed up over for me, I'm afraid.

You never cared for Voyager period, so I'm not surprised you didn't care for the Doctor. But he was one of the "better" characters on Voyager, at least, in the beginning. I didn't like how his character developed into becoming part of the Voyager family. I liked him better in the beginning of the show, when he got easily annoyed by the crew, but his character was destined to evolve in typical Star Trek fashion. The only problem i have with it, is that once Seven climbed on board, we now had two characters undergoing a journey of discovery into becoming more human, on a show with only 7 characters.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by chator

You never cared for Voyager period, so I'm not surprised you didn't care for the Doctor.

I'm certainly not about to deny that.

But he was one of the "better" characters on Voyager, at least, in the beginning. I didn't like how his character developed into becoming part of the Voyager family. I liked him better in the beginning of the show, when he got easily annoyed by the crew, but his character was destined to evolve in typical Star Trek fashion. The only problem i have with it, is that once Seven climbed on board, we now had two characters undergoing a journey of discovery into becoming more human, on a show with only 7 characters.

Adding Seven did seem to double up on that particular journey.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by Roysten

I suppose the audience are suppose to be empathetic towards the crews initial treatment of him as an object rather than a person, thinking about it that's justified to begin with as that's precisely what he is.

I guess his grouchy manner may prevent some people sympathising with him more. This the case with you you reckon?

No, I have a fondness for grouchy doctors! I think I'm in the minority anyway when it comes to not being fond of the character anyway but his attitude wasn't any kind of problem.

[Roysten]

Originally Posted by kevin

No, I have a fondness for grouchy doctors! I think I'm in the minority anyway when it comes to not being fond of the character anyway but his attitude wasn't any kind of problem.

Guess you probably are in a bit of a minority but I guess that's the nice thing about Star Trek, plenty of characters and shows to suit everyone

[kevin]

Originally Posted by Roysten

Guess you probably are in a bit of a minority but I guess that's the nice thing about Star Trek, plenty of characters and shows to suit everyone

Exactly! There's enough to go around!

[HippyDave]

Originally Posted by kevin

[The Doc's] style of arc had been done already in Trek.

This.

I thought the Doc was a great character - I thought Picardo was little short of spectacular throughout - but I liked him a lot more in the earlier days when he was (for lack of a better phrase) less well adjusted to dealing with his crewmates. He wasn't always the comic relief back then, and his experiences as he developed were often touching and humanising.

Unfortunately, around late season 5/early season 6, the writers decided to make his stories overly wacky/zany, and I lost interest in the character. They did something very interesting with the Flesh & Blood two-parter (Picardo again excellent throughout), but by then the damage was done.

Overall I think Spock/Data/Odo/Seven/T'Pol had more interesting and very similar character arcs.

[Roysten]

Originally Posted by HippyDave

Overall I think Spock/Data/Odo/Seven/T'Pol had more interesting and very similar character arcs.

Each character had great development and whilst similar you can't just make direct comparisons saying they all developed the same way.

Do agree though in that the Doctors development turned a bit gimmicky in the later seasons, I reckon that's more to do with the fact that he went from the student to the teacher with Kes's departure and Seven's arrival.

[HRH The KING]

His character was popular because it was the least bland.

Other than the Doc and Tom Paris, the rest of the characters sounded like robots (Seven, Janeway, Tuvok, Harry Kim, Chuckles), or were obnoxious (like Neelix, Belanna Torres).