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Space is full of “Heroes and Demons” but we never knew they’d be holograms. The latest episode of Star Trek: Voyager has the Doctor sent into the holodeck to save Harry Kim and others and to interact with his “own people”, the holograms onboard the ship’s computer. Is Beowulf the story that the Doctor needed?
The Wikipedia plot summary for “Heroes and Demons”:
The crew encounters a protostar and Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) decides to have samples beamed aboard for use as a potential power source. A problem occurs when beaming the samples to Voyager. Janeway recommends to B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) that she should have Ensign Harry Kim‘s (Garrett Wang) assistance, but he is discovered to be missing. The crew finds his holodeck program, based on the epic poem Beowulf, still running. With each person sent into the holodeck also becoming lost, Captain Janeway sends in the Doctor (Robert Picardo) to investigate, under the assumption that as an immaterial hologram, he cannot be dematerialized in the way the missing crew had been. The Doctor shows signs of nervousness when preparing for his first “away” mission, so Kes (Jennifer Lien) encourages him to take a name to embolden him with having an identity of his own. He states that he has narrowed his choices to three but does not reveal them.
Once in the holodeck, the Doctor meets Freya (Marjorie Monaghan), a shieldmaiden, and introduces himself as “Schweitzer”. She takes him to the hall, where he is made to prove himself before the others, and after a celebratory meal and everyone has retired to separate rooms, she reappears and suggests that, in the cold of the night when the fire in his hearth has gone out, he ought to join her. Though he dismisses her advances, he relaxes his inhibition in later scenes. Later they are confronted by Unferth (Christopher Neame), who kills Freya. She dies in Schweitzer’s arms. With her last words she speaks his name.
As the Doctor investigates, he realizes that alien energy lifeforms were beamed onto the ship within the containment field into which the protostar samples were transported. The missing crew members have been converted to energy by the lifeforms from the protostar, presumably as hostages in retaliation for Voyager‘s actions. The Doctor releases the energy lifeforms on the holodeck; in kind, the missing crew are returned to their original forms. Afterwards, upon reflection, the Doctor decides not to keep the name Schweitzer, as his memories associated with it are too painful.
In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss “Heroes and Demons” and Star Trek: Voyager going metal af. Plus! The guys chat about the Doctor and other holograms, negotiations with aliens, and holo-novels of choice.