Renaissance Man (Voyager episode)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Star Trek: VOY episode
"Renaissance Man"
Chakotay
Episode no.	170
Prod. code	270
Airdate	May 16, 2001
Writer(s)	Phyllis Strong Mike Sussman
Director	Mike Vejar
Guest star(s)	Alexander Enberg as Vorik Andy Milder as Nar Wayne Thomas Yorke as Zet David Sparrow as Alien/Doctor Tarik Ergin as Tactical Officer J. R. Quinonez as Overlooker/Doctor
Year	2377
Stardate	54890.7
Episode chronology
Previous	"Homestead"
Next	"Endgame"

"Renaissance Man" is an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the penultimate episode of the series.

[edit] Plot summary

Captain Kathryn Janeway and the Doctor return from a conference aboard the Delta Flyer saying that they ran into trouble.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Chakotay is suspicious of Janeway's story that the R'Kaal ordered her to surrender Voyager's warp core and that she is giving in. It turns out that in fact the Doctor is impersonating Janeway. He impersonates several other crew members to get the core ejected and gives it over to two aliens who've defected from the Hierarchy so they will release Janeway, who they've held captive. The Doctor leaves Voyager disabled and with The Blue Danube playing over and over again in a distorted recording. Seven of Nine figures that the Doctor has left a clue as to where he was going. Tuvok and Tom Paris chase him in a shuttle.

The aliens do not release Janeway as promised. It is only by a clever ploy from Tuvok and Paris that Voyager is able to retrieve its warp core, shuttles and officers.

Back on Voyager, the Doctor, on the verge of a fatal malfunction, confesses many of his feelings about the crew: that he is in love with Seven, that he has kept a record of Janeway's command decisions which he thinks are mistakes, etc. B'Elanna Torres stabilizes him just in the nick of time, but the Doctor, embarrassed by all he has said, confines himself to sickbay for a week.

Spoilers end here.

As the penultimate episode of the series at least two crossover sci-fi references are made. Firstly, a nearby species is referred to as "mostly harmless" - a reference to the description of Humans in Douglas Adams' work The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And secondly, the Doctor's choice of music to play throughout the ship after his departure (the Blue Danube) is in reference to a scene in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey showing objects orbiting earth.