Before Robert Picardo took over as The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager, the titular ship had a human Chief Medical Officer played by an actor who first appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation. After the USS Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and her crew spent the next seven years fighting to get back home. Voyager’s initial arrival in the Delta Quadrant was not without casualties, and the ship’s Chief Medical Officer and all of his medical team were killed during the ship’s transport.

As a result of this unnamed doctor’s death, the surviving crew members activate the Emergency Medical Hologram to care for the wounded. Although the EMH was not designed to serve as a Cheif Medical Officer or to run indefinitely, Voyager had no other officers with the necessary medical experience. So, Robert Picardo’s EMH became Voyager’s Doctor, and his journey to become more than his programming became a running theme of the show. After his untimely death, Voyager’s original CMO may have been largely forgotten in the chaos that followed, but he was portrayed by Jeff McCarthy, who had previously appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Jeff McCarthy Played Star Trek: Voyager’s Original Doctor Before Robert Picardo

Voyager had a human doctor before Robert Picardo’s EMH took over.

In Star Trek: Voyager’s two-part premiere, Captain Janeway sets off on her first mission in command of the USS Voyager. She has been tasked with finding the missing Maquis vessel, the Val Jean, on which Lieutenant Tuvok (Tim Russ) has been working undercover. When Voyager sets off, the ship has a full crew complement, complete with an unnamed Chief Medical Officer portrayed by Jeff McCarthy. Before Voyager departed space station Deep Space 9, this doctor performed physicals on some of Voyager’s crew members, including Tom Paris.

The CMO had heard of Tom Paris and his past work as a mercenary for the Maquis, and he made no effort to hide his obvious dislike of Paris. He even warned Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) to stay away from Paris, advice Kim would thankfully ignore. When the powerful entity known as the Caretaker sent Voyager to the Delta Quadrant, the ride was a turbulent one, and an exploding console in sickbay killed the CMO. His entire medical staff was killed as well, leaving Robert Picardo’s EMH program as Voyager’s only experienced doctor.

Jeff McCarthy Also Played Former Soldier Roga Danar in Star Trek: TNG’s “The Hunted”

Roga Danar was an interesting character who never appeared again.

Jeff McCarthy had previously appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 3, episode 11, “The Hunted” as escaped prisoner Roga Danar. In “The Hunted,” Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the USS Enterprise-D visit Angosia III to evaluate the planet for potential entry into the Federation. While there, a supposedly dangerous criminal named Roga Danar breaks out of a nearby prison. The Enterprise aids in the pursuit and capture of Danar, only to learn that the man is a soldier who was used and discarded by the Angosian people.

Captain Picard confronts the Angosian leader and learns that they created genetically enhanced soldiers to fight their wars, but later imprisoned the soldiers rather than help them return to civilian life. Danar then single-handedly escapes from the Enterprise, eventually traveling back to the prison to help several fellow inmates and former soldiers escape. When the soldiers storm the capital, Picard implores the Angosian leader to hear them out, saying the Federation cannot get involved in their affairs. Jeff McCarthy makes Danar a compelling character, and it’s a shame the actor only returned for such a brief stint on Star Trek: Voyager.