Robert Picardo's The Doctor: Star Trek's Answer To Star Wars' Yoda In Starfleet Academy

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The Doctor EMH Picardo in Starfleet Academy

John Orquiola is a New & Classic TV Editor, Senior Writer, and Interviewer with a special focus on Star Trek. John has over 4,000 published articles at SR, and he has interviewed the biggest names in Star Trek on the red carpet and VIP events, among other beloved shows, movies, and franchises.

Robert Picardo gives Star Trek: Starfleet Academy an equal to Star Wars' beloved Yoda after 46 years. Picardo reprises The Doctor, the grumpy Emergency Medical Hologram from Star Trek: Voyager, in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which premieres with two episodes on January 15 on Paramount+.

The Doctor in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the same EMH who served as Chief Medical Officer aboard the USS Voyager for seven years in Star Trek: Voyager. The Doctor then became a mentor to the young crew of the USS Protostar in Star Trek: Prodigy, splitting his time between Starfleet Academy and as CMO of the new USS Voyager-A.

In a cover feature story on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy in SFX Magazine, Robert Picardo reiterated his joke that playing the 800-year-old Doctor makes him "the Yoda of Star Trek."

Picardo also discussed his trepidation at reprising the EMH, and how "800 years of digital memory where the memory of a beloved colleague from 793 years ago is as fresh and clear as someone you saw yesterday," impacts the EMH's personality. Read SFX's interview with Bob here:

Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) was introduced in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back as the ancient Jedi Master who trained Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in the ways of the Force. Yoda was over 800 years old, and in a stroke of genius by George Lucas, the diminutive, backwards-talking green alien defied expectations as an unlikely candidate to be a powerful Jedi Master.

Continuously online since the late 24th century, The Doctor is nearly as old as Yoda in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, which takes place in the late 32nd century after Star Trek: Discovery's series finale. The Doctor doubles as Chief Medical Officer of the USS Athena and as an instructor to the first class of Starfleet Academy cadets to study in San Francisco since The Burn 120 years prior.

Before his exile, after Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) turned the Republic into the Galactic Empire, Yoda trained countless young Jedi on Coruscant. The Doctor finds himself in a similar position in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, as he mentors an eclectic crop of alien Starfleet cadets, including SAM (Kerrice Brooks), a fellow holographic lifeform.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is a key part of Star Trek's 60th anniversary celebration in 2026, while Star Wars turns 50 in 2027. Star Trek and Star Wars have engaged in a friendly sci-fi rivalry for decades, but they also draw inspiration from each other. It will be fascinating to watch Robert Picardo's Doctor become "the Yoda" for the next generation of Starfleet heroes.