The Doctor experiments with creating a virtual family for himself while
Voyager investigates what amounts to a "space tornado".
This episode provides examples of
- Aesop Amnesia: The events of "Darkling" haven't stopped the Doctor tinkering with his program, though it's probably why B'Elanna is double-checking his handiwork.
- Back Tracking: Tom decides the only way out of the twister is the same way he came in, through one of the eddies.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: An obligatory trope in Women Warriors at the River of Blood.
Paris: (reading) Rork turned his fierce eye upon her, and B'Neah felt her heart begin to quicken, even as her hand went to her dagger. She had intended to plunge it into his throat, but something about him made her hesitate... B'Elanna, is this a Klingon Romance novel?
Torres: Klingons do have what you might call a romantic side. It's a bit more vigorous than most.
- Call-Back:
- Remember in "The Cloud" how the Doctor sarcastically suggested that he might "create a family or raise an army"? One down, one to go.
- The Doctor mentions his previous experience with romantic relationships ("Lifesigns" and "Heroes and Demons").
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Tom as he flies into the twister, earning a smile of approval from Team Mom.
- Control Freak: The Doctor's 'solution' when his wholesome Fifties TV family changes to an unruly Nineties family.
- Daddy's Girl: Even after B'Elanna's tweaking, Belle is shown to be quite close to her 'father'. This makes her eventual death all the more hard for him.
- Death Glare: Tom catches them from Chakotay and B'Elanna (who's just been knocked off her feet) after saying the space turbulence they're riding is kinda fun.
- Death of a Child: One of the things B'Elanna programmed into the second iteration of The Doctor's family is that Anyone Can Die in it. As it turns out, his daughter becomes the one who dies, and this affects the Doctor to the point where he has difficulty going through with watching her die.
- Delinquent Hair: After B'Elanna's modifications, Doc's son is wearing a Klingon hairdo. At least it wasn't Kazon.
- Do Androids Dream?: In this case, dream of having a family.
- Did They or Didn't They?: The Doctor boasts of having sexual relations in a later episode, making one wonder how seriously he took his patriarchal responsibilities.
- Downer Ending: The Doctor's 'daughter' dies.
- Dysfunctional Family: The second iteration of The Doctor's family.
- Eldritch Location: After Tom is pulled into the eye of the space twister.
Janeway: Where are you?
- Fashionable Asymmetry: B'Elanna is wearing a single sidelock braid, though it only appears in this episode. Perhaps it's actually a love knot?
- Fantastic Radiation Shielding: A single hypospray injection is enough to protect Tom from radiation poisoning.
- For Science!: Why Captain Janeway insists on Voyager chasing after a dangerous phenomenon. That and their constant need for another power source.
- Group Hug: The episode ends on the Doctor hugging his grieving family.
- In Harm's Way: Tom's addiction to danger is lampshaded by the Doctor.
- Incessant Music Madness: Jeffrey is playing loud Klingon rock music.
- I Want My Mommy!: When The Doctor won't help his daughter Belle find her ion mallet, she starts shouting "You're mean! I want my mommy here! She'd help me find my mallet! I want mommy! I want mommy! I want mommy! I want mommy!"
- Leave No Man Behind: Janeway refuses to take Voyager away from the eddy before rescuing Tom.
- Life Will Kill You: As the Doctor discovers.
- Mandatory Line: Ethan Phillips griped over just having a short conversation about food in this episode.
- Misery Builds Character: The Doctor has created a hologram family to experience a new aspect of humanity. But when his daughter suffers a mortal wound in an accident and is dying, the Doctor suspends the program. Paris points out to him that normal humans don't get to evade the negative aspects of life and persuades the Doctor to see the program to completion and say goodbye to his daughter.
- Mood Whiplash: Big time with the Doctor's family. There's a lot of humor to be had in their first two appearances, where even their clothes are something straight out of The Brady Bunch. The Doctor's exasperation after B'Elanna's modifications to the program is still funny, as he tries to adapt as things start to go off the rails. Especially when Belle proves to be a Little Miss Snarker par excellence. It starts to shift a bit towards the serious when he learns his son intends to attack someone as part of a Klingon "blooding" ritual. And then it leaps straight to tragedy when Belle suffers a fatal injury playing Parrises Squares.
- Negative Space Wedgie: The "astral eddy" (space tornado).
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Averted, after Tom Paris tells The Doctor that he may never get the chance to say goodbye to his daughter if he stops running the program before he does.
- Oh, Crap!: Tom's expression when he sees a huge piece of debris flying towards him. Fortunately the shuttle's forcefield stops it.
- Purity Sue: In-universe with the Doctor's family. His wife and children are so ridiculously perfect that B'Elanna freezes the program to tell the Doctor. She adjusts the program to make his family more realistic.
- The Quincy Punk: The Klingon version, Larg and K'kath.
- Recycled In Space: Voyager encounters a space tornado. And yes, Twister had screened
just the year before. - Robo Family: In this case a holographic AI family. However the trope is not played straight as the Doctor's family is not self-aware like he is.
- Ship Tease: Tom busts B'Elanna reading a racy Klingon romance novel Women Warriors at the River of Blood. He decides to read it as well, because it might give him some tips on what turns B'Elanna on. B'Elanna responds with flirtatious banter.
- Shout-Out: The Doctor's family trooping down the stairs as per The Brady Bunch.
- Sickeningly Sweet: The first iteration of The Doctor's family was just too perfect for B'Elanna Torres to tolerate. She even lampshades it by saying that her sugar levels are going to overload.
- Stanford Prison Experiment: The Doctor becomes so invested in his 'family' that when his daughter is dying, he's devastated.
- Subtext:
- When the Doctor starts venting about Tom's irresponsibility, he quickly works out that Doc's holographic family is proving a handful.
- B'Elanna and Tom's own upbringing undoubtedly influences their reaction to the Doctor's holonovel. Tom is a "Well Done, Son" Guy who disappointed his strict father, while B'Elanna thinks her childhood just sucked. B'Elanna throws the Doctor's life into chaos, while Tom urges him to reconcile with the bad events of his program.
- Swirly Energy Thingy: An astral eddy.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Tom arrives to the Mess Hall, and is dejected that Neelix is serving pleeka rind casserole again for the fourth day in a row. He gets served a plate of food and sits down to talk with B'Elanna, but after a couple moments the Negative Space Wedgie shows up and they both rush off, leaving the plate of food untouched. Then again, given how much Tom was looking forward to eating it, it's really not that terrible of a loss.
- True Companions: Tom lampshades the trope when convincing the Doctor to finish his program.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: In this case the Crisis of the Week is just to add some excitement, whereas the real focus is on the Doctor's story.
- Unknown Phenomenon
Chakotay: I'm not afraid to say it, but I've never seen anything like that before.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: The Doctor's attitude before entering Torres' modified program. After all he's fully programmed in pediatric care and has previous experience in romantic relationships.
- You Look Familiar: In-Universe(?) - The Doctor seems to have copied the physical parameters of Beatrice Burleigh from Janeway's gothic holodeck program (Janeway Lambda-1) for his daughter, Belle.
