Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Message in a Bottle (1998) User Reviews

Fun and Important Episode

[Hughmanity · 10/10 · 26 December 2020]

Just a great episode all around but the Top 3 ways are:

1. Fun - Robert Picardo (Doctor) and Andy Dick (EMH2) engage in a very funny battle of the EMH egos but ultimately team up to save the day. The back and forth is great and had me lol'ing.

2. Space battle action - three Romulans and three Federation starships, plus the Prometheus with a triple-separation attack, gives us more pew pew pew than usual and fun to see the different ships in action.

3. Huge continuity moment in the series - up until now the only game changing thing that happened to Voyager's trip home was Kes shaving 10,000 light years off the trip as she 'transformed' (read: left the show). When the doctor is able to inform Starfleet that Voyager is in the Delta Quadrant and relay Starfleet's "you are no longer alone" message back to Voyager, the moment feels big. Kate Mulgrew (Janeway) really looks like she felt it deeply, and it's rewarding to the audience who've stuck with this show for 3.5 seasons to this episode.

A fun episode!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 21 February 2015]

Wow...talk about a strange but funny episode! This one is worth seeing and different. It begins with Seven of Nine discovering a communications array. Her thoughts are that it could be used to possibly communicate with the Alpha Quadrant by sending the Doctor to a Federation ship. The problem is that the USS Prometheus turns out to be a ship that was hijacked by Romulans and the entire Federation crew is soon dead. So the Doctor decides that it's up to him and this ships holo doctor (Andy Dick) to save the day by retaking the ship. The problem is that neither of them know how to fly a ship and the other holo doctor is a Dick.

This was an awful lot of fun from start to finish--and I usually like the Doctor when he goes off on missions. The dialog between him and the other holo doctor was also priceless. All in all, a highly imaginative and interesting story from start to finish.

By the way, if you'd like more information about why we don't see Mr. Dick on TV so often these days, try reading through his life story on Wikipedia. It makes for bizarre, disturbing and weird reading!

One of the Best Episodes of Voyager!

[AlekMitch · 10/10 · 23 September 2020]

One of my favorite episodes: Voyager discovers a sensor network to the Alpha Quadrant then sends the doctor (as their only option) aboard the ship on the other side.

Doctor discovers that the ship was taken over by Romulans and tries to blend in without raising suspicion. He then meets the MH2 version of the younger holographic doctor, and together the two of them hilariously save the ship, while bickering through funny dialogue all the way. Together they save the Prometheus ship, and our doctor contacts Starfleet HQ and completes the mission.

The episode has drama, humor, suspense and action, and being that the doctor is in the main role you can expect fun all the way. The other doctor is also hilarious, I forgot his name but he's a famous guy in Hollywood now. This comedy ends in a success once the doctor returns to Voyager and tells Janeway that he contacted Starfleet in a short scene that's extremely warm and touching.

Janeway almost cried.

A must see episode!

My favorite episode!

[johannpascual · 10/10 · 8 April 2019]

Okay, so there may be tons of loopholes in this episode... like why the hell risk sending your ONLY doctor across an alien network without any second thought? And while watching this episode, I just realized why they don't create a backup of the doctor?? This is crazy. Just create many holo characters that are trained in extreme combat and put holo emitters throughout the ship! And once they get boarded by invading enemies, deploy our holo commandos!!! BAM!

Anyway, as I was saying... despite all that, this episode was so much fun! Dialogue was amazing between the 2 EMHs. They should have more episodes like this... reminds me of Quark and Rom episodes of DS9... my favorite episodes to watch!

The EMH show

[snoozejonc · 8/10 · 28 April 2023]

The Doctor is sent to the alpha quadrant.

This is a strong episode with good humour and character moments.

It feels strange that a fairly monumental chapter of Voyager's journey has such a lighthearted tone, but for me it works very well.

Robert Picardo and Andy Dick play very well off each other and I think their scenes are the highlight of the episode. The humour reduces the urgency of the situation, but it is funny banter that is well written and performed.

I also enjoyed the main scenes aboard Voyager that include a decent introduction to a new antagonist, plus some good character moments for the likes of Seven, Janeway and Torres.

The Tom Paris scenes are not hugely interesting, but they play off The Doctor's situation quite ironically.

Two holograms and a bunch of Romulans enter a......

[schlagzeugplayer · 9/10 · 2 May 2019]

In my continuous bing of Voyager , never really got to see it, as I was on the road. This episode was kind of fun. Andy Dick being the Holographic Doctor was a nice touch. At first it was faux ego vs. faux ego then TG our favorite Doc took over, lol, saved the day w help from synthetic Andy. This was in my mind hunerous as the classic Trouble w Tribbles, anyway enjoy and know there was humour in this series 😉

This is the best Star Trek Voyager episode ever

[duck_dodgers-43284 · 10/10 · 9 February 2019]

This episode should have been the pilot episode for a U.S.S. Prometheus series,because is ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS ! It has super funny moments,cool ships,great action ,great acting,it has everything !

A Letter Home

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 1 September 2018]

The Doctor is set on a journey to a Federation ship, discovered by Seven. There he meets a fellow hologram and they do battle with the Romulans in the home sector. There is a lot of humor in this, but the serious nature of it involves a possible connection to Earth and home. There is some really fun byplay between the two holographic personages and this highlights this episode.

EMH duo saves the day

[tomsly-40015 · 9/10 · 29 December 2023]

This is a very funny episode with focus on the doctor and another EMH program, an upgraded version.

At start I didn't like the character of the doctor at all. Over time he really developed an interesting personality and some humorous traits. Now, he and Tuvok are my favorite Voyager characters. And in this episode the doctor plays yet again a key role in helping the Voyager crew on their journey home.

In short: Voyager is able to contact a Federation ship in the alpha quadrant and transfers the doctor on board to deliver a message. There the doctor finds himself in the middle of a Romulan takeover. Together with the ship's own EMH he can stop the Romulans, deliver the message to Starfleet and transfer back to the Voyager with positive news.

The fun part of this episode is the interaction between the two EMH programs. While the other one is a MK II version and upgraded in several ways, it is rather anxious and whiny. The doctor on the other hand is overly confident in his abilities, brags about his experience but yet fails in fooling the Romulans and operating the ship.

The only thing that bugs me: The crew sends the doctor as a message because standard voice messages degraded too fast and a bigger stream of data is supposed to go through more easily. Because they only had a few seconds to send this message, they were not able to program another hologram and had to quickly send the doctor instead. There are a couple of problems here:

If the voice message degraded, the data stream of the doctor would have degraded as well, so he would not have been transferred with every bit and byte. Also, I lost count how often the doctor saved the lives of his crew mates. Risking to lose him and have no doctor for the next 60 years would put the whole crew in danger - not worth in comparison to sending a message that might get lost or will have no effect because Starfleet still might not be able to get them home faster even by knowing that they are in the delta quadrant.

And after 4 years and the loss of Kes they should have put priority into teaching several crew members to become savvy in medical treatment and operations. It is just too risky to lose the doctor and then be left without someone with the slightest knowledge on treating even a simple headache. Instead the crew wastes time helping aliens with their own problems.

Also, I still don't get how Star Trek computers work. A program is transferred and not just copied? Why isn't it possible in the 24th century to have a dozen backup copies of the EMH and start them whenever needed. It is all digital. If the doctor is transferred to the mobile emitter, there should always be a copy of him in the main computer. But obviously digital data in the 24th century is like haptic things that can only exist once at a given time.

A Little Space Magic

[popkiller · 7/10 · 7 August 2013]

Now that we're in Season 4, the crew of Voyager can make a little progress on their trip home instead of the constant disappointment they've grown so used to.

Seven of Nine, apparently with plenty of time on her hands to turn knobs and push buttons in astrometrics, has found a Starfleet vessel in deep space. Deep, deep, deep space for Voyager, as it's in the Alpha Quadrant. It seems that some aliens built a bunch of cell towers in space and Voyager tries to use them to send a voicemail home. When that doesn't work, they send The Doctor, because why not? It makes perfect sense - a simple sound file can't get through thousands of light years without degradation, but one of the most complex computer files in existence works like a charm.

The Doctor then appears in the pristine sickbay of a brand new Starfleet ship, only to find that some dirty, stinking Romulans have already stolen it and are headed back to Romulus, no doubt to stir up some trouble in years to come.

So it's up to Dr. Sourpuss to convince that ship's new and improved (debatable) EMH to stage an insurrection and retake the ship so that they can alert Starfleet so that the Doc can get home so that Voyager can know that Starfleet knows they're still alive. A lot of work, but the payoff is nice, as our crew finally has some hope. Not gonna lie - got a teensy bit emotional when the Doc gives Janeway Starfleet's message - "you're not alone." Though, Voyager might just want to stay in the Delta Quadrant once they learn Andy Dick is the new space doctor.

A trip to the Alpha Quadrant

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 29 January 2010]

After several years stuck in the Delta Quadrant the crew's spirits are raised when Seven of Nine discovers another Federation ship, the only problem is that it is in the Alpha Quadrant and can only be seen because of an alien relay station. They try to send a signal but each time it just bounces back. As voice transmissions won't work they decide to try to send the Doctor's program and this works. When he arrives on the USS Prometheus he is relieved to find that he is still functioning correctly but somewhat surprised to see a couple of dead crew members. It turns out that he is aboard a new prototype vessel that has been stolen by the Romulans. When another Star Fleet vessel arrives it becomes clear the the Prometheus has an impressive combat capability using a technique I won't spoil here. During the confrontation one of the Romulans is injured and taken to Sick Bay; when they get there they believe the Doctor is just the Emergency Medical Hologram of that ship. Once alone with his unconsciousness patient he thinks to activate the Prometheus's EMH, this is a later model than himself. It is up to the two of them to retake the ship before it gets into Romulan space.

This was an enjoyable episode, it was fun seeing the Doctor and his counterpart attempting to retake the ship while arguing about what their role as holograms should be. It was also fun to watch Paris fretting that the Doctor wouldn't be able to return and that he would be stuck as the ship's medic for the rest of the journey.

This episode is super fun but sending the doctor is stupid.

[Alex-594-514783 · 7/10 · 11 June 2018]

Ignoring the technobabble about why a simple message degrades on the alien network but a more complex holographic signal somehow doesn't, we already know they can quickly create throw away holo characters. It would make way more sense to whip up a throw away character with a message to give once it gets to the alpha quadrant than to send their only talented physician. Despite that the episode is still a fun little goofy adventure.

No actors were groped in the making of this episode?

[thevacinstaller · 6/10 · 27 August 2021]

Oh man, I truly despise the human being known as Andy Dick. Not just personally for being a serial groper and degenerate drug abuser --- but I also think he is a horrendous actor. (Deep Breath) Okay, moving right along.

This is a completely fine episode ---- Using the power of space magic to teleport the Doctor onto a ship in the alpha quadrant and wouldn't you know it happens to be the worst possible moment to do so.

Torres is 9 months pregnant in this episode ---- I suppose they couldn't go with the Daphne excuse of having an eating disorder.

Long story short ---- Andy Dick is a piece of garbage and his presence in this episode sours the entire experience. I cannot even enjoy the wacky sci fi concept or the starfleet ship becoming a transformer.

I need to go take a shower and cleanse myself just viewing that guy on the screen.