Story By: Harry Doc Kloor
Directed By: Anson Williams
Rating: **** (out of 5)
The Doctor creating a family is one of the most brilliant ideas the Voyager writing staff have come up with. It fits so well with the Doctor and how we know him. Even better is how he gets the idea of a family wrong at first, by having the Brady Bunch; and then dealing with the Bundy�s when B�Elanna interferes!
�Real Life� perfectly depicts the Doc�s family life in a way that makes you feel so sad for the poor Doc; but at the same time it is so hilarious to see the Doc coping with the situation we are shown. Well, maybe not the final situation, which is very tragic.
Character wise, �Real Life� is a winner. From the Doc�s reactions to his family and B�Elanna�s reaction to Doc�s original family we get a true three-dimension outline of everyone. Even more successfully outlined is the Doc�s family. They have all been created as having very clear, if cliched, attitudes but in the end it makes the episode heartwarming, sad and tragic, even more so because of the fantastic acting. Robert Picardo does his version of normal acting which is outstanding acting, but the guest cast are a pleasure to watch too. It�s no easy task going from the Brady�s to the Bundy�s, and they must�ve had a really good time! But everyone gives 200% and it really pays off. Particular mention to the efforts of Lindsay Haun as Doc�s holo-daughter Belle, she is absolutely superb and I hope we see her again.
I loved the Doc being wished goodbye at the beginning and the sickening dinner on the holodeck. I loved the Doc trying to take control of his new dysfunctional family (the family meeting was particularly funny because that�s how it is in my household sometimes!) and the highlight, Belle�s death from playing a dangerous a sport. It�s somewhat cliched that the whole family is brought together by this tragedy, but it�s the perfect way for this holographic family to react. You really have to see these scenes to get the full impact, they are all truly wonderful.
The only problem with the A-plot in �Real Life� is a difficult one to decide whether it is wrong or not. Doc�s family could�ve been a story arc that continues throughout the season, so more could�ve been made out of it, but at the same time having it all in one episode means that the one episode has all of the really good scenes.
Another highlight of �Real Life� is the music. Dennis McCarthy does it again with an absolutely superb score. While there are quite a few strong points of music in �Real Life� the scenes with Belle in the hospital really added to the sadness of the situation and made those scenes even more worthwhile.
What I didn�t like about �Real Life� was the B-plot. It was a bit exciting, a bit wondrous, it had good CGI, but it had no point, it just detracted from the classic Doc story. The Doc story and the B-story did cross as Tom explains to Doc that he shouldn�t just abandon his family when the Doc gets angry at Tom�s recklessness, but really this could�ve been done without the need for such an extensive plot. Why couldn�t Tom have just gone rock-climbing on the holodeck or done some repairs on the outside of the ship and done something a bit reckless there? We didn�t need something that takes up a third of the episode, a third that would�ve been put to some more use on the Doc story.
It�s the B-story that stops �Real Life� being a classic, but it is certainly a very memorable episode, a highlight of the season and of the Doc characters journey. At least Season 3 has picked itself up.