After beaming matter from a proto-star onto the ship some of it escapes and the captain suggests that Harry should help sort the problem so they can get more to refuel, the problem is he is nowhere to be found. He was last seen going to the holodeck and when Chakotay and Tuvok go to investigate they find that the program is still running but something is wrong and it appears the safety features may not be working correctly. The program playing is a version of the Beowolf legend and the characters claim that Harry, who was playing the title role was taken by a monster called Grendel has taken him the same way it has taken many of them... when they investigate they too disappear. The last readings from their instruments suggests that the monster was in fact a photonic life form. As the Doctor is photonic he is chosen to go into the holodeck to investigate further and to try to save the lost crewmen. He is a but nervous as he has never been outside the sick bay before. His first meeting with Grendel does not go well and he looses an arm. Luckily being a hologram that is easily fixed and he is sent back in, this time he takes a canister of the proto matter with him as they have come to the conclusion that it is a life form like the photonic Grendel. Not surprisingly since the missing crewmen were all main characters this works... that doesn't mean there is no loss though; the Doctor became friends with Freya, one of the holographic characters, and she is killed protecting him from another character who distrusts him.
This was a decent episode although given the number of times the holodecks have malfunctioned and endangered crew members in the various series it is amazing this dangerous technology is still in use. It did give the opportunity to see the Doctor somewhere other than sickbay though and he finally picks a name although after Freya's death he decides not to keep it. This could have been a worse episode but Robert Picardo does a great job as the Doctor and makes a potentially bland story fun. I initially thought the over the top acting by the holodeck characters was poor but then thought it was justified by the fact that they were part of a program designed to be over the top.
This was a decent episode although given the number of times the holodecks have malfunctioned and endangered crew members in the various series it is amazing this dangerous technology is still in use. It did give the opportunity to see the Doctor somewhere other than sickbay though and he finally picks a name although after Freya's death he decides not to keep it. This could have been a worse episode but Robert Picardo does a great job as the Doctor and makes a potentially bland story fun. I initially thought the over the top acting by the holodeck characters was poor but then thought it was justified by the fact that they were part of a program designed to be over the top.
