I like to personally think that the doctor was a some sort of shifty basterd, but ultimately dedicated to research of the island. He came there to steal rumored old war weapons or find artifact to sell on the black market when he got their, but when he found the crown, all of that change. The crown drove him mad(Like maker, like crown), spurring him to world domination like the older docters. Its also why I think that his planning was also less than stellar(given that he was a doctor of high enough standing to be able to even get on the trip): he was too crazy to come up with better long term plans. It why he usually relied on Misery and Barlog to his dirty work, since he was incapable of doing anything else beside commanding, minimal planning, and science stuff(crazy he might be, but stupid he is not).
That or the doctor was a lazy bastard that got his minions to do all his work while he sat on his axx.
Hey, if you had lackies doing all the hard work, would you want to lift a finger to help?