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Author, Author (episode)

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Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)
"Author, Author"
VOY, Episode 7x20
Production number: 266
First aired: 18 April 2001
← 164th of 168 produced in VOY →
← 163rd of 168 released in VOY →
  {{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 168 released in VOY Remastered  
← 623rd of 727 released in all →
Teleplay By
Phyllis Strong and Mike Sussman

Story By
Brannon Braga

Directed By
David Livingston
54732.3 (2378)
← Arc: The Pathfinder Project (4 of 4)  
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As Voyager establishes two-way communication with the Federation, The Doctor completes work on a holonovel that depicts the crew of Voyager in rather unflattering roles as they abuse and scorn the Emergency Medical Hologram. But, when the holonovel is published without his permission, the issue of The Doctor's legal rights is brought into question.

Contents

[edit] Summary

Using an opportunity of communication with home, the Doctor publishes his memoirs as a holodeck novel, which portrays an EMH on a ship called Vortex in an attempt to draw attention to the oppression of his fellow holograms. Unfortunately, he uses his own situation as the setting for his story, changing the names of crew mates only slightly and using their physical parameters as a base for the characters, making only superficial changes to their appearance and names.

Their personalities, however, bear no resemblance to the USS Voyager crew. In the opening scene, the analog to Captain Janeway, Captain Jenkins, shoots a severely injured crewman to force the doctor to treat her helmsman who has a minor injury. The story proceeds with the entire crew of the starship Vortex treating the EMH as a slave devoid of all feeling. The holo character doctor's mobile emitter is portrayed as a heavy metal pack. In the end of the story, Captain Jenkins orders the EMH to eliminate all his subroutines not strictly related to the medical profession. The EMH refuses and is then decompiled by the Captain as a result.

After the story has been transmitted to a publisher as a rough draft which The Doctor has asked to be allowed to refine before release, the crew takes turns running the program and are horrified by a portrayal which will obviously be interpreted as being the real conditions aboard Voyager. Furious with The Doctor, they ask him to alter the holonovel to eliminate the similarities between the holo characters and themselves. The Doctor refuses, claiming that the characters are not truly based on the Voyager crew. The next time The Doctor runs his holonovel he finds that Tom Paris has switched the file with his own holonovel.

This holonovel portrays a doctor aboard the USS Voyeur who cares nothing for patients he cannot seduce and pursues his own recreational activities while forcing his job off onto the medic. The physical appearance of this holo character is, of course, nearly identical to the Doctor. The Doctor is appalled and confronts Paris who throws the Doctor's own logic that the character was not based on the Doctor back at him. The Doctor does not seem swayed and Paris relents and tells him where to find the backup copy of the original holonovel.

After Neelix provides comforting advice (he was the only viewer to enjoy the holonovel), The Doctor does realize that he needs to alter the holo-characters to not cast doubt on the reputations of his friends; however, the crew finds that the rough draft of the holonovel has already been published. Outraged, The Doctor demands an explanation of the publisher who makes the claim that since The Doctor is not a person, he has no rights as author of the novel.

This results in a Federation tribunal to determine The Doctor's rights carried out across the 13 or so minutes of communication that can be managed each day. Captain Janeway brings in various members of the crew as witnesses to The Doctor's claim of personhood. In the end, the arbitrator leaves the decision of whether or not The Doctor is a person as out of the scope of the case, however, he does declare that the legal definition of "artist" encompasses The Doctor, and as such The Doctor has full rights concerning the distribution of his holonovel.

Unfortunately, the novel has already been seen by thousands. The consequences of this for the crew are not shown. However, the episode ends by showing a Federation mining colony four months later where hundreds of EMH Mark I's are engaged in mining operations. One is told to report for his recurring maintenance by another EMH, who recommends running The Doctor's holo-novel. The viewer is left with the notion that The Doctor's holo-novel may have stirred a revolution in the fight for holographic rights.

[edit] Log Entries

  • Chief medical officer's personal log, stardate 54740.8. Although the decision has made me unpopular with the crew, I've decided not to compromise my work. I'm making some final revisions to the program before transmitting it.
  • Captain's log, stardate 54748.6. A Federation arbitrator has been assigned to determine whether the Doctor has the right to control his artistic creation. Because of our limited com time with Earth, the arguments should take about three days.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"This is outrageous!"
"What's outrageous is that I'm going to miss my tee time."

- The Doctor and Paris's fictional doctor


"Your program is about as subtle as a Ferengi mating dance!"

- Paris, about The Doctor's holoprogram


"I could use your help with the rewrites."
"Really?! Well, you realize, as a writer, I'm a little unsophisticated."
"No, I believe the phrase you're looking for is lowbrow."

- The Doctor and Paris


"Sorry, it's just frustrating to hear that I have no more legal standings than a replicator."

- The Doctor


"The Doctor exhibits many of the traits we associate with a person. Intelligence, creativity, ambition, even fallibility, but are these traits real or is The Doctor merely programmed to simulate them? To be honest, I don't know. Eventually we will have to decide because the issue of holographic rights isn't going to go away, but at this time, I am not prepared to rule that The Doctor is a person under the law. However, it is obvious he is no ordinary hologram and while I can't say with certainty that he is a person I am willing to extend the legal definition of artist to include The Doctor. I therefore rule that he has the right to control his work and I'm ordering all copies of his holo-novels to be recalled immediately."

- Arbitrator


"Ask the operator to run Program Forty-Seven Beta."
"Why? What is it?"
"It's called Photons Be Free. It's quite provocative."

- EMH Mark I telling another EMH Mark I in the dilithium mines about The Doctor's novel

[edit] Background Information

[edit] Continuity

  • The Doctor uses a Klingon aphrodisiac on Two of Three in Tom Paris's altered holonovel, a reference to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan where Admiral Kirk wondered if Dr. McCoy's second present to him on his birthday was a Klingon aphrodisiac.
  • In this episode, Voyager's crew complement is given as 146 (including the Doctor).
  • This episode reveals that B'Elanna Torres did not personally name her Toby the targ stuffed animal mentioned in the previous season's "Tsunkatse". Toby is actually a popular children's holoprogram character published by Broht & Forrester.
  • As in The Next Generation episode "The Measure Of A Man", the rights of non-organic lifeforms are at issue in this episode. While it had been determined that Data, although being a machine, was not Starfleet property and thus had the right to choose what to do with his life (and thus could most likely be considered a person), it seems the whole process had to be repeated for The Doctor and fellow holograms. The situation here is even more complex than with Data, since Data was a unique single being who was not created by Starfleet (he was found by Starfleet personnel), while holograms were programmed and designed by Starfleet and integrated into ships, space stations and other Starfleet property. In the end it was not acknowledged in this episode that the Doctor is a person, but he was rather granted the status of an artist.

[edit] Behind the Scenes

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Main Cast

[edit] Guest Stars

[edit] Special Guest Star

[edit] Co-Stars

[edit] Uncredited Co-Star

[edit] References

Adventures of Captain Proton, The; Alpha Quadrant; aortic rupture; artificial lifeform; Bajoran; Bolian; biradial clamp; Borg; Broht & Forrester; coffee; concussion; Cooking with Neelix, a Culinary Tour of the Delta Quadrant; Daystrom Prize; dermal regenerator; dilithium; dilithium matrix; Dixon Hill series; EMH miners; Federation law; Ferengi garbage scow; Ferengi mating dance; gigaquad; Happy Birthday; holo-cookbook; holo-novel; hyper spanner; hypochondriac; isolinear chip; K'Ratak; Kessik IV; kilogram; The Killing Game, Part II; Klingon aphrodisiac; McKinley Station; Miral; mobile emitter; North America; Operation Watson; optronic pathways; Paris, Miral; Pathfinder Project; plasma burn; plasma conduit; Photons Be Free; 47-beta; quantum singularity; Qo'noS; San Francisco; slavery; solar flare; Starfleet Command; strawberry, strawberry tart; tachyon beam; Theta-15; Toby the targ; Talaxian; Tolstoy, Leo; tonsillectomy; Twelfth Guarantee; Type-6 shuttlecraft; Vedek's Song, The; Vortex, USS; Voyager, USS; Voyeur, USS; Zimmerman, Lewis


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