VOY: “Author, Author”

Date: August 6, 2021

Season 7, Episode 19

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: Today was quite busy for a Friday. We also continued our Marvel Movie marathon with Ant-Man, and I’m sure I’ll write about that soon.

TL;DR: Voyager makes the first transgalactic comlink with Starfleet. The crew gets to see Earth and each gets a token for 3 minutes to phone home. The EMH uses his time to speak with a publisher about a holonovel he wrote based on the crew. Paris and the rest of the crew beta test the holonovel and explain to the EMH that some people may think it’s real. The publisher distributes the novel anyway and then there’s a trial to see if the EMH is really a person or not. The arbiter eventually decides to rule the EMH is author enough but doesn’t decide if he’s person enough. The Mark 1s are seen doing manual labor but got their hands on the EMH’s book, and it sparks something.

Favorite Quotes:

Seven of Nine: Your time has expired.

EMH: You could have let the man finish his sentence.

Seven of Nine: I believe your ego has received enough stroking for one day.

Seven cutting the EMH off after his 3 minutes are up.

Janeway’s Jam: “Our definition of what constitutes a person has continued to evolve.”

“This Captain Janeway sounds like a lovely woman. Maybe I should write her.”: This is Voyager’s version of “The Measure of a Man“, though with much less of a conclusion. The episode begins with the sight of Earth, which made me misty eyed, and we get to see folks connecting with their loved ones throughout the episode. Kim’s parents are amazing, Seven connects with her Aunt, and Torres reconnects with her father. The parts where everyone plays through the holonovel are interesting, even if they’re cringey at times (especially when Paris reprograms the EMH as going after his patients). I loved Paris skipping through the very verbose intro, seeing holo-Chakotay with a Bajoran earring and a strange tattoo, holo-Paris with a mustache and being a philanderer, and Janeway being a murderer. It’s all so very over the top and it’s all so very much the EMH because he’s always embellishing.

The parts that rang true were when the crew treated the EMH like a substandard thing, not even a person, but it honestly hasn’t been like that for a few seasons. Paris and the EMH working things out in the end and then the episode taking on a whole other life as a fight for the EMH’s person-hood was a turn I didn’t expect, but really enjoyed. I loved that Tuvok was defending the EMH, because honestly… who argues with a Vulcan and wins? The stories that Seven, Kim, Barclay, and Janeway eventually told made it feel like someone was cutting onions in my living room. There were bits of wonky-ness in this episode, but I think it mostly redeemed itself. I don’t like that we’re left with unfinished business, but I’m comfortable giving this 7 key chains that don’t follow the laws of physics.

TA Out!