Voyager Reviewed! (by a pedant) S7E20: AUTHOR, AUTHOR
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- Fun fact: Robert Picardo wrote a book about the Doc called The Hologram's Handbook.
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Today's Thought Experiment: We never found out what Ramrod did with his call time. Your suggestions please!
Federation Party Chat Line. 3 Federation credits a minute.
Federation Party Chat Line. Only 3 Fed Credits a minute
He crank calls random bars.
Some nice people who have an interest in Borg biology, probably wanted to take an eye to him, check out all the neat stuff in there. Kid's probably excited that he's gonna make some new friends, and they even invited Seven along.
He found a "dating service" and apparently has a few women writing to him on the regular. He's going to call the best one.
I assumed that B'Elanna's lack of reaction to that line meant she'd already received the news of her mother's death. Voyager has been in contact with Earth for some time now.
They should have mentioned the trial in "The Measure of a Man."
THIS!
The Starfleet communications building having the same windows illuminated is exactly the kind of observation I love your videos for. I'm so looking forward to the DS9 era!
It a lot of large buildings you can see the same windows lit up 5 days a week. Maybe they have a 6-day work week in the far future.
I mean, lets be fair here
If Janeway could turn Harry into a self-destructing USB stick, she would have done it in a heartbeat. So it's not like that particular thing is unique to the Doc.
Got nothing about the lack of Quarters though.
I mean in reality Kim's quarters could just be a figment of his imagination and Janeway keeps all crewmembers in suspended animation until its time to awaken, assuming you ignore the parts where Janeway visits other people's "definitely-real" quarters.
Seven didn't get (private) quarters either.
It seems if you're not fully human, you're lucky if you get to sleep in a closet.
@@huntercoleherr Seven sort of has the fig leaf of "well she needs to regenerate in the alcove", but I think she could have moved one there if she wanted too. In reality, I assume it would have been too much money to have an altered crew quarters set just for Seven and the altered cargo bay set had already been made for Scorpion.
This episode has always resonated with me as a writer. From a young age my passion has been the English Language and telling stories, and I specialised in it through high school and into university. Few things got under my skin harder than having people completely misinterpret what I thought were very simple short stories, and having my Writer's Workshop teacher in high school trying to make me change my work in ways that undercut the story and the point I was trying to make. I can't imagine the rage and frustration that would come from having someone try to cut me off from my work entirely!
On a side note I've always loved that Tom hands his time off to Harry without hesitation. Yeah Tom's an arse a lot of the time, but he genuinely gives a shit about his friend.
0:36 The funny thing is that leaving aside his father skills, from what we saw, Mister Paris is not a bad admiral. And it's very difficult to find decent admirals and commodores in Star Trek.
Wormhole X-treme is one of my favorite episodes of Stargate.
Yeahh the deluise actor who tries to figure out how "real" this show is, is he getting real money? :D It was more fun than the 200th episode because by then it was a rather different show. It was really confusing as a Farscape fan to watch the end of SG-1.
"I'm Christian Bocher, portraying the character of Raymond Gunne who portrays the character of Dr. Levant which is based on the character Daniel Jackson portrayed by the actor Michael Shanks originally portrayed by the actor James Spader in the feature film."
Great episode, loved all the jokes they made about themselves. I also loved the episode they did in the final season that had a ton of jokes, including a reference to Farscape, and our only view of the Furrlings.
9:46 tbf, flesh and blood Starfleet officers are also expected to perform suicide missions when needed, like in that TNG episode where the correct solution to Troi's Bridge Officer's Test was to have Geordi kill himself
That's actually a really good point that I'd not thought of before. Thank you.
They do battle starships and stuff, there are skirmishes and even wars that they may need to fight in. But not really, the test was to determine if Troi was capable of sacrificing one person to save more than one. The solution wasn't just to get rid of Geordi. ;) I think those four years spent at the academy would be enough to hammer in the seriousness of Starfleet duty and the oaths they take.
@@nisselarson3227 Yes, please don't misunderstand Fawkes' facetious phrasing as misunderstanding. We understood the scene.
Tbf, sometimes a situation calls for the Captain to order someone to do something that is pretty much certain death in order to protect the ship. However, one shouldn't have their plan include it as a likely possibility. Tbf, the situation in Scorpion was unique - and it was before Voyager was single handedly destroying Borg Tactical cubes left and right.
"Photons Be Free" sounds about right as a title for a being who's essentially 7 years old😅
Stupid, but better than anything I can think of off the top of my head.
Damn! Asking people to think of another title would've been a good Thought Experiment. Some ideas to start us off:
Light and Shadow
Hollow
Bit By Bit
@@Unlimited_Lives Dr. Photon
The Measure of a Hologram
The Unbearable Light-ness of Being.
Love these little additions that makes this show nicer than most. The word "uh" peppered in between "life finds a way" was a nice nod to Jeff Goldblum or possibly the Jurassic Park novel. I'm usually too distracted to notice, but not this time. Nicely done. :)
14:23 Most holograms don't know they are holograms, so they fail the 'Self Awareness' qualification for sentience.
However, Geordi La Forge, of the Enterprise, created two self-aware holograms during his years as chief engineer: Moriarty and Dr. Leah Brahms.
With hologram limitations of the time, they could only choose between permanent confinement on the holodeck and stasis in the ship's memory, waiting for something more useful to do.
They couldn't even move to another ship. The Enterprise had one of very few holodecks in existence at the time.
La Forge made it look ridiculously easy to summon sentient life into existence. It is by design that most holograms are just talking action figures for the crew's playtime.
Geordi 100% had other programs with Brahms in them....
Absolutely, and the holograms being action figure levels of sentient was vial for the holodeck to be ethical. I do like that as soon as they realise Mortary is sentient, they stop all the Holmes stuff and talk to him as another being. A pity they didn't seem to really follow through with the trying to do something for him until Reg accidentally unleashes him.
I do think the Doc being sentient reflects badly on the Federation as it seems no one really regards him or his 'brothers’ as thinking, feeling entities. I can't imagine Picard having the Doc on board for that many years and not picking up that the Federation accidentally is doing a... slavery? I know that's not the right word but for the life of me, I can't think of a correct word to describe his situation.
However, Voyager has the Federation employ seemingly hundreds of EMH's and yet no one seems to have brought up the issue of "is this program that seems alive actually alive?" I know Voyager is unique in being cut off from the Federation but still, it feels like the Federation should have picked up that maybe these programs are closer to people that they should be.
I actually thought you'd have more to say about Paris in this episode. Whilst he's till well...himself, it really has shown how far he's gone. He's able to recognise that he's not exactly a stellar man, but still able to do and mean well. I loved that part of Paris asking the Doc to reclarify what the Doc thinks of him.
that is an episode I always highly reguarded and is in the top of my list for sure.
I think one of my favorite scenes was when the doctor mentioned how for us the mobile emittor looks trivial but for him it feels like a reminder of how he is different from the rest of the crew. When I saw that line I thought for some reason on diabetic people who have to be connected to an insulin pump on their hand at all time, a constant reminder of their diffrence from the rest of us and only exist so they can function biologicaly as much as possible like other people.
other than that, I do like how the verdict was a comprimised of sort, a bitter sweet victory feels more appropriate than a total victory like in TNG "measure of a man". because I feel like the doctor's journy to recognition is just bittersweet one after the other:
The mobile emmitor is liberating, but also a constant reminder of his disability.
The Doctor getting recognized for his non medical talent and given the right to leave the ship, but at the end he didn't leave because he was easily replaced.
The Doctor got to expirience food and drinks, but it was at the cost of 7/9 and it was with a species that hates his kind.
He got to become the ECH, but it was at the cost of the rest of Voyager getting radiated.
He got to prove to his "dad" that he had exceded beyond his programming, but it was with the knowledge that he was the only "brother" to manage that and that he was lucky to be given that opportunity thanks to the caretaker array.
This is one of the rare really thoughtful episodes. They take a standard self referential episode and turns it into a decent discussion about autonomy. I think if they had outright said “You’re right. We should have treated you better.” I think it would have hit the home run they were looking for. I also think this would have been better placed in season 6. It would have given them time to have the crew make good on his sentience.
i find it oddly creepy that the doc in his holo book dosnet seem to have depicted a holo kess. youd think as someone the doc both kind of had the hots for or at least greatly admired and was the first one to argue for his rights she'd get the same treatment as holo seven. maybe hes still upsted that she left we know the docs got a processive streak
I feel it's a shame we never got to see Naomi and her Mum phoning home. It would be the first time Naomi would have been able to talk to her Dad and I feel there is potential there that was never realised.
I was really expecting a callback to "(holographic) Paris is a dk" in this one!
As a writer, I had a thought:
What right did the Doctor have to use the likeness of his crew member? He could have used random generated characters? He could have also changed the design of the ship.
I understanding using the Voyager and his crew as a template. But after the story was finished, he should have at some point molded the characters into new characters different from the original template. Add something here, subtract something here. Swap something here.
(I understand the writers reason the episode reused the crew.)
Tbf might just not... have likeness rights in Star Trek. And from the Doctor's own perspective he doesn't even own his own likeness. If it wasn't obviously just him being a little immature about it I would have earnestly theorized that it's supposed to be a commentary about how holograms aren't even allowed to own how they look.
Ah yes Wormhole X-treme whose theme is till my favorite ringtone. All of the self-parody SG1 episodes are a highlight of that series. This episode is not bad either just wish they got even sillier with it.
Well, there was also "Living Witness".
I could sing/hum that theme still. :) Mainly because Marty himself uses it as a ringtone. :)
Shout of to the delivery of the "purge your memory buffer" threat, coupled with moustache this is one of the best Tom scenes
Harry calling his mom and being so stoked about calling to wish her a happy birthday is so sweet. He is such a kid. I would probably also call my mom if I was on that ship for 7 years. It wasn't the same type of call that B'elanna made, but I'm very glad she did call her dad. I like family-episodes. That's why DS9, the family show, is my clear favourite.
This was an episode I always liked not just for the episode itself but for the EMH at the end and the idea that the Dr's actions could lead to there emancispation. I would like to see some future StarTrek series where biological, holographic, androids and any mixtures of these crew ships together as a matter of normalicy.
I'm just confused by the motivations of the publisher. The Federation is a post-scarcity moneyless society. He gains nothing by releasing the novel without consent, it costs him nothing a to recall the novel for rewrite. But he goes through a tedious 11 minute a day lawsuit to screw the doctor for no apparent benefit.
Some people measure their worth not by what they do, but by what they can take from others.
The Orville addressed that in their universe - and it seems to fit here too at least in my head canon. Reputation is their driving force - being the publisher of multiple successful authors would be a good motivation even today, and more so in the Federation
Watch a show called deep space nine. They discuss this issue.
@@mickey1928geo Still a form of currency.
He can still sell it for Latinum
Since Bad Dadmiral will probably be calling in fairly regularly for updates from Janeway, more than likely, Tommy Boy will be asked to sit in from time to time since he's somewhat in charge of navigation. That's likely why Tommy Boy can be generous with his FaceTime allotment.
The fact that a simple organism can eventually become complex enough to be considered "alive" shouldn't be as hard as Star Trek makes it out to be. They could even make a special category of Synthetic Life or AI Lifeforms and add to it as necessary. Its not like they don't have the processing capacity.
Ironically many of the AI related episodes of star trek highlight something current day scientists are discovering, that being AI lacks creativity. It's entirely capable of juggling existing material into something different, but it can't seem to create anything truly unique or new and has a tendency to create similar things like an artist who can only draw one style.
I was about to mention that. The Doctor was able to create a work of fiction, but at the same time he ended up using the Voyager crew as a template.
@@Nx57ytre Write what you know.
enslaving holograms as slave miners with pickaxes was arguably the most stupid thing Star Trek ever did
11:05 I think it was refrencing doctor,doctor,author,spy
You think they colour corrected everyone’s uniforms for the holodeck bits or actually made everyone medical blue jackets just for a couple of scenes?
Is making Kim a Trill an admission by the writers that he’s boring and implanting him with a giant slug is the only way to make him worthwhile?
A new uniform was probably cheaper than color-correcting moving objects like that 25 years ago.
@@nisselarson3227 True, I forget how long it’s been sometimes!
It also means that Paris is the only one that’s worn all three division colours of the VOY uniform; his usual red, blue here and gold in “Worst Case Scenario”. Robert Picardo also has, but as technically as different characters; blue for EMH, red for ECH and gold for holographic Zimmerman in “The Swarm”.
Good episode for its premise, and probably the last good episode before the end. I don't recall the list.
This episode does bring up the question of who owns the Doctor's medical/scientific research. And if he has the right to work for someone outside of Starfleet or the Federation.
Also, it's pretty dumb to use EMH's for mining. Heck, they're holograms, they don't even need to be human shaped. Specialized holograms with more limbs and tools for hands would be far more efficient.
They use them for mining because nobody wants them as doctors. The Federation doesn't have any other automated mining equipment because A) the federation doesn't like automation, except for food preparation and B) Their previous attempts at automated devices adaptable enough to compute any situation in space, either computed their own priorities more important than peoples lives, or left to persue their own interests.
Holograms were created primarily for dreams and fantasies. As a side effect they share our values. Also, because they need holo-emitters, they are more codependent on us.
Actually going through this review something I do find interesting is how the doc perceives the opinions of others about him. And the contrast to how the rest of the crew thinks they think of him. Being visually impaired and having my own perception of how the world sees me and others like me, I'm guessing the real truth is somewhere in the middle. I mean as a species we don't like to admit to ourselves that we can all be a bunch of bastard covered bastards with bastard filling, but we can also inaccurately perceive what otehrs think of us. And to think all I thought I'd get from this is a TMNT 87 cameo. Good times.
9:19 Chat GTP wants to recall its Dan Brown style thriller.
Starfleet’s treatment of the EMH mark 1 is horrifying in this episode. It makes a mockery of “measure of a man” (which, although good, this episode ain’t).
I hated how the writers purposely gave the doctor faults to make you hate him during the shows run to make seven and everyone else more accepted. But no, doc was and is still the best star trek character ever created. Only odo can come close to him. Honestly though, the doc could've been a tank in the show if you think about it. Not even data came close to him.
Needing a 'publisher' didnt make a lick of sense, just upload it to the federation network or equivalent. no profit motive? then you dont need publishers
Whilst I'm mostly in agreement (trade deals with other species would be the exception), perhaps it helps to think of him more as a curator. He's the guy who sorts through all of the holographic fanfic to filter out the Kirk/Spock shipping.
I thought this was an interesting idea for an episode, but unfortunately leaned into the Data sentience argument. Contrary to Android sentience, the Doc is a "non-corporal" sentience I don't think VOY ever explored that territory, in favor of retreading the Data plots of TNG.
I was thinking. Why couldn't they just send multiple channels (or subchannels) at the same time? I'm sure the bandwidth was larger enough for a creative solution. They might have to do some compression, or only use an audio channel. Or combined all the data stream into one stream and uncompiled at the source.
I know Star Fleet use analog signals because weak signal have noise (snow). But they could have used a very good compression algorithm. If the bandwidth for 1 audio was between 1 kbps (old telephones) to 1 mbps. Then for 146 audio channels the range should be about 146 kbps (18 KBps) to 146 mbps (18 MBps). I'm sure the overhead (to send a single) will add some data. But it would have been doable.
Even if a video rate was 1.5 Mbps, that would be a total of 219 Mbps (24.33 MBps). I'm sure their bandwidth limitation is much more than that. And with better compression, I'm sure they could have made the bitrate even smaller to meet the needs of channel width.
It always bug me that they could only allow one person to call at a time. What does everyone think? Did I waste my time making this comment to point out a unless detail no one cares about?
This episode always bothered me because it felt like either the writers never watched measure of a man or purposefully ignored its existence. They easily could have made an explanation for the latter as well citing that as Holograms predate Data any legal precedence made would not have retroactively applied to holograms. I don't think that's an actual thing in the real world but they could have just said it as a little bandaid.
I loved the tmnt from the 80s/90s so I was happy to notice the Bolian was played by the guy who voiced Nonatello. REally my only take away from this one.
Did they just write this, hoping nobody would remember Data vs. Starfleet?
First time I saw this I was completely against The Doctor, being in my "authority is always right" days, but since then ive come to see that, while on the nose, The Doctor isnt too off par. The mobile emitter being a large pack is just an insult, however.
Imma be so sad when you stop reviewing voyager because the series ends soon
DS9 next though
@@gerrimilner9448 But Sisko just punches people instead of vaporizing them.
@@bryancorrell3689 lol
he called the samaritains! who else, i mean he needs someone he does not live with, to get some emotional support from
Quick question are you going to do Star Trek Prodigy as well?
Eventually, but we're looking at the old Trek to begin with. Besides, I'm still salty with how Paramount fucked it over. Rok-Tahk was a better character than Harry Kim after a single episode.
@@Unlimited_Lives The records show it was better on Netflix. People around the world love Star Trek Prodigy as I understand it. Germany, Japan, and many more.
Yes, I agree Rok-tahk was better developed than Harry Kim. So far though I've been liking Harry Kim in Star Trek Online. That's been really great for him. Even if it's not canon.
I'm really looking forward to the upcoming season 2 of Star Trek Prodigy on Netflix.
Damn AI taking jobs away from real artists........
While I love the idea of a holographic person upset at his people being relegated to menial labor I have to ask, is having a bunch of holographic humans with hand tools the most efficient way to mine? The idea just kind of pulls me out of the story as watching a balding man just tap a rock with a shiny pick is just too funny for me.
Star Trek covers AI art long before modern day
Did you mean to type “AI art” ?
@@Mecharnie_Dobbs lol yeah thank you typo
Enough bandwidth and time for 11 minutes of videocall, divided into a few minutes each... Why not offer the 140 crew members 11 minutes of audio-only?
Wait a sec...do the dogs have names???
Space Dog and Computer (hence SD and C in subtitles). Perhaps names will be a future plot. Not a joke. I genuinely have no idea where these things go until they happen.
@@Unlimited_Lives Maybe some day you can give them their own quarters! :)
💪😊👍
This isn't one of my favourite episodes, because it seems too derivative to me. It feels like we've already handled Federation law on AI already in Measure of a Man and The Offspring. Once is novel, twice is a fresh take, three times is repetitive. Even the doctor's viewpoint of the crew is derivative; and unfortunately that derivation kills the episode for me. We've seen Living Witness already; starring a version of the Doctor much more likely to have negative views of the crew, and yet he defends the crew vigorously then, against a portrayal painfully similar to what he shows in PBF. Why would he portray Janeway in the same way he stopped the Kyrians portraying her? Obviously he doesn't remember that event since it's a different copy of him and hundreds of years away - but the personality clash is jarring.
What is he
This episode is a blatant ripoff of Measure of a man.