Story By: Brannon Braga
Directed By: David Livingston
Rating: ****** (out of 5)
The �Worst Case Scenario� and �Far Beyond the Stars� aspect of �Author, Author� is in the first half and shows us the Doc�s holo-novel, called �Photons be Free.� It has the user of the program be an EMH on board a ship similar to Voyager and with a crew that are similar to the Voyager crew. Apart from enjoying actually being able to see how holo-novels are played out (like Choose Your Own Adventure novels) I loved the Doc�s story, it was fun, but it actually had meaning. Even more fun was the crew reaction to the novel.
Because of the visual similarities to the real crew of Voyager and even a similar situation of a ship stuck far from home the crew naturally don�t appreciate this obvious likeliness. Doc shows through his holonovel how the crew has sometimes mistreated him. Tom is particularly offended and makes his own changes to the Doc�s program, most notably to a character resembling the Doc! Doc isn�t impressed and takes the changes to his work very seriously! Doc and Tom wonderfully debate the situation and through some clever writing we realize that both of them are right from their perspectives.
We then get too the �Measure of a Man� and �Latent Image� part where the Doc�s rights as an individual are debated; can the Doc be allowed to have control of his holo-novel which has been distributed by his publisher without the Doc�s permission? For me, �Latent Image� established that the Doc is a sentient individual who has his own personality, strengths and weaknesses. But never in the face of law has the Doc been considered an individual so finally there is a justified reason to bring up the Doc sentience issue again.
I�m glad that an entire episode wasn�t devoted to the Doc�s sentience. We�ve seen Doc�s sentience debated before a few times. As an issue of law artificial beings have already been the center of an entire episode for Data in The Next Generation�s �Measure of a Man�. Doing it all over again would�ve been a retread so having the issue setup in a different way for the Doc is great! The debates we see in the last ten minutes of �Author, Author� are kind of retread from what we�ve already heard but when Janeway speaks about what the Doc means to the Voyager crew I couldn�t help but feel an enormous feeling of friendship between the crew. It was touching that the Doc�s ego got what it deserved, a real boosting.
The �Hunters� side of �Author, Author� is certainly another excellent aspect that runs through the entire episode. The live view of Earth was touching and the conversations we see are fantastic. Harry�s mum was very funny (I can see my Mum doing that!) and Seven�s aunt was a very touching scene that I enjoyed very much. B�Elanna and her father had an interesting conflict that I enjoyed. I just hope that these scenes are made worthwhile and that we see all these people again in a mass reunion in the finale.
The last scene I found very funny, but I�m not sure exactly what it was trying to say. It set itself up as being something very important and meaningful but kind of fell flat on its face. It doesn�t effect the episode at all so I just consider the last scene a demented kind of filler.
There so much crammed into �Author, Author� that it�s amazing. What�s even more amazing is that we see so much of the Doc�s holoprogram and still get to satisfaction about the main and deeper issues. Every issue brought up here is satisfactorily concluded in the last ten minutes. I�m in two minds about the first half though, should so much time have been wasted on seeing the Doc�s holoprogram? Well, considering that there was no other material needed anywhere else (and look at the fact that the last scene was filler!) then I would have to say it�s acceptable.
Before Season 7 began I compiled an article of what I wanted to see from this final year and this was one of them, to see the Doc recognized as a sentient being. We get awfully close here, but even better, one of my expectations where seen to. This is an episode that makes me proud that Voyager and Star Trek exists and deeply sad that Voyager is soon going to end. Continuing the good trend of �Earth communication� episodes, �Author, Author� ranks up there with one of the best episodes this season and of the series. We only have a few episodes left of Voyager, hopefully �Author, Author� is a step towards what we will see in the finale.
�Author, Author� boasts some of the best uses of Voyager�s premise, past and future. With the continuity as good as it is and the close proximity to the Alpha Quadrant (and the finale) we are bound to get some more great drama.