Talk:Life Line (episode)

Serious undertones
Is it just me or does this episode have serious undertones?

First, the Doctor is not how Dr. Lewis Zimmerman envisioned him. A metaphor for the a son being gay with a father that does not accept him?

Second, Dr. Zimmerman is dying. The archetypal deathbed father?

Thirdly, the Doctor wants acceptance from his Zimmerman. That, as a gay person, the son wants acceptance from the father that has rejected him?

And finally, the Doctor has a "recursive problem" that threatens to decompile him? The gay son has HIV/AIDS and then, when the father sees his son dying, decides to embrace him?

Just wondering...


 * Though I haven't seen the episode in question, overrides any hints that Lewis Zimmerman is gay in my opinion. There, he was shown as we've always known him to be: an egotistical (somewhat lecherous maybe) and arrogant scientist. He pursues Leeta and, once she gets together with Rom, makes an amusing ad-libbed comment to another woman boarding the same ship as him: "Excuse me, have you heard of the ancient text known as the Karma Sutra?" Sloan 05:34, 13 Dec 2005 (UTC)
 * First of all, Sloan, what the anonymous IP address was trying to imply was that The Doctor was representing a gay man returning home to his deathbed father (Lewis Zimmerman) and he had aids too (recursive problem). Of course the Doctor isn't really gay (just ask Denara Pel for the graphic details). Second of all, this isn't a place for idle talk and should be moved to a forum, so I guess disregard everything I just said (not the idle talk part!) and everything Sloan and Mr. I.P. said.--Tim Thomason 05:48, 13 Dec 2005 (UTC)
 * You know, I'm tired and didn't even read it right, but yeah, what you said about Denara and all that. (I was editing my user page a minute ago and added my signature - go figure...). But, no, this isn't an idle conversation. If there had been some legitimate reason to note it, we might have added a background note about the undertones. But I think it's just someone reading too much into it. Sloan 05:59, 13 Dec 2005 (UTC)

Star Trek has always been about exploring social issues. I'm not gay, but lateley, as I re-watch Voyager now that I'm older, I find that Voyager deals with social issues in much the same way as I've always been told TOS did. I watched earlier today and realized it was an entire episode about date rape.


 * All of the Treks do stuff like that, but unless they say something about what the idea was supposed to be (like Past Tense) I don't think it's within MA's mandate to say what might have been or not been intended. --Broik 09:30, 13 Dec 2005 (UTC)

UNE says: the part that struck me was when the Doctor asks "Why can't you accept me the way I am?" and Zimmerman responds: "Because you're flawed!"

While I think trying to construe the themes of this episode as an exploration of the relationship between a homosexual son and traditional father may be a little far-fetched, perhaps one could say the same about the DS9 episode Asleep.in.thered 02:16, March 12, 2010 (UTC)

What's the camera called?
I'm sure the camera the Doctor used wasn't just called a "holocamera". Anyone know what it is actually called? Thanks. Zsingaya 07:31, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
 * In other episodes it's called a Holographic imager. -209.174.140.100 18:09, 23 April 2006 (UTC)

PNA
The summary appears to be divided incorrectly - it's missing a fifth act. -- Michael Warren | Talk 20:08, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

Height
I just watched this episode again and noticed something interesting -- in the final shot, when Barclay takes a picture of Zimmerman and The Doctor, it's obvious that the doctor is a little taller than Zimmerman. You can even see this, though not as obviously, in the picture that accompanies the article now. I thought this was a nice touch, in terms of (1) making Zimmerman and The Doctor physically different and (2) what one might infer from this, perhaps that Zimmerman consciously or unconsciously made the EMH taller because he wished he were taller. Is this worth adding to the "Background Information" section?


 * Doubtful. Zimmerman appears shorter because the EMH has better posture.

"Which one of you is Lewis Zimmerman?"
Yes, for the purposes of the drama it's useful that Troi says this, but it's a ridiculous question. First, one of the beings in the room is wearing a Starfleet uniform that's out of date, and more to the point, the other being isn't wearing a Starfleet uniform at all. Second, Troi knows that Haley is a hologram because she can't sense any emotions from her, so she should react to The Doctor the same way. Is this worth mentioning?


 * Maybe, maybe not - since the two appear physically similar and that uniform changes aren't instantaneous, doubt is allowed; moreover, Zimmerman is a Starfleet engineer, he wears gold, but then considering his mastery he may also be qualified to wear blue (scientist). That leaves reading emotions, but considering how intense Zimmerman is, that Deanna isn't as good as her mother and that our two bald-headed hotheads were arguing strongly, a slight emotional overload and lack of distance may have confused Deanna.

Removed
Icecreamdif removed the following note. It's a nitpick:


 * Shortly afterward, when The Doctor and Zimmerman are arguing, The Doctor reaches up and grabs a tricorder from Zimmerman's hand. In what is a rare visible mistake in film editing, The Doctor actually grabs empty space near Zimmerman's wrist.

– Cleanse ( talk 07:17, September 20, 2010 (UTC)


 * I have trimmed out some speculation in one of the background informations.


 * Doctor Zimmerman claims that there are 675 EMH Mark I, thus giving an idea of what size Starfleet was before the EMH Mark I was taken off duty (which would have happened sometime during the Dominion War). However, it doesn't include more recent versions of the EMH.


 * Since they never established how widely the EMHs were distributed, I've edited it down to...


 * Doctor Zimmerman claims that there are 675 EMH Mark I, however it is not known how much of the fleet was equipped with the program. Given the numbers of ships mentioned during the Dominion War, it seems likely that only a portion of Star Fleet received the holographic doctors.

Quotes removed
Removing the following quotes per MA:QUOTE:

"Just being thorough."
 * - Leonard the iguana

"Computer, deactivate iguana."
 * - The Doctor

(Furious) "YOU!"

"Remain calm. Emotional outbursts will only aggravate your condition."

(Furious) "I'll tell you what's aggravating my condition: YOU!"
 * - Doctor Zimmerman and The Doctor

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

"You are the emergency."
 * - The Doctor and Doctor Zimmerman, after the Doctor's activation

"So this is Voyager. I like it."

"It's a remarkable facsimile. But Mr. Barclay did get a few of the details wrong.  For one thing, Neelix doesn't purr."

"I think that may have something to do with Reg's cat. He named it after your friend."

"Neelix would be honored."


 * - Deanna Troi and The Doctor

"''Is that a fractal algorithm?"  "Very good! I'm using it to realign your matrix.''"

"Fractal algorithms are notoriously unstable!"

"In the hands of a novice... whoops."

"Whoops?! What's 'whoops?'"

"Computer, deactivate EMH."
 * - The Doctor and Doctor Zimmerman, while Zimmerman was repairing The Doctor

"He's a Mark I. He's obsolete. I'll be safer in the hands of a Klingon field medic!"


 * - Doctor Zimmerman to Deanna Troi, referring to The Doctor

"Of course, you can sing and dance. I should install you in a Ferengi nightclub."


 * - Doctor Zimmerman replying to the Doctors exclamation about him having expanded his program

--31dot 12:32, June 18, 2011 (UTC)

quads
I was recently advised about piped links but not how to redirect, in this case megaquad to quad. Or is that for administrators not we little people? In any case, help please --Archer4real 18:47, August 8, 2011 (UTC)

So is anyone going to redirect as above, or will it have to stay in the red (as it were) forever? Oh it's the latter, eh? Thought so--Archer4real 13:26, August 26, 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm guessing the reason no one answered is because this is an odd location to be asking how to redirect to quad, and it was easily missed by administrators. If you're not sure how to do something, it is probably better to get an admin's attention by posting it on their talk page. To answer your question, anyone can set up a redirect by creating a page that simply says #redirect (link to page you want to redirect to). See Help: Redirect. I have now set up one for Megaquad.–Cleanse ( talk 01:35, August 27, 2011 (UTC)

2376 for sure
I vigorously disagree with the suggestion that this episode is set in 2377 and the reasons for assuming this to be so. In Rise Neelix claims to have known Tuvok for three years, but he hasn’t. The Federation haven’t been ‘generous landlords’ to Quark for five years previous to Bar Association. It happens all the time --Archer4real 10:13, August 9, 2011 (UTC)

Who was the Tarlac?
I was curious about this since I couldn't find it mentioned. the Doctor changed his appearance to a Tarlac woman to get closer to Zimmerman, but who played the Tarlac?--Marhawkman (talk) 21:17, July 29, 2013 (UTC)


 * That's a good question. I did a little digging around here and couldn't find out. Maybe someone else knows where that info is. 31dot (talk) 21:53, July 29, 2013 (UTC)

I tinkered with it. I did notice this though: File:Tarlac as the Doctor.jpg and File:Tarlac female.jpg It is almost certainly the same costume, but might it be the same actress? (not that we have her name either)--Marhawkman (talk) 23:45, August 20, 2013 (UTC)