TREKCORE > VOY > EPISODES > LIFE LINE > Behind the Scenes

	Lewis Zimmerman, previously appearing in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", and the Star Trek: Voyager episode "The Swarm", makes his final Star Trek appearance (although, strictly speaking, he has only appeared in this episode and "Doctor Bashir, I Presume"; the other occasion was a holographic version of himself).
	Robert Picardo enjoyed playing two roles in this episode: "I play not only the Doctor, but his programmer, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman. So I achieved a lifelong ambition of working with an actor who I've admired. Of course the hardest thing about acting with myself was coming up to my own level. I was very demanding, but also very generous, as an actor I gave myself everything I felt I deserved and more."
	Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Robert Picardo (The Doctor / Lewis Zimmerman), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Dwight Schultz (Lt. Reginald Barclay), and Jack Shearer (Admiral Hayes) all previously appeared in Star Trek: First Contact. With the exception of Picardo and Phillips, all of them played the same characters in the film.
	For this episode, Dwight Schultz is credited simply as "Barclay".
	This episode takes place over the course of a little more than 32 days.
	Although Tim Russ (Tuvok) appears in this episode, he has no lines.
	The EMH disguises himself as a female member of the Tarlac species from Star Trek: Insurrection in order to examine Dr. Zimmerman.
	This episode is the first (and only) time that a piece of the USS Enterprise-E is seen on a Star Trek television series, in this case, Counselor Troi's quarters or office.
	This episode remains one of only two Star Trek episodes written by a castmember, as it was written by Robert Picardo. The other was "The Infinite Vulcan", written by Walter Koenig.
	Dr. Zimmerman comments that he hasn't left Jupiter Station in "over four years", referring to his visit to Deep Space 9 to interview Julian Bashir for the Long-term Medical Hologram between Stardates 50564 and 50712 in DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume". This suggests that this episode takes place in early 2377.
	Doctor Zimmerman claims that there are 675 EMH Mark Ones. However, it is not known how much of the Federation fleet was equipped with the program. Given the number of ships mentioned during the Dominion War, it seems likely that only a portion of Starfleet received the holographic doctors.
	Although Jupiter Station is mentioned in numerous episodes of Voyager as well as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise, this is its only actual on screen appearance.
	This is the only Star Trek episode to feature characters who appeared in four live-action Star Trek series: the regular Voyager characters, Deanna Troi (who was previously a regular character on Star Trek: The Next Generation and would later appear in ENT: "These Are the Voyages..."), Reg Barclay (who previously appeared in five episodes of The Next Generation) and Lewis Zimmerman (who previously appeared in DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume").