The Doctor's holo-novels happened because of Robert Picardo's book

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for season two of Star Trek: Prodigy now streaming on Netflix.

Robert Picardo's The Doctor became a novelist on Star Trek: Voyager, which led to questions about a hologram's sentience in the episode "Author, Author." That episode, though, might never have happened had Picardo not gotten a deal with Simon and Schuster to write a satirical book called "The Hologram's Handbook."

Picardo, in an interview with Startrek.com, described the book as "a self-help book for people of my level of genuis," meaning The Doctor. It was designed to help "holographic beings" survive in a world populated by organic beings. Though now out of print, copies can be had for upwards of $100 as it's considered a collectible.

The book was written in collaboration with Picardo's friend and fellow actor, Jeff Yagher, who actually came up with the idea for Picardo to write the book.

"In fact, it was his idea because I was explaining to him what holograms could and couldn't do, and because he was playing a rogue hologram in this two-part episode called 'Flesh and Blood.' And he kept asking me questions. I told him, "Well, holograms, we can change our [structure], or whether objects can pass through him. The Doctor has control over whether he has density.' And he responded, 'You should write a book.'"

- Robert Picardo

When Brannon Braga, the showrunner for Star Trek: Voyager, discovered Picardo was writing a book, he wrote the episode about The Doctor doing the same. And that part of The Doctor's extracurricular activities has remained a part of his character decades later as, in the second season of Prodigy, we see him still engrossed with writing the next holo-novel. It was yet another great way to tie the animated series into Voyager and to maintain continuity with the characters. On top of that, it provided for some excellent moments of levity on Prodigy, proving to be quite the distraction for The Doctor.

If season three of Prodigy happens, perhaps The Doctor will be able to write a romantic holo-novel based upon real life events, if Picardo gets what he wants for his character!