TREKCORE > VOY > EPISODES > CARETAKER > BEHIND THE SCENES

The make-up was designed by Michael Westmore, the show's make-up supervisor. "From the start, the producers wanted the character of the Kazon race to be such that it would fill the role of the Klingons on previous Star Trek shows, but they must clearly not be Klingons. The new villains would appear in the very first episode, the two-part story "Caretaker". The Kazon were written as cruel and barbaric, without the sense of honour that Klingons are known for. To illustrate these traits, make-up took a forehead based on an almost devilish structure, and the "comb" that runs down the forehead was modelled on the look of the vulture's neck. In later episodes, the make-up department took the "vulture neck" from the "comb" and built an appliance for the Kazon neck. In addition, they created a new nose tip which lengthened the actors' noses and added spikes coming out from below the nostrils. To distinguish the Kazon even further from the Klingons, the skin colour was made a burnt orange instead of dark brown."

Joseé Normand, the show's hair designer, created the Kazon hair using some unusual ingredients including sponges and dried pig's ears (the kind sold in pet shops for animals to chew on).

She says: "I wanted the hair to look like something that came from another planet, something really big and menacing, and that's what I came up with. I used pigs' ears and sponges. Some people liked it, some people hated it, but it's different!"

Alan Sims, the show's properties master: Kazon weapons were crude, yet futuristic, weapons that had to convey the barbarism of the Kazon. These rifles and pistols looked antiquated even though they're 24th century. I used copper tubing and bent copper joints that ran to a barrel-head that was a different shape than the phaser rifle. The copper tubing became the body of the unit itself and was attached to a leather strap over a wood-looking grip that had a completely different presentation. It actually looked like a plumbing nightmare, but the prop worked because it helped define the Kazon."

From Janet's Star Trek Voyager Website