The Cloud Behind the Scenes

TREKCORE > VOY > EPISODES > THE CLOUD > Behind the Scenes
 

 Michael Piller, teleplay writer: "A troubled script from day one. When scripts are in trouble, I'm frequently the one who gets them because nobody wants them and nobody knows what to do with them. So I sat down at the typewriter knowing we had the cloud part of the story. It was an interesting special-effects show in that regard, but it was such an expensive optical that we couldn't spend a great deal of time on it, so we had to come up with other material. Fundamentally, what we had a chance to do was take a look at the characters in further detail. I also like the continuing relationship that we were able to develop between Paris and Kim, and Chakotay and Janeway. I think we were able to turn the corner on the depression that comes with being lost. The least interesting part about writing it for me was the technobabble that was necessary to create the story of this creature."
   
David Livingston, director: "I was disappointed when I read the script because I thought it was just another space-creature thing. We had visited that territory before and in fact we did it a couple of times on Voyager. But this script was deceptive because the most interesting part of that show was all the B stories with the pool room and stuff. The B stories on board the ship made the A story okay for me."
   
Sue Henley, Kate Mulgrew's stand-in, is by the door of Chez Sandrine when Janeway enters. Henley wears a gold uniform.
   
Jeri Taylor: "I think one of the reasons we didn't develop Chakotay as much as we should have was because we learned early that it's really easy to slip into the stereotypes and clichés of his Indian background. People are always pitching vision-quest stories, and we wanted to go toward the direction of undergoing it rather than overdoing it. 'The Cloud' is the only reference that is talked about, but we do not actually experience it in the first season. It has been extremely controversial, which I love. I'm delighted to stir up controversy. We are posing that maybe American Indians in the 24th century have a technology that allows them to tap into their subconscious in a safe way so that they no longer have to take drugs, fast or go to sweat lodges. Consequently, they navigate their unconscious frequently and are very much more comfortable with it than most of us. I see nothing supernatural about that. This is a man going through his own unconscious, tapping into whatever is inside him that can help him navigate through his life."
   
For the vision-quest, Michael Piller, who rewrote the episode, conferred with the show's Native American consultant and used a piece of his, Piller's, own personal history. "It was an experience that I had personally in a pain-control clinic when I was having dreadful problems with my back. The teacher basically led us on a visual exercise, and I found myself on a beach. I looked and saw a small lizard, so that moment in the episode is a testimony to my own back problems. My inner advisor is a lizard."
   
A miniature beach was created on Stage 16 incorporating a shot of the ocean taken by visual effects co-ordinator Ronald B. Moore. Director David Livingston: "It was kind of a weird experience. Piller wanted us to shoot it in Janeway's office but I wanted to go to the beach. I didn't want to use a lizard but it was from his own life and he wanted a big, kind of cruel-looking animal. We shot what felt like a thousand feet of film trying to get the lizard to move. He just sat there for ten minutes. We had a hair dryer on it, trying to get it to move around, without hurting it. The thing was so lethargic it would just sit there. We shot it in second unit because there was no time to do first-unit lizard work."