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This episode had the working title
"Communications". |
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The episode's final draft script was submitted on
16 October 1997. |
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The considerable size of the Hirogen in this
episode is a result of the fact that the original inspiration
for the aliens, as devised by co-executive producer Brannon
Braga, was the largeness of football players. Alan Sims recalled that, for the Hirogen in this episode, the production crew "hired actors that
were close to seven feet and then put platforms in their boots
to give them even greater height." |
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orres actress Roxann Dawson liked the storyline
about news of the Maquis' destruction. Moments after referring
to the scene in which Chakotay gives Torres this news as
"really
interesting," Dawson remarked, "I love that they're bringing
that up again." Dawson also liked the scene where, in the astrometrics lab, her
character and Paris talk about not only the destruction of the
Maquis but also the message from the latter's father. Dawson
referred to it as "a really nice scene where there's no kissing
involved." She went on to say, "You just see these two friends
dealing with some very difficult situations. At first we snap at
each other, and then we resolve our differences. It's a very
mature scene, and it shows the depth of what they feel for each
other, and how they respect each other." |
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The first shot of Voyager in this episode – showing
the vessel passing through a nebula – uses the exact same CGI
background used in the opening moments of the Season 2 episode
"Deadlock", when Voyager is evading the Vidiians within a nebula
(the scene angle is the same, but the path/angle of Voyager is
slightly different). |
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According to the unauthorized reference book Delta
Quadrant, the exterior of the relay station in
this episode was actually a studio model that was often reused
in Star Trek productions, including Star Trek: Voyager's pilot
episode, "Caretaker", (as the Caretaker's array) and the second
season episode "Cold Fire" (as Suspiria's array). |
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Visualizing the relay station's destruction was a
complicated process. Visual effects supervisor Mitch Suskin
recalled, "We had a lot of trouble coming up with a credible way
to make the station collapse into itself and implode. We did it
almost entirely at Foundation Imaging, but that went through a
lot of massaging, and looking at the shot frame by frame." |
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Ultimately, Mitch Suskin was not completely happy
with this episode. He remarked, "There are
shows you love every season, and shows that are kind of awkward,
and that show was awkward in many ways [....] In the ebb and
flow of Star Trek, it's a good show but not one of our
greatest."
Contrastingly, this installment was one of visual effects
producer Dan Curry's favorites from Star Trek: Voyager's fourth
season.
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his episode achieved a Nielsen rating of 3.8
million homes, and a 6% share. |
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Prior to the ending of production on Star Trek:
Voyager's fourth season, both Roxann Dawson and Chakotay actor
Robert Beltran expressed interest in the Maquis again being
featured at some point in the series despite the news of their
elimination here, Beltran feeling that this episode left
unresolved the subject of how his character and Torres dealt
with the Maquis' suppression. |
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Roxann Dawson also wanted the data stream that is
still not decrypted by the end of this episode to ultimately be
revealed as being a message from Starfleet suggesting that,
until they themselves can return Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant,
the Maquis be secured in the brig. Robert Beltran later agreed
that this would have been a good idea. |
