Episode Behind the Scenes

TREKCORE > VOY > THE OMEGA DIRECTIVE > Behind the Scenes

This episode had the working title "The Omega Effect".
The Omega Directive was intended to be a controversial, and consequently entertaining, concept. Co-executive producer Brannon Braga remarked, "The Directive is meant to be controversial. Janeway knows it and the crew knows it. That's what makes for an exciting hour of television."
Nevertheless, the episode had a difficult birth and was initially considered as being too tedious, despite including some concepts that the writing staff found interesting. "'The Omega Directive' was a very troubled script," Brannon Braga admitted. "We knew we had something engaging with the idea that there was a Starfleet directive that superseded all other directives. There were some analogies about the Omega particle and the atom bomb. Where is the edge of the frontier in science? But it was dry and intellectual."
It was thereafter decided that the episode would be centered on the theme of religion, which allowed for some much-desired character development. Brannon Braga explained, "We hit on the idea that the show should be about religion [....] Maybe the Borg look at the Omega particle as perfection, or, in essence, it is their Holy Grail, so that we could show another side to Seven of Nine. At the same time, we could show another side to Janeway, and again get them in a more minor philosophical clash."

Braga also said about the episode's theme, "This is not a story, ultimately, about a substance. It's not about Janeway following a directive or not. It's not about science and the hackneyed concept of whether or not we should cross the line and explore what should not be explored. It is about, in the end, religion. Seven of Nine, we reveal, has an interest in Omega that borders on religious obsession. To her, Omega represents 'Perfection.' And in this way, we explore themes of religion in an unexpected way."
An early script draft for this episode had Seven of Nine citing Janeway's history of taking risks in the interest of exploration, as the basis of her argument that Voyager's crew should save some of the Omega molecules rather than neutralizing them all. In the same draft, Janeway allowed Seven to make the attempt but, as in the episode's final version, the attack from the alien ships forced the crew to jettison the entire batch of destructive molecules.
In the installment's aired version, Seven of Nine gives the stardate as 15781.2. According to the shooting script, the intended stardate was actually 51781.2.
Although Torres is included in the scripted version of the Omega briefing scene, she is not in the briefing room in the final version of that scene.
The reason why Torres is not at the Omega briefing here is due to the fact that actress Roxann Dawson went into labor straight after the filming of the only scene in this episode that her character of Torres does feature in; Dawson gave birth on 16 January 1998.
Also according to Delta Quadrant, the alien laboratory in this episode was made from stock set pieces. The book additionally suggests that the design of the alien ships seems like a revamp of the repto-humanoid vessel from the second season installment "Parturition".
The task of visualizing one of the Omega molecules was a daunting challenge. Visual effects producer Robert Bonchune recalled the request to create the effect: "At the time, it was like, [....] 'Come up with a design where Seven of Nine would look at and thinks she's looking at God. Good luck.' And that was it! I was like, 'Okay, I gotta come up with something where Seven of Nine thinks she is looking at her version of God!' I'm like, 'Alright(!)'" As he had a background in physics, Bonchune set to work by considering what might be appropriate from his personal knowledge of science, such as molecular structure. "So I just designed this buckyball," Bonchune recalled. "And I actually designed [...] fake electron clouds around it, like it had sort of a center. Everything was mildly translucent, flow of energy – it kinda had like electron flow moving over it, things like that." Bonchune digitally modeled the molecule by using numerous different procedures available in Star Trek's most commonly-used CGI software package, Lightwave. He was ultimately very happy with the look of the CG molecule, although he suspected that he may have put slightly too much detail into the design. "I probably put way too much effort into it," he said, "because it ended up being on a screen where people couldn't even see the detail, anyway."
Subsequently, Rob Bonchune was tasked with designing the mass of Omega molecules – a group whose shape was required to match that of each individual molecule – as well as it assembling and dividing. "I remember thinking, 'Well, how is that all gonna come together?" Bonchune related. He firstly carried out the lengthy process of crafting the collection of molecules. "That took the longest time," he explained, "just building these individual things, [and bringing] them together in these assemblies. I just had to sit there for days and just had to put this thing together." Once this was achieved, Bonchune executed the simpler undertaking of animating the cluster's dissolution. Reversing this animation was a relatively straight-forward method of making the formation seem to gather. Bonchune added, "It was [also] one of the first times we'd started using volumetric lights, actually used like a, you know, a volume light to create streaks and, you know, a sense of depth and three-dimensionality to it."
One of few elements of this episode that Brannon Braga was ultimately happy with was its philosophical clash between Janeway and Seven. "I think that's what made the show," he commented. "A lot of the show was still kind of boring, but I think the scenes with Seven and Janeway salvaged it."
Janeway actress Kate Mulgrew contemplated why she believed this episode was popular with viewers: "I can understand why the audience liked 'The Omega Directive'. First of all, it's, again, using that wonderful relationship between Seven of Nine and the captain. Science at its best, at its most animated, because [Seven] was a smart cookie, right? And I, being the mentor, thought myself smarter. And in this case, it was a real rush to the finish because this was a very dangerous idea we were playing with. So I think the fans are always excited when there is a relationship that's unpredictable, and there's a scientific element that's unpredictable. And it embraces both of those, so how can you possibly lose?"