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The working
title for this episode was Down Deep. |
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The
episode's development had a watery starting point. During the fifth
season of Star Trek: Voyager or in the hiatus shortly thereafter,
script writer and producer Kenneth Biller explained,
"Scott Miller
brought us this idea a couple of years ago of an ocean in space.
Brannon [Braga] and Joe [Menosky] and I fell in love with the
image." The writers then attempted to come up with a workable story
to feature their oceanic muse. |
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Whether or
not Robert Duncan McNeill was personally involved in the development
of the episode's subplot, he approved of its addition. He remarked,
"The first version of that episode I didn't like [....] [We had] an
opportunity to look [...] at it and say, 'How can we improve it?'
The whole concept of Paris being in the brig from the beginning, and
telling this as a flashback in a letter to his father, brought in a
whole other element that was much darker and much more interesting.
This was more complex; it had a lot of character stuff to play with.
All those scenes with Paris in the brig gave it a framework that was
much more interesting, and had much more mystery to it. I was very
happy with it by the end. I thought it turned into a really good
show." |
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The set
representing the inside of Captain Proton's rocket ship, as seen
here, reused a set of water bubble tubes from the fourth season
finale "Hope and Fear". |
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The scenes
in which the imprisoned Paris recounts the story for his father were
shot after the filming of the episode's other scenes. |
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For this
episode, a shot of the Delta Flyer launching from Voyager's
shuttlebay and approaching the waterworld, while banking to
starboard, was reused from the earlier Season 5 outing "Extreme
Risk", simply with a different planet composited into the shot.
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Ken Biller
was ultimately dissatisfied with all the efforts the writers made to
develop a plot conceptually centered around "an ocean in space." He
complained, "Unfortunately, we never quite figured out the best way
to tell a story about it." However, Biller thought some of the other
aspects of this episode were successful, including the subplot
involving Paris' imprisonment. "That ended up being the most
interesting thing," he remarked. "I thought the special effects were
great and the ocean was intriguing." |
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After five
years of references, the infamous Delaney sisters appear for the
first and only time. They are only seen in holodeck-attire, however
a reception scene where both are dressed in sciences division
uniforms was filmed and deleted from the episode. Publicity stills
for the episode were distributed of both actresses from this scene. |
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Because of
his actions in this episode, Tom Paris is reduced in rank to ensign.
This is the second time in the Star Trek franchise that a main
character is demoted in rank; the first occurs in Star Trek IV: The
Voyage Home, when James T. Kirk is demoted from admiral to captain.
Paris later regains his rank of lieutenant junior grade in the sixth
season finale "Unimatrix Zero". |
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One of the
pieces of equipment Riga brings with him was also seen in VOY: "Dark
Frontier" as the "auto regeneration unit" Harry warns Janeway off
of. |
