TREKCORE > VOY > EPISODES > SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME > Behind the Scenes

	This episode has repeatedly been likened to the film My Fair Lady. For example, director and Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill said of the episode, "It's got the Doctor and Seven of Nine in a kind of My Fair Lady situation." Neelix actor Ethan Phillips likewise compared the installment's B-story to another film; "It's kind of like that movie with Peter O'Toole, My Favorite Year; the guy is entrusted with keeping him sober."
	Robert Duncan McNeill noted that the episode's conclusion was deliberately restrained, as the writers were not willing to continue the romantic aspect of the relationship between The Doctor and Seven of Nine.
	Robert Duncan McNeill appreciated this episode's focus on the cast. "It's a real actors' show," he said, "so I felt particularly excited, being an actor, to work on a show that really depended on the performances and the subtleties that the actors could bring to it." McNeill also felt that his own character of Paris had "some really great stuff to do, as an actor."
	Robert Picardo and Jeri Ryan, the performers of The Doctor and Seven of Nine respectively, did at least some of their own singing in this episode, including the duet "You Are My Sunshine".
	Collaborating with Robert Picardo on this production was joyful for Robert Duncan McNeill, who stated, "I really enjoyed working with Bob."
	Robert Duncan McNeill also observed that Jeri Ryan altered her performance here; "Jeri found, I think, a different kind of humanity in Seven of Nine than we have seen before, a real kind of child-like sense of humor in her character."
	Ethan Phillips liked this episode's depiction of Neelix. "It's a funny part and a really neat role," Phillips remarked.
	The episode's uniqueness slightly worried Robert Duncan McNeill, shortly before he directed the outing. "It was a very unusual episode for Star Trek, because it's a very traditional romantic comedy," McNeill observed. "I have to admit, when I first read it I was a little nervous. I thought, this is not what someone would expect from a Star Trek show."
	However, Robert Duncan McNeill found that helming the episode was highly enjoyable, especially due to the fact that McNeill (who had previously directed both VOY: "Sacred Ground" and "Unity") had recently begun directing non-Trek productions, such as having shot the short film The Battery. "This time directing, I really felt very comfortable and relaxed [....] The fact that I [had] started directing outside helped me not only feel comfortable, but it helped the whole crew and the cast feel like, 'He's becoming a real director. He's not just an actor on our show who is trying to direct."
	The episode's conclusion was not yet written when the shooting company filmed the rest of the installment. "When the whole script wasn't written," Robert Duncan McNeill recalled, "we were just sort of making it up, shooting it as it was being written [....] It definitely kept us on our toes, kept us aware of how much we were telling, in what order we were telling the story, and not to have The Doctor fall in love with Seven in Act One, to really find the whole journey, and fill it out fully." Robert Picardo offered, "This episode is like the movie Casablanca, because we shot it without knowing what the end will be. It's like shooting a romantic story, without knowing the payoff. But Casablanca turned out pretty well. I'm hoping that we will be equally fortunate."
	The image of an ovum being approached by countless sperm – used in The Doctor's dating lessons for Seven of Nine – was taken from footage from the movie Look Who's Talking, which starred Kirstie Alley.