TREKCORE > VOY > EPISODES > DEATH WISH > Behind the Scenes

	Gerrit Graham, who plays the Q later known as Quinn, plays the lead hunter in DS9's "Captive Pursuit" in which he tracks live, intelligent prey specially bred to be hunted, called Tosk. His particular Tosk prey is played by Scott McDonald who plays Rollins in "Caretaker".
	Everyone on the staff liked the name of the actor Maury Ginsberg so much that Michael Piller changed the character's name in the script to match, so Maury Ginsberg plays an eponymous character.
	The writers originally wanted Geordi La Forge as the Starfleet officer produced by Q, not Will Riker. The change occurred because LeVar Burton, who plays La Forge, was sporting a clean-shaven head at the time, which was definitely not La Forge's look. Riker was substituted at the last minute.
	John de Lancie, who plays Q, reprises the role of Q in Voyager (in this episode and two later ones "The Q And The Grey" and "Q2") which he plays in several TNG episodes and in DS9. Along with Michael Ansara (as Kang), Armin Shimerman (as Quark) and Richard Poe (as Gul Evek), John de Lancie is one of only four actors to play the same character on three different Star Trek series. John de Lancie is a close personal friend of Kate Mulgrew.
	The "pitch" or the initial story idea came from Michael Piller's son Shawn. Michael Piller, who wrote the teleplay, says: "He came up with this thing himself and he wrote the story himself. He would have loved to have written the script but, as I said, there are no favors here. He had never written a teleplay and I wasn't going to pay him to practice on us."
	John de Lancie: "When the script is as meaty as 'Death Wish' you don't need all the banter and stuff Patrick (Stewart, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard) and I had to add on some of the weaker Q episodes of TNG."
	Kate Mulgrew about John de Lancie: "Mad, lunatic, but again, this is true of all great actors - they become absolutely wonderful in the moment that they must work, and incredibly disciplined, which is de Lancie. And he could work until you just dropped, he really could. And he has that - when you're that naturally funny - he's full of surprise, very unpredictable. I've done four or five episodes with him over the years, and we've had fun. We've been in the bathtub together (in "Q2") - you can imagine, there's very little I haven't done for him or with him."