TREKCORE > VOY > PREY > Behind the Scenes

	Episode writer Brannon Braga believed that the teleplay he wrote for this episode was "a very difficult script" for a typical director to execute.
	Brannon Braga was proud, however, of the turbulent way in which this episode develops the relationship between Seven of Nine and Janeway. "It was the best Janeway-Seven arc since her introduction," Braga declared. "It was great having them go head to head like that. With any luck, we left people wondering about their relationship at the end. The parent [is] raising the child, and the child is not turning out like the parent. Does that make the parent wrong? The child wrong, because they're being unreasonable? I hope it taps into some deeper issues about the parent-child relationship."
	Brannon Braga was also pleased with the performances here. He enthused, "The acting was superb."
	Tony Todd (Alpha Hirogen) is better known for his recurring role of Kurn in Star Trek: The Next Generation. In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he not only appeared as that recurring character in the episode "Sons of Mogh" but also portrayed an alternate timeline adult Jake Sisko in DS9: "The Visitor". The task of portraying the Alpha Hirogen in this episode was fun for Tony Todd. "It was a great experience for me," he happily remembered. "I liked the character and I felt the script gave me something to do."
	Even so, Tony Todd did not enjoy wearing his Hirogen costume. "That turned out to be the most uncomfortable thing I ever did," he explained. "I had to wear this full bodied suit and the big decision for me on that show was [–] a half hour before they put me in the suit [–] if I had to go to the bathroom or whether I could hold it in until my scenes were done." His Hirogen makeup also tested Todd's endurance. The actor recalled, "Of all of the prosthetic work I've done, it was the most uncomfortable stint, playing that character. Not only was it a four-hour makeup process for the face, it was an hour-and-a-half costume application as well. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where someone has to tell you to give them notice 20 minutes before you had to pee. It's hard to pee on demand. But I knew the makeup and costume looked effective. And I just wanted that triptych, to be able to be in all three of the shows."
	Seven of Nine actress Jeri Ryan cited this episode as one of her favorite episodes from the fourth season of Star Trek: Voyager, along with "The Gift", "The Killing Game" two-parter and "Hope and Fear".
	This was the first-aired Star Trek production that Allan Eastman directed. His work on this episode satisfied Brannon Braga, who said, "The director, Allan Eastman, took [the] script and made it look like a movie."
	The EV suits worn by Tom Paris, Chakotay, Tuvok and Seven are the ones used in Star Trek: First Contact. Only three EV suits are visible simultaneously, the same number as in the film.
	Having worked on the episode that introduced Species 8472 – specifically, the third season finale "Scorpion" – Ronald B. Moore and Foundation Imaging were given the chance to revisit the alien species for this episode. Visual effects producer Dan Curry noted, "Ron Moore supervised that episode." Moore himself said, "Once again, we went to Foundation."
	The telepathic visions that Tuvok experiences here mostly involved reused shots from the two-parter "Scorpion" and "Scorpion, Part II", in which Kes sees some of the same images; the recycled footage includes close-up views of a member of Species 8472 that both she and Tuvok individually envisage. Another reused shot is of the battle between a Borg cube and a Species 8472 ship, during which – in the far distance behind the cube – the starship Voyager can also be seen. In fact, only one of the shots that, supposedly, Tuvok sees telepathically was created especially for this episode; it shows a Species 8472 vessel being pursued by a Hirogen warship. Ron Moore commented, "Once again, we [...] got stuff, with only one exception from previous episodes. There was one ship shot that [Tuvok] visualizes, and that's something we did for 'Prey'. Other than that, it was something we had already done, which made sense, because he had been so close to Kes."
	As they had done for the "Scorpion" two-parter, Foundation Imaging once again handled the CGI involved in visualizing Species 8472.  John Teska – who had been instrumental in designing the alien species, originally – was one of the Foundation staffers who had some input into the aliens' appearance here. Teska was glad upon first learning that the aliens were to return to Star Trek: Voyager. "Certainly, I was excited to see that they were gonna keep reusing this character and keep bringing him back, because I was having a great deal of fun, having build him and then getting to animate him," Teska reminisced. "But, you move on to spaceships and you think, 'Well, maybe he won't come back.' But when I read the script for 'Prey', I was really excited because there were scenes of him [such as] having hand-to-hand combat with this Hirogen warrior."
	John Teska appreciated the unusualness of the shot that shows a member of Species 8472 exploring the exterior of Voyager. He remarked, "That was a fun shot [....] You know, there are certain shots that, for an animator, you just really look forward to. And that was one, because it's so rare to see this creature in a full screen shot, and then the whole idea that it's, you know, walking around the outside of the hull. It was also interesting because the camera does like a kind of weird bank into that shot, just kind of orienting itself to the creature on the side of the hull. So, you know, on several fronts, it was kind of a unique shot to get to do."
	The fight scene between the Alpha Hirogen and the member of Species 8472 that is cornered aboard Voyager provided a challenge for the visual effects team. In fact, Dan Curry went so far as to state that this episode was "the trickiest" of the numerous episodes in which Species 8472 appears, precisely because this was "an episode where it actually fought with somebody." Curry elaborated, "Having to have a CG creature fight with a live actor was very, very difficult. Ron Moore [...] did a great job, working with the director, and the stunt guy, and the actors, to make sure we were able to put a really terrific scene together at the end." Speaking from his perspective as a member of Foundation Imaging, John Teska noted, "We had to work very closely with the supervisors on that show and make sure that, when they would shoot it, that there'd be anticipation, I guess, of where the character would be [and] how the actors should react."
	To complete the scenes that include Species 8472, the color and contrast of the computer-generated aliens were adjusted by Ron Moore in the edit bay.
	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.
	Brannon Braga's general opinion of this episode was very high. On two separate occasions, he raved, "'Prey' turned out great." On one of those times, he added, "Everything came together." Braga also counted this episode as a highlight of the fourth season (along with the two-parters "Year of Hell" and "Year of Hell, Part II", as well as "The Killing Game" and "The Killing Game, Part II").
	Executive producer Jeri Taylor once described this installment as a "full-out action adventure romp" that was "full of lots of aliens."
	This installment was one of Dan Curry's favorites from Star Trek: Voyager's fourth season.