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TREKCORE >
VOY >
THE OMEGA
DIRECTIVE
> Behind the Scenes
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This episode had the working title "The Omega
Effect". |
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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." |
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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there was a Starfleet directive that superseded all other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." |
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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." |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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". |
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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."
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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." |
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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."
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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?"
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