TREKCORE > VOY > EPISODES > ONCE UPON A TIME > Behind the Scenes

	In common with the second season Star Trek: Voyager episode "Investigations", the narrative of this installment was originally to have been from a limited viewpoint prior to an expansion of the episode's perspective. Scripter Michael Taylor explained, "The notion initially was much bolder. It was going to be real 'Alice in Wonderland', with Neelix and Naomi in this make-believe world for almost the entire show." Supervising producer Joe Menosky offered, "[Executive producer] Brannon [Braga] wanted to do the entire thing in a holodeck fantasy. Voyager was going through a war outside that we only caught glimpses of." Michael Taylor wrote a first draft script from this confined vantage point. As Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was meanwhile focusing intensively on the Dominion War, however, executive producer Rick Berman opted not to feature the proposed engagement here. "Rick Berman just didn't want to see 'wars' on both Star Trek series," Menosky recalled. "He rejected that idea." Thus, Voyager's writing staff decided to replace the plot thread about the conflict with the idea of a shuttle crash, essentially enlarging the episode's point of view.
	As Michael Taylor was left with the task of working the shuttle crash into the script and time was running out, the teleplay was revised by committee. Remembered Joe Menosky, "We had very little time to do a second draft. Basically everybody jumped in with Mike. As a result of this gang writing fashion, Taylor's original vision and execution of the fairy tale in itself was lost."
	This episode marks the debut of Scarlett Pomers in the role of the young Naomi Wildman, who had previously been played by Brooke Stephens. Pomers continued in the role through the rest of the series.
	Prior to this episode's broadcast but after its production, Brannon Braga predicted that the installment would do "something interesting" with exploring what "a children's book in the future" might be like.
	Brannon Braga recognized that among this episode's fans were people who were closely associated with children: "We got great feedback from parents and teachers, who said they very much enjoyed the way children's stories were represented as learning experiences."
	The scene in which Naomi Wildman and Seven of Nine meet in the mess hall was regarded as so successful that it ended up influencing subsequent episodes. Brannon Braga commented, "[It] was so charming that we would end up exploring that relationship for episodes to come."