Episode Behind the Scenes

TREKCORE > VOY > EPISODES > THINK TANK > Behind the Scenes

Although this episode's story is credited to Executive Producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, Supervising Producer Joe Menosky referred to it as having proceeded from a concept devised by only Braga. "That was an idea Brannon came up with," Menosky stated. He added, "[Michael] Taylor did a really wonderful first draft." Taylor himself said of the episode, "This is an intellectual puzzle, a game, which I hope we carry off well."
Kurros actor Jason Alexander was previously a main cast member of Seinfeld, a series that Alexander comically referenced upon struggling with some of his dialogue. Michael Taylor offered, "At one point, he had trouble with some of the technical dialogue, and he started screaming, 'Jerry!'" Michael Taylor was pleased with Jason Alexander's appearance as Kurros, believing it to be fortunately quite different from the actor's usual work. Laughing, Taylor said, "I think Jason did a very interesting turn as my lead villain in that show [....] For Jason Alexander's fans, it will be a chance to see him in a very different kind of role."
Christopher Darga and Christopher Shea both appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. They played Kaybok (in "The Way of the Warrior") and Keevan (in "Rocks and Shoals" and "The Magnificent Ferengi"), respectively.
When first approached by the Hazari ships, Chakotay wonders who it was that sent the Hazari after Voyager, referencing both the Malon and the Devore.
The quantum slipstream drive from "Timeless" is one of the items demanded by the Think Tank.
Kurros claims that the Think Tank eliminated the phage, a few months prior to this episode.
The sounds that Paris' hand-held puzzle device Sheer lunacy play, when winning or losing, are similar to the sounds played by the gambling device from DS9: "Rivals".
Joe Menosky was delighted with this episode, describing it as "very quirky, very great, really interesting characters." He also imagined it would appeal to children of about nine years old and fit "the perfection of a really good, stand-alone episode. "'Think Tank' is very much in that realm," Menosky declared, "this idea of a quirky group of extremely talented aliens who hire themselves out to people for strange payments in order to solve their problems. If I was nine or ten years old I would think, that's really cool, and I wish I was on that ship."
The puzzle shown repeated in the episode is in the form of a truncated octahedron.
When asked what he thought of this episode in a 2011 interview, Jason Alexander commented; "I thought it was really smart and dramatic and they used my best moments. I was thrilled with it."