TREKCORE > VOY > EPISODES > EQUINOX PART I > Behind the Scenes

	At the end of Star Trek: Voyager's fifth season, Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky required a season finale. The previous episodes of the season had tired them, however, and one of the few elements they knew they wanted to include in the forthcoming finale was a cliffhanger. Remembered Menosky, "We were all really exhausted. We didn't know what in the world we were going to do for the last episode. Brannon and Rick Berman worked out some of this episode. We probably had a week to go before prep, before Brannon came up with an idea that was workable." Braga himself recalled, "I had this image, a ship of people who were stuck in the Delta Quadrant almost as long as we have been, maybe a bit longer, but they have not responded the same way. They've done some very, very bad things, including mass murder."
	The idea was not initially appealing to Joe Menosky. "I just had no hope for it at all," he confessed. "It had the feeling of elements stitched together without a driving point of view [with a] haphazard and clunky structure and story." Menosky was attracted, however, to the prospect of introducing multiple new characters in the episode. "One thing this did have going for us is that we had four major speaking roles [....] As a result we could have interesting character dynamics. You could follow threaded, character arcs in a way that felt bigger than a single episode."
	Subsequently, the writers began to pen the script for the installment. "We clarified the structure of it halfway through the writing of it," Joe Menosky stated. "Instead of sitting down and outlining it, and then writing it, we just wrote it. We didn't even know really where we were headed. We would just write a scene and think what would be cool to come next."
	he role of Captain Ransom was offered to John Savage. "They needed a captain. They didn't have a story yet, and I was excited," the actor reminisced. "It evolved, and every day, a new set of pages. I found quite an interesting moral struggle in the story. It wasn't simple, and it was very supported."
	The experience of collaborating with Janeway actress Kate Mulgrew on this outing left John Savage with the impression that she would make a good director. "She was admirable with her focus," Savage noted. He also enjoyed working with Mulgrew. "I saw some wonderful possibilities and moments, like in the relationship with Captain Janeway, as man and woman, and also as captains, and as people," the actor related. "I just felt like I might have unfortunately overcomplicated myself, and had to be pulled straight by Kate. I didn't have to be. She was generous [....] It was a good experience [...] but we both had a lot of stuff going on."
	John Savage's presence in this episode was especially thrilling for Rick Berman, who commented, "It was a real kick to have him on the show. He did a great job."
	Star Trek: Voyager's casting department asked Titus Welliver if he wanted to portray Max Burke. Learning that John Savage was playing Captain Ransom persuaded Welliver, a long-time fan of Savage, to accept the offer. Welliver noted, "When I found out he was going to do Voyager I said, 'I'm there.'"
	Titus Welliver was delighted to appear in this episode. He fondly remembered, "My first day of work on 'Equinox' I thought, 'I've waited close to 30 years to be on a Star Trek set, and here I am.' I was like a little kid in a candy shop [....] I wish I had as much fun on all my jobs as I did on this one."
	Titus Welliver's appreciation for John Savage's work did not diminish after they met. Welliver recalled, "He was always asking the other guest stars and me, 'Is there anything you need? Just tell me.' My experiences on Voyager certainly fulfilled any expectations I had of him. It was an honor to work with the man."
	As most producers and directors usually wanted Titus Welliver to play crazy characters, he found a notable contrast with the role of First Officer Burke, stating, "He's probably one of the most subtle characters that I've ever portrayed [....] I felt that in order to give Burke any sort of military presence I had to play him with an incredible stillness, and I found this made him appear that much stronger. It was a challenge to be present in scenes and have to remain calm and focused as opposed to being very animated and expressive."
	Torres actress Roxann Dawson approved of this episode's look at B'Elanna's past relationship with Burke. "It's interesting to see how that relationship is dealt with, especially in light of B'Elanna being with Paris now," Dawson commented. "That's an interesting conflict."
	The main bridge of the Equinox is a re-use of the set used for the USS Prometheus, as are the corridors, crew quarters and science lab. They are all slightly altered to simulate the effect of damage. According to the unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant, the Equinox's bridge was a redress of the Defiant's bridge and the research lab was a redress of Voyager's sickbay.
	Titus Welliver implied that both the sets for the damaged Equinox's interior and the set for the flashback scene showing Ransom and Burke meet the Ankari were on the same soundstage as each other. "Those scenes [...] were shot inside a soundstage on the Paramount Studios lot that a group of cats call home," the actor laughed. "Several times I'd go to sit down in Burke's bridge chair and there would be cat hair all over the seat. It was like, 'Oh, no, the cats have invaded!'" Welliver enjoyed viewing the detail invested in the starship interior sets, however. "It was fun to see the detailed writing on the instrument panels," he said.
	The production of this episode was a challenging process. At a point when the shooting company still had to return to the Paramount lot and film another day's work as the episode was too short, Director David Livingston reflected, "It was a long shooting schedule, and very difficult, because a lot of it was with no lights. There are four sequences where we go to visit their ship, finding people dead or dying. Those were all shot with Sims [palm] beacons, and a lot of sparks and smoke and nitrogen. It was tough on the crew, especially for the last episode, because everybody was so tired and burnt out after the long season." Reshoots were also involved in the episode's production.
	Titus Welliver noted that the timing of the installment's production facilitated certain festivities. "We filmed the first part of 'Equinox' around Saint Patrick's Day," he said, "and Kate [Mulgrew] threw a party and we all had a blast."
	Due to the fact that this episode features a lot of members of a completely new alien species (specifically, the nucleogenic lifeforms), Visual Effects Supervisor Ronald B. Moore remarked, "This is probably the most ambitious show I have ever seen." The physical appearance of the aliens was designed by Pacific Ocean Post and was rendered CGI by Santa Barbara Studios. Similarly, the Equinox's exterior was designed by Senior Illustrator Rick Sternbach and visualized by Digital Muse.
	This episode ultimately ranked high in both Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky's opinions. Braga enthused, "It's packed with inventive action, really creepy, vicious, new CGI-created aliens, and a wonderful character dynamic." Menosky observed, "There is a feeling of character possibility and largeness to this single episode that I think substitutes for the grand sweep of the other two-parters that we have done." He also commented that the way in which the episode was written was "very satisfying creatively, in terms of how the episode and the story actually spun itself out." Menosky added, "By the end of the episode, I was really happy with it. It completely surprised me."
	David Livingston was less sure, at least initially, of whether the episode had been a complete success, remarking, "I don't know if it quite has the edginess of 'Scorpion', but maybe it will."