PREPARATION

The date by which the finished [#1 and #2 Caretaker] master tape had to be handed over to Paramount was 10th January 1995, and the scheduled air date was 16th January. By the beginning of July 1994, Voyager's production staff was having regular preproduction meetings, optical meetings, planning-the-schedule meetings, and meetings about the next meetings. Part of Merri Howard's job was to keep it all straight, and somehow keep everyone informed in a timely fashion. One of her chief forms of communication was the Memo To Distribution, which includes a note of the Stages for standing sets and also the location shoots:

Merri Howard

(Stage walks are conducted for every new episode, usually a day or two before filming begins. People involved include the director, sometimes a producer, Richard James (production designer for [#1 and #2 Caretaker]), Bill Peets, Marvin Rush, Randy Burgess, Brad Yacobian, and Adele Simmons or Jerry Fleck. An earlier, separate stage walk is conducted with just the director, to help him or her prepare for the episode, and to identify any special needs the director may have for that show.)

Numerous meetings followed, including the story-break meetings, out of which the beat outline is developed. Kenneth Biller: "The term is appropriate because we beat it to death." These meetings can take two or three hours, and generally occur two or three times each week.

See also, in frames format:

The subheading 'Once Upon A Time' describes the 'beat' process, and the start of production.

The following are pictures from a production meeting:

Rick Berman is in the foreground

Michael Piller

to the right of Berman is Jeri Taylor

close-up of the above picture

The script, and all revisions, were checked and researched (and all scripts continue to be). Joan Pearce & Associates checked each word of the script for potential conflicts and clearances of every possible description. The research firm functions as a kind of early warning system. However, there are words in Star Trek which are known in the real world and indeed are well-known to certain groups of people, e.g. "Haakonians", "Nausicaans". See also Behind-the-scenes: Historical Origins Of Names. Discussion of the failure by Star Trek to do any research for a [DS9] episode title is in the small print of the Behind-the-scenes subheading at (use of Voyager sets for) USS Bellerophon. For [#1 and #2 Caretaker], Joan Pearce & Associates submitted seven pages of suggestions regarding the script. The excerpts below provide an insight as to why it is necessary to "tech" each script:

Jamake Highwater (founder and president of the Native Land Foundation, and author of numerous books about Native Americans) checks each script for relevance and accuracy to Native American details and issues. Understandably, his primary focus is upon anything that concerns Chakotay. For example, his comments about [#1 and #2 Caretaker] included the following:

Each script is also checked by André Bormanis, for scientific and technical accuracy. He is [Star Trek Voyager]'s science consultant (and later wrote several stories and teleplays for the show). He looks primarily for mistakes or problems from a "real science" perspective - those that conflict with known science, theorems, and laws of physics. The following are examples of his comments on the [#1 and #2 Caretaker] script:

André Bormanis

And finally, Michael Okuda and Rick Sternbach "tech" a script from a "bogus science" standpoint i.e. the 24th century science and technology upon which much of the Star Trek universe is based. Wherever possible, anything previously established, going all the way back to [TOS], must be acknowledged, adhered to, or dealt with in the appropriate manner. Okuda and Sternbach read each script, keeping an eye out for violations and inconsistencies that would pose any type of conflict. Their comments, like the following [#1 and #2 Caretaker] excerpts, are widely circulated, to alert everyone of changes that may need to be made, and why:

Scene 17, page 12. Stadi: "Sustainable cruise velocity of warp factor nine-point-nine-seven-five..." Although the "actual" speed of warp travel is somewhat flexible, a sustained speed that high would theoretically get us back to Federation space in only about 10 or 12 years. Suggest: "Standard cruise velocity of warp factor nine-point-oh."This would leave our emergency max imum velocity rather nebulous as needed. Or, since the normal cruising speed of the Enterprise was only warp six, we could easily make this warp eight, thereby making the 75 year figure even more credible. I believe that the slower we can make our ship, the better for storytelling. Scene 21, page 14. Paris: "Romulan ale in a tall glass." Comment: We've seen Romulan ale a couple of times before, notably in Star Trek II. It is a light blue liquid with no bubbles. Scene 32, page 26. Paris: "A plasma storm might not leave any debris..." Comment: It's unlikely that even an unusually powerful concentration of plasma could so totally destroy a ship. Suggest "A plasma storm might overload a probe's sensors." Or: "A probe's sensors might be useless in a plasma storm."

Brannon Braga: "Specificity and limitations spawn creativity. You have this Gene Roddenberry universe where the Starfleet people are ideal human beings. They've pretty much gone beyond their pettiness, their racisms, and their conflicts. You've got twenty-five years of Star Trek history and lore and tech nobabble. It's great. Thank God there's all that specificity. That's a whole bunch of stuff I don't have to come up with. That's a whole bunch of texturing I don't have to come up with. I can use it. I can focus on the story lines and characters. It's a big help. I know how Starfleet people act. I don't have to make it up as I go along."

script excerpt:

The standing sets were by now almost complete. See also DESIGNING USS VOYAGER: Interior especially the subheading 'Standing Sets'. The standing sets were constructed on Stages 8 and 9 at the Paramount lot. On Stage 8 were: the bridge, briefing room, captain's ready room, messhall, quarters and corridor. Next door, on Stage 9, was the engineering set, the biggest so far in Star Trek. Built around and into the sides of the engineering set were the turbolift, Jefferies tube, additional crew quarters, transporter room, sickbay, the shuttlebay/hangar deck which also functions as the holodeck set, and lots of corridors. There was a smaller area left over, near the hangar deck, which would get used for an occasional set wall or a small temporary set e.g. the wall of an alien office. (The medical lab was conceived but not actually built until Season 2.) See also Behind-the-scenes: Stages 8 and 9 and associated work areas.

the bridge set under construction, as viewed from behind the set;
"wild" refers to "wild wall" i.e. one designed to be removed to allow filming

USS Voyager's design was started in September 1993 but the design did not become final, and the finished model delivered to Image G for motion-control photography, until 19th October 1994. Including CGI (computer-generated image) details for the moveable warp nacelles, the complete design would not be finalised until mid-December, only six weeks before [#1 and #2 Caretaker]'s scheduled air date.

a design drawing of USS Voyager

Poe: "In Sternbach's drawings can be seen at least one reason for Rick Berman's hesitation over approving a final configuration. Compared to its predecessors, Voyager had a decidedly tadpole-shaped nose. Understandably, Berman was not satisfied, and asked to see more design sketches. More discussions followed. More "I hate it" responses.^* Richard James was wearing a path between his office and Berman's. As always, the challenge was to make Voyager as different as possible from the Enterprise while still being a recognizable cousin. In achieving that goal the question was, how many design elements could they change? Take the saucer ... could they reshape it? Could they eliminate it - which is what Michael Okuda wanted to do? Could they rearrange the engines? How else could they play with the overall symmetry? In the end, the decision was made to take the shape of the Enterprise-D saucer, rotate it ninety degrees, and stretch it slightly along its fore and aft axis. The warp-engine nacelles, now reinstated, were also reshaped, and dropped to a lower horizontal position. This allowed the nacelles room to articulate upward to a forty-five degree position as Voyager accelerated to warp speed. According to the series bible, this feature is part of an advanced technology that permits the ship to fly at warp speeds without damaging the fabric of space. What? Sounds like CYA (cover-your-ass). That's because it is CYA. Why? Well, because Star Trek fans notice things. And they have very long memories. The explanation for the articulating engine nacelles was necessary, if Voyager was to have any decent warp capability at all-and therefore any chance to make it back to the Alpha Quadrant.

^*Poe explains the affectionate in-joke about Rick Berman's "I hate it" response, as follows: "Virtually every person in every department has, at one time or another, experienced Rick Berman's classic reaction the first time, to anything: "I hate it." And then round after round of changes occur. In fact, Berman's reaction is so common that quite a few offices have a sign on the wall with the simple declaration "I Hate It."

Jeri Taylor: "In the last season of [TNG] we put ourselves in a bit of a predicament when we did an environmental show (the story [TNG: Force Of Nature]) in which we discovered that warp speed is damaging the fabric of space. Suddenly everyone had to confront the fact that the space travel and exploration which they took for granted and which provided a great deal of bounty in terms of knowledge and information and interchange with other species might be damaging the environment. It was a wonderful way of making it hit home to viewers that the internal combustion engine, which we take for granted and which gives us many wonderful things, is also damaging our environment. Our people had to confront this issue. What we decided was that Starfleet would limit warp speed to warp five except in terms of extreme emergency, for which they would have to give special dispensation. Having established that fact, we had to live with it. So one of the things that Voyager has is some kind of new filtration system or something ... what amounts to a cleaner burning fuel ... that allows us to go at higher speeds with out damaging the environment of space. Because it would take us a lot longer to get home from the Delta Quadrant than seventy years if we could only go warp 5."

It is a Star Trek canon that once a fact is established, it exists forever, and must be taken into account.

The set representing the interior of the Caretaker's Array in its undisguised form, i.e. laboratory, was constructed. Before going to the expense and labour of building any set, concept drawings are made, changed, and finally blueprints are produced for Al Smutko's construction team. (Blueprints of certain Voyager standing sets are in DESIGNING USS VOYAGER: Interior.)

Concept drawings of the Caretaker's Array, 113Kb:

Final set of the laboratory interior of the Caretaker's Array, 100Kb:

Season 1 was scheduled for twenty-two episodes, counting the pilot. But only one script had been drafted. The producers needed story ideas, and from them, scripts. The three (Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor) began holding story conferences, discussing ideas for the first few episodes. By early June 1994 they had identified six possible stories, with three more one-liner concepts from Rick Berman. Piller, Taylor and Brannon Braga went into "pitching fever" and, by invitation only, they started taking pitches (story ideas) from outside writers. Although Star Trek had an open script policy at that time (no longer), the producers did not want to open the [Star Trek Voyager] process to the general public quite yet as it was foremost essential to establish the series' premise and the "voice" of each character i.e. their motivations, personalities and idiosyncrasies. Initially, they took pitches only from people from whom they had previously purchased stories or scripts. The effort paid off - when casting started in July 1994, they had purchased almost a dozen stories, and had two scripts in development. All this, it should be remembered, was going on at the same time that [#1 and #2 Caretaker] was being prepared.

When casting started, the three producers were tied up every day, going through the casting process. That left Brannon Braga to take the story pitches, and at the same time, write the script for the second episode. During all of this frenzy of activity, Paramount's top boss Kerry McCluggage still had reservations about the series' premise. He read the draft of the script and, in early June 1994, sent his own notes to Rick Berman, expressing his concerns. The following week, Berman, Piller and Taylor addressed those concerns in a memo. One concern of McCluggage's was about the Prime Directive. As the script was written, he felt Captain Janeway might well find herself in the position of violating it - that would be a no-no. (Poe observes that this indicates how conversant Paramount's top executives are with the Star Trek universe, which is unusual in an industry noted for studio executives whose main interest is the 'bottom line'.) The producers replied: "We've managed to keep Janeway from a direct violation of the Prime Directive, and we believe it's important that she not cross the line and meddle overtly with the destiny of the Ocampa - or we risk sending a message to viewers that we're abandoning one of the basic principles of the StarTrek franchise. She will, however, provide the satisfying message that they are not doomed; rather, they are being given an opportunity to grow and flourish an opportunity she will guarantee by the selfless act of destroying the Array. We will address language which confuses the distinction between the Array and the Caretaker - one being the hardware which supplies power and energy, the other the entity which operates the hardware. It is the Caretaker who is dying; the hardware will remain intact after his death and could provide the means for the Voyager crew to return home - or the means for the Gazon (later renamed Kazon) to destroy the Ocampa. Janeway will eschew the former in order to prevent the latter." The producers' memo went on to address each of McCluggage's other concerns, and to reassure him that the next draft of [#1 and #2 Caretaker] would incorporate the appropriate changes.

28 days were allotted for actually shooting i.e. filming, of which 7 days were allocated to location filming.

On Tuesday 6th September 1994 filming began, with an early scene, this being the scene in the messhall in which Kim learns of Paris' past. The next day Geneviève Bujold as Nicole Janeway (pictured) started filming, but it was quickly evident that she was unsuitable, with Winrich 'Rick' Kolbe shooting take after take and still being unsatisfied with the results. Bujold herself, who was not used to episodic television and had been cast without even reading for the past, and who was not Rick Berman's preference, decided she was unsuited and quit. Kolbe tried to carry on, by shooting those scenes without Janeway, but eventually shooting stopped until the new captain could be cast. This turned out to be Kate Mulgrew, who had been shortlisted after auditioning in 1993, who was well-used to working in episodic television. See also STARTING THE SERIES: The first captain, Bujold.