Production Trials and Tribble-ations

1 production

1.1 premise , writing
1.2 directing, cinematography , music
1.3 design , makeup
1.4 filming , casting

production
premise , writing

as 30th anniversary of star trek approaching, number of plans being put place. film star trek: first contact entering production, television special planned celebrate franchise , george takei had been cast appear in star trek: voyager episode flashback . producer ira steven behr later recalled thought deep space 9 might end being missed out considered middle child of franchise. however, rick berman contacted behr , asked him if interested in doing celebrate anniversary. behr agreed discuss staff writers. initially, there concern if proposed episode aired during actual anniversary week (around september 8), have serve season opener, pre-empting planned opener.

captain kirk chest in tribbles

the writers discussed potential ideas. ronald d. moore had brought montgomery scott star trek: next generation episode relics , since takei appearing in voyager, felt having member of main cast original series return repetitive. consideration given moore sending ds9 crew gangster-type planet visited kirk in episode piece of action . rené echevarria suggested time-travel episode, seen expensive proposition. echevarria, however, pressed idea. moore suggested inserting ds9 crew trouble tribbles , suggesting resolve question of why constant stream of tribbles kept hitting kirk in head.

when discussion came inserting ds9 crew bar-brawl scene, berman liked idea unsure if done. visual effects supervisor gary hutzel created test footage , screened behr , moore, thought footage original episode. once hutzel revealed additional security officer had been seamlessly added sequence, episode green-lit. during scripting process, trouble tribbles regularly consulted, writers decide insert characters. temporal agents, dulmer , lucsly, named anagrams of mulder , scully x-files.

original tribbles creator david gerrold contacted new york times, wanted interview him anniversary , rumored tribbles episode. when questioned berman episode, berman denied it. gerrold responded didn t want embarrass anyone, able endorse project. berman asked endorsement cost, gerrold requested public acknowledgement of work , cast in episode. berman agreed. gerrold compared inserting new footage existing episode future part ii (1989) , later said have gone in different direction had written story. nonetheless, felt final product ended being better have created.

directing, cinematography , music

original tribbles writer david gerrold helped make sure 2 episodes matched up

a number of directors considered episode, jonathan west being given job. west had been cinematographer on staff both deep space 9 , next generation, directing several episodes of franchise. had 9 days of preparation time before shooting began. sought match same production values original series found lighting style , color saturation film had changed in intervening years. visual effects supervisor dan curry directed of second-unit sequences, , west , cinematographer kris krossgrove worked rectify these issues. achieved switching finer grain of film, utilizing different lenses shooting specific angles. gerrold on set extra, west used him unofficial advisor on matching scenes trouble tribbles .

the actual digital insertion of actors conducted in same manner seen in film forrest gump (1994). original footage remastered, , seen such improvement inspired subsequent clean-up , re-release of of original series episodes. remaster conducted hutzel , first transfer since 1983, when version created vhs , laser disc release. hutzel identified 19 scenes trouble tribbles matched in trials , tribble-ations . scene matching between new footage , old took 9 weeks complete budget of $3 million. involved both two-dimensional , three-dimensional tracking shots insertion of matte shots , use of both blue , green screens actors. not shots seen in episode taken trouble tribbles . scene sisko meets kirk on bridge towards end of episode instead taken episode mirror, mirror .

due in part special effects, costuming, set re-constructions , residual payments original series cast, behr later described trials , tribble-ations expensive hour of episodic tv ever produced . member of original series cast spoken directly producers leonard nimoy, enthusiastic idea , surprised had taken them long come it. remaining cast members each contacted through paramount s legal department. dennis mccarthy wanted re-work jerry fielding score used on trouble tribbles . said intended use production equipment , orchestra available bring score same scale seen on deep space nine. however, producers wanted new score , mccarthy explained composed in fielding-inspired mindset. piece directly re-recorded mccarthy alexander courage theme star trek , involved 45 piece orchestra.

design , makeup

art director randy mcilvain led set re-creation enterprise , k7, describing excitement on working on episode contagious . mcilvain spent fair amount of time getting window angles correct on sets. mike okuda re-created graphics seen on enterprise sets using computer, whilst others re-drawn artist doug drexler. sets not re-created in full, such bridge, required parts of later added digitally. captain s chair bridge re-creation later 1 of star trek items auctioned christie s. set designer laura richarz watched trouble tribbles looking small details replicate on new sets, such legs of benches in bar on k7. however, said biggest challenge tracking down chairs seen on space station. contacted john m. dwyer, had worked on original episode. explained company created original chairs had gone out of business. after searching shops selling retro furniture, production team found single chair matched seen in original episode. purchased , mold made create more chairs. actors impressed when saw resulting sets, terry farrell exclaiming wow, re on enterprise!

greg jein had been working on new model of uss excelsior flashback episode of voyager when saw test footage trials , tribble-ations . promised make new model of enterprise too, warned didn t know when have time it. started work on immediately, , colleagues not built 5.5 feet (1.7 m) long model of enterprise, created new model of deep space station k7 , klingon cruiser well. enterprise model first built of original star trek starship in more 30 years. other props recreated, around 1,400 tribbles created various scenes. purchased lincoln enterprises, company set majel barrett, widow of star trek creator gene roddenberry. rest of era-specific props newly created, , made steve horsch.

worf, commenting on different physical appearance original series klingons. changes in make-up between 2 series referred obliquely, above, not directly explained within episode.

costume designer robert blackman concerned on re-creation of klingon uniforms seen in original series thought metallic material used impossible create accurately. subsequently relieved have found 4 original costumes , additional shirt in costume archives, calling them godsend . team created patterns other costumes remake them. make-up supervisor michael westmore had worked on television series during 1960s , recalled type of make-up available @ time. had team restrict techniques of era ensure ds9 crew blended scenes. hairstyles of crew meant reminiscent of original series, alexander siddig sporting style seen on james doohan. rené auberjonois said new hairstyle reminded him of jerry lee lewis.

filming , casting

walter koenig showed ds9 actors how use tos-era control panels

the cast , crew enthusiastic on set, editor steve tucker calling giddy party . behr said of cast , crew in episode having fun. sitting on sets, being on bridge, hoot, real hoot. deirdre l. imershein brought in @ last minute play lt. watley, friend of 1 of production crew , had appeared risan pleasure girl in next generation episode captain s holiday . brought in because none of actresses producers had seen during casting process role s 1 line ( deck 15 ) convincingly enough. involvement led role s being expanded second scene revealed bashir s great-grandmother.

charlie brill returned film new scenes klingon agent arne darvin, while original series writer gerrold allowed appear in 2 scenes crewman enterprise. in 1 of scenes holding original tribble trouble tribbles . walter koenig on hand during filming of episode teach ds9 actors how consoles operated on enterprise. koenig later commented paid 8 times , residual payment had been original episode. string of other visitors came set during filming, including majel barrett , former next generation producer (and tos co-producer) bob justman.