Episode Behind the Scenes

TREKCORE > DS9 > EPISODES > NECESSARY EVIL > Behind the Scenes
 
This episode, with its first person narration, hard-bitten detective main character, flashbacks to a time of war, and overall noir feel, echoes strongly the classic detective fiction of the 40s.
   
The Season Five episode "Things Past" acts as a companion piece of sorts to this episode, revealing a dark mistake Odo had made during the occupation which he had kept a secret from Kira and the others.
   
Colm Meaney (O'Brien) and Cirroc Lofton (Jake) don't appear in this episode.
   
René Auberjonois (Odo) describes this as "One of the best episodes we've ever done."
   
Herman Zimmerman on creating the Terok Nor look:
"We took out all of the nice things and made it much more spartan and put atmosphere, smoke, into the air. And we actually built a physical barrier that ran down the length of the Promenade, making it look like a ghetto area on one side and the Cardassian business district on the other. It was an electrified high-tech wire thing, with neon lights on the top to simulate a force field, and a utility gate that slid back and forth on rollers."
   
René Auberjonois on his Columbo-esque line "One more thing...":
"When I read the script, I realized it was very much a Columbo sort of trick to do, so rather than play against it, I decided to do a little homage within the bounds of the particular reality that we establish for Deep Space Nine."
   
Armin Shimerman on his own little homage:
"When I first did the pilot, I got some notes from Rick Berman about what I should not do ever again. And one of the things he suggested was I was never to play a scene like Humphrey Bogart, because I sound a little like him. And I reminded Rick that it wasn't so much me as the overbite I have with the Ferengi teeth. But they wrote me a scene that was so obviously Humphrey Bogart! So I had the great pleasure of playing it as though it were a '40s Bogart movie, and the director was pleased with that particular take on it."
   
Max Grodénchik on imitating the master:
"When I come to the Infirmary to see Quark, there's that guy about to kill him, and I do Armin's Ferengi scream. Of course, Armin is the best at doing those things, by far. He can get up higher and shriller than anybody."
   
The image of Ches'sarro is a recycled photo of the visual effects producer Dan Curry taken for the first-season episode "Babel". Curry recalls in order to "get in character" for the shot, he was "standing out in an alley at the studio and sneering and looking nasty." For the reused shot, it was touched up in Photoshop to give Curry less hair.