|
|
 |
TREKCORE >
DS9
> EPISODES >
THE ALTERNATE > Behind the Scenes
 |
This episode is the last Star Trek episode to be directed
by David Carson. He later goes on to direct
Star Trek Generations. |
|
|
|
|
|
When telling Odo the story about his father, Sisko
arguably seems to imply (without actually saying it) that his father had
passed away after becoming ill. Joseph Sisko ultimately made six
appearances in the series, his first one taking place almost exactly two
years after this episode. |
|
|
|
|
|
James Sloyan also played Alidar Jarok in the
Next Generation episode "The
Defector", K'Mtar in "Firstborn",
and Dr. Jetrel in the Voyager
episode "Jetrel".
He would reprise his role as Dr. Mora in the episode "The
Begotten". He is probably best known as the voice behind the Lexus
commercials. |
|
|
|
|
|
The significance of the pillar taken from the planet is
never explained. However, if the planet was a deserted home of the
Founders, it's possible that it was used for shapeshifting. |
|
|
|
|
|
Jim Trombetta discusses his original thoughts
behind this episode:
"I was thinking about multiple personality
disorder, and it occurred to me that if a shape-shifter had such a
disorder, not only would he go around exhibiting different
personalities, but different bodies. That was the story; he lost
himself, and found himself chasing a menace that was him. In doing so,
he found something out about himself." |
|
|
|
|
|
Glenn Neufeld describes the creature he created:
"I figured out that the way the script was
written, buy my timing, we'd be looking at the creature for a minute and
a half of screen time. Thirty cuts between three and fifteen seconds
each, at various times in the show. I was forced to point out that in
the movie Alien, up to the moment where we really see it, there
are really only a hundred frames of creature. And do we really want to
see our creature all that time? And, of course, the was 'Yes.'" |
|
|
|
|
|
 Glenn Neufeld describes the process of creating
the creature:
"An episode gets shot in seven days. My group has
about a week of preproduction, and in that week we have to decide what
the creature is going to look like, make artwork of it, make a deal with
the visual effects house (in this case, Video Image) to do the work and
create the creature in each of the shots. Then that work has to be
finished and delivered to us so we can do the final composites into the
production plates. So you go to the stage [during the week of actual
filming] and people ask, 'What does the monster look like?' And you say,
'Well, it's big and gooey and about twelve feet tall and it goes Rrroowwlll!'" |
|
|
|
|
|
Composer Dennis McCarthy on the score to "The
Alternate":
"I treated it like a horror film. An orchestra can
give you tremendous horror effects, but it can also sound dated. Adding
the synthesizer pushes you into the era that we're in now" |
|
|
|
|
|
René Auberjonois recalls that originally he was
asked to play the role of Dr. Mora. However, he recalls the problems
facing the crew if that were to happen:
"By the time the actual script came down, Mora's
part was too big. It would have taken two weeks to shoot the story with
me doing both parts. It is possible, it's been done on the original
series and on TNG, and even in our show. But in this case, I would have
had to get out of my makeup, which takes two hours, and into another
makeup. It wouldn't have been just a matter of changing costumes, as it
was with, say, two Rikers. That takes just a few minutes." |
|
