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."

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