Episode Behind the Scenes

TREKCORE > DS9 > EPISODES > CIVIL DEFENSE > Behind the Scenes
 

This episode had an extremely difficult gestation. According to Ira Steven Behr, "It was one of those back-breaking, horrible, horrible experiences," although he does acknowledge that "it was terrific at the end."

The original pitch by Mike Krohn was intended as a bottle show, and while the basic man-against-machine element of the plot was fine, the problem, according to Ronald D. Moore, was in trying to find a way "to make the jeopardy intriguing, to find the inner story."

By the time of production, virtually every writer on the staff had had a go at the script, but every single draft was rejected by Michael Piller. According to Behr, Piller called him at 8:00am on a Monday morning to tell him, "I hate to say this Ira, but I'm not buying any of it - it's not working."

In the end, after much work, the staff finally got together a script which Piller approved, and the episode was green-lit, but even then, there were more problems. According to Behr, "The writing process turned out as painful and disgusting as we thought it would be." However, he does acknowledge that "in the end, it turned out solid, with some nice twists and some great stuff for Garak and Dukat, and the paired up teams."
   
"Civil Defense" resembles the Voyager episode "Worst Case Scenario". In both episodes the crew trigger a computer program which they are unable to shut down and which proves life-threatening. In "Civil Defense", the program becoming a threat to the crew was accidental. In "Worst Case Scenario", however, the program had been placed there specifically for that purpose. Coincidentally, in both episodes the programs' creators are Cardassian.
   
This episode builds upon the antagonism between Gul Dukat and Garak which was first hinted at in the second season episode "Cardassians". It would next be seen in the fourth season episode "The Way of the Warrior".
   

This is the first episode where we see Dukat express a desire for Kira, something that would return many times in the future, perhaps seen at its most forceful in the fourth season episode "Return to Grace" and the sixth season episode "A Time to Stand".

In this episode however, his attempt to impress her is treated humorously, something which displeased Nana Visitor. According to Nana Visitor,"I would have liked my character to make the point that only a few years earlier, Dukat's wanting me would have meant that he could have had me, and I wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it. So it shouldn't have been seen as a 'cute' moment. It was actually a horrifying moment, one that would make Kira feel disgust and panic. To Kira, Dukat is Hitler. She's not ever going to get over that. She can never forgive him, and that is important to me. Kira may have started to see Cardassians as individuals, but she will always hate Dukat." In subsequent episodes, Dukat's longing for Kira would take on a much less humorous tone.
   
The belt which Odo wore for the first six episodes of this season disappears in this episode. Rene Auberjonois had originally asked for the belt because he liked the look of the belt which costume designer Robert Blackman had designed for the all-black outfit in "Crossover". However, on the beige costume, Auberjonois felt that the belt looked "Buck Rogers-y" and asked if he could remove it. Kira finally notices the difference in "Crossfire".
   
This episode was the first to mention Quark's cousin, Gaila. Josh Pais plays the character in the episodes "Business as Usual" (Season 5) and "The Magnificent Ferengi" (Season 6).
   
Danny Goldring (Legate Kell) went on to appear in Season 5's "Nor the Battle to the Strong" as Chief Burke. He also had roles in Voyager (Karr in "The Killing Game") and Enterprise (Nausicaan captain in "Fortunate Son" and Takret captain in "The Catwalk").