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Hilary J. Bader's original story featured Miles
O'Brien rather than Benjamin and Jake Sisko. It was the producers
who decided that they needed a "father and son" episode. (Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 237) |
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The song Jerusalem, which is sung by O'Brien and
Bashir during a drinking binge, was chosen by Colm Meaney and Siddig
El Fadil after the producers determined that obtaining the rights to
their initial choices Louie, Louie or Rocket Man would be too
expensive. El Fadil recalled, "'Jerusalem' was very familiar to both
of us. It's like an anthem in England, and something that drunk
people might very well sing." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion,
p. 238) |
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In the script, Sisko names his lightship the Baraka
and explains to Kira that it means "good fortune" in the Swahili
language. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion - A Series Guide and
Script Library) |
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During production this episode was known as "The
Butterfly Episode." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 237) |
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The lightship (and the basic plot of the episode
itself) was inspired by the voyage of the Kon-Tiki, a deliberately
primitive sailing craft that Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl used
to sail from Peru to Tahiti in 1947, substantiating his belief
(later disproved) that it was possible that a Pre-Columbian South
American civilization could have settled Polynesia by making a
trans-oceanic voyage. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 236
& 237) |
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Production designer Herman Zimmerman and illustrator
Jim Martin envisioned the Siskos as "sailors in space" and
intentionally made the set of the lightship similar to a sailing
boat. René Echevarria told Zimmerman and Martin that he wanted the
ship to have a "Jules Verne look, a wooden cabin outfitted with
brass." Indeed, some real sailing equipment can even be seen in the
background at various points in the episode. Both men count this
episode among their favorites to work on from a design point of
view, and Zimmerman mentions it in the Star Trek V: The Final
Frontier Special Edition DVD special feature Herman Zimmerman: A
Tribute. |
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As Jim Martin explains, in reality, a solar sail
would need to be several miles wide to propel a ship like this. As
such, "We needed to take it into the realm of fantasy. But that was
a very whimsical idea, and we could be very whimsical with it, and
do something that was kind of in a fun fantasy vein." (Sailing
Through the Stars: A Special Look at "Explorers", DS9 Season 3 DVD
special features) |
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John Knoll at Industrial Light & Magic created the
lightship as a CGI model. He later used the model for Akorem Laan's
ship in "Accession". |
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Most shots of the lightship are from the aft (rear)
because, being powered by solar currents, the ship always has its
back to the Bajoran sun. |
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Regarding the scene where Bashir and O'Brien sing
Jerusalem, Colm Meaney commented "We were a bit concerned about it.
It was the first time that that sort of scene was ever done in a
Starfleet or Federation situation. We're all susposed to be so well
behaved and we were aware that it was a bit risky so it was a
question of playing it right". ("Mr. Goodwrench", Star Trek
Communicator issue 105 p. 19) |
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David Livingston commented "It was a bottle show, but an interesting
bottle show with a father-and-son relationship and some interesting
computer graphics of the sailing ship. We were reluctant to do
computer graphics, but Peter Lauritson finally came around. He
recognized how valuable it is. You can do more stuff with the ship,
but you have to do it right. Not to pick on other shows, but Babylon
5 looks like computer-generated imagery. On Voyager and Deep Space
Nine, you may not know some of these shots are not motion-control
shots. They're really, really good if done properly. You have to
spend a couple of extra bucks and get really good artists, but CGI
just allows you to do more and you can build more elements into the
shots". (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the
New Trek Voyages) |
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Ira Steven Behr was extremely happy with the
O'Brien/Bashir drinking scene, and he feels that it is an important
scene in establishing Deep Space Nine's differing ideology from The
Next Generation. Behr explains, "That was a scene I pushed for.
Every couple of shows, I'll have a scene that becomes a baby that I
nurture. This one was just so human. It had friendship. It had
vulnerability. It was funny. It was sloppy. It's that stuff that
Deep Space Nine had helped bring back into the Star Trek universe.
The Next Generation was very serious at times, and I understand that
it did a lot of wonderful things, but it had a very self-important
air to it. Finding things that work against that is very important
to me." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 238) |
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At its 1995 convention, the Space Frontier
Foundation recognized this episode for exemplifying "the most
imaginative use of a vehicle to travel in space," and awarded the
episode the "Best Vision of the Future" award. The award was
presented by Robert Staehle, the world's foremost expert on solar
sails. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 236) |
