Empok Nor - Behind the Scenes

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As I post screen grabs & dialog from “Empok Nor,” I’ve been looking things up on Memory Alpha, and doing so, I came across a couple of background tidbits on the episodes which were quite interesting.

Garak and O’Brien

First, this bit on the evolution of the script (broken into paragraphs for easier reading:

Hans Beimler’s first draft of the teleplay for this episode did not feature any of the various exchanges between O'Brien and Garak. There were no mentions of Setlik III, and no sense of rivalry between the two. 

This draft was not popular with either the cast or crew. According to Andrew Robinson, “After I finished the first draft, I thought, ‘Ugh.’ I felt like the writers were intruding on Garak. I never could have done that first script. We were vacuums. There was nothing in my character. It made no sense." 

Similarly unimpressed was Ira Steven Behr; ”I told Hans, 'This doesn’t work. Not even close. There’s no character, no meaning. It’s just a series of events and none of it makes any sense.’“ 

Beimler returned to the script and composed another draft, this time adding much more depth to the relationship between Garak and O'Brien, and also bringing O'Brien’s background as a soldier into play. As Beimler himself acknowledges, ”I thought it was there after I did the first draft, but there was no bottom to the story. The second draft got into the relationship with O'Brien and Garak, and that really gave it some substance and content.“ 

(Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

Proof that feedback, working together, and editing can improve a story!

Psycho Killer

The second thing that caught me was this bit about Andrew Robinson’s reaction to the part:

Although Andrew Robinson was a lot happier with the episode after Hans Beimler’s rewrite, he still wasn’t thrilled with the project; ”It turned out okay, but it made me uneasy to do that character.“ Robinson’s breakout performance had been as the Scorpio killer in the 1971 film Dirty Harry. For some years after that performance, Robinson had fought against being typecast as a psychopathic killer, and he was a little disappointed to see that now, 25 years later, he was presented with a Deep Space Nine script which depicted him as just such a psychopathic killer. 

(Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

Although this thought did occur me, you have to admit, he makes a REALLY GOOD PSYCHOPATHIC KILLER!