Subject: Answers
Date: Tue, Apr 14, 1998 14:20 EDT
From: RonDMoore
Message-id: <1998041418205901.OAA10926@ladder01.news.aol.com>

<<how can a section 31 exist for so long without anybody ever hearing about
it; isn't there an internet in the future?>>

Who told you about Section 31?  
There is no Section 31.  
What's your name, anyway?

<<I apologize if this question has been asked already, but why did the
timeline have to be stretched to the breaking point for Wrongs Darker? I felt
that the issue of the comfort women had the potential to be a powerful story,
but  couldn't it have been told in a more believable way with either Tora
Naprem and Dukat, or since Kira Nerys' moral dilemma was central to this
story, with Kira Meru and another Cardassian? It seemed a bit forced and
"soap-operaish" to have it be Dukat AND Meru.>>

"Wrongs Darker..." began life as a story about something completely different.
It was pitched as a tale about a group of Bajoran children in the Occupation
being sent into the future as a way of rescuing them from a brutal, Mengele-
esque Cardassian doctor.  "Ghosts" of the children start appearing on the
Promenade in DS9's present, Kira figures out the time travel angle, and then
goes back in time herself to help the escape of the Bajoran children
into the present.  (Don't ask how -- trust me, it was long and complicated).  
As that story began to evolve, it turned darker and darker with every passing
moment.  Kira started working in the lab of "Mengele" as her cover while the
Cardassian hero of the story desperately works to finish his time portal.
Eventually, the story of Kira having to work in this chamber of horrors got so
grim and so depressing that we decided to punt.  The episode was becoming an
exercise in character (and audience) torture, and we needed to go in
another direction.  Dukat had always been in the story, albeit in the
background.  When we began re-evaluating the episode, we naturally gravitated
toward making it more of a Kira/Dukat show.  The notion of using Kira's mother
was born at this stage of the game.  We researched the timeline very carefully
and found nothing that would contradict having Meru and Dukat on Terok Nor at
the same time.  The idea of Meru working as a "comfort woman" was
something that came up late in the process.

So, in answer to your question, we never started out to tell a "comfort women"
story and then bent the timeline to that end.  "Wrongs..." developed from
something else entirely, as do many episodes.

<<Any plans to have Kai Opaka on the show soon?>>

Not at the moment.

<<As a sort of nice way to bring closure to relationships,  do you imagine
that you will bring Lwaxana (and her baby) back to the station?  To your
knowledge,  did Lwaxana and Odo ever get divorced?>>

I believe they did get divorced, and I'm not sure if we'll see Lwaxana again.

<<IN "Far Beyond the Stars",  Martok said that "I like those Cardassians.
Especially their neck ridges".  Or something like that :-).  Wasn't Andy
supposed to be in this episode?  Was the role of the artist supposed to be
written for Andy in the first place?  Its kind of odd..... I felt that Martok
should have said something like... "I like these KLINGONS....especially their
neck ridges".>>

The role was originally written for Odo, with Martok as the editor.  We
switched them as the editor grew to be a larger and more important player in
the drama.  The reference to Cardassians rather than Klingons was a deliberate
choice that said in a subtle way that these people were not literal
inspirations for the characters that Benny was creating.