Wolfe On Return To The Mirror Universe

Former Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe explained the reasoning behind returning to the Mirror Universe for several Deep Space Nine episodes.

As reported by the Official Star Trek Magazine, speculation at a story meeting with the Deep Space Nine writers generated the idea of writing more Mirror Universe stories. "I remember discussing the idea of what would have happened after Kirk set Spock up to take down the Empire (in Mirror, Mirror,) said Wolfe. "Big, nasty empires are usually big and nasty for a reason, or they create a lot of enemies and then they justify themselves continuing to be big and nasty because they have so many enemies. The idea that you could just magically stop an empire from being nasty and then nothing bad would happen was a little naïve."

According to Wolfe, actions have consequences. "That was one of the themes of 'Deep Space Nine," he explained. "You can't just fly to a planet and give everybody a speech, then fly away and expect it all to be okay. If there was a naïveté about the original series, and sometimes TNG, that was it. One of the things that DS9 was really committed to was showing consequences. You can't just decide that you're going to change the government of some place and then everything will be wonderful. We wanted to show that was true even in the Mirror Universe."

A further benefit of a story set in the Mirror Universe was the chance to show a character in a different way, which made it fun for the actors portraying the characters. "...It was just a fun excuse to go to a really different place and show our actors being different people," said Wolfe.

This was the case with Kira Nerys, played by Nana Visitor. "Nana had a great time," said Wolfe. "She just vamped the hell out of it and went nuts, but in the same kind of fun way that George Takei did in the original Mirror Universe show. He was the main evil universe guy, so he played it to the hilt. Takei was just having a ball. Nana really got to do that, and Avery got to do that, too, in the first one."

Read the full article in issue #15 of The Official Star Trek magazine. Subscribe now HERE!

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