Nothing Human (episode)

=== Story development ===
* Although [[Jeri Taylor]] and other members of {{s|VOY}}{{'}}s writing staff (including [[Rick Berman]]) initially intended for Taylor to write numerous scripts for ''Voyager'' after she retired from the industry and ended her position as an executive producer of the show &ndash; between its [[VOY Season 4|fourth]] and [[VOY Season 5|fifth seasons]] &ndash; this was ultimately the only episode whose writing she was credited for, following her four-year stint as an executive producer. By extension, this was also her last writing credit for the ''Star Trek'' franchise in general, though she would remain credited as co-creator and as an executive consultant for the rest of the show's run.({{STM|39|4}}; {{STM|42|13}}, et al.)
* This episode was an effort to bring the Cardassian species onto ''Star Trek: Voyager'', as they had been featured more prominently in {{s|TNG}} and ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'', as Jeri Taylor explained. "''We could not simply import them into the Delta Quadrant. So, this was an opportunity to use a very interesting alien species and, because they were so universally reviled, we kind of put that holodeck creature into the guise of someone whose expertise was needed to save a life.''" (''[[VOY Season 5 DVD]]'', "Braving the Unknown: Season Five")
* The working title of this episode was 'Not Human'. (''{{dis|Delta Quadrant|reference book}}'', p. 270; ''[[Beyond the Final Frontier]]'', p. 324)
* The character of Crell Moset is reminiscent of the [[Nazi]] doctor {{w|Josef Mengele}}, who was notorious for performing bizarre and barbaric {{w|Nazi Human experiments|experiments}} on {{w|concentration camp}} inmates during [[World War II]]. In fact, Moset was actually somewhat modeled on this historical figure. "''We talked about Mengele [&hellip;] and that was sort of a model, there,''" reflected Jeri Taylor. "''Now, he had no compunctions [&hellip;] [but] we wanted to provide a grayer area of someone who, in his mind, was very justified in doing this, because the greater good would outweigh the cost to the people that he was experimenting on.''" (''[[VOY Season 5 DVD]]'', "Braving the Unknown: Season Five")