The Killing Game

This Story: Season 4 Episodes 18 & 19 (production code 186 & 187)
VOY Overall: Episodes 86 & 87
Trek Overall: Story 512, Episodes 541 & 542
Airdate: 4 Mar 1998
Written by Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky
Directed by David Livingston (Part I) & Victor Lobl (Part II)

Notes (Part I)

• Running fired torpedo count: 23 / Confirmed crew deaths since pilot: 15 (one this episode – crew of 146 (my count says 138)).
• This story (both parts) was originally called “Wargame”.
• This story was produced and conceived as a two parter with the intent of airing on two separate dates, but UPN decided to run them back to back on  the same night.
• Janeway’s holodeck character was originally titled Genevieve – an apparent nod to the original actress cast as Janeway – Genevieve Bujold.  This was changed before filming, though.
• Roxann Dawson was at this point pregnant in real life.  They hide that in the show mostly, but in this two parter, they didn’t – wrote a pregnancy into her holodeck character.
• Janeway’s character (Katrine) was mostly modeled after Humphrey Bogart.
• The first time human Nazi characters appear in Star Trek.  They are however holodeck characters.  Actual Nazis don’t appear until Enterprise’s Season 4 story “Storm Front“.
• This episode was nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series..
• The Hirogen Karr was played by Danny Goldring.  He was also Legate Kell on DS9’s “Civil Defense“, Chief Burke on DS9’s “Nor The Battle to the Strong“,  a Nasicaan in Enterprise’s “Fortunate Son“, and a Takret captain in Enterprise’s “The Catwalk“.
• The Hirogen Turanj was played by Mark Deakins.  He was also Tournel in Star Trek: Insurrection, Axum in both parts of “Unimatrix Zero“, and the Borg ‘Five of Twelve’ also in “Unimatrix Zero”.
• A Hirogen medic was played by Mark Metcalf.  This is his only Trek appearance, but he’s VERY well known as Niedermeier from the 1978 comedy “Animal House“.
• J Paul Boehmer plays a Nazi SS character here (“Kapitan”).  He’s also the titular Borg drone in “One“, a Cardassian named Vernal from DS9’s “Tacking Into the Wind“, the Vulcan Mestral in Enterprise’s “Carbon Creek“, and two different Nazi SS characters in the Enterprise episodes “Zero Hour” and “Storm Front“.
• Paul S. Eckstein plays a ‘Young Hirogen’ here.  He’s also Limara’Son in DS9’s “Rocks and Shoals“, Supervisor Yost in Voyager’s “Gravity“, a Jem’Hadar in DS9’s “The Dogs of War“, and the Klingon Morak in Voyager’s “Prophecy“.

Notes (Part II)

• Running fired torpedo count: 23 / Confirmed crew deaths since pilot: 15 (crew of 146 (my count says 138)).
• Neelix actor Ethan Phillips had to wear both his usual Talaxian makeup and with Klingon makeup on top of it.
• The rainstorm in the episode was written in because it happened in real life.
• The module given to the Hirogen is the exact same prop from the TNG episode “Ship in a Bottle” used to contain Moriarty in that episode.
• The season seven episode “Flesh and Blood” is a direct sequel to this story and follows up from events of the finale here.

Links

[ Wikipedia | Memory Alpha (Part I | Part II) | IMDB (Part I | Part II) | Amazon US DVD | Delta Flyers Podcast (Part I | Part II) ]