Editing Kazon (section)

=== Filming and development ===
[[File:Kenneth Biller Comic-Con.png|left|thumb|alt=A man wearing a black/brown shirt speaks into a microphone while looking to the right.|Kenneth Biller ''(pictured)'' wrote a majority of the background information relating to the Kazon during the development of the show's second season.]]

In the first season, the Kazon were introduced as one of three new alien species that could be used as recurring antagonists; the other two were the [[Vidiians]] and the [[Prime Factors (Star Trek: Voyager)|Sikarians.]] The Kazon and Vidiians would be featured in later episodes, while the appearance of the Sikarians was restricted to the episode "[[Prime Factors (Star Trek: Voyager)|Prime Factors]]".<ref name="Introduction1">[[#poe1998|Poe (1998)]]: p. 127</ref> Westmore found the Kazon to be the most demanding species to design for ''Voyager''{{'s}} first season, though, overall, he found the make-up and prosthetic work for ''Voyager'' easier than that required for ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''. He explained this by comparing the relatively small number of Kazon who appeared in episodes outside of the pilot to the numerous aliens featured throughout ''Deep Space Nine''.<ref name="Pigs1">{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= The Best of All Worlds |magazine=Star Trek Monthly|location=New York |issue=9|publisher=[[Titan Magazines]]|page=49|date=November 1995}}</ref>  The Kazon's design was modified during the filming of the first season. For example, for the second episode in which the Kazon appeared—"State of Flux"—Westmore removed the ear prosthetics, which had been created originally by hair designer Josée Normand to look like pigs' ears. The pig-ear prosthetics proved to be too cumbersome and heavy for the actors and stunt doubles, and its material was changed to a more light-weight sponge.<ref name="Combs" />

''Voyager''{{'}}s writing team devoted a larger amount of screen time in the show's second season to develop Kazon culture and society. Piller described the season as "a deep investigation of [the Kazon] that will turn them, I think, into perhaps one of the top five adversarial alien races in ''Star Trek''{{'}}s history".<ref name="GangFearMore">[[#grossaltman1996|Gross & Altman (1996)]]: p. 123</ref> Piller devised the Kazon's story arc in the second season from his experiences working on the 1995 [[science fiction Western]] television show [[Legend (TV series)|''Legend'']].<ref name="LegendIdeas">[[#grossaltman2016|Gross & Altman (2016)]]: p. 595</ref> Taylor was uncertain about the renewed focus on the Kazon, and questioned if they were compelling antagonists. She described them as entirely Piller's idea.<ref name="NotMyIdea">[[#grossaltman2016|Gross & Altman (2016)]]: p. 597</ref>

Executive story editor [[Kenneth Biller]] wrote a paper detailing the Kazon's history and societal behavior, as well as their adversarial relationship with the Trabe. Biller compiled all of his ideas on paper to help the various writers create a cohesive narrative for the Kazon across the individual episodes. Developed for one of his episodes—"[[Initiations (Star Trek: Voyager)|Initiations]]"—the notes were also used by Taylor for the creation of "[[Alliances (Star Trek: Voyager)|Alliances]]".<ref name="GangFearMoreAndMore">[[#grossaltman1996|Gross & Altman (1996)]]: p. 161–162</ref> Biller pointed to the character of Seska as a key narrative device for further exploring the alien species. For Biller, Seska "allowed us to go behind the scenes with the Kazon" and "helped to define the Kazon for us".<ref name="Seska1">[[#artifacts2000|Westmore, Sims, Look, & Birnes (2000)]]: p. 165</ref> Nonetheless, Hackett interpreted Seska as having little loyalty to the Kazon, saying: "I don't think she gives a hoot about [them]."<ref name="OwlSeska">{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Queen of the Delta Quadrant  |magazine=Star Trek Monthly|location=New York |issue=19|publisher=[[Titan Magazines]]|page=56|date=June 1995}}</ref>

When discussing his hopes for fan reaction to the second season's emphasis on the Kazon, Piller said: "I'll be curious to know what the audience's perception is, if our investing in the Kazon this season worked."<ref name="GangFear2" /> In response to fans' concerns that ''Voyager'' did not incorporate as many science fiction elements as previous ''Star Trek'' installments, he believed that the growing focus on the Kazon would serve as the solution. Piller believed the alien species accentuated the show's futuristic storylines, explaining: "There are a lot of people who don't consider a lot [of the season's episodes to be] science fiction." He followed this up by saying: "But certainly you can make a case that facing the Kazon in battle is futurist storytelling."<ref name="GangFearInSpace">[[#grossaltman1996|Gross & Altman (1996)]]: p. 150</ref> Taylor viewed the second season as focused on "character-driven, introspective" stories, with a majority of the "action-adventure" aspects being conducted through the appearances of the Kazon.<ref name="ActionAdventure">{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= The Best of All Worlds |magazine=Star Trek Monthly|location=New York |issue=18|publisher=[[Titan Magazines]]|page=13|date=August 1996}}</ref>