Editing Kazon (section)

=== Concept and creation ===
Prior to the announcement of a new ''Star Trek'' incarnation, ''Star Trek: Voyager''{{'s}} co-creators [[Rick Berman]], [[Michael Piller]], and [[Jeri Taylor]] conceived the basic concepts and characters during secret developmental meetings.<ref name="Intro1">[[#poe1998|Poe (1998)]]: p. 156</ref> The Kazon were originally created as a part of the show's basic premise of ''Voyager''{{'}}s crew being stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Berman, Piller, and Taylor reasoned that the characters would be traveling through an area of space controlled by a new alien race, serving as the show's primary antagonists, and created the Kazon to fill this role.<ref name="Intro2">[[#poe1998|Poe (1998)]]: p. 164</ref>

The Kazon were inspired by Los Angeles [[gang]]s, and were referenced in a "shorthand '[[Crips]]' and '[[Bloods]]' fashion".<ref name="Intro90">[[#poe1998|Poe (1998)]]: p. 187</ref> The idea for the Kazon as warrior sects, as opposed to a unified race, was introduced by Taylor, who drafted them as "three gangs, with constantly shifting relationships and allegiances. Just as we think we have sorted it out, the balance shifts again."<ref name="Intro3">[[#poe1998|Poe (1998)]]: p. 188</ref> While discussing the Kazon's original inspiration, Taylor viewed them as a way "to address the tenor of our times and what [...] was happening in our cities and recognizing a source of danger and social unrest".<ref name="GangFear">[[#grossaltman1996|Gross & Altman (1996)]]: p. 151</ref> Piller further described the premise for the Kazon as rooted in gang violence and warfare by clarifying: "Our intention was to create a sort of disorganized anarchy, them-against-them as much as them-against-us."<ref name="GangFear2">[[#grossaltman1996|Gross & Altman (1996)]]: p. 161</ref>

In a meeting dated August 17, 1993, Taylor wrote a story outline for the pilot episode "Caretaker" and established the Kazon (then identified as the Crips) as a "gang which, in conflict with two other gangs, competes for territory in this region of space".<ref name="Intro4">[[#poe1998|Poe (1998)]]: p. 190–191</ref> Taylor's notes suggest that the show's co-creators considered having the Crips reach a truce with the main characters, which would anger another one of the gangs (then titled the Blood) and lead to them being the primary antagonists.<ref name="Intro5">[[#poe1998|Poe (1998)]]: p. 191</ref> This idea was later dropped at a meeting on September 10 of the same year.<ref name="Intro6">[[#poe1998|Poe (1998)]]: p. 205</ref> In the first draft of the script for "Caretaker", Piller named the alien species the "Gazon" and wrote the following description of them:

{{quote|They are a lean, scrawny people who dress in an assortment of unkempt clothing. Some are in nothing more than rags. Their skin is parched and desiccated; the sun has produced blotches and sores on some. This appears to be a camp of people barely able to survive, bereft of creature comforts and living a harsh, hardscrabble life. They are the Gazon, whom we will come to know, over the course of the series, as a lethal, deadly sect who subject themselves to these dire circumstances in return for the possible acquisition of power.<ref name="Intro7">[[#poe1998|Poe (1998)]]: p. 232</ref>}}

During the summer of 1994, ''Gazon'' was changed to ''Kazon'', as it was feared that the name sounded too much like [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]].<ref name="Intro90"/><ref name="GazaStrip">{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= The Best of All Worlds |magazine=Star Trek Monthly|location=New York |issue=4|publisher=[[Titan Magazines]]|page=55|date=June 1995}}</ref> The producers suggested this change to avoid stories involving the alien race being interpreted as political commentary on the conflicts in the [[Palestinian territories]].<ref name="GazaStrip" /> According to the [[List of Star Trek technical manuals|''Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual'']], the Kazon were originally planned to be split into only two factions (the "Kazon-Sera" and the "Kazon-Ogla").<ref name="Manual1">{{cite web|url=http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Star_Trek/4_Voyager/Star_Trek_Voyager_-_Technical_Guide.pdf |title=Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual |last1=Sternbach |first1=Rick |last2=Okuda |first2=Michael |date=September 1994 |publisher=[[Paramount Pictures Corporation]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170103175837/http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fleethomson.myzen.co.uk%2FStar_Trek%2F4_Voyager%2FStar_Trek_Voyager_-_Technical_Guide.pdf |archive-date=January 3, 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>