As the 30th anniversary of "Star Trek" was approaching, a number of plans were being put into place. The film ' was entering production, a television special was planned to celebrate the franchise and original series actor George Takei had been cast to appear in the ' episode "". Producer Ira Steven Behr later recalled that he thought that "Deep Space Nine" might not be included as he considered it to be the "middle child" of the franchise. However, Rick Berman contacted Behr and asked him if he would be interested in doing something to celebrate the anniversary. Behr agreed to discuss it with the staff writers. Initially, there was concern that if the proposed episode aired during the actual anniversary week (around September 8), that it would have to serve as the season opener, preempting the already planned opener.