Actor-director Jerry Paris was inspired to create the character of Mork after directing an unusual and memorable episode of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" titled "It May Look Like a Walnut", in which Van Dyke's Rob Petrie has a dream wherein he believes the Earth has been surreptitiously invaded by walnut-eating aliens who steal humans' thumbs and imaginations. Series creator Carl Reiner had written the episode, which was the 20th in the show's second season and the 50th episode produced. When he moved on to direct "Happy Days," Paris introduced Mork in a similarly atypical season-five episode titled "My Favorite Orkan."