Chad Allen (Jono) was the autistic son of the doctor (Ed Flanders) in "St. Elsewhere".
	Jeri Taylor does her first teleplay for Star Trek here, after being recommended by Lee Sheldon before his exit. She previously worked on "Quincy", "Magnus P.I.", "In the Heat of the Night" and "Jake and the Fat Man". Taylor knew nothing about Trek prior to joining, and had a crash course in watching all of TOS, TNG and the features.
	The Talarians were originally named the Phrygians, but Mike Okuda suggested using the race mentioned in "Heart of Glory". The Q'Maire's armaments, like the Batris before it, consisted of merculite rockets.
	The look of the Talarian warship Q'Maire was based on the galactic patrol vessels of E.E. Doc Smith's "Lensman" series.
	According to a galactic map created by the art department, Talarian space lies adjacent to the Federation, and opposite Klingon and Romulan territory..

If you have some more behind the scenes information, send it in.