Sometimes, writers pitch ideas that have no resemblance to the episode that is actually produced Counterpoint was pitched as “the Diary of Anne Frank on Voyager”, only for the final episode to downplay the horrors and the plight of the refugees. Sometimes, writers sell pitches without receiving screen credit Jane Espenson sold the story for Force of Nature without getting her name on the finished episode. The process of pitching and developing an episode is not always linear.

According to Mack, the pitch that would develop into It’s Only a Paper Moon came “from that same meeting.” It just had a longer journey to the screen. The two writers had pitched a number of concepts to the various Star Trek shows over the years, including the idea that would evolve into Starship Down during the fourth season of Deep Space Nine. The episode’s story is credited to John Ordover and David Mack, two veterans of the Pocket Books Star Trek line.

It’s Only a Paper Moon is a story that spent a long time in development.

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