StarTrek.com posted an extensive interview with TNG and DS9 director Paul Lynch and here are excerpts.



Who brought you on board for DS9?

Lynch: It was Rick Berman and, again, that was after a pilot. A friend of Rick’s had done the pilot, an Englishman named David Carson. So, again, I got the first show after the pilot, which they thought was lucky, or something.

How different a set was Deep Space Nine?

Lynch: Well, it didn’t have Patrick Stewart, and that was the difference. And the cast was not quite as good. It was OK, but without Patrick, it was an almost completely different show. And it was often hard to make it work. There was a problem with the lead actor. I had worked with Avery Brooks on a Spenser television movie, and he was sensational and terrific. But for some reason, they weren’t happy with what he was doing or what he had done in the pilot. So we kind of butted heads, which was unusual, because we hadn’t on Hawk. He’d been doing Hawk on Spenser for Hire for, I think, five years. So he knew Hawk, and that was fine, but this was a different character for him. So he’d done the (DS9) pilot and normally, by the pilot, the characters are set, the way they’re going to be played. That’s how he was playing it, but Rick had problems with the pilot and he had problems with my episode.

I said, “Well, I’ve talked to Avery, and he thought he’d worked it out. You’ve talked to him. So I don’t have an answer for you.” I said, “But look, here’s a suggestion. Why don’t you get Corey Allen to do the show after mine, because he did the DS9 pilot and he’s a wonderful director of actors. Maybe he can solve whatever problems you’re going to have, whatever you’ve got with Avery.” I thought Avery acquitted himself OK. He wasn’t as magnificent as Hawk. Hawk was a great character and Avery did it brilliantly. He wasn’t quite in the same position here. (Corey Allen) did the next episode and I don’t know what happened after that, but the next time I came back there was no indication that there was a problem with Avery.

Let’s go through your DS9 episodes, starting with “A Man Alone” and “Babel.”

Lynch: I don’t remember as much about DS9 as I do about The Next Generation, but let’s try. “A Man Alone” was the mystery episode with Odo. It was like a space thriller. I don’t really remember much about it. “Babel” was fun. I don’t remember much, except that it was kind of fun.

http://www.startrek.com/watch_video/episode-preview-a-man-alone
http://www.startrek.com/watch_video/episode-preview-babel