When Terry J. Erdmann was contacted by Pocket Books to write a companion to Deep Space Nine, he had been working as a motion picture publicist for films including Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. "I was surprised, I was honored, I was pleased and I said yes immediately," he recalled.

In an interview at StarTrek.com, Erdmann explained that the popularity of The Next Generation Companion had been so popular that Simon & Schuster wanted something similar. He traveled to the set to meet the actors and filmmakers, spending time "so that they would essentially let me be part of the group."

And what a group: "There's probably 50-75 people on the set or in the offices at all times working for that one little shot," he said. "They are all working as such a unit and they become such a team," it reminded him of basketball coaches and players working on plays together.

Erdmann also called himself "lucky enough" to have the opportunity to sit in with the writers and see how stories were written and changed into script form. He spent time in makeup, wardrobe and ADR before and after the episodes shot. "All that made me see that there was so much more to the show…than just what you see when you're watching the show on television!" he exclaimed.

Though Erdmann was particularly impressed with the special effects wizardry on the 30th anniversary of Star Trek episode "Trials and Tribbleations", his favourite DS9 episode remains first season's "Duet", in which Kira discovers that not all Cardassians are enemies of Bajorans. "There was a message," he noted.

The audio interview is at StarTrek.com.

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