the show would be a good way to seamlessly introduce Q. There were concerns about shoving Q into an episode but the idea of "Q-Less" alleviated them. "If you just have him come on and say 'Look, is this the new show?' it's silly, but this seemed to be a justifiable way", Piller recalled. TNG writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who had writing credits on a number of episodes, including both the previous Vash stories, converted Shearer's story into a script. His work on the first draft led to a full-time position on the writing staff for DS9; Q was added to the story at this stage. Q's motivations were drawn from his previous appearances on TNG, but Wolfe found it difficult to create the interactions between Q and the other characters on DS9. At the time the script was under development, there was little footage of DS9 available. Wolfe could only characterize the motivations towards Q as annoyance rather than any real emotional engagement. However, he came upon the idea that he could demonstrate the difference between DS9 and TNG by showing the reactions of the characters to Q instead. Characters Wolfe believed that if he had written the episode later in the series he would have concentrated more on the established characters and less on Q and Vash. De Lancie felt that the episode never explained Q's motivation for wanting to stay with Vash. "I think Q is best used when he deals with large philosophical issues, and skirt chasing just isn't one of them", he said. Because certain aspects of Q's character are left unexplored, de Lancie found that "the style, the quips and the panache in which things are done become very important". The boxing scene was intended to differentiate the relationship between Q and Sisko from that of Q and Picard. "Picard is an explorer, and in some ways, very much an intellectual. Sisko is a builder, a different kind of guy. He wears his heart a little more on his sleeve, and he acts on emotion, on instinct, more than Picard", Wolfe explained. John de Lancie offered a similar opinion: "Q's relationship with Picard has always been a battle of wits, but I come into Deep Space Nine, and Sisko just bopped me on the nose! From a character point of view, that's a very big difference." Hetrick felt that the move away from TNG