 A number of directors were considered for the episode , with Jonathan West being given the job . West had previously been the cinematographer on staff for both Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation , as well as directing several episodes of the franchise . He had nine days of preparation time before shooting began . He sought to match the same production values as The Original Series but found that lighting style and color <unk> to film had changed in the intervening years . Visual effects supervisor Dan Curry directed some of the second @-@ unit sequences , and together with West and cinematographer Kris <unk> worked to rectify these issues . This was achieved by switching to a finer grain of film , by utilizing different lenses as well as by shooting from specific angles . With Gerrold on set as an extra , West used him as an unofficial advisor on matching the scenes from " The Trouble with Tribbles " . 
