Making seven foot aliens was quite a challenge. Making them smaller was an even bigger one.

The Hirogen were the biggest challenge for me. They were originally seven foot men in these very big rubber suits. We had little time to do them. It became very apparent to me that there would be no movement, they couldn�t actually do anything once it was put together, we didn�t have the capability, time-wise, to articulate them. Quickly, we turned them into rubber suits rather than plastic suits. It was harrowing every inch of the way, I have to say, because the clock was ticking and there was no out, you had to do it.The first run of them, which was a seven show arc, and in that arc we changed the notion from seven foot actors, for a couple of reasons. We couldn�t find actors that were good enough, at seven foot, and, two, it became a shooting issue, how to get everybody in frame when you needed everybody in frame.

We backed down to six four actors, six two actors, six foot actors, and we then had to really find ways to adjust the garments, to shrink huge sizes down to small sizes and keep the integrity of the look. As we went into the next season, we were able to re-cast them in a lighter weight material, so that they were easier to move around in.