It seems that de Haas’ original script contained the base idea for “Identity Crisis” — Enterprise crew members slowly mutating into another species — but that the structure was wildly different. Brannon Braga was credited as the episode’s writer, and he excised a subplot about Geordi and Leijten having a stalled romance. Braga removed the romantic subplot when he realized how many stalled romances Geordi had already gone through.
According to Piller, Geordi wasn’t even the original protagonist. De Haas’ had envisioned the mutations happening to several entirely new characters. Piller clearly liked de Haas’ ideas but needed to re-shape the teleplay into something more in-keeping with the traditional style of the show. Piller explained:
“It was a very tough script to solve. […] The script was originally bought as a spec script submitted by a fan, It was very heavy on point of view and [contained] stylistic devices we didn’t want to do. The original script had two non-‘Star Trek’ characters going through what Geordi and [Leijten] eventually went through. It was a very complicated, complex production that the director did a terrific job on. It had scenes within scenes and I was very happy with the show.”
The “scenes within scenes” refers to a sequence wherein Geordi recreates an old video log on the holodeck, allowing him to interact with a holographic version of his slightly younger self.
When Braga re-wrote de Haas’ script, he also made the story way darker, implying that the mutating aliens had taken over more human bodies than previously assumed. Braga rethought that idea and turned in a final draft with only a few mutating aliens. He also finally made Geordi the protagonist of the story. “Those guys in production can really turn out a helluva product,” Piller added.
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