DS9 Stories/News: DS9 Stories/ News: Odo & Kira Relationship Review (10)

“The Abandoned”

Review originally printed in ORACLE

Newsletter July 2011

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Review written by Mary Shaver

Once the boy has been identified as a Jem’Hadar, Star Fleet is extremely eager to get their hands on him. Sisko announces to the Senior Staff assembled in the wardroom that Star Fleet is sending a ship to DS9 to transfer him to Star Base 201, where he will be turned over to a team of specialists. Odo, standing apart from the rest of the staff who are seated at the table, is already looking troubled. When Sisko details Star Fleet’s plan for the boy, he inquires  in a tone of voice that hints of suspicion, exactly what type of ‘specialists.’ Odo is pretty sure he already knows the answer to his question and Sisko confirms that a group of scientists have been assembled who intend to ‘study’ the boy. Direct and blunt as always, Odo cuts to the chase – “So he’ll be studied  . . . like a laboratory specimen?” Sisko’s weak retort that he will be well-treated earns him a sarcastic “So . . . he’ll be a well-treated specimen.” When Bashir agrees with Odo that the Jem’Hadar is a sentient being and not a biological sample a spirited discussion ensues. Dax argues that while sentient, the Founders might well have removed the Jem’Hadar’s free will, leaving only a genetically programmed killing machine. Kira chimes in and agrees with Dax. He is dangerous and she doesn’t want him on the station.

 

Recognizing what the Jem’Hadar will have to look forward to if Star Fleet takes possession of him, Odo speaks up and volunteers to work with the boy to get the answers everyone is seeking. Odo assures Sisko that the genetically implanted deference the boy shows towards Odo will allow him to keep the boy from harming anyone.

 

A concerned Sikso dismisses the rest of the staff in order to talk to Odo alone. He wants to understand what has motivated Odo to make this offer, but guesses that Odo is seeking to atone for what the Founders have done to the Jem’Hadar.

 

Sisko’s speculation is completely in keeping with Odo’s character. Yes, intellectually Odo knows he is not personally responsible for the reprehensible actions of his people. That doesn’t stop him from feeling an obligation to try and undo the damage they’ve done, at least with this one Jem’Hadar.

 

Add to that the fact that Odo has firsthand knowledge of exactly what it’s like to be a lab specimen. Even now, years after fleeing the clutches of Dr. Mora, Odo continues to harbor a deep and abiding resentment and bitterness over his treatment by the Bajoran scientist. Understandable then that he would be distressed by the probability that this Jem’Hadar will undergo the same sort of treatment and would want to save the boy from that fate.

 

Odo’s impassioned plea to Sisko – to let him find out if the Jem’Hadar will be forever chained by his genetic programming, or if he can grow beyond his nature – is a reflection of Odo’s own recent revelation about himself. Having begun to push back the boundaries in his own life, Odo is uniquely qualified to encourage and assist the Jem’Hadar to do the same.

 

Sisko has reservations, but agrees to Odo’s plan, and assures Odo that he will find a way to delay Star Fleet.

DS9 Stories/News: Boss Chicks: Female Changeling (aka “Gertrude”)

Source: http://www.amaya-radjani.com/2011/11/boss-chicks-female-changeling-aka.html

One of the many races that Deep Space Nine introduced the world to was the Changelings.  Changelings are shapeshifters.  One of the major characters on DS9 is the changeling Odo, the space station’s security chief.  Odo’s pretty badass; if you could change into anything at will, you’d better be a badass.  But having been around humans, Odo has developed some empathy and respect for them, as well as the ability to love.

Odo questioned his origins for many years; as far as he knew he was the only one of his kind.  But in Season 3, he found himself drawn to a rogue planet hidden inside a nebula.  The inhabitants of the planet turned out to be a race of Changelings, in their default liquid form.  The leader of the Changelings was a female.  She had no name, so I took to calling her Gertrude.  Gertrude is played to the T by Salome Jens.  Gertrude tells Odo that their race was once hunted by the “solids” (her term for humanoids) and they sought solace and peace on the rogue planet.  Determined to make sure that never happened again, Gertrude instigated a plan to take over the galaxy.

Mind you, girls & boys, this sorta thing ain’t for the short-sighted or half-assed.  Old Gert was a master manipulator and literally did not give a shit about any other race other than her own.  Gertrude felt that her race was superior above all others and there was an underlying hatred and mistrust of all humanoid cultures.  She founded the Dominion and instigated a bloody, genocidal war across the Alpha & Gamma quadrants, taking over many planetary systems in a serious effort to protect her people at all costs.  The Dominion, ran by the Founders (the Changelings), was a major political power and the sworn enemy of the Federation.  Gertrude coordinated the war efforts which resulted in the deaths of over 800 million people.  She was so completely bad-ass that she negotiated deals with several cultures (Cardassia and Breen, to name a couple), and promptly reneged on them once her objective was met…and they couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

One might ask how it was possible for Getrude to run half of the galaxy on her own?  She didn’t.  The Founders cloned thousands of loyal assistants called Vorta, who in turn cloned millions of warriors called Jem’Hadar, who were literally built to fight.  They ensured the loyalty of the Jem’Hadar by instilling an addiction to ketracel-white (cocaine) in their genetic makeup.  If any race decided to get up to some chicanery and cause problems, Gertrude sent the Jem’Hadar in to literally destroy their entire population.  This kept societies firmly under Dominion rule.

Gertrude was focused on bringing order to the galaxy (meaning other cultures would serve the will of the Founders or face genocide) and it was her justification for the millions of people who died in the war.  She had no regard for life itself, and ordered the execution of many innocent individuals, even children, regardless of whether they were actual participants in the war or bystanders.  Even Vorta & Jem’Hadar, her personal army, selflessly sacrificed themselves and she…did…not…give…a…fuck.  Even when it was clear the Dominion was going to lose the war (thanks to Kira’s terrorist efforts), Gertrude did not order her troops to stand down, but to fight to the last man.  She was comforted knowing that the Dominion War cost the lives of nearly a billion people and the destruction of hundreds of worlds.

Cardassia: Destroyed. By a Boss Chick.

Best lines:

“…because what you can control can’t hurt you.”

“Isn’t it obvious? You may win this war, Commander. But I promise you, by the time it’s over you will have lost so many ships, so many lives, that your victory will taste as bitter as defeat.”

“I would promise the Breen the entire Alpha Quadrant if I thought it would help win this war.”

Earth: Destroyed. By a Boss Chick.

She never once showed remorse and never apologized to anyone for her actions.  I respect the game.  Therefore, she’s a Boss Chick.

DS9 Stories/News: Men I’ve Loved: Benjamin Sisko

Source: http://www.amaya-radjani.com/2011/09/men-ive-loved-benjamin-sisko.html

Command never looked so good

My friend Ankhesen, a devout Trekkie, introduced me to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine earlier this year.  Over the summer, I Netflix’d the entire series; seven years’ worth of episodes and had a mammoth sci-fi/fantasy marathon.  This marathon included the Twilight Zone, the Outer Limits, Thriller & Night Gallery, but more on those shows later.  Anyhoo, I’m a fan of TOS & TNG, but never gave DS9 any thought until Ankh showed me a few episodes.  And I fell madly in love with Captain Benjamin Sisko and bought the entire 7-season series for a great price at Cheqoot.com.

Before I express my admiration and lust love for the sexy Captain Sisko, I should provide you some context. Deep Space Nine is the best of the Trek shows I’ve seen, and Ankh assures me that it’s the best of the entire lot.  The writing is top notch, as is the acting, directing, editing and set designs.  There are also strong female characters; these women fight, command starships & freighters, govern planets, and act as spies.  One is a former terrorist and another is an intergalactic warlord. The show tackled issues of racism, sexism, faith, religion, slavery and corruption, as well as other hot-button topics.  It’s a very dark show; the series spends nearly five years on an epic war with the Federation and its allies battling a hardcore violent faction known as the Dominion (which is run by a badass changeling chick I call Gertrude).  You see the Federation get their asses kicked on a regular basis; Starfleet vessels are routinely destroyed and people murdered.  The series finale contains a grisly scene in which three men are standing amid a pile of rubble and dead bodies.  DS9 is not idealistic like TOS & TNG; you see real shit happening in this show and there are parallels as well as portents to our own society.

Sisko; seasons 1-3

The only real drawback is the costume/wardrobe department, who should have had their asses kicked from here to Jupiter for the hot fire mess that was DS9’s apparel.  They had a real opportunity to do some really fantastic things with character attire, but failed miserably.  I can only assume that the producers chose to put the money into the writing & directing and left a bare minimum for wardrobe.  There is absolutely no reason for anyone in the 24^th century to look this damn hideous:

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Jake typically looked like a pack of crayons

I mean, for real.  But I should point out that it was usually the human outfits that were ugly.  They got things right with most of the other races (especially the Klingons).  There was also the ridiculousness of Starfleet officers clearly being off duty and still attired in those hot-ass uniforms. As if!  You see Captain Sisko (who is also an architect and chef) cooking elaborate meals while still wearing his Starfleet uni.  *snorts* I call bullshit.

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DS9 introduces us to a wonderful cast of characters that include Ferengi, Klingons, Trills, Breen, Romulans, Bajorans, Cardassians, and changelings.   The star of the show, however, is a man named Benjamin Sisko, captain of the space station.  Captain Sisko is portrayed by the excellent actor Avery Brooks.  The show starts with Sisko as a grieving husband and loving father who is duty-bound to take over a raggedy Bajoran space station.  He has a wonderful relationship with his son Jake; there are plenty of hugs, kisses and adventures between them.  It’s rare to see a black man in such a positive role, and I relished every second of it.

Sisko is an honorable, ethical guy who is devoted to his son, dedicated to his career as a Starfleet officer, and is the voice of the Prophets, the Bajoran gods.  He has a commanding presence and is highly respected by everyone he encounters, especially his enemies.  I liked him a lot in Seasons 1-3, but fell in love with him at the start of Season 4.  This is when the war between the Federation & the Dominion heated up and the show’s writers kicked the storytelling into high gear.  It is also when Avery Brooks, who spent the first three seasons with hair on his head and not on his face, decided to go bald and goateed; a look I find intensely attractive.  It gave his character a powerful edge; an extra marvelous oomph! that made me pay close attention every time Sisko was on the screen. Which, for the most part, was nearly all the time.

Sisko; seasons 4-7.

But the captain isn’t perfect; he sacrifices much for peace, including his own happiness and self-respect.  He violates orders, lies, cheats, bribes others, and is an accessory to murder, among other things.  He even becomes a Klingon to accomplish a mission (but this is NOT a bad thing; Klingons are fucking awesome).  But this made Sisko more appealing to me because he’s flawed just like any other person.  It gave him a depth that I haven’t seen in any other Starfleet captain and made DS9 that much better.

Sisko also has some of the best lines in the show.  Here are a few of my favorites:

“So, I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But the most damning thing of all…I think I can live with it. And if I had to do it all over again, I would. Garak was right about one thing: A guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it.”  –In the Pale Moonlight, Season 6

“Brag all you want, but don’t get between me and the bloodwine!”  –Apocalypse Rising, Season 3  (He’s a Klingon in this episode)   

“Haven’t you seen a Klingon before?”

“Kasidy Yates, where are you going?”  –For the Cause, Season 4  (Kasidy is Sisko’s boo)

“It’s not every day that you meet the girl you’re going to marry.” –Emissary, Season 1

“You betrayed your uniform!”  –For the Uniform, Season 5

“He played me all right. And what is my excuse? Is he a Changeling? No! Is he a being with seven lifetimes of experience? No! Is he a wormhole alien? No! He’s just a man, like me – arrgh! And he beat me!” –For the Uniform, Season 5

“Go on! Shoot me!”

“Do you know what the trouble is? The trouble is Earth. On Earth, there is no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window of Starfleet Headquarters and you see Paradise. Well, it’s easy to be a saint in Paradise.”  –The Maquis, part 2, Season 3

I could go on, but you get the idea.  Captain Benjamin Sisko is The Man.  More television shows should be bold enough to have characters like him, and write shows with as much depth and realism as Deep Space Nine.  It would certainly be a massive improvement to the dreck that inundates current TV.  Heaven knows I’d start watching it again.

DS9 Stories/News: DS9 Slash Couples (9) – Dax & Kira

Jadzia Dax/Kira Nerys

Jadzia Dax is a major character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, played by Terry Farrell. A joined Trill, she is simultaneously a beautiful young humanoid woman “Jadzia”, with a strange leopard-effect spot pattern, and a 300-hundred-and-change-year-old slug “Dax”, with the memories of seven dead people. The Science Officer on Deep Space Nine, she’s qualifed in astrophysics, exoarchaeology, exobiology & zoology, is a mean tongo player and has wicked fighting skills with a batleth. Shades of canonical Mary-Sue, methinks.

http://fanlore.org/wiki/Jadzia_Dax

Her closest friend in canon is station commander Benjamin Sisko, who calls her “old man”, a reference to his friendship with the slug’s previous host, a lecherous heavy drinking old man by the name of Curzon Dax — the source of Jadzia’s love for all things Ferengi & Klingon. She is also particularly close to Kira Nerys, Quark and Julian Bashir. Both the two men harbour an unrequited pash for her, which she tramples on when she falls for and marries the Klingon security officer, Worf, much to the dismay of the many fans of Julian/Jadzia. Oh, and she also has a brief fling with another joined Trill woman, leading to the first f/f kiss in Trek history. Aside from technobabble, her interests include sex, gossip, rowdy parties and tongo.

Just as she starts getting broody, she is murdered by Gul Dukat, saving fans from the horror of a Klingon with Trill spots. Dax returns to the series as Ezri Dax, who later hooks up with Julian, which a lot of fans thought was just plain icky.

Fan Perspectives

Wendy A.F.G. Stengel writes: Jadzia is an intensely sexual character, and we learn from her recollections that in many, if not all, of Dax’s past lives, Dax has been just as sexually charged.

Stengel again: gender becomes a very murky subject when discussing Trills.

Fanfiction

Jadzia is a fairly popular character with fanwriters. Many fans felt her death was untimely and objected to her replacement with Ezri. Not surprisingly, resurrecting the character is a trope in some fanfiction, particularly in het stories. She’s most commonly paired with Bashir, known as Julian/Jadzia. This used to be amongst the most common het pairings in the DS9 fandom, though its popularity seems to be on the wane. The canonical Jadzia/Worf – one of the most interesting, complex relationships in Star Trek history, according to Wendy Stengel — is also very common. Jadzia also features prominently in Julian/Ezri stories, even though she’s dead. Often Julian hooks up with Ezri only because of his love for Jadzia, causing the relationship to fail, or he at least has to work through his feelings for Jadzia for the relationship with Ezri to succeed.

Her canonical flirt with bisexuality & general air of being up for anything means that Jadzia also turns up a fair amount in femslash. This often riffs on the idea that her gender identity is fluid because of all those memories of being a man in previous lives. The predominant pairing is probably Jadzia/Kira, though she’s also paired with Lenara Kahn (the other half of that same-sex kiss), as well as pretty much anyone with girl parts. Gen fanfiction frequently explores the otherness of the joined Trill experience.

Jadzia Dax & Lenara Khan by Spockish

We’re Focusing on Jadzia/Kira Slash in This Post

Jadzia (with Kira) on the Haven 3 cover by Christine Myers

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Kira/Dax Slash and DS9 Gab

Title: So It Is

Genres/Plot summary: Femmeslash/Fluff/PWP. A series of loosely connected drabbles detailing Jadzia’s pursuit of Nerys.

http://bt.submystic.com/daxkira/

Off Duty: The Humorous Adventures of Kira and Dax

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2401969/1/Off_Duty_The_Humorous_Adventures_of_Kira_and_Dax

“Choices”

“Minister of Lies”

[DS9] Rebuilding (Kira/Dax | G)

Summary: Jadzia has a new holosuite program. Kira is out of excuses.

List of media portrayals of bisexuality

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_media_portrayals_of_bisexuality

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Jadzia Dax, Kira Nerys in alternate universe, Ezri Dax and Elim Garak.

Dax’s relationships with females portrayed as related to previous existence as a male, alternate-universe Kira portrayed as a hedonistic tyrant. Garak was originally intended as omnisexual by the actor, and many fans still consider him as such, although he never engages in an ‘official’ relationship throughout the seasons.

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Kira and Dax Wallpaper by Twisted Illusion

DS9 Stories/News: Learning to Love Star Trek, Part 47: “Dax”

Source: http://scifiblock.com/features/blog/learning-to-love-star-trek-part-47-dax.htm

By Robert Ring, Tue, 11/30/2010 – 08:08

“Learning to Love Star Trek” is a weekly blog series by Sci-Fi Block Editor in Chief Robert Ring, begun January 1, 2010. In this series of blog posts, Robert is endeavoring to determine whether he can make a Star Trek fan out of himself through an exposure to a combination of episodes from Star Trek the Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation (Update: TNG has now been replaced with Deep Space Nine). Click here to read his introduction to the experiment.

Okay, we’re back to the good with “Dax.” This isn’t a great episode, but it’s pretty interesting, and it’s a lot better than the three that come before it. “Dax” focuses on the two halves of Jadzia Dax — Jadzia the human and Dax the symbiont living inside of her. While it feels more like a disguised explanation of who/what Jadzia, Dax, and Jadzia Dax are than a story-based episode, “Dax” is engaging enough to satisfy.

“Dax” starts off with a group of Klaesrons attempting to abduct Dax. The Deep Space Nine crew pulls them back in via tractor beam just in time, though, and we learn that they are not actually kidnapping her. They are taking her into their custody to be tried and executed for the murder of a war hero. It’s not Jadzia who did it, though; it’s the symbiont’s former host, Curzon. Sisko, who was close friends with Curzon Dax, naturally does not want to let her go. So, they have an informal trial on DS9. At the center of the trial is the attempt to determine who Jadzia Dax is. Is she purely Jadzia, playing host to a passive life form? Obviously not. Is she Dax, exercising complete control over the host, Jadzia? Maybe. Or is she a combination of the two, a new entity comprised of the minds of both individual organisms. Ding ding ding!

All the episode has going for it, really, is this search for the true identity of Jadzia Dax. If she’s Dax, the logic goes, she needs to go with the Klaesrons and be punished for her crimes. If she’s not only Dax, or if she’s a new combination of both minds, either half or all of her is innocent of the crime and thus doesn’t deserve to be punished. There’s a lot of back-and-forth between Sisko, who is essentially defending Jadzia, and Klaesron, who wants to arrest her. It is for the most part fun hearing them argue about who/what Jadzia is/isn’t, based on her current personality and the memories and traits she retains from the symbiont’s former hosts. It is this sort of questioning that ultimately leads us to ask what makes anyone who they are, not just symbiotic amalgams. In the end, we discover that when a symbiont bonds with a new host, even though it retains all its older memories, it becomes a new entity, melding its mind with the host for the duration of their life together.

I’m just sayin’, I’m really glad human heads didn’t evolve this way.

What may be even more interesting than the identity questioning here is Sisko’s overall response to the matter. He basically makes it clear that he wants to keep Jadzia from being arrested no matter what. Even if past legal cases of the same nature offer the precedent that current host/symbiont entities should be held responsible for a symbiont’s past actions, Sisko says that he has to figure out a way for her to be deemed innocent. Does Sisko’s loyalty to his friends outweigh his obligation to uphold justice? I don’t know yet, but the question hadn’t crossed my mind until this episode.

I’m disappointed in the way the episode ends, however. After all the debating, testifying, and expert opinion, we find out that Curzon Dax was never responsible for the crime in the first place. This was Deep Space Nine’s chance to allow its characters to come to a possibly controversial decision regarding the nature of symbiont/host identity, but they squeezed their way out of it. The worst part is that I’m not even sure why. The conclusion that everyone except the Klaestrons was definitely leaning toward would have meant that Jadzia Dax shouldn’t be held responsible for the events, so whatever the consequences, they would have been minor. By allowing Curzon Dax to have been innocent, though, the episode avoids carrying any moral consequence at all. Just to be safe next time, the Federation should probably come up with some laws regarding these things. I wonder why they hadn’t already.

So, an upswing in quality, but not an enormous upswing. “Dax” primarily works as a way to tell everyone just what and who Jadzia Dax is. It has some aesthetic merits, but it’s mainly exposition. I can deal with that. It’s nothing I’d probably care to go back and watch again, though.