"Why aren't you still here, Jadzia?"- Sisko Recently, i have finished ST: DS9. That being said, i have many questions, one which i can't get over it: Was Jadzia's Death REALLY Necessary??? I mean, The ONLY reason she died was because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I My Humble Opinion, It WAS Unnecessary.
They could have had Jadzia become recurring but I think the writers really wanted to bring in a new Dax. I don't like the way they killed Jadzia either. If they were going to kill her they could have had her die in combat or maybe had her die in Change Of Heart. How much more devastating would it have been if Worf chose Jadzia over the informant, but she died anyway?
I do think that would've been a better way to have killed the character off. It was a shame that they killed Jadzia off, with the war on they could've had it she was promoted up and transfered to another ship--popping up now and then. It wouldn't have done much for the character though, and the fall out from her death for Sisko, Worf and the others definitely left a lasting impression. Plue we got Ezri, who I love just as much as Jadzia.
According to Ms. Farrell herself, ISB was not himself aware of the state of negotiations until late into filming season 6, and that Jadzia's death in Tears of the Prophets was somewhat hastily put together. Change of Heart was not intended to be foresight into a future episode.
She died so that we might have Ezri. It's a simple yet magical equation where we lost one thing and got one better thing.
According to Ms. Farrell, she was getting burned out in the role after 6 years and wanted to pull back some. When her contract was up for renewal, she actually offered to become a recurring character but Berman insisted that it was all or nothing. So she quit. That is why we got her death. If Berman had not been so inflexible, Dax would have become a recurring character instead of dying. So, yes, I would say that Dax's death was unnecessary since it only happened because the producer was inflexible on her contract.
When I saw her at a con she didn't say anything about wanting to be recurring, rather it was a long story about how they screwed her over and how she was the valiant one and they were the jerks.
TPTB reasons aside, replacing Jadzia with Ezri provided some contrast. Jadzia was so perfect, balanced and accomplished, a Trill superwoman endowed with the memories and experience of all previous hosts. Ezri was not perfect, she never wanted to be a joined Trill, she was making blunders, playing it by ear, causing a lot of awkward situations for everyone involved.
Obviously the producers could have decided Jadzia wouldn't die, but making her a recurring wouldn't have been a good use of the character. Less interaction with Worf and Sisko, fewer stories at all. Ezri gave them a chance to tell several interesting stories about Dax that couldn't have gotten told as a recurring Jadzia, or if they'd just transferred her to a different part of the war far away.
Jadzia's death could've served a better purpose imo, like something far more heroic. Oh well. That's how it goes. At least her death wasn't as meaningless as Tasha Yar's.
^News of Terry Farrell leaving the show came so late that Dax's death was essentially shoehorned into an already established story: Dukat attacking the prophets and the doubt it causes Sisko. There may not have been much room to improvise a better death.
I also really hate the way they played up Dax's genetic compatibility with Worf right before her death. (And typing that also reminds me of how they teased Tasha/Worf at the start of the episode Tasha died. Worf has bad luck with women. Troi is the sole surviving Worf love interest.) It's a cheesy way to artificially increase the tragedy of something which should be tragic on its own.
To be honest, I kind of liked that Tasha's was totally meaningless. Not enough to like the rest of the episode but still. If they would have main characters die in the same fashion as red shirts, it would really increase the drama of the show as there's no guarantee that all of the characters will make it out alive.
Yeah, and I've had to take that into consideration. If you had asked me just a month ago what I thought about Jadzia's death, my response would include more swear words. haha. After learning the circumstances around that episode and rewatching the show knowing it was coming, I've calmed down a bit.
I don't feel that Tasha's death was "meaningless," given that she died in the line of duty on a rescue mission to recover some of her shipmates. I occasional wonder if it was a missed opportunity not having Dax return in a male Trill host. I understand the point of view that it would have left Kira as the sole female hero character and DS9 would have looked more like a sausage feast. But it really would have stirred the pot in term of the dynamics of the relationships, especially with Bashir and Worf. .
You make a good point. Also, I completely agree re: male Trill host. I'm reading "Lives of Dax" right now and was recently thinking the same thing. They should've really shown us what could be done with Trill hosts - so much potential there.
It also just occurred to me that in the alternate future where Worf and Troi didn't break up, Troi died, and in the alternate future where Worf and Jadzia never got together, Jadzia survived. Either there is some kind of curse on Worf, or he is meant to do something special in the future and future people are making sure he doesn't get too distracted by romance to do it. I like the idea that there is another temporal cold war going on. One side is trying to get Worf into a long term relationship to make sure he is too distracted to save the future, and the other side then needs to kill his parters to make sure history happens the way it was meant to.
Perfectly understandable. There's a lot in the episode, and it's not well balanced out. Being that it is Farrell's last episode makes it seem as if killing Dax is its main purpose, when really it was to get Sisko to clean clams at his faher's restaurant. What I tend to find wrong with the episode is not the attack, but the fact that Sisko is there with Worf when Dax dies, and that he has that whole monologue at her coffin.