Jadzia Dax, not used in Ds9 how she was supposed to be?

[RaymondJames]

Its been awhile since I have watched a DS9 episode but it has come to me that Jadzia though used and well written wasn't used the way I thought they typically should of.

If memory serves me correctly she was Chief Science Officer. Yet if i do remember correctly she was rarely if ever used as a scientist or science officer. Spock would study things create theories and find explanations for strange creatures and such.

Jadzaia had not been used like this. She was either being Wofs spouse, Benjamins mentor and friend, a freind to Julian and Miles or at helm or in command of the Defiant.

Does anyone else see this or is it just me. Were there any episodes that she really served as a science officer?
We knoe she had degrees in astrophysics, exoarchaeology, exobiology, and zoology. However, did we really see her as a scientist?

[Timewalker]

She was occasionally used as a scientist/science officer. But the problem, I think, was the actress. I couldn't stand her, and was glad to see her gone. She never acted like a science-oriented person.

[Damask]

Timewalker wrote:

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She never acted like a science-oriented person.

Are all science-oriented people supposed to behave the same? I find that statement strange.

Anyway Dax as scientist was used sometimes. Not really during the Dominion War or every episode she was in.

Some examples though
Emissary: Discovers the Bajoran wormhole.
Shadowplay: The whole village and people are holograms
Rivals: The laws of probability have changed!!!
Playing God: I discovered a universe.
The Quickening: Helping Bashir with the virus.
Rejoined: Helping with the artificial wormhole thing
Children of Time: Wants to investigate the planet.

[CommanderRaytas]

I think she acted more as a "science officer" during the first season. The function started to blur later on, having disappeared completely by the time she married Worf. I liked Jadzia, she was cool (in my opinion), and DS9 wasn't very focussed on science anyhow, being centred on characters, so I didn't miss that aspect much.

[Eric Cheung]

What does a science-oriented person act like? I thought the character, and actress, were great. She really did seem to be the most mature and psychologically healthy person of everyone there. She was analytical, but she had a healthy joie de vivre. She was one of the first to see the Ferengi for who they were and not judge them for it. She balanced her love of Worf, and Klingon culture, with her own needs and wants. And she wasn't afraid of defending herself verbally or physically. She could tell people when they were being stupid or wrong and not be a jerk about it.

In terms of her being utilized as a science officer, the show had less sci-fi stuff anyway. They had so little need for a science officer during the war that after she died they didn't have an on-screen replacement. It was only one aspect her personality, but she certainly demonstrated her proficiency in it in "Emissary" for example.

[Augustus]

Yeah, it seemed to me that pre-Defiant, all she did was Science. And after the Defiant she was kind of the jack of all trades helping Bashir or O'Brien when needed and flying the ship...
DS9 didn't need a Spock involved focused on the science of everything...

[Supernuke]

My feeling is that after the Dominion came into the picture, they couldn't explore the Gamma Quadrant much, so there was little use for her in that capacity.

[Damask]

Supernuke wrote:

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My feeling is that after the Dominion came into the picture, they couldn't explore the Gamma Quadrant much, so there was little use for her in that capacity.

Indeed. Like when Kira says they gave up the Bajoran caste system and everyone became a soldier during the occupation.

I think that as DS9 was more of an ensemble some of the science stuff was divided between Jadzia, O'Brien, Nog, Rom and Bashir (to a lesser extent).

She still did the science stuff when needed but her position as the 3rd (and 4th officer after Worf) gave her a different focus during the war.

[SchwEnt]

Only time that I can readily recall Dax as science officer...

Kira: You have a better idea?
Dax: I'm the science officer, it's my job to have a better idea.

[JNG]

Damask wrote:

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Are all science-oriented people supposed to behave the same? I find that statement strange.

Anyway Dax as scientist was used sometimes. Not really during the Dominion War or every episode she was in.

Some examples though
Emissary: Discovers the Bajoran wormhole.
Shadowplay: The whole village and people are holograms
Rivals: The laws of probability have changed!!!
Playing God: I discovered a universe.
The Quickening: Helping Bashir with the virus.
Rejoined: Helping with the artificial wormhole thing
Children of Time: Wants to investigate the planet.

A good list, and it's a solid, if simple, point that the Dominion War unfortunately placed Starfleet's continuing mission of scientific inquiry on the back burner while it fought to defend the Federation and its allies. As Dax's many lives left Jadzia with multiple skill sets to draw upon, it is only reasonable that other things she did well, such as piloting and commanding in Sisko's absence, came to the fore during that conflict. Regrettably, Jadzia did not survive, and while Ezri Dax likely had many of those scientific skills to draw on, her difficulties in adjustment and the demands of circumstance kept her from displaying them much in the episodes.

[Navaros]

Jadzia Dax was a 100% useless character to the DS9 show. Both in terms of the writing for her, and the horrible acting by Farrell. Jadzia is easily and by far the very worst character on DS9.

As for the point that she was 'sometimes' used as a science officer: 100% of those lines are completely inter-changeable with O'Brien. Could have never had Jadzia on the show, gave O'Brien all those lines, and nothing would change. Just goes to emphasize very clearly how generic, poorly-written and useless of a character Jadzia was.

[Anthony Sabre]

Navaros wrote:

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Jadzia Dax was a 100% useless character to the DS9 show. Both in terms of the writing for her, and the horrible acting by Farrell. Jadzia is easily and by far the very worst character on DS9.

As for the point that she was 'sometimes' used as a science officer: 100% of those lines are completely inter-changeable with O'Brien. Could have never had Jadzia on the show, gave O'Brien all those lines, and nothing would change. Just goes to emphasize very clearly how generic, poorly-written and useless of a character Jadzia was.

Since you're implying there is no difference between science and engineering, you could take O'Brien's lines and give them to Jadzia. Better yet no O'Brien at all would mean no Keiko and Molly, who were far more useless than anyone, let alone Jadzia. You could take Worf's lines and give them to O'Brien since Miles has more experience as a tactical officer then Worf. Contributions are best measured by what the character actually did, not just said. She was effectively used as a science officer until the war took over as the primary arc. Even then she commanded the Defiant in Sisko's absence, along with being his closest friend and confidant.

[Damask]

JNG wrote:

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Regrettably, Jadzia did not survive, and while Ezri Dax likely had many of those scientific skills to draw on, her difficulties in adjustment and the demands of circumstance kept her from displaying them much in the episodes.

Agreed. Though I did enjoy the "Seige of Ar-558" where Ezri calls upon Jadzia and Tobin's memory to deal with mines. And that Sisko assigned her to that Sisko because she was still Dax.

The other episode (Field of Fire) went overboard though.

[Jono]

Damask wrote:

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The other episode (Field of Fire) went overboard though.

Also liked Field of Fire mainly because Joran is the only past host that I think is interesting, the brilliant artist serial killer. Wish we'd seen maybe one or two extra episodes that dealt with him.

[Jack Bauer]

DS9 at the least amount of technobabble of ny Trek show other than TOS so there was les opportunity for her to spout scientific sounding dialog.