Kira as the only female cast member in Season 7

[Terok Nor]

I read that the reason Ezri Dax was added to the cast was because it was out of the question for Kira to be the only female regular. I have to ask why? It was the last season anyway so who cares? I liked Ezri but I'm sure DS9 would have been fine without her.

I do think it's interesting that there were several recurring male characters such as Nog and Garak who could have been upgraded to regular status to replace Jadzia but there were no female characters available to fill her place. Of course there were recurring female characters but the only ones with any depth were Kai Winn and the Female Changeling and they could never be regular characters.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Kira is definitely a strong and prominent female character to be the only one in S7.

I like Ezri as well and she had an interesting story, though it's a little too much to introduce a new character in the last season as well as wind up all the plot elements at the same time as giving her development. Though if they had added another Dax, I wish it'd been male--just to really test Worf and the others.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Not sure if serious...

 

[tomalak301]

I appreciate female cast members. De Boar added a lot to the Dax Role. In hindsight I'm glad they cast her.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Another female who was perhaps, more in touch with her feminine side was required to balance out the regular cast, I suspect. Kira was always such a fighter ... and so strong ... it was a bit much, at times, to have her be solely responsible for the female energy output of the show.

 

[TheSubCommander]

Another female who was perhaps, more in touch with her feminine side was required to balance out the regular cast, I suspect. Kira was always such a fighter ... and so strong ... it was a bit much, at times, to have her be solely responsible for the female energy output of the show.

Agreed. Ezri was always kind of a disappointment and comedown for me. They should have cast Suzie Plakson as a Trill to replace Jadzia. She would have more than filled Terry Farrell's shoes.

 

[Tosk]

That kind of defeats the purpose of Ezri...she wasn't meant to be the same as Jadzia.

 

[Takeru]

Though if they had added another Dax, I wish it'd been male--just to really test Worf and the others.

This! I like Nicole de Boer and Ezri was fine as a character but a male Dax would have been much more interesting.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

This! I like Nicole de Boer and Ezri was fine as a character but a male Dax would have been much more interesting.

I suspect if it was made now then that might've been the case.

 

[Guy Gardener]

If Nana became pregnant again, she could have gone missing for 1/2 the season, and the series might as well now be called Deep Space Y.

Odo should have become Dax.

(I just laughed out loud like a crazy person.)

A Trill Gun.

Like a T-Shirt cannon, except that it fires Trill Simbionts at and into Changlings.

 

[jaime]

Leeta. Kasidy.
There are more ladies than those mentioned.
And Ezri is a good solution to the situation they were in, they were lucky it was the trill that left tbh.
Show started with a dax, it should end with one too. Even Tasha Year got into the tng finale.

And can I just say here....I really don't get the suzie plakson love. Sure. She's great in her three roles, but hardly makes me fall over in a swoon wanting her to take over from a lead in anything.
Only bit parts who came back as leads that I can think of were Robbie Mcneil and Michelle Forbes. And sort of Tim Russ, but he was sort of a recurring henchman actor before Tuvok, rather than a bit part.

Yes Ds9 needed a bit of balance, bit I think it was way down the list of reasons.

 

[Guy Gardener]

That's not the point that there are secondary and subordinate characters with girl bits, or it's totally the point that all the woman (except Nana) are paid less, don't have full time work and always become subservient to the boys in the cast.

Terry leaves.

One Female Primary left.

Good lord there's only one woman!

Quickly invent a new woman before we're railed against for being anti feminists and Star Trek dies in the press as backwardly parochial.

 

[TheSubCommander]

That kind of defeats the purpose of Ezri...she wasn't meant to be the same as Jadzia.

My point exactly. Season 7 was a little late to be introducing an all new character.

Ezri (DeBoer) grew on me, but by the time her character did, things were wrapping for the series. Going with a completely different Dax was distracting, and I found it to be a mistake. Especially going with an anti-Jadzia. Don't get me wrong, I actually find DeBoer more likable on a personal level than Farrell, and found she actually seemed to try a lot harder and put more heart into the role, but if they were going to change Dax as radically as they did, it should have happened a season or two earlier.

But for a 1 season shot, Susy Plakson would have brought some of the old Dax snark (in fact I think she would have been a lot better at it than Farrell) and she would have made the character familiar, as well as her own. Really, why didn't they cast her as Jadzia in the first place is a good question.

This! I like Nicole de Boer and Ezri was fine as a character but a male Dax would have been much more interesting.

A Male Dax would have been boring. Especially one following a female Dax.

 

[Seven of Five]

I loved one producer's comment about the scenario they faced. They were worried that after Jadzia leaving it would just be Kira and the boys. Now that made me think of an entirely different season seven where Kira becomes more like Mirror Kira.

 

[apollo1984]

Yeah the problem was not Ezri herself rather the amount of focus she got in season 7, any new character introduced to replace Jadzia would have had the same problem. They really needed to "remove" Jadzia earlier in a perfect world to make it work, not saying that Farrell wanted to leave any earlier though which is part of the problem I am not sure they necessarily wanted to remove Jadzia as a character but events forced their hand.

 

[Paradise City]

Ezri was sort of there on welfare. OK, she did bits n' pieces with Nog and Garak, acting as counsellor and so on but for me her purpose there is a bit contrived. I'd sooner they'd insert another character entirely and maybe met up with the new Dax with the new Dax being played by a guest star in one or two episodes.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Leeta. Kasidy.
There are more ladies than those mentioned.
And Ezri is a good solution to the situation they were in, they were lucky it was the trill that left tbh.
Show started with a dax, it should end with one too. Even Tasha Year got into the tng finale.

And can I just say here....I really don't get the suzie plakson love. Sure. She's great in her three roles, but hardly makes me fall over in a swoon wanting her to take over from a lead in anything.
Only bit parts who came back as leads that I can think of were Robbie Mcneil and Michelle Forbes. And sort of Tim Russ, but he was sort of a recurring henchman actor before Tuvok, rather than a bit part.

Yes Ds9 needed a bit of balance, bit I think it was way down the list of reasons.

I completely agree. As an actress, NdB was a great addition to the cast, but the last season of a complicated story arc was not the right time for a new character. Although she was introduced to balance out the cast--which was necessary--she ended up playing the role of emotional support for two of the male characters, almost cementing her as an ancillary female character.

Kassidy Yates was really the character that should have been elevated. Penny Johnson has some good acting chops, on par with NdB, and could be very effective when given good material. If the new character were introduced only to bolster the relationship of another main character, we might as well have gotten more of the Sisko marriage. That said, without having to do the work of actually introducing a new character, much more could have been done to give Yates depth.

As for Garak: he should have been brought into the cast on his own, not as a Dax replacement.

 

[Vandervecken]

Would have liked Kate Vernon as new Dax (Valerie Archer in Voyager ep In the Flesh, maybe better known as Ellen Tigh to us).

 

[Terok Nor]

I thought Kasidy Yates and the Yates/Sisko relationship was a snore. The only episode it was slightly interesting in was For The Cause but that's mainly down to Sisko and Eddington. I'd never have wanted to see more focus on Yates or that relationship.

Leeta was nice to look at but her character was paper thin. More could have been done with her but she was mainly used as comic relief and backup for the Ferengi.

It might have been nice to see Michelle Forbes finally join the cast as Ro but I think that horse had bolted long ago.

 

[Shada Dukal]

Ezri was quite OK, she had a story of her own – her troubles with getting used to being joined, her blunders and dubious counseling, the constant comparisons with Jadzia. And Bashir finally got a Dax, not his first choice, but still a Dax.

I agree that the writers wanted a female character to keep the feminist audience satisfied. The other female characters could not be used because they were civilians so they could not be attached to the DS9 command crew. The feminists would not have accepted anything less than a woman in uniform, giving them a wife or a slut would have only infuriated them. Besides, Leeta wearing a uniform would have been such a waste of talent and screen time.