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Bashir: Most underrated character growth in DS9?

M

Molyfar

Lieutenant
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Bashir: Most underrated character growth in DS9?
From annoying ensign to Section 31 and front-line medic.

For me - Yes - 100%. I think he has one of the best slow-burn arcs in all of Trek.

He starts as that annoying Ensign in Season 1 - arrogant, talks too much, hits on Dax, nobody wants to sit with him in the replimat.

Then watch what they do:

S1-2: The O'Brien friendship humbles him. Becomes actually likeable.
S3-4: Garak turns him into a spy, a liar, a grown-up. And front-line medicine in The Siege, The Quickening.
S5: The big retcon - Dr Bashir, I presume? - he's genetically engineered. Suddenly his arrogance makes sense, and his whole career is at risk.
S6-7: Full wartime doctor + Section 31. He goes from "I'm going to be a great doctor" to "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" - having to decide if he'd commit genocide to win the war.

He goes from Boy Wonder to the guy who looks war in the face and still holds onto being a healer.

Kira, Nog, and Bashir - IMHO, I think DS9 did growth better than any other Trek.

Do you think he gets overlooked because he's not Kira/Odo/Quark?
 
DS9 definitely did it better than any other series

I'm not sure about most underrated if only because I don't think there is anyone who doesn't recognise just how well developed the whole cast (and supporting cast) were.

The annoying thing is that I don't disagree with your premise - I just don't quite know how to articulate what I don't agree with!
 
They admitted they made him too annoying and calmed him down. Then they invented the genetic engineering stuff. And decided to make him a changeling for a spell.

For me it was less development and more lurching.
 
I’m under the impression Starfleet doctors graduate as Lieutenant jgs to compensate for the extra time they spend at the academy. I could be wrong.
 
I can't imagine S31 trying to recruit Doctor Crusher, but having an(other) agent on the E would have been a coup.
 
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Crewman6 said:
Who says the E wasn't already full of operatives?
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If I were Section 31 I'm not sure I'd use a lot of my operatives on the Enterprise. They can't predict where the Enterprise will be assigned. Most of the Enterprise missions are exploration which are scientifically interesting but not a threat to the Federation, and fully reported to Starfleet anyway.

DS9 was as full of intrigue as Vienna during the cold war, I'm surprised they didn't have more operatives there. (Or perhaps they did.)
 
kkt said:
If I were Section 31 I'm not sure I'd use a lot of my operatives on the Enterprise. They can't predict where the Enterprise will be assigned. Most of the Enterprise missions are exploration which are scientifically interesting but not a threat to the Federation, and fully reported to Starfleet anyway.
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It doesn't matter where it goes, it's still advantageous to having someone on board to keep tabs on the friggin' flagship of the fleet.
kkt said:
DS9 was as full of intrigue as Vienna during the cold war, I'm surprised they didn't have more operatives there. (Or perhaps they did.)
Click to expand...
Morn. Obviously.
 
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Ragitsu said:
Pre- or post-genetic engineering reveal?
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The reveal itself was irrelevant. At the outset, he was a smug, arrogant sex pest twerp. By the time the reveal happened, he had matured a lot as a character, so he would have been okay on the D at that point, if a little abrasive at times.
 
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