Why Didn't People Like Jadzia Dax?
- Thread starter Ro_Laren
- Start date
I have no major problem with her, although I do agree that the writers didn't do as much with her character as they could have.
I posted a thread years ago about how much better it would have been if the Dominion had invaded Trill instead of Betazed in "In the Pale Moonlight." It would have given Dax a personal connection to one of the ongoing plots (she was the only regular character who never developed such a connection - even O'Brien had the Orion Syndicate). And if she still insisted on leaving the show after that, then a glorious battle to the death trying to liberate her home planet would have been a good way to go.
I posted a thread years ago about how much better it would have been if the Dominion had invaded Trill instead of Betazed in "In the Pale Moonlight." It would have given Dax a personal connection to one of the ongoing plots (she was the only regular character who never developed such a connection - even O'Brien had the Orion Syndicate). And if she still insisted on leaving the show after that, then a glorious battle to the death trying to liberate her home planet would have been a good way to go.
I didn't find Jadzia the least bit interesting until her relationship with Worf began. That gave her character some oomph, to me, and made her episodes with Worf very interesting. Mostly though I thought she was a disappointment. They treated her like a screen siren when I just found her bland, and her blase acting style didn't fit with the character. I *never* felt like she had the wisdom of multiple lifetimes and hundreds of years. She never pulled that one off for me.
I liked Jadzia, but I wish more was done with her. Would have loved to learn what her full name was and maybe learn more about the Host than Symbiont.
I think the character never really worked right. First they tried to make her this ethereal, Zen sort of character and then swung completely the other way with the whole Klingon thing, and the total inability to take anything seriously. I just didn't like the way she was written, compared to the others.
Good thing you wrote that down. Saves me the time to write something that would essentially be the same.
Yes, that's what I figure, too. The people disliking her are just more likely to express that opinion.
What 'Jadzia/Ezri thingy'?
The plot of the show? What is the plot of the show? And what's the relevance of the other characters to that plot?
What? I had to look up the word 'harlot' and can't see anything that has to do with the character of Jadzia.
I've always liked the Jadzia character. I really wish Terry had been able to work something out to stay on thru the final season.
I'm also surprised at the dislike for Jadzia. While she was a somewhat underused/underexplored character, I liked her. If anything, she was a missed opportunity. They didn't really delve into who Jadzia was before she was Jadzia Dax and into what specific effect joining with the symbiont had on her - something I feel they tried to correct by introducing and exploring Ezri so much in season seven. Prior to season three she could be a bit bland, but dislike and even hate? I do not get that at all.
Further...
I agree with this. Terry Farrell is a capable actress, she just had a difficult part because...
I can understand your position on this. They didn't really know what to do with the 'Zen' character so Terry Farrell suggested they take her in an Errol Flynn direction. However, I think it made some sense that she tended to take things less seriously than others - the symbiont was so old I'm sure it imparted a 'been there, done that' mentality onto Jadzia.
Me too! As interesting as Ezri could be, a more fully realized Jadzia there for all seven seasons would have been better and felt less like deja vu.
Further...
I agree with this. Terry Farrell is a capable actress, she just had a difficult part because...
I can understand your position on this. They didn't really know what to do with the 'Zen' character so Terry Farrell suggested they take her in an Errol Flynn direction. However, I think it made some sense that she tended to take things less seriously than others - the symbiont was so old I'm sure it imparted a 'been there, done that' mentality onto Jadzia.
Me too! As interesting as Ezri could be, a more fully realized Jadzia there for all seven seasons would have been better and felt less like deja vu.
What, did she not bake enough cookies for you? Jadzia never came off as promiscuous. She did like men, though. With an apparent preference for large men of few words. (I remember a comment once where she'd considered dating Gorn) It's ok for women to like men, you know. At least, I sure hope so...
There was definitely a Celtic sort of quality to her.
What I can't figure out is why Blalock and Ryan (Who was probably one of the two or three best main-cast actors in all of Trek.) always get ridiculed for just taking up space with their flopping big boobs and not adding anything performance or content wise, while Sirtis and Farrell always seem to get a free pass.
Farrell gets the pass because she at least wore a regulation uniform, without the padded... uh... enhancements. Sirtis I'm not sure about but there has always been a vocal group that disliked her as well, me being part of it.
By contrast, I don't understand why Blalock's and Ryan's contributions to their respective series so often get reduced to 'taking up space.' Perhaps size of the boob and tightness of the catsuit is somehow proportional to the quality of acting work?
I think that's more people being lazy than coming up with any intelligent criticism. No problems with any of the above actually. Ryan in particular I thought was excellent.
Jadzia was less developed than the other main cast and key supporting cast. However she was leaps ahead of other women like Hoshi or Crusher.
I strongly disagree with this. The reason I chose the word 'harlot' in my previous post was because I wanted to say it in the most polite way possible. The show is very clear that she is a loose woman in multiple different episodes.
There was once a discussion involving other anti-Jadzia DS9 fans, and pro-Jadzia fans. A pro-Jadzia fan accused an anti-Jadzia fan of hating her simply because he was 'jealous' of her; then he said something like: "Yes, I'm jealous, I want to be an intergalactic space whore!" (he said it even better than my paraphrase of him). It was one of the most poignant (and hilarious because its so true -that's just about all there is to Jadzia's character) comments about Jadzia I'd ever read.
Quite frankly in a galaxy where Risa is the top holiday spot, I'm not too sure why it matters to be honest. It's the Kirk/Riker model just with a women. She's not breaking any laws or anything.
Hell Kira nearly matches her for on screen relationships!
"Harlot" has never been a polite word to my knowledge.
Personally, I like Jadzia's character. She had some good episodes. I thought she worked best as a free spirit before she got tied to Worf.
Regarding the 'harlot' thing, the novelization of TMP suggests that public nudity and casual (and indeed recreational) sex are both a relatively common thing in Earth culture in the 23rd century, so who knows what the moral standards of the 24th century are.
Dax may have seemed promiscuous by some of our modern standards, but I'd hardly say that's automatically a bad thing for the character, especially in context. It's not like we were shown her being promiscuous every week, either. It wasn't a defining characteristic, just an extension of the idea that Dax enjoyed life.
Dax may have seemed promiscuous by some of our modern standards, but I'd hardly say that's automatically a bad thing for the character, especially in context. It's not like we were shown her being promiscuous every week, either. It wasn't a defining characteristic, just an extension of the idea that Dax enjoyed life.
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