You just been given the chance to rewrite the last two seasons of DS9. What do you do?
A chance to rewrite S6/S7
- Thread starter Joe Washington
- Start date
Introduce Ezri Tigan in the beginning arc of Season Six. I mean--with all the defeats the Allies were facing, there was a LOT of counseling that needed to be done. Have her come aboard Admiral Ross's starbase with her mentor (remember, she's an "assistant counselor" at this point)--and have her help tend to the patients in the Infirmary. Julian is impressed with her competence and bedside manner, and they hit it off.
Long story short--the mentor dies in an attack, Ezri holds her own--and when DS9 is retaken, Sisko has Ezri come aboard, making her station counselor.
When Jadzia dies, Ezri has to leave with the symbiont, as its readings are unstable.
In Season 7, she come to Sisko as Ezri Dax, and...
Long story short--the mentor dies in an attack, Ezri holds her own--and when DS9 is retaken, Sisko has Ezri come aboard, making her station counselor.
When Jadzia dies, Ezri has to leave with the symbiont, as its readings are unstable.
In Season 7, she come to Sisko as Ezri Dax, and...
That sounds very interesting. It would without a doubt add a complication to Bashir and Ezri's growing relationship with Julian having to do with Ezri being both herself and Dax. Ezri being introduced in Season Six would give her more room to grow and time to interact with Jadzia before her death.
Absolutely. Because of an already-begun relationship, Julian would be the natural choice to help her cope with this new situation. Their relationship gets stronger due to that.
Quark gets jealous (we see more of what we saw at the beginning of "Emperor's New Cloak")--and Worf gets even more ticked off than he did in the show as it stands!
Quark gets jealous (we see more of what we saw at the beginning of "Emperor's New Cloak")--and Worf gets even more ticked off than he did in the show as it stands!
Bring in a female Starfleet security officer after they retake the station, recurring role, able to step up to the main cast when Jadzia bites its. Served on the Saratoga with Sisko.
Male Dax. Recurring in season seven, stationed on a ship near the frontlines, but a wise enough host to actually give some space to the people in Jadzia's life. But he will play baseball. How would Worf deal with Dude Dax? Maybe Dude Dax and Bashir could hook up....
Possibilities...
Male Dax. Recurring in season seven, stationed on a ship near the frontlines, but a wise enough host to actually give some space to the people in Jadzia's life. But he will play baseball. How would Worf deal with Dude Dax? Maybe Dude Dax and Bashir could hook up....
Possibilities...
Assuming I can't change the fact Farrell leaves, I'm not sure I'd do much to change season 6, except drop two or three episodes I don't like for new stuff. I'd also start to foreshadow the Founders' disease in this season. I'd also have an ep that had another Founder in it since I thought it was odd that there only seemed to be one Founder stuck on the Alpha Quadrant side.
Season 7, I wouldn't bring in Ezri (at least not in the form she was in the show). Instead I'd have Yates go after Sisko and take Ezri's role in the first 2 episodes. Obviously with no Ezri the season would need quite a few changes. I would bring Dax back for one or two episodes and this Dax won't be all that interested in staying in the same place, so I'd close the relationships she has with the characters, even Sisko and have her/he move on. I'd have Jake feature a bit more in the season as well.
I'd have liked to see Bajor join the Federation during the show, so to make that happen I'd end the war before the final episodes and make the final episode's main event Bajor joining the Federation (and the characters moving on parallel to that). Sisko would still go the Prophets, Dukat to hell and Odo would finally finish his journey and go home. Pretty much the characters will still go and stay the same with WYLB.
Maybe without a new regular there might be a bit more in the budget for the final war ep and I could do something about the reused scenes. I'd have also liked to see the fleet crash into the Dominion fleet defending Cardassia Prime. It always seemed a bit odd that they would blockade the planet but let Odo beam down seemingly uncontested. You'd get a real sense of the Dominion been beaten if you knew that their fleet above had been broken. Of course that costs money, so I might be forced to have it off screen...which is still pretty unsatisfying as nothing happening. If I couldn't afford any new battle scenes I'd at least remove the "Sacrifice of Angels" stock footage from the earlier battle scenes as it does not gel at all with the new material, which shows a much more spread out battle. Even the other reused stuff suggested that. The SoA stuff just stands out too much when you go from a few ships dueling and a couple in the back ground to a mass filling up just about every single space on the screen.
Season 7, I wouldn't bring in Ezri (at least not in the form she was in the show). Instead I'd have Yates go after Sisko and take Ezri's role in the first 2 episodes. Obviously with no Ezri the season would need quite a few changes. I would bring Dax back for one or two episodes and this Dax won't be all that interested in staying in the same place, so I'd close the relationships she has with the characters, even Sisko and have her/he move on. I'd have Jake feature a bit more in the season as well.
I'd have liked to see Bajor join the Federation during the show, so to make that happen I'd end the war before the final episodes and make the final episode's main event Bajor joining the Federation (and the characters moving on parallel to that). Sisko would still go the Prophets, Dukat to hell and Odo would finally finish his journey and go home. Pretty much the characters will still go and stay the same with WYLB.
Maybe without a new regular there might be a bit more in the budget for the final war ep and I could do something about the reused scenes. I'd have also liked to see the fleet crash into the Dominion fleet defending Cardassia Prime. It always seemed a bit odd that they would blockade the planet but let Odo beam down seemingly uncontested. You'd get a real sense of the Dominion been beaten if you knew that their fleet above had been broken. Of course that costs money, so I might be forced to have it off screen...which is still pretty unsatisfying as nothing happening. If I couldn't afford any new battle scenes I'd at least remove the "Sacrifice of Angels" stock footage from the earlier battle scenes as it does not gel at all with the new material, which shows a much more spread out battle. Even the other reused stuff suggested that. The SoA stuff just stands out too much when you go from a few ships dueling and a couple in the back ground to a mass filling up just about every single space on the screen.
Instead of having Dukat want to release the Pah-Wraiths because he's just some crazy Devil-worshiper now I'd just have him want to release them so they can kill the Prophets and make the wormhole open for Dominion use again. Unfortunately they end up possessing him as their Anti-Emissary for their own ends and he's just some mindless slave in the end when Sisko kills him.
1. no vic fontaine time-wasting stuff
2. no "Dukat goes crazy" plotline, he just remains as a Cardassian political player within the Dominion
3. no pah-wraith crap
4. Sisko's birth was not arranged by the Prophets, he's just a guy who happens to have a relationship with them
5. the entry of the Romulans is the turning point in the war, NOT some kind of Cardassian resistance movement.
6. Take away the entire Cardassian resistance movement plotline, they remain allies of the Dominion, and there's no Breen entry into the war.
7. delete the "changeling virus" and section 31 plotlines.
8. The war is won by the UFP/Klingon/Romulan alliance by taking the war to Cardassia and then a massive offensive into the Gamma Quadrant to take on the Dominion
9. Sisko marries Kasidy Yates and either remains on DS9 or becomes a leader on Bajor. He does not become a Prophet in the wormhole.
10. Worf ends up with Ezri.
2. no "Dukat goes crazy" plotline, he just remains as a Cardassian political player within the Dominion
3. no pah-wraith crap
4. Sisko's birth was not arranged by the Prophets, he's just a guy who happens to have a relationship with them
5. the entry of the Romulans is the turning point in the war, NOT some kind of Cardassian resistance movement.
6. Take away the entire Cardassian resistance movement plotline, they remain allies of the Dominion, and there's no Breen entry into the war.
7. delete the "changeling virus" and section 31 plotlines.
8. The war is won by the UFP/Klingon/Romulan alliance by taking the war to Cardassia and then a massive offensive into the Gamma Quadrant to take on the Dominion
9. Sisko marries Kasidy Yates and either remains on DS9 or becomes a leader on Bajor. He does not become a Prophet in the wormhole.
10. Worf ends up with Ezri.
Sonak, you don't sound very happy with much of the last 2 seasons!
Personally I thought the slightly grittier side of star trek was great, i wish they'd have got rid of some of the cheesier episodes, and made it darker still.
Personally I thought the slightly grittier side of star trek was great, i wish they'd have got rid of some of the cheesier episodes, and made it darker still.
Nothing. I'm no television writer, and I am not deluded enough to think I could improve upon the work of people whose actual job it is to do that. Also, I happen to love the last two seasons (if you discount the snorefest that was Prodigal Daughter).
As for things I wish had been done better, three things come to mind, and they all affect What You Leave Behind:
- They built up the Dukat/Anjohl/Winn/Pah-wraith story for ten episodes, and all it came down to was a one-minute confrontation with Sisko. I was hoping for a bigger pay-off.
- No use of stock footage during the last battle with the Dominion (but that wasn't the writers' fault).
- Show Jadzia in the flashbacks (again, not the writers' fault).
They did show Jadzia in the flashbacks didn't they? As part of Worfs memories, it'd be hard to incorporate them any other way I think - Ezri wasn't there long enough to spend ages having lots of flashbacks. But as for your other points, I concur.
- War only lasts one season+5 episode conclusion arc in season 7. I think the war dragged on too long, and they didn't have the resources to really pull it off. Plus seeing what comes after the war would have been interesting
- Winn sets free the Wraiths in an attempt at bringing about the Restoration (much like it happened in the series). We see visions much like the Orb visions while she is reading the book. The Monks find out and try to stop her but too late. Cliffhanger has the Wraiths coming out of the caves, roasting Winn and heading for the Wormhole, while Sisko engages the Dominion fleet.
- Final confrontation of Sisko and Dukat is in the wormhole after the Wraiths have re-entered it. They relive the final days of B'Halla in a strange temporal loop/vision kind of thing.
At the same time, the War gets into its final stage.
Basically Shadows and Symbols Part Two with events in the Temple, the B'Halla era and Bajor present mirroring one another.
- Instead of brief farewell sequences, we get entire episodes about what the characters are going to do after the war, giving us an idea of how the war affects the rest of the galaxy. We see Odo reshaping the Dominion, Worf returning to a weakened Klingon Empire, Kira seeing Bajor join the Federation, Garak returning to his world etc.
- Sisko can shoot Orbs out of hs ass, while Dukat can spit flames.
- Winn sets free the Wraiths in an attempt at bringing about the Restoration (much like it happened in the series). We see visions much like the Orb visions while she is reading the book. The Monks find out and try to stop her but too late. Cliffhanger has the Wraiths coming out of the caves, roasting Winn and heading for the Wormhole, while Sisko engages the Dominion fleet.
- Final confrontation of Sisko and Dukat is in the wormhole after the Wraiths have re-entered it. They relive the final days of B'Halla in a strange temporal loop/vision kind of thing.
At the same time, the War gets into its final stage.
Basically Shadows and Symbols Part Two with events in the Temple, the B'Halla era and Bajor present mirroring one another.
- Instead of brief farewell sequences, we get entire episodes about what the characters are going to do after the war, giving us an idea of how the war affects the rest of the galaxy. We see Odo reshaping the Dominion, Worf returning to a weakened Klingon Empire, Kira seeing Bajor join the Federation, Garak returning to his world etc.
- Sisko can shoot Orbs out of hs ass, while Dukat can spit flames.
Last edited:
Not in WYLB. I think there was an issue concerning them using Farrell's image earlier in the season, which same them not feature her in Worf's memories.
How do you guys feel about this arc for the last two seasons and a bit of Season 5?
SEASON FIVE: Sisko is relieved of command of the station in Rapture but will remain Emissary of Bajor. Sisko goes down to live on Bajor and learns more about Bajoran culture and religion. Jake spends part of his time on Bajor with his father and the other part of his time on the station to spend time with the people there. At some point, Ben makes a major discovery about the Pah-Wraiths and their connection to the Dominion. The Founders are secret worshippers of the Pah-Wraiths. They influenced the Founders’ creation of the Dominion with the intent of using them as an army to take over the wormhole on both ends as a part of their plot to bring down the Prophets and return to the Celestial Temple where they feel they truly belong. They also wanted the Dominion created to prove to the Prophets that taking an active role in corporal affairs can work. Sisko shares this with the characters on DS9 and the Federation. The Federation questions this information and its source, suspecting Sisko’s attachment to Bajorans and their mythology may be further clouding his judgment after his removal from Starfleet duty. The season ends with the Dominion’s takeover of the station.
SEASON SIX: Dukat learns of the Pah-Wraith-Founder connection. Recovering from his mental breakdown, Dukat seeks to destroy the Dominion to gain Sisko’s approval and he holds them ultimately responsible for Ziyal’s death because if he hadn’t joined the Dominion, Ziyal wouldn’t have eventually turned against him resulting in her death. Dukat wants to find a way to contact the Pah-Wraiths to persuade them to let the Dominion fall in exchange for using him to carry out their goals. He thinks that way he can both deliver a blow to the Dominion and manipulate the Pah-Wraiths into making him a benevolent ruler of Cardassia and Bajor as well as the rest of the Universe to fulfill his desire for power. He wants to prove once and for all how much of a true leader he is and how much good he can bring to people’s lives if they only listen and give into what he is doing. Dukat creates the disease that spreads throughout the Great Link of the Founders as a part of his plan against the Dominion. The season ends with the Pah-Wraiths abandoning the Dominion because of the problematic Founders disease which is getting in the way of their running of the Dominion and making Dukat their emissary as another way to take back their celestial home.
SEASON SEVEN: Without the Pah-Wraiths for them to worship and seek guidance from, the Founders feel lost and become determined to win the war in hopes that would bring the Pah-Wraiths back into their lives. The Pah-Wraiths take over the wormhole, kick the Prophets out of it, and begin taking over the Universe bit by bit to place it under their guidance. The Dominion War takes a major turn when the Dominion and the Federation join forces against Dukat and the Pah-Wraiths. Sisko tries to find a way to put the Prophets back into the wormhole. The series ends with the Sisko-Dukat showdown, the disarmament of the Dominion, and Bajor joining the Federation.
SEASON FIVE: Sisko is relieved of command of the station in Rapture but will remain Emissary of Bajor. Sisko goes down to live on Bajor and learns more about Bajoran culture and religion. Jake spends part of his time on Bajor with his father and the other part of his time on the station to spend time with the people there. At some point, Ben makes a major discovery about the Pah-Wraiths and their connection to the Dominion. The Founders are secret worshippers of the Pah-Wraiths. They influenced the Founders’ creation of the Dominion with the intent of using them as an army to take over the wormhole on both ends as a part of their plot to bring down the Prophets and return to the Celestial Temple where they feel they truly belong. They also wanted the Dominion created to prove to the Prophets that taking an active role in corporal affairs can work. Sisko shares this with the characters on DS9 and the Federation. The Federation questions this information and its source, suspecting Sisko’s attachment to Bajorans and their mythology may be further clouding his judgment after his removal from Starfleet duty. The season ends with the Dominion’s takeover of the station.
SEASON SIX: Dukat learns of the Pah-Wraith-Founder connection. Recovering from his mental breakdown, Dukat seeks to destroy the Dominion to gain Sisko’s approval and he holds them ultimately responsible for Ziyal’s death because if he hadn’t joined the Dominion, Ziyal wouldn’t have eventually turned against him resulting in her death. Dukat wants to find a way to contact the Pah-Wraiths to persuade them to let the Dominion fall in exchange for using him to carry out their goals. He thinks that way he can both deliver a blow to the Dominion and manipulate the Pah-Wraiths into making him a benevolent ruler of Cardassia and Bajor as well as the rest of the Universe to fulfill his desire for power. He wants to prove once and for all how much of a true leader he is and how much good he can bring to people’s lives if they only listen and give into what he is doing. Dukat creates the disease that spreads throughout the Great Link of the Founders as a part of his plan against the Dominion. The season ends with the Pah-Wraiths abandoning the Dominion because of the problematic Founders disease which is getting in the way of their running of the Dominion and making Dukat their emissary as another way to take back their celestial home.
SEASON SEVEN: Without the Pah-Wraiths for them to worship and seek guidance from, the Founders feel lost and become determined to win the war in hopes that would bring the Pah-Wraiths back into their lives. The Pah-Wraiths take over the wormhole, kick the Prophets out of it, and begin taking over the Universe bit by bit to place it under their guidance. The Dominion War takes a major turn when the Dominion and the Federation join forces against Dukat and the Pah-Wraiths. Sisko tries to find a way to put the Prophets back into the wormhole. The series ends with the Sisko-Dukat showdown, the disarmament of the Dominion, and Bajor joining the Federation.
I like this whole story line idea a lot. Gods who have gods. Well thought out.
Also like the idea of Ezri being male (keep the name), having him aboard the station would have really changed the dynamic among the various characters.
Might have to backtrack further to get the final arc right...
Sisko's advice to the Bajorans to stay out of the war puts him on a collision course with Starfleet, who question his loyalties. Losing the station backburners this for a while, but then it comes back into play.
Starfleet doesn't know whether they can trust a commander who is regarded as a religious figure by an alien, non-Federation world, and who increasingly seems to be throwing his loyalty towards the aliens and not Starfleet. The important point here is to give Sisko an arc that leads him towards an unexpected destiny away from Starfleet, to a place he never expected. (And his Mom doesn't need to be a Prophet, either - that was hokey.)
I'd also change Dukat's storyline so that he's not a pathetic brainwashed follower of the pagh-wraiths, but rather his old, overconfident self, once again thinking he can manipulate powerful forces to his own ends. He overreaches badly of course and gets himself killed, but at least he goes out like he lived - fatally arrogant.
And I'd change the ending so that when Odo links with the Female Founder in the finale, he doesn't convince her to end the war. Instead, she brainwashes him and switches places. She appears to be Odo, and in disguise, returns to The Great Link. Brainwashed Odo, in the form of the Female Founder, goes meekly to jail.
Sisko's advice to the Bajorans to stay out of the war puts him on a collision course with Starfleet, who question his loyalties. Losing the station backburners this for a while, but then it comes back into play.
Starfleet doesn't know whether they can trust a commander who is regarded as a religious figure by an alien, non-Federation world, and who increasingly seems to be throwing his loyalty towards the aliens and not Starfleet. The important point here is to give Sisko an arc that leads him towards an unexpected destiny away from Starfleet, to a place he never expected. (And his Mom doesn't need to be a Prophet, either - that was hokey.)
I'd also change Dukat's storyline so that he's not a pathetic brainwashed follower of the pagh-wraiths, but rather his old, overconfident self, once again thinking he can manipulate powerful forces to his own ends. He overreaches badly of course and gets himself killed, but at least he goes out like he lived - fatally arrogant.
And I'd change the ending so that when Odo links with the Female Founder in the finale, he doesn't convince her to end the war. Instead, she brainwashes him and switches places. She appears to be Odo, and in disguise, returns to The Great Link. Brainwashed Odo, in the form of the Female Founder, goes meekly to jail.
Oh, that's a creepy ending and it would have made the viewers unease about the future. But I think it might have found that more believable than the Female Founder deciding to end the war just like that. I would have felt sorry for Kira, thinking that she is parting ways with her beloved Odo when it turns out it's someone posing as him.
^Well--it would have been interesting...provided the series would continue. The entire point of a finale is to conclude the series. That Odo's arc would not really be satisfyingly completed would have made the audience feel cheated.
(As it were, that's why I like the idea of Dukat going out as the arrogant man we know and love-to-hate, instead of the True Believer he became. More satisfying that way.)
As for Ezri as a man--no. Please no. Ezri's character provided a nice, new perspective to the show that would have been lost had she--or, in this case, he--been masculine. Sorry.
Her personality was what made her endearing and unique. Somehow...the wide variety of male personalities already in the show would have made such uniqueness more difficult to achieve had the new Dax been male. There was less variety in recurring female characters. The field was more opened.
(But then, I'm probably biased, since Ezri is one of my favorite characters.)
(As it were, that's why I like the idea of Dukat going out as the arrogant man we know and love-to-hate, instead of the True Believer he became. More satisfying that way.)
As for Ezri as a man--no. Please no. Ezri's character provided a nice, new perspective to the show that would have been lost had she--or, in this case, he--been masculine. Sorry.
Her personality was what made her endearing and unique. Somehow...the wide variety of male personalities already in the show would have made such uniqueness more difficult to achieve had the new Dax been male. There was less variety in recurring female characters. The field was more opened.
(But then, I'm probably biased, since Ezri is one of my favorite characters.)
Similar threads
