Absolute worst character in DS9 History: Ezri Dax

[JD5000]

Not much of a scroller, so sorry if someone else already mentioned this. I find it odd that a space station in one of the most remote Federation areas dealing with the aftermath of a decades-long brutal occupation didn't have a counselor before Ezri came along. Seems like Starfleet puts psychiatrists in the same places they put physicians, in anything I can think of.

EDIT: ^ OK, that's inaccurate. Voyager doesn't have a dedicated shrink, so that blows my theory out of the water. Still seems like DS9 would be a pretty darn logical place for a Starfleet psychologist to get deployed, some Vulcan should have thought of that.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Not much of a scroller, so sorry if someone else already mentioned this. I find it odd that a space station in one of the most remote Federation areas dealing with the aftermath of a decades-long brutal occupation didn't have a counselor before Ezri came along. Seems like Starfleet puts psychiatrists in the same places they put physicians, in anything I can think of.

EDIT: ^ OK, that's inaccurate. Voyager doesn't have a dedicated shrink, so that blows my theory out of the water. Still seems like DS9 would be a pretty darn logical place for a Starfleet psychologist to get deployed, some Vulcan should have thought of that.

To be fair, DS9 was not a standard Federation outpost. We don't know what the details of the Federation's agreement with Bajor actually were. It's entirely possible the Fed. Council offered an entire suite of psychological help along with medical aid, but the Bajorans declined. Or it's entirely possible that any psychological aid would have been sent to the surface of Bajor, and not to Deep Space Nine.

 

[FreedPhotons]

The "i'm bubbly and innocent and sweet and cute but deep inside I hurt" act go so old, so fast. As far as I'm concerned she's the ultimate Mary-Sue.

What do those things have to do with being a Mary Sue? The term seems to be thrown around now as lazy shorthand for complaining about any female character.

Yeah, it's become about as meaningless as "jumping the shark" or "politically correct."

I think I have made the effort to state my case in particular detail, so no, I don't think it's a "lazy short-hand" or "meaningless". I don't say that about other female heroines. Just her.

 

[JD5000]

To be fair, DS9 was not a standard Federation outpost. We don't know what the details of the Federation's agreement with Bajor actually were. It's entirely possible the Fed. Council offered an entire suite of psychological help along with medical aid, but the Bajorans declined. Or it's entirely possible that any psychological aid would have been sent to the surface of Bajor, and not to Deep Space Nine.

I wasn't considering psychological assistance for the Bajoran people, just the Starfleet officers on the 'frontier' dealing with occupation clean-up duty. Although it doesn't look too bad to me, life on DS9 is portrayed as a lot less cushy than the average Starfleet officer would be used to. TNG establishes the 'counselor' position as really coddly with Troi, the day to day pressure on the Enterprise was at least as potentially troubling as life on DS9.

I think a Dr. Phil cameo would have been great if the timelines had collided a little differently!

Phil Dax....that makes me laugh.

 

[Amaris]

Ezri would do ... in a pinch! After all, under the darkest cover of night, a cottonseed is the same as a pearle, is it not?

Quit this. Posts like this are garbage posts that do nothing more than reduce women to prizes to be won, and objects to exploit. If you were unaware before, that your posts are creepy and sexist, then you know now. So let this be a relevation: Women do not need you. At all. They certainly don't need your willingness to bed them under cover of night. I'm quite certain they could be disappointed by your ministrations in the light of day as well.

Have a nice day.

 

[dub]

TNG establishes the 'counselor' position...

Since DS9 didn't have a counselor at the beginning, and since Voyager didn't have one, it's not a stretch to assume the position isn't standard and is per request of the commanding officer. Perhaps Sisko was waiting to see what the situation was like at DS9 before creating a position like that, then the war came and hiring a counselor was probably the last thing on his mind. Then Vic Fontaine in a way pretty much became the counselor anyway. And then when Sisko's old friend Dax now had the qualifications, it made sense to create that position to keep his friend, the old man, around.

 

[Misfit Toy]

Ezri would do ... in a pinch! After all, under the darkest cover of night, a cottonseed is the same as a pearle, is it not?

How old ARE you?

 

[Yanks]

TNG establishes the 'counselor' position...

Since DS9 didn't have a counselor at the beginning, and since Voyager didn't have one, it's not a stretch to assume the position isn't standard and is per request of the commanding officer. Perhaps Sisko was waiting to see what the situation was like at DS9 before creating a position like that, then the war came and hiring a counselor was probably the last thing on his mind. Then Vic Fontaine in a way pretty much became the counselor anyway. And then when Sisko's old friend Dax now had the qualifications, it made sense to create that position to keep his friend, the old man, around.

I think the counselor position was on the "D" because families were onboard.

 

[JD5000]

DS9 could hold almost 7x as many people as the Enterprise-D, and there was a reasonably proportionate portrayal of the percentage of those residents that were families with children.

it's not a stretch to assume the position isn't standard and is per request of the commanding officer.

I think that's plausible, the 'counselor' role and it's need is pretty open to conjecture, I think it's one of the less-defined positions.

 

[CorporalClegg]

The "i'm bubbly and innocent and sweet and cute but deep inside I hurt" act go so old, so fast. As far as I'm concerned she's the ultimate Mary-Sue.

What do those things have to do with being a Mary Sue? The term seems to be thrown around now as lazy shorthand for complaining about any female character.

Really? As far as I know, she falls into just about every Marye-Sue cliché I know.

> Beautiful: check
> Quarky and cutely clumsy (which offsets her beauty and makes her just *adorable*): check
> Beloved by everyone instantly: check
> Has one of the main characters fall in love with her instantly: check
> Has a "dark" / "sad" past that she tries to keep secret but which is finally found out and supported by all other characters: check
> Wants to be "normal" but has an incredible future thrust upon her: check (here: being unexpectedly joined)
> Rule-bending uniqueness: check (Trills are supposed to train for life to have a Symbiont but she doesn't!)
> Action-stealer: check (she appears out of nowhere in season 7 and suddenly every other episode features her very prominently in action scenes even though she's just supposed to be a counselor)

> etc...

Honestly at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the writers' daughter's name was Ezri... It doesn't matter that some of these are somehow justified by her being Trill - she didn't have to be this way because she's a made-up character: Jadzia was a Trill too and she wasn't like that, so all these Mary-Sue characteristics are unique to Ezri.

 

[Rincewiend]

DS9 could hold almost 7x as many people as the Enterprise-D, and there was a reasonably proportionate portrayal of the percentage of those residents that were families with children.

it's not a stretch to assume the position isn't standard and is per request of the commanding officer.

I think that's plausible, the 'counselor' role and it's need is pretty open to conjecture, I think it's one of the less-defined positions.

The Bajorans and other races might have had their own counselors...

 

[Worf'sParmach]

Not much of a scroller, so sorry if someone else already mentioned this. I find it odd that a space station in one of the most remote Federation areas dealing with the aftermath of a decades-long brutal occupation didn't have a counselor before Ezri came along. Seems like Starfleet puts psychiatrists in the same places they put physicians, in anything I can think of.

DS9 did have a counselor. Julian mentions one in "Hard Time" when asking Miles about whether he was going to his sessions. So the question really is, whatever happened to Telnorri?

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Telnorri

(And I agree with the sentiment that Jadzia was way more of a "Mary Sue" than Ezri was.)

 

[RCAM]

(And I agree with the sentiment that Jadzia was way more of a "Mary Sue" than Ezri was.)

Too true. Hot girl who everyone is madly in love with; brilliant; wise; badass warrior who can easily dispatch Klingons; always throwing out [supposedly] brilliant quips; no-nonsense I'll-kick-your-ass-and-drink-you-under-the-table-but-damn-it-I'm-still-the-picture-of-femininity-and-sexuality...

And, of course, her demeanor, personality, and background change to suit whatever situation the writers have cooked up in a given week.

I used to really like Jadzia, but I much prefer Ezri now. She's a human being (figure of speech, in this case) with strengths and weaknesses, and honestly I think she treats people better too.

 

[Roddenberry]

I liked Ezri from the off, it doesn't mean I don't think she was superfluous to the show.

 

[HaventGotALife]

Just finished watching DS9 from start to finish for about the 15th time or so and I **NEVER** liked Ezri since it's original run. She just did not fit the show, didn't fit Starfleet, and felt *rushed* as a last minute way to pop a character on the show to replace Dax. Combined with the fact that there were way too many episodes trying to develop her crappy character makes her the worst cast member in DS9 history. Maybe in the entire Stat Trek Universe beating out Neelix.

They should of just let Dax die with Jadzia, or maybe make Erzi leave DS9 after the 2nd episode on that starship as the councilor. I think it was too fake anyway having Sisko warm up to Ezri so fast just because she had the Dax symbiont. Worfs initial attitude towards Dax was more realistic IMHO.

I tend to agree with you--let Dax go. It's war, and people die. Bring one of the recurring characters in full-time (Nog) and let the station feel a hole where Dax once was. I'd still take Ezri over the entire Voyager cast. Getting Ezri and Worf together felt contrived and like they didn't know what to do with them. The humor after they have sex just drives me up the wall. I liked the actress, but the space sickness and nerves just didn't appeal to me.

I think my nails-on-the-chalkboard character is Dr. Beverly Crusher. Every scene with her makes me cringe. That is my Ezri Dax.

 

[JD5000]

DS9 did have a counselor. Julian mentions one in "Hard Time" when asking Miles about whether he was going to his sessions. So the question really is, whatever happened to Telnorri?

Good catch, I had totally forgotten about that character. Instantly rang the bell after reading your post!

 

[Enterpriserules]

We just did our Ezri podcast, might be a good counterpoint.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I liked Ezri but I hated most of the writing they did for her.

In the first few episodes, they were basically forced to write her as unstable and neurotic just because of the backstory they gave her. And they did it all in this very sitcom way that made embarrassing use of the "Oh, sorry, I can't take back your resignation letter. Because I never sent it!" trope. Once we got past that we had weird standalone episodes that didn't advance her relationship with the other characters like the one with her family and the one with Joran. It did make sense that she would have a lot of sexual tension with Worf just because, well, she has a lot of memories of sex with him.

Getting together with Bashir made sense but not with how rushed they did it. If they had made Bashir pursue her near the start of the season maybe it could have worked but instead he just moped around about Jadzia for the year then suddenly asked her out it what seemed like it was more vicariously dating Jadzia than dating Ezri. They never really established a relationship between Ezri and Bashir that wasn't all about Bashir having pursued Jadzia.

Instead of forcing a new character into the cast that the knew they wouldn't have time to develop they should have just given their best secondaries more prominent roles.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

I liked Ezri from the off, it doesn't mean I don't think she was superfluous to the show.

I really don't get this argument. What can possibly make any of these characters 'superfluous'?

There isn't any standard blueprint for a Trek show that says we need this, this, this and this, and if we've got those characters, then everyone is immaterial and shouldn't ever be focused on. Ezri has a place in the stories, a place on the station and a place within the relationships among the main crew/cast. That is pretty much the exact opposite of superfluous...

Her relationship with Worf actually gave us one of my favorite moments from the series (when Worf finally faces up to the sad state of the Empire).

 

[Enterpriserules]

Her relationship with Worf actually gave us one of my favorite moments from the series (when Worf finally faces up to the sad state of the Empire).

I loved this scene, by Ezri being there and not being Jadzia, they were able to do something that could not have done with Jadzia. They utilize the uniqueness of Ezri to the fullest extent here and set up one of the most memorable scenes in all of Star Trek, Worf killing Gowron! She is, in my opinion a very good character that is well used and well written, especially considering it is the 7th and final season of a very serialized show.