Episodes Where (Early) Julian Couldn't or Shouldn't have Passed as Basic Human?

[Guy Gardener]

Past Tense.

It's only been 30 years since the Supermen lost control over the planet, so there should still be genetic testing "everywhere" looking for war criminals, traitors, or a new insurgency.

Babel.

Bashir should have been able to work out a new translation algorithm in his head, and communicate with anyone despite the virus.

Armageddon Game.

O'Brien was half asleep and feverish, leaving Julian free reign to stop pretending he is not an expert on everything, including engineering.

The Wire.

Enabrim Tane knew Julian was genetically engineered, but he was as coy about it as Doctor Bashir. Funny.

Crossover.

In a different fricking universe where all humans are already whipped slaves. He should have been able to fight his way to freedom, and figure out multi dimensional transportation by breakfast on day two.

Rivals.

Julian says that he defeated athletic Vulcans at Tennis back at the Academy... So much for keeping a low profile.

The Search.

The Vorta needed to have used higher resolution VR to fool the genetical modified Doctor, so they had to have known that Julian was more than human.

Distant Voices.

Julia's parents might have tripled his life span... So the rapid ageing experienced in this episode wouldn't have made sense, unless Julian suspected that the ageing was a complication from his cheap-o bargain basement half assed modifications.

Explorers.

Bashir got into a fit about being "beat by a girl" at school, he had to live down this week, but we later found out that he took a dive... So WTF?

Shattered Mirror.

HOLY SHIT! That loud thug who talked Jadzia into sharing his bed was little "Julez" sans augmentation. Really dumb but a lot more decisive. Glad to meet you buddy.

"Unknown number of episodes where Bashir had been replaced by a Changeling."

Did this undercover Changeling consider outting Julian as a Superman to partially explain why he wasn't acting completely as he should be the entire time that "he" was hijacking the good Doctors life?

 

[thribs]

Was he always written to be a Augment? I thought it was something they just introduced in season 5.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Retroactive Canon is still Canon.

Dukat was always kindly to his stepdaughter Kira as well.

 

[Timo]

I'm not sure we have any evidence Julian would be any good at engineering sciences. I mean, he can do math - but he doesn't know what to do with math until the Jack Pack shows him the way. And he can't really judge whether the way shown to him is a valid one, either.

Nor is he a particularly good hand-to-hand fighter even after having been exposed. He just doesn't have the musculature to be superhuman - apparently his parents had different priorities from those of Khan's. And gunfighting is a moot point, since the guns do the aiming: everybody is Annie Oakley in Starfleet, even if Julian beats them at darts blindfolded and both arms tied behind his back.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Abi Smith]

In Doctor Bashir, I Presume are we given a full list of Julian's augmentations?

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Would there be differences between those who were genetically engineered postnatal vs prenatal?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I’m the 2024 of Past Tense the Eugenics War hadn’t happened. An extreme right winger got elected and proposed radical solutions to the threats from immigrants and homeless he made up to win votes.

Yeah, the augmentation twist made no sense given his established character. Distant Voices retroactively makes no sense. And good point about MU. Either he should have also been an augment, or he should have been an imbecile.

And that pre ganglionic nerve. It’s established in DV he self sabotaged. That part actually made sense, but then he wouldn’t have inwardly agonized about it, or doubted his choice to be a doctor instead of an athlete.

The psychological plot holes are worse than the physical ones. Nothing at all about the way Siddig played Bashir early made sense if he was an augment.

 

[Timo]

Which is exactly what we would expect of a secretive Augment!

The early Julian is obnoxious beyond belief. In retrospect, an obvious defense mechanism, keeping people at an arms's length...

Bashir also occasionally plays a damsel in distress, when nothing much is at stake. But when the Klingons come, he saves Odo's dignity (if not quite his life - why would being cut in two by a sword harm him?) with smooth warrior skills that, fortunately, don't call for musculature.

And really, blowing a whole question in final exams and only falling to silver takes some extreme predictive statistics, Bashir's one established Augment forte in addition to his dexterity.

"Distant Voices" is just icing on the cake, showing how good Julian is at deceiving all his opponents, including mind-reading ones!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Guy Gardener]

Unless Garak in Distant Voices, inside Julian's head, wasn't a remote avatar working for the Lethean, but actually his own self loathing Superhumanity looking down in disgust on everything about Bashir that is only Human?

Profit Motive.

Julian is accidentally nominated for the prestigious Carrington Award, and seems to be upset the entire episode that he's going to lose, when he should be far more worried about being perceived to be so exceptional that he might win, and come under scrutiny from forces for being too good at his job.

 

[jaime]

Thing is, retroactively speaking...anytime he seems to be slipping up in his cover, isn’t, it’s just the augment arrogance trait surfacing. One he tries hard to fight or cover, or at least use as part of his cover. If I was an augment looking to hide, medicine is by far the best career path (even disallowing being able to use it to cover any scans or what have you) simply because (a) it’s seen as the caring profession, but also (b) many doctors can be incredibly smart, but there’s an arrogance that comes with some areas of the job. Particularly surgeons. And a competitiveness...these are traits we see in augments all the time (Khan and Jack in particular). Health and sports also play into the reputation and the narcissism. (Again...agonising over sports or medicine...both are good places to hide certain Augment traits. Medicine wins, because doing too well at sport will blow your cover. Doing too well at medicine just saves some lives, and people aren’t gonna ask why you could come up with that elusive medical cure they so desperately needed.)
Ironically, assuming the founders did find out, it makes him the perfect candidate for replacing, because he’s already obfuscated his background. It’s also why, from the writers perspective, it’s a fun thing that works with Julian in the way it wouldn’t with say O’Brien.
It also certainly makes things interesting in the Jadzia dynamic, even though that was already changed when he was revealed to be augmented. It turns outs she and Julian had more in common than was thought, basically.

 

[matthunter]

Bashir should have been able to work out a new translation algorithm in his head, and communicate with anyone despite the virus.

There's no evidence that he has enhanced linguistics capability. From a 24th Century perspective, enhancing the language centres of the brain wouldn't be much of a priority given the universal translator.

As it is, he DOES last much longer against the virus than many of the crew, so perhaps its progress is hampering his abilities in other areas?

It's important to note that Julian's enhancements are explicitly NOT on the level of Khan or the other augments.

"My IQ jumped five points a day for over two weeks. Followed by improvements in my hand-eye coordination, stamina, vision, reflexes, weight, height."

Nothing there about boosted strength or lifespan.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

Yeah, I don't really feel like Augment should be synonymous with anyone who happens to have genetic enhancements. The Augments, I thought, were a specific group? Bashir seems to be an a-la-carte genetically enhanced human, rather than the SUPER enhanced Augments like Khan.

 

[Guy Gardener]

He can out perform Vulcans at baseball.

 

[marsh8472]

Q could have made his life hell in "Q-Less", all sorts of blackmail potential there. And it should have come up in "Distant Voices" when Bashir was in conflict with himself with all of his internal conflicts and regrets in life that the lethean was exposing.

 

[Timo]

Q could have made his life hell in "Q-Less", all sorts of blackmail potential there.

Can we tell Q did not? Any blackmail would obviously be in private, and we don't get to see private moments for these two.

And it should have come up in "Distant Voices" when Bashir was in conflict with himself with all of his internal conflicts and regrets in life that the lethean was exposing.

And we see it there - we just don't understand what we are seeing, and neither does the Lethean, which is why he fails in the end even though any mortal man should have succumbed.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[matthunter]

As for Mirror Bashir bedding Mirror Jadzia, was it established that Mirror J was a host? Or was she just Jadzia? Memory Alpha has her as Mirror Jadzia Dax but it doesn't mention her symbiont at all, so it's possible - if not probable - that she wasn't joined. Especially since Mirror Ezri wasn't. I know novels aren't canon but there's also this:

In the Mirror Universe novel Rise Like Lions, Ezri marries Leeta and becomes first officer and later commander of the Defiant. She also becomes the host to the Dax symbiont after the death of Curzon, who was the last joined Trill in this universe.

Which implies Jadzia wasn't a host. So "Jules" managing to successfully woo her isn't a comment on our Bashir's ability to do so. Besides, if we accept Ezri's word, Jadzia WOULD have gone for Julian if Worf hadn't shown up - Mirror Worf is the enemy and thus not an option for Mirror Jadzia... but she DID go for Sisko first...

 

[at Quark's]

It's important to note that Julian's enhancements are explicitly NOT on the level of Khan or the other augments.

"My IQ jumped five points a day for over two weeks. Followed by improvements in my hand-eye coordination, stamina, vision, reflexes, weight, height."
Nothing there about boosted strength or lifespan.

Suppose he started out at IQ 70 (slow, but not so slow that he was identified even before school age), and he had his gain for 2.5 weeks, that would end him up around 157. That would make him exceptionally bright, but not in the 'superhuman' range.

Unless, of course, he still was holding some cards to his chest and severely understated the extent of these changes ...

 

[JirinPanthosa]

"Distant Voices" is just icing on the cake, showing how good Julian is at deceiving all his opponents, including mind-reading ones!

That's a bit of a stretch, if that were the case Julian should have not had to go through any of that to begin with.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

Mirror Jadzia... but she DID go for Sisko first...

This would make sense if Mirror Sisko and Mirror Kurzon Dax did not have the same relationship as their Prime counter-parts; but, if they did, then likely Mirror Jadzia was not merged w/ the Dax symbiont.

 

[Farscape One]

Actually, the fact Bashir survived the Lethean's attack is a check in favor of being enhanced, since he said that most Lethean attacks of that nature are fatal. Now, what we see in his mind we can forgive simply because it should be fatal already.

That's how I justify that episode, anyway. (Which I really enjoyed, by the way.)