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How after the genetics did Dr bashir still come 2nd in his class?

Willim Davies

Lieutenant
Red Shirt
In season6 episode "The Sound Of Her Voice"
Julian tells us he graduated 2nd in his class at the accademy, surely with his genetics he could have come 1st without letting on to people that he was genetically altered..?
 
^IIRC, he missed one question on purpose because he was nervous about being suspected, and maybe feeling a little guilty. Perhaps a bit silly, but since they had already set up the story of how he came in 2nd, they had to later justify that with the genetic alteration story that came up later. Not terribly well thought out, in my opinion. Actually, I was disappointed that they didn't do a lot more with that storyline. They could have used "super Julian" in quite a few situations, but didn't. It's like they just dropped it right after they brought it up.
 
They brought up his abilities from time to time, but they used them for benign things, like quick calculations, keeping perfect time w/out aid, etc. Which was good in my opinion, he had enhanced abilities, but they never tried to make him superman.
 
His parents did say that they only genetically enhanced him so that he wouldn't have to go through life mentally retarded. So, it's quite possible that he wasn't enhanced as much as he potentially could have been. In other words, his abilities may have been well above average in all respects, but we don't know for certain that they were exceptionally above average. It's possible that there are hundreds or thousands of normal-born humans who have better inherent abilities than Bashir. Dr. Lense could have been one such person.
 
Sheesh, did you all miss the miss the early episode, where he let that woman (who went on to be the CMO on the Lexington) do better. IN OTHER WORDS, he intentionally avoided finishing first. It's not hard. Both of them might have been 4.0 students. All Bashir had to is get a C on a final his senior year.
 
Bashir also becomes far less obnoxious a person towards the middle and end of the show. Perhaps that, too, was a defense reaction - he wanted people (especially women) to hate him so that there would be no compromising relationships, no risk of exposure of intimate details.

Timo Saloniemi
 
@Timo, yes, Bashir did say he was accustomed to "hiding" his genetic engineering past. Although I thought his obnoxiousness was because he was a green, young, new doctor with delusions of "pioneer medicine." Perhaps it was a well-calculated plan to appear that way in order to avoid those intimate personal relationships where anyone would let slip something like that.
 
Bashir purposefully getting the answer wrong was actually first put forward back in season 3 in the episode where he is turning 30, having a whinge about it and then gets trapped in his mind by a telepathic attack..."Distant Voices" (had to look the name up).

The telepathic echo of the alien inside Bashir's mind says the two things Bashir mixes up in the test are nothing alike and that he in fact got it wrong on purpose so he wouldn't come first in his class.

The DS9 Companion has a fun little story about why they threw this into the episode to begin with.
 
And this is why I love DS9. It had the balls to do things unexpected with the characters.
 
Another thought about Bashir: after we learn about his parents' genetic engineering of their son, anytime anyone mentions Bashir, they bring up "genetically enhanced." They bring it up like it's more important than his role as a doctor. It's as annoying to me as saying, "my former prisoner friend." One of my good friends (and role models) spent time in prison a long time ago, but I don't walk around referring to him as "my friend who's done hard time." I call him "my friend."
 
Even if he hadn't intentionally missed the question, it still would have been possible for her to beat him.

He wasn't perfect, he never had all the answers.

Remember, Kirk outsmarted Khan once or twice! I'm laughing at your superior intellect Bashir!
 
Its a maths problem though. Caculating speed of two vessels, picking the correct moment to fire.

When he was on the Bridge of the Defiant he wasn't advising Sisko on Medical matters.
 
^Just as McCoy wasn't with Kirk...

Or Beverly with Picard....

Besides, the computer would have done the math....
 
The Enterprises weren't Warships. Look at The Sacrifice Of Angels. Bashir spots its a trap instantly.
 
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