If You Could Rewrite Dax's Death

[Jedman67]

Really? Jadzia was still more confident, more athletic, more reverential toward Klingon culture, and indeed, more of a science and policy wonk. Ezri was largely immature, insecure, nerdy, sometimes more cynical. There were traits they shared,but they were not the same character.

Ok, she had a different personality and different bio, but the show did little to demonstrate her as a very different person, overall. From what i recall.

 

[Armus]

I'm surprised so many people would change it to Dax dying too. The symbiont moving from host to host is the most interesting aspect about the trill who are otherwise just humans with dots, we have seen snippets of that happening but Terry Farrell leaving the show allowed the transition to a permanent new host to be explored so I would definitely keep Dax alive.

I also wouldn't have her die in Change of Heart, sure it made sense narratively but death doesn't always make sense, there isn't always a big sacrifice or a dramatic decision to be made, people just slip in the bath tub and break their neck sometimes so I have no problem with Dax getting a "wrong place, wrong time" death but I would change the details, Dukat force choking her was a bit cartoony.
I would give her a better reason to be at the temple, thanking the prophets didn't feel like it was in character for her, maybe let her repair something because she lost a bet with O'Brien (which would have the added benefit of torturing him some more because he blames himself), Dukat beams in, knocks her out with his fists and proceeds to the orb. There's no need for supernatural powers or even weapons, people tend to forget that punching people can be deadly and that could have been a reminder of that, there's too much of "Oh it was just a lead pipe to the head, they'll be fine in time for dinner" on tv.

I thought it was a nice touch having Jadzia try to talk to the prophets to bless her and Worf with a child. That this was her first time going to temple only made it more poignant.

 

[DonIago]

I'd agree if it wasn't a fairly transparent story maneuver to put her in a place where Dukat could easily kill her without other people being around.

 

[XCV330]

I'd make it happen sometime early in the first season so we could have 7 seasons of Ezri

 

[DonIago]

They could have done the Murphy Brown thing with a different actor playing a different Dax each episode.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

As much as I liked Jadzia, I think her death would've been a better outcome in "Change of Heart". Worf abandons the mission to save her but by the time he gets her back to the runabout its too late, so the mission is a bust and Jadzia (and Dax) is dead. It would've upset the rest of Season 6 and could also have had an episode with the Trill wanting Worf to be held accountable for the death of the Symbiont. We could also have had a new character introduced before the beginning of S7, maybe a new science officer or a conn officer on the Defiant or a counsellor.

 

[DonIago]

Hmm...I kind of like the idea of Worf's decision creating a diplomatic incident with Trill, though at the same time, it feels like that might have been somewhat petty on their part.

That could have swung around to resulting in the appointment of a new Trill to DS9, but we likely would have missed out on part of what made Ezri so interesting; that she never wanted to be joined and wasn't prepared for it...

...unless she's initially on DS9 as an unjoined, and then forced to become joined.

Which also could have been spun somewhat less out of the blue if they introduced Ezri to DS9 as a new unjoined Trill with no interest in becoming joined (in contrast to Jadzia) and then whenever they killed Jadzia they transferred Dax to Ezri at the same time.