Improving Season 7

[Joe Washington]

For those who might not have enjoyed the final season of DS9, what do you think would have made the season better for you to watch? No Red-Eye Dukat? Less Ezri-Worf-Bashir melodrama? No more holosuite episodes? Less standalone episodes and more arc-driven episodes outside of the Final Chapter arc?

 

[Rush Limborg]

^Expanding it into two seasons. More of everything--except red-eye Dukat...and the Worf/Ezri tension. Both of those had the time they deserved. I'd have loved to have seen Bashir and Ezri come together near the end of season 7--and show them together in season 8, to the point that, in the finale, he proposes, and she joyfully accepts.

Let's face it. As excellent a season as it is, the Final Chapter in particular felt a bit rushed.

 

[Jono]

Dropping Ezri as a main character/a completely different new Dax. Once you make the decision to not kill Dax you pretty much are saying the character will return, but I think it would have been better if the new Dax turned up for one or at the most two episodes to deal with Worf and even Sisko's relationships, but to put a pin in them and say they are over and Dax has moved on. That'll free up episodes and parts of episodes to drive the main story more. So I guess that means I'd want more arc-driven stuff, but I do like standalones mixed in to break it up and show something different.

 

[A Little Otter]

Even though I understand that Terry Farrell left the show to do Becker, it seemed inexplicable to me to introduce a new primary character when they knew this would be the show's final season and they had a plethora of supporting recurring characters already. They had to introduce Ezri and develop her character, problem, and relationships while so much else was going on. I didn't dislike her character, but just thought it was an odd way to end a series.

Other than that, the one thing that absolutely needed to be fixed was the last episode. It did a good job wrapping up Sisko's story arc and tying up loose ends--and then there was 20 minutes left of the episode, which turned into a clip show. Coming off of TNG's amazing final episode and having done more with stories than the previous shows had done, I expected so much more with DS9. Unfortunately, what they left us with was extended flashbacks as our lasting memories of the show.

 

[RoJoHen]

I would have left Ezri out as well. I had no problem with her character, but it blatantly goes against Trill law for her to jump back into her old life like that. Ezri could have had an episode where she makes an appearance, maybe gives Worf some peace, but she should not have been introduced as a main character.

I also didn't mind Dukat and the Pah-Wraiths, but it would have been so much better if his story had intersected more with the Dominion War. The problem with the Pah-Wraiths is that they came out of left field and didn't have anything to do with anything.

 

[shivkala]

Maybe I'm influenced by the Cynics Corner, but the last few seasons seemed to have a lot of stories that seemingly ignored that there was a war on. For those in the thread saying it should have been two seasons, do you think keeping it as one season, but with a greater focus on tying up storylines, especially the Dominion War, would have worked?

Other than that, the one thing that absolutely needed to be fixed was the last episode. It did a good job wrapping up Sisko's story arc and tying up loose ends--and then there was 20 minutes left of the episode, which turned into a clip show. Coming off of TNG's amazing final episode and having done more with stories than the previous shows had done, I expected so much more with DS9. Unfortunately, what they left us with was extended flashbacks as our lasting memories of the show.

I didn't mind that so much. The Next Generation knew that it was going straight to the big screen. DS9 (rightly) didn't think they'd get the chance to work with the characters (Worf excluded) again on screen and thought it appropriate to wrap up things. I do think the music they selected could have been better. While I understand it would have opened up an issue on rights, this version of the clip part, set to Enya's "On My Way Home" by Saba really drives home how much more impactful better music would have been.

Clips or not, in my opinion, it certainly is a much stronger finale than Voyager's or the oft-maligned Enterprise "Valentine to Fans." Unlike Voyager's it showed up glimpses of what will happen to the characters and gave us moments like Ezri's final wave to Worf, the Chief leaving, etc.

 

[Rush Limborg]

I would have left Ezri out as well. I had no problem with her character, but it blatantly goes against Trill law for her to jump back into her old life like that.

Ah...no. If that were the case, Jadzia would have been in violation of Trill law, from Emissary on, what with Curzon and Sisko, and all....

The "law" was that she could not become romantically involved with someone a previous host was similarly involved with.



Also...maybe I'm in the minority, here, but...again, the show would've best been served with an eighth season--and therefore, with MORE Ezri, not less.

 

[RoJoHen]

I would have left Ezri out as well. I had no problem with her character, but it blatantly goes against Trill law for her to jump back into her old life like that.

Ah...no. If that were the case, Jadzia would have been in violation of Trill law, from Emissary on, what with Curzon and Sisko, and all....

The "law" was that she could not become romantically involved with someone a previous host was similarly involved with.

Well, that crazy sex she had with Worf was probably a big no-no.

Also...maybe I'm in the minority, here, but...again, the show would've best been served with an eighth season--and therefore, with MORE Ezri, not less.

That wouldn't bother me, but that's not an option. One of my biggest annoyances with Season 7 was just the sheer number of episodes dedicated to Ezri when, really, they should have been focusing on other things.

 

[Rush Limborg]

I would have left Ezri out as well. I had no problem with her character, but it blatantly goes against Trill law for her to jump back into her old life like that.

Ah...no. If that were the case, Jadzia would have been in violation of Trill law, from Emissary on, what with Curzon and Sisko, and all....

The "law" was that she could not become romantically involved with someone a previous host was similarly involved with.

Well, that crazy sex she had with Worf was probably a big no-no.

And they acknowledged it, afterwords...and came to agree that it had been a mistake. But no one else was the wiser, of course.

Also...maybe I'm in the minority, here, but...again, the show would've best been served with an eighth season--and therefore, with MORE Ezri, not less.

That wouldn't bother me, but that's not an option. One of my biggest annoyances with Season 7 was just the sheer number of episodes dedicated to Ezri when, really, they should have been focusing on other things.

Well, again, Ezri or no Ezri, the Final Chapter was a bit rushed, as it was.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

I would have left Ezri out as well. I had no problem with her character, but it blatantly goes against Trill law for her to jump back into her old life like that.

Ah...no. If that were the case, Jadzia would have been in violation of Trill law, from Emissary on, what with Curzon and Sisko, and all....

The "law" was that she could not become romantically involved with someone a previous host was similarly involved with.

While I also think it was mostly the matter of romantically involved, Curzon wasn't Sisko's science officer on a space station. Ezri basically jumped into Jadzia's shoes and continued from there (with a different partner), giving the symbiont few really new experiences with the new host, while changing hosts was to experience as much as possible, not continue previous hosts' lives.

So I think her staying on the station was a mild violation of that rule; not serious but also not what was her "duty" as a host.

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, again, Ezri or no Ezri, the Final Chapter was a bit rushed, as it was.

It may have been rushed, but I don't know if it was so rushed that it needed a whole extra season. I would have been more satisfied if they had simply replaced some of the filler episodes with stuff relating to the main arc. I didn't mind them all, but did we really need to see Ezri hunt down a Vulcan who murdered people for smiling?

 

[Dick_Valentine]

I think a bigger budget from the powers that be could fix everything....

No clip show in the finale/re-used battle scenes all the time, for one.

Less bottle shows for another....

Probably would've been fine with just one more season but serialised from start to finish like they wanted to do before Paramount got scared...

No Vic Fontaine...

 

[Rush Limborg]

I would have left Ezri out as well. I had no problem with her character, but it blatantly goes against Trill law for her to jump back into her old life like that.

Ah...no. If that were the case, Jadzia would have been in violation of Trill law, from Emissary on, what with Curzon and Sisko, and all....

The "law" was that she could not become romantically involved with someone a previous host was similarly involved with.

While I also think it was mostly the matter of romantically involved, Curzon wasn't Sisko's science officer on a space station. Ezri basically jumped into Jadzia's shoes and continued from there (with a different partner)--

Ah...again, no. Ezri's a counselor. Jadzia was a science officer. She did not "jump into Jadzia's shoes".

And Curzon was Sisko's dear friend and confidant--just as Jadzia was.

, giving the symbiont few really new experiences with the new host, while changing hosts was to experience as much as possible, not continue previous hosts' lives.

Again, no. Ezri herself noted to Kira in "Once More Unto The Breach" that her express intention was to "set herself apart" from her previous hosts.

Well, again, Ezri or no Ezri, the Final Chapter was a bit rushed, as it was.

It may have been rushed, but I don't know if it was so rushed that it needed a whole extra season. I would have been more satisfied if they had simply replaced some of the filler episodes with stuff relating to the main arc. I didn't mind them all, but did we really need to see Ezri hunt down a Vulcan who murdered people for smiling?

Except...most viewers would have demanded "relief" from the major arcs, of some kind--time for a few "breathers", if you will.

With a Season 8, there would have been more than enough time to develop Ezri AND give Jake, Nog, O'Brien, etc., their proper due.

 

[Dukhat]

I wholeheartedly agree with everything everyone's said about Ezri Dax, with one difference: I couldn't stand her character. She was an annoying little whiner who wasted at least five episodes establishing her backstory for just one season before the show ended, when those episodes could have been put to better use in the overall Dominion war story arc (although Shivkala's right...there were other non-Ezri episodes that were wasteful too.)

The main problem with the Ezri character, as others have stated, was that she was completely unnecessary, and negated the whole point of Jadzia dying: In war, people die. They don't miraculously come back to life in another body. Farrell wanted to leave the show, and the writers felt that she should die because, well, that would be dramatic for the overall story they were telling. Fine, great. But then they screwed it up by introducing Ezri simply because you can put the little worm in someone else. It's the same with the Defiant. This ship that we've known and loved for several years is suddenly blown to smithereens, and the next episode we get a completely identical replacement just for the sake of reusing stock footage. The emotional resonance is completely wasted. Now compare that to the destruction of the original Enterprise in STIII. (And don't even get me started about reusing the EXACT SAME stock footage from a previous battle in the frickin' SERIES FINALE...it made DS9 look stupid and cheap.) I remember being completely shocked that the Defiant was destroyed...and then Defiant Mark II comes along, and I'm like, WTF?

The other big problem I had was that the whole Sisko/Dukat thing was just far too rushed. There's Sisko sitting with all his friends enjoying the victory celebration, and out of nowhere he just rushes off to get himself killed. Yeah, I know he didn't really die, but still...

 

[RoJoHen]

^I agree with pretty much everything you've said, especially regarding the Defiant. Frankly, I think it would have been a lot more awesome for the final battle to take place on Deep Space 9. The show wasn't called "Star Trek: Defiant" or "Star Trek: Cardassia." If there's going to be one big final stand-off, it should have been at the space station where the show started. It should have involved Bajor and the Wormhole, and our crew should have been coordinating the battle from Ops.

I think we could have still had the side story with Garak and Odo on Cardassia, but the bulk of the action should have been at the station.

 

[Trek Survivor]

For me - and I realise I'm in the minority - the problems started with season six and dragging the war out for far too long. So, I'd start making changes earlier than season 7.

I also would've had LESS arc episodes in season 7, and more quality standalones.

 

[Jono]

I think a bigger budget from the powers that be could fix everything....

No clip show in the finale/re-used battle scenes all the time, for one.

In my opinion the reused material would have looked fine if they hadn't used the "Sacrifice of Angels" footage. They were grossly out of step with not only the new scenes but the other reused scenes. You remove them and the entire montage would have flowed far better and been less jarring.

As for the montage, the producers not been able to use footage of Jadzia killed Worf's section. It is a shame that something couldn't have been figured out.

 

[toughlittleship]

^Our crew should have been coordinating the battle from Ops.

That would have been pretty lame.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

So I think her staying on the station was a mild violation of that rule; not serious but also not what was her "duty" as a host.

I agree, though I believe Rush is also on to something.

Like Gul Re'jal, I think that while Ezri Dax never broke the letter of Trill law, a case can be made that she was violating the spirit of that law, at least to a mild degree. On the other hand, she clearly needed stabilization, and anything that helps a troubled, unplanned Joining achieve that stability is probably acceptable by Trill tradition? Perhaps the Trill authorities might step in after a couple of years if they thought Ezri Dax was on the path to living as Jadzia Mark Two, but allowing her time to become comfortable as a Dax by immersing herself in a familiar setting, then coming to her own unique identity, might be favourable? And to Ezri's credit she does try to find "Ezri Dax" rather than continue as Jadzia, a few bumps in the road aside. And, if it's relevant to this conversation, the post-series novels definitely have her come into her own, so there don't appear to be long-term consequences of her being on the station.

I guess the Trill are flexible when the mental health of the Joined is a prominant issue.

 

[Rush Limborg]

You have great points as usual, Nasat. Still...it should be worth noting that in Avatar, Ezri suddenly said she was going to leap in the opposite direction of her original plan--instead of setting herself apart, she claimed she needed to try and integrate past hosts into her personality.

Of course, by This Grey Spirit, we saw her error along with Bashir--and to an extent, so did she...but she didn't really do much about it, leading to Unjoined.

I think by Destiny, she more or less returned to "equilibrium", but still....



BTW: Needless to say, I most strongly and vehemently disagree with the denunciation and genral shrug-off of Ezri Dax by Dukhat. Claiming she is "whiny" because she is open and honest about her vulnerabilities is a most unfortunate mischaracterization.

Furthermore, as to the argument that Ezri's presence ruins the effect of "people die in war"...ah, no, just the opposite. Her presence--and the other characters adjusting to it--is the living embodiment of people acknowledging death--and recovering. Remember the emotional support Jake noted that Ezri provided to Sisko, just by her being there. The same goes for Julian Bashir...and, eventually, for Worf. Many were the references to the fact that Jadzia was dead.

After all--what would be the alternative? Having the characters sit back and reflect on "I wish Jadzia were here..." reminiscing, expressing grief at her death--to the point of it getting old? Or having them "get over it", and then not really bring it up--which would have been nonsensical?

Also...as TPTB noted, it allowed them to finally do what, in hindsight, they should have done a long time ago: explore the process of a Trill adjusting to the changes in life initiated by a recent joining.


Therefore...if anything, the transition should have happened earlier. Or at least--as I have said--it shouldn't have ended with Season 7, but 8.