I wouldn’t go so far as to say she was ‘much beloved.” I for one found her character to be annoying, from things like making stupid jokes to outright acting insubordinate towards Sisko. From what I understand, Farrell didn’t like those qualities either but she did what the writers made her do. The main problem, however, was that killing off the character at the end of the sixth season basically screwed up the final season. Because now they had to introduce this new character, spend half the season giving her all this backstory, only to have the show end and that character would never be seen again. It wasted valuable story time about the Dominion War arc and put undue emphasis on this one person that didn’t actually need to be in the show at all.
I looked at your username, read this post and in my head all I could hear was Marc Alaimo’s voice as I read your words… I understand your frustration with the Jadzia character, her interactions with Sisko were sometimes *seemingly* over friendly and unprofessional. I think that these conjoined character traits were a result of Jadzia’s ‘inherited’ familiarity with Sisko from the symbiont Dax projected through the confidence and sometimes blazé attitude of Jadzia. … it’s a personality quirk of the joined Trill which could probably result in all sort of multiple personality combinations or even disorders if not managed, this is probably why the Trill assess candidates before joining two potentially very different personalities at the symbiosis commission. Sisko accepted this *perceived* insubordinate behaviour from Jadzia, however frustrated he was by it, because it was from his old friend (Curzon) Dax, interpreted through his new friend Jadzia.
I liked Jadzia. Maybe it wasn't on the level of loving the character but she was alright. The question is, was it absolutely necessary to replace Jadzia, they had other characters to play with. In the middle of a continuing storyline and a war going on it may not have been the best idea to have a new character we barely know visiting her family?
I may have a few minor details wrong but I believe it went like this…none of the cast was signed for 7 seasons. When it came time to re-up, they all did except for her. She wanted a reduced role so she could go star in “Becker” with Ted Danson and still play Jadzia. Berman and co. balked. They gave her a take it or leave it deal and an executive (generally believed to be Berman) insulted her and said she would have been nothing without Trek. So she left. I’m far and away “Team Jadzia”. But really giving us so much Ezri in such a short amount of time is my only issue with the character. I’ve always thought they should have just let Dax go when Jadzia died and either not added to the cast. Or promote Nog or Kassidy to “opening titles” status.
So did Terry Farrell apply for this ‘Becker’ job *after* she left DS9 or during her contract? Was she contracted for 7 seasons or was this contract terminated early by her or the studio? Were *all* cast contracted for 7 DS9 seasons, or were the cast contracts renewed on a season by season basis for each individual actor? I have no idea what ‘Becker’ is tbh, but I would have rather remained on Star Trek if I was her! If Farrell was not lined up for the ‘Becker’ gig mid contract season 6 then she *must* have applied for it when she was made redundant from Star Trek and needed a new job?
If that was the case I wonder how much Jadzia's appearances would have been reduced. Unfortunately Jadzia's appearances were reduced to zero.
The DS9 cast, along with TNG and VOYAGER, originally signed on for a 6 year deal. When the series was renewed for a 7th, everyone reupped across the board, except for Terry. I think she was afraid of getting typecast and wanted broader acting opportunities, so she wanted to limit appearances for a season 7. Berman apparently wanted an all or nothing deal, and along with some things he said, she decided to not come back at all. I'm pretty sure she didn't even audition for BECKER until after she wrapped filming DS9.
Terry Farrell: "I didn’t know that I would get the sitcom Becker right away. Nobody knew about that. That was just freaking lucky that it was the same lot. I mean, it was easy for me but it could have been on the CBS lot and it wouldn’t have seemed so fortunate. It really gave people this false idea that Paramount was saving me or Paramount moved me to Becker on purpose. None of that happened. [...] I died one day (on DS9) and the very next day I tested (for Becker) for the same executives at Paramount."
I wonder, why did they originally make contracts for 6 years? STNG ran for 7 years so maybe a deal as long as that might have been smart?
The contract has to benefit both sides. Once they've been doing a show for six years, the actors should be able to negotiate for a pay raise.
In those days, I'm assumomg the 6 year thing was standard because trying to hit 100 episodes, which was the golden spot for syndication selling rights for a show, would take at least 5 years to achieve. I'm thinking 6 was the number executives made for a cushion... just in case it takes a sixth season to hit 100 so they don't need to pay a higher rate for actors in case they want to renegotiate for a 6th year so the show achieves the magic number. (And let's face... not many showsback then reached 5 seasons or 100 episodes, so it seemed like a safe money bet for the studios.)
They were milking that death scene for all the drama they could get out of it (our baby ... would have been so beautiful... <dies>). But Dax probably would probably have been a bit more dispassionate about dying than most others in the room. After all, it's only its sixth time (I believe). But it seems its perspective completely disappears here and it lets Jadzia take over completely.
At the time of that scene, the Dax symbiont was already out of Jadzia, so what we saw was full Jadzia.