Jake Sisko the worst

[STEPhon IT]

Can't find it right now, but I remember this great article on The Onion (or similar) that was basically 'Man with No Career Path Finally Decides What Job He'd Take in Starfleet'.

This weird idea in Trek that everyone just wants to join Starfleet is oddly upheld by us fans. There's a contemporary equivalent of basically every role, and it's not like the whole world is clamouring to fill them.

Does a person with a career path of being an engineer or an architect has to be part of Starfleet??? There were no substance for Jake being a writer or a war journalist unless Loony Dukat publicly executed him for Sisko to see like what Cersei Lannister did to Missandei in Game Of Thrones. There were other career paths Jake could've taken which would've made him involved in the War stories the producers wanted to tell instead of putting him on the side being an irrelevant character in later seasons of the series. Making Jake a writer was a death sentence to his character because he was no longer integral to the whole scheme of things. Nothing can be more impactful when a character who grows and is part of the hero's path has a position which makes the hero's path stronger. I think "The Rifleman" had a nod to what the first core of producers had in mind, but with the lack of substance Jake had with Ira Behr and the bunch he would've been better off killed than being this wandering soul left in the corner of irrelevancy.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

There are no journalists in war?

Fascinating.

 

[plynch]

It's a nice touch. Not everyone does starfleet. Not everyone is uber-important. He's just a normalish guy whose dad was huge; now he's left without him.

 

[kkt]

In season 7 they could have shown Jake finally getting the war stories published that he wrote while the station was occupied. It would have been a nice touch to show that Jake was not going to live only on charity.

Quite a few real authors started their career writing nonfiction war stories - James Michener comes to mind.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

In season 7 they could have shown Jake finally getting the war stories published that he wrote while the station was occupied. It would have been a nice touch to show that Jake was not going to live only on charity.

Quite a few real authors started their career writing nonfiction war stories - James Michener comes to mind.

That ought to have been Jake's direction, given what we saw of him in season 6. I think he ended up being more a victim of season 7's quixotic mix of stories. There were generally fewer Sisko-centered episodes, meaning the need to show Sisko more as a family man was diminished. Jake really couldn't be in Siege of AR-558 without overcomplicating the story. And throughout the 10-episode arc, only a few characters at a time were the focus of the main action:first Dax and Worf, then Kira, Odo and Garak, then Bashira and O'Brien. Indeed, Ben Sisko was doing a lot of nothing for most of the episodes. There were only two episodes left that could allow for a war reporter, and Jake was obviously in finale.

Perhaps a better way to look at it is whether or not there were missed opportunities when it came to Jake. Could he have accompanied the raid in Once More Unto the Breach? Why wasn't be part of the scheme to bail out Vic? Instead of making Rom the Nagus, couldn't we use one more NoJay romp? Maybe Jake could have pressed Bashir to reveal what he knew about the Founder's disease?

ETA: I find it interesting that there is a strong element of intergenerational conflict in the Season 8 episode 1 proposal, potentially giving not just Jake, but also his brother, Nog and Molly leading roles.

 

[HugeLobes]

Making Jake a writer was a death sentence to his character because he was no longer integral to the whole scheme of things.

A character doesn't need to be integral to the plot to be relevant. Jake's relevance to the story was always his relationship with Sisko, and Sisko's relationship with Jake was always an extremely important part of his character. One of the interesting angles with our main character was the difference between Sisko the man and Sisko the commander. He's the only captain we get with any kind of home life, and that's part of what makes him the most human. A lot of stories and themes focus on the dual lives he needs to live, and Jake is a part of that.

Putting Jake in a Starfleet uniform wasn't necessary and would have undone that distinction between Sisko's personal life and his professional life.

 

[lurok]

This thread was clearly started in an attempt to troll, but it turned into a good discussion about a good character.

I haven't seen Jake's role in "Valiant" discussed on this thread yet. He was the only one with any sanity on that ship.

Nog and the rest of the crew on that ship blindly follow that pill popping Captain Watters to their doom. Jake picked up on his vanity and that he wanted to be the hero and got thrown in the brig for it. Luckily, Nog finally had a change of heart and realized his friend was right the whole time and they escape with their lives.

How foolish was it to attack a Dominion battle cruiser with one ship and a crew with very little combat experience? Why the Valiant's crew followed Watters to their doom never made sense to me. Unless Red Squad just brainwashes all of their cadets.

Nog (brilliantly portrayed by Aron Eisenberg) drank the kool aid on that one; a great RDM episode where Jake was the perfect counterpoint.

 

[AllisonR]

A character doesn't need to be integral to the plot to be relevant. Jake's relevance to the story was always his relationship with Sisko, and Sisko's relationship with Jake was always an extremely important part of his character. One of the interesting angles with our main character was the difference between Sisko the man and Sisko the commander. He's the only captain we get with any kind of home life, and that's part of what makes him the most human. A lot of stories and themes focus on the dual lives he needs to live, and Jake is a part of that.

Putting Jake in a Starfleet uniform wasn't necessary and would have undone that distinction between Sisko's personal life and his professional life.

I agree. I don't see Janeway, Picard, Archer.... with any family life. Ben Sisko becomes more interesting and multifaceted because he has this awkward teen at home, whom he doesn't always understand. It took a dabo girl to tell him his son wrote poetry. Jake didn't need to be a main character. Being a secondary character to help us understand Ben Sisko is more than enough.

 

[Abi Smith]

And at least Jake grew as a character in his own right and in his relationship to others like Ben and Nog.

Unlike many of the static characters Trek writers have presented us with since *cough Travis 'I'm comfortable in space at the start of the series, I'm still comfortable in space at the end of the series' Mayweather cough cough*.

 

[Maurice]

I see the OP posted precisely once on the board and hasn't logged on since 4 days after. I doubt he's seeing any of the replies 4.5 months on.

 

[kkt]

I see the OP posted precisely once on the board and hasn't logged on since 4 days after. I doubt he's seeing any of the replies 4.5 months on.

Sometimes people start interesting discussions even without meaning to

 

[mlbach]

He probably wanted to start a sh*t storm and then we went all serious on him. We’re just no fun at all

 

[Farscape One]

I think we're also looking at things backwards regarding Jake.

Jake is very much a representative of the audience. He may not be central to a lot of things, but he IS privy to much, and he is observing a lot because of his chosen field, plus being the son of the person making large scale decisions. The audience is basically doing the same thing... we're watching, we're privy to their lives. My only real complaint of season 7 is there were no stories for Jake.

As to the thread topic... Jake was a pretty good character. He was nowhere near being the worst character in DS9 or in the STAR TREK franchise. In the franchise, we have seen FAR weaker lead characters that have had MORE screen time... I'm sure I don't need to name some of them.

 

[Silvercrest]

Also he dated a 20 year old Dabo girl when he was like 14 or 15. How many dabo girls have you dated?

Twenty-three. Wait, you mean before I was married, or after?

 

[Ssosmcin]

These hit and run posters seem to come in waves around every full moon...

"Jake Sisko deserves a beatin'!"

Jake was actually a really well drawn character. He was a regular kid who was allowed to grow up and be who and what he wanted to be. I loved his relationship with Ben. The Visitor still moves me to tears and the final moments of the series where Jake waits for his dad to return is crushing. Jake Sisko is f'n awesome.

 

[kkt]

Twenty-three. Wait, you mean before I was married, or after?

How many were genuinely impressed by your poetry?

 

[Silvercrest]

Oh, we didn't use words.