Other Ezris?

[Mysterion]

While i like the actor that was cast quite a bit, if there had to have been someone else playing ezri, I'd suggest Allyson Hannigan.

 

[DevilEyes]

Since we're here talking about a specific character and whether it would have been better if that character were male, this "it's not about gender, it's about how interesting and deep the character is" talk makes no sense in the context. Unless people who are using that argument are implying that the character would have been better, more interesting and deeper just by virtue of being male. Or, in other words, women are shallower, less interesting and generally lame just for being women.

Sorry, but that's the only logical interpretation of crouteru's and Navaros' arguments above.

Wha? My point about Dax's new host being a male stems from a similar situation seen at the end of TNG's 'The Host', where Dr Crusher's Trill lover (I forget his name) changes host into a female body.

If Dax was put into a male host, the issue of love transending gender could have been explored between Worf and Dax. I suppose this was already covered in 'Rejoined' though.

My point is about the acceptance of homosexuality in society. I don't really know why you got the impression my comments were about women being less interesting. A new Star Trek series could have an all female cast if it wanted, so long as the characters are interesting.

I never thought you intended to imply that women are by rule less interesting, but that's how it comes off when people just dismiss the criticism that a show has too few female characters by saying general things like "what matters is that the characters are interesting". That's completely missing the point - of course we all love interesting characters, but that doesn't explain why there should be a lot more male characters than female, does it? Unless one thinks that female characters can never be as interesting as male characters. And here we were talking about one particular character - whose personality would not be significantly changed if their gender was changed. Other people's reactions to her might change, but her personality, not so much. Therefore it doesn't make sense to suggest that she should have been male, followed by a comment that interesting characters are what matters, not gender.

The writers of DS9 seem to agree with me, since they said they had to make the new Dax a female because they didn't want to have just one main female character and make it into "Kira and the boys" show. I agree that it would jarring to see a show with just one (token?) female and a bunch of males - in what is supposed to be an egalitarian society in which gender doesn't matter much, unless you're a Ferengi, or perhaps a Klingon. But we're talking about Starfleet, which should be egalitarian, but curiously, we still see considerably more male admirals and captains... and if the only female Starfleet member in the cast is actually from Bajoran militia, well, it does give you a strange idea about Starfleet gender politics.

For the record - I don't have a problem with female characters being in minority in a show, when these female characters are interesting, complex and strong, and play important roles instead of being just eye candy or a damsel in distress, and DS9 certainly fulfilled all those conditions. I think it had a better cast of female characters (and characters in general) than any other Star Trek show, and better than most SF shows.

As for Worf/Dax with Dax being a male, you said yourself that this was covered already in "Rejoined" (while the opposite - a person not being able to overcome the new gender of their lover - was already covered in TNG "The Host") . I am actually not sure if it would have worked with Worf. Jadzia Dax was a much more open-minded person who already did not put such an emphasis on gender (see her reaction to Pel admitting her love for Quark, before Pel admits to being a female), having lived so many lifetimes as both male and female. I think that, instead of being conflicted over his feelings for the new Dax, Worf would quite probably find it easier to separate the new Dax from Jadzia if the new Dax were a male, the way he wasn't able to separate Ezri from Jadzia even though they are so different. It would probably provide some funny moments when the new Dax mentioned something to Worf about having been married to him, but I'm not sure if you could make more of it. And if you did, however Worf felt, it would still be a retread of old stories from "Rejoined" or "The Host".

If the writers of DS9 ever wanted to really deal with homosexuality or bisexuality, they had plenty of other chances to do so. (And I'm not counting the Mirror universe lipstick lesbian scenes between the eeevil counterparts of characters who were hetero in the Prinme universe - that should earn the show negative points as far as the depiction of LGBT people are concerned). They could have explicitly made Garak bisexual - Robinson said he played him that way, and I don't think anyone would have found that implausible, or that it would hurt any storylines. But they never planned or wanted to do that. Or they could have introduced some gay minor characters or guest stars without making it a fuss about it on the show. Say, there could have been a gay couple in Quark's bar or something, and none of the other characters pay any attention to it - it's just a normal and not unusual thing to see. Or maybe, some of the aliens in the show have a problem with it because it's a taboo in their society, while other aliens from some other societies don't understand why and what's the big deal, because their societies don't have that kind of attitude.

 

[Nick Ryder]

Well a while back when I got into my first RPG, the USS Tigris, I created a female Trill Starfleet Intelligence officer called Rexi Rigan - yes I know a direct rip of Ezri Tigen, lol... but hey I really liked Ezri, but I wanted a bit stronger character so I went with Rexi - sounds more... majestic. Anyway... I based her on Catherine Bell - from JAG - thought she would have made a cool Trill, and honestly instead of the insecure and midly neurotic therapist we got, we could have gotten a slightly more "with it" even if she was still sorta traumatized by the joining, but I dunno I feel bad for saying it, but I almost would have enjoyed an older actress instead of someone so young. I love Nicole DeBoer, but in someways a middle ground would have been nice too.

A couple of oooold Photoshops I did up -

 

[Mirror_Barclay]

If gender doesn't matter, why don't we have 6 or 7 women in the main cast and 2 men, rather than the other way round? Or can only male characters be interesting and have depth?

I think such a show might be more aethetically pleasing, and otherwise work just fine. In fact, I think Buffy worked out that way at times (exact balance varying season by season).

Back to the topic of Ezri, I think the actress was the perfect choice, although I wish they had made the switch much earlier.

I'm also not convinced that psychologist was the best way to go.