A human became one of the Bajoran deities--you can't get more integrated than that.
That Bajor doesn't join during the series...
- Thread starter Flying Spaghetti Monster
- Start date
What they were making or ripping off? It's common knowledge DS9 came from the Babylon 5 bible created by J. Michael Straczynski.
A common assumption.
Wrong! Disproven assumption.
Didn’t Sisko day explicitly he was absolutely sure Bajor would join the Federation some day based on his visions in Rapture?
Perhaps the message ends up being that not all worlds are destined to become Federation worlds.
It may be the only way in which Star Trek is similar to The Big Lebowski: The Dude never did get a replacement rug for his floor, that silly plot element propelled the story forward. In DS9, the vain efforts to get Bajor to join the UFP are ultimately not regarded as the correct choice. Just another way that makes DS9 the most unique of all the Star Treks.
It's not a big deal that Bajor doesn't join during the series. I mean there was that whole Dominion war issue that dominates the least several seasons which puts most other issues to the sideline. Then the show ends right after the war ends so its left hanging. I like that the post series end books deal with it, and how they handle it.
I think for symmetry purposes it would have been nice. Since Sisko was posted there to facilitate their joining of the UFP - it would have been nice if they joined in the finale. Especially considering it is highly unlikely we'll get a follow up to the events of DS9 season 7 via live-action. Then again .... there was a time we said we'd never see Picard again and here we are.... *Shrugs*
They both have SPACE STATIONS! And they both have NUMBERS in their names! And crews and regular characters, some human and some not! That's it, string 'em up!
Even JMS himself doesn't think the DS9 writers ripped him off.
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Hi, sorry to bump this after a long time, just curious - do you recall where you saw this comment?
It was mentioned in the What We Left Behind documentary they did a crowdfunder for.
Oh thanks. I did watch that years ago, will check it out again - maybe he elaborates a bit more (?).
It sounds like he's saying the whole point of the show was that Bajor never did belong in the Federation--sort of an oblique allusion to separation of church and state--but maybe he meant that Bajor not choosing to join was less important than Sisko becoming Emissary.
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My takeaway from the series wasn't that Bajor doesn't belong in the Federation so much as the Federation shouldn't have the default position of pressuring everyone to join out of the righteous assumption that it's what's best for everyone. Kira proved that religious belief and spiritual identity isn't at odds with secular political allegiances. I think Bajor would eventually join, but do it on their own terms as a fully healed planet.
IMO, Bajor joining the Federation was just the excuse for a group of Starfleet officers to be on DS9. The real story of the series was the station itself and the diverse crew thrown together to make it our last best hope for peace.
Wait...wrong series.
Wait...wrong series.
It really doesn't matter now, the series had it's potential and ended with a thud. Probably been better to end the war earlier so the crew could receive a well deserved ending but for some "What you leave Behind" was the deserved ending. I'm not sure if I ever saw an alien race joined the UFP in any incarnation of Star Trek episodes. A transition of military uniforms and paraphernalia would be the elements I would like to see.
Yes, the closest we got was in "Rapture" when Bajor almost joined. Though I thought it was a little odd for the ceremony to be on DS9 instead of Bajor's capital.
I would have been proud for DS9 to tackle admitting a new member to the Federation... going where no Star Trek has gone before.
I would have been proud for DS9 to tackle admitting a new member to the Federation... going where no Star Trek has gone before.
I guess narratively there wasn't any episode left in which Bajor could have joined during the series. The finale had to be the end of the Dominion War and the defeat of the Ptah Wraiths and after that the story was over. And as detailed in the series itself, Bajor could not have joined before the war was over, since that would have made their planet a prime target and battleground.
The only way they could have had it on screen if they had made an 8th season as a sort of coda, with Kira as the new commander of DS9 with a new Kai introduced and all that. That would have been interesting, and it would have given us more Ezri, but it would probably also have been fairly anti-climatic and mostly concerned with wrapping up whatever sub-plots the other seasons left dangling.
Though the changed relationship with the Cardassian, and their empire being in shambles after the massacre the Founders inflicted on them could have been interesting to explore in that theoretical 8th season, maybe it could have even ended with not only Bajor being a full member of the Federation, but the Cardassian Union (or at least parts of it) applying for membership as well.
The only way they could have had it on screen if they had made an 8th season as a sort of coda, with Kira as the new commander of DS9 with a new Kai introduced and all that. That would have been interesting, and it would have given us more Ezri, but it would probably also have been fairly anti-climatic and mostly concerned with wrapping up whatever sub-plots the other seasons left dangling.
Though the changed relationship with the Cardassian, and their empire being in shambles after the massacre the Founders inflicted on them could have been interesting to explore in that theoretical 8th season, maybe it could have even ended with not only Bajor being a full member of the Federation, but the Cardassian Union (or at least parts of it) applying for membership as well.
I'm sure part of it is making it interesting television. People standing around in dress uniforms giving speeches get to be boring pretty quickly. If they'd tried to put Bajor joining the Federation in "What We Leave Behind" there would have been two ceremonies - the surrender and end of war speech cribbed from MacArthur and then the Bajor joining the Federation ceremony. Then there was Sisko's "What We Leave Behind" speech in Quark's.
If I were doing it over, I might have dropped the fire caves bit or moved it a few episodes earlier, done the last battle of the war and surrender in the next to the last episode, and Bajor joining the Federation and the party for the DS9 staff and the disappearance of Sisko in the last episode. Perhaps trying to do a little less in "What We Leave Behind" would give enough time for Sisko to say goodbye to Jake too.
If I were doing it over, I might have dropped the fire caves bit or moved it a few episodes earlier, done the last battle of the war and surrender in the next to the last episode, and Bajor joining the Federation and the party for the DS9 staff and the disappearance of Sisko in the last episode. Perhaps trying to do a little less in "What We Leave Behind" would give enough time for Sisko to say goodbye to Jake too.
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