Wasn't that the whole set-up of the show? It feels kinda unresolved.
Anyone agrees?
Anyone agrees?
The series should have ended with Bajor joining the Federation
- Thread starter Non-Beard Riker
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It did feel unresolved, but I like that it didn't do the obvious.
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It felt unresolved, but only in the sense that the story wasn't yet finished. I think it went out on a message of hope. I feel that DS9 and TNG were the only two series' to have finales that were ultimately satisfying.
To be fair, it's not like Bajor joining the Federation is quite the same stakes as it used to be. At the end of DS9, it's the end of the Alpha Quadrant potentially. The Dominion War ending is a BIT more important.
I have to agree. I think they let the war overtake the main premise of the show. However I also think by that stage in the series it had sufficiently shown a world of grey in which joining the Federation was no longer seen as an absolute good- that in many ways Bajor was better 'standing on it's own'.
For those who are interested, Bajor eventually joins the Federation in the Deep Space Nine novels, approximately two years after the DS9 finale.
For those who are interested, Bajor eventually joins the Federation in the Deep Space Nine novels, approximately two years after the DS9 finale.
This is exactly the point I was going to make. Why should Bajor have to subordinate its independent, distinct culture to the Federation when both parties can enjoy the benefits of being trading and strategic partners without that step?
The plot of Bajor joining the Federation got lost when war with the Dominion broke out. We had the Cardasians trying regain a former glory, Klingons loyalties in doubt, vorta being total creeps and the Changelings being the head of the Dominion going out for inter-galatic domination.
As a side note I liked the way it ended
As a side note I liked the way it ended
My impression has always been that the ONLY reason Bajor's entry into the Federation was - for a time - considered "not good for Bajor" was because as full-on UFP members, Bajor would have been flattened by the Dominion when the war began and Starfleet was driven from DS9. This was what Mad Prophet Sisko's voices were warning him about in "Rapture"
Uh... because joining the Federation does not mean one's culture becomes "subordinate"? When has that ever been shown to be the case? Bajor didn't "have to" do anything; they petitioned for membership and invited the Federation to administer DS9 as part of that process. You make it sound as if for Bajor to remain a partner of - but NOT a member of - the Federation would somehow be better for both parties, when in fact the opposite is true (assuming Bajor wants membership and the UFP wants to let them in, and we know both of those things to be the case from watching the show).
I liked the ending to DS9, I thought it had the best finale overall (though it still wasn't perfect, of course), and I liked season 7 in general. That said, I do think the Bajor plot was a bit "lost", at least to some degree; by the time the finale was approaching, they had SO many plot threads to tie up, it just kind of got lost in the shuffle.
I wouldn't say it got lost, but that goal wasn't as immediately important as the war arch and the character stories they'd been setting up. It had taken a backseat to the Dominion War and other smaller events that sprung up because of it, and I think trying to wrap up with Bajor joining the UFP along with the rest of What You Leave Behind would've come off as forced and rushed.
I'm happy with how the show ended (the final seasons in general and WYLB specifically).
I'm happy with how the show ended (the final seasons in general and WYLB specifically).
That's true, but the reason I used the word "lost" is because I would bet that the intention of the creators was not to just let it go, never revisiting the "Bajor joins the UFP" plotline after "Rapture." Rather, it just sort of happened. All those other plotlines gained so much steam, that they just didn't have time for it.
I do agree that taking the show as it was, if they had tried to squash a "Bajor finally joins" bit into WYLB, it would almost certainly felt horribly rushed, and/or pushed some other part of WYLB into feeling horribly rushed.
I don't think Bajor joining the Federation was that terribly crucial to the series. It was part of the excuse as to why Deep Space Nine was first established, but what was more important were the characters and the journeys they went through after the discovery of the wormhole. Bajor's admission into the Federation would have been more of an epilogue or footnote in that regard, IMO.
Disagree
It usually takes a very long time for membership into The Federation from what I understand and Bajor was still rebuilding from the occupation and even after that, rebuilding from the war. I don't think 7 years would have been enough time even if it was 7 peaceful years. Was the final inresolved,yea I suppose but life goes on, that was more or less the ending of TNG and DS9 was that even after the series ended, there was more to be done. Thankfully we have some novels that carry on if you want to read them, or leave it in your head to wonder what would have happened next.Picard told Sisko in the pilot that his mission was to foster Bajor's admission into the UFP. That's why the very FIRST thing I said when the closing credits rolled was, "So.....Bajor didn't fricking join the Federation? Huh?".
Twenty minutes of Winn and Dukat screwing around, five minutes of Sisko and Dukat having a Star Wars-y duel, 4 or 5 minutes of people having flashbacks without Jadzia (if they couldn't get Ferrell's permission, they should've scrapped the idea---she was Worf's wife and Ben's best pal, for chrissakes!), and that lame-ass crap with Sisko becoming an angel was just pathetic. Have him die heroically on the bridge of the Defiant, or have him settle down on Bajor and open a Creole restaurant, or have him knifed in an alley by some random forehead alien, but for Allah's sake, don't have him turn into a goddamned angel! What is this, Buffy or The X-Files or some shit?
......I really hate the DS9 finale, BTW.........
Twenty minutes of Winn and Dukat screwing around, five minutes of Sisko and Dukat having a Star Wars-y duel, 4 or 5 minutes of people having flashbacks without Jadzia (if they couldn't get Ferrell's permission, they should've scrapped the idea---she was Worf's wife and Ben's best pal, for chrissakes!), and that lame-ass crap with Sisko becoming an angel was just pathetic. Have him die heroically on the bridge of the Defiant, or have him settle down on Bajor and open a Creole restaurant, or have him knifed in an alley by some random forehead alien, but for Allah's sake, don't have him turn into a goddamned angel! What is this, Buffy or The X-Files or some shit?
......I really hate the DS9 finale, BTW.........
I must've missed the part where Sisko grew white, feathery wings and a floating halo above his head.
He joined the Prophets, and it's not like it was totally out of the blue. One of Sisko's biggest character arcs was accepting his role as the Emissary of the Prophets.
He joined the Prophets, and it's not like it was totally out of the blue. One of Sisko's biggest character arcs was accepting his role as the Emissary of the Prophets.
It did come up quite a bit on the show. Kira was initially anti-Fed, there were terrorist organizations like the Circle that were anti-Fed, the Bajorans were going to re-institute a caste system that would prevent them from joining the Federation, Sisko foresaw that Bajor would be destroyed if it joined the Federation, the Maquis was a Bajor-heavy terrorist organization that was in almost open war with the Federation... joining the Federation may have been Sisko's mission at the beginning, but I'd say seven years later he probably loved Bajor more than he loved the Federation.
I'd have liked to see Bajor join the Federation before the show ended but it was never going to fit in the finale. It needed its own episode or two. What I'd have liked to see in the finale is a line that mentioned becoming a member, something along the lines that a diplomatic party of Fed Council reps were heading back to Bajor to reopen joining the Federation discussions with the provincial government. Just something to put it back on the map after 2 years.
While these are all, indeed, things that happened, none of them in any way answer the question posed. Also, the Maquis weren't really Bajor-heavy. They were more anti-Cardassian.
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