What if Ezri Dax was a male?

[JirinPanthosa]

Neither Bashir nor Worf would have become romantically involved with him, but Bashir would become good friends with him, and the friendship would be awkward and weird at the start bu then they'd grow into it.

Or possibly, since Trills with old symbionts are more open to bisexuality in general even if they aren't chemically bisexual, he would have been attracted to Worf, but Worf would have never been interested.

 

[TheSubCommander]

Or maybe they just don't give the symbiont to anyone else. I don't remember now.

Erza being implanted with the Dax symbote was a emergency situation, Dax would have died prior to arriving on Trill if not implanted in someone, anyone.

Ezra (iirc) wasn't in the symbote program and didn't receive the training.

Oh, ok, makes more sense now. I must have not been paying attention there. ^_^

Well, IMHO,the whole thing of Ezri coming back to DS9 was weak writing from the start. Every other Trill who is joined with a symbiote is supposed to start a new life far away from their former host's life. Technically it was a stretch with Jadzia serving under Sisko in the first place. I think they should have had the courage to just kill off Dax completely.

And as to the emergency transfer to Ezri, I call BS. Riker had one for over a week, and they were able to remove the symbiote without killing him, and he wasn't even a Trill. Ezri surely could have had Dax removed without killing her.

Slightly off topic: Many talks about how Star Trek missed the boat on LGBT issues with Trills and could have done more with them, and IMHO they did. But another controversial topic they missed was that of abortions. What happens when a Trill is joined with a symbiote when they feel they have no choice or change their mind? More specifically, what if Ezri wanted to abort Dax?

 

[Solariabsg25]

Erza being implanted with the Dax symbote was a emergency situation, Dax would have died prior to arriving on Trill if not implanted in someone, anyone.

Ezra (iirc) wasn't in the symbote program and didn't receive the training.

Oh, ok, makes more sense now. I must have not been paying attention there. ^_^

Well, IMHO,the whole thing of Ezri coming back to DS9 was weak writing from the start. Every other Trill who is joined with a symbiote is supposed to start a new life far away from their former host's life. Technically it was a stretch with Jadzia serving under Sisko in the first place. I think they should have had the courage to just kill off Dax completely.

And as to the emergency transfer to Ezri, I call BS. Riker had one for over a week, and they were able to remove the symbiote without killing him, and he wasn't even a Trill. Ezri surely could have had Dax removed without killing her.

Slightly off topic: Many talks about how Star Trek missed the boat on LGBT issues with Trills and could have done more with them, and IMHO they did. But another controversial topic they missed was that of abortions. What happens when a Trill is joined with a symbiote when they feel they have no choice or change their mind? More specifically, what if Ezri wanted to abort Dax?

Firstly Ezri is a Starfleet Officer - therefore she goes where Starfleet assigns her, not where Trill decides she should go. The only way to avoid that would be for Ezri to resign her commission, something that would go against the whole idea of blending being an equal partnership between symbiote and host. Also, going by your logic, doesn't that mean that if you were a blended Trill, living on Trill, if you had a new host, that host would have to leave Trill?

As to Riker. it's possible that his being a non-Trill made the removal procedure easier, as his body isn't really 100% compatible in the first place.

The Trill issue regarding abortions? I don't get exactly what you mean there. Removing a symbiote isn't an "abortion" unless you're saying they'll just take it out and let it die. It's also of no comparison, as symbiotes are far more than embryos.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Jadzia wound up with Sisko because Starfleet assigned her there.

With Ezri, it was more because Sisko was her closest friend in the world and he was the only one she trusted to accept her and and help her in a time of desperation.

 

[MrPointy]

I thought the reason the writers went with another female Dax was because if they went with a male Dax, there would have only been one female regular (Kira) on the DS9 cast.

But a male Dax would have been pretty interesting. Worf and Bashir's reaction to him would have been very interesting.

 

[Sindatur]

The Trill issue regarding abortions? I don't get exactly what you mean there. Removing a symbiote isn't an "abortion" unless you're saying they'll just take it out and let it die. It's also of no comparison, as symbiotes are far more than embryos.

Plus the fact that there are so few Symbiotes, there lives seem to be valued higher than the Trill Hosts. If Ezri wanted to kill herself by removing the Symbiote, I don't think there would be any major upheaval, but, killing the Symbiote because she didn't want it, would never be acceptable. It's highly unlikely a joined Trill would ever want to give up their host, it is a revered to position to be, and a very rewarding experience

If you recall, in the episode where Jadzia's symbiote is stolen, she was in danger of dying.

 

[Solariabsg25]

The Trill issue regarding abortions? I don't get exactly what you mean there. Removing a symbiote isn't an "abortion" unless you're saying they'll just take it out and let it die. It's also of no comparison, as symbiotes are far more than embryos.

Plus the fact that there are so few Symbiotes, there lives seem to be valued higher than the Trill Hosts. If Ezri wanted to kill herself by removing the Symbiote, I don't think there would be any major upheaval, but, killing the Symbiote because she didn't want it, would never be acceptable. It's highly unlikely a joined Trill would ever want to give up their host, it is a revered to position to be, and a very rewarding experience

If you recall, in the episode where Jadzia's symbiote is stolen, she was in danger of dying.

Trills and Goa'uld are very similar in that regard, removing either from a healthy host is possible, but extremely life-threatening. It also appears that after the full blending, removal of a Trill symbiote does mean almost certain death for the host, which is a purely biological problem, unlike a Goa'uld on the other hand which would gladly take the host with it out of spite.

 

[dub]

I thought the reason the writers went with another female Dax was because if they went with a male Dax, there would have only been one female regular (Kira) on the DS9 cast.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner! It was more about cast balance than anything else. Terry was leaving, and it was convenient that her character had a way to carry on in a way with a new actress. The cast was definitely male-heavy, so bringing in a new female Dax was a no-brainer.

It's interesting to discuss other possibilities though, including a male Dax. I was also thinking during a recent re-watch that it would have been interesting to keep Miles' daughter as an older girl when she came through that time portal instead of bringing her back as her normal age. It would have been interesting to see if she were to adapt and actually stay aboard the station, eventually she could have been a love interest for Jake or even Nog. Or just to have her away from the station and have the O'Brien's dealing with that would have been interesting. I wonder if they considered that while writing the script since it was one of the later episodes?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

IIRC, a gua'ld can be removed from a human host, but only with advanced technologies only held by the Tok'ra and Tollan. Also a human can survive the death of the inhabiting gu'ald, but only if that gu'ald makes a conscious effort to save the human's life which only happened on two occasions (Jolinar and Jonas' girlfriend).

With Trills, it's explicit that the host's immune system becomes completely dependent on the symbiont.

 

[Solariabsg25]

IIRC, a gua'ld can be removed from a human host, but only with advanced technologies only held by the Tok'ra and Tollan. Also a human can survive the death of the inhabiting gu'ald, but only if that gu'ald makes a conscious effort to save the human's life which only happened on two occasions (Jolinar and Jonas' girlfriend).

With Trills, it's explicit that the host's immune system becomes completely dependent on the symbiont.

Exactly, in fact a complete reversal of Trills. Jaffa do not blend with the symbiote, but have no immune system, whereas a full host can survive removal following blending with little or no ill effects (unless the symbiote fights the procedure tooth and nail).

Trill symbiotes blend with their host but after a short time completely destroy the host's immune system, so no matter how benign the removal, it's almost certainly fatal to the host, so only done in the most dire circumstances.

 

[Tomalak]

And as to the emergency transfer to Ezri, I call BS. Riker had one for over a week, and they were able to remove the symbiote without killing him, and he wasn't even a Trill.

Nah, that was the oft-confused Chrill ambassador. You can tell the difference because Trills can safely use the transporter.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I was also thinking during a recent re-watch that it would have been interesting to keep Miles' daughter as an older girl when she came through that time portal instead of bringing her back as her normal age. It would have been interesting to see if she were to adapt and actually stay aboard the station, eventually she could have been a love interest for Jake or even Nog.

I think that would have been great!

Then Sisko would would have to decide which one pisses him off more, Jake with the Dabo woman or Jake with the cave woman. That's what you get Sisko when you move an impressionable boy out to frontier space

 

[Kevman7987]

I was also thinking during a recent re-watch that it would have been interesting to keep Miles' daughter as an older girl when she came through that time portal instead of bringing her back as her normal age. It would have been interesting to see if she were to adapt and actually stay aboard the station, eventually she could have been a love interest for Jake or even Nog.

I think that would have been great!

Then Sisko would would have to decide which one pisses him off more, Jake with the Dabo woman or Jake with the cave woman. That's what you get Sisko when you move an impressionable boy out to frontier space

Ooh. Jake and Molly being together adds an angry O'Brien to the character mix there. He'd be upset that Jake is putting the moves on his daughter.

 

[dub]

I was also thinking during a recent re-watch that it would have been interesting to keep Miles' daughter as an older girl when she came through that time portal instead of bringing her back as her normal age. It would have been interesting to see if she were to adapt and actually stay aboard the station, eventually she could have been a love interest for Jake or even Nog.

I think that would have been great!

Then Sisko would would have to decide which one pisses him off more, Jake with the Dabo woman or Jake with the cave woman. That's what you get Sisko when you move an impressionable boy out to frontier space

Ooh. Jake and Molly being together adds an angry O'Brien to the character mix there. He'd be upset that Jake is putting the moves on his daughter.

...and something new for Keiko to whine about!

I keed, I keed.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Keiko would be thrilled with a match with the Emissary's boy but first we would have a whole episode in which she had to let go of her little girl who really was a little girl three episodes before this.

Oh! The endless threads about "Is Jake a pedophile?" would liven up this forum.