Why do people hate the Bajorians?

[Jayson1]

I never understood this dislike. The Bajorians were basically a methphor for the Jewish people after the Holocaust. How can people look at that concept and not find it intresting and something filled with al sorts of potential drama. Trek is famous for exploring issues and various things about the human condition not to mention our history and with the Bajorians you got a advenue to explore things you might not get to do in the more clean cut show like TNG.

It also helps that you got a great serious regular who is a Bajorian to put a eveyday face to that concept. You got the Cardisians as the Nazi's and it seems to me you got a intresting thing to work with.

Jason

 

[SSOASS]

I don't hate them, I do think there were only so many of those stories they could tell and were probably hurt on the budget end of not being able to do too many "on Bajor" stories. I think another good on station Bajorian character would have helped .. really you had Leeta, the Kais, and of course Kira ... beyond that I did not think too many of the other Barorians were all that interesting

 

[Kilana2]

I for myself like the Bajorans. But some people just prefered action and space battle instead of religion and faith issues. What I like about the history of Bajor and the Occupation is that there is more to it than just black and white. On both sides - Cardassians and Bajorans - were good guys and bad guys.

 

[Kor]

I wasn't aware that the Bajorans were disliked.

Kor

 

[Jayson1]

What i never understood was why they weren;t better used during the dominion war. I kind of like the idea of Bajor maybe bringing something to the fight that starfleet isn't use to doing. I mean they were basically terrorist and that is a kind of warfare we know starfleet proably doesn't condone or use. In away Bajorians should have been the third party in fight more so than the romulans because they were the main focal point of the show before the Dominion. Plus it would have made more sense to have Kira in some of those warroom type of discussions instead of some random Romulan who is lucky if he gets one line.

Jason

 

[42_42]

I find them quite a nice civilization. I didnt realise people dislike them.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

I don't hate them at all, but I'll admit that I didn't really warm up to them until my second watch through of the series. It probably didn't help that there was a greater focus on Bajoran politics in the earlier (and weaker) seasons.

 

[Jayson1]

I don't hate them at all, but I'll admit that I didn't really warm up to them until my second watch through of the series. It probably didn't help that there was a greater focus on Bajoran politics in the earlier (and weaker) seasons.

Politics though IMO was a intresting thing that came with them. I like the idea of a society that is living on the Brink because it's enviroment is devasted and you got politicians who don't get along with each other. It's a very contemporary idea which makes it easy to relate to
Jason

 

[The Grim Ghost]

Politics though IMO was a intresting thing that came with them. I like the idea of a society that is living on the Brink because it's enviroment is devasted and you got politicians who don't get along with each other. It's a very contemporary idea which makes it easy to relate to
Jason

I agree, it just took me a while to get there. I was on the "Bajor is boring" bandwagon the 1st time I watched DS9. 2nd time through I started to appreciate a lot of the nuance.

 

[Jayson1]

You don't hear this theory alot but I sometimes wonder if Ds9 ratings might have been hurt somewhat in the first season by not using the Bajorians even more. In the first season the show did seem to have quite abit of TNG style stories that just don't work in a DS9 setting. Here you are basically rebuilding a world and yet you got stories about people imaginations coming to life or people and people playing hop scotch.

I think season 2 is the shows best season ever and that's saying something because had alot of great seasons. It basically took is premise more serious. even episodes that didn't use the Bajorians worked well like "Blood Oath" or "whispers" just to name two.

Jason

 

[The Grim Ghost]

You don't hear this theory alot but I sometimes wonder if Ds9 ratings might have been hurt somewhat in the first season by not using the Bajorians even more. In the first season the show did seem to have quite abit of TNG style stories that just don't work in a DS9 setting. Here you are basically rebuilding a world and yet you got stories about people imaginations coming to life or people and people playing hop scotch.

I think season 2 is the shows best season ever and that's saying something because had alot of great seasons. It basically took is premise more serious. even episodes that didn't use the Bajorians worked well like "Blood Oath" or "whispers" just to name two.

Jason

Well for me it's season 3 when the show is starting to run on full power. I do think the series suffered in the beginning from using too many "cookie cutter" TNG type scripts. Season 2 has some great episodes and that is where things start to come together (for me) but I didn't feel the characters and scripts really came together til season 3.

But I will say that season 2 gave us the excellent Circle episodes with the coup and I enjoyed those quite a bit.

 

[Jayson1]

I like season 3 but when it first came out I disliked it. I thought voyager season 1 which was running at the same time was doing a better job. Plus we had fewer Bajorian stories. I think what I missed most was Pillar's influence. To me Ds9 rebounded in season 4 and moved past voyager and stayed there in season 4. I felt they had a better handle on the new type of show they were doing. Season 3 feels like it's still trying to be early style DS9 but something different as well.

Jason

 

[JaxsBrokenHeart]

I think Bajor suffered from the Cardassia story slowly becoming more interesting and taking more prominence as the seasons went on; thus the Bajoran specific stories (outside Emmisary related episodes with Sisko) began to feel a bit less emotionally relevant and vital to characters.

With Cardassia you had major changes in its arc: the destruction of the Obsidian Order, the civilian coup, conflicts with the Klingons/Maquis, attempts at cooperation with Bajor, the eventual entry into the Dominion, its slide into an oppressed people, Damar's rebellion, and eventual massacre via the Founders' orders.

Bajor's really fascinating episodes drop off a bit after season 3, and after Sisko insists it can't join the Federation, its story is more or less done. Even its neutrality in the Dominion War is entirely station based and carried by Kira and SIsko. The planet and its people barely show up, and Bajor itself more or less exists as a setting for the Pai'Wraith arc until the end of series.

Finally, outside Kira and Kai Win, there's a tremendous dearth of engaging Bajoran characters. Li Nalas is killed off, Kai Opaka never shows up again after Battle Lines, Bariel is just there, Shakkar even more so, and even someone like Ziyal seems more defined by her relationships with various Cardassians than any Bajoran (Kira excepted).

With Bajor, Kira and Sisko's journeys ultimately can only do so much with a story that ended up inert and an alien race that while important just doesn't have the same dramatic chops as others.

 

[Jayson1]

That could be true. you could even say Ds9 at one point had to many bad guys. You had the Cardisians then the Dominion and even the Klingons for awhile. I think I would have rather seen more Bajorians than Prophets to help compensate for this. to me the Prophets were always more intresting as a concept than as actual characters.

Jason

 

[JaxsBrokenHeart]

I always thought you could have made a very interesting story arc circa season 4 out of the Maquis forming an alliance with certain parties on Bajor due their similarities (fighting for their homes, antipathy towards Cardassia) and how it could jeopardize the latter's entry into the Federation. Kira and Sisko are both put into tricky positions, the fledgling peace between Cardassia and Bajor gets threatened, and you start developing the Bajorans as real players in the Alpha Quadrant chessboard beyond just recovering from the Occupation.

Heck include perhaps the Klingons involvement (with the Maquis open to working with them and Bajoran factions very cold on the idea) and honestly I think one could have made for a very solid series of episodes. Not to mention all of it could still lead to the events of By Inferno's Light where the Cardassian/Dominion forces manages to destroy any elements of a Klingon/Maquis/Bajoran alliance in one fell swoop, and adds further tension to Bajor's precarious status as a neutral party in the initial Dominion War.

 

[Jayson1]

I got to admit I did think of one flaw in any idea of using the bajorians more. Kira being pregant. It's hard to do much with the Bajorians when you star Bajorian character is basically on the sidelines for what seemed like along time.

Jason

 

[kkt]

The Bajorans are a metaphor for any occupied and oppressed people. They would work as a metaphor for the Jews in the Holocaust, but just as well for the people of India under the British, or the Congo under the Belgians, or the American Indians, or any number of others.

 

[Tenacity]

This thread really needs a poll on whether people "hate" the Bajorans

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Most of the Bajorans we meet are chronically irritated and generally humorless.

I like the Bajorans but I understand why they weren't a hit. We didn't get Bajoran individuals in DS9 who brought much fun to the story. Maybe Leeta. Stories involving Bajorans other than Kira tended to have a self serious Bajoran inconveniencing the protagonists.

 

[Six of Twelve]

Most of the Bajorans we meet are chronically irritated and generally humorless.

I like the Bajorans but I understand why they weren't a hit. We didn't get Bajoran individuals in DS9 who brought much fun to the story. Maybe Leeta. Stories involving Bajorans other than Kira tended to have a self serious Bajoran inconveniencing the protagonists.

Kira could often be a pill, especially in the earlier seasons. She was very touchy and people had to walk on eggshells around her, lest they offend her and set her off. Ro Laren had this same touchiness when she was introduced as well