STAR TREK:
- The Original Series (TOS)
- The Animated Series
- The Movies
- The Next Generation (TNG)
- Deep Space Nine (DS9)
- Voyager
- Enterprise
DEEP SPACE NINE:
- DS9 Season One
- DS9 Season Two
- DS9 Season Three
- DS9 Season Four
- DS9 Season Five
- DS9 Season Six
- DS9 Season Seven
Season Seven:
-551: "Image in the Sand"
-552: "Shadows and Symbols"
-561: "Prodigal Daughter"
-567: "Penumbra"
-568: "'Til Death Do Us Part"
-575/576: "What You Leave Behind"
SCIENCE FICTION:
- Doctor Who
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- The Matrix
- Main Index
- Site Map
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Star Trek DS9 Season 7
Image in the Sand / Shadows and Symbols
(Star Trek - Deep Space Nine episode production codes 551 & 552)
written by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler
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Among its many other accomplishments, this story advances
the mythology of Sisko as the Emissary and gives us the
biggest clues ever as to what the writers mean when they say
that both the Prophets and the Sisko are "of Bajor".
On some levels it feels like a rewriting cheat, but once you
factor in the idea that the Prophets exist so far outside
of time that they need to have the concept of linear existence
very carefully explained to them, and we still really don't
know what the flow of new information looks like to them,
the entire set-up detailed in this story could indeed be something
they worked out "long after" they first met Sisko in "Emissary",
by whatever standards "long after" might mean to them.
Personally I think it might have been a little too "on the nose"
and literal a way of factoring in Bajoran/Prophet heritage.
A more spiritual re-incarnated soul idea would have felt more
appropriate, with applicability left more open to wider interpretation.
But this still works. Either way, it shows how we are all connected
more than we realize, which in turn tends to dilute the jurisdiction
of concepts like the Prime Directive and helps to get us involved with
each other. The question then becomes more about making that
involvement the best it can be, and putting our best foot forward
at all times.
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And this episode also contains another good example of Bajor
benefiting from not being an official part of the Federation.
This time it's not about putting on a show for the Dominion,
but for the Romulans. Colonel Kira has all the proper legal
freedoms to challenge the Romulans today, where she probably
wouldn't if Bajor had joined the Federation. Either way,
it's nice to see the Federation learn something from Bajor about
standing up for important values in the face of their
regulations and chains of command. Perhaps that merely would have
come about in a different way had Bajor been a Federation member.
We can only speculate.
Costumes are worth noting in this story. Newly promoted Colonel Kira
gets the most revolting thing she has ever been asked to wear
on DS9, particularly as it looks more like a joke than any
kind of uniform for the person in highest authority on the station.
Moving more towards her uniform from the pilot episode would have been
a much better idea. On the plus side are the desert Starfleet
uniforms that feature here, which actually look like something that
would successfully keep people cool in a harsh and hot environment.
Ezri Dax also makes her debut in this story, and is remarkably adept
at skipping over most of the problems associated with
the "regeneration" process of changing actors on Doctor Who
and other sci-fi shows. She mostly just gets a bit of
nervous babbling, which is delivered in a charming fashion.
Though there are reportedly a few distasteful moments,
these are smartly kept off screen. And the makers of
Matt Smith's debut on Doctor Who
could learn a lot from the way Dax's change of taste is
portrayed on screen. This is the way it should be done.
While Ezri may end up with a bit more than her share of stories
throughout season seven's rotation, she ends up as a worthy addition
to the cast this year, and perhaps one with the most obvious
potential for doing new, interesting stories.
Prodigal Daughter
(Star Trek - Deep Space Nine episode production code 561)
written by story editors David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Something that sneaks up on you and only reveals itself at the end
of this tale is the philosophical principle (specifically one
of the chief emotional pre-cursors) that caused the creation
of the Prime Directive as someone's idea of a good thing in
the sixties. It's the simple question of involvement, and whether
it is best to be more involved or less involved.
No matter that there are no major interstellar
political organizations deciding courses of action for themselves
here.... in fact, it's probably all the more poignant because
it arises purely out of family dynamics. It's so much more
relatable that way, and believable too.
I like the minimalist way that the scenes at the end are written
as well. The mother's lines are so powerful because she displays such a
sharp contrast in this last scene to her behaviour in the rest of the episode.
Here at the end, she says so little,
and she's asking a question instead of being
sure of herself - showing for the first time that she places
greater faith in Ezri's judgment of the situation rather than
in her own. And the mother's question becomes the one
that haunts Ezri, the one she asks of herself afterwards.
What we don't quite get here, and what the resolution absolutely
explodes with inside my own head, is the quantum complementary
solution to some of the most basic interactivity questions
in the universe - namely:
Is this my fault? How much of this am I responsible for?
What should I have done? What can I do now?
Am I helping or interfering? Should I stay uninvolved?
The people around you are responsible for creating their own
messes, and you don't have to take responsibility for that.
However, there are countless doubles of all of them making
slightly or wildly different choices in alternate timelines.
Because you are choosing your way through those timelines
as you live,
you have lined up with the specific versions of all those people
that best complement what you need next for your own growth.
So there is always something in it for you, some message pointing
things out to you, some opportunity for you to learn to do better.
No need to get all paranoid about hidden messages, because your
emotions will guide you to the items most strongly related to
your own issues. And I think we each do best
when we put blame aside, stop worrying about past responsibilities,
and just focus on what we can do presently that would best help.
We won't always get the best answer each time we ask, but if we
go through that process with openness, balancing our
courage and compassion as best we can, the process will take
us closer and closer until we've got any problem solved.
I got all that out of "Prodigal Daughter"? Well, I had a lot
of that inside already, and this episode triggered it to come out.
Live long and prosper, Star Trek!
These Deep Space Nine Season Seven prime directive stories
are available on DVD.
Click on the Amazon symbol for the desired disc format
and location nearest you for pricing and availability:
Article written by Martin Izsak.
Comments on this article are welcome. You may contact
the author from this page:
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