#Where's Jadzia?

[scarywardrobe]

[trillscienceofficer]

from Cinefantastique Vol 28 #4/5, November 1996

TABOO BREAKER: Another Trill gender bender, “Rejoined” echoes TREK's legacy of exploring the nature of love.

By Dale Kutzera

Thirty years ago STAR TREK broke a long-standing television taboo by presenting the first interracial kiss—a fact Gene Roddenberry often boasted about. Early in DS9’s fourth season a similar taboo fell. Though not the first lesbian kiss—LA LAW and ROSEANNE have done it, as did PICKET FENCES (albeit with the lights out)—it was certainly the most passionate. For 15 incredible seconds, Jadzia Dax and the wife of a former host kissed. And not a closed-mouth kiss, turned away from the camera as between Kirk and Uhura. This was passion.

The writers did not set out to create a “gay” show with “Rejoined.” The original story involved a male lover of one of Dax’s previous hosts and how their renewed attraction broke a Trill taboo against relationships with lovers from past lives. “We had talked for a long time about doing the show about Dax and a former spouse,” said staff writer/producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe, “and we always suspected that was a Trill cultural taboo. But how do you make the audience understand that even though Dax is doing something they would find acceptable, it’s against the norms of social behavior for her society? The story came before the decision to do the same sex couple. It was always an analogy to the way homosexual relationships are treated in our society. Trills have no reason to be against same sex couples, but what a better way to show that they are a totally different, alien society than to see them reacting in self-righteous indignation just because they were lovers in a previous life? That society should dictate who you should and should not love is a sad thing and that’s what the show is about. We didn't sit down and say ‘Lets do a gay show.”

Credit Ron Moore with taking Rene Echevarria's story and re-shaping it by making the past lover a woman. “Initially it was a man, she was a woman, and here they are,” said Moore. “I remember reading the story and thinking about it. Literally, I was on my way home and started to think this would be a much stronger story—it would really be a stand-out episode of the series—If this was a woman. Play it as a woman and really go for it. I called Ira from my car and he was receptive and the next day we just dumped it on the staff. It got batted around and there were reservations here and there and then everybody signed on board.”

“Ron is the one that made it happen," said Echevarria. “People had talked about doing a so-called lesbian angle in other contexts. Ron is the one who brought it together and said this is the show. The taboo was Michael Piller’s idea and Ron merged it, saw how they tracked and said, ‘We will do the show and never even mention the fact that these are two women. This taboo tracks with our own taboos or many audience members’ taboos about homosexuality and the argument will track straight down the line and it will be great.”’

Realizing that, as in any story of rejoined lovers, it would inevitably lead to a passionate kiss, Moore wrote a memo to Ira Behr and Rick Berman justifying what could be DS9’s most controversial episode. “We knew it was going to be a controversial episode if we went for it, so we clearly had to go to Rick and the studio,” said Moore. “Rick questioned us. He wanted to make sure we knew what we were doing and why. He focused in on it and then he went to the studio and their reaction was the same: “Why? How is this going to work? How are you going to handle it? Is this going to be just salacious? Is this going to be tasteful? And how far are you going to go?’”

The studio was concerned that some viewers may infer that the two women were having sex, and worried that some affiliate stations would not air the episode. “It really boiled down to how far are you going to go and how are you going to handle it?" continued Moore. “The fact that this show was not known as NYPD BLUE and was this shocking the audience and taking them by surprise? I think we pushed it in the kiss scene. That is a powerful, amazing scene. You can’t get around that. That is the show stopper. It was not a gratuitous scene—I thought I would have done it if that character had been a man. So I didn’t think we were doing it to grab attention. It was the right thing to do in the story and it’s going to hit you in a more powerful way. One of the arguments we used was this is part of our franchise legacy. The original series prided itself on TV’s first interracial kiss. We've been priding ourselves on that for 30 years, so why not take the next step and be true to our ideals and convictions. STAR TREK has a point of view, a not completely middle-of-the-road view of the future. This is part of our view.”

Before proceeding, the general premise was run past actress Terry Farrell. “Ira called me last summer to say Michael [Dorn] was on the show and would I mind kissing a woman?" said Farrell. “At the time I said, ‘As long as she’s beautiful.’ I was just being silly. Then I thought as soon as you get the script I want to see it, because if it is anything sensationalized or a joke I don’t want to do it. [Ira said], ‘No it will be a love story with integrity.’ And I thought it was.”

With the green light given, Moore and Echevarria began work on the script. “This was a love story and the trick was to write it as a love story and forget the fact that she was a woman,” said Moore. “The backstory helped in that they were married once. They were husband and wife—write them that way. Two people who really shared something. One of them died. They never got to say good-bye and years later, in different bodies, they run into each other again and play that out. The thing with the Trill taboo was a perfect metaphor for issues of sexual tolerance and intolerance and we played that taboo without really playing our taboo."

The writers tried not to focus on the fact that both lovers were women, and simply wrote the story as a straight romance. “It’s easy to do on paper because the name Lenara is not one you really associate with women anyway,’’ Moore said. “We made it up. So on paper it’s easy to forget and just write this love story and this taboo is what we’re dealing with. It’s not until you’re sitting in the room watching casting sessions that you got two women playing these scenes and you go, ‘Wow, this is really going to hit you in a different way when you see it.’ But we tried to stay true to just telling the story and not going for the easy shots.”

“I was excited, because they were brave,” said Farrell of the writers. “If I were to change the names to Frank and Sara I totally believed that love story. It didn’t matter what the names were, these two people were in love with each other. I was so happy that I was the one who was willing to fight for the love. I knew people would relate to me. And at the end I was so sad. No matter what anybody else says, it made me really proud.”

For Farrell the episode also offered her an opportunity to express on film her off-screen respect for Avery Brooks. In a moment of critical decision, as Dax contemplates breaking the Trill taboo and throwing her future into chaos, Sisko advises her against the hasty decision, but vows to stand by her whatever her choice may be. “I didn’t even need to do homework on that scene. I just used my relationship with Avery. The first year was very difficult to adjust to the dialog. People got impatient with me, other directors and other actors. I was 28 years old. but I felt like I was 18. I lost my confidence. I must have driven them nuts, but Avery was always very supportive and strong. He really helped me build my confidence. He’s strong and silent. I don’t know anything about him personally, but he’s been incredibly giving to me emotionally. We cried a lot on that scene. A lot more than you saw. It felt weird not crying too hard, but holding back. It helped to have a director [Brooks] you trust. I needed his opinion on that.”

Director Brooks had Farrell and gueststar Susanna Thompson (who earned thepraise of everyone involved in the show) rehearse the critical scene up to the momentof the kiss. The actual description of the scene in the script was general, leaving it up to the actors and director to stage. “I said it was a kiss they have been waiting a hundred years for. It’s a powerful moment, let them do their magic on the set,” said Moore. “Avery and the two actresses staged it and pretty much it was left as Avery, Terry, and Susanna wanted it.”

“It described I was touching her face and whispered in her ear—her husband said it turned her on,” said Farrell. “We rehearsed up to the kiss then stopped. I thought it was great Avery directed it. because he was really into being honest and telling the truth, trying to pretend we’re not aliens in outer space, and being honest in the emotions. Avery talked about being passionate and sensuous. What was really hard for me was it starts out in my close-up, then a two-shot and the kiss. She said one word, then gotcha. We wouldn’t dissect this. If I were kissing a man we would say, ‘No tongues? Okay, no tongues.’ Avery didn't want them to cut it down too much. We wanted to make sure that didn't happen. You don't go through telling that kind of story and then say, ‘We can’t be very brave.’”

The writers and cast were pleased and a bit surprised that the kiss was kept almost intact through the editing process. “We saw the kiss and thought, ‘Boy how is Rick going to edit this,” said Echevarria. “We were just so gratified and thrilled to see that he did not pull back on the emotion of the moment. He allowed it to happen. It's by far the most passionate gay kiss I've ever seen on television.”

The reaction to the episode was predictably mixed. Some affiliates did not air the episode. Others excised the scene with the kiss. Mail to the writing staff was heavier than for any other episode they had been involved in, and much of it negative. "My idea that sci-fi fans are socially far-thinking, that they are in many ways liberal, leftist, humanist, whatever, was totally blown apart by some of the incredible comments we received,” said Behr. “There’s a strong conservative strain in the American soul and maybe it’s there in sci-fi, too. I don’t think we were saying anything that was that extraordinarily out of line, but maybe we were and that's pretty sad.”

Not all the mail was negative, however, as Echevarria remembered. “I would say it was ten-to-one pro—saying thank you very much and you don’t know how important this was. Letters from teachers, counselors, groups that counsel gay teens—saying how important something like this is. My mother was just scandalized. For the first time ever she culled me and said, ‘I can't believe you did that. It's so bad and so bad for the children of America.’ I couldn't have been happier.”

“It was a challenge emotionally for me to have a relationship with a woman,” said Farrell. "It wasn't anything I ever thought I’d want to do in my career. I've taken jobs to pay the rent. It was a great feeling to get to do a show that was that special as an actress. A lot of people go through their whole career and don’t get to do something that controversial or with that artistic integrity. I’m very proud of that.”

[randomthunk]

A DS9 button/sticker set that I've been working on for the past few weeks, that I soon plan on getting made to have available for the 2024 con season. What a fun little gang of space rascals.

[fauvester]

garak and bashir are just two guys who LOVE to eavesdrop. they are dropping eaves with catastrophic blatancy. dropping eaves like they're hot and they did not wear oven mitts

[skybound2]

Okay so I'm still working through my re-watch of DS9 and my crush on Jadzia has reawakened ever so slightly 😍😍

[ferryfoam]

I just watched Tears of the Prophets girl what was that ??? Jadzia deserved better than to be fucking fire blasted alone halfway through praying what the hell !?! And then there was a significant lack of send off ? They couldn't have done a brief funeral scene where everyone talks about how much she meant to them ?? That faceless captain who crashed on a random planet from a few episodes back got more of a send off than Jadzia come the fuck on man

I'm sure there are behind the scenes reasons why she was killed off (which I will look into shortly. I guess) but seriously they couldn't have given it even a little bit more care ? For the death of a beloved character ? Who's been there for 6 full seasons of show ?

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

I started an episode of DS9 and had the German audio turned on accidentally so I decided to listen for a bit and whoever translated this show put NO effort into determining the correct duzen/siezen distribution

IT’S SEASON 5 NONE OF THESE PEOPLE ARE FUCKING CALLING EACH OTHER SIE ANYMORE THEY’VE ALMOST DIED TOGETHER LIKE 500 TIMES

I had to check in another episode for this but Sisko and Jadzia siezen each other and I swear to god I’m just going to *LOUDEST INCORRECT BUZZER NOISE OF ALL TIME* WRONG WRONG WRONG she is LITERALLY like a father to him do you think he was calling her ass Sie when she was Curzon and they were out drinking together? NO and he’s not going to start now!!!

Odo and Quark do NOT call each other Sie they have NEVER called each other Sie and you WILL not convince me otherwise (however I would believe the Ferengi language has a complicated system of formality levels based on the relative wealth of each party and whether they’re actively negotiating a business deal at that moment. But Quark would not use the formal pronouns with Odo because their relationship evolves from open mutual contempt to grudging friendship and that’s the point)

[youngpettyqueen]

I love thinking about the physical affection aspect of Worf/Jadzia/Julian because youve got Worf who won't go out of his way to initiate physical affection but then youve got Jadzia and Julian who are all about the touchy feely and Worf doesnt, like, mind this and lets them do what they want so he just has them clinging to him at all times. Worf is trying to sit and eat and he has to do so around Jadzia who is perched in his lap and Julian is hanging over his shoulders like a scarf. he's walking somewhere and the both of them are hanging off his arms. getting out of bed in the morning is an entire ordeal because he is sandwiched between the two of them. cant hand him shit because his hands are always being held. they are so goddamn obstructive but Worf just lets them do their thing because its not worth the argument and also he maybe (definitely) likes the affection

[automatonknight]

id: a digital colored sketch of jadzia dax from deep space nine. she’s shown from the head to about her hips, posing with one hand on her chest and the other resting on her side. she’s grinning and looking to the right. the lineart is done in dark blue, the skin is shaded with blue, as well as the hair and she’s is wearing a pink dress. the background is a very pale, almost white, yellow with a brighter yellow star shape behind jadzia’s head. end id

[mejomonster]

I love T'Pol, I just wish certain ppl in charge had not used her character for certain things

[thresholdbb]

The essential difference between cosplaying Jadzia and cosplaying Janeway?

Jadzia has confidence because she doesn't give a fuck

Janeway has confidence because she gives all the fucks

[kitkatt0430]

Benjamin Sisko is an amazing man, but it's still hilarious that so many people to fixate on him as their personal rival.

Dukat, Eddington, and Solok are the most notable three. And all three all wind up completely changing their personalities to revolve around one-upping Sisko and he winds up beating them anyway.

After Dukat destroys his career, he re-fashions himself into what is essentially the Emissary of the Pah-Wraiths. He's always been fixated on Sisko to some degree, but the final season takes it up to eleven.

Eddington becomes fed up with his career and projects his frustrations on to Sisko, re-imagining their relationship to be one where he's the noble criminal and Sisko the evil, relentless enforcer. But reality was never going to conform to his imaginings.

Solok, the Vulcan who was so obsessed with one-upping Sisko that he also developed an obsession with baseball. He drags his crew into it. He taunts Ben with it, makes things personal in a way the other two can't. In part because Solok is so incredibly petty. The other two are so grandiose in their methods, but Solok takes the petty route every time.

[phiatheox]

okay so I understand that "if wishes were horses" could be a difficult episode for #bashirnation because if you take fake! Jadzia at face value then he becomes insufferable. but as someone who is unable to take off my queer-tinted glasses at any time I would like to put forward the interpretation that it serves as a strong case study for Julian suffering from comphet.

now, it's been a while since I've watched the episode so I cannot provide an extremely detailed analysis, but I remember that in the scene where fake! Jadzia is first introduced Julian's initial reaction was to reject her (yes this can be seen as just responding to context clues and being polite but we're having a gay time here), and it's only after she asks him why he's fighting this that he thinks *you're right, society says I SHOULD want this*, and starts kissing her back.

afterwards, when he learns that she's just a manifestation of his thoughts, he responds to her propositions with embarrassment at best and outright repulsion at worst, as if the idea of a version of Jadzia that reciprocates his feelings fills Julian with discomfort. at one point, the alien even says something along the lines of "why would mine create a woman to reject her?" and that's the thing, because to me this episode confirms that Julian doesn't actually like Jadzia: he's just chosen her as the one to safely project his desire to fit into cishetero patriarchal norms onto because she's never actually going to like him back, which is why when faced with a version of her that does, he completely loses interest.

[spitblaze]

I generally do not engage with star trek shipping stuff but I am now shipping Kira and Dax out of spite because the writers keep trying to pair her up with seemingly arbitrary men and trying to make us care about it

[theonlyfeckuser]

reading fanfic isnt enough i need to lie on my fav like a weighted blanket and chew on their hair

[skiitter]

one of the objectively funniest things to happen to me since i've started watching ds9 is that i bought a t-shirt at comic con with a picture of the cast on it and didn't notice until i got home that it was actually a massive spoiler.