| 1 | [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Main Characters Page]] | '''Starfleet Crew''' | [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineFederationAndBajor Federation And Bajor]] | [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineQuarksBar Quark's Bar, Family, and Other Ferengi]] | [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineCardassianUnion Cardassian Union]] ([[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineGulDukat Gul Dukat]]) | [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineKlingonEmpire Klingon Empire]] | [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineTheDominion The Dominion]] | [[Characters/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineMirrorUniverse Mirror Universe]] |
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| 5 | [[foldercontrol]] |
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| 7 | [[folder:Commander/Captain Benjamin Lafayette Sisko]] |
| 8 | !!Commander/Captain Benjamin Lafayette Sisko |
| 9 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/784558e3_d240_4bdc_93e1_3a12d674511f.jpeg]] |
| 10 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"A Starfleet officer. That's what I am, and [[TemptingFate that's what I'll always be]]."'']] |
| 11 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/AveryBrooks |
| 12 | |
| 13 | ->''"So ''you're'' the commander of Deep Space 9. And the Emissary of the Prophets. Decorated combat officer, widower, father, mentor and... oh, yes, the man who [[NiceJobBreakingItHero started the war with the Dominion]]. Somehow I thought [[ExpectingSomeoneTaller you'd be taller.]]"'' |
| 14 | -->-- '''Senator Vreenak''', "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E19InThePaleMoonlight In the Pale Moonlight ]]" |
| 15 | |
| 16 | TheCaptain (though actually only ranked Commander until late Season 3), with a touch of the WarriorPoet when considering his reasons for helming the titular station. Prior to the series, Sisko became a widower following the infamous Wolf 359 incident ([[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]) and was left adrift with a young son, Jake. He briefly considered resigning from Starfleet, but was instead saddled with the task of admitting Bajor into the Federation. Following a chance encounter with entities living inside the Bajoran Wormhole, Sisko is [[ReluctantHero reluctantly]] anointed as the [[EmissaryFromTheDivine Emissary]], their corporeal agent and a [[CrystalDragonJesus religious icon]] to the Bajorans. With that title comes the responsibility of holding Bajor together long enough for the planet to be inducted into the Federation: with the Cardassians gone, the planet is spiraling down the path of sectarian warfare, and any number of opportunistic races are waiting to pick the pieces if Sisko fails. The only ''Trek'' Captain with a stable family unit, his relationships with Jake, Joseph, and Kasidy Yates-Sisko play a small but significant role in his handling of the Dominion crisis. Also grows his own peppers, plays jazz piano, and loves baseball by the way. |
| 17 | ---- |
| 18 | * TheAce: Sisko is an ActionHero, GuileHero, and ScienceHero of the highest caliber rolled into a single Starfleet uniform. He can beat Klingons in a fist fight, navigate through high-stakes interplanetary crises, and build starships designed to kill the Borg. If you want to tangle with him, you'd best bring a couple of armadas. |
| 19 | * AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: At the end of the series Sisko is ascended into the celestial temple for an unspecified amount of time. Emphasis on "unspecified": the Prophets are non-linear beings outside time. |
| 20 | -->'''Kasidy:''' When will you be back?\ |
| 21 | '''Sisko:''' It's hard to say - maybe a year, maybe... yesterday. But I ''will'' be back. |
| 22 | ** This was a change from the planned ButNowIMustGo ending, due to Brooks wanting to avert the {{Stereotype}} of a black man abandoning his son and pregnant wife. He returns in the ExpandedUniverse books of the Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch. |
| 23 | * AttackPatternAlpha: For some reason, he's a big fan of "Attack Pattern Omega." It's treated as a hit 'n run attack in ''Star Trek Online''. |
| 24 | * AlmightyJanitor: Ends up supervising and occasionally even participating in grand strategy meetings among the heads of state of great powers, despite himself never being promoted higher than Captain. On paper he is a captain. In practice, he is a full admiral. |
| 25 | * ArchEnemy: To Gul Dukat. While there are those with personal animosity towards Dukat, Sisko is the one figure Dukat takes a personal interest in defeating. This is largely due to the fact Sisko has his old job, works in his old office, and is worshiped by the Bajorans which is something Dukat craved. Dukat takes a great interest in opposing Sisko at every step of the way. |
| 26 | * AuthoritySoundsDeep: Even when he's being introspective, he speaks with a noticeably deep, authoritative voice. |
| 27 | ** There was one scene, from [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E25Facets "Facets,"]] that had to be reshot because Avery Brooks spoke in a whisper so low that it creeped everyone out. |
| 28 | * BadassBoast: In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E01E02TheWayOfTheWarrior The Way of the Warrior]]", Chancellor Gowron threatens to attack the station, causing Sisko to warn him that he's in over his head. |
| 29 | --> '''Sisko''': I can assure you, this "old cat" may not be as "toothless" as you think. Right now, I've got five thousand torpedoes armed and ready to launch. If you don't believe me, feel free to scan the station. |
| 30 | * BadassCreed: In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E19InThePaleMoonlight In the Pale Moonlight]]", he reflected on how his father used to boom, "'''Worry and doubt are the greatest enemies of a great chef!'''" |
| 31 | -->"[[EndangeredSouffle The soufflé]] will either rise or it won't; there's not a damn thing ''you'' can do about it, so you might as well just sit back and wait and see what happens." |
| 32 | * BaldOfAuthority: Sisko looks far more badass once he goes bald. And for good reason too. Sisko was one of the major leaders of the entire Federation fleet in open war against the Dominion. |
| 33 | * BaldHeadOfToughness: He is shown to be more willing than Picard had usually been to get down and dirty in the trenches. In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E01E02TheWayOfTheWarrior The Way of the Warrior]]", he begins to transition into a wartime commander as the Klingons turn hostile, starting with him fighting to defend Ops against a BoardingParty along with his crew. He intimidates even ''[[TheBigGuy Worf]]''. |
| 34 | * BecomingTheMask: At the start of the series, Sisko isn't comfortable with being regarded as the emissary of the Bajoran Prophets, presenting himself as just another Starfleet officer as best as he is able. Over time, however, he grows more comfortable with being the emissary, and in time, even embraces it; from officiating Bajoran weddings to referring to the Prophets as "Prophets" instead of just "wormhole aliens". By the end of the series, he's become the most Bajoran human in all of Starfleet, planning to build a home on the Bajoran homeworld and fully embodying his role as the emissary. |
| 35 | * BerserkButton: Betraying Starfleet and TheFederation, as [[InsaneAdmiral Admiral Leyton]] and [[TheMole Michael Eddington]] learned the hard way. |
| 36 | * TheBigEasy: He hails from New Orleans, and is the son of a creole chef. Joseph Sisko still operates a restaurant there. |
| 37 | * {{Blackmail}}: How he usually keeps Quark in-line or gets him to do something for the good of the station. Usually leads to BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord. |
| 38 | * TheBlacksmith: Sisko is a sci-fi version of this archetype. He's not TheEngineer (that title very clearly goes to Chief O'Brien), but in a world where replicators can instantly create most small items, he nevertheless has a fondness for making things with his own two hands. Besides being a talented chef and starship designer (having been involved in the creation of the ''Defiant''-class), he has built a mechanical clock and a working [[SolarSail light ship]] on his own and was planning to build his own retirement home on Bajor before events [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence made houses unnecessary for him]]. |
| 39 | * BruiserWithASoftCenter: Sisko kept his emotions veiled while on duty. He tends to loosen up and act warmer around family or officers of near-equal rank. |
| 40 | * ByronicHero: Sisko's personality gradually became a more downplayed example the longer the series went on and the more his burdens grew, compared to how he was at the start of the series, especially after he was hit with juggling the dual massive responsibilities of being TheChosenOne and a wartime leader during the Dominion War. |
| 41 | * TheCaligula: Possessed by the mental influence of one in "Dramatis Personae". |
| 42 | * CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: Sisko is pretty fierce in own right, but he's more likely to treat you to a DeathGlare and then storm out because he has more important things to do. That's when his Doberman (Kira) comes into the picture. |
| 43 | * TheChainsOfCommanding: Sisko felt these more keenly than most ''Trek'' Captains. Like Picard, he later warmed to his crew, particularly Kira whom he invited to watch a baseball game with him. On the other hand, he did lead his men in several suicide missions. |
| 44 | * CharacterTics: Touching the back of his neck when he's caught out or embarrassed; pinching his earlobe when bemused; patting a fist against his palm (like a baseball glove) when pondering something. |
| 45 | * ChefOfIron: Had he not joined Starfleet, Ben would probably still be tending the kitchen at Sisko's. His father Joseph ran his restaurant in a way similar to Picard's vineyard: He eschews replicated food, believing it lacks the flavor of a quality meal. |
| 46 | -->'''Joesph Sisko:''' I trained you to be a chef. [[GallowsHumor Lot of good it did me.]] |
| 47 | * ChekhovsSkill: Ben has memorized long strings of statistics from the greatest 20th century baseball players. This came in handy when trying to make small talk in 2024 A.D. ("Past Tense") |
| 48 | * ChildByRape: He's the child of a relationship that was non-consensual, but the Prophets are to blame, not his parents. His mother was possessed by the Prophets and forced into a relationship with the unknowing Joseph. After Benjamin was born, the Prophets released her and she, understandably, left Joseph and Ben. [[DoubleStandardRapeSciFi No one was particularly broken up when they learned this.]] |
| 49 | * TheChosenOne: Being the Emissary. So much so that [[spoiler:the Prophets arranged for his birth!]] As the Emissary to the Prophets, "The Sisko" has a destiny to fulfill, many trials to face, and an important role in Bajoran theology and prophecy. He was anointed as such due to a prophecy that the Emissary of The Prophets would return from the Celestial Temple healed by the Prophets. Sisko qualifies by getting over his emotional trauma over being violently widowed with pressing by the Prophets trying to understand why he "exists here" (in their nonlinear perspective) in the moment of his wife's death, and emerging from the Bajoran Wormhole. |
| 50 | * ColdHam: Mirror Sisko doesn't yell much, but is ''extremely'' hammy nonetheless, enough to rival Mirror Kirk. |
| 51 | * CommandingCoolness: For three seasons. |
| 52 | * CompanionCube: His baseball. He toys with it whenever he's thinking and, when the Dominion retakes the station, leaves it in his office as a message that he is going to come back. [[spoiler:When he takes it ''with'' him on his leave to Earth between seasons 6 and 7, Kira sees it as a sign that he doesn't know if he'll return.]] |
| 53 | ** Like all ''Trek'' Captains, Sisko was extremely fond of his ship and felt devastated when the Breen destroyed it. |
| 54 | * CompetitionFreak: He gets a little emotional over coaching baseball. Usually an understated performer, Brooks' capacity for [[ChewingTheScenery ham]] is on full display in "Take Me Out to the Holosuite." -- both toward his own team and Odo, who is refereeing. (He even delivers the stereotypical 'Are you blind?!' tangent by accusing Odo of regenerating instead of calling the game.) |
| 55 | -->'''Sisko:''' You are finished! Gone! Off the team!\ |
| 56 | '''Rom:''' ....I can't play?\ |
| 57 | '''Sisko''': That's the smartest thing you've said all week. ''You. Can't. Play.'' Now GET YOUR GEAR, '''''[[{{GetOut}} GET OUT]]''''' OF HERE!! |
| 58 | * ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Where Picard was the quintessential OfficerAndAGentleman, being content to look at the big picture in a given situation, while Sisko is much more of a front-line officer, and is more willing to get his hands dirty and deal with problems directly. Notably, Sisko is also the first Star Trek protagonist with a family (he's a widower and a single father), meaning that he's also far less stoic and objective than Picard, and is more likely to get emotionally involved in situations since he knows that he has a son to protect, and because he had to endure losing his wife in a previous battle. Picard is a hardline atheist while Sisko ends up becoming deeply religious. And while Kirk and Picard were idealists who took the high road whenever possible, even when it cost them, Sisko will reluctantly ShootTheDog if he has to if it's the least costly way to get the job done. Even personality wise, where Picard started out a stern, cold mannered and logical man, he gradually became warmer, kinder and embraced his emotions over the years, where Sisko started out a kinder and more emotional sort and ended up becoming colder, sterner and more logical as the years went on and his responsibilities grew. |
| 59 | * CrystalDragonJesus: The Emissary is a messiah figure in the Bajoran religion. |
| 60 | * CulturedBadass: Sisko strikes an even keel between Kirk's passion (not to mention [[VerbalTic speech patterns]]) and Picard's sophistication. He loves fine cuisine, early American history, and can belt out a jazz standard improv if you toss him a mic. |
| 61 | * DarkAndTroubledPast: For the first episode at least. The Prophets help him get over it ([[VisionQuest giving him his life back, as was prophesied]]) when he teaches them the nature of linear existence and they make him explain why he keeps living in his own "past" if the point is to move forward. |
| 62 | * DatingCatwoman: His relationship with [[spoiler:Kasidy Yates when she turns out to be running supplies (medicine and food according to her) to the Maquis.]] |
| 63 | ** He also slept with ''both'' Intendant Kira and (an unjoined) Jadzia from the Mirror Universe. |
| 64 | * DeadpanSnarker: Usually as the prelude to a severe reprimand. |
| 65 | * DealWithTheDevil: In the episode "In the Pale Moonlight," he basically gives a geneticist a ton of biomemetic material (the Trek equivalent of tactical nukes) that could be used to make biological weapons, all in pursuit of an encrypted data rod which is vital to his plan, but can't be replicated. In the end, the rod was just a lure to [[spoiler:kill the Romulan senator and his aides. Garak didn't tell him that, because he knew Sisko might agree to one or two clandestine killings, but no more. In the end, though, Sisko [[WhatYouAreInTheDark can live with that too.]]]] |
| 66 | * DeathGlare: The most intimidating glare in Starfleet. If you get this from Sisko, you are ''royally'' fucked. |
| 67 | * DeskJockey: For a short time during season six, Admiral Ross makes him his adjutant on a starbase. Jadzia acts as the captain of the ''Defiant'' in his stead. |
| 68 | * {{Determinator}}: In the episode "Paradise," Sisko and O'Brien are trapped on a planet by an EvilLuddite. She offers Sisko water if he will only take off his uniform. After a night in the punishment box, she offers it again, and Sisko's response is to put ''himself'' in the box. |
| 69 | * DoubleMeaning: Sisko's title of "Emissary" can be read two ways. The more common EmissaryFromTheDivine aspect. And the other, that he is the material world's Emissary ''to'' the Prophets, being the one who made them aware of the world outside the wormwhole, and their role in it. |
| 70 | * DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The only being to knock Q flat on his ass ''and get away with it''. |
| 71 | -->'''Q''': You ''hit'' me! Picard never hit me!\ |
| 72 | '''Sisko''': [[IAmNotHim I'm not Picard]]. |
| 73 | -->'''Q''': "No...*slyly* You're much easier to provoke." |
| 74 | ** Important detail to note: Q never came to [=DS9=] again after that episode. Though that was likely less out of fear, and more out of Sisko being "boring", while Janeway off in the Delta Quadrent was much more interesting. After all, Q had already shown how easily he could get even a powerful flagship like the Enterprise killed when he booted them off into Borg Space back in TNG |
| 75 | * DivineParentage: In a complicated way. [[spoiler:His mother was human... but was [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal possessed by a Prophet at the time]]. Once the possession wore off, she ran and left his father Joe heartbroken.]] |
| 76 | * EmissaryFromTheDivine: Sisko's role for the Bajoran religion and wormhole aliens. |
| 77 | * EmotionalBruiser: One of the toughest beings in the Alpha Quadrant, and he's not afraid to let his feelings show, from a hearty belly laugh with his friends to a DeathGlare at someone who pisses him off to openly weeping over the death of someone he cares for. |
| 78 | * TheEngineer: A minor example. After Wolf 359, Sisko worked at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, building, among other ships, the ''Defiant''. |
| 79 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: Probably his most iconic moment from early on came [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E07QLess a few episodes in,]] when Q shows up, starts causing trouble as usual, and eventually ends up challenging Sisko to a fistfight. Sisko decks him. When Q protests that Picard never hit him, Sisko simply says "I'm not Picard," firmly establishing that on this show, things worked differently. |
| 80 | * FanOfThePast: He had an interest in history. He collected models of old Starfleet starships and ancient African art, was very knowledgeable about 21st century history and his hero was James T. Kirk. |
| 81 | * AFatherToHisMen: Throughout the series, Sisko shows great concern for the people under his charge. He stresses to Worf the importance of knowing when to smile and keep morale up, even when it's the last thing he wants to do. This often entailed inviting his senior staff to home-cooked dinner in the Ward Room. |
| 82 | -->'''Adm. Ross:''' They're a good crew.\ |
| 83 | '''Sisko:''' ''(visibly moved)'' The best. |
| 84 | ** This extends to the well-being of the Promenade Merchant's Association and the Bajoran refugees under his roof. From day one, Sisko did his best to keep the station's shops, school, and restaurants in business, even donating furniture to Quark after he's audited by the Ferengi homeworld. When a prideful (but obviously relieved) Quark demands a "storage fee" for the new barstools, Sisko foots the bill. |
| 85 | * FourStarBadass: What he basically ends up becoming as time goes on. Officially he is just a captain, but in practice he is not. He is involved in grand strategy, manages thousands of people, is involved in dealings with heads of state and commands multiple fleets. Most real life admirals don't have a fraction of the influence Sisko ends up having. |
| 86 | * FriendToAllChildren: He actually enjoys the company of children and puts top priority on keeping his workers' families together. He kills two birds with one stone by appointing the recently-unemployed Keiko O'Brien as the head of the station's new school. This lowered the possibility of [=DS9's=] children from being sent off-world, and just as importantly, convinced his Chief of Operations' wife not to return to Earth with their daughter. Later in the series, a bemused Sisko acquires his own TagalongKid in Nog. |
| 87 | * GameOfNerds: He's such a fan that he uses it as an allegory for linear time and existence -- in ''the first episode!'' |
| 88 | * GeniusBruiser: Brooks described his character as "a quick thinker, but also a deep thinker," which is mostly on-target. Following the debacle at Wolf 359, Sisko found an outlet for his rage at Utopia Planetia, where he oversaw the design and construction for the USS ''Defiant''. |
| 89 | * AGodIAmNot: Well, in his defense, [[spoiler:he's only half-god]]. |
| 90 | * GoodIsNotNice: Not if it's pushed, anyway. It's possible that Starfleet sensed this and decided that only Sisko had the stomach for the Bajoran assignment. |
| 91 | * GoodParents: Subverting the usual archetype of Starfleet Captains. Sisko is one of few characters in the franchise (see also O'Brien) with a stable family life. |
| 92 | * GuileHero: He has a reputation for fighting, but he's also very good at worming his way into the enemy's confidence: manipulating the Jem'hadar when they take over the ship and have ''[[NervesOfSteel guns pointed at his head]]'', or palling around with Verad Dax like it's old times (before phasering his body-snatching ass to kingdom come). Sisko also successfully posed as Gabriel Bell in the [=21st=] century. This meant both convincing a roomful of people that he's an on-the-edge thug ''and'' his trigger-happy boss that it was in his interest to spare the hostages. |
| 93 | * HeartbrokenBadass: His wife is killed in the beginning of the pilot episode. It takes him a two-year time-skip and an encounter with [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens the Prophets]] to start getting over it. |
| 94 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: Did some shady shit that that would have gotten even Kirk court-martialed and sent to a penal colony for 30 years. As did Admiral Ross and Luther Sloan on Romulus. |
| 95 | * HeroInsurance: [[spoiler:In the episode "For the Uniform", Sisko decides to use Eddington's idea of poisoning atmospheres against Cardassians, and orders an anti-human version to be used on a Maquis planet to force Eddington's surrender. Essentially this did no physical harm to either side and just forced them to swap planets, but as Starfleet had already taken him off the case for making it personal you'd think they would have followed up about this. Bringing in the infamous turncoat Eddington may have gotten him significant leeway.]] |
| 96 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:He tackles Dukat off of a cliff into the aptly-named Fire Caves, although the Prophets grab him.]] |
| 97 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: He was this close to his mentor and best friend, Curzon Dax. Then Curzon died and Dax became Jadzia Dax, with whom he was still HeterosexualLifePartners, to the point of still calling her "Old Man". Then came Ezri Dax, who was a neurotic mess after an unexpected Joining that she had never prepared for, and they were HeterosexualLifePartners ''again'', only this time he was Dax's mentor. |
| 98 | * HomegrownHero: The prophesied hero of the Bajoran religion is an American from New Orleans. |
| 99 | * {{Hypocrite}}: A mild example in "Trials and Tribble-ations". He admonishes Dax for wanting to meet with Koloth as her interaction with him could have unforeseeable consequences on the future and Sisko wants to limit his crew's interactions with the people of the past to only the absolute minimum required. The last thing he does before they return to the 24th century? Personally meets with Captain Kirk and gets his autograph. |
| 100 | * IWillFightSomeMoreForever: Surrender to the Dominion? Not on ''his'' watch! Bashir is lucky the Captain didn't feed him his own [=iPad=] at that suggestion. |
| 101 | * ImmigrantPatriotism: When young Jake groaned over having to move to Bajor, Ben pitched it as a vacation. Privately, though, Sisko wasn't happy about the assignment or the effect it was having on his son, and considered transferring back to civilian service. Through his interactions with the Bajoran people -- most notably Major Kira -- Sisko slowly grows to love Bajor. By Season 5, wild horses couldn't drag him away from that station. Note also that he begins wearing traditional Bajoran clothes during his off-hours. Ironically, Sisko does help recruit Bajor into the Federation as promised, but actually ensures that they won't - yet. This turns out to be the right decision, as it allows Bajor to remain neutral and more-or-less unscathed through the Dominion War. In the end, Sisko talks of retiring from Starfleet to live on Bajor, suggesting that his time on the station has converted him from a steadfast promoter of the Federation into something else. Bajor is not of the Federation, but "Sisko is of Bajor." |
| 102 | * ImportantHaircut: Sisko grows a goatee and loses the buzz cut after he's promoted. It's around the same time the series started to get [[DarkerAndEdgier dark.]] |
| 103 | * ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: From a world-weary Starfleet Commander on the verge of insubordination to the Emissary of the Prophets, an iconic figure of the Bajoran worldwide religion. It may not look like much and Sisko himself didn't realize what it meant at first. But Kira reveals in Accession he had absolutely no idea of the immense power he got into his hands, especially considering how incredibly pious the Bajoran people are. To put this into perspective, it is also implied in this episode Bajor would have known a planetary war if both Emissaries decided to fight for the title; you could see it early on when it was an even split between Bajorans enraptured or off-put by the call to return to the [[FantasticCasteSystem D'jarra]]. Worse still are the personal sacrifices demanded of him by the Prophets themselves, and being pulled throughout the series between whether he should be a Starfleet officer or the Emissary, trying to juggle both roles, with the latter one eventually winning out in the end. |
| 104 | * ItsPersonal: '''Eddington'''. |
| 105 | --> "He played me, alright - and what is my excuse? Is he a changeling? NO! Is he a being with seven lifetimes of experience? NO! Is he a wormhole alien? No! He's just a man, like me, and he BEAT me!" |
| 106 | * TheKirk: He will act on his emotions, sometimes to the degree that ItsPersonal, but he's also able to see all sides of an issue and weigh the choices between what feels right and what will be best in the long term. |
| 107 | * TheKnightsWhoSaySquee: Sisko admitted to some fanboy glee at breathing the same air as James T. Kirk, but nonetheless ordered his squad to stay focused on their mission. The episode ended with Sisko [[HypocriticalHumor getting Kirk's autograph]] (Kirk thought he was signing a crew complement list). To be fair, the temporal investigators he was relaying the story to (who absolutely ''hated'' Kirk for all his time travel violations) said they would have done the same in Sisko's situation. |
| 108 | * KungFuJesus: Word of God cites Moses as an inspiration for Sisko's story. |
| 109 | * LikeBrotherAndSister: He and Dax tease each other like old friends, friends who one has just got the body of a young woman, and he jokes the new body will take some getting used to. |
| 110 | * LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: While he does get promoted to Captain, the amount of responsibility he's given makes that laughable. By the sixth season he's commanding fleets in battles; by the finale he's the de-facto supreme commander of the allied forces and ''still'' doesn't get an admiral title. |
| 111 | * TheLostLenore: Jennifer Sisko, who gets wasted in every universe, including the series pilot and in the Mirror dimension. She never had much in the way of personality, even when alive. |
| 112 | * ManlyTears: Demonstrated in the very first episode. Reliving the memory of your beloved spouse dying would be enough to make anyone cry. WHILE having to explain to a being that doesn't understand linear time, why you cannot leave this moment. Notably happens again later in the series after a Pah-wraith [[spoiler:takes over his son's body.]] |
| 113 | * MessianicArchetype: Communicates with the gods of Bajor and is their representative in the corporeal realm. Safeguards the Bajorans. [[spoiler:Sacrifices himself against the AntiChrist--oh, and the gods also engineered his birth.]] |
| 114 | * MightyWhitey: A for obvious reasons rather unusual version of this trope. [[spoiler:But ultimately, in a way he ''does'' play it straight since he turns out to be a religious Messiah-like figure for another race he (as the representative of the Federation) has basically taken under his wing beforehand; i.e. he's basically a sci-fi application of the trope where the human become the most awesome and heroic figure taking a leading role for a native non-human species; and even though this trope is usually applied to white chracters, apart from this particular detail it's pretty much the same.]] |
| 115 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: |
| 116 | ** In "Heart Of Stone," Sisko has this written all over his face when he forces Nog to admit the reason why the latter is applying to Starfleet: Nog is ashamed of his father and wants to do better than him, although he has to buck every single aspect of his heritage in order to do so. |
| 117 | ** The ''entire'' episode "In the Pale Moonlight". He records a log entry attempting to come to grips with his actions, justifying all the evil he committed by telling himself that it's for [[TheNeedsOfTheMany the greater good]]. |
| 118 | * NoNonsenseNemesis: Sisko may be a gentle man and peaceful diplomat of the highest order, but if you ever get to the point where he considers you a 'nemesis', he will hunt you down to the ends of the universe and raze entire planets to smoke you out. And that is [[NotHyperbole not a bluff]]. |
| 119 | * NonindicativeName: Everyone calls him "Emissary", yet when he actually acts like one, it backfires. More information on the trope page. |
| 120 | * NoodleIncident: Pelios Station. Apparently, something happened there involving Curzon, Benjamin, and a table dancer, but Ben's embarrassed enough by the story that whenever it's brought up in public he shushes Dax. |
| 121 | * NotSoAboveItAll: Despite ordering his crew to remain focused on the mission in "Trials and Tribble-ations", he all but squees when telling Dax how much he wants to meet Kirk, and later sneaks onto the bridge to get the man's autograph before they return to the future. |
| 122 | ** Sisko is also more than willing to indulge in ship wide gossip amongst the officers. |
| 123 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Between his stint as First Officer of the ''Saratoga'' and being assigned to command Deep Space Nine, he was responsible for designing the ''Defiant''-class starships. |
| 124 | * ParentsAsPeople: He has a tough time raising Jake, but does a pretty good job of it anyway. He has a similar relationship with his own father, Joe Sisko. |
| 125 | * PlatonicLifePartners: |
| 126 | ** With Jadzia Dax. He was also ''very'' close friends with Dax's previous male host Curzon. Less so with Ezri because she was so much younger than him and had so much trouble adjusting to the joining that they almost swapped roles with Sisko becoming ''Dax's'' mentor. |
| 127 | ** Subverted when he traveled to the Mirror Universe. Where apparently he had sex with the alternate (Dax-less) Jadzia in order to maintain his cover as the alternate Sisko... |
| 128 | * PoliticallyCorrectHistory: This irritates him; it's one of the reasons he doesn't initially care to try out the Rat Pack era casino simulation. It was [[{{Deconstruction}} Deconstructed]] in that same episode when Kasidy offers a different perspective: it's not the way it was, but it is the way it ''should'' have been. |
| 129 | * PragmaticHero: The threat of the Dominion War makes Sisko more and more this trope as the series progresses. Season 6's "In the Pale Moonlight" is a particularly glaring example. |
| 130 | * PunctuatedForEmphasis: Has a tendency to do this whenever he gets angry. For example, this dialogue from "Rules of Engagement" |
| 131 | -->"Isn't! It! Possible! That the ship! He! Saw! was sending out false! Sensor! Images! |
| 132 | * RankScalesWithAsskicking: He's the highest ranked officer on Deep Space Nine and kicks more ass than any other Captain in the franchise. Takes on several Jem'Hadar on the ground, and also leads several of the fleet battles. He was a star wrestler at the Academy and, in a pinch, knows his way around the bat'leth (presumably he trained with Curzon); imagine the look of surprise on that Klingon boarding party when he swipes a bat'leth from their fallen comrade and goes to town on them in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E01E02TheWayOfTheWarrior The Way of the Warrior]]". Oh, and he's also the only person in the history of the franchise to [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punch Q]] to the floor. Among military buffs, Sisko is regarded as the most believable military officer in the franchise. |
| 133 | * RankUp: Following three years of overseeing [=DS9=], Sisko is finally promoted to captain. Despite this, Sisko oddly remains a captain despite being given responsibilities and commands that would normally be entrusted to a flag officer. By the end of the Dominion War, he speaks to Vice Admiral Ross, a superior who outranks him by three full grades, and the other Allied leaders as an equal. |
| 134 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: For the most part. Just don't cross him or make him angry. |
| 135 | * ReassignedToAntarctica: It's implied that his posting to [=DS9=] was this. Considering that the station and Bajor were considered to be a backwater area for the Federation, combined with his initial wish to be anywhere else, Starfleet probably sent him as a last ditch effort to revive his career in a place where he could do no real damage. Turned into a positive example of a ReassignmentBackfire. |
| 136 | * RealMenCanCook: A highly competent war leader with nerves of steel... who also makes a pretty fierce jambalaya, if his son can be trusted. His aubergine stew ain't half bad either. |
| 137 | * RedOniBlueOni: Blue to Kira's Red. Sisko tends to be level-headed though he often shows more emotion than your average starfleet captain. Kira is... intense, by comparison. |
| 138 | * ReligiousBruiser: To the point where his faith in the Prophets even surpasses [[SinisterMinister Kai Winn's]]. |
| 139 | * RenaissanceMan: Sisko does have quite a wide range of talents and interests. But then, being [[RenaissanceMan Renaissance Men]] is more or less the Federation's [[PlanetOfHats hat]] (at least since ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''). |
| 140 | * ResignedToTheCall: |
| 141 | ** Sisko drags his heels all the way to his new assignment on [=DS9=]. It's a miserable job, and no one wants it. He quickly changes his tune after convening with the Prophets, who restore his hopes for the future. In addition, the discovery of the wormhole in the first episode (and the station's relocation to the Alpha-Quadrant entrance of said wormhole) turns Deep Space Nine into a hot location overnight. |
| 142 | ** Being the Emissary in general also turns into this, what with all the religious ceremonies that he has to take part in and everything else that comes with the job. "Accession," however, changes that viewpoint. |
| 143 | * {{Retirony}}: [[spoiler:Sisko plans to build a house on Bajor once the war is settled with. He survives, but on another plane with no way of knowing when exactly he'll be back.]] |
| 144 | * ScaryBlackMan: |
| 145 | ** Creator/RobertPicardo admits that he was nervous to step onto the show and start being rude to actors like Avery Brooks because he was scared that the intimidating Captain might rip his head off and shit down his neck. |
| 146 | ** This guy can intimidate ''Worf'', a claim that few beings in the galaxy can make. He plays this to the ''hilt'' in "For the Uniform," when he orders biogenic weapons to be launched at a Maquis settlement to get Eddington to surrender. |
| 147 | --->'''Sisko:''' Commander, launch torpedoes.\ |
| 148 | ''[Worf stares at him in shock]''\ |
| 149 | '''Sisko:''' Commander, I said ''[[ThatsAnOrder launch torpedoes!]]'' |
| 150 | ** In the third episode, he has to deal with Kira interrupting an admiral's staff meeting to complain about Sisko's methods. Big mistake. |
| 151 | -->'''Sisko''' ([[TranquilFury smiling politely]]): Go over my head again, and I'll have ''yours'' on a platter. |
| 152 | * SecondLove: Kasidy is Sisko's, after Jennifer, who was killed in the pilot (at Wolf 359). |
| 153 | * SharpDressedMan: His Earth outfit. Sisko wears a jazzy black blazer, while everyone else wears the usual ''Trek'' civvies (silk pajamas, a vest if you're lucky). |
| 154 | * ShellShockedVeteran: He begins the series still traumatized from the Battle of Wolf 359 and the pilot is about him coming to terms with it. Later on, during the Dominion War, he's shown to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown several times from the stress. |
| 155 | * SmartPeoplePlayChess: Several times throughout the series. |
| 156 | * TheStoic: Sisko might just be the most inscrutable of ''Star Trek's'' leads. |
| 157 | * StopWorshippingMe: Feels this way about being the Emissary initially, but mostly keeps it to himself. He stays rather humble about the position even after he accepts it as part of his identity. |
| 158 | * SuddenlyShouting: Sisko getting pissed about something and switching from his Barry White whisper to his trumpety high voice when yelling. Noted in the series, as he regularly sees Bashir for his sore throat. |
| 159 | -->'''Sisko: YOU BETRAYED YOUR UNIFORM!!!!!''' |
| 160 | * SugarAndIcePersonality: This is owning to Brooks' nuances as a performer, switching from serene Shatnerese (picked up during his Shakespeare days) to the bulldog ferocity he was known for on ''Spenser: For Hire''. He also got plenty of tender moments with Kassidy and his son, as well. |
| 161 | * TeamChef: He claims his dad taught him everything he knows, and his dad is the owner and operator of a restaurant, so in a 24th century where cooking is mostly a hobby, he's a hobbyist (and a good one, we are told). |
| 162 | * TimeyWimeyBall: [[spoiler:His entire existence.]] Since the Prophets exist outside of linear space-time, their first meeting with The Sisko took place relatively speaking ''before'' they'd sent their prophecies to the Ancient Bajorans about the Emissary. [[spoiler:To ensure that that meeting took place, they sent one of their number to engineer his very ''birth''.]] Furthermore, it's very likely that the Prophets began influencing Bajoran society due to meeting Sisko, making him somewhat culpable for most of Bajoran history... and thus the reason he first arrived at Bajor to begin with! |
| 163 | * TranquilFury: It's scary how quickly that tight-lipped smile can turn into a glower. |
| 164 | * TraumaButton: In the pilot, he’s unable to move from where his wife was killed, constantly replaying that trauma, and sees Picard as a reminder, until he heals a bit and apologises. |
| 165 | * TwerpSweating: While it was Ben's decision to move his family to Bajor, he does lose sleep over the unsavory company Jake is cavorting with. Instead of uncovering his son's girlfriends' weak points to exploit, though, Sisko winds up learning that Jake writes poetry and is quite a hustler. |
| 166 | * UnresolvedSexualTension: Both Sisko and Jadzia have admitted that they're attracted to each other, but agree that acting on it would be ''really'' weird given Sisko's relationship with the previous Dax. As he puts it, "She may not be Curzon, but she's still DAX!" |
| 167 | ** He does sleep with her mirror-universe counterpart while posing as their Ben Sisko though; an unjoined Jadzia was that Ben's mistress, and he had to maintain his cover when she threw herself at him after all... |
| 168 | * VerbalTic: He does the same shifting between slow and pronounced and speaking very fast speech patterns that Kirk/Shatner did. Sisko is the Commander of a particular DysfunctionJunction, as well as a father, so it makes sense that he’s trying to figure out what to say. |
| 169 | * VillainByProxyFallacy: A rarity in how he views this of ''himself'' during "In the Pale Moonlight". |
| 170 | -->'''Sisko''': I am an accessory to murder(...) I think I can live with it. |
| 171 | * VisionQuest: Like Picard and Janeway, this Captain was outwardly skeptical but highly curious about the spiritual and arcane. He embarked on a couple such quests in his career: a trip through the Orb of Time helped heal his psychic wounds left behind from the USS ''Saratoga''; and a long desert trek ended with the revelation that he was part-Prophet. |
| 172 | * WarHero: After the battle to retake Deep Space Nine from the Dominion, he is awarded the Christopher Pike Medal of Valor. This is referenced a few episodes later when his old Academy nemesis Captain Solok shows up and needles Sisko by saying he had received that award twice. |
| 173 | * TheWatchmaker: The only lasting impact of "Dramatis Personae" is the addition of an abstract-looking clock in Sisko's Ready Room. The clock (built by Sisko while possessed by a mad alien king) symbolizes the non-linearity of the Prophet's existence and the way they perceive time. It's included in the background of several episodes. |
| 174 | * WarriorPoet: Can sometimes ruminate on this. See in "In the Pale Moonlight". |
| 175 | * WarriorTherapist: Becomes this when confronted to Dukat's psychosis in "Waltz". [[SubvertedTrope He probably aggravated it in the process as the Cardassian was still in denial at the time]] but at least, it got him a chance to escape. |
| 176 | * WeWillAllBeHistoryBuffsInTheFuture: |
| 177 | ** Another one of Sisko's interests is history. He collected models of old Starfleet starships and ancient African art. He loved exploring Bajor's monasteries, and once rebuilt a solar-powered "lightship" using only materials available to the ancient Bajorans. |
| 178 | ** He was knowledgeable about civil rights reforms, which came in handy when he was accidentally zapped to dystopic San Francisco in 2024. |
| 179 | ** He was uncomfortable with the Vegas holo-program at first, as black people in the sixties could never be customers in a place like Vic's lounge. This is a reality Sisko experienced first-hand, as Benny Russell, in "Far Beyond the Stars," which may have been based on Sisko's prior knowledge of the civil rights movement. |
| 180 | * WrestlerInAllOfUs: He used to be captain of the Starfleet Academy wrestling team, which comes in handy when you need to beat up a slightly-drunken Klingon. Of course, even that can't help overpower a Vulcan, as he learnt at one point in his youth... |
| 181 | * WorkingClassHero: Unlike [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Kirk]] or [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Picard]], Sisko isn't from a big family or a prodigy in the Academy, he's just a son of a chef who worked his way up the ranks. He also has a son to think of, so he can't afford the kinds of emotionally detached, high-minded idealism of the other two Captains. Compounding his problems is that he's unable to just jump to warp to avoid the fallout of his decisions, which means he has to work ''with'' his team instead of just ordering them around, while regularly dealing with a deluge of civilians and independent operatives clamoring for his attention. |
| 182 | * WouldntHitAGirl: He half-jokes about this whenever Dax manages to piss him off. He'll comment, "If you were still a man..." while knowing perfectly well that even if she isn't in her nineties, Dax could still easily wallop him. |
| 183 | * YouWillBeBeethoven: [[spoiler:Takes on the identity of Gabriel Bell, an early 21st century civil rights crusader, after the real Bell is killed confronting an angry mob that was attacking Sisko and Bashir. Sisko subsequently does everything that Gabriel Bell was credited with, [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060323234932/memoryalpha/en/images/8/80/Gabriel_Bell_bio.jpg with his image taking Bell's place in the historical record.]]]] |
| 184 | * YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: Sisko struggles to keep a tight lid on his temper, to the point where he comes across as incredibly mellow. To the contrary, he confesses that he often entertains thoughts "unworthy of a Starfleet Officer." For an example, see "A Time to Stand" when Sisko receives news of the decimated Seventh Fleet with [[PunchAWall a handy glass table]] nearby. |
| 185 | [[/folder]] |
| 186 | |
| 187 | [[folder:Doctor (Lieutenant) Julian Bashir]] |
| 188 | !!Doctor/Lieutenant Julian Bashir |
| 189 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a203ab76_1e67_4f91_a9c7_88fb427888a3.jpeg]] |
| 190 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"I'm a doctor. You're my patient. That's all I need to know."'']] |
| 191 | !!!'''Played By:''' Siddig El Fadil a.k.a. Creator/AlexanderSiddig |
| 192 | |
| 193 | ->''"I didn't want some cushy job or a research grant, I wanted ''this''! The farthest reaches of the galaxy; one of the most remote outposts available. [[DareToBeBadass This is where the adventure is! This is where heroes are made]]!"'' |
| 194 | -->-- "Emissary" |
| 195 | |
| 196 | Thrill-seeking newcomer who believes he's God's gift to medicine; life on the station would [[BreakTheHaughty shatter that notion]] pretty quickly. Started off alternatively being droolingly infatuated with Dax, painfully green, and generally coming across as [[Series/{{Blackadder}} Lieutenant George]] '''IN SPACE''' prattling eagerly about frontier medicine and generally getting up the nose of anyone unfortunate to be nearby. Later his behavior gives way to some [[HiddenDepths dark personal secrets]]. |
| 197 | ---- |
| 198 | * AdmiringTheAbomination: In "Babel", as much as he also tries to cure the engineered virus, he also gets a little too excited for Sisko's liking, and calls it a work of genius. |
| 199 | %%* AlwaysSecondBest: On purpose. |
| 200 | * AmbiguouslyBi: Is a CasanovaWannabe around women, and his acted-intentionally HomoeroticSubtext with Garak is on the same level as Kirk/Spock and Q/Picard. WordOfGod eventually confirmed the two were in a relationship. |
| 201 | * AmbiguouslyBrown: Though the name is clearly Arabic, nobody ever mentions where Bashir hails from - a fact which Siddig was personally proud of. When his parents turn up at the station, his mother Amsha speaks with Fadwa El Guindi's Egyptian accent, while his dad Richard is distinctly Cockney. The same is true of Siddig himself (his mother is English, his father is Sudanese). |
| 202 | * BadassBookworm: He usually goes out of his way to avoid violence, and clearly has little stomach for it, but on the rare occasions when he is dragged into a fight or otherwise dive into danger he usually performs ''tremendously'' better than you'd suspect just by looking at him. [[spoiler:Then again, he ''is'' an Augment.]] |
| 203 | * BashBrothers: With O'Brien in some episodes, Garak in others. |
| 204 | ** In "Indiscretion," it was mentioned that it's frowned upon on Cardassia for outsiders (and especially non-Cardassians) to view a dead relative's body. And yet in "Inferno's Light," Garak allows Bashir into the room where his father is dying, lying to him that there's no one else in the room. It shows how strongly Garak felt about his and Bashir's friendship. |
| 205 | * BeneathTheMask: He comes off as egotistical with little cause, but [[spoiler:after it's revealed he's an Augment Bashir reveals a stunning amount of self-loathing and impostor syndrome underneath the surface.]] |
| 206 | * BioAugmentation: [[spoiler:Not by choice, and kept secret for most of the series. Bashir is a unique case, however, in that his parents went for a limited, specifically targeted, augmentation to bring a below-average child up to mere genius levels rather than the whole package[[note]]While he does have Augment-level enhanced senses, reflexes, and health, he seems to lack the more aggressive augmentations such as SuperStrength and once, when asked by another Augment if he could do crazy kung-fu backflips, quipped "probably not".[[/note]], meaning that he doesn't demonstrate the extreme personality quirks or dangerous amounts of ambition seen in other augments.]] |
| 207 | * BolivianArmyEnding: Some of his favorite holosuite programs are the [[UsefulNotes/TheHomeFront Battle of Britain]], [[RememberTheAlamo the Alamo]], and the [[UsefulNotes/GrecoPersianWars Battle of Thermopylae]]. Ezri teasingly speculates about these "annihilation fantasies." |
| 208 | * CasanovaWannabe: His attempts to be suave always fail, unless he's in a holosuite. He's not nearly as cool as he thinks he is. |
| 209 | * CerebusRetcon: [[spoiler:The revelation about his genetic enhancements casts a much darker light on his earlier behavior.]] |
| 210 | * CharacterDevelopment: Siddig has revealed that he deliberately played Bashir as an absolute twit in the early episodes, wanting to leave room to develop the character on what the ''Star Trek'' brand would undoubtedly make a long-running series. This paid off quite well. |
| 211 | * CombatMedic: Holy cow, the medic just stabbed his captor in the neck! Justified, given the stakes, but somewhat unexpected. |
| 212 | ** Gives a good showing of himself in "The Siege of AR-558" and "Rocks and Shoals," and manages to come out of a brawl with a dozen TOS-era Klingons unscathed, as well. |
| 213 | * CompanionCube: His teddy bear, Kukalaka. |
| 214 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: In the beginning, when he’s an UpperClassTwit and CasanovaWannabe, except when he’s working, and he shifts from idiot to DeterminedDoctor. |
| 215 | * DeliberateUnderPerformance: In season one, Doctor Bashir admits that he intentionally missed a question on his final exam at the Academy, which dropped him to second in his class. [[spoiler:A season five episode reveals that he underperformed to avoid drawing attention to his superior brainpower, which is the result of illegal BioAugmentation.]] |
| 216 | * DeterminedDoctor: Bashir exemplifies this trope more than any other ''Star Trek'' doctor character, by far. Here are just a few examples: |
| 217 | ** ''The Wire'': Refusing to give up on Garak, despite Garak being a {{jerkass}} the whole time. |
| 218 | ** ''Hippocratic Oath'': Becoming obsessed with helping the Jem'Hadar break their dependence on ketrecel-white, to the point that O'Brien has to sabotage his research to snap him out of it. |
| 219 | ** ''The Quckening'': Helping a dying pregnant woman stay alive just long enough for her baby to be born, and accidentally inoculating that baby against the disease all in this society are born with and die from. |
| 220 | * DoggedNiceGuy: Towards Dax. It doesn't work with Jadzia. Does with Ezri (who he is not dogged with, but she reveals that Jadzia would have reciprocated if Worf hadn't arrived when he did). Although by the time Worf arrived, he'd matured considerably. |
| 221 | * EndearinglyDorky: His very first line is tripping all over himself to ask Dax for dinner or drinks. |
| 222 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: While he’s a bit of an UpperClassTwit early on, when it’s time to do some actual doctoring, he's as forceful, determined, and just plain ''good'' as [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Leonard "Bones" McCoy]] and [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Beverly Crusher]]. |
| 223 | * FanOfThePast: Bashir is a huge geek about 1960s spy fiction and something of a war history buff. He is less interested in the 2000s, however ([[ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder he's a doctor, not a historian]]), and is so useless at figuring out 23rd Century technology that he and O'Brien stand in a turbolift for ages until a yeoman does it for them. |
| 224 | * FantasticRacism: [[spoiler:His genetic augmentation nearly got him kicked out of Starfleet when they found out. The Federation has strict, almost draconian, laws against it due to augments suffering from physical and mental side effects so severe that they cannot be left unsupervised. Not to mention the stigma likely attached to it by the Eugenics War and one [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Khan Noonien Singh]]. Sisko mentions that Bashir is the first case they've dealt with in decades, making this a very rare occurrence indeed. Sisko also pointed out that the law is somewhat dated simply because it is so rarely enforced.]] |
| 225 | * FishOutOfWater: Bashir exists solely to contrast the cushiness of TNG with the cold realities of frontier life. Ironically, he's the only crew member who requested the assignment. |
| 226 | * ForScience: A dark example would be his attempts to cure the Blight - a designer virus inflicted on dissidents in Dominion space - single-handedly. The debacle finally ended with Bashir gerryrigging a vaccine, promising that the virus would run its course within a generation. However, it came at the cost of several patients experiencing agonizing deaths in place of the euthanasia they had originally opted for. |
| 227 | ** Worse yet, the Romulans later express an interest in researching the Blight for their own purposes. As they're now allies of the Federation. Bashir might have had little choice but to placate them... |
| 228 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: A throwaway moment occurs in the Season 4 episode "Homefront," when Odo chats with O'Brien and Bashir right before a trip to Earth. O'Brien cheerfully asks Odo to say hi to O'Brien's parents in Dublin. Odo turns and asks Bashir if he has any family he'd like Odo to visit; Bashir immediately clams up and changes the subject, [[spoiler:a hint at his strained relationship with his parents almost a full season before it's explicitly established.]] Also, at one point he also mentions defeating a Vulcan scientist at squash at his previous post. [[spoiler:It seems like a throwaway line, but then you remember Vulcans are 3 times stronger than humans with much faster reflexes (in another episode, Sisko mentions breaking one arm and a few ribs attempting to challenge a Vulcan in a similar sports contest).]] There's also Bashir's story about losing out on being top of his class because of his confusion of a preganglionic fiber with a postganglionic nerve, something any medical student should easily be able to tell apart. [[spoiler:It's hinted a few times that he deliberately failed this exam question to throw off suspicion.]] |
| 229 | ** Ironically, Bashir’s [[spoiler:genetic enhancements]] weren’t planned at all prior to [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E16DrBashirIPresume "Dr Bashir, I Presume?"]]—it just happened to work well with previous throwaway moments. |
| 230 | * FrontierDoctor: The first since Dr. [=McCoy=]. Bashir explicitly came to Bajor because no one else would. He knew that prestige awaited him on the outer rim, and by dumb luck, he spearheaded the research excursions into the Gamma Quadrant. Pretty soon he's the envy of the medical corps. He learns pretty quickly complements of Major Kira that the locals don't exactly appreciate their homeworld being described as "the Wilderness" to their faces though. |
| 231 | * GenreSavvy: At least in regards to James Bond novels. |
| 232 | * GoodCounterpart: [[spoiler:To Khan Noonien Singh and his genetically engineered followers. Bashir eventually assembles a few Augment groupies of his own, but with a different purpose: to dampen their antisocial tendencies and reassimilate them into society.]] |
| 233 | * GoodIsNotSoft: He believes in the ideals of the Federation, but is willing to use [[MindRape Romulan mind probes]] to save Odo from the Section 31 virus. He's also a dedicated doctor, but won't hesitate to pick up a phaser to protect his friends and country. |
| 234 | * GoodWithNumbers: He's able to do very complex calculations in his head. Siddig was wary of becoming the show's "Data", so he doesn't show off this talent much. |
| 235 | * HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster?: How some feel about [[spoiler:his augmentations.]] Julian apparently took it to heart, as he's allowed his personal life and career to fall to shambles, too afraid to attract attention. |
| 236 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: Julian claims that Miles likes him more than Miles ''loves'' Keiko. Although Miles would like to deny this, he does admit to sometimes wishing that Keiko was more like Julian. |
| 237 | * HisOwnWorstEnemy: His life shows a pattern of self sabotage. In "Armageddon Game," for example, he tells O'Brien that he turned down a good career ''and'' a beautiful French ballerina in favor of Starfleet, but he seems baffled by his own decision. This is explained with the revelation of his discomfort and self-loathing over his [[spoiler:genetic augmentations]]. |
| 238 | * HospitalHottie: While only rarely played for {{Fanservice}}, Bashir is an attractive man. He still manages to bungle his relationships with the fairer sex due to overconfidence and inexperience. |
| 239 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Bashir criticizes the unseen Captain Boday for being an opinionated and arrogant womanizer. He himself is very much a CasanovaWannabe and is rather arrogant himself, especially in the first season where he's characterized as an UpperClassTwit. |
| 240 | * InnocentlyInsensitive: Goes on to Kira, not knowing that this is her home, about the wonders of being a frontier doctor “out in the wilderness”. |
| 241 | * InsufferableGenius: He tends to brag about beating a Vulcan in a racquetball match and his many medical miracles. Ironically, this is toned down after his augmentation is revealed. |
| 242 | ** In "Crossover," Kira finds herself trapped in a Runabout with Bashir, who keeps ruining her attempts to meditate. Bashir offers to let bygones be bygones by playing some music. Kira begs off, claiming she only knows Bajoran music. He makes his selecton, prompting Kira's incredulous reaction: ''he knows Bajoran classical composers.'' |
| 243 | ** Siddig has revealed that he deliberately made Bashir jerkish because he knew the show would run for years and he wanted to show CharacterDevelopment. This turned out to fit well with the later idea that it's because of his genetically enhanced origins. |
| 244 | * TheIntern: He relocates to Bajor in order to make a name for himself legitimately, but still complains about missing out on the action aboard ''Galaxy''-class science vessels. Tellingly, he was caught poking around the ''Enterprise'''s laboratory without permission. |
| 245 | * IronicFear: He was terrified of Doctors growing up. [[spoiler:This makes more sense in light of being an Augment.]] |
| 246 | * TheMedic: Even if it doesn't make any sense for a station doctor to be out in the field. |
| 247 | * MultipleChoicePast: His reasons for going into medicine change from person to person. This is one of the reasons people thought the writers planned [[spoiler:the reveal of his augmentations from the beginning, instead of [[AuthorsSavingThrow a last-minute change]].]] |
| 248 | * NeverTellMeTheOdds: Garak suggests he isn't [[spoiler:genetically engineered]] but a Vulcan when he calculates the ludicrously pessimistic likelihood about them losing the war (a 32.7% of survival -- even Quark would fold at those odds). |
| 249 | * NiceGuy: To Garak's consternation, Bashir is a kind, compassionate soul who takes his duties as a doctor seriously and does everything in his power to save his patients. |
| 250 | * ObfuscatingStupidity: Unsatisfied with the audiences' response to "bumbling" Bashir, the writers [[spoiler:outed him as a genetically-enhanced ĂĽber genius who has been operating under the radar.]] |
| 251 | * OddCouple: He has an unerring knack for irritating O'Brien. Rather brilliantly, he never did anything that could ''quite'' be construed as offensive, but rather gets under the skin in subtle ways: reading off his lists of accomplishments with faux modesty, mincing and preening before their racquetball match ("This exercise for example, I picked up at a tournament from a top player!"), refusing to shut up during a long voyage, and suggesting that the Chief is, well... ''of a certain age.'' |
| 252 | * OddFriendship: With Garak. The creepy tailor seems to have made it his personal mission to corrupt the wide-eyed Doctor, and takes delight whenever Bashir exhibits Cardassian-like behavior (such as his detached willingness to shoot Garak in the back in "Our Man Bashir"). |
| 253 | ** With Miles O'Brien. The pair are a decade apart in age. Julian is a doctor, and is career military. Miles is an enlisted officer and stricly an engineer. After a prickly couple of seasons, the pair become practically inseparable. |
| 254 | * OpenMouthInsertFoot: Particularly prone to this in the early seasons, such as his "frontier medicine" comments to Kira, everything he does while flirting with Jadzia, etc. |
| 255 | * PrettyBoy: One of the youngest on the station barring children, with a soft face, big eyes, long lashes and a cute puppy smile. |
| 256 | * PropheticName: The meaning of the name Bashir is "well-educated; wise". |
| 257 | ** Originally, the character was meant to be a LatinLover named "Dr. [[PunnyName Amaros]]", which is a bit on the nose. |
| 258 | * RankUp: Went unremarked so it may have been a wardrobe error [[ThrowItIn that stuck]], but he started the series wearing one gold pip and one black pip (a lieutenant junior grade) and ended with two gold pips (full lieutenant). |
| 259 | * RomanticRunnerUp: Twice. The first time was to Rom and the second time was to Worf. If Worf hadn't come along, it's apparent that Dax would have succumbed to his advances (and indeed Ezri admits as much in Season 7). |
| 260 | * SatelliteCharacter: Nope, not O'Brien. To ''Garak''. Without his spy intrigue, Bashir wouldn't be included in some of the more interesting arcs (including Section 31). |
| 261 | * SmallNameBigEgo: Bashir comes across as a bit of an ass at first, which fits with the viewers' first impressions to the character. Kira seems to barely tolerate him, O'Brien dislikes the limey on principle (as dyed-in-the-wool Irishmen would), Dax nods at his professions of love in a patronising way, and it's clear that Sisko isn't overly fond of his doctor, either. In "Past Prologue", he doesn't seem alarmed by Bashir's collusion with an ex-Cardassian spy, as if doubting that Bashir could cause any risk to Federation security even if he set his mind to it! |
| 262 | * SuperLoser: [[spoiler:Genius-level intellect! Superhuman reflexes!]] ...But he's rubbish at pulling girls. |
| 263 | %%* StupidSexyFlanders |
| 264 | * SuperSenses: Downplayed. After having an annoying sound outside of human hearing range pointed out to him by his fellow augments, Bashir suddenly notices it and indeed finds it ''quite'' annoying, indicating that his senses are slightly less enhanced than theirs, but still above normal. |
| 265 | * ThatManIsDead: He refuses to go by his childhood nickname 'Jules', [[spoiler:insisting that Jules died on the operating table when he had undergone genetic augmentation.]] |
| 266 | * ThemeInitials: Bashir. [[TheNameIsBondJamesBond Julian Bashir]]. |
| 267 | * TokenHeroicOrc: Julian is one of the few [[spoiler:Augmented Humans]] in the franchise ''without'' any psychological or mental problems, a common side-effect amongst individuals who [[spoiler:have undergone extensive genetic modification.]] It's a ''very'' sharp bell-curve. [[spoiler:The "Jack Pack" augments in [=DS9=] are not evil, but they are seriously maladjusted.]] |
| 268 | * TookALevelInCynic: He grows much more aware of the more morally gray realities of Starfleet and life in general over the course of the series, and is somewhat bitter on it. |
| 269 | * TookALevelInKindness: He's not an intentional jerk, but at first he's very much a condescending UpperClassTwit and womanizer who's quite and obnoxious, [[InnocentlyInsensitive if unintentionally so]]. He becomes much kinder and more polite in the second season, with "The Wire" having him transition into a much more openly altruistic and noble character. |
| 270 | * TookALevelInBadass: Once the Cold War turns hot, Bashir suddenly acts less like a squeaky-clean recruit and more like a battle hardened-veteran, and the shift is definitely in his favor. Having regular lunches with the Machiavellian Garak tends to have that effect. |
| 271 | * {{Transhuman}}: [[spoiler:Julian is actually genetically enhanced, similar to Khan Noonien Singh, due to his parents.]] |
| 272 | * TuxedoAndMartini: Much like Reg Barclay in TNG, Bashir finds refuge in a holosuite playing his ideal self: a womanizer who has all the answers. It appears that Garak is a little jealous that Bashir is spending a lot of time with his new program instead of him and wants to find out what the fuss is all about. Imagine his surprise when it turns out Bashir is living a [[SpyFiction fantasy version]] of Garak's old lifestyle – there are just too many [[PretenderDiss opportunities for mockery.]] |
| 273 | -->'''Garak:''' I think I joined the wrong intelligence service. |
| 274 | * UpperClassTwit: In earlier episodes, prior to CharacterDevelopment. He pisses off Dax with being a DoggedNiceGuy, acts like a schoolboy with a crush that irritates parents over Garak, and puts his foot in mouth immediately with Kira. |
| 275 | * UrbanLegendLoveLife: Even the actor is amazed at Bashir's amazingly bad luck with women. The two early objects of his affection end up with ''Rom'' and ''Worf'' respectively. Ouch. |
| 276 | * TheWatson: Fittingly for the British doctor. Whenever there's a time-travel episode, Julian's general disinterest in history allows the others to explain stuff for the audience to him. |
| 277 | * WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: [[spoiler:The exposure of his past nearly got Bashir washed out of Starfleet. As it stands, Julian was guilty only of omitting that fact on his records; his father took the blame since Julian was under the age of consent for the procedure.]] |
| 278 | * WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: [[spoiler:As a small child, Bashir had several severe learning disabilities, so his parents had him undergo an illegal and extremely dangerous genetic treatment. Since then, it is implied that they were [[StageMom Stage Parents]], pushing him towards a high-profile, high-status occupation, instead of letting him make up his own mind, as well as constantly monitoring his behavior so as not to end up in prison. This is the cause of Bashir's resentment and estrangement towards them. How severe were his disabilities? According to Julian himself, he couldn't tell a dog from a cat at the age of six. However, Julian's parents only say that he was 'falling behind', and while he was the slowest learner in his class at all...he was ''in'' school, and his father describes his projected future of one of 'remedial education and underachievement' rather than institutionalisation or being cared for by the state.]] |
| 279 | * WillfullyWeak: Even before [[spoiler:they decided he was genetically enhanced]], "Distant Voices" revealed that he deliberately missed a question on the exam to avoid being first in his class. It was even suggested that if he tried harder with Jadzia, he'd have succeeded. |
| 280 | * WideEyedIdealist: Frequently {{deconstructed}}; the fresh-faced, brilliant young officer out of the Academy ends up wrong or in trouble many times due to his naivete. He gets better, but it still bites him sometimes, such as the late-season episode "Inter Arma Silent Legis." Similarly, in "Past Tense," he admits to a willful ignorance when it comes to Federation history; he doesn't want to the know the facts because they're too depressing to take in. When he comes face to face with real poverty, he simply cannot get his head around the notion that the government turns a blind eye to anyone without money. |
| 281 | [[/folder]] |
| 282 | |
| 283 | [[folder:Lieutenant/Lt. Commander Jadzia Dax]] |
| 284 | !!Lieutenant/Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax |
| 285 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/00aeea27_208e_4724_a860_c0fbfb92969e.jpeg]] |
| 286 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"If you want to know who you are, it's important to know who you've been."'']] |
| 287 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/TerryFarrell |
| 288 | |
| 289 | ->''"Don't mistake a new face for a new soul, Kang."'' |
| 290 | -->-- "Blood Oath" |
| 291 | |
| 292 | TheHeart, ReallySevenHundredYearsOld (and the ActionGirl sometimes), with the slight twist of being an attractive young female - albeit one inhabited by a symbiont [[TheNthDoctor with several centuries of memories and experience from hosts of both genders]]. Some fans claim she mutated into a FauxActionGirl after she got together with Worf, although she first showed her proficiency with the ''bat'leth'' in Season 2. For Season 7, she is [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute replaced]] by ''Ezri'' Dax who is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} not at all similar]]. Luckily, her species had a built-in storyline reason that made this possible; [[TheNthDoctor symbionts need new hosts]] on occasion after all, and the joining adds the new personalities to the mix. For the hosts of the Dax symbiont beyond Jadzia and Ezri, scroll to the bottom of the page. |
| 293 | ---- |
| 294 | * TheAce: Regularly schools a group of Ferengi at Tongo (a Ferengi game), knows more about Klingon culture than most Klingons, to the point where she can teach Klingon musicians Klingon songs, is an excellent chess player who has set the record for four different scientific fields. Justified by being ReallySevenHundredYearsOld, and so has had a lot of time to acquire these skills. |
| 295 | * AcePilot: Not as pronounced as Sulu or Tom Paris, but she usually serves as the ''Defiant'''s helmsman and her piloting helps get the crew out of a couple scrapes. Doubly impressive as she still retains her blue uniform. |
| 296 | * ActionGirl: She's handy with bat'leths, phasers, and [[AcePilot piloting consoles]]. |
| 297 | * AffectionateNickname: Sisko calls her "Old Man", the same nickname he gave to her predecessor Curzon. |
| 298 | * AscendedFangirl: Terry had been a fan of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', with her grandmother going so far as to make her a toy tribble. |
| 299 | * BattleCouple: With Worf. |
| 300 | * BeenThereShapedHistory: In-universe version. The Dax symbiont has fought alongside the likes of Kang, Kor, and Koloth; he negotiated the Khitomer Accords to usher in peace between the Federation and Klingons; and Dax even (gulp!)... dated Bones [=McCoy=] in college. |
| 301 | * BrainyBrunette: The station's science officer who earned Premier Distinctions in four fields of study at the Academy. |
| 302 | * CannotKeepASecret: A running joke is that Jadzia is completely incapable of keeping information to herself. When Sisko asks how a person knows something, the response is "You told Jadzia." |
| 303 | * TheCasanova: Explains to Bashir that she would rather just have sex freely instead of having feelings for someone, and is turned off by his panting puppy chasing. |
| 304 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: Jadzia was originally serene and almost aloof due to her (kind of) great age. They retooled the character in Season 2 to make her lively, adventurous, and realistically flawed. |
| 305 | * CharacterShilling: An unusual variant since Dax is a joined Trill, but Jadzia is highly prone to talking about what Curzon Dax would do. And to a much greater degree, when Jadzia encounters someone who knew Curzon, they quite often sing praises about what a great man he was. |
| 306 | * TheConsigliere: To Sisko. It helps that Dax has been knocking about for a long while, and knows the attitudes of Starfleet's various adversaries. |
| 307 | * CoolOldGuy: Her personality after season 1. She just happens to have the body of a young, beautiful woman. |
| 308 | * CulturedBadass: She can speak Klingon, drink any Klingon under the table, handle a Bat-leth with ease, beat Ferengi at Tongo (their variation of poker), and imitate a Romulan with flawless disdain, just to name a few. Admittedly, she still hasn't solved an Altonian brain teaser after 160 years. Bashir tried it, and [[YourBrainWontBeMuchOfAMeal caused the game to crash immediately]]. |
| 309 | * EnemyWithin: Joran Dax, the most unstable of her past personalities. |
| 310 | * FusionDance: Relationship of Dax and its hosts are like that, in addition to being TheNthDoctor of Dax. Personality is explicitly mix of personality of symbiont, its current host and little bit of previous hosts too. |
| 311 | * TheGadfly: Dax has a sadistic streak and takes great pleasure in causing chaos in Odo's perfectly-organized quarters by moving furniture just a hair out of alignment. In general, she ''loves'' pushing the buttons of people she thinks are wound too tight. Especially Worf. |
| 312 | * GallowsHumor: One unfortunate habit of this Dax host (possibly inherited from Curzon) was cracking wise whenever death was on the horizon. And it wasn't Jadzia's usual rapier wit, either. We're talking about leaden, SoUnfunnyItsFunny one-liners that would embarrass even Data. |
| 313 | -->'''Sisko:''' ''(fuming)'' Dax, maybe you haven't noticed, but '''no one's laughing'''. |
| 314 | * GeniusBruiser: Wisdom and knowledge of eight lifetimes, science officer, and fights like a Klingon. |
| 315 | * GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: Well, spotted skin, but still a slightly different and dripping hot HumanAlien in true ''Star Trek'' tradition. |
| 316 | * HappilyMarried: To Worf, [[spoiler:until her Jadzia host died]]. |
| 317 | * HonestAdvisor: To Ben. She also dumps Quark's friendship after he becomes an arms dealer, although she is genuinely outraged in that instance. |
| 318 | * IcyBlueEyes |
| 319 | * ImmortalImmaturity: The Dax symbiont is particularly rowdy. This is proven by Jadzia's former personality before her joining: a bookish ShrinkingViolet. |
| 320 | -->'''Jem'Hadar''': Few Jem'Hadar live that long. If we reach twenty, we're considered honored elders. ''(leans in)'' How old are you?\ |
| 321 | '''Dax'''': I stopped counting at 300.\ |
| 322 | '''Jem'Hadar''': ''(dumbfounded)'' You don't look it. |
| 323 | ** This is generally ignored by her associates, although Sisko dared to remind Jadzia of her age during a heated argument about Worf. Dax did ''not'' like it, but she could not refute it either. |
| 324 | * InterspeciesRomance: With Worf. |
| 325 | * IntimateMarks: Yes, the spots really do go all the way down. |
| 326 | * KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:While the Dax symbiont passes on to Ezri, Jadzia is still quite dead.]] |
| 327 | * TheLadette: Curzon drank too much, slept too late and was always on the prowl, and it's not too long before Jadzia follows suit. She also enjoys playing Tongo with Quark and his hard-drinking gambler friends. As her mother-in-law discovered the hard way, Dax throws a mean right hook. |
| 328 | ** There were [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness early attempts]] at making Dax reserved and wise, but it never stuck. After one season, Ira Behr realized the 'old soul' angle wasn't working out; the character was gradually retooled into a sporty, quasi-androgynous commando, switching gender roles depending on the setting. She can be quite butch when the situation calls for it, but she's wickedly girlish in private. |
| 329 | * LadyOfWar: An elegant and graceful fighter who knows Klingon martial arts and has a Bat'leth. |
| 330 | * LivingForeverIsAwesome: She sees it as her duty to give the Dax symbiont an interesting life and often draws on the things she's learned over the centuries, whether it's engineering or parental advice. |
| 331 | * MeaningfulName: An unintentional example (or is it?). Jadzia happens to be a diminutive form of an actual Polish feminine given name Jadwiga -- which originated from old German name Hedwig. The latter name, it turn, is compounded from words ''hadu'' ("battle") and ''wig'' ("fight"). It also belonged to the first [[SheIsTheKing female king]] of Poland. Therefore, Jadzia would be affectionate name for a woman known for her combat prowess and many victories in battle. Which, in another interesting coincidence, suits Dax quite well. |
| 332 | * MoralityChain: Sisko commented that Dax probably saved his career more than once, usually by bailing him out of trouble or stopping him from wringing someone's neck. |
| 333 | ** Dax always walked a fine line between enjoying the time she spends with Quark and finding his business activities a bit tasteless, but he crosses the line in "Business As Usual" by profiteering from war. Dax hits the nail on the head when she asks Quark how he feels about his newfound profession, because he immediately starts spilling excuses. |
| 334 | * MsFanservice: Let's see: tall, leggy, got to wear the legendary Starfleet miniskirt in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E06TrialsAndTribbleations}} Trials and Tribble-ations]]", got a swimsuit scene in the BeachEpisode, got the first [[GirlOnGirlIsHot lesbian kiss]] in Star Trek history in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E06Rejoined}} Rejoined]]"...the trope fits her like a glove. |
| 335 | * NoGuyWantsToBeChased: Part of the problem with courting Dax is that she's been a man herself numerous times. She expresses zero interest in the panting, tail-wagging Bashir, and later admits that he might've had more success with her if he hadn't been so eager. |
| 336 | * TheNthDoctor: The eighth host of Dax. |
| 337 | * ObnoxiousInLaws: Martok is more agreeable, but his wife is a harridan. Jadzia has been through so many wedding ceremonies in her lifetimes she is happy to dump all the minutiae on Worf whilst she parties the night away with her friends. She thinks that meeting the monster-in-law is going to be a piece of cake, but Sirella has already made up her mind regarding this overgrown sorority girl. |
| 338 | * OlderThanTheyLook: Sort of. Jadzia is actually exactly as old as she looks, but through Dax, she has the memories and some of the personality of a much older being. A century old Bajoran magistrate said (paraphrasing) "When I started this hearing, I didn't know if you were as young as my great-granddaughter, or three times as old as I am. Now I'm starting to think you're both." |
| 339 | * OmnidisciplinaryScientist: In Season 1, she's only 28. It's confirmed that all of her vast amount of scientific knowledge and multiple degrees were gained prior to receiving the Dax symbiont at the age of 26. While Dax has been hosted by an engineer and a pilot, Jadzia is Dax's first scientist. |
| 340 | * PassiveAggressiveKombat: The cold war with Sirella comes to a head during the ceremonial reading of The Chronicle, a history of the Martok family's unbroken (until now, ahem) bloodline. Jadzia [[WagTheDirector sprinkles in her own extracurricular research]], including: a positive spin on an Oliver Cromwell-type figure in Klingon history, the revelation that Sirella's claim to nobility is false, and that her mother-in-law's ancestor was not the Princess but [[SonOfAWhore a concubine who lived out of the royal stables]]. Pwnd. |
| 341 | -->'''Sirella:''' You are '''''STRAYING FROM THE SAGA!!''''' |
| 342 | * ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Is the station's Science Officer, but is rarely seen doing any scientific research and not even lip service is paid to the idea of her administrating the station's (presumed) scientific department. We do, however, see her acting as a Helmsman, Commanding Officer of the Defiant, psuedo-counselor to her friends & advising Sisko as if she were his First Officer. Jadzia is invaluable to the crew, but often not for her work as a scientist. |
| 343 | * PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: A Trill who is more Klingon than most Klingons. |
| 344 | * PromotedFangirl: in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' crossover/tribute episode "Trials and Tribble-ations," where she is totally jonesing about being on the original ''Enterprise''. Doubles as an AuthorAvatar for Ronald D. Moore and Rene Echevarria in this episode per DVD supplementary material. |
| 345 | -->"I guess the difference between you and me is I remember this time. I ''lived'' in this time, and it's hard to not want to be part of it again." |
| 346 | * RankUp: from lieutenant to lieutenant commander at the beginning of Season 4. |
| 347 | * ReincarnatedAsTheOppositeSex: She has the gender of her host of the time. She has been both men and women in past lives. |
| 348 | * RenaissanceWoman: Jadzia is one of the most learned scientists in Starfleet (having the memories of seven lifetimes certainly doesn't hurt), can play Ferengis under the table at their own game of Tongo, and can outdo Klingons at both fighting and drinking bloodwine. |
| 349 | * RubberForeheadAliens: Initially due to the original Trill character makeup involving a forehead. Changed to ''spotted'' forehead aliens specifically for her, actually, even less extensive than the usual Star Trek variation. A member of the crew had to draw them on her body with a magic marker every day before shooting. |
| 350 | * SexIsViolence: Her liasons with Worf can get pretty destructive. Odo gets a report every time they destroy Worf's quarters, so he enjoys ribbing the couple about it a little. |
| 351 | * ShamelessFanserviceGirl: Very casual about her sex life, and tells Kira in “Babel” that it’s fun to receive male attention, as she forgot what it feels like. |
| 352 | * ShrinkingViolet: We actually learn ''practically nothing'' about Jadzia's personality before she become the joined gestalt entity "Jadzia Dax". Heck, we don't even know her ''full name'' from official canon (the expanded universe has settled on that her pre-joining name was "Jadzia Idaris"). All we know is that she was a Shrinking Violet: a quiet and painfully shy young girl, but dedicated and hard working, gifted in the sciences. Given her introversion, there might not be much to tell. She had a stable home life with her parents and sister. She had a quiet determination to her, becoming the only Trill initiate to be joined after being initially rejected from the program. Curzon later admitted, however, that he signed her rejection in the first place because he was falling in love with her and thus felt it would be inappropriate for her to be joined - years later, he felt bad about having her rejected under false pretenses due to personal reasons, so he used behind-the-scenes pull to have her unprecedented reapplication accepted. |
| 353 | * TheSpock: This is her ''initial'' characterization, but the writers decided to make her more emotional and fun-loving. Although she still fulfills rational Spock functions, she becomes something of a combination of him and TheKirk. |
| 354 | ** It's not that forced of a shift, when you consider that an aspect of Spock himself is that in the spirit of science and curiosity, he was always non-judgmental and willing to try new things from new cultures. He was just more subdued and clinical about it. |
| 355 | * TheKnightsWhoSaySquee: A bit of a [[Creator/LeonardNimoy Spock]] fangirl. One glimpse of him in the flesh, and she's ready to toss the Temporal Prime Directive out the airlock, hint hint. Sisko has to drag her away by the arm. |
| 356 | ** While we're on the subject, she ''did'' date Dr. [=McCoy=] when she was in college (in her previous host who was a gymnast). While not squeeing about it, she fondly recalled that he had "a surgeon's hands". |
| 357 | * StatuesqueStunner: Played by the 6' tall Terry Farrell. |
| 358 | * TookALevelInBadass: Particularly after Curzon's Klingon-loving personality came to the forefront during her ''zhian'tara''. |
| 359 | * UnkemptBeauty: A hungover Dax is something to behold. |
| 360 | * UptightLovesWild: With Worf. Three guesses on who is which. |
| 361 | * WorkHardPlayHard: When she works she is an ingenious and competent officer. When she plays she likes gambling, flirting, and making love [[DestructoNookie Klingon Fashion]]. |
| 362 | * YouAreInCommandNow: During the early days of the Dominion War, with Sisko serving as Admiral Ross' adjutant and Worf serving as Martok's XO, she was given command of the ''Defiant''. |
| 363 | [[/folder]] |
| 364 | |
| 365 | [[folder:Senior Chief Petty Officer Miles O'Brien]] |
| 366 | !!Miles O'Brien, Senior Chief Petty Officer on ''Deep Space Nine'' |
| 367 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/524cbfec_9382_4c29_8669_04273c5ad35a.jpeg]] |
| 368 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"I HATE temporal mechanics."'']] |
| 369 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/ColmMeaney |
| 370 | |
| 371 | ->''"I've been in service to the Federation... Starfleet... all my adult life. No one has ever questioned my loyalty."'' |
| 372 | |
| 373 | Easily the most overworked person on the station, and an AscendedExtra from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' who enjoys a bigger role this time on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. His family gets more screentime as well, with his wife Keiko opening a primary school on the station (and running afoul of Kai Winn for her secularist slant). Subject of the annual "[[TheWoobie O'Brien Must Suffer]]" writers' in-joke. The only non-commissioned officer in the franchise to be a main character, he can easily be mistaken for the only one in the service. (The others were mostly [[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Starfleet_enlisted_personnel very minor roles]], dutifully enumerated on other wikis.) In the {{novelization}} of the pilot episode, O'Brien is slightly altered -- he accepted a promotion to Ensign and was no longer a noncom when the story began. |
| 374 | |
| 375 | A note for trivia buffs: both he and Worf were present in the series premiere (and series finale) of TNG, and hold the records for "Appeared In The Most Episodes Of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' Ever", or "2nd Most" in O'Brien's case. (Majel Barrett Roddenberry, whose voice "appears" as the Federation computer's for something like 250 episodes, holds a different record.) |
| 376 | ---- |
| 377 | * ADayInTheLimelight: O'Brien gets a number of episodes dedicated to him -- most notably the annual "O'Brien Must Suffer"-episodes where he is put through some hell or other. |
| 378 | * AscendedExtra: BIG TIME. From a nameless conn officer in the ''TNG'' premiere to a starring character on another series. He even has the distinction of being the second-most frequently recurring ''Star Trek'' character ever, next to Worf. |
| 379 | * AlmightyJanitor: The only reason anything on [=DS9=] works is because of him, a fact not lost on O'Brien. In practice, he is Head of Engineering for one of the Federation's most strategically important space stations, a gig that is usually given to a Commander, and orders around commissioned officers like no one's business. Even if he does not have the ''de jure'' ranks, he obviously has them ''de facto''. |
| 380 | * BadassNormal: The only Non-Com main character in ''Trek''. Among other things, he's been decorated 15 times by Starfleet, been in 235 separate tactical situations even ''before'' the Dominion War, and is recognized as an expert on the subject even by ''the Klingons.'' |
| 381 | * BewareTheNiceOnes: Devoted family man? Check. Dutiful NCO? Check. Capable of taking on BrainwashedAndCrazy former Obsidian Order operative Garak on a booby-trapped station with minimal supplies and almost no backup, and winning? ''Check.'' |
| 382 | * TheBigGuy: Creator/ColmMeaney is not very tall but he's built like a ''[[StoutStrength tank]].'' As to the character, see BewareTheNiceOnes and Badass entries above. |
| 383 | * ButtMonkey: There was an "O'Brien must suffer" episode at least once a season, because the writers thought Colm Meaney was good in those plots. He tended to act as the scapegoat for the command staff's frustrations, particularly if the replicators broke down on a coffee break. Miles once attempted the ScottyTime trick on Sisko, but no dice ("Treachery, Faith, and the Great River"). Oh, and [[https://youtu.be/eYb1E9PweUk he tore his pants]]. Tellingly, O'Brien's suffering is an interdimensional constant. Even in the Mirror Universe, he's a put-upon engineer who gets no respect! |
| 384 | * DesignatedVictim: O'Brien has several episodes dedicated to him, and they all involve him getting the crap beaten out of him (either physically or emotionally), to the point where "O'Brien Must Suffer" became an in-joke with the cast, crew, and fandom. Some prime examples include "Whispers", "Tribunal" and "Visionary". |
| 385 | ** The entire series could be considered an "O'Brien Must Suffer" situation. At the start of the series, he moved to an out of the way space station orbiting an unimportant planet to raise his family in a more stable environment, only for the wormhole to be discovered on day one, causing the whole thing to eventually become the focal point for a giant, intergalactic war. |
| 386 | * DudeWheresMyRespect: As he complains in an early episode, he would like five minutes of peace and nobody demanding he fix something. |
| 387 | * TheEveryman: Devoted family man, down-to-earth soldier, and enlisted man. |
| 388 | * FamedInStory: ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' reveals that sometime in the future, he will be regarded as the greatest Starfleet hero of all time. Given his ability to survive pretty much anything while maintaining one of Starfleet's most important outposts with various technologies that shouldn't be compatible with each other, this is not unjustified. |
| 389 | * FantasticRacism: Occasionally towards Cardassians, and has been known to utter the phrase "Cardy Bastards". O'Brien fought in the Federation-Cardassian War and was present at the Setlik III massacre, an event that affected him deeply. This was also the first time he'd ever killed someone, ''vaporizing'' a Cardassian when he fired a phaser not knowing that it'd be set to maximum. As O'Brien summed up in TNG, he doesn't hate Cardassians; he hates what he became because of them. |
| 390 | ** He's not thrilled with Changelings either, Odo aside. |
| 391 | * FightingIrish: He may be a NiceGuy, but he's also a war hero with a bit of a temper and he's not afraid to throw a punch to protect his friends. He and [[HeterosexualLifePartners his BFF Julian Bashir]] also enjoy holosuite programs of historical battles like the Alamo and the Battle of Britain. |
| 392 | * GadgeteerGenius: A lot of his job involves getting old, beaten-up, and/or alien technology to work, along with a fair bit of MacGyvering. |
| 393 | * HappilyMarried: To Keiko, although-- |
| 394 | * HenpeckedHusband: Sometimes. Keiko even ''smacked'' him once, when he missed his cue during a meditation ceremony for the in-delivery Kira... |
| 395 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: With Julian Bashir. O'Brien almost remarked that he wished Keiko was more like Bashir. |
| 396 | * LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: Given his record of genius and heroism, you'd expect him to make Master Chief by the end of the series, but he seems to stay an [=SCPO=] for the entire run. (Although it ''is'' possible that might be the top of the Starfleet NCO ranks, we haven't seen enough of them on screen to be sure). He does continually gain responsibilities and duties throughout the series, so there is a career progression of sorts going on. Starfleet security taps him for undercover work in "No Honor Among Thieves" to help bring down the Orion Syndicate. A little odd that they chose a low ranking officer for this dangerous assignment, but O'Brien is perfect because he doesn't have to try to look like a schlub who is down on his luck. Of course, there's also the fact that he appears to be the ''only'' enlisted man in Starfleet. |
| 397 | * MrFixit: ''[[{{Pun}} Miles to go]] before he sleeps...'' Well into Season 6, he's ''still'' running himself ragged trying to keep up with his work orders. The only reason all the hodgepodge of Federation and Cardassian technology on [=DS9=] runs anything close to smoothly is because O'Brien's been working on it non-stop from day one. Unfortunately (for him), only O'Brien really understands how they work. |
| 398 | * NonUniformUniform: {{Downplayed}}, as he sometimes likes to wear his shirts with the sleeves rolled up -- which is {{justified}} as he spends all day with his hands in various machines, and long sleeves would get in the way or get caught on something. |
| 399 | * OddFriendship: With Kira while she was carrying Kirayoshi. With hints of awkward UnresolvedSexualTension in several later episodes. |
| 400 | ** Primarily with Julian. The two men are about 10 years apart. Julian is a doctor, and is career military. Miles is an enlisted officer and stricly an engineer. After a prickly couple of seasons, the pair become practically inseparable. |
| 401 | * OldSoldier: It's noted that the Dominion War is actually his ''second'' war, having previously fought in the Federation-Cardassian border war. Add in his service on the ''Enterprise''-D, including having survived several run-ins with the Borg, and O'Brien is arguably the most combat experienced person on [=DS9=], perhaps barring the overall experience of the combined Dax's. |
| 402 | * RankUp: inverted. He'd been a lieutenant on the ''Enterprise''-D, but somehow became an enlisted man most likely due to having been a transporter chief and therefore addressed as "chief." |
| 403 | * RealMenHateAffection: With Julian. Even when they're totally sloshed, the most affectionate expression he can manage is "I really do... not hate you anymore." And when he's telling Dr. Zimmerman all the things he does not hate about Julian, he's very insistent that it will remain confidential. Completely averted with his wife whom O'Brien all but dotes on. |
| 404 | * TheReliableOne: Miles may not be as brilliant as Dax or a hardened warrior like Worf, but he's brilliant enough to fix practically anything and respected as an experienced soldier. |
| 405 | * RidiculouslyLonglivedFamilyName: The episode "Bar Association" reveals that O'Brien (a man in the 24th century) has an ancestor from the 19th century named Sean O'Brien. |
| 406 | * SeductionProofMarriage: When O'Brien goes undercover in the Orion Syndicate in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS06E15HonorAmongThieves Honor Among Thieves]]," the local boss offers him a prostitute as a gesture of SacredHospitality. However the boss is satisfied with this explanation for refusal. |
| 407 | ** In fact, O'Brien has several opportunities to cheat on Keiko throughout the show. He refuses every one. |
| 408 | * ShellShockedVeteran: As mentioned on TNG, he's still haunted from his service in the Federation-Cardassian border war. During the Dominion War, he cuts himself from his friends as he knows not all of them will live survive and he's preemptively trying to avoid the trauma of losing them. |
| 409 | * SpannerInTheWorks: As far as Sloan is concerned, O'Brien is an unpredictable factor. He may be able to play and manipulate Bashir, but it's O'Brien who leads to Sloan's undoing. |
| 410 | * TimeyWimeyBall: In the third-season episode "Visionary", O'Brien is sent to the future several times. [[spoiler:Ultimately, "our" O'Brien dies and the one that comes back to the present is an O'Brien from two-and-a-half hours into the future]]. |
| 411 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: Like many of his fellow officers, he likes to start, continue, and sometimes end his day with a raktajino. More surprisingly, he loves Starfleet's combat rations, describing them as "the only thing I miss about the Cardassian front." |
| 412 | * VeteranInstructor: Sort of slips into the old-hand mentor role in the final two seasons, and the GrandFinale sees him return to Earth to become an official instructor at the Academy. |
| 413 | * WarHero: When he was called to testify at Worf's hearing, it was revealed that he had been in over two hundred combat engagements and received fifteen decorations from Starfleet for those actions, qualifying him as a expert in starship combat. |
| 414 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: "Hard Time" involves this. [[spoiler:He kills a good man for a scrap of bread. Even if that man was an illusion, O'Brien is so horrified at himself for that and taking his anger out on Molly that he attempts suicide. Bashir talks him down from the metaphorical ledge by pointing out that the extreme remorse he feels for those actions proves that [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre he is still a good man at heart]].]] |
| 415 | [[/folder]] |
| 416 | |
| 417 | [[folder:Lieutenant Commander Worf]] |
| 418 | !!Lieutenant Commander Worf aboard ''Deep Space Nine'' |
| 419 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4a3e265a_c4cc_4a0a_862b_fa506c6005dc.jpeg]] |
| 420 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"Death to the opposition!"'']] |
| 421 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/MichaelDorn |
| 422 | |
| 423 | ->'''Worf''': I have a sense of humor. On the ''Enterprise'', I was considered to be quite amusing.\ |
| 424 | '''Dax''': That must've been one dull ship. |
| 425 | -->-- "Change of Heart" |
| 426 | |
| 427 | Another reassignment from the ''Enterprise''-D, turning up with the show's ReTool at the start of Season 4. Notably, Worf suffered less of TheWorfEffect on this show than ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]''. The conflicts of this series and heavy involvement with the Klingon Empire were more suited to his strengths and instincts. In addition, Michael Dorn was savvy enough to ensure that, should he be invited onto another series, he would be both unique among Klingons ''and'' would have a chance to be badass. Hence his fondness of Prune Juice over Blood Wine. |
| 428 | ---- |
| 429 | * AnythingButThat: Very few things can make Worf nervous. Among them are tribbles, and the news that [[CallBack Keiko O'Brien is going to have another baby]]. |
| 430 | -->'''''[[OhCrap "NOW?!"]]''''' |
| 431 | * BattleCouple: With Jadzia. |
| 432 | * BattleCry: PlayedForLaughs in "Take Me Out To The Holosuite" |
| 433 | -->'''Sisko:''' Alright, I wanna hear some chatter!\ |
| 434 | '''Ezri:''' Heeeeyy batter batter batter!\ |
| 435 | '''Kira:''' Hey batter batter!\ |
| 436 | '''Worf:''' '''''DEATH TO THE OPPOSITION!''''' |
| 437 | * TheBigGuy: Often commands the ''Defiant'' on missions Sisko can't take himself, the go-to guy when Klingons are involved, and generally a person you want on ''your'' side when the chips are down. |
| 438 | * BreakTheBadass: As he eventually reveals, [[spoiler:his time in the Jem'Hadar camp actually broke his spirit, and he had been on the verge of letting himself die in the ring, had Martok not noticed.]] |
| 439 | * BruiserWithASoftCenter: Miles' baby can go to sleep in his arms... and initially, ''only'' his arms. |
| 440 | ** And he's always dreamed of a traditional Klingon wedding, with all the trimmings. (Although "soft" might not be the best word given the ''Klingon'', but he's still quite a romantic.) |
| 441 | * CargoShip:[[invoked]] Dax insinuated that Worf's first love is the ''Defiant''. In a sense, he considers it ''his'' ship, not Sisko's. Makes sense really; it's a Federation-designed ''warship'', the perfect fit for Worf. The fact that the ''Defiant'' is more spartan than other Federation ships makes her an even better fit for a warrior like Worf. |
| 442 | * TheComicallySerious: Even more so than he was in TNG, thanks to being contrasted against the much less strait-laced [=DS9=] cast. |
| 443 | -->'''Garak''': Mr. Worf, you're no fun at all.\ |
| 444 | '''Worf''': ... Good. |
| 445 | * CommandingCoolness: He's the Strategic Operations Officer of Deep Space Nine, a somewhat malleable job title giving him authority over the Security office (to Odo's despair) and Ops. He also functions as the Number Two onboard the ''Defiant'', a position that put him at odds with Kira, who held that title over the station itself, at least once. |
| 446 | * DeadpanSnarker: A legend in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise for having one-liners down to an exact science. Often overlaps with TheComicallySerious, above. |
| 447 | * DeathGlare: According to his alternate-timeline descendants in "Children of Time", he can kill people just by glaring at them. He doesn't exactly deny it. |
| 448 | * {{Determinator}}: Famously stood his ground against '''ten''' Jem'Hadar warriors in a ForcedPrizeFight. When he finally does hit the mat, it's his ''opponent'' who calls it quits. |
| 449 | -->'''Ikat'ika:''' I yield. I cannot defeat this Klingon. I can only kill him, and [[WorthyOpponent that no longer holds my interest]]. |
| 450 | * {{Deuteragonist}}: Essentially becomes this when he joins the cast; the entire Klingon War arc was more or less built around bringing his character onto the show. |
| 451 | * DrillSergeantNasty: In "Apocalypse Rising," a mission to Ty'Gokor gives Worf the chance to have his own marching parade of Klingon officers (a surgically-altered Sisko and company) and to abuse them for acting like nancy-boy Starfleet officers. Odo makes a skinny and rather sorry Klingon and O'Brien can barely stifle his laughter. Sisko at least manages to act believable. |
| 452 | * TheExile: When Worf stands against Gowron in defiance of his decision to invade Cardassia (in so doing, destroying the Empire's relationship with the Federation), the Chancellor exiles him and strips his family of title, land, and honor. [[spoiler:He would be allowed to return later, when Martok adopts him into his house as a brother.]] |
| 453 | * HappilyAdopted: As a child he was adopted by human parents. After Gowron disbanded his house, he was invited to join Martok's. As far as Worf and Martok are concerned, they're brothers. Worf found himself on the other side of this trope when he allowed his brother to have his memory erased so he could join a new family. |
| 454 | * HappilyMarried: To Jadzia. |
| 455 | * HeartbrokenBadass: Worf is, quite simply, devastated [[spoiler:after Jadzia is killed]]. He didn't suffer that much even after K'Ehleyr was murdered by Duras and his performance of the Klingon Death Ritual over her body is one of the few times he actually ''[[ManlyTears weeps]].'' |
| 456 | * HopelessSuitor: Crushes hard on Grilka the moment he sees her, and tries courting her the Klingon way; Making a scene in the bar where she can see it. However, her chamberlain has to come and tell him that while she's not offended, thanks to his discommendation Worf's got no chance. |
| 457 | * HumbleHero: By Klingon standards, at least. Martok comments at least once that Worf seems to have learned modesty from TheFederation. |
| 458 | * IJustWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: |
| 459 | ** A non-romantic version. He allowed his brother Kurn to have his memory erased so he could live life as a Klingon in good standing with a new family, even though it meant severing the last remaining tie to his biological family. |
| 460 | ** While he's not thrilled about Ezri's romance with Julian, since Worf sees Bashir as {{Manchild}} who's beneath her, he ultimately gives Ezri his blessing and is happy for her. |
| 461 | * ImmigrantPatriotism: Played with. He is loyal to the Federation to the point of fighting against the Klingon Empire when they go to war. At the same time, he is obsessed with Klingon tradition more then most Klingons are. (Again, see the TNG character sheet for an accurate analysis of his mentality.) |
| 462 | * IncorruptiblePurePureness: Worf's sense of klingon honor is inviolate. It cost him dearly in standing amongst his countrymen. |
| 463 | * IronicFear: Poor Worf is stuck in the unenviable position of being the only person who is terrified of Tribbles. |
| 464 | * MasterSwordsman: Given that he earned first place in a tournament back in late-season TNG, can beat [[ActionGirl Jadzia]] in a friendly duel, Grilka's bodyguard in a real one (while [[NeuralImplanting piloting Quarks body]] instead of his own too), and actually kill [[spoiler:Gowron]] in a DuelToTheDeath, he must be one of the best fighters to ever handle a ''bat'leth''. Despite his prowess with the weapon, Worf seems to prefer using a ''mek'leth'' in combat, a machete-like weapon half the size (and therefore much easier to carry around). |
| 465 | * MyGreatestFailure: In "Let He Who is Without Sin...," we learn that Worf's uptight nature is the result of a childhood soccer match, when young Worf accidentally headbutted an opposing player. Klingon foreheads being what they are, the kid died. This tragedy convinced Worf to rein in his Klingon passion. |
| 466 | * NotSoStoic: See HeartbrokenBadass. |
| 467 | * NumberTwo: Is First Officer of the ''Defiant''. In practice, he and Kira share this role, which is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in "Apocalypse Rising". |
| 468 | * AnOddPlaceToSleep: Right from Day One, Worf has trouble adjusting to the morally-grey atmosphere on the station. Following a string of disasters, he decides that the only way to adjust to life aboard the station is to live outside it, and makes the ''Defiant'' his crib. |
| 469 | * OfferedTheCrown: After his killing of [[spoiler:Gowron in "Tacking Into the Wind"]] he basically [[KlingonPromotion earned the right to rule the Klingon Empire]]. He chose wisely instead to hand it to Martok. A [[{{RunningGag}} bit of running theme with Worf.]] Whenever he gets involved with Klingon politics, [[KingmakerScenario someone ends up owing their new position to him]], usually because he's paved the way for them by killing someone. Over the course of [=TNG=] and [=DS9=] he is involved in the accessions of Gowron and Martok to the Chancellorship, the crowning of Kahless' clone as the ceremonial Emperor of the Klingon Empire, and his brother Kurn joining the High Council. A cut scene would have had Worf confiding in Ezri that his one regret was that his father wasn't there to see him, if only for a moment, standing at the very pinnacle of the Klingon Empire. |
| 470 | * ParentalNeglect: He wasn't the best father towards Alexander, essentially dumping Alexander to be raised by his adoptive grandparents. Even when Alexander eventually joined him on the ''Enterprise'', Worf was at best emotionally distant. As usual, this is largely because of Worf's distorted sense of Klingon culture. He was more obsessed with ensuring Alexander didn't suffer his dishonor rather than being the father his son needed. |
| 471 | * PersonaNonGrata: At the start of Season 4, Worf ends up being exiled from the Klingon Empire ''again'' due to his refusal to participate in the Klingon invasion of Cardassia. He eventually regains his good standing in the Empire when he is taken into Martok's family as a blood-brother. |
| 472 | * TheStoic: "I do not smirk. But if I did, this would be a good opportunity." |
| 473 | * ARealManIsAKiller: Worf has completely forgotten how to negotiate in Klingon politics. It's not about giving a stirring speech and bandying together to fight your enemy (that's the Starfleet way). No, it's more like standing on the deck of an old galleon and whoever takes their eye off the ball gets a bat-leth in the eye socket as they each try and succeed each other, everybody jostling for command. In TNG, Worf was told he has no business putting on a Klingon uniform. Here, Kurn shows up Worf by plugging a Klingon who was planning to stab his clueless brother. This guy needs to pick which side of the line he is going to stand on. That's his curse. |
| 474 | * RealMenWearPink: When no-one else is around, Worf listens to Klingon opera. ''Loud'' Klingon opera. At one point during "In the Cards", Nog has to retune his collection for him to get rid of the audio disruption. |
| 475 | * RedOniBlueOni: Being TheStoic and TheComicallySerious, he's the blue oni whenever he's with anyone more gregarious like Jadzia, Garak, or Martok (or, hell, just about anybody except Odo). |
| 476 | * ShortLivedLeadership: After [[spoiler:slaying Gowron]], Worf technically becomes Chancellor of the Klingon Empire. His chancellorship lasts for about two minutes and his only official act is to immediately abdicate and hand the position over to Martok. |
| 477 | * ThisIsMyChair: Worf has a very specific seat in the ''Defiant'''s mess hall, and he will ''not'' sit anywhere else. People who foolishly do sit in his seat are glared at until they move. |
| 478 | * TookALevelInBadass: Suffers from TheWorfEffect much less than he did in ''The Next Generation'', and handily proves to be the crew's best fighter on multiple occasions. Being OlderAndWiser likely helps (it's only been a few years, but those few years have been ''packed'' with experience). |
| 479 | * TookALevelInJerkass: His run on [=DS9=] saw Worf in a long period of mourning; first for the ''Enterprise''-D where he spent the best years of his life, and then for his murdered wife Jadzia. He becomes even more withdrawn and short-tempered than usual, refusing to mix with his crewmates at social gatherings and one time even claiming they never truly understood Jadzia when she was alive. Worf did respect the abilities of the [=DS9=] crew, though, and always apologized in the end. |
| 480 | * WarriorPoet: Loves Klingon Opera, Klingon legends, and Klingon traditions. |
| 481 | * [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Tribbles?]]: Worf is shown in "Trials and Tribble-lations" to be ''very'' uneasy around tribbles. This extends to the entire Klingon people: tribbles were such an ecological threat that the Klingons singlehandedly drove them to extinction. |
| 482 | * TheWorfEffect: [[AvertedTrope Starting to wane]] by this point, thank goodness. In fact, this was one of the reasons Dorn joined the show. |
| 483 | * UptightLovesWild: With Jadzia. Three guesses who is which. |
| 484 | * YouRemindMeOfX: Worf arrives on the station at first facing the same doubts Sisko had in the beginning, considering resigning, being stuck in the past, etc. This is symbolized by Worf transferring to a red Command uniform. |
| 485 | * YouShallNotPass: If there was still any doubt about Worf being a Klingon badass among Klingon badasses, he proves it by going through an endless battle royale with Jem'Hadar to ensure that Garak can contact their Runabout and they can escape. At first he is a fresh faced competitor but it isn't long before he is exhausted and beaten, yet still he heads back into the ring to buy them more time. |
| 486 | [[/folder]] |
| 487 | |
| 488 | [[folder:Lieutenant Ezri Dax]] |
| 489 | !!Lieutenant Ezri Dax |
| 490 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8b0b1a28_9369_436b_981a_118e962418d2.jpeg]] |
| 491 | [[caption-width-right:350:''"I laid down on that operating table one person and I woke up a completely different person."'']] |
| 492 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/NicoleDeBoer |
| 493 | |
| 494 | -> ''"She's a Dax. Sometimes they don't think, they just do."'' |
| 495 | |
| 496 | The new Trill host for the Dax symbiont, owing that only to chance. Ezri Tigan was serving on the ship taking Dax back to Trill when the symbiont became extremely ill and the only way to save its life was immediate implantation in a new host. As the only Trill onboard, Ezri reluctantly volunteered, and her unease at being a "joined" Trill, which was something prospective hosts are supposed to train for years to deal with, became a centerpiece of her character. She also had to deal with Dax influencing her feelings about Worf and Bashir, her own attraction to Bashir, and the fact that an officer of her general inexperience -- specifically, a [[TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard Lieutenant Junior Grade Assistant Counselor]] -- was suddenly part of the Federation's front-line wartime command crew. At least she's [[{{Moe}} cute]]. For the hosts of the Dax symbiont beyond Jadzia and Ezri, see the below folder. |
| 497 | ---- |
| 498 | * BelligerentSexualTension: With Worf, since he obviously hasn't gotten over [[spoiler:Jadzia's death]], and Jadzia's memories are confusing her emotions. |
| 499 | * BrutalHonesty: She lacks Curzon and Jadzia's fondness for the Klingon Empire, so when Worf asks her opinion, she doesn't hold back. |
| 500 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: She's very good at her job, "Afterimage" on, just... quirky. |
| 501 | * CharacterisationMarchesOn: One of Dax's previous hosts committed a violent murder. In a later episode Ezri has to track down a SerialKiller on the station, and her previous host has suddenly turned into a cold-blooded killer who's offed three people just so Ezri can do a Hannibal-style ConsultingAConvictedKiller episode. However this {{Flanderization}} began as early as ''Facets''. |
| 502 | * ClosestThingWeGot: When the Dax symbiont started ailing, Ezri became its host due to being the ''only'' Trill within lightyears, even though she had never even considered being a host and had to replace several years worth of symbiosis training with a 15 minute lecture before she went under the knife. |
| 503 | * CloudCuckooLander: As a result of having eight full lifetimes shoehorned into her head (as well as merging with the consciousness that holds them). She adjusts eventually, ending up more a BunnyEarsLawyer instead. |
| 504 | * ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: She's a major contrast from Jadzia. Jadzia actively campaigned for selection and was prepared to become a host, Ezri was unprepared. Jadzia was a StatuesqueStunner, Ezri is shorter than every other main character except Nog[[note]](Michael Dorn is 6'3", Avery Brooks is 6'1", Terry Farrell, Alexander Siddig, and Rene Auberjonois are 6'0", Colm Meaney is 5'11", Nana Visitor is 5'8", Armin Shimerman and Max Grodenchik are 5'6", De Boer is 5'2", Aron Eisenberg was 5'0")[[/note]]. Jadzia romanticized the Klingon Empire, Ezri is more critical. Also, while the Dax symbiote apparently immediately turned previous hosts Jadzia and Verad from [[ShrinkingViolet Shrinking Violets]] to much more confident and assertive people, Ezri seems to remain largely dorky and awkward for quite a while after being joined with Dax. This could be attributed to the placebo effect, since both Jadzia and Verad expected to be made more confident by being joined. |
| 505 | * TheCutie: Series/AllyMcBeal....''[[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace in space]]''! In practice, Ezri is a near-clone of Ensign Sonya Gomez, a short-lived TNG character who was substituted with the even ditzier Reg Barclay. |
| 506 | * DamnYouMuscleMemory: The knowledge of her past hosts can be useful (such as with Tobin's engineering know-how on AR-558) but sometimes it gets her in trouble. In the baseball episode, she complains that having been a gymnast in a previous life makes her try to move like one when the body she's in ''now'' doesn't have the conditioning--which makes her very sore. (It does allow her to pull off a hell of a catch in the final game, though.) |
| 507 | * ADayInTheLimelight: Considering that she showed up in the final season, most of it was devoted to developing her character as much as they could (while still focusing on the rest of the storyline), but the episodes "Afterimage", "Prodigal Daughter", and "Field Of Fire" are very specifically about only her. |
| 508 | * FallingIntoTheCockpit: Ezri was not planning to be a symbiont host and had no training. Her entire prep time was a 15-minute lecture from the ''Destiny'''s non-Trill Chief Medical Officer. |
| 509 | * GotVolunteered: Technically, her captain said she could refuse the joining, but he noted himself that it wasn't much of a choice. |
| 510 | * InnocentBlueEyes |
| 511 | * NaiveNewcomer: Even without suddenly becoming Dax, she's a very young Starfleet officer. |
| 512 | * TheNthDoctor: The ninth host of Dax. |
| 513 | * OlderThanTheyLook: She's got the same deal as Jadzia going on, plus she's a few years younger than Jadzia was at the beginning of the series. Played with since, as a joined Trill, she is simultaneously as young as she looks and over 300 years old. |
| 514 | * PastLifeMemories: Part of coming to terms with the symbiont. Ezri instinctively orders raktajino (Curzon and Jadzia's favorite drink) from the replicator, only to realize upon drinking it that she ''hates'' it now. She also has issues with space sickness due to memories of Torias's death in a shuttle crash. |
| 515 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Is on the receiving one of Garak's. Later, she delivers one to Worf about the Klingon Empire being plagued with corruption. |
| 516 | * ReplacementGoldfish: Slides right into Jadzia's corner of the Dax/Bashir/Worf LoveTriangle, but ultimately winds up going the other way. |
| 517 | * SexWithTheEx: A variant, since of course Ezri is a different person than Jadzia. Luckily for their sanity, this clears up for both of them just ''what'' their relationship is (Worf realizes that it's time to stop thinking of Ezri as Jadzia, and Ezri realizes she's in love with Julian). |
| 518 | * TheShrink: Although unsure of herself at furst, it turns out that she's really good at being a counselor as Garak would attest when his claustrophobia really flared up. A running joke from early in Season Seven is people [[ThereAreNoTherapists being surprised as she tells them she was trained as a Counsellor]]. |
| 519 | * SituationalHandSwitch: An odd example: the pre-joining "Ezri Tigan" was right handed, but after her unexpected joining, the resulting "Ezri Dax" switches to being left-handed. Several of her past hosts were left-handed, and their influence won out on this during the blending process. |
| 520 | * SlapSlapKiss: Again with Worf. When he's missing and she goes on a one-woman rescue mission, they get into a huge argument after she saved him and they end up sleeping together. |
| 521 | -->"Do you really think that I would disobey orders and risk my life so that I could seduce you? I hate to burst your bubble, Worf, but it wasn't ''that'' good." |
| 522 | * StepfordSnarker: She frequently makes sarcastic comments and uses SelfDeprecatingHumor to cover her real anxiety. The episode focusing on her family implies Ezri did this even before she was joined. |
| 523 | * StereotypeFlip: Every Trill previously shown was either joined, aspiring to be joined, or upset about being rejected from joining. Ezri, and later her family, established that many Trill have no interest in being joined. |
| 524 | * TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: She's tasked with Garak's ''very'' difficult case when she is in desperate need of therapy herself. |
| 525 | * TookALevelInBadass: |
| 526 | ** A half-level at first after a particularly scathing TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from Garak. They squeeze in a little character development for her in the single season she's on the show, and she ends up hunting down a Vulcan serial killer. |
| 527 | ** She goes a BIG step further in "Penumbra", when she singlehandedly braves the storms of The Badlands to save Worf. Oh, and she gives a few nice mini-[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "Reason You Suck Speeches"]] when Worf seems to forget his gratitude for it, in that episode and one two episodes later. |
| 528 | * WalkingSpoiler: It's basically impossible to say anything about Ezri without explaining that [[spoiler:Jadzia dies]]. If you're talking to someone who knows how Trill work, they're going to figure out the implications of her last name very fast. |
| 529 | * WellDoneSonGuy: Somewhat. When she realized she would never get this, she joined Starfleet and didn't look back. (Until O'Brien goes missing on her home planet and she ''has'' to.) |
| 530 | * WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: She gets space-sick sometimes. She spends much of her search for Worf muttering to herself not to be sick all over the console again. |
| 531 | * WideEyedIdealist: To an extent, [[GoodIsNotDumb though she's realistic enough to verbally deconstruct]] the Klingon Empire to Worf. |
| 532 | [[/folder]] |
| 533 | |
| 534 | [[folder:The Dax Symbiont]] |
| 535 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/92e39203_1107_4b76_8461_88a4ef9596fd.jpeg]] |
| 536 | A famous (and infamous to some) Trill symbiont. Its hosts before Jadzia are detailed below. |
| 537 | ---- |
| 538 | !!Lela Dax |
| 539 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/NanaVisitor ("Facets") |
| 540 | |
| 541 | The Dax symbiont's first host. A famous politician. |
| 542 | ---- |
| 543 | * CharacterTics: Jazdia's habit of walking with her hands behind her back? That came from Lela. |
| 544 | * CoolOldLady: Nice and grandma like. |
| 545 | * IronLady: The first woman appointed to the Trill Council. |
| 546 | * LargeHam: She was so hammy in her speeches to the Council that the others started doing impressions of it, after which she started putting her hands behind her back instead. |
| 547 | |
| 548 | !!Tobin Dax |
| 549 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/ColmMeaney ("Facets") |
| 550 | |
| 551 | The Dax symbiont's second host. A nervous engineer. |
| 552 | ---- |
| 553 | * AdultChild: Case in point? He tried learning magic. |
| 554 | * ApologizesALot: He even apologizes for apologizing. |
| 555 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: Meek and spacy, but a good engineer. Especially when phase coil inverters were involved. |
| 556 | * ExtremeDoormat: Jadzia mentions he was never able to punish his children for anything. |
| 557 | * TheTeetotaler: Curzon apparently got him wasted for the first time during his zhian'tara. |
| 558 | |
| 559 | !!Emony Dax |
| 560 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/ChaseMasterson ("Facets") |
| 561 | |
| 562 | The Dax symbiont's third host. A skilled gymnast. |
| 563 | ---- |
| 564 | * BeenThereShapedHistory: Met one [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Leonard McCoy]] when judging a gymnastics competition on Earth. |
| 565 | -->'''Emony:''' [[DoubleEntendre He had the hands of a surgeon.]] |
| 566 | * CharacterTics: She liked standing on her head to relax. This causes Ezri to start doing the same during her teething problems. |
| 567 | * TheMcCoy: Ezri notes that Emony's emotional influence is quite strong after being joined. |
| 568 | |
| 569 | !!Audrid Dax |
| 570 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/ArminShimerman ("Facets") |
| 571 | |
| 572 | The Dax symbiont's fourth host. A politician and a loving mother. |
| 573 | ---- |
| 574 | * ReincarnatedAsTheOppositeSex: She's put into Quark's body during Jadzia's zhian'tara, a result of the writers being put in an awkward position of only having one other major female character available after establishing that Dax had three previous female hosts (the other was put into minor character Leeta). She doesn't mind, but Quark very much does. |
| 575 | * TeamMom: Although Dax's hosts have a total of nine children (as a mother three times and a father once), Jadzia usually attributes her maternal instincts to Audrid. |
| 576 | |
| 577 | !!Torias Dax |
| 578 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/AlexanderSiddig ("Facets") |
| 579 | |
| 580 | The Dax symbiont's fifth host. A carefree pilot who died in a shuttle accident shortly after being joined. |
| 581 | ---- |
| 582 | * AcePilot: Which eventually led to his end. |
| 583 | %%* BigEater |
| 584 | * InHarmsWay: He was always looking for a good thrill. He went looking just one too many times. |
| 585 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: Torias died less than a year after being joined. |
| 586 | |
| 587 | !!Joran Dax |
| 588 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/JeffMagnusMcBride, Creator/AveryBrooks ("Facets,") Creator/LeighJMcCloskey |
| 589 | |
| 590 | The Dax symbiont's sixth host. A foul-tempered musician who accidentally wound up with the Dax symbiont after Torias' death. After Joran killed a few people, the Dax symbiont was removed from him, resulting in his death. The Dax symbiont's memories of Joran were subsequently suppressed. |
| 591 | ---- |
| 592 | * CreepyMonotone: Very fond of speaking in one. |
| 593 | * {{Flanderization}}: When his existence was first revealed in "Equilibrium," while certainly unstable, Joran was ''not'' the cold psychopath he was later portrayed as being. |
| 594 | * GollumMadeMeDoIt: The black sheep of the Dax family, so to speak. Unfortunately, he's still floating around inside Dax's genetic makeup, somewhere. |
| 595 | * HairTriggerTemper: His brother Yolad mentions that he had a violent temper. |
| 596 | * HannibalLecture: Delivers one to Jadzia while [[ItMakesSenseInContext possessing Sisko]] in "Facets". Appropriate {{Foreshadowing}}, considering how he plays Hannibal Lecter to Ezri's Clarice Starling in "Field of Fire". |
| 597 | * ImpromptuTracheotomy: What he did to the doctor that suggested he be dropped from the program. |
| 598 | * MadArtist: He could have been a great concert pianist, but had latent psychopathic tendencies. |
| 599 | * {{Unperson}}: The Symbiosis Commission did their best to purge his memory. It didn't stick. |
| 600 | * WhiteMaskOfDoom: Seen wearing one in "Equilibrium." |
| 601 | |
| 602 | !!Curzon Dax |
| 603 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/FrankOwenSmith, Creator/ReneAuberjonois ("Facets") |
| 604 | |
| 605 | The Dax symbiont's seventh host. An ambassador and ladies' man, as well as an old friend of Sisko's. |
| 606 | ---- |
| 607 | * {{Ambadassador}}: Presumably; the Klingons never would've respected him otherwise. |
| 608 | * AssInAmbassador: He stormed out of some talks when he got bored. Kang admitted he nearly killed Curzon for that, but also admitted he was impressed by the guy's stones. |
| 609 | * CoolOldGuy: A young Ben Sisko certainly thought so. Most of the time, anyway. |
| 610 | * DirtyOldMan: Curzon was a bit of a hedonist in his old age. |
| 611 | * DrillSergeantNasty: Dax is infamous in the Trill Initiate Program for having broken more initiates than any other Joined Trill. Initiates regard being assigned to Dax as a virtual death sentence that will kiss their chances of Joining goodbye forever. This caused Jadzia no end of problems when it came her turn to mentor, as ''she herself'' was bullied (and washed out of the Initiate Programme) by a Dax (Curzon). It's ironically subverted in the case of Jadzia, as the only reason Curzon initially failed her from the program was because [[spoiler:he was in love with her]]. |
| 612 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: He and Ben Sisko were thick as thieves, with Sisko affectionately calling him "Old Man". |
| 613 | * {{Jerkass}}: Sisko says that most of the time, he could be an ass, so much that Sisko would call him on it. |
| 614 | * TheMentor: To Sisko, whom he's been mentoring since Starfleet Academy if not earlier. |
| 615 | * OutWithABang: Curzon Dax apparently dies of old age in the pilot. Years later, we learn that he was Jamaharoned to death by Vanessa Williams. |
| 616 | |
| 617 | !!Verad Dax |
| 618 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/JohnGlover |
| 619 | |
| 620 | A Trill who was passed over for receiving the Dax symbiont, an event that ruined his life. He takes over Deep Space Nine during "Invasive Procedures" so he can take Dax from Jadzia. |
| 621 | ---- |
| 622 | * AffablyEvil: Both before and after he joins with the symbiont. |
| 623 | * AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Hijacks Deep Space Nine to take Dax. |
| 624 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Never once mentioned after his only appearance. Perhaps he wasn't joined long enough to 'count', since the Dax symbiont was only implanted in him for a few hours at most and removing it didn't kill him as it nearly did Jadzia; or alternatively because he essentially stole the symbiont at phaser point rather than being officially assigned it. Or perhaps Jadzia, despite her sympathy for him, preferred not to remember the man who almost caused her ''death.'' |
| 625 | * FriendlyEnemy: Takes to addressing Sisko as "Benjamin" just like Jadzia and Curzon. |
| 626 | * GrandTheftMe: Jacks the symbiont so he can be joined. |
| 627 | * NotSoHarmlessVillain: Once he is joined with the symbiont. |
| 628 | |
| 629 | !!Yedrin Dax |
| 630 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/GaryFrank |
| 631 | |
| 632 | A host of the Dax symbiont from the alternate timeline seen in "Children of Time". |
| 633 | ---- |
| 634 | * DoomedByCanon: With [[spoiler:Jadzia killed going into season 7]], he is erased from ''all'' timelines. |
| 635 | * FutureMeScaresMe: Jadzia hates him because he lied. Yedrin hates Jadzia because the crash was her fault. |
| 636 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: He had years to reflect on how his curiosity got the ''Defiant'' stranded. |
| 637 | * NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: He regretted the decision that got them stranded, but he still wanted to save his community... and yet, after almost two centuries for Dax to consider alternatives, he apparently never thought about doing anything but ensuring that events play out as he remembers, rather than trying for a TrickedOutTime scenario where the ''Defiant'' still gets back to the station. |
| 638 | [[/folder]] |
| 639 | |
| 640 | [[folder:U.S.S. ''Defiant'']] |
| 641 | !!U.S.S. ''Defiant'' (NX-74205) |
| 642 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uss_defiant_in_2375.jpg]] |
| 643 | [[caption-width-right:350:See the bright orange glowing dots? This is a split second before a [[BeamSpam hail of phaser pulses]] issue forth.]] |
| 644 | !!!'''Played By:''' Creator/MajelBarrett (computer voice) |
| 645 | |
| 646 | ->'''Riker''': "Tough little ship." |
| 647 | ->'''Worf''': "Little?" |
| 648 | -->-- ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' |
| 649 | |
| 650 | A prototype [[InsistentTerminology "escort"]] ship developed by Starfleet (i.e.: Ben Sisko) after the disastrous Battle of Wolf 359, she was pulled out of storage and posted at Deep Space Nine after first contact with the Dominion. She was called an "escort" because that was the most polite term Starfleet could find for their very first dedicated warship. Although she had a rough start, the ''Defiant'' managed to show just how fierce the peace-loving Federation could be. |
| 651 | |
| 652 | Her service came to an end when the Breen entered the Dominion War and one-shot her with their energy weapon. Starfleet Command posted her sister ship ''Sao Paulo'' to the station and gave special permission to rename her to ''Defiant''. After the Dominion War and a [[WesternAnimation/StarTrekProdigy near-fatal battle]] with the Living Construct Virus, the second ''Defiant'' is retired to the Fleet Museum at Athan Prime. |
| 653 | ---- |
| 654 | * BiggerStick: She is that stick, and for [=DS9=], the only stick. On her own she can handily defeat a small fleet of lesser ship, and give bigger ones a run for their money. |
| 655 | * BeamSpam: The ''Defiant'''s main weapon array are a [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon quad of rapid-fire pulse phaser cannons]] that can issue forth a torrent of angry balls of phaser energy, making quick work of similarly-sized Jem'Hadar attack ships and can rake the hulls of larger ships pretty hard. |
| 656 | * CompanionCube: For all of the [=DS9=] crew, but particularly for Worf. While he's officially the ''Defiant'''s XO, it's noted he acts like she is really his ship, not Sisko's. In ''First Contact'', he gets immediately agitated when he thinks Commander Riker is disparaging her for being "little", as seen in the character quote. |
| 657 | * CripplingOverspecialization: In contrast to the versatile exploration vessels that comprise much of Starfleet, the ''Defiant'' was created as a purely military vessel with exceptional firepower and defensive measures in the smallest package possible, lacking space for other facilities. Throughout the series, it was only once shown on a purely scientific mission; other times, it has been used for rescues or GunboatDiplomacy. |
| 658 | * DueToTheDead: Sisko takes the time to say "She was a fine ship." before evacuating her for the last time. |
| 659 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In her debut episode, the ''Defiant'' gets [[CurbStompBattle curb stomped]] by a couple of Jem'hadar fighters -- and after they spent the first half of the episode talking her up like she was the baddest thing flying in the Alpha Quadrant, no less. [[TookALevelInBadass Later seasons]] will show her swatting squadrons of them like flies. Presumably this was after they ironed out the list of flaws that O'Brien compiled, and figured out how to prevent Dominion weapons from bypassing their shields. |
| 660 | * FlawedPrototype: According to Sisko, she nearly shook herself apart during shakedown trials because of her oversized and overpowered reactor. With the Borg threat receding, and the Federation once again slipping into complacency, Starfleet decided to instead mothball the ''Defiant'' rather than sort the problems out, and she came to [=DS9=] still saddled with the same problem of waaaay too much engine for such a small vessel. It took awhile for the crew to sort it out. |
| 661 | * GodzillaThreshold: The ''Defiant'' was a demonstration of just how far the Borg had pushed the Federation, as she was the first Federation starship that had no other purpose than combat. |
| 662 | * InsistentTerminology: As Starfleet does not use warships (at least, they ''say'' they don't), she's officially classified as an "escort". Everyone sees through the pretense, however, including the guy who designed her. |
| 663 | * InvisibilityCloak: She's equipped with a cloaking device, provided to Starfleet by the Romulan government as part of an intelligence sharing operation. It was originally stipulated the cloak could only be used in the Gamma Quadrant, but the [=DS9=] crew have disregarded this on a number of occasions without repercussion.[[note]]On her first outing, the ''Defiant'' had to be accompanied by a Romulan officer who supervised the use of the cloaking device. Afterwards, the officer was never seen again.[[/note]] |
| 664 | * LegacyVesselNaming: She's named for a ''Constitution''-class ship that [[Recap/StarTrekS3E9TheTholianWeb went missing]] back on the ''The Original Series'' [[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E18InAMirrorDarkly and ended up in the Mirror Universe]] on ''Enterprise'', though the ship only gets her name and not her registry. After she's destroyed, Starfleet Command gives special dispensation to have the replacement ''Sao Paulo'' renamed to ''Defiant'', registry included (though budgetary constraints meant she wasn't given an ''A'). |
| 665 | * LightningBruiser: Small, nimble, armor-plated, and packs enough firepower to rival much larger warships, say, a ''Galaxy''-class. |
| 666 | * MeaningfulName: Not only does she defy the Federation's ideal of not using pure warships, she's also meant to defy anyone who would try to conquer or destroy the Federation. |
| 667 | * MoreDakka: One of the few Federation starships armed with [[https://steemitimages.com/p/HuuaCvCTvqFVShcXEnim6J6YL3majzmdhSFKXAe6eUmJpyxWFUREPfVB89bXrMqNQYV?format=match&mode=fit pulse phaser cannons]] instead of the more sedate beam emitters; instead of a scalpel-like beam, her main phaser quad array are like an unrelenting torrent of hammers. |
| 668 | * NonStandardCharacterDesign: Most Starfleet ships are based around a saucer-shaped hull with elongated nacelles on extended pylons and other necessary structural elements (often including a secondary hull for the main engine room). ''Defiant'', on the other hand, is a compact brick of a ship, with only a vague vestigial shape of a saucer on the fore, no proper engine hull with the nav deflector moved to the bow, and short cowled nacelles that are directly integrated into the hull to for better protection, with the blue vent grills only on the very aft of the nacelles. |
| 669 | * OneRiotOneRanger: For a long time she was the only Federation ship posted at the station, so whenever a problem arose near Bajor or in the Gamma Quadrant she was Starfleet's first call. |
| 670 | * PintSizedPowerhouse: She's on the small side for starships in Starfleet service -- excluding runabouts, shuttlecraft, and the like -- but her firepower and armor rivals that of a ''Galaxy''-class. Under Worf's command in "Paradise Lost", she all but trounces the ''Excelsior-class'' USS ''Lakota'', despite the latter being around twenty times larger than the ''Defiant'', getting the first shots off, and having been upgraded with improved weaponry. Only the reluctance of either ship to destroy the other kept the confrontation from ending in a more decisive conclusion. |
| 671 | ** Gul Dukat even called her "one of the most powerful warships in the Alpha Quandrant." |
| 672 | * TheQuietOne: In comparison to the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Enterprise]]''-D or ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'', the ''Defiant'' computer didn't speak very much. Captain Sisko usually relied on his crew to relay information, rather than the ship itself. |
| 673 | * StarshipLuxurious: Averted. The ''Defiant'' is much more utilitarian than the ''Enterprise''-D, to emphasize that's she a warship. She has no holodecks, the crew quarters are cramped and imply hotbunks, and she doesn't even have a shuttlebay ([[SeriesContinuityError Except for that one time she did]]). |
| 674 | * SuperPrototype: The first of her class and bearing an NX registry number. Apart from her hitherto unprecedented combat specialization and [[PintsizedPowerhouse exceedingly powerful reactor]], which are qualities shared by all members of the class, she is the only Starfleet vessel officially equipped with a Romulan cloaking device, as well as the first (and possibly the only one of her class) to be equipped with ablative armour. It's never been made clear if [[BackupTwin her replacement]] or other ships of her class came with any of the special features that she had.[[note]]While it is likely that other ships of the class did not come with a cloaking device, seeing as the one on the ''Defiant'' was provided by the Romulans under a special agreement, it was never made clear if ablative armour was a standard feature of the class[[/note]] |
| 675 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Played with. On one hand, the ''Sao Paulo'' is a sister ship that would go on to effectively play the same role as the original ''Defiant'', taking on the name of her predecessor not long after her assignment to Deep Space Nine. On the other hand, she lacks some of the special features that the original possessed, had additional modifications to protect against the Breen energy-dampening weapon, and was noted to be somewhat more sluggish. Moreover, the original didn't survive, but her successor lived long enough to make it to the Fleet Museum. |
| 676 | * TheWorfEffect: |
| 677 | ** When she first premiered, she was talked up by Sisko as being a Hail Mary for the fleet, only for her to get stomped by the Jem'Hadar and captured. Justified because, at the time, she was an unfinished prototype that had been mothballed for several years and had an inexperienced crew, and was in dire need of a shakedown cruise. |
| 678 | ** Despite being specifically built to fight the Borg, her appearance in ''[[Film/StarTrekFirstContact First Contact]]'' saw her getting pummeled by the Borg until she had to be abandoned. However, this was actually a subversion. [[AllThereInTheManual According to background material]], it took ''three days'' for the ''Enterprise'' to arrive at the battle, so the ''Defiant'' had been fighting the Borg for days and was still ticking - and even then, it was still repairable. Tough little ship, indeed. |
| 679 | ** She likely holds a franchise record for the number of times she has been hijacked, commandeered, beat up and completely disabled. |
| 680 | ** And then there was her destruction, getting one-shot by the Breen to show how dangerous they were. |
| 681 | [[/folder]] |
| 682 | |
| 683 | [[folder:Deep Space Nine]] |
| 684 | !!Deep Space Nine |
| 685 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a4e3e60a4d6450076d18e1eeb4d8d22e_space_station_season.jpg]] |
| 686 | !!!'''Played By:''' Judi Durand (computer voice) |
| 687 | |
| 688 | Formerly ''Terok Nor'', the Cardassians' deep space station over Bajor, she was taken by the bajorans once the Bajor occupation was ended. In turn the Bajoran made a deal with the Federation that saw the Bajoran station be administered by Starfleet as part of an alliance between both powers. |
| 689 | ---- |
| 690 | * BleakBorderBase: The station starts as this. When Starfleet arrives, the Cardassians had wrecked all its vital systems and the Federation engineers are faced with a monumental task of rebuilding. The civilian population is getting ready to leave. Sisko is considering leaving the service and the rest of the crew considers this another assignment. Bashir is the only one to choose this posting and is excited to be there. Then the wormhole is discovered, and the station suddenly becomes one of Starfleet's most vital posts. |
| 691 | * BornIntoSlavery: Perhaps not itself, but it was built and run by slaves. |
| 692 | * CriminalAmnesiac: Gets some of its memory back when a counterinsurgency program written by Dukat is accidentally triggered and nearly kills everyone aboard. |
| 693 | * EvilIsNotWellLit: Unlike the generally bright Deep Space 9, Terok Nor was kept at Cardassian standard lighting, much darker for their sensitive eyes (at least on the Promenade. The offices and crew quarters get to look the same). It helps add to the cramped, oppressive feel of the place. |
| 694 | * FaceHeelTurn: The station was briefly returned to being Terok Nor after the Federation withdrew at the end of the fifth season. It only lasted half a dozen episodes until Starfleet and the Klingons managed to retake the station. |
| 695 | * HeelFaceTurn: Converted from a Cardassian gulag, to a free Federation-Bajoran station. |
| 696 | * HiddenWeapons: Starfleet did a comprehensive tactical system overhaul on the station after the Dominion threat materialized. Ironically, it first had to be turned upon the Federation's former allies, the Klingon Empire, when they were being misled by a high-placed Changeling Infiltrator. The weapons are all hidden under a number of deployable hull panels, and can produce a [[MacrossMissileMassacre withering barrage of photon torpedoes in every direction]] as well as [[BeamSpam phaser beams]]. To O'Brien's relief and credit, the whole rig did ''not'' make the [[TheAllegedCar station]] destroy itself from the power surge from using it. |
| 697 | * JurisdictionFriction: The station is jointly run by a Starfleet-Bajoran contingent, so sometimes this happened, particularly between the Bajoran deputies under Odo and the Starfleet Security detachment under Commander Eddington. It was something of a minor plot point that, after Bajor signed a non-aggression pact with the Dominion, Starfleet refused to turn the station over to the Bajoran government until the wormhole minefield was completed. [[spoiler:It was only officially, however; after Kira lodged the official protest to Sisko (as her duty as the bajoran liason officer), she immediately resumed her station in Ops for the final operations before Starfleet bailed (including activating a scorched-earth sabotage program in all the Ops stations).]] |
| 698 | * MidSeasonUpgrade: In the first episode of the fourth season, upgrades to the station's weapon systems are completed. It sports a drastically higher number of [[BeamSpam phaser banks]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre torpedo launchers]], many of them installed in hidden popup platforms. |
| 699 | * MightyGlacier: Has enough firepower to single-handedly hold off entire fleets by itself, but only has basic maneuvering thrusters. Not that it's going anywhere. [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in the pilot, where O'Brien manages to get the station moving at near-warp speeds by using subspace TechnoBabble but they have only basic phaser banks for defense. |
| 700 | * NoOSHACompliance: Many of the station’s flaws show just how little the Cardassians care for engineering safety. Not that they would care in areas where Bajoran slaves would handle the ore processing. |
| 701 | * OneManArmy: While it may be an inanimate object, this 'toothless old Grishnar cat' can singlehandedly fight off Klingon and Dominion fleets. |
| 702 | * PlugNPlayTechnology: Subverted. Over time, the station begins to use a mix of Cardassian, Bajoran, and Federation technology, none of which are necessarily compatible and frequently needing maintenance. O'Brien became well-known for being the one engineer who can keep all of this tech running as smoothly as it does. |
| 703 | * RagsToRiches: When Sisko first comes to Deep Space 9, it's a derelict Cardassian space station in the backwaters Bajoran system. After the wormhole is discovered, however, it becomes a major interstellar hub overnight, and in time, becomes one of the most important stations in the entire Federation. |
| 704 | * RuleOfSymbolism: As Sisko notes in the pilot, the central ops station is designed so all the underlings have to look up whenever they're looking towards Dukat's office. Appropriate for the narcissistic jerk. |
| 705 | * SaltTheEarth: Happened twice. First, the Cardassians wrecked as much of the station as possible when they withdrew from Bajor, then, when the Federation pulled out, Kira activated a program left behind by Sisko that fried the station's computers. |
| 706 | * SupervillainLair: Dukat was the prefect of the entire planet of Bajor, yet at no point when he is in power do we ever see him outside the station. He appears to view it as his own private castle. And harem. |
| 707 | * TookALevelInBadass: In the pilot, the station was barely functional, with all of its defenses stripped out by the Cardassians when they withdrew from Bajor. By the time of the fourth season premiere, [=DS9=] had become one of the most heavily fortified stations in the Alpha Quadrant. Gowron and Martok can barely believe their eyes when the station starts wiping the floor with their fleet. |
| 708 | * TookALevelInKindness: After taking on a program from an alien probe, the {{jerkass}} computer starts being nicer to O'Brien. |
| 709 | * WhatAPieceOfJunk: The station was very finicky, with its melange of Cardassian, Federation, and Bajoran tech proving a chore to keep functioning properly. However, after the Dominion threat manifested, stronger weapons systems and enormous munitions stores were installed, and the station then [[MacrossMissileMassacre fended]] [[BeamSpam off]] a Klingon onslaught. |
| 710 | [[/folder]] |
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