I loved this episode. I think it dealt with the subject matter of homosexuality more boldly the Next Gen episode, "The Outcast." I think both
actress(Dax and her lover) performed excellantly.
Why we don't have more episodes dealing with this issue I don't know? Both episodes were really good.

Actually, I do know. Paramount doesn't want to risk offending advertisers or conservative fans?

I made an observation in the "Nitpickers Guide for Deep Space Nine Trekkers." Phil said "rejoining" or "reassociation" seemed like a law to him in response to Bashir's point about it being more of a taboo. He also stated that Dax's relationship with Capt. Sisko or the Klingons from Bloodoath would make the "taboo" invalid. I believe though that the writer might have been referring to true-to-life sodomy laws(existing in around 1/2 of all the United States's states) that discriminate against homo-and bisexuals in America. You see under most sodomy laws all (forgive me for being blunt) anal and oral sex acts are illegal even among heterosexual, married couples. However, the homophobic wings of the government aren't interest in putting married couples or unmarried heterosexual couples in prison. Those laws are usually only used to criminalize homosexual behavior(or against rapists because rape sentencing isn't strong enough, which is another issue).
My point is that the Trill joining committee probably take a blind eye or don't care about Sisko and Jadzia Dax or Dax and the "Bloodoath" Klingons(taboo?). They would only be concerned about romantic relations.

So then why did the committee allow Ezri to go to DS9? I would think they did know that Jadzia married Worf. Wouldn't this be re-association?

I hate this episode...the whole reassociation
thing doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I
avoid this episode...it's simply idiotic.

Because there was a war going on. I mean even if homophobia exists in the United States government they're not going to interfere with the
policies of the military that would keep them from being Russian/Chinese slaves.
I again loved this episode. The only thing that I thought •••••• in relation to this is that there still aren't any lesbian/gay/bi-sexual characters in Star Trek(not openly anyway). What happened to them all? Did the Borg and Dominion wipe them all out? Did they all die in the Eugenic Wars?

By the time that the war was over, giving the Trill symbiote high council or whatever to say something to Ezri Worf was already gone off the station. Remember too though that Ezri was not a Trill joined candatate. She did not want to be joined. If they pressured Ezri too much she simply could have told them to, "•••• you," and let the symbiote die with her. (I mean she wasn't
going to pass on her memories, personality, talents to anyone else originally anyway.) The Trill symbiote probably decided it would be best to not escalate the matter.

Check out the model on the end table of Sisko's office in the beginning of the episode where he is talking to Dax. It is a model of an original sketch of the Enterprise from TOS.

In the opening, Kira asks Dax if she knew that woman (Lenara Kahn) and Dax says, "She used to be my wife.", but Lenara was never the wife of any of Dax's previous hosts. (As Kira and Bashir attempt to explain to Quark after the credits.)
The only way for that statement to have any truth is to say that the Dax symbiont was speaking, not of Lenara, but of the Kahn symbiont. (Kaaaaaaaahn!)

Maybe exile explains why Odan of NextGen's The Host doesn't look like the DS9 Trill? Maybe previous exiled symbionts found this race of humanoids that they could live in? Since these new hosts suddenly had memories of lifetimes of a race that called itself Trill, they may have started calling themselves that as well.

Here and in Crossfire Kira wears a blue uniform. Is that supposed to be her Bajoran Dress Uniform?

Did anyone ask the symbionts if they wanted this ban on reassociation?

If Torias was joined to Dax for such a short time, then why is it having such a big effect on Jadzia? (More proof that it is actually the Dax symbiont which wishes to reassociate with the Kahn symbiont and is just using Torias' memories to force Jadzia to go along.)

Closed Captioning had some dialogue not spoken in the show.

I wonder if this artificial wormhole data was sent to Voyager either during Hunters, or Pathfinder, or Life Line?

In Up The Long Ladder Worf explains that when there is a fire a force field comes down and suffocates the fire. So why couldn't they use a force field to put out the fire in the engine room?

There must have been a lot of oxygen in the engine room so that Dax & Kahn could get to safety. You can even see their hair blowing around as the atmosphere is vented from the room.

TRIVIA: (for those who don't know)

Avery Brooks wrote this episode

The 2 Dax women were supposed to kiss on the lips but was changed at the last minute due to the censors.

Actually, Avery Brooks directed this episode. It was written by Ron Moore and Rene Echeverria.

And Dax and Lenara Khan *did* kiss on the lips. With tongue. I understand some of the TV stations in the States censored the episode for broadcast, but the rest of us saw one of the most pogniant and passionate kisses in Trek.

Ding ding on me...you're right, Brooks DIRECTED it.

Phil, from his DS9 Guide; PO#1: Aside from the plot contriviance to get Kahn and Dax together, is there some reason the Trill science team needs to do these experiments at DS9
Uh, yeah, Phil. If you’re going to try to create an artificial wormhole, it helps to have an already stable wormhole as reference, doesn’t it? There may also be data about the wormhole they want to accumulate for themselves before trying the experiment.

Phil, from his DS9 Guide; PO#5: Regarding reassociation: Bashir tells Kira that it is important for joined Trill to move on from host to host, and let go of the past. This includes parents, siblings, spouses, and children. If the symbiont is supposed to let go of the past, wouldn’t this also include close friends?
It was always my understanding that "reassociation" only refers to mates. Bashir specifically tells Kira in the second scene of Act 1,

"Having a relationship with a lover from a past life is called a reassociation."

NOWHERE does Bashir anything about the rule forbidding having contact with past parents, siblings, spouses or children. He says that it is important for joined Trill to move on from those people, but it is strictly speaking, not a part of the taboo, or the official rule against reassociation. Only continuing a relationship with a past lover is, as he says from the start. And no, it does not include friends either. If reassociation did outlaw contact with these people, Dax would not have been allowed to come aboard DS9 under Sisko’s command in the first place, nor would Dr. Kahn have been allowed to go there for the mission, since Dax was stationed there. This is further proven by the fact that Ezri is later allowed to contact Sisko and transfer to DS9, but when she and Worf almost begin a relationship in Penumbra, they bring up the subject of it being against the rules.


I have a better punishment: When it’s time for the next host, stick the symbiont in the body of Johnny Knoxville from MTV’s Jackass
When Kira asks Bashir in the second scene of Act 1 about reassociation, Bashir refers to it as a rule. When Kira expresses disbelief at this "rule," Bashir clarifies, saying, well, it’s more of a "taboo" than a "rule." The Trill Symbiosis Commission punishes joined Trill who commit this offense by no longer allowing the symbiont to pass to new hosts, and allow it to die. If this "taboo." is backed by a form of legal punishment, then it is most certainly a "rule."
Boy, when Klingons have a crisis of faith, they don’t mess around! When my gods become too much trouble for me, I just pick a new church or switch religions!
Early in the episode, Worf refers to Klingon gods as ancient warriors slain in battle, and that they were too much trouble. I though Kahless was the central figure in Klingon worship. Who were these gods?
Maybe Barclay is more typical than "Hollow Pursuits" let on
Starfleet officers must be extremely hard to get along with or something, because they seem to have a hard time making friends. First, as I pointed out for Skin of Evil(TNG), the only people to attend Yar’s funeral were the senior staff. Then, Data told Worf in the shuttlecraft in The Next Phase(TNG) that he never knew what a friend was until he met Geordi. Now in this episode, Dax tells Sisko that in the seven lifetimes she’s lived, she’s never had a friend like him. First of all, was Dax such an obnoxious little b itch in all her past lives that she couldn’t make a friend like Sisko? I think maybe she was exaggerating a bit, as Phil noticed O’Brien did when he told Worf in The Way of Warrior that he couldn’t learn from a better captain than Sisko, apparently ignoring his praise of Captain Maxwell and Captain Picard from The Wounded(TNG).

"Phil noticed O’Brien did when he told Worf in The Way of Warrior that he couldn’t learn from a better captain than Sisko, apparently ignoring his praise of Captain Maxwell and Captain Picard from The Wounded(TNG)."

It's worse than that. In the third season finale, O'Brien calls Sisko the best captain in Starfleet. I guess O'Brien knows the rule of Acquisition that states "it never hurts to •••• up to the boss."

Rene, watch your ••••••• language!

Grr! Why should s-u-c-k be censored? Geez.

It could be worse, on sucks.com , numbers are cencord, as is the word butt and countless others.

It really is dumb. I can say "ass," but I can't say "st upid" or "p enis", even if I'm talking about a legitimate subject, like the sketches DaVinci made in his sketchbooks.

Censorship isn't merely wrong, it's inherently inconsistent, and hyopcritical, and fraught with doulbe standards.

I know. It's not like I was saying someone su cks or something. I was quoting a Rule of Acquisition. That is just ridiculous.

In the Guide, Phil comments on the idea that the scientists are trying to create the first artificial wormhole, pointing out that the Bajoran wormhole is artificial (so it's quite possibly the "first"). But actually, Starfleet knew about an artificial wormhole almost a hundred years earlier---the one the Enterprise created in the first movie!

(And yes, I know that was an accident, but it was still artificial. After all, when a ship sinks and forms a reef we call it artificial, whether the sinking was intended or not.)

Perhaps these scientists want to create an artificial, stable wormhole.

In the DS9 companion, the writers are apparently proud of the fact that one mentions that no one mentions that Jadzia is prepared to have a relationship with another woman. Frankly, it makes the episode unrealistic that no one makes a comment. These are the same people who make fun of Jadzia for dating someone with a transparent skull.

I only recall one person finding Captain Boday an undesirable mate for that reason, and that was Kira, and it didn't seem to me so much that she was making fun of it, but that she was mystified at Dax's attraction to him. This is at least consistent with the fact that of the two, Kira was always the more reserved, conservative, somewhat less adventurous one of the two, and Dax the more open-minded, hip 'n trendy one willing to try things others might not.

It's also consistent with the fact that things like homosexuality, transgenderedness, and other such things do not seem to be unaccepted taboos among many races in the Trek universe. Bolians and Denobulans are polygamous. The J'Naii, the Vissians and Species 8472 have more than two genders. The "linking" that Changelings engage in may be something that takes the place of humanoid copulation, but also seems to have other non-sexual aspects to it, and is not something that that two Changelings of the same gender seem to refrain from. When Dax noticed the attraction Pel (who was masquerading as a male) had to Quark in Rules of Acquisition, she seemed to have no problem with it, and before Pel revealed that she was female. Ditto for Zyree, who later walked in on Pel throwing herself at Quark, and casually walked out when she saw they were busy.

Plus, knowing the history that Dax had with Khan, it would be even less of a surprise.

Indeed, Kira was not "making fun" of Dax for dating Boday - she was merely aghast that Dax could stomach dating someone with a transparent skull. And Kira does make a comment in this episode - she doesn't understand why Dax doesn't just for a new relationship with Khan.

The J'Naii, the Vissians and Species 8472 have more than two genders.

I thought the J'Naii had only one gender... then again, I've tried to block that episode from my memory. When did we hear that 8472 had more than two genders? (or any at all?)

I believe it was during a lame Holodoc photo show where he says that Species 8472 have fixe sexes. (but you have to wonder when the heck they found that out.)

Despite what you all say, it's still odd that no one mentioned anything.

Only because you're applying your own, modern sensibilities to characters that are from 200+ years in the future (and many not human).

I don't recall much commentary when a character dated another character of a different species (Dax/Worf, Troi/Worf, Riker/Troi, etc.). Why should gender be any different to them?

And yes, Josh, thanks for the correction about the J'Naii.

Someone To Watch Over Me. 7 and Doc ep. Wouldn't be so bad if there hadn't been so many.

"Only because you're applying your own, modern sensibilities to characters that are from 200+ years in the future (and many not human)."

Unless the actors travelled from the future, I am applying my "modern sensibilities" to a 21rst century show set in a fictional future. :p

Well, I assume you were talking about the characters. The passage in the Companion that you referred to pertains to the characters, not the actors. As Rene Echevarria relates:

“The existence of the taboo meant that we could do a tragic love story. But it was Ron who had this inspiration to make the ex another woman. We could tell the same story and the taboo about reassociation would track with our own taboo about homosexuality. We could tell the story without ever talking about the fact that they were two women.”
---And that was the way the episode ultimately played out. Viewers saw Sisko and Kira question Jadzia about getting involved with an ex-spouse, but never heard of discouraging word about the fact that the ex was female. “It deals with homosexuality and sexual orientation and tolerance, but I’m very proud of the fact that nowhere in the episode does anyone even blink at the fact that these are two women,” says Moore.

Here, they are clearly talking about the characters. And would the actors say anything anyway? They’re Hollywood actors. Homosexuality isn’t really taboo among Hollywood actors, is it? And it’s not like they were saying that no one outside the production didn’t say anything, because they spend the first four paragraphs of the behind the scenes section of the episode’s entry in the Companion talking about all the complains they did get.

I liked the one related by producer Steve Oster:

“One that I will always remember was a call that one of our production assistants [p.a.] took. A man said, ‘You’re ruining my kids by making them watch two women kiss that.’ And our p.a. said, ‘Let me ask you a question. Would you have been okay if one of the women had shot the other to death with a phaser and the kids watched that?’ And he said, ‘Yes, of course.’ And the p.a. said, ‘Well, maybe you’d better think about who it is that is ruining your kids.”

Unless the actors travelled from the future, I am applying my "modern sensibilities" to a 21rst century show set in a fictional future. :p
Of course, since the show ran from 1993-1999 it would actually be a 20th century show.

Here, they are clearly talking about the characters. And would the actors say anything anyway? They’re Hollywood actors. Homosexuality isn’t really taboo among Hollywood actors, is it?

Depends on who the actor is; look at how much time and effort Tom Cruse has put into taking tabloids to court for claiming that he is gay.

That's different from the type of situation I was talking about. I'm talking about actors mentioning something about the story that they were depicting. Not a real-life accusation that one is homosexual, which could only potentially hurt someone's career, but also implies that the person is a liar or a fraud. Tom Cruise had every right to sue the tabloid in question for spreading lies about him; By contrast, he didn't seem to have any problems playing a character with homosexual overtones in Interview with the Vampire.

Oh, and in Act 1 of Cogenitor(ENT), Phlox told Trip that Rigellians have four or five sexes, and T'Pol later tells him in the beginning of Act 2 that trigender reproduction is “not uncommon.”

Unless the actors travelled from the future, I am applying my "modern sensibilities" to a 21rst century show set in a fictional future. :p - Rene

If you were talking about the actors, not the characters, then why say the episode was "unrealistic" to you? :P right back at you!

So much for Jadzia not being Tobin Dax anymore...sure seemed like it. To me this episode was a tacky way to introduce alternate lifestyles into Star Trek.

Deleted line: "KHAN! KHAN!!!!" Jadzia yelling from the deck above to the floor below.

So much for Jadzia not being Tobin Dax anymore...sure seemed like it. To me this episode was a tacky way to introduce alternate lifestyles into Star Trek.

I thought that it did a good job in that it wasn't a "gay episode" where gayness was the plot of the whole thing. Babylon 5 did it better with the Talia/Ivonavona relationship and gender being a nonissue to them.

BTW if I had to pick on character from DS9 to be bisexual it would be Dax, she seems like the kind of open minded person who'd be down for trying lots of diferent things sexauly. Look at her relationship with Worf, breaking bones durring the act of sex, sounds like S&M to me.

I must ditto Brian's comments. I felt that this was an extremely mature, grown-up handling of the issue. There was absolutely no issue or problem with the fact that it was two women. Even Khan's family and Major Kira did not care that it was a homosexual relationship. The issue was the rejoining taboo, and nothing else. I realize others disagree with me, and it's their right to do so, but I believe that homosexuality is simply a non-issue, as it was portrayed in this episode. I am not a homosexual, but I will defend to the death the rights of others to do as they please.

John A. Lang: Deleted line: "KHAN! KHAN!!!!"

Dan Gunther: Even Khan's family...
Luigi Novi: It's Kahn. Not Khan.

Meh, typos happen.

Ok...let me try again...

Deleted line: "KAHN! KAHN!!!!" Jadzia yelling from the deck above to the floor below.

Jadzia says that Curzon would be disappointed to find out she was a scientist, but in "Facets" Curzon/Odo didn't seem to mind.

Did the subject ever come up between Dax and Curzon/Odo in "Facets"?

This episode was directed by the actor that played Captain Benjamin Sisko.

So is it with a long a or a short a?

mr. crusher this has ablready been noted. See above post by Mark Stanley on June 10, 2001.

Mrcrusher,someone dont like us saying the charecter's name who directed the episodes.I can't even spell Auberjoinis either

is Avery Brooks pronounced with a long a or a short a?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

is Avery Brooks pronounced with a long a or a short a?

Yes.

This episode was much better than the overrated Brokeback Mountain a decade later.

Near the beginning, Dax says, "I never let my past lives interfere with my job"

What about "Dax"?

What about "Blood Oath"?

She didn't initiate the events of Dax. The son of the guy who was murdered did.

Blood Oath is a good point, though.

Yes, Jadzia did not initiate the events of "Dax", but she did let her past life interfere with her present life by not saying at the hearing where Curzon was at the time of the attack.

Good point.

I also agree that this episode handled the attraction between the two current hosts/symbionts in a realistic manner.

I wonder if Curzon in the shian'tara was just more enthralled with the whole idea of being the first Trill to be a shapeshifter to be worried about Jadzia being a scientist. XD