Children of Time (episode)
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
| This article is written from the Real World point of view |
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| "Children of Time" | ||
|---|---|---|
| DS9, Episode 5x22 Production number: 40510-520 First aired: 5 May 1997 | ||
| ← | 118th of 173 produced in DS9 | → |
| ← | 118th of 173 released in DS9 | → |
| ← | 468th of 726 released in all | → |
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| Teleplay By René Echevarria Story By Gary Holland & Ethan H. Calk Directed By Allan Kroeker | ||
| 50814.2 (2373) | ||
Investigating a planet surrounded by a powerful energy field, the crew of the Defiant discovers their own descendants, and learns that in two days they will crash two hundred years in the past.
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Summary
Jadzia Dax insists on investigating an unusual energy barrier around a planet in the Gamma Quadrant. When the Defiant goes through the field it is damaged and would be forced to remain in orbit for several days, while Kira is struck by an energy discharge although it has no immediate ill effects. As the crew bemoan the extra wait to return home after an extensive mission, they are suddenly hailed by inhabitants of the planet, who appear to know them. They beam down to the planet, known as Gaia, and discover that the inhabitants have surnames such as Dax and O'Brien. These people explain to the crew that the existence of the 8,000 inhabitants is the result of an event that will take place in two days' time, when the Defiant somehow travels 200 years into the past and crashes onto the planet's surface. Chief O'Brien learns that he has remarried and produced descendants; Dax meets the "future" host of her symbiont, Yedrin Dax. A "Klingon" tribe also exists in this alternate timeline, as does Odo, whose long lifespan allows him to reunite with his old friends from Deep Space 9. The crew also learns that, tragically, Kira had died in this timeline not long after the crash as the energy discharge has caused neural damage, and the Defiant's medical systems were unable to help, although she would be saved if she was returned to Deep Space 9 in time. As future-Odo and Kira tour the planet (a tour that includes a visit to Kira's grave), he tells her how he felt about her 200 years ago.
Yedrin Dax offers a solution that will allow a "duplicate" Defiant to appear at the moment the accident is to occur, allowing the Defiant to leave the system while still leaving the alternate timeline on Gaia intact. However, Dax soon finds that this is not truly Yedrin's intention, that his solution will only doom the Defiant to repeat the alternate history. The crew of the Defiant decide to foil Yedrin's plan, but after a period of bonding with their descendants, many crew members, most notably Kira, protest destroying the timeline. Benjamin Sisko eventually appeals to her but with even Chief O'Brien, who was the most against remaining on the planet, unwilling to leave Sisko is convinced and the crew decides history must proceed as planned. The Defiant starts the attempt to leave and the crew prepare for the inevitable crash, but the crash is avoided when the Defiant swerves and misses the rift, the flight plan having being changed. The Defiant makes it out of orbit and the planet now reads as having no lifesigns, its inhabitants having never existed. The crew are devastated, and can only conclude that Yedrin, in a last minute act of guilt, changed the course. Sisko assures everyone that the inhabitants will continue to exist as long as they are remembered. As the Defiant heads back to the Alpha Quadrant, the present-day Odo visits Kira and tells her that the future-Odo had linked with him before their departure, and that he is aware of the confession of love. He also tells her that it was the future-Odo who changed the Defiant's flight plan in order to save Kira's life. Kira is very upset to learn this, now being forced to live with the knowledge that 8,000 lives were sacrificed for her.
Memorable Quotes
"I've always thought Quark would make a great math teacher"
- - Yedrin Dax
"Are you the son of Mogh?"
"Yes, I am."
"Is it true you can kill someone just by looking at them?"
"Only when I am angry."
- - Gabriel and Worf, at their first meeting
"They existed. As long as we remember them, they always will."
- - Sisko, to Dax
"There is something else the other Odo wanted you to know, he was the one who changed the flight plan."
"Why?"
"He didn't want you to die."
"I can’t believe it! 8,000 people!"
"He did it for you, Nerys, he loved you."
"That makes it right?!?"
- - Kira and the present day Odo.
Background Information
- Writer Gary Holland got the idea for this show after seeing the second season episode "The Collaborator", which he also wrote. In that episode, when Kira tells Odo that she is in love with Vedek Bareil, Odo reacts a little strangely. In the episode itself, he says it is because he is surprised that it has taken Kira so long to realize her true feelings, but many viewers felt it to be the first indication of Odo's love for Kira. That is exactly how Holland interpreted the scene, and he decided that he wanted to write a story about their relationship, but he knew it couldn't just be a straightforward narrative; "We have no idea how old Odo is, so if he's in his early development, it might be a long time before he can admit to those kind of feelings. So I wondered, 'How can I get an older Odo into the story?'." Holland's answer was time travel. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) Interestingly, before his Odo/Kira love story would go into production, there would be numerous other developments: in the third season episode "Fascination", Lwaxana Troi would guess that Odo was in love with Kira, and in "Heart of Stone", Odo would openly acknowledge it. However, he would come to terms with the fact that she would never feel for him what he felt for her in "Crossfire", and "A Simple Investigation" would apparently confirm that he has moved on. It was at this point in the story arc where Holland's pitch was picked up.
- Gary Holland originally pitched this episode in 1994, during the third season of Deep Space Nine. Both Ira Steven Behr and Ronald D. Moore liked the idea, but they felt the time wasn't right for the show - "Past Tense, Part I" and "Past Tense, Part II" had screened not so long ago, and "The Visitor" had been green-lit for early in the fourth season, so they weren't keen on doing another time-traveling show so soon. In 1997 then, René Echevarria called Holland and told him that they had received a very similar story pitch from writer Ethan H. Calk. The serendipity of this event convinced everyone it was time to do the show, so the producers purchased both ideas and had each writer do up a story proposal independently of one another. Robert Hewitt Wolfe describes the outcome of this: "There were elements of each that we liked, so we combined them in a blender, mixed well, and René wrote a really nice script." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- Originally, it was supposed to be Yedrin who causes the destruction of the colony, but Ira Steven Behr felt this was a missed opportunity, that it didn't create any kind of conflict between any of the characters, and as such, he suggested that it be Odo instead. Some of the writers felt that this was too 'dark' a thing for a regular to do, especially the morally rigid Odo, but Behr argued that that sense of unexpected darkness was exactly the point; Behr was always keen to take any opportunity to darken the show and the characters in un-Star Trek like ways (such as Kira refusing to apologize to Silaran Prin in "The Darkness and the Light" for example, or Worf actually fulfilling Kurn's request to impale him with a dagger in "Sons of Mogh"), and this was simply another example of that ideology; "On The Original Series or The Next Generation, they probably would have made it the scientist and there'd be no harm, no foul. Everyone's hands would have remained clean. But that wasn't a consideration here." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- In this episode, set on Stardate 50814.2, Lt. Cmdr. Worf and members of Deep Space 9 travel back in time 200 years. Later, during the events of Star Trek: First Contact, set on Stardate 50893.5, Lt. Cmdr. Worf and members of the USS Enterprise-E travel back in time 310 years. Star Trek: First Contact actually takes place before "Children of Time," but the stardates seem to place the film after the episode (see DS9: "In Purgatory's Shadow", where Sisko mentions the recent Borg attack).
- The planting scenes were filmed at Ahmanson Ranch, near Ventura, California, but on the day of the shoot, there were gale force winds, and equipment trucks had to be used as wind blocks. It was so cold, that the crew were all wearing snow jackets, but the actors had to wear shirt-sleeves because it was supposed to be a beautiful day. Between takes, the actors had to be sprayed down to make it look like they were sweating. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, this episode is the first episode of Star Trek to feature the use of a freestanding ladder.
- Neither Nana Visitor nor Rene Auberjonois were overly happy with how their characters were written in this episode. According to Visitor, "I'm not a huge fan of that whole romantic storyline. I think it's much more interesting to have a real deep friendship without it becoming physical. I would have liked Odo and Kira to stay like that. I did think this episode was brilliant. But it isn't one of my favorites, because I just wasn't crazy about my part in it." Auberjonois was also a little displeased with his part; "He allows an entire civilization to just disappear in a blink. He could rationalize it because of his love, but it's a big thing. It's tricky. I'm still not sure about it, or what kind of message it sent to the audience." Ronald D. Moore, however, has the answer; "It tells the audience how deeply this man can love. He can love to the point that he will sacrifice an entire world for a woman." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
- The Enterprise episode "E²" bears a strong resemblance to this one.
- This is the last episode to feature the Gamma Quadrant, until Odo's return to the Great Link in the series finale "What You Leave Behind".
- Yedrin Dax's tendency to speak with his hands behind his back recalls the episode "Facets", which revealed that the habit was inherited from Lela, a previous host.
- Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko) does not appear in this episode.
Apocrypha
To convince Sisko that he is who he claims to be, Yedrin mentions a particular dancer that both Ben and Curzon Dax met on Pelios Station. The short story "The Music Between the Notes", from The Lives of Dax compilation, tells the full story of Sisko, Dax and the dancer.
Video and DVD releases
- UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 5.11, 1 September 1997.
- As part of the DS9 Season 5 DVD collection.
Links and References
Guest Stars
- Gary Frank as Yedrin Dax
- Jennifer S. Parsons as Miranda O'Brien
- Davida Williams as Lisa
- Doren Fein as Molly
Co-Stars
Uncredited Co-Stars
- David R. Maier as a Klingon descendant
- Douglas Tait as a a Gaia colonist
- Randy James as Lt. Jones
- Unknown actress as Trill woman on Gaia
References
auto-pilot; Chattel; Class 4 probe; DNA; flight plan; fungus; Gaia; gelm bread; gyromagnetic stabilizer; "Here's to the Losers"; inertial damper; kerripate; Kirby, Angie; mek'leth; navigational log; neural pathway; neural pathway induction; Pelios Station; quantum duplicate; quantum fluctuation; raktajino; shield harmonics; Sons of Mogh; Sto'Vo'Kor; Tannenbaum, Rita; tessipate; torga; Torvin; yar-bear; yelg melon
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