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Star Trek: Watergate
The other day I was reminded that one of the unwritten season 7 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes would have been a follow up to season 6’s In the Pale Moonlight, the episode which often (and imo justly) ends up on people’s not just best of DS9, but best of Star Trek lists. Now, according to what I’ve heard, the idea was that Jake, in his capacity as budding journalist, would to his horror uncover what his father (and Garak, and various other people) did to get the Romulans as allies. In the end, TPTB decided not to do the episode because it would have damaged the Ben & Jake relationship, perhaps on a fundamental level, and it being the final season, there would not have been time to rebuild it.
On the one hand, I’m in much sympathy with this argument. The Siskos – both Ben & Jake, and Ben & Joseph – were that rarity in the Star Trek verse (and in US fiction in general), a loving, functional father & son relationship as opposed to the usual daddy issues ridden dysfunctionality. I would not have wanted to destroy this, especially with no time for rebuilding.
On the other hand: it could have been a great story. And it would have been pay-off for Jake’s decision to become a writer and reporter that also tied directly into the main storyline. Also, Sisko’s „I can live with it“ conclusion to In the pale moonlight was depending on no one other than Garak knowing exactly what he’d done. (Quark et all knew some, but not why.) Would he have been able to live with it if the person he loved most in the 'verse would have found out?
Also, I’m curious what the legal follow-up would have been, had the story gone public (as opposed to Jake deciding to hold it back). Say the Romulans don’t withdraw from the war, because the war is too far gone at this point, and the rest of the war plays out pretty much as it did in the actual season in terms of what happens to the Dominion, but Sisko doesn’t conveniently end up with the Prophets. Sisko is guilty of sanctioning/instigating murder and then covering it up. Does he get a pardon because of the reasons he had? Does he end up in that New Zealand penal colony with Bashir’s dad, formerly Tom Paris‘ abode? Do the Romulans demand his extradition, and if so, does the Federation go along with it? DS9 did a pretty mediocre episode where Worf was accused of murder by the Klingons, and of course there’s the ST: VI precedent with Kirk and McCoy, so there is some legal precedent for the idea of extradition. However, in both these cases, the audience knew that our heroes were innocent. Sisko would have been guilty.
Time for some polls, methinks:
On the one hand, I’m in much sympathy with this argument. The Siskos – both Ben & Jake, and Ben & Joseph – were that rarity in the Star Trek verse (and in US fiction in general), a loving, functional father & son relationship as opposed to the usual daddy issues ridden dysfunctionality. I would not have wanted to destroy this, especially with no time for rebuilding.
On the other hand: it could have been a great story. And it would have been pay-off for Jake’s decision to become a writer and reporter that also tied directly into the main storyline. Also, Sisko’s „I can live with it“ conclusion to In the pale moonlight was depending on no one other than Garak knowing exactly what he’d done. (Quark et all knew some, but not why.) Would he have been able to live with it if the person he loved most in the 'verse would have found out?
Also, I’m curious what the legal follow-up would have been, had the story gone public (as opposed to Jake deciding to hold it back). Say the Romulans don’t withdraw from the war, because the war is too far gone at this point, and the rest of the war plays out pretty much as it did in the actual season in terms of what happens to the Dominion, but Sisko doesn’t conveniently end up with the Prophets. Sisko is guilty of sanctioning/instigating murder and then covering it up. Does he get a pardon because of the reasons he had? Does he end up in that New Zealand penal colony with Bashir’s dad, formerly Tom Paris‘ abode? Do the Romulans demand his extradition, and if so, does the Federation go along with it? DS9 did a pretty mediocre episode where Worf was accused of murder by the Klingons, and of course there’s the ST: VI precedent with Kirk and McCoy, so there is some legal precedent for the idea of extradition. However, in both these cases, the audience knew that our heroes were innocent. Sisko would have been guilty.
Time for some polls, methinks:
Poll #20384 Star Trek: Watergate
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 13
Should DS9 have done a "Jake finds out" episode?
View Answers
No, it would have destroyed the Jake & Ben relationship
3 (25.0%)
Yes, it would have been a worthy follow up to "In the pale moonlight"
9 (75.0%)
If Jake had found out, he would have...
View Answers
kept it a secret, because of his father and the ongoing Dominion War
2 (15.4%)
published, but only after the Dominion War was over
7 (53.8%)
published during the war, because murder is murder
4 (30.8%)
If the story goes public, Ben Sisko....
View Answers
gets a pardon because of circumstances
9 (69.2%)
gets a prison sentence and is drummed out of Starfleet
2 (15.4%)
gets extradicted to the Romulans
2 (15.4%)