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Join us for a deep dive into the life and backstory of Star Trek's favourite old man.
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00:00Dax is one of the oldest, smartest, and most fascinating characters in all of Trek.
00:04As a joined Trill, the Dax Symbiont passed from host to host, retaining the memories of nine different lifetimes.
00:11Each host brought something new to the collective personality, for better or for worse.
00:16Dax has an incredibly well-developed backstory spanning most of Trek history.
00:20They've worked many jobs, learned countless skills, and travelled all across the quadrant.
00:24But the Symbiont has also been through a lot of dark times, and narrowly avoided death on more than a few occasions.
00:31For this list, we're going to look back at Dax's life from Leela to Esri.
00:35Along the way, we'll also learn about how the character evolved behind the scenes,
00:38and the massive impact they have had on Star Trek as well as the world in general.
00:43I'm Ellie for Trek Culture, here with 10 things you didn't know about Dax.
00:48Number 10. Dax's Original Makeup
00:50As you probably know, the trio looked very different when they first appeared in The Next Generation.
00:55They had prominent forehead ridges, as opposed to Jadzia's iconic spots.
01:00However, the makeup crew for DS9 originally planned for a much more canon-friendly look for Jadzia.
01:05We got to have a look at early test shots of Jadzia with forehead makeup in the special features for the Season 2 DVD.
01:11After weeks of experimentation, the crew struggled to settle on a final look for the character,
01:16and Terry Farrell explained that the markings would keep reducing with each test,
01:20until eventually it just looked like she got hit in the forehead.
01:23Eventually, the Paramount executives made the final decision to remove her forehead markings,
01:27then went through several variations of spots before deciding on the final look.
01:31No explanation was ever given in canon for why the trio in Next Gen looked so different,
01:36but Terry Farrell theorised that spotted trills were from the north of their planet,
01:41and the ones with forehead ridges were from the south.
01:43This actually became the explanation for the two different Romulan appearances in Trek,
01:47so it may very well be true,
01:48but you'd still have to acknowledge the design change of the symbionts somehow.
01:52Number 9. The symbiont's life before joining.
01:55You may get the impression that trill symbionts spend their whole lives joined with humanoid trills,
02:00but it's actually more complicated than that.
02:02The Dax symbiont was born in 2018,
02:05and lived for 150 years before finally being joined with their first host, Leela, in 2168,
02:11shortly after the time period of Star Trek Enterprise.
02:14Not much is known about these early years of the symbiont's life.
02:17We know that unjoined symbionts are bred in pools on the Trill homeworld,
02:21where they reside under the protection of the Trill guardians until being joined.
02:25The symbionts could communicate with each other using electrical pulses in these pools,
02:29so it's likely the first century and a half of Dax's life
02:32were spent learning all they could from fellow symbionts before transitioning to life as a humanoid.
02:37Trill symbionts can usually live for several centuries,
02:40so for them, their first 150 years are like their childhood.
02:44Number 8. Why Terry Farrell chose to leave the show.
02:47When her original contract with Paramount ended in 1998,
02:51Terry Farrell made the decision not to renew it.
02:53She left the cast of DS9 and joined the sitcom Becca.
02:57Farrell wasn't happy to leave the show,
02:59and she didn't want Jadzia to be killed off, nor did anyone else.
03:02In the 50-Year Mission The Next 25 Years, Farrell explained that Rick Berman's alleged comments
03:07behind the scenes were a large factor in her decision to leave the show.
03:10She claimed that he regularly made misogynistic remarks about her appearance,
03:14refused any changes for her new contract,
03:17and even sent another producer to tell her,
03:19if you weren't here, you know you'd be working at Kmart.
03:22Ooh, ow.
03:23Terry Farrell bravely stood up to this disrespect by deciding that she would leave the show
03:28unless they would allow her to appear in fewer episodes as a recurring character,
03:31rather than a member of the main cast.
03:33Farrell really cared about Jadzia, and nobody wanted the character to be killed.
03:37But again, allegedly, Rick Berman and or the studio were unwilling to make these changes,
03:42or to capitulate at all.
03:43So Deep Space Nine lost one of its most beloved characters.
03:47Thankfully, Farrell continued to have a successful career,
03:50proving that she didn't need to let herself get bullied to be successful.
03:53After Jadzia's death in the show,
03:55Nicole DeBoer went on to play a new incarnation of the Dax character,
03:59Esri, in the seventh season.
04:01DeBoer, who was unaware of Farrell's reason for leaving,
04:03performed the role wonderfully,
04:05though the circumstances behind Farrell's departure
04:07unfortunately highlighted systemic issues in the entertainment industry
04:11that are still being dealt with today.
04:13Number 7. Past Relationships
04:15Jadzia's marriage to Worf in 2374 was that host's first wedding,
04:20but the symbiont had actually already been married five other times with different hosts,
04:25three times as a bride and two as a groom.
04:28In fact, Dax parented nine children previously.
04:31Trill Society actually has a law against re-association between joined Trills and loved ones
04:36they knew in previous lives,
04:38primarily to allow each host to have completely new experiences.
04:41For this reason, Jadzia was likely forbidden from seeing her children,
04:45just as she was forbidden from continuing her relationship with Nalani Khan,
04:49the widow of Taraya Stax.
04:50The exact rules against re-association are slightly vague,
04:53but if found guilty,
04:55the punishment would be total banishment from Trill Society,
04:58which would prevent their symbiont from ever joining to a new host.
05:01Generally, Trills disapprove of re-association in all forms,
05:05but Jadzia and Esri were allowed to freely work with Sisko,
05:08despite being his best friend previously as Curzon,
05:11so it's likely that only immediate family or partners are banned from re-association.
05:16Number six, Dax's unofficial hosts.
05:19Aside from the nine primary hosts,
05:21the Dax symbiont was also briefly transferred to the Trill Varad
05:24in the episode Invasive Procedures.
05:27Varad dedicated his life to the goal of becoming joined with a symbiont.
05:31He was absolutely devastated when he was denied for symbiosis.
05:34Trying to escape a life of mediocrity,
05:36Varad and some accomplices invaded the station
05:38and forced Bashir to transfer Dax from Jadzia's body to his own.
05:42Eventually, the crew was able to return the symbiont to Jadzia,
05:45but she was left with permanent memories from Varad.
05:48Strangely, the Varad personality didn't resurface during Dax's Jintara in facets,
05:53so it's possible that their brief joining didn't affect the symbiont as profoundly
05:57as the other more permanent hosts.
05:59Additionally, we saw another Dax host named Yedrin
06:02in the alternate future from Children of Time.
06:05This host was, however, removed from history
06:07when the crew of the Defiant prevented the ship from crashing on the planet Gaia,
06:11causing the timeline to change.
06:14Number 5. Inherited Traits
06:16Every host of the Dax symbiont can be seen as a new individual,
06:20a combination of the newest hosts and all those who came before.
06:23Still, each of their past lives had a small influence on their personality.
06:27For example, Leela would always walk with her arms behind her back,
06:30a habit that later hosts maintained.
06:32Sisko was particularly surprised by how similar Jadzia was to his old friend Kurzon,
06:37the previous host.
06:38Jadzia maintained his love for Klingon culture and gambling,
06:41as well as his friendship with Sisko.
06:43Some traits would not be passed on to new hosts.
06:46For example, Tobin Dax bit his nails frequently,
06:49but no other hosts did.
06:50It's largely unpredictable which habits will be kept.
06:53Unfortunately, unwanted personality traits could also be passed on,
06:57like the host Joran's murderous tendencies.
06:59But the most extreme of these traits could be suppressed with practice.
07:03Number 4. Emony and McCoy
07:05When the Defiant crew travelled to the original series' time period in Trials and Tribulations,
07:11none were as excited as Dax,
07:13who had personal experience living in the mid-23rd century from her time as Emony Dax,
07:18the third host of the symbiont.
07:20Dax was very nostalgic for this era, from the clothes to the tricorder designs.
07:24At the time, Emony Dax was a professional gymnast.
07:28In the 2240s, she judged a gymnastics competition on Earth at the University of Mississippi,
07:33and it was here that she happened to meet a young Leonard McCoy,
07:36who was attending the university at the time.
07:38Apparently, the two got up to a bit more than gymnastics,
07:41as Jadzia remarked that she always had a feeling he'd become a doctor
07:44because he had the hands of a surgeon.
07:47It was a hilarious moment,
07:48and connected Deep Space Nine to the original series wonderfully,
07:51just like the rest of this episode.
07:54Number 3. Dax's Importance to the Queer Community
07:57Dax's character has always resonated strongly with members of the queer community.
08:01The iconic episode, Rejoined, included a kiss between Jadzia and the wife of her former host,
08:07one of the first televised kisses between two women.
08:09The episode also showed a lesbian love story in a way that wasn't sensationalized,
08:14sexualized, or treated as odd in any way.
08:16Their love was forbidden, not because they were gay,
08:19but because of trill laws regarding reassociation.
08:21This allowed the story to tell an allegory of gay oppression inside a world that was beyond homophobia.
08:27Many trans people also see themselves in Dax.
08:30Dax was friends with Sisko when they were living as a man, but later became Jadzia.
08:34The two remained very close friends, but their relationship was changed in subtle ways.
08:38This is very similar to many trans people's experiences when coming out to friends.
08:42Sisko even had to adjust to using new pronouns and a new name for her.
08:46Likewise, Dax adjusted to her own new identity as well.
08:49Years after Deep Space Nine at Star Trek Las Vegas 2019,
08:53Terry Farrell confirmed that she imagined Jadzia as pansexual,
08:56something we all assume to begin with.
08:58The character canonically loved both men and women, after all.
09:01Jadzia, and then later Esri, made so many queer people feel represented
09:05at a time where good representation was much harder to find.
09:09Number 2. Esri and Nicole DeBoer
09:12In many ways, Nicole DeBoer's experience of joining the show was much like her character Esri's experience of arriving on the station.
09:18Although Esri reminded the Deep Space Nine crew of their lost friend,
09:22their love for Jadzia made it easier and quicker for them to grow attached to the new Dax.
09:26In an interview with Heavy, DeBoer explained that the same was true for herself.
09:30She reminded her castmates of Terry Farrell, but in a way that made them very welcoming to her.
09:35She even drew on this connection to Esri while performing.
09:37She also mentioned how she could relate to Esri's struggle to find her own identity after being joined,
09:42explaining that while she didn't get a worm put in her belly,
09:45she, like many others, had a long journey of self-discovery while growing up.
09:49DeBoer's natural connection to the character really helped her bring Esri to life
09:53and to create a whole new personality for Dax.
09:56Number 1. Captain Dax
09:58The Star Trek Enterprise episode Azarte Prime marked the only time we've seen the Enterprise J on screen.
10:04Captain Archer was taken to the 26th century by Daniels and witnessed the Battle of Procyon V,
10:10an important confrontation between the Federation and the Sphere Builders.
10:14In this episode, we only got to see a small part of the interior and a display of the ship's exterior on a screen,
10:20but Beta Canon expanded on the story quite a lot.
10:23In Star Trek Online, your character can travel to the 26th century to assist the Enterprise J in the Battle of Procyon V.
10:29During the mission, you learn that the captain of this Enterprise is a Dax.
10:33We don't get to know much about them, but this would be such a cool future for the character, if true.
10:38We don't know exactly how long Trill's symbionts live, but Dax could very well be alive in the 26th century.
10:44Their years of first-hand experience from the earliest years of the Federation would make them an incredible captain of the flagship.
10:50And there you have it, 10 things you didn't know about Dax.
10:53If there's something we missed, then please do let us know in the comments down below,
10:57and while you're there, don't forget to like and subscribe and tap that notification bell.
11:01Also, head over to Twitter and follow us there,
11:03and I can be found across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild.
11:06I've been Ellie for Trek culture.
11:08I hope you have a wonderful day, and remember to boldly go where no one has gone before.
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