Conference 7.286::star_trek

Doctor Bashir, I Presume?

Episode #114

Production #514

                                 SPELLINGS
              [none]

                                    CAST
              Captain Benjamin Sisko      Avery Brooks
              Odo                         Rene Auberjonois
              Lieutenant Commander Worf   Michael Dorn
              Lieutenant Commander Jadzia
              Dax                         Terry Farrell
              Jake Sisko                  Cirroc Lofton
              Chief Operations Officer
              Miles O'Brien               Colm Meaney
              Quark                       Armin Shimerman
              Dr. Julian Bashir           Alexander Siddig
              Major Kira Nerys            Nana Visitor

                                GUEST STARS

              Richard                     Brian George
              Rom                         Max Grodenchik
              Leeta                       Chase Masterson
              Amsha                       Fadwa El Guindi
              Bennett                     J. Patrick McCormack

                      AND SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE BY
              Zimmerman                   Robert Picardo

              Teleplay by:                Ronald D. Moore

              Story by:                   Jimmy Diggs

              Directed by:                David Livingston

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

     STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" - When Bashir
     is chosen as the model for Starfleet's holographic doctor program, the
     process threatens to expose a dark secret from his past.

TV GUIDE AD

     SECRETS AND LIES?
     A visiting doctor. Bashir's parents.
     Will his darkest secret destroy them all?

TV LOG LISTING

     Childhood secret may end Bashir's career/STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE.

    spoilers
    
        
    
    So Julian gets away with something, I thought they let him off light
    especialy as he know about the treatments before he entered the acadamy
    and took his training under false pretences. Sending his parents to a
    penal colony in New Zealand was, I think a bit harsh, I did not know
    Star fleet had that much authority or did I miss something.
    I thought Zimmerman had all the earmarks of a dirty old man but the
    subplot about Nog and his dabbo girl was a little flat, considering the
    people involved it could have been a lot funnier.
    Of course Miles will never win at darts ever again:-)
    
    
    joan

    -1
    Sorry I said Nog it should have been Rom.
    
    
    
    
    joan

Gee, no other comments?

A good episode, I thought; well acted, interesting moral issue.  Not quite as
engrossing as I might have liked, but good.

.2>    Sending his parents to a
.2>    penal colony in New Zealand was, I think a bit harsh, I did not know
.2>    Star fleet had that much authority or did I miss something.

The law was a Federation law against genetic engineering, not a Starfleet
regulation.  They were willing to overlook the Starfleet regulation infraction
if the father did (minimal, in my opinion) prison time for breaking the law.

I agree about the Rom/Leeta plot line, it was a bit lame.

So this is what they kept talking about when they said this show had the
"closest living relative to a Voyager crew member" in it.  Emphasis on
"living."

						Brian

    Gosh that Leeta sure is cute, holy cow. But Rom/Nog whatever
    the hell his name is? I don't think so.
    
    And the idea that genetic engineering might be a criminal 
    offense seems preposterous, given the liberties they've taken
    with DNA fiddling in so many past episodes. 
    
    They'll be cloning eight-armed paper-hangers by 2050, so juicing 
    up a dull boy's wits a bit in the 24th century hardly seems 
    reason for jail.
    
    

        re .5

>    And the idea that genetic engineering might be a criminal 
>    offense seems preposterous, given the liberties they've taken
>    with DNA fiddling in so many past episodes. 

    I think most of the DNA fiddling in the past has been to repair
    damage/illness rather to enhance what is already there.  I can
    also appreciate the Federation's policy.  One of the "experiments"
    of the Nazis was a "breeding program" to breed partners of high
    intelligence.  It was a disaster.  It seems there is a fine line
    between high IQ and total lunacy.

    re Rom/Leeta

    Us "Roms" out here can fully appreciate the episode ;^).
    
    fred();

>    They'll be cloning eight-armed paper-hangers by 2050, so juicing 
>    up a dull boy's wits a bit in the 24th century hardly seems 
>    reason for jail.
    
    This particular case probably isn't, but the judge made reference to
    the "Eugenics wars" and an individual that had apparently been
    enchanced and hadn't turned out quite so well.  The history is the
    reason for the law.

    Right. That would be the aforementioned Ricardo "Wrath" Khan.
    Banning the practice altogether because certain traits "might"
    happen, seems a broad brush. Bashir seems all right. 
    

     

    They did say that Julian was "backward for his age" maybe using the
    enhancements on someone who is all ready a genius cauld cause the bad
    to be brought out in a person.
    Sort of Jekle and Hyde.
    
    
    joan

    

    Just as in the cloning arguments of today, there are certain things
    that cannot be controlled genetically.  Ethics for instance?

    Creating a super genius is one thing.  To what purpose that super
    genius will be put may be entirely another matter, and the ability to 
    do super good is also the ability to do super bad.  The super bad
    tend to kill a lot more people than the supger good save.  We then
    get into the argument that did Salk save more people than Hitler
    killed?  If you had to take both as a package deal.....
    
    fred();

    
    

    So that brings us to the JAG's decision.  Since Julian Bashier had
    nothing to do with the decision to break the law, and since he seems
    to have come down on the side saving people instead of killing people,
    then booting him out of Starfleet wouldn't serve much purpose.  The
    real guilty were his parents who chose to break the law.  Which brings
    up the next question...why just Bashier's father going to jail?  Did
    not his mother have just as much a hand in the decision to break the
    law?  Or are there still some shreds of chivalry in our utopian
    Space Federation?

    fred();

    I got the impresion that it was his mother that did the pushing, his
    father seems like the shiftless sort, jack of all trades master of none.
    
                    
    
    joan

I thought this was a very good, well-acted episode.  I especially liked the acting
of the parents (and also the casting).

To me the whole thing makes sense.  Eugenics wars and Khan Singh prompts Federation
to make it a crime to do genetic engineering and SF to disallow genetically
engineered officers (or everyone?).  Imagine if Khan had managed to hide in Star
Fleet?

Now 100 (?) years later comes a case where someone WAS genetically engineered and
IS in Star Fleet.  The engineerer must pay something, but Julian has had lots of
time to prove himself, so a deal is struck.  Reasonable, in my opinion.

BTW, the penal colony in NZ is where Janeway picked up Tom, isn't it?

BTW2: I thought Picardo did a wonderful job and it highlights how good a job he
does on VOY.  In playing Zimmerman, he did an excellent imitation of the way the
VOY holodoc was at the beginning of the VOY run.  It really shows how much the
doctor has changed.

I liked it that Julian and Miles could kind of fool around a bit with the genetic
bit after all.  It shows what good friends they have become.  Also liked "I
wouldn't want any of this to get back to Julian..."

Burns

I've got two nits to pick.

1) Even while they are saluting TOS with the references to the Eugenics wars and
Kahn, they forget that in TOS only the un-rehabilitable criminals were sent to
penal colonies (I'm thinking of Lord Garth) yet now we have a penal colony in
New Zealand for people who just have to be punished.

2) What's the deal with this holo-comunicator?  WE can only see the one person
who is in the communicator area.  The person in the communicator area can
apparently see everyone in the room.  We can't even see the equipment that is
being used at the other end.

JAM

    My kingdom for a dabo girl!

    
    >    My kingdom for a dabo girl!
    
    Yeah, I know, but my wife would be really p***********sed %^}.
    
    fred();

    Yabbut, mannnnn! Who cares, eh?

    It's still too cold this time of year for the doghouse ;^).
    f();

    
    Actually I used to work with one but....she moved away. :^(.
    fred();

    I feel your pain. I really do.

:-)

You are *hardly* a Rom, Fred!

   Carol

    Leeta will be spending romantic evenings filled with oomlocks and
    flossing.

    bleah.

    
    Actually Leeta was probably displaying some uncommon intelligence.  
    Zimmerman is a womanizer and skirt chaser.  The kind that it seems
    like a disproportionate number of women find really cool--until
    they've been married for about a year.


    I'll save you the trouble---
    


    You mean like Kirk? 

    fred();

       >You are *hardly* a Rom, Fred!

        Just the t.t.t.t.tongue part :^}.

        fred();

    filthy!
    
    8)

    
    re .26
    Only your mind!
    fred(8^));