Revenge of the Legacy Characters

"Blood Oath" and the franchise's hand-off to Deep Space Nine

Dax flanked by Koloth and Kang

One striking thing as I attempt to watch Next Generation and Deep Space Nine approximately as they aired is the timing of the two big Original Series tributes from Deep Space Nine: “Blood Oath” (in which three Klingons from TOS team up with Dax to track down an old foe) and “Crossover” (in which Bashir and Kira visit the Mirror Universe). Both are the first major engagements with Original Series material in Deep Space Nine, and both come during the last few weeks before Next Generation ends. In fact, “Crossover” aired the week right before “All Good Things…” It could just be a coincidence, but it could also be a way of reassuring fans that Deep Space Nine really will be picking up the mantle of Star Trek, by doing precisely what Next Generation mostly avoided—following up directly on Original Series plots.

Today I want to focus on “Blood Oath,” which was part of my viewing this week. The first time I watched Deep Space Nine, I found this episode more than a little absurd. Above all, the use of original Klingon characters seemed forced—the three random Klingon captains we met in The Original Series all happened to be friends, not only with each other, but with Curzon Dax? The background on the Memory Alpha page is revealing here. As it turns out, the script was originally written to feature three new Klingons and only subsequently was it decided that they should draw on the Original Series characters. And it was a bit of a struggle to get everyone on board—especially John Colicos, who objected that Kor, unforgettably ruthless in “Errand of Mercy,” had become a drunken clown. Aside from that, much of the discussion centered on the all-important question of how to reconcile the change in Klingon make-up, which they ultimately (mercifully) chose not to address explicitly. There was apparently less discussion of the question that is, for me, more glaring from a lore perspective: it simply doesn’t make sense for the Klingons to be an extremely long-lived species to the extent necessary for Kor, Kang, and Koloth all to be active at this late date.

From a franchise-development perspective, though, creating a connection between Dax and these characters from The Original Series is an interesting move. It makes her a living embodiment of the Original Series legacy, someone who was actually there and personally remembers those earth-shattering events. They will eventually leverage this connection to humorous effect when they travel back to Kirk’s Enterprise in “Trials and Tribble-ations,” as Dax provides nostalgic commentary on how different things were back then—essentially becoming an in-universe fan.

Here, though, things are much more serious. Kang, Koloth, and Kor are on a mission of vengeance against the nefarious “Albino” (seriously, WTF), who murdered their sons. Dax’s previous host, Curzon, had been godfather to one of those sons and swore a blood oath to avenge his death. As in the early episode “Dax” (incidentally the last Star Trek episode written by D.C. Fontana), Jadzia must grapple with the question of whether she is still responsible for commitments undertaken with Curzon. Here she not only decides she is, but insists on fulfilling the oath even after Kang releases her from it, effectively forcing her way onto the Vengeance Squad.

What was surprising to me about the episode this time through was how serious the whole thing was. Aside from Kor’s drunken antics—which are, as Colicos initially objected, completely out of line with any plausible development of the character we saw in The Original Series—the question of vengeance is treated with grave seriousness. Dax, with uncharacteristic awkwardness, asks the former terrorist Kira what it’s like to kill someone; Sisko initially refuses to let Dax take a leave of absence for a mission of murder; when Dax returns, she shares meaningful eye contact with Kira.

The problem here is—they’re all Klingons, and seven years of Next Generation has rendered the Klingon fascination with battle and death a campy diversion. At one point, Worf literally murders a high-ranking Klingon official on the Enterprise and gets little more than a strongly-worded reprimand on his record, in recognition of the fact that wanton slaughter is an important part of his culture. Again, this is why an extremely long lifespan for Klingons doesn’t make sense—Klingon life is cheap, according to the terms of their own culture as established, at great length, by the Next Generation-era writers. I’ve already written about my objections to this aspect of the Star Trek ethos, so I won’t belabor the point further. This episode just seems to highlight the tensions in the presentation of Klingons in an especially clear way. If screenwriter was, as the Memory Alpha page reveals, attempting to capture the ethos of a Kurasawa-esque samurai film, then Klingons were not the right vehicle.

In terms of Dax’s own arc, actress Terry Ferrell provides a good analysis (again citing Memory Alpha):

With Kor, I had to convince him that he was a hero, and that in my eyes he would always be a hero, so that was philosophical. With Koloth, I had to prove that I was strong enough to go to battle with him, so that was physical. And with Kang, I had to prove to him that my desire and need to be a part of this blood oath was strong enough that I could not imagine staying behind, that I was mentally strong and capable enough. So I had to exhibit the honor, the physical strength, and the mental perseverance to go with them.

I can see why she would be pleased that her character was being presented from so many different angles, especially when she had arguably been so underutilized in the first two seasons up to that point. The problem from my perspective, though, is that all those character traits seem to draw on Curzon—she has to prove that she can still be Curzon and do all the things Curzon would do. Other than her physical appearance, which serves mainly to make her actions appear unexpected or incongruous, her current identity as Jadzia contributes very little to the plot. And indeed, the emotional toil of participating in a murder has no apparent impact on her character going forward, nor on her relationships with Kira or Sisko.

Overall, it’s as though anything unique to Deep Space Nine is put on hold so that a group of Original Series characters can have a completely unrelated adventure—one that wasn’t even written with the original Klingon characters in mind! To that extent, it’s fan service in the worst sense of the word. But it planted an interesting seed, at least for me, by positioning Deep Space Nine as the heir to The Original Series. That claim that would underwrite a lot of work in terms of explicitly reintegrating The Original Series (and even The Animated Series, with later seasons’ references to the Tzenkethi, a stand-in for the Kzinti) into “canon” after Gene Roddenberry’s ambiguity about whether anything but the films really “counted” and Next Generation’s very selective handling of its predecessor. It was a subtle, but real transformation in the kind of franchise that Star Trek was claiming to be. In way, then, we might even be able to say that this episode gave birth to the Star Trek universe as we know it. To that extent, the fact that the lore was shoehorned in so incoherently might stand as a grim prophecy….

But what do you think? Presumably you all like this episode way more than I did.