Children of Time

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Star Trek: DS9 episode
"Children of Time"

The crew meet their descendants
Episode no. 120
Prod. code 520
Airdate May 5, 1997
Writer(s) Gary Holland
Ethan H. Calk
Director Allan Kroeker
Guest star(s) Gary Frank as Yedrin Dax
Jennifer S. Parsons as Miranda
Davida Williams as Lisa
Doren Fein as Molly
Hana Hatae as Molly O'Brien
Year 2373
Stardate 50814.2
Episode chronology
Previous "Soldiers of the Empire"
Next "Blaze of Glory"

Children of Time is an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the twenty-second episode of the fifth season. It is notable for beginning life as a fan-submitted story idea by Ethan H. Calk.

[edit] Plot

The starship Defiant is caught in a type of "time-bubble" above an inhabited planet. When they investigate, it is discovered that the inhabitants are the descendants of the Defiant's crew. The inhabitants have lived on the planet for many years and their own history began when the Defiant crashed with no hope of contacting the Federation or repairing the ship. Faced with that reality, the small crew of the Defiant (including Dax, Sisko, O'Brien, etc) decide to remain and establish a society.

The society presented to the crew of the Defiant includes only the descendants of the original inhabitants. The only original "colonists" are Odo, whose Changeling physiology gives him longer longevity than the rest, and the Trill symbiont Dax, in a new host, Yedrin Dax, descendant of Worf and Jadzia Dax.

The crew is forced to choose between repairing the Defiant and escaping the situation (and wiping out their descendants and everything they've built), and remaining, allowing the Defiant to crash and letting things evolve as they have been presented to them. After much discussion, they choose the latter. Unbeknownst to them, however, the future Odo, wishing to prevent Major Kira from dying, changed their flight plan. Instead of flying through the spot in the atmosphere that will cause them to be flung back in time, they escape the atmosphere, and wipe out their descendants and the colony they had built.

[edit] Notable occurrences in the episode

  • An alarmingly happy and handsome (because of much more practice with shape-shifting) future-Odo professes his feelings for the present day Kira, who would have died in the Defiant crash (the "regular" Odo is stuck in his natural form during this whole episode).
  • O'Brien feels awful after discovering his future self consummated a relationship with a woman other than his wife Keiko.
  • The children are educated in math via an interactive representation of Quark
  • The newest, male host of Dax is presented as the leader of the colony.
  • Some members have formed a tribe called "Sons of Mogh" modelled on Klingon ideals.

[edit] External links

This article about an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.