Children of Time (''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'')
| "Children of Time" | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 5 Episode 22 |
| Directed by | Allan Kroeker |
| Story by |
Gary Holland Ethan H. Calk |
| Teleplay by | René Echevarria |
| Featured music | Paul Baillargeon |
| Production code | 520 |
| Original air date | May 5, 1997 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| |
"Children of Time" is the 120th episode of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the 22nd episode of the fifth season. The USS Defiant is taken on an away mission with the usual Deep Space Nine command staff, a brief segue to an interesting planet goes awry. Due to a time loop, they encounter their own descendants but difficult choices may lie ahead (behind).
Plot
The starship Defiant passes through a type of "quantum-bubble" in order to investigate a planet within it. They find the planet is inhabited by 8,000 descendants of the Defiant's crew. The descendants’ history began when the Defiant tried to escape from the bubble. Instead of passing through its energy barrier, the ship was thrown back in time 200 years and crashed with no hope of contacting the Federation or repairing the ship. Faced with that reality, the small stranded crew of the Defiant (including Dax, Sisko, O'Brien, Doctor Bashir, etc.) decided to remain and establish a society.
Unfortunately, the stranded Major Kira died a few weeks after the crash due to neural damage she incurred on the bridge when the ship was passing through the energy barrier while approaching the planet. Bashir did not have the required medical equipment on the Defiant to treat her.
In addition to their descendants, two members of the original crew of the Defiant still exist on the colony. The Changeling physiology of Odo has given him great longevity than the rest, while the Trill symbiont Dax continues to live on in a new host, Yedrin Dax, descendant of Worf and Jadzia Dax. The “original” Odo is inadvertently trapped in his gelatinous form, during which time the older Odo confesses that he has been in love with Kira since very early in their friendship.
The crew is forced to choose between repairing the Defiant and escaping the situation, thereby canceling the very existence of their descendants, or repeat the crash of the Defiant to let things evolve as they have been presented to them. After much discussion, they choose the latter. Unbeknownst to them, the older Odo, wishing to prevent Kira from dying, changed their flight plan. Instead of flying into the spot in the atmosphere that will cause them to be flung back in time, they escape from the bubble - causing the colony, with all of their descendants, to vanish from existence.
Production
The outdoor shots of exoplanet "Gaia" were filmed in California.
See also
External links
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