What You Leave Behind
"What You Leave Behind" | |
---|---|
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes | |
Episode nos. | Season 7 Episodes 25 & 26 |
Directed by | Allan Kroeker |
Written by | Ira Steven Behr Hans Beimler |
Featured music | Dennis McCarthy |
Production code | 575 & 576 |
Original air date | May 31, 1999 |
Guest appearances | |
| |
"What You Leave Behind" is the
The finale sees the end of the long-running plot arc of the
Background
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the
In the episodes leading up to the finale, the Cardassian officer
Plot
As the Federation and their allies prepare to embark on a final offensive in the Dominion War, in a vision, one of the Prophets appears to Sisko as his mother Sarah, telling him his journey's end "lies not before you, but behind you". Soon the battle between the Dominion–Breen–Cardassian and Federation–Klingon–Romulan fleets begins.
Kira, Garak, and Damar, hiding on Cardassia Prime, sabotage Cardassia's power grid, cutting off communication between the Dominion fleet and the command center. In retaliation,
As Starfleet and their allies are suffering many losses, the Cardassian ships switch sides, turning the tide of the battle. When the Founder discovers this, she orders the eradication of the Cardassian race, and the Jem'Hadar begin leveling cities. The alliance fleet prepares to mount a final offensive. Kira and her team storm the command center, capturing the Founder; Damar and Weyoun are killed in the process. The Founder initially refuses to surrender, choosing instead to make the battle as costly as possible for the alliance.
Odo beams to the command center and persuades the Founder to link with him, joining their liquid bodies. He cures her of the Changeling disease, and she orders the Dominion forces to surrender. Odo tells Kira that he has agreed to cure the other Founders but needs to join them permanently. The Founder agrees to stand trial for war crimes and signs an armistice to end the war. Back on DS9, the crew celebrates at Vic Fontaine's simulated 1960s lounge.
Meanwhile on Bajor, Dukat and Winn travel to the Fire Caves with an ancient book to release the Pah-wraiths. Winn poisons Dukat as a sacrifice, expecting to become the wraiths' emissary; they possess Dukat instead, resurrecting him. On DS9, Sisko suddenly becomes aware that he must go to the Fire Caves. Once there, he attacks Dukat, who easily subdues him with the Pah-wraiths' powers. Winn tries to destroy the book, but Dukat kills her. While Dukat is distracted, Sisko attacks Dukat, falling with him and the book into the fiery chasm. Dukat and the book burn up.
Sisko finds himself in the wormhole, where Sarah tells him that the Pah-wraiths and Dukat are trapped forever and will never emerge again. The DS9 crew is puzzled by Sisko's disappearance until he comes to his wife
Many of the crew go their separate ways: O'Brien will teach at Starfleet Academy, and Worf is appointed the Federation ambassador to the Klingon Empire. Kira takes Odo to the Founders' planet, where he joins the Great Link and cures their disease. Kira returns to DS9, now the station commander, and she and Sisko's son Jake gaze out a window at the wormhole.
Production
The title of the episode is based on a quote from Pericles: "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others".[1] The episode was written by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler and directed by Allan Kroeker. An early draft of the script had Sisko dying during the final battle at Cardassia, but resurrected by the Prophets to fight the Pah-wraiths. Sisko's joining with the Prophets following Dukat's defeat was originally going to be permanent but actor Avery Brooks was "uncomfortable with the notion of a black man abandoning his pregnant black wife"; the line was rewritten upon Brooks's request to indicate that he would return. Keith DeCandido praised this move in his review. The producers also entertained the idea of a final shot of Benny Russell (from "Far Beyond the Stars" and "Shadows and Symbols") sitting outside a studio holding a script for Deep Space Nine.[1]
The final day of filming took place at Vic's lounge. In the episode, during the party, many of the background hologram characters are actually production staff and recurring cast members without their makeup and prosthetics.
Near the end of the episode, a montage is shown of the ensemble cast with footage from previous Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes. The music cues used prior to O'Brien's montage are from the Irish song "The Minstrel Boy", which previously featured in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Wounded". There are no clips featuring Jadzia Dax, because Terry Farrell and her manager reportedly refused the routine process of granting permission for her appearance in the clips, to the great disappointment of the staff.[1][5] Ira Steven Behr guessed that Farrell's feelings might have been hurt regarding the staff's choice of flashback clips, and elaborated: "Her manager was informed that we were thinking of using Terry in a scene in the final episode. It would have probably been three hours of work ... maybe four. The price they quoted us was too high for the budget. After all, this was a show where we had to cut out hundreds of thousands of dollars from the original draft."[4]
Reception
Broadcast
"What You Leave Behind" was first shown on June 2, 1999 in
Critical reception
Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club referred to it as an imperfect series finale. He said that of the "handful of deaths in 'What You Leave Behind', ... Damar's is the only one that really stings." Reflecting on the way in which everyone went their separate ways, Handlen wrote, "That's what this finale is about to me. Not the end of the war, or the death of some bad guys, but the reminder that there are so many stories that go on without us."[2]
Jamahl Epsicokhan of
Both Epsicokhan and Den of Geek's Gem Wheeler favorably noted the comparisons between the final shot of the episode and the events of "The Visitor", with Wheeler writing that the latter episode gains in emotional impact after watching the series finale.[8]
Many reviewers criticized the
In 2007, DVD Talk said " If you were ever a fan of DS9 you'll remember this as the fantastic finale that wrapped just about everything up"[12]
Taken as the last two episodes of a seven episode story arc starting with "The Changing Face of Evil", Comic Book Resources (CBR) ranked this episode as part of the #1 episodic saga of Star Trek overall. They praise the "great" crew montage and note the many plotlines being wrapped up, as well as the special effects work of Star Trek space battles.[13]
In 2016,
In 2020, ScreenRant said it was the second best series finale of all Star Trek series, and noted an IMDb rating of 9.0 out 10.[16]
Awards
The episode won the 2000 Best Television Episode SyFy Genre Award.[17]
Home media
It was one of the episodes included in the anthology DVD box set Star Trek Fan Collective - Captain's Log; the set also includes episodes from other series in the franchise including Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and Enterprise. The other DS9 episodes included in the set were "In the Pale Moonlight" and "Far Beyond the Stars", and the episodes include an introduction/interview by Avery Brooks (Sisko in the series). The set was released on July 24, 2007 in the United States.[12]
Both parts of this episode were released in 2017 on DVD with the complete series box set, which had 176 episodes in a 48 disc set.[18]
Legacy
This episode was
In 2017, eighteen years after the episode aired, Ira Steven Behr announced a crowdfunded documentary named What We Left Behind, deriving its title from the name of this episode,[1] which met its goal of $150,000 within 24 hours. Released in 2019,[19] the documentary reflects on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's legacy, featuring interviews with the cast and crew of the series and speculating on what would have happened had there been an eighth season.[20][21]
Notes
- ^ DeCandido had previously reviewed "All Good Things..." and had given it a 10 out 10 rating.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j DeCandido, Keith (February 24, 2015). "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rewatch: "What You Leave Behind"". Tor.com. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
- ^ a b c Handlen, Zack (May 8, 2014). "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "What You Leave Behind"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
- ^ Jammer's Reviews. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
- ^ a b Behr, Ira Steven. "Ira Steven Behr (Executive Producer)" (Interview). Archived from the original on January 2, 2010. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
- ^ Moore, Ron D. (May 19, 2019). "Ron D. Moore Q&A" (Interview). Interviewed by lcarscom. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
- ^ "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine * SEASON 7 NIELSEN RATINGS". WebTrek. Archived from the original on January 24, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
- ^ DeCandido, Keith (April 3, 2013). "Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch: "All Good Things..."". Tor.com. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
- ^ Wheeler, Gem (November 2, 2012). "Top 10 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes". Den of Geek. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
- ^ DeCandido, Keith (August 26, 2014). "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rewatch: "Sacrifice of Angels"". Tor.com. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- ^ DeCandido, Keith (May 16, 2014). "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rewatch: "The Assignment"". Tor.com. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- ^ DeCandido, Keith (December 23, 2014). "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rewatch: "Covenant"". Tor.com. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
- ^ a b Todd Douglass Jr. (August 5, 2007). "Star Trek Fan Collective - Captain's Log". DVD Talk.
- ^ Michael Weyer (2018-11-23). "Star Trek's Greatest Episodic Sagas, Ranked". CBR.
- ^ "'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' — The 20 Greatest Episodes". The Hollywood Reporter. 22 September 2016. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
- ^ Ed Gross (2016-07-27). "The 50 best Star Trek episodes ever". Empire. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
- ^ "The Star Trek Finales, Ranked Worst To Best (According To IMDb)". ScreenRant. 2020-05-13. Retrieved 2021-04-20.
- ^ Hinman, Michael (October 1, 2007). "'300,' 'Battlestar Galactica' Take Top Prizes In Genre Awards". Airlock Alpha. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
- ^ Staff, TrekNews net (2017-02-10). "[REVIEW] Deep Space Nine Complete Series DVD Box Set". TREKNEWS.NET | Your daily dose of Star Trek news and opinion. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
- ^ TrekMovie com Staff. "Star Trek: DS9 Documentary 'What We Left Behind' To Screen In Theaters For One Night In May". TrekMovie.com. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
- ^ "What We Left Behind: Star Trek Deep Space Nine Doc". Indiegogo. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
- ^ Burt, Kaytl (February 9, 2017). "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Documentary Gets Crowdfunding Campaign". Den of Geek. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
External links
- "What You Leave Behind" at IMDb
- What You Leave Behind at Memory Alpha
- "What You Leave Behind, Part I" at Wayback Machine (archived from the original at StarTrek.com)
- "What You Leave Behind, Part II" at Wayback Machine (archived from the original at StarTrek.com)