Sons and Daughters (episode)

Alexander Rozhenko joins the crew of the Rotarran, much to the disappointment of Worf. On Terok Nor, Tora Ziyal returns to the station where Dukat intends to use her to get closer to Major Kira.

Teaser
Captain Benjamin Sisko and his crew have been rescued from an uncharted planet in a dark-matter nebula deep inside Dominion space by the. The Rotarran is dropping them off at Starbase 375. Before he disembarks, Sisko bets Klingon General Martok a barrel of bloodwine that Sisko will step foot on Deep Space 9 before Martok does. A little later, the Rotarran picks up five new crew replacements from the (Martok had asked General Tanas for fifteen, but he could only send five). To Worf's surprise, one of these recruits is his own son, Alexander Rozhenko, having newly joined the KDF.

Act One
On Deep Space 9, Kira Nerys and Odo are still gearing up for their resistance movement, but it is apparently not too much of a secret, since civilians such as Quark and Jake Sisko are well aware of it. Later, Gul Dukat surprises Kira by bringing Ziyal back to the station. Kira is happy to see Ziyal, who asks Kira to have dinner with her that night. Kira agrees, but Dukat declares that it will take place in his quarters at 2200 hours. Kira starts to protest, but Dukat and Ziyal run off.

On the Rotarran, Martok receives his orders. Their next mission will be to protect a convoy headed to Donatu V. They will be the only ship protecting the convoy and, since the last three convoys headed the same way were destroyed by the Jem'Hadar, they are probably going to see some action. Worf tells Martok about Alexander's troubled past. Martok expresses concern for Worf's relationship with his son. Later, Worf and Alexander argue about why Alexander is here. Worf insists that Alexander doesn't belong on the Rotarran.

Back on the station, Kira visits Ziyal in her quarters where Kira says that she can't have dinner with Dukat. The conversation moves to why Ziyal left Bajor. She says that everyone was polite, but as the daughter of Gul Dukat, she didn't have any friends. The station is her only true home. And she misses her father. Ziyal implores Kira to come that night, and Kira reluctantly agrees.

On the Klingon ship a fight breaks out in the mess hall when Ch'Targh deliberately provokes Alexander, teasing him about not being used to normal Klingon fare. But they can't finish it because Worf interferes to prevent his son from getting hurt. Worf seems to have no more confidence in his son's fighting abilities than the last time he saw him and has difficulty controlling his emotions where Alexander is concerned.

Act Two
On Terok Nor, Ziyal tells Kira and her father that she has found her way. She wants to be an artist and her talent has been recognized by the director of the Cardassian Institute of Art. Dukat thinks that her drawings resemble A Cardassian artist named Nanpart Malor, who was the founder of the  Valonnan School on Cardassia Prime, & when Ziyal showed them to the director of the Cardassian Institute of Art he shared Dukats assement. While Nerys thinks that ther drawing bare a striking resemblance to a Bajoran artist named Vedek Topek. Ziyal says she wants to use her art to bring people together, to show that both the Bajorans & Cardassian see the Universe the same way, but she quickly realizes that that must sound silly to Kira and Dukat. Later, Dukat tells Kira that Ziyal's drawings have been accepted for inclusion in the Cardassian Institute's exhibition on Cardassia. Dukat invites Kira at a party to celebrate. He even has Gul Damar bring her a lovely dress as a gift, but Kira is not able to look at herself in the mirror and so decides to return it. Dukat gives the dress to Ziyal instead.

On the Rotarran, Alexander becomes the ship's fool when he mistakes a simulation that was loaded in the computer for a real attack. Later, Worf tries to train Alexander in hand-to-hand combat as it would be quite useful if they ever encounter real Jem'Hadar soldiers. But Worf is not able to be objective and the training session ends in a verbal fight between the father and the son. Alexander asks if Worf is going to send him away again and says that Worf will be happy when Alexander is dead.

Act Three
Later, General Martok orders Alexander to report to a transport ship because his presence was interfering with his father's duties. That angers Alexander, who confronts his father over the incident, however they are interrupted by a tactical alert signaling an attack by Jem'Hadar fighters.

Act Four
In the following battle, Alexander proves inexperienced but still useful and earns some respect from his fellow crewmen when he runs to the engineering deck to help stop a plasma leak (though he still succeeds in locking himself in a corridor after averting the explosion). Worf realizes that Alexander is not a child anymore and that he must let him prove himself if he is to become a Klingon warrior. Worf offers to try (again) for a new start, willing to learn how to be a good father. Alexander joins the House of Martok, as his father did, in a ritual ceremony.

Memorable quotes
"All right, I'll be here. But I won't guarantee it'll be any fun!"

"I promise my father will behave!"
 * - Kira Nerys and Tora Ziyal

"There is a bond between us."

"No. Only in your mind.  You're an opportunistic, power-hungry dictator and I want nothing more to do with you."
 * - Dukat and Kira Nerys

"We keep falling back... the Dominion keeps pushing forward... I tell you, Worf, war is much more fun when you're winning! Defeat makes my wounds ache."
 * - Martok

"Or perhaps the son of our illustrious first officer would prefer an Earth beverage. A glass of root beer with a lump of ice cream? Mmm..."
 * - Ch'Targh teasing Alexander

"All I ask, is a chance to prove myself."

"I just gave you one! And you failed."
 * - Alexander and Martok

"Your father has requested that you be transferred off this ship."

"He has no right!"

"He has EVERY right! Both as your superior officer and as your father."
 * - Martok and Alexander

The six-episode arc

 * Although this episode represents part three of the arc, it was actually filmed before part two, . This was because a location shoot was required for the Starfleet-story of, and it made more scheduling sense to leave the shoot until after "Sons and Daughters" had been completed. Obviously, this made an already complicated situation worse. As Ronald D. Moore explains, "The station storyline on "Sons and Daughters" changed while they were doing it, which meant that my station-based storyline had to reflect that change... we couldn't keep it straight in our heads and we kept stepping on each other. Had something already happened, or was it happening the following week? It became very difficult to get the whole thing under control." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)

"Sons and Daughters"

 * This episode was based on the 1950 film . The film is about a fort commander who discovers that one of his new recruits is his son, whom he hasn't seen since he divorced the boy's mother years ago. The son hates the father, but they must learn to work together. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
 * Many fans felt that Alexander was far older in this episode than he should have been given his age as established in The Next Generation. Bradley Thompson countered this argument by pointing out that it has never been established how fast Klingon children grow. However, Ira Steven Behr has admitted they took some liberties with his age, but that there were legitimate practical reasons for this. Firstly, there was the issue of time. There are very strict laws about how long actors under eighteen can be kept on-set, laws which dictate that they cannot work past a certain hour and that they can only do so many hours a day without a break. Following these laws, and factoring in the length of time needed for an actor to get into makeup, it was determined that an under eighteen actor would only be on set for a few hours a day, thus prolonging the shoot. As well as this, the producers wanted an older character so that Worf didn't seem too harsh. If the actor was very young, Worf could be seen as abusive, but with an older character, Worf's parenting becomes, at worst, harsh. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
 * Of the depiction of the character of Ziyal in this episode, Ira Steven Behr has said, "We set out in this arc to make her the pure innocent, to make the audience invest emotion in that innocence." Similarly, David Weddle says, "We had to get her to the point where her death would matter to the audience." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
 * This episode represents another important stage in the relationship between Kira Nerys and Dukat. Building on the scene between them in, Dukat's efforts to win her over are briefly successful here, until Kira steps back and realizes what she is doing, ultimately deciding that she wants nothing to do with Dukat. From this point onwards, Kira's animosity towards Dukat would never waver and there would be no further ambiguity as to how she feels towards him. Following this episode, they would have only two more significant encounters, and.
 * This relationship, as well as that between Kira and Damar, were the subject of a deleted scene from this episode, filmed but cut for time. After Kira calls Dukat an interstellar despot, Dukat retorts that he prefers the term "tyrant". Dukat proposes to assign Damar to escort Ziyal to the opening of her exhibit. Kira points out that "He's a self-righteous sycophant who despises everything Bajoran," and notes that Damar sneers whenever he says "Bajoran". Dukat denies this just as Damar walks in, giving a report and sneering whenever Bajorans are mentioned. Kira can't help but laugh. Damar glares at Kira, but continues his report and leaves. Dukat then imitates Damar, causing Dukat and Kira to laugh together. The script for this episode, including the deleted scene, can be viewed here. The scene also appears in the novelization of this episode.
 * Ron Moore commented, "You may argue that we should've cut more from the Worf/Alexander story, but if you look at the show objectively you'll see that there's not a lot of extra material in that story to chop."


 * This episode marks Alexander's first appearance since Next Generation's seventh season episode . Marc Worden reprises the role in.
 * Benjamin Sisko later wins his bet with Martok to be the first one on to Deep Space 9. However, he tells Martok they will drink the bloodwine together.
 * Katogh appears to be the son of Ch'Pok, the Klingon advocate who attempted to extradite Worf in.
 * Although it is not widely known, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) cut this episode by approximately 25 seconds. In the last scene, as Martok initiates Alexander Rozhenko into the House of Martok, there is a ritual performed which involves Martok placing the insignia of his house into a chalice. He then slides a knife across his palm and lets the blood drip into the chalice. In the UK version of the episode, he then pours in some bloodwine and sets the mixture alight, but in the uncut version, he hands the knife to Alexander and Worf, whom both also cut their palm and let their own blood drip into the chalice. Although, visually, there is no evidence of the edit, if you listen closely, you can hear a slight jump in the music key at the moment of the cut. The reason given by the BBFC for the censorship was that because the show was aimed primarily at teenagers, they felt that a scene in which two characters mix blood could encourage viewers to do likewise, hence increasing the risk of HIV transfer.   Strangely, an almost identical scene involving Martok and Gowron occurs in the seventh season episode, but this scene was passed uncut by the BBFC.
 * As for the ceremony itself, it is far different from the R'uustai seen in, not the least because the ceremony here involved an adult Alexander cutting his hand, whereas the R'uustai involved a then-12 year old Jeremy Aster simply lighting candles.

Video and DVD releases

 * UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 6.2,.
 * As part of the DS9 Season 6 DVD collection.
 * The Region 2 release of this episode has approximately 25 seconds cut from the final scene.

Starring

 * Avery Brooks as Captain Sisko

Also starring

 * Rene Auberjonois as Odo
 * Michael Dorn as Lt. Commander Worf
 * Terry Farrell as Lt. Commander Dax
 * Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko
 * Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien
 * Armin Shimerman as Quark
 * Alexander Siddig as Doctor Bashir
 * Nana Visitor as Major Kira

Guest stars

 * Marc Worden as Alexander Rozhenko
 * Marc Alaimo as Dukat
 * J.G. Hertzler as Martok
 * Melanie Smith as Ziyal
 * Casey Biggs as Damar
 * Sam Zeller as Ch'Targh
 * Gabrielle Union as N'Garen

Stand-ins

 * John Lendale Bennett - stand-in for Avery Brooks
 * Uriah Carr - stand-in for Casey Biggs
 * Cathy DeBuono - stand-in for Terry Farrell
 * Mark Lentry - stand-in for Marc Alaimo
 * James Minor - stand-in for Michael Dorn
 * Robin Morselli - stand-in for Melanie Smith
 * Randy Pflug - stand-in for Colm Meaney
 * Wright - stand-in for Nana Visitor