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Ezri Dax is a fictional character who appears in the seventh season of the American science fiction TV series ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Portrayed by Nicole de Boer, she is a counselor aboard the Federation space station ''Deep Space Nine''. The character is a member of the Trill species, and is formed of both a host and a symbiont – referred to as Dax. Ezri was introduced to the series following the death of the previous Dax host, Jadzia (Terry Farrell) at the end of season six. It had been the producers' intention to introduce a new female character bearing the symbiont in order to ensure that Nana Visitor as Kira Nerys was not the only female member of the main cast. There were difficulties in casting initially, and the character changed from one who was intended to be "spooky" to one that had found itself in a position where it had to take on the Dax symbiont resulting in schizophrenic-like symptoms as it comes to adjust to the new mental relationship. De Boer was not considered for the part until co-producer Hans Beimler suggested that she should submit an audition tape, which resulted in her invitation to meet with the producers in Los Angeles and in her gaining the role. The character made her first appearance in the first episode of the seventh season, "Image in the Sand". The character continued to appear throughout the final season of the series, with her final appearance in the series finale "What You Leave Behind". Her character stepped into the void left by Jadzia amongst the crew, but found that she had to redevelop those previous relationships and learn to get along with Jadzia's widower, Worf (Michael Dorn). During the course of the season, Ezri becomes less nervous of her role over time and learns from the Dax symbiont and becomes involved romantically with Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig). In the non-canon ''Star Trek'' novels following the end of the ''Deep Space Nine'' series, Ezri changes to the command track of Starfleet and becomes executive officer of the USS ''Defiant'', and ends her romantic involvement with Bashir. After a transfer to the USS ''Aventine'' in the ''Star Trek: Destiny'' trilogy of novels, she receives a battlefield commission and becomes the Captain of the ''Aventine''. The fan reaction to the character was reported as positive, but several of the Ezri-centric episodes came in for criticism, with producer Ira Steven Behr apologising to de Boer for "Prodigal Daughter" – an episode described as "just a mess" by writer Ronald D. Moore.〔 The relationship between Ezri and both Worf and Bashir was described as one of five "great geek TV love triangles".〔 The inclusion of the character was criticised on the internet, with Ezri being referred to as both an "ill-conceived idea" and a "replacement Dax".〔〔 ==Concept and development== Terry Farrell had portrayed the character of Jadzia Dax from the pilot episode "Emissary" through to "Tears of the Prophets", the final episode of season six. The actress had decided not to renew her contract for the seventh season, and so the character was killed off in her final appearance. However, due the character's symbiotic nature, only the host died; the symbiont known as Dax survived – which would allow the producers to reintroduce it in a new host later.〔Erdmann & Block (2000): p. 586〕 Prior to the start of the seventh season, the producers sought to re-introduce Dax but with a new host. They decided immediately that it had to be a female character, as otherwise it would leave Kira Nerys, played by Nana Visitor, as the only female main character. There were some difficulties in finding an actress that met the requirements of the part, Ira Steven Behr said "So we started the casting process, and all I saw was a lot of people who couldn't play the part. There was absolutely no one in the running."〔Erdmann & Block (2000): p. 592〕 The initial casting call required an actress with a "spooky" quality, but following the failure to find someone adequate, co-supervising producer René Echevarria suggested that the character instead should be someone who was unprepared to be joined with Dax and only did so because of an unexpected occurrence.〔Erdmann & Block (2000): p. 593〕 Echevarria suggested this to Behr over lunch, but he initially was not sure. By the time they had returned separately to the studio, Behr had an entire plan worked out based on the new premise for the character. Behr suggested that the character should be basically acting as if she's schizophrenic, saying "We'd never played up the idea in the past, but it made sense. What must it be like to hear all those voices and opinions?"〔 The producers also decided that they wanted a younger actress who felt vulnerable in order to offset the strength that Jadzia had grown into over the years. Casting remained difficult, until Hans Beimler suggested an actress from Canada whom he had once worked with – Nicole de Boer. She had worked with Beimler on the television series ''Beyond Reality'' and ''TekWar''.〔 She was asked to submit an audition tape where she played out a scene between Ezri and Quark, which she recorded herself in the hotel room she was staying at,〔Larry Nemecek, "Meet Nicole deBoer: Ezri Dax" ''Star Trek Communicator'' 119 November 1998: 10〕 and later admitted that she did not know what a Trill was at the time.〔Erdmann & Block (2000): p. 598〕 At the time, de Boer was busy working in Canada but was unknown as an actress in the United States.〔 She was called down to Los Angeles to audition in person based on the strength of the tape, where she performed a four and a half minute scene written specifically for the audition. It was later converted into a scene used in the episode "Afterimage". She thought she had ruined her audition when she nearly choked on a glass of water as executive producer Rick Berman entered the room and had to run to the bathroom, by which time she had already soaked her clothes and caused her mascara to run.〔〔 But Behr praised her, saying "We got a good vibe off her, she knew her part. She got it. And that was it."〔 As part of her preparation for each day's filming, she had the Trill spots applied by makeup artist Mary Kay Morse, with Michael Westmore working on her detailing instead. This was a change from when Farrell had portrayed Jadzia, as in that case, Westmore had applied the spots himself each day.〔Erdmann & Block (2000): p. 594〕 She made her first appearance in the season seven opener, "Image in the Sand", for which she was required for only half a day, as she was in only one scene. "I came in and I had one line — that's it, I hadn't even moved to L.A. yet and I hadn't found a place to live."〔 She began to understand what was required of her from her second episode onwards.〔 She later explained that "I never really got too freaked in the beginning. I thought more of this as the biggest job I've ever had, than going into the whole ''Star Trek'' phenomenon. I just wanted to do a good job." De Boer felt that the producers did a good job with involving Ezri over the course of the seventh season, but not to the extent that it detracted from the more established members of the main cast. However, there was one part of the season where she was concerned that the fans would suffer from "Ezri overload".〔 But she felt that the character had a real story arc and character evolution as the season went by.〔 She said that she did not want Ezri to remain the same "young and confused" person that she was in her first appearances, which was something that the writers and producers agreed with. She said that "As time went on, you saw that Ezri was intelligent, that she was endearing and a good person. She became a more complicated character than you might have thought in her first few episodes."〔 She praised specific episodes which evolved the character, such as "The Siege of AR-558" which required Ezri to draw upon Dax's past experiences, as otherwise she would have been completely out of her element. De Boer also enjoyed "Prodigal Daughter" as the episode showed the change in Ezri from before she was joined with the Dax symbiont, and she thought that the events portrayed in "Field of Fire" were "fascinating".〔 As she approached the end of ''Deep Space Nine'', de Boer addressed the rumors of her joining ''Star Trek: Voyager'', saying that "My first instinct would be to say no. I would need to feel there was a reason for Ezri to be on ''Voyager''".〔 She was interviewed at the series wrap party after completing filming on the final episode, "What You Leave Behind", and said, "The last episode was very emotional, especially on the last day... I couldn't believe that a season had gone by already. I realized all the people I'd grown close to must be feeling it much more because they'd been doing it 7 years. I cried." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ezri Dax」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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