[Nate the Great]

November 1st, 1993, "Melora"

Ah yes, Melora. The episode that had good intentions but fumbled it because the special effects budget wasn't there and there wasn't time for a proper evaluation of the issues in play.

Fiver by Soyakaze (never heard of this guy, either)

The Episode

Medical Log...Ensign Melora Pazlar is the first Elaysian to join Starfleet and, as such, requires special accomodations.

And here's our first hurdle. Nobody has heard of these guys before and they'll never appear on screen again. And furthermore, except for the Gemworld books (which are ridiculous because they present versions of Melora and Reg Barclay that in no way fit their screen personas) they will never appear again.

I understand the desire to show that handicapped people can do everything that unafflicted people can, but this was not the correct show or format for that. Had this been TNG or VOY Melora would've had adequate wheelchair support (putting a ramp in the transporter room or using a cargo bay transporter would've been simple) and we could focus on her personality and not her affliction.

And as I sit here I thought how nice it would've been to have her on TNG and tie it into Cetacean Ops. After all, Gemworld establishes that Elaysians can swim through air better than we can swim through water, so having her work in the water would've shown her skills as being more prominent than her afflictions.

(It's an electric wheelchair.)
DAX: I haven't seen one of these in three hundred years.

Really? I hate to invoke Enterprise, but that show didn't seem like it had medical technology sufficient to fix most things that make people wheelchair bound. Furthermore we've been led to believe that the Dax symbiont in particular like to travel among a wide variety of species and made first contact with a lot of them. Curzon never had contact with a primitive world?

BASHIR: Her normal anti-grav unit isn't going to work here. Same problem we had with the Starfleet cargo lifts. Cardassian construction just isn't compatible.

And here's the other elephant in the room: why is Melora here? It's not like she's a mission-critical specialist. All we're told is that she's going to the Gamma Quadrant for a survey mission. She's a cartographer, a profession that is needed on plenty of starships that are antigrav unit compatible.

Furthermore, why a wheelchair? Even if DS9 isn't compatible for Federation antigrav units, there must be Cardassian antigrav units available that you could stick a chair on top of. This seems like something that Gul Dukat would be thrilled to arrange so that the Federation would owe him one.

DAX: Can't we just use the transporter to help her get around?
O'BRIEN: It makes sense to me, but she sent word that it wasn't be acceptable to her.
DAX: I wonder why.
BASHIR: I know exactly why. She went through the Academy the same way. Once her basic needs are met, she refuses any special assistance. She's extraordinary.

Ugh. Stubbornly put yourself in discomfort in an effort to not appear weak never works. Ever. The belief that respect is more important than personal comfort in every situation will backfire more often than not.

And here we go again. Bashir getting too impressed, too quickly. Furthermore his upcoming romance with Melora is just...wrong. Once again he's forming an attachment to a patient strong enough to influence his objectivity as a doctor. This hackneyed plot device is used too often in the series.

Furthermore, we're in Season Two. Either he should've given up on Jadzia by now, or they should've had their relationship and had it implode by now. You can't do the Riker/Troi thing where they're allowed to see other people and still string the viewer along that thehy might get together. Riker and Troi had an established relationship in the past, and we know that they weren't together in TNG because of Riker's career plans (which were quietly wiped away after BOBW but that's another screed). The Dax/Bashir he-pursues-her-she's-uninterested-and-amused thing happened to Troi and Riker in the Betazed backstory, they didn't show it on screen.

MELORA: Ensign Melora Pazlar reporting for duty.
DAX: Welcome to DS Nine, Ensign. I'm Chief Science Officer Jadzia Dax, and this
MELORA: Doctor Bashir. We spoke on subspace.

Why isn't Sisko here? It's not like were in the Dominion War era when there are thousands of Starfleet officers on board and Sisko can't be expected to keep track of everyone, it's Season Two and there are maybe two hundred Starfleet on board.

DAX: I'll be accompanying you on your survey mission.
MELORA: I really don't think that'll be necessary, Lieutenant. I'm perfectly capable of piloting a runabout.
DAX: Commander Sisko thought that it
MELORA: I'm sure he thought what every officer I've ever served with has thought. That I need extra help to get the job done. Please tell him I don't.
DAX: Commander Sisko wouldn't allow any Ensign take a runabout into the Gamma Quadrant the day after she arrives.

Exactly. Personal medical issues aside, there's no such thing as a single-man away mission unless it's an extremely unusual situation (Silicon Avatar comes to mind immediately). Especially when you're going into the Gamma Quadrant without backup. And suddenly I wonder why we're sending these jumbo shuttles to the other end of the galaxy when you could just ask Starfleet to send a small science vessel to do the job more safely.

([Quark] Returns to his new visitor. How does a species evolve with a mouth trapped behind a piece of bone or cartilage?)

I never like Yridians. Not the makeup, not their species occupation of information brokers, not their personalities, nothing. They remain a half-baked species concept.

SISKO: Dax and Bashir were just telling me about your request to pilot a runabout alone.
MELORA: Wouldn't it have been more appropriate to include me in that conversation?

Actually, it would. Which is why Sisko should've met with her when she came on board.

MELORA: I'm sorry if I seem overly sensitive, but I'm used to being shut out of the Melora problem. The truth is, there is no Melora problem until people create one.

And here I lose all compassion for her. She has decided to be unpleasant and self-righteous in the name of not being weak. No, Melora, there's a problem because your usual equipment isn't station-compatible and you refuse to compromise in any way.

MELORA: I simply object to being treated like someone who is ill.

You aren't ill, you are disabled. This is fact, not a biased opinion that is being forced on you. If you don't want to treated like a disabled person, don't accept missions to places that can't properly accommodate your needs.

And here I had a whole screed typed about my own disabilities, but it was getting too personal and it was veering into whining.

MELORA: Try sitting in the chair, Commander. No one can understand until they sit in the chair. I have been in one chair or another since I left my homeworld. My family gave me this cane. It's made from the wood of a garlanic tree. They had no idea what it would be like to live off-world in what you consider normal gravity. Only a handful of Elaysians have ever left home. But I always knew that I had to be one of them. I dreamt about exploring the stars as a child, and I wasn't going to allow any handicap, not a chair, not a Cardassian station, to stop me from chasing that dream.

And yet you can't keep your trap shut when people are trying to help you. Far too many people use a disability, or religious practices, or vegetarianism, or whatever to set themselves apart and validate self-pity. I've had to distance myself from such people more than once. And once again they've failed to explain why Melora has to explore HERE.