Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV Series) The Abandoned (1994) User Reviews

Minor things? The Jem'Hadar.

[emptycontent · 7/10 · 17 March 2019]

A child found by Quark is a genetically engineered killing machine! Though, that point may be disputed. Jake is involved with a women "more mature" than he is! Though it's rightness might not be right to dispute.

In all, pretty alright episode! I liked how the argument of this boy's life wasn't just one-sided. Odo, as well as the audience, had the chance to explore the "humanity" of the situation! Though I was confused a bit, in terms of the minor theme. A 16 and 20 year-old probably shouldn't be involved with each other, especially when the only justification is that, "She knows my son better than I do". Seemed a bit weary to me.

You suck dad!

[thevacinstaller · 7/10 · 29 March 2020]

This episode serves as an introduction into sad existence of a Jem 'Hadar clone and a futile effort by Odo to reach out and give the Jem 'Hadar child a chance at a better life.

Odo's a good guy. No other changeling would do this but he feels obligated to do so. If you have watched the entirety of DS9 his offer to leave everything behind and go away to help becomes extremely important towards the end of DS9's run (in another situation of course).

Creating a drug to make an entire species your personal slave race is an amazing level of depravity.

Some good world building in this episode.

The Jake Sisko B-Plot did require some extensively close attention on my part but there's not much to say. Jake Sisko --- Heartbreaker poet.

Bringing up a Jem'Hadar

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 13 April 2010]

When Quark buys a the wreckage of a ship found in the Gamma Quadrant he hopes to find a few salvageable parts, he didn't expect to find a baby. The child is taken to the doctor who confirms that the child appears to be healthy although he has no idea what species it is. It soon becomes apparent that the child is maturing faster than any known humanoid. He is soon teenage and then it is clear that he is in fact Jem'Hadar. Star Fleel what the boy to be transferred to them so they can study him but Odo believes that he can care for him and teach him that he can overcome his instinct to fight. In a secondary plot Commander Sisko has invited Jake's girl friend Mardah to dinner; he is hoping it will provide an opportunity for him warn her off... he thinks she isn't suitable for his son as she is a twenty year old dabo girl. During the meal he changes his mind as well as discovering some things he didn't know about his son.

This wasn't the most exciting episode but it wasn't a bad episode. The main story was interesting enough although the Jem'Hadar boy wasn't a sympathetic character. Jill Sayre did a good job as Mardah, I was surprised to find that this was the only episode she featured in as it felt like they were setting her up to be a regular character.

Wow...the Jem'Hadar really are warlike jerks down deep!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 20 December 2014]

Jake is dating a 20 year-old Dabo girl with extremely large...well, you can guess. Naturally, his father is not thrilled by this but instead of telling Jake no, he invites the lady for dinner.

The main plot, however, is a lot less mundane and creepy. A baby is discovered among the wreckage of a ship that Quark has bought. The child grows VERY quickly...and soon he grows into a Jem'Hadar killing machine. Not surprisingly, the crew isn't thrilled but Odo decides to take the young killing machine under his wing. But try as he might to learn about the deeper person buried within, this Jem'Hadar seems even more one dimensional than Nancy Grace. With this unnamed Jem'Hadar, it's kill, kill, kill. In fact, he makes the Klingons seem like deep thinkers and pacifists! What's next?

While the episode is mildly interesting, there's really not much more to it than this.

Borg v Jem'Hadar

[francespen · 13 December 2020]

Watching this I was reminded of Hugh who had been separated from the Borg collective and the Star Trek crew realised they could change his mind set. In that case it worked, but sadly not this time - the genetic engineering was far more sophisticated. I noticed he knew Odo was a Founder when he first saw him, kneeling before him so something else already in his make up. I felt for Odo when he realised his efforts had been in vain. The lad was who he was.

Not much has changed then regarding the age difference between young men/women. Even in the 24th century the fact that Mardah was 20 while Jake was only 16 had people raising their eyebrows and had Ben concerned she may be leading him astray. Shame we never saw her again, she seemed a lovely, intelligent lady.

Eh..

[swiitchhfw-26543 · 7/10 · 11 April 2023]

Although this was interesting to see the growth process of the Jem'Hadar and their accelerated aging, I'm not a fan of this species, just another race that only wants to fight. I suppose in order for a show to work, there does need to be some form of conflict, an antagonist so none more ruthless than the Jem'Hadar, other than Delta-quadrant-dwellers such as the Borg and the Hirogen. And though I'm not a huge fan of the Jem'Hadar, I find the 3-way structure of the Changelings, Vorta and Jem'Hadar to be interesting.

My main issue with the episode is Jake Sisco and his mommy-issues. Now although the actress is only 2 years older than Cirroc, she is supposed to be older in the show. Last time I checked, a 20 year old dating a 16 year old is not only creepy, but illegal. It only gets worse in a future episode where, under the influence of Lwxana Troi's projected Betezoid abilities, he starts chasing after Major Kira. I never really liked Jake as a character and I find his obsession with older women to be creepy when he's still just a teenager.

Aside from the creepiness, this was also a good episode for Odo. We get to see him work with the young Jem'Hadar which serves as good character development for both Odo and the Jem'Hadar as a race.

Definitely worth a watch!

Collateral Damage

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 10 October 2018]

Quark purchases a destroyed ship for a pittance. Unfortunately, on board, in a kind stasis pod, is a baby. When brought on board, it grows at an alarming rate. It turns out it is a biologically developed Jem'Hadar, a killing machine. Odo, knowing what it is like to be an outcast, does what he can to teach the young monster. Unfortunately, he has been programmed to do what he wants. We are getting more and more examples of what these awful beings are like, that they can genetically produce their own kind with predisposed abilities.

Godspeed, Jake

[snoozejonc · 8/10 · 12 April 2022]

A young Jem'Hadar finds himself on DS9 and Odo tries to civilise him.

This is a solid episode that explores the mentality of Jem'Hadar and has some good character moments.

The plot is DS9's answer to 'I Borg' but with a quite different twist in its tale. I think the story is good, and reading that Avery Brooks' wanted to capture the mentality of youth gang culture with this episode, it works well for that theme.

Rene Auberjonois is on great form and his performance is one of the strongest aspects of it, along with how it firmly establishes the Jem'Hadar as a credible threat.

There is a subplot involving Jake and Dabo girlfriend that has some quite good banter that works for developing his character. I also like the scene with Chief O'Brien that relates to this.

For me it's a 7.5/10 but I round upwards.

A Jem'Hadar In The Midst......

[dand1010 · 5/10 · 13 September 2021]

Quick Review:

Story line #1 - Quark pays an interesting looking alien lady 3 bars of pressed latinum for the wreckage of a ship she found in the Gamma Quadrant. He normally looks through stuff before buying it but because she licks his ear, he buys it sight unseen. Inside the wreckage - a Jem'Hadar baby!

The baby, a boy, grows up faster than anything does normally.

Odo convinces Sisko to let him mentor the Jem'Hadar guy. The guy is pre-programmed to be addicted to a substance and pre-programmed to want to fight and kill and hate everyone but the Founder-guy Odo - whom he respects in a worshipful way - at least at first.

Story line #2 - Sisko invites Jake's 20-year-old Dabo girlfriend, Mardah, over for dinner. Jake is 16. She is a very well endowed (ahem) and mature - like all the Dabo girls who work for Quark.

Sisko wants them broken up.

It's too bad she is only in this episode - she is a compelling character. I'm not sure why the writers decided against having Mardah be a semi-regular.

Also: Odo announces to Kira (who brought him a housewarming gift for his new quarters) he doesn't need his bucket to regenerate any longer. Since hanging out with his own kind he just returns to his gelatinous self and lays around his quarters. To hear him describe it to Kira is hilarious. Kira's giddiness while being with Odo is so over the top it is disconcerting.

Odo's make-up is weirdly different in this episode. Maybe in relation to him returning from the Founders???

Avery Brooks apparently said the story of the Jem'Hadar boy is a metaphor for young men of color growing up in the inner cities of America. Addicted, hateful and purposeless in a society they don't feel a part of. As you watch this episode ask yourself if Brooks is right.

OBSIDIAN ORDER DE-CLASSIFIED:2370 (5f)

[iamirwar · 5/10 · 26 January 2023]

Strange creatures, these Jem'Hadar. Given the rate of speed in which 'the boy' grew from being a baby to a teenager, we should have seen him age much older long before the ending of this episode.

Odo, who appears to have taken a fatherly interest in the boy also made a mistake in suggesting that he and the boy could head-off to anywhere in the galaxy considering the fact that the boy is so dependent on the ketracel-white that can only be manufactured by the founders themselves, or so it would appear according to Bashir.

Mardah certainly knows her way around a dabo-table and takes this opportunity to inform us of Jake's writing abilities and his skill at dom-jot. Of course, Sisko pulled a few strings which resulted in Mardah being offered a dream-job at the Dabo capital known as Botabel, which is the Bajoran equivalent to Las Vegas as the Earthling humanoids often like to remind us. This is why we would not see her again after this Stardate.

For a killing machine, this story was a little bit too sentimental to be of interest, but we like the thought that it has parallels with the life of the Earthly-teenagers.