"Dax" is the eighth episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures on Deep Space Nine, a space station located adjacent to a stable wormhole between the Alpha and Gamma quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy, near the planet Bajor.
This episode explores the nature of the fictional Trill species, a humanoid race some of whom are symbiotically "joined" to a long-lived "symbiont" creature, whose memories they share. The station's science officer Jadzia Dax, a Trill, is arrested for a crime of which a previous host of her symbiont is accused.
This episode was co-written by D.C. Fontana, Peter Allan Fields had previously worked with Fontana on The Six Million Dollar Man. Fontana found that the story was focused on characters and that there was not a lot of action, but found it challenging, "as all early scripts in a series are", because you have not yet learned to write for a particular actor's voice and you have to invent facts about a character that may not work out later.
Fionnula Flanagan guest starred as Enina Tandro. It was her first appearance on Star Trek, and she later appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation in the episode "Inheritance" as Juliana Soong, Data's "mother", and on Star Trek: Enterprise in the episode "Fallen Hero" as a Vulcan ambassador.
Reception
Keith DeCandido of Tor.com rated the episode seven out of ten.
In 2018, SyFy included this episode on their Jadzia Dax binge-watching guide for this character. They note this episode helps build the relationship between Jadzia and Sisko, as well as explore the nature of Dax.
Releases
On February 8, 1997 this episode was released on LaserDisc in Japan as part of the half-season box set 1st Season Vol. 1. This included episodes from "Emissary" to "Move Along Home" with both English and Japanese audio tracks.