As Lieutenant Jadzia Dax, Terry Farrell notched up an impressive 150 episodes before leaving at the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s penultimate season. 2018 marks the show’s 25-year anniversary and the former Trill reflects on her time with the show, how she nearly stayed on, and why her guidance to fans is ‘Don’t mention the war’.

It’s the morning after the Sci-Fi Ball’s legendary dinner dance – they boast to be in the only convention that feeds its guests – and attendees were rocking to the wee hours to the sound of Gary Graham and The Sons of Kirk. Some might be nursing sore heads, but Terry Farrell is radiant as she bounds into the press room, talking exclusively to Sci-Fi Bulletin’s Dax-in-waiting, Nick Joy.

Hi Terry, thanks so much for speaking to us, particularly as you haven’t been feeling so good.

Thank you. So far so good. I came here sick, but today I’m feeling much better. I’ve been here many times and I’m very happy to see it sunny in England.

The Star Trek 50th anniversary was a significant milestone for the franchise – what did it mean to you?

I hadn’t really thought about it on the run-up. I knew that ours was coming up – the 25th – but I was a fan of the original series from when it was first in re-runs, when everybody was going gaga over Star Trek. I was part of that group of children who were crazed over the show and so for me the 50th was… yes, a time for reflection, because first of all I couldn’t believe it was that many years… and I was that old! (Laughs)

But still one of the younger cast members, surely?

I was part of something that had lasted for so long – and at that anniversary it felt like we’d all come together as part of some cohesive group. Even at Star Trek: Discovery’s premiere they invited every single actor that was in all of the shows. CBS pulled us all together and it felt like we were part of something so big, not just in terms of storytelling, but in terms of the actors all knowing each other. Bill [Shatner – Captain Kirk] is quite funny and sweet now… maybe because there’s not much time left? We all get along fine.

Dax was a strong female character from the word go, and I feel in many ways she helped set the template for the sort of characters the sorting we’re now seeing in Star Trek: Discovery, particularly Michael Burnham.

I just downloaded the episodes. I saw the premiere and then… well, we spend so much money to be able to watch television in America, and now you want to take another dime from us to watch this? [In the US, Discovery can only be watched on subscription channel CBS All Access.] This giant corporation that makes millions and billions of dollars; I feel like we should have a pass because we were on Star Trek. They should send us the show for free.

I just assumed that happened automatically, and that you also get crates of the books and dolls.

No. Well, when the show was on the air we’d get little boxes of stuff, but it was never our own character’s stuff. I don’t know who filled the boxes, but send me my dolls so that my nephew and nieces can play me, not Quark!

It’s been well documented that you didn’t want to leave Deep Space Nine at the end of Season Six, but that you weren’t offered a deal you could work with.

It was that they wouldn’t negotiate with me… this person wouldn’t negotiate with me. It was a ‘take if or leave it’ offer. I was trying to do anything to stay on the show, but since money was the thing that was the big hang up for him, I offered to do less shows – I could be recurring [as opposed to a regular] with so many other people already on the show.

Do you think it would be different nowadays – that people would be more inclined to fight your corner?

It was a power play. It wasn’t because I was doing anything wrong other than me saying: ‘No, you have to have a conversation with me.’ And he said ‘No I don’t.’ He’d have a conversation with the boys, but not the girls.

When I interviewed Gates McFadden [TNG’s Beverley Crusher] last year she shared a similar story of having to fight harder than her male co-stars to get what she deserved.

I believe her. Marina [Sirtis – Deanna Troi] found it tougher too.

As the years have gone by, are people asking you different questions about Dax, and are your own answers changing?

Hmmm, I don’t know. I think I have more to say about it now because I’ve played it longer – if I’d done conventions while the show was still on then I wouldn’t know as much about the character, and certainly I didn’t have the perspective of being able to look back and watch it without judging my performance. It’s hard to have any kind of perspective.

And are there questions where you struggle?

I still can’t answer the questions that people ask about the [Dominion] War, because… I didn’t care. I wasn’t interested. Isn’t that terrible!? (Laughs!) And I couldn’t tell you anything about the Bajoran religion; I’m not particularly interested in religion any way – it seems to tear people apart. Sure, I like ceremonies – they look really cool, [Dax’s marriage to Worf being a case in point] though most of the time I have no idea what they mean! (Shrugs)

So, you’re not a real-life expert on Trill symbiont surgery either?

Ha! I was there… but I’m not a surgeon. I was really just an aerospace engineer – a scientist, a pilot. The storytelling parts about people… I used to find interesting, but the war stuff I check out on. We had plenty about Vietnam on the TV when we were little.

Twenty-six episodes a year was a huge workload – I imagine while you’re in the thick of that you don’t have much time to form opinions on the work beyond learning your lines. Most modern shows have a lower episode count today.

Yes, TV is very expensive to make today.

I really enjoyed your role on last year’s ‘Dirty Dozen goes interstellar’ web series Renegades.

Thank you. I didn’t see it. I don’t know if I want to see my face on the screen beyond 50! They put so much powder on me that that I swear to God it was like my skin was chapped the next day. It was so dry – it hurt so bad!

Did it help having a familiar face like Tim Russ [Tuvok – Star Trek: Voyager] behind the camera?

It felt great – super easy. The people that I didn’t already know I knew through other people. Tim was directing, and working with Walter [Koenig – Chekov] was… he’s hilarious.

I can imagine. Walter plays an Admiral In the Confederation, fighting a conspiracy, and you play the clone of a science officer. Did you dial back to Dax or see this as someone different?

I could find this new character. The night before we did it was when they yanked the name Star Trek from everything [as part of CBS’ clampdown on the use of Star Trek properties in fan films] and my name was no longer Jadzia, it was Jada. So I thought ‘Ok, that’s cool, and oh my God, that’s also my niece’s name!’ I was really excited too because they had the element that it was a clone instead of the lifetimes of Dax. Ok, maybe not a case of ‘Wow, I’d never have thought of that, but I thought it was great because one of the most fun parts of Dax was ‘Now you’re a warrior… Now you’re a girl.’ The different things to play was so much fun.

Renegades: Requiem, Part 1 is already available, with Part 2 on its way. Do you anticipate more episodes?

I don’t have the feeling they’re going to come back with anything because it was so expensive. When I said ‘Hey, can I play with you guys?’ They were like ‘sure’. And then I said ‘Why don’t you take the Star Trek name off right now because this is a great idea and you don’t need Star Trek on it. They thought that no one would watch it, but I think that if you have some main characters you’re going to be fine. I thought they were selling themselves… and us… short. Does it matter that I wasn’t Dax? I don’t think so.

You can watch Terry, alongside Star Trek alumni Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Robert Beltran, Tim Russ and others, in Renegades: The Requiem on YouTube

 

Sci-Fi Ball is a not-for-profit convention that raises funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Thanks to Ann Lindup, Andrew Keates and the Ball’s directors for arranging this interview.