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Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, Episode 120: Children of Time
Director: Rene Auberjonois, Michael Dorn, Alexander Siddig, Corey Allen, Reza Badiyi
Product Group: Video
Studio: Paramount
ISBN: B000003K9A
EAN: 9780792184911
UPC: 097360052039
VHS Tape
Running Time: 106 minutes
Original Release Date: 1993-01-04
Theatrical Release Date: 1993-01-04
Release Date: 2002-08-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
SKU: 07060382
Condition: Like New Like New
Comments: VHS tape in like new condition. No rental or library stickers. Nice original cardboard case with minor wear.
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Editorial Reviews
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Amazon.com
The lives of 8,000 colonists, and the ultimate fate of Kira Nerys, hang in the balance in this exceptional fifth-season episode of DS9. The trouble begins when the Defiant investigates a mysterious planet in the Gamma quadrant, penetrating an energy barrier and causing conflicting timelines that must be resolved. In one timeline, Sisko and his crew encounter the Gaian villagers, who are the descendants of... Sisko and his crew! In the other timeline, 200 years earlier, the ship crashes and its survivors--including the dying Nerys--become the progenitors of the thriving Gaian colony. While the time-travel dilemma may seem routine, René Echevarria's thoughtful teleplay--a hybrid of two freelance story submissions--places noteworthy emphasis on Odo's unspoken love for Nerys, which is finally expressed when circumstances call for intimate disclosure. Echevarria also deserves praise for not compromising the devastating outcome of the Gaian timeline; for Nerys and Odo alike, it's a hard-hitting consequence that gives the entire episode an emotional and thought-provoking spin. --Jeff Shannon
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Customer Reviews
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another mind-bending time paradox
Rating  (5)
Date: 2004-08-15
10 out of 11 customers found this reveiw helpful
After another lengthy mission in the Gamma Quadrant, the Defiant and her crew head home to DS9, all looking forward to seeing their families and sleeping in their own beds. En route home, Dax identifies an intriguing energy barrier around the 4th planet of a nearby solar system. Despite the fact that everyone is exhausted, it is their mission after all... to seek life and civilizations, yada yada, so they get closer to investigate. The energy barrier is trickier than Dax expects and damage to the ship means that they will be stranded for about 2 days while they make repairs.
They are shocked to be hailed by residents of the planet, most of the 8,000 of whom are human. One of their greeters, Yedrin Dax, claims to hold the same symbiont Dax that is inside Jadzia, albeit a tad bit older. The residents explain that they are the descendants of the Defiant crew that crash landed 200 years earlier - a head-on collision with an energy anomaly sends them 200 years in the past. With no one in the quadrant to send a message of help to, they decide to make the best of things and make the planet their new home. They are expecting the Defiant and her crew when they arrive. Despite their doubts, their tricorders confirm the identities of the people via DNA.
Now that they know about the accident, they can avoid it - but will avoiding the accident obliterate their descendants? Will they have ever really existed? A revelation that Kira will die in only weeks due to an energy discharge during their crash landing prompts the captain to take the crew home where Kira can receive treatment - but is this what Kira wants? Does she want the lives of 8,000 people on her conscience?
Due to the energy barrier issues, Odo is confined to a container in sick bay, unable to cope with the environment. The older version of Odo on the planet, however, has learned to adjust to the energy issues and has become far more adept at shape-shifting. He has longed to see Kira for 200 years and to tell her how he feels about her. René Auberjonois should have been nominated for an Emmy for his performance in this episode - he is always superb as Odo, but this performance outshines the rest.
This is truly one of the better episodes of DS9, as the characters show their full development and the actors are able to really stretch out with their abilities. There are many intertwining plots - Kira's death, Odo's love declaration, Dax's 200-year-old guilt for stranding the crew and keeping the captain from seeing his son again, O'Brien's disgust at himself for learning that he has descendants on the planet, even though he has a wife and children at home in the Alpha Quadrant, the "current" Odo having to cope with the divulging of inner-most thoughts of the "older" Odo - and it's amazing how much they were able to cram into this one episode and still keep the viewer engaged.
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Children of Time
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-08-31
3 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is definitely one of the finest DS-9 episodes - and there are a LOT of DS-9 episodes to choose from that were wonderful. This episode was beautifully written, poignantly directed, and features superb performances by Nana Visitor and Rene Auberjonois. The ending is surprising, effective, and heart-breaking, all at the same time. If you are a DS-9 fan, this episode belongs in your collection.
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One of DS9's Finest Episodes
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-07-10
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I'll spare you another synopsis (you can just read the ones below). But it's a wonderful episode...to me, it is on my list of the Top 5. For those of you who love Odo & Kira the way I do, this episode is a biggie--it directs their "close" friendship to a certain path. The ending is shocking...but it leaves a huge mark. If you loved watching them in "Crossfire," then you want to see this one!
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one of DS9's finest hours
Rating (5)
Date: 2002-05-09
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
A very powerful and intriguing episode, definitely the best show of season 5, IMO. It is a reset-button episode in many ways, but that's largely unavoidable. This episode does a lot to advance the Odo/Kira story thread and it does a great service to most of the main characters in how they might react to meeting their descendants. Leave it to staff writer Rene Echevarria to pen another compelling character piece using a novel sci-fi premise.Given that we know the Defiant and her crew will return to the station, the inevitable reset-ending comes with a twist that is appropriate and very fitting though a bit unsettling. Not only does it prevent the show from closing arbitrarily, but it provides us with a bit of shocking insight into Odo and what he might be capable of. Great script, good setup for future episodes dealing with Odo <-> Kira, and sharp acting from the entire ensemble. This one's definitely a keeper. BTW, it's amazing how much future-Molly looks like Chief O'Brien who's supposed to be her great-great-great-great-great grandfather. Nice casting job :)
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One of DS9's strongest emotional episodes
Rating  (4)
Date: 2001-03-18
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Deep Space Nine will largely be remembered, at least by me, for the grand and sweeping epic that comprised its entire last season, and with good reason. However, one sometimes had to do some digging around in there for the character stuff (not to say it wasn't there-- it was-- but it was often secondary in importance). In this episode, however, there's no connection to the over-arching plot and no giant space battles, and so we get to see the characters in a very unique situation (well, not entirely unique on Star Trek, but still unusal). They get to meet their descendants. Furthermore, they are forced to choose between erasing those people from the timeline and getting home themselves. They know that some of them, including Kira, will die in the crash, and the rest will never see their families again. But they don't have the right to deny their descendants existence. The "version" of Odo who has lived on the planet for 200 years is a very compelling character, especially as a tragic lover. Overall, this is one of my favorite single DS9 episodes, and it can be watched on its own-- whereas the last 7 or 10 episodes, while forming an extremely exciting plot, really do all have to be watched in order to see that plot. So unless you're up to the daunting task of collecting the entire Dominion War, this episode (along with the comic classics "Little Green Men" and "Trials and Tribble-ations") should be at the top of your list.
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