The Orb 68: Doomed from the Beginning

Time's Orphan Rewrite.

What happens when your reach the end of a season, need another episode, have little money, and dust of a thrice-rejected script? Nothing good, that's for sure. For all the wonderful writing in the sixth-season of Deep Space Nine, not all rises up to the standards of the show. The antepenultimate installment of Season Six is a story about an eight-year-old Molly O'Brien falling through a time portal and returning—almost instantly—at age eighteen. Considered by many to be the worst episode of DS9, the story was doomed from the beginning and salvaged only by the last-minute addition of a B-Story involving Worf and Jadzia. But could this have been a great episode? Are there ways to take the basic premise and turn it into something more fitting of Deep Space Nine?

In this episode of The Orb hosts Christopher Jones and Matthew Rushing rewrite "Time's Orphan" to make it better serve the characters and arc of the series. At its core the story attempts to address the struggle of feral children and the trauma they experience, the anguish of parents who can't help the child they love so dearly, and provides a glimpse of what could have been for might-be parents. It all sounds like DS9, yet it didn't come together on screen. So how do we make it work? Listen on and find out.

 

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Chapters

Initial Thoughts (2:49)

You've Been Rejected Three Times Already… (7:15)

Things We Like (12:23)

Things We Dislike (17:24)

Quick Fixes (26:00)

Chris's Rewrite (28:26)

Matthew's Rewrites (32:01)

The One Critical Change (38:22)

Final Thoughts (40:25)

Closing (42:03)