Bashir’s Parents

Story: Doctor Bashir, I Presume
Written By: Ronald D. Moore and Jimmy Diggs
Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Year: 1997

Lewis Zimmerman, the man who created the EMH (the Doctor on Voyager and other Starships), has come to the station to use Bashir as a model for a new LMH, a longterm medical hologram. The problem comes up when it comes to interviews to make the hologram more-well rounded, building a psychological profile. He has to interview people…including Julian’s parents. Zimmerman does not respect Julian’s wishes and decides to interview them.
The problem that arrives is that Bashir is not what we all thought…his parents had him genetically engineered as a child…Bashir is actually kind of illegal. Genetic engineering is not just frowned upon, but totally illegal since the eugenics wars. So this discovery about Bashir’s background puts him in an uncomfortable position.

They decide in the end that for every Julian Bashir (an example of successful genetic engineering) there are several Khan Noonien Singhs (an example of the worst case scenario in genetic engineering). Julian is given a pass, but the standing on genetic engineering is still totally illegal.

I like this episode; I really enjoyed the performance from Picardo, who gives a grumpier performance as Zimmerman (even grumpier than his standard performance as the Doctor). I didn’t really care for the Leeta stroyline ,with either Zimmerman or Rom. But Rom marrying her is like…whatever. I don’t really care but I just think her character is useless.

NEXT TIME: Arissa