Fixing the Changeling Bashir Timeline. Or: Uniform Changes and Bedside Manner
Common wisdom is that Bashir was kidnapped and replaced by a Changeling between The Ascent and Rapture, as when he appears in the prison-camp, he is wearing the old uniform.
However, I would like to propose that that is not the case. Christopher L. Bennett, who writes tie-in novels, has pointed out that the timeline does not add up. Consider:
- The Begotten takes place at least three weeks after The Darkness and the Light (in the latter Kira says that she is due in three weeks, and she gives birth in The Begotten)
- The Begotten takes place during at least one week (Bennett says two, but I can only find that the baby Changeling has been with Odo for a week, so let’s say a week)
- Kirayoshi was born “less than a month” before Purgatory’s Shadow.
- Bashir says in Purgatory’s Shadow that he was captured “over a month ago”.
Let’s draw up a timeline based on this. This counts weeks from the end of The Darkness and the Light.
- START - The Darkness and the Light
- Week 1
- Week 2
- Week 3
- Week 4 - The Begotten
- Week 5
- Week 6 - (For the Uniform somewhere here)
- Week 7
- Week 8 ~ In Purgatory’s Shadow
We don’t know the gap between Rapture and The Darkness and the Light. Even if there is virtually no time in between, the timeline doesn’t add up if Bashir was impersonated by a Changeling for four weeks (as Bashir says in Purgatory’s Shadow) but this started before Rapture.
What is it that dates Bashir’s abduction to before Rapture? The fact that he’s in the old uniform. That is all.
So, let us say that Bashir was not abducted before Rapture, but sometime before The Begotten. Why is he in the old uniform? Bennett calls this “a paradox”. I do not agree. For this we have to look at how uniform changes in Starfleet happen.
For this part, I will be referring to uniform by numbers in the order they were rolled out (as terms like “TNG uniform” and “DS9/VOY uniform” are often confusing and feel odd when discussing things in-verse):
- Uniform type I - the uniform seen in TNG. Black shoulders, division colour beneath, no visible undershirt.
- Uniform type II - the uniform seen in Voyager and DS9 series 1-4. Division colours on shoulders, the rest black, grey undershirt.
- Uniform type III - the uniform seen in DS9 series 5-7 and the TNG films. Grey shoulders, the rest black, division colours on undershirt.
The Emissary, Way of the Warrior and TNG Birth Right part 1 show that uniform changes are not done all at once. In The Emissary, we see Bashir and Dax in Uniform type I when they first arrive, and then change into Uniform type II. The same goes for Sisko.
In Birth Right, Bashir wears a type II uniform at the same time as the Enterprise crew wear type I.
In Way of the Warrior, when Worf turns up, he is still in Uniform type I, while the Deep Space Nine crew are in Uniform type II.
I propose that uniform changes happen gradually, not all at once. Deep Space Nine (the station not the show) undergoes uniform changes earlier than the Enterprise. If you stationed on Deep Space Nine, you are supposed to wear Uniform type II, and if you work on the Enterprise, you wear Uniform type I. If you are visiting, like when Worf and Geordi go over to Deep Space Nine or Bashir goes onboard the Enterprise, you don’t change your uniform for that short time.
So why would Bashir change from Uniform type III to Uniform type II?
We can find the answer in Homefront. Here is Sisko when he is acting head of Starfleet Security:
Like Captain Benteen (who is stationed on Earth), Sisko is in Uniform type I. Earlier in this episode, when Sisko is on Deep Space Nine, he is in Uniform type II. However, as soon as he comes to Earth, he changes into Uniform type I. This implies that it is about maintaining uniformity and making things like ranks easier to tell. The difference between this and the other cases when people do not change is that when Sisko goes to Earth, is a longer stay and a much more official one.
So my suggestion is this. At the time around The Begotten, Deep Space Nine has already changed to Uniform type III, but other parts of Starfleet are still wearing Uniform type II. Therefore, when Bashir goes to the burn treatment conference on Meezan IV, he changes from Uniform type III to type II. It is an official occasion, he is on duty and there is probably going to be a lot of Starfleet people. Deep Space Nine seems to be one of the first places where new uniforms are introduced, so it is plausible that many other participants will still be in Uniform type II. This explains how Bashir would be in his old uniform despite having left after the uniform change.
What is more, it makes much more sense that Bashir is not abducted until just before The Begotten. Let’s consider what he is up to and how he acts during the first four episodes after the uniform change.
In Rapture, he treats Sisko, eventually performing brain surgery. In The Darkness and the Light, he examines Kira and he treats her for a placental laceration and a haemorrhage. In The Begotten, Bashir treats Odo for a bad back - he also mentions treating Odo a week earlier for stomach trouble. He treats the baby Changeling too, first putting it through a electrophoretic diffuser to purge the radiation that was making it ill, and then later trying to save it when it is dying. Also, he briefly examines Kira (but he does not deliver Kirayoshi, as many claim, including Memory Alpha - that is the midwife Y’Pora who does). In For The Uniform, Bashir does not appear at all.
If we compare what Bashir does in Rapture and The Darkness and the Light to what he does in The Begotten, there is a noticeable difference. The stuff he does in the first two episodes are complex. Furthermore, throughout these episodes he is gentle and reassuring to his patients. In The Begotten, we do not see that kindness. He jokes around with Odo, but in retrospect, there seems to be an edge to it. When he tells Odo the baby Changeling is dying, there is none of the vulnerability we see when he breaks similar bad news to Kira in Life Support or the crew in Tears of the Prophets. The most of the medicine he does is Changeling-related, either the baby or Odo. He only sees Kira briefly, and when he leaves it is abrupt, saying that he is very busy. When he leaves, we see O’Brien give him a surprised, maybe even hurt look. Perhaps he wanted his best friend around for this. As for his absence in For the Uniform, this too might be an attempt not to have to interact with people very much, as it could give him away.
Bashir in The Begotten does not act like the Bashir we know. He removes himself from emotional and/or social situations quickly, leaving other medical personnel (Y’Pora) in charge. Overall, his bedside manner is lacking. Not only does he not act like the Bashir we know - he does not act like the Bashir in the previous two episodes. In those, he feels much more himself.
Based on this - the chronology based on dialogue, Starfleet uniform customs and how Bashir acts like himself in two episodes but not the third - we can make the following timeline:
- Uniform change on Deep Space Nine occurs
- Rapture (Actual Bashir)
- The Darkness and the Light (Actual Bashir)
- Circa three weeks later: Actual Bashir is abducted from a conference. Changeling Bashir returns to Deep Space Nine.
- Circa one week later: The Begotten (Changeling Bashir)
- Circa four weeks pass. For the Uniform happens during this time. (Changeling Bashir, but not seen on screen.)
- Circa four weeks after The Begotten: In Purgatory’s Shadow (Changeling Bashir on the station, Actual Bashir in Gamma Quadrant.)
This means that it is the real Julian Bashir who we see in Rapture and The Darkness and The Light. The Changeling posing as Bashir does not turn up until The Begotten.
Sources:
- Screenshots: Trekcore
- Opinions and quotes of Christopher L. Bennett: Memory Alpha, article “Julian Bashir (Changeling)”.
