What We Leave Behind

Comments by Jon Wasik

Note: if you have not read the STDragon episode entitled "What We Leave Behind," then do not read this, for it gives away the entire story.

 

"What We Leave Behind" was definitely one of the more emotional stories I've written...well, at least, the end of it was. Never before in STDragon had I written an event as dramatic as this one was, and though I personally believe that I didn't do that great of a job on it, many hail it as "great!"

The most common question I keep gettings is: "Why?!" Well, every time a major character in Star Trek left the show, it usually was because that actor or actress wanted to leave the show. Never before did any episode, with maybe the exception of Kes leaving Voyager, has a character left the show simply because it was part of the story. As a result, the main characters of each series seemed pretty much invincible, almost super hero like.

From the start of STDragon, I had been sick of that, and decided Sarah was going to die. Yes, from the start, Sarah was going to die. Not Ada, not Chris, not Terry, but Sarah. Why?

That question brings up yet another topic. As all of you have no doubt noticed, I have primarily developed Chris and Sarah, and kind of left the rest of the officers in the dark. This was partially intentional, but I had never intended to leave the characters as flast as I have. But because of my development of the two, it has allowed me to create this episode, and to create it with the kind of emotion that I wanted. Chris would definitely have been the one who would be effected the most, there is no doubt of that, and there never was. So, I set out to develop him, that way everyone could understand why he reacted the way he did.

Another thing you won't see here. With the exception of Jadzia's death on DS9, Sarah won't have just died in this episode, then be forgotten like characters seemed to be in cannon Trek. There are going to be very direct, obvious results of her death on all of the crew...but more the point, on Chris. The next episode will have two conflicts going on: the one happening to the crew of the Dragon, and the one happening within Chris as he remembers his days with Sarah. It should prove to be one of the most active episodes yet, action-wise and character-wise. Furthermore, Chris will still be effected by her death even after the episode. You'll see him thinking of her every episode in S3, unable to get her out of his thoughts.

Sarah's death wasn't just for a one-off episode, but instead will be the cause of a story line that could never have other wise occured! Many of you seemed dissappointed about her death, and to my surprise, some even said she had been their favorite character! Well, like Chris won't, I'm not going to let her go easy. In fact, you're going to learn more about Sarah in the next episode than you have yet! It may become a long episode, yes, but I'm convinced that it'll be worth it.

later
~Jon

Note: if you wish to contact me about either the episode or this author commentary, please feel free to do so! jonwasik@yahoo.com