Japan was home for 22 years---from 1978 thru 2000---and therefore televsion programs from other countries were rarely shown, nevertheless even heard of. So the hubby and I didn't learn of DS9 till my son-in-law introduced it to us post facto on DVD. What a surprise to have the doctor named Bashir. It was like a shot from the past. I went to high school in Southern California eons ago with a boy called Andy Bashir (pronounced "Basher", sad to say). I could see that he was ethically different from the rest of the students, but I had no idea where he was from. And the teachers didn't tell us; I guess that was the most "diplomatic" thing to do. And I being the shy one, didn't get up the courage to ask him.

It was nice to understand, even at this late date, the ethnical background of my fellow student. So Andy, wherever you are, I hope life is going well for you. It's hard to be transplanted . . . I know and understand now.

The character was re-named when they cast Sid in the role. They'd considered having the doctor be Hispanic originally. Of course Bashir is the name of the man who deposed Sid's uncle, Sadiq Al Mahdi, from Sudan's presidency in 1987 and later imprisoned him so the name was an ironic choice. Sid's fan club in the early years worked with Amnesty International writing letters and Sadiq Al Mahdi was released around 1997.

Carol

Carol,

It's so heatwarming to see that there are caring people in this world, people who truly do help others. It really does make a difference.

Dang, Carol! How do you know all this?
You should write a book or something!

Actually, LOTS of people know all this. I'm just the one who likes to show off. It's not an admirable quality of mine.

Carol

Well, Carol, just keep on "showing off." For people like me who are a hundred years behind on Sid stuff, it's nice to know. And appreciated.

You know, for being a diehard Sid fan, I really should know!
Perhaps I'm not the Sid fan I once was...
(I refuse to let that be. I'm going to go read Sid's bio again!)
You know where I'll be for the next few minutes!

Vi

And where does one go to find that?

I would go to the sidcity.net main page and then click on "about".

Ulli

Please, can any one tell me what is the significance of the middle name 'Subatoi' as it refers to Dr. Bashir? I would like to know what the name means, its ethnic heritge (Sudanese?), why it was chosen for the character and who chose it. Was it Robert Hewitt Wolfe (if I have the name of the writer correct) who penned that episode "The Wire"? Thanks! Just Annie

This discussion of things going on around 1997 make me feel so young. If DS9 came out in 1993, well.. That year I turned 4. In 1999 I was 10. Wow. So... in 1997 I was 8. It's amazing how world politics fly by you.

The name Bashir seems to be pretty popular. Either that or it just jumps out at me. I myself know one Bashir, so... That says something, though I do live in a pretty multicultural country/island/continent. Australia! Yay!

Hey, when DS9 first came out, I was but 2 years old. *sigh* I didn't notice Sid for the first time until DS9 made a come back on Spike TV. I believe the first one I saw was "The Passenger". Scared the heck out of me... LOL

Yours Truly,
Vi

Wow... us young'uns keepin' it real!
I first saw him when we had a Star Trek night at my friends house. I'd seen Voyager on TV and TNG was pretty well known. They were watching the last season of DS9. I was hooked. OBSESSED!
And then we watched DS9 from start to finish over three weeks. It was great.

We eventually went to the Star Trek experience. I got my photo taken with a cardboard cut out of Dr. Bashir. And a photo of me on the Promenade with the crew. It was so cool.

1997??? Hmmm let me think about how old I was ... I was ten years old. But I saw Deep Space Nine a few years later for the first time. I guess I was twelve. First time I just loved to see the whole serie later I reconized that Julian Bashir was my favorite character.

The Bashir character was the first place I saw him. I only caught the tail end of the DS9 premiere though I had planned to watch the whole thing. I turned eleven about two months after that. Its hard to believe its been that long since I'm 23 now.

I seem to recall having read that the name was a misspelling of a great Mongolian general from history, Subotai, but I don't remember why that particular name was chosen, maybe other than to have an interesting name from a different background.

- Sharon

I'm wondering if "Subatoi" isn't a Japanese name or word. I wish I had my Japanese dictionaries with me.

Kathleen