8 Star Trek Scenes That Actors Hated Shooting

In the episode Doctor Bashir, I Presume?, from season five of Deep Space Nine, it was revealed that Doctor Julian Bashir was genetically modified by his parents when he was about seven years old to have superior physical and mental abilities. We learn that Bashir struggled with learning at a young age, quickly falling behind all of his peers in school. His parents gave him illegal genetic enhancements, hoping to give him a chance at a brighter future, but had to keep it secret, as genetic manipulation was banned in the Federation.

Although the surprise was clearly not planned ahead of time, and really comes out of nowhere, many fans saw it as a fun and interesting new direction for Bashir's character. Prior to this episode, audiences criticised Bashir for being an annoying know-it-all, but learning his secret makes that all seem justified in hindsight. However, Alexander Siddig, who played the doctor, disagreed.

Siddig only learned of Bashir's secret mere days before filming began on the episode. He was devastated that the writers would include such an important reveal for his character without even consulting him once. To get back at the executives, he purposefully put minimal effort into the recording of the episode and protested for Bashir's genetic modifications to be largely ignored afterwards, though they do occasionally come into play later in the series.