Time's Orphan

Miles and Keiko O'Brien take their children to the planet Golana for a picnic. While playing, eight-year-old Molly falls into an abandoned time portal, which closes after Molly passes through. It sends her 300 years into the past to a time when the planet was uninhabited. The crew of Deep Space Nine helps the O'Briens recover Molly by reopening the portal and using a transporter to lock onto her signal. However, they find the portal has opened at a different time. The Molly they rescue is 18 years old and has grown feral, having survived alone for ten years. She is brought back to the station and placed in a special habitat made to resemble Golana.

Molly slowly remembers her parents, but is still barely controllable. She asks her parents to take her home, but later makes it clear that she wants to be returned to Golana. Her parents take her to a holosuite simulation of Golana. She responds positively, but when the simulation is deactivated, she becomes violent. Starfleet informs the O'Briens that it plans to put Molly into a mental institution, which worries them. With help from a sympathetic Odo, they arrange to return Molly to Golana, planning to destroy the portal afterwards to prevent Starfleet from finding her. Molly returns through the portal but encounters her younger self shortly after she had fallen through. The older Molly points her younger self back through the portal, then as soon as the younger Molly returns, the older Molly disappears. Molly reappears moments before Miles is about to destroy the portal, and the family reunites happily.

File:Kiwano 2009.jpg, which plays the role of a Golanan fruit in this episode.]]

The outdoor shots of the exoplanet the O'Brien's visit, later recreated in the holosuite, were filmed at Malibu Creek State Park in California.{{Cite web|url=http://fanfare.metafilter.com/7696/Star-Trek-Deep-Space-Nine-Times-Orphan-Rewatch|title=Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Time's Orphan (Rewatch)|website=fanfare.metafilter.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.startrek.com/article/molly-obrien-is-all-grown-up-hana-hatae-interview|title=Molly O'Brien Is All Grown Up: Hana Hatae Interview|website=www.startrek.com|language=en|access-date=2019-06-25}} The nature park is in the Santa Monica Mountains of that region, on the west coast of the continental United States.{{cite journal |title=California State Park System Statistical Report: Fiscal Year 2009/10 |url=http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/795/files/09-10%20statistical%20report%20final%20online.pdf |publisher=California State Parks |page=16 |access-date=2013-12-10}} According to the Deep Space Nine Companion the rocks for the "stonehenge" were fiberglass props.{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kDe3VS07YSMC&q=%22deep+space+nine%22+%22time%27s+orphan%22+production&pg=PA577 |title = Deep Space Nine Companion|isbn = 9780671501068|last1 = Erdmann|first1 = Terry J.|last2 = Block|first2 = Paula M.|year = 2000| publisher=Simon and Schuster }}

The melon from Golana that the O'Briens feed Molly was an actual fruit, the kiwano (Cucumis metuliferus) which has a yellowish exterior and green interior.{{Cite web|url=https://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/news/weird-ingredient-wednesday-alien-melon-from-star-trek-0162394/|title=Weird Ingredient Wednesday: The Alien Melon from Star Trek « Food Hacks|website=wonderhowto.com|date=June 10, 2015 }}{{Cite news|url=https://parade.com/64398/linzlowe/what-the-heck-is-a-kiwano-melon-and-how-do-you-eat-it/|title=What the Heck is a Kiwano Melon and How Do You Eat It?|first=Lindsay|last=Lowe|date=August 14, 2013|newspaper=Parade: Entertainment, Recipes, Health, Life, Holidays}}

Special effects are used for a Danube-class Runabout above Golana.

Keith DeCandido of Tor.com rated the episode 4 out of 10.{{cite news |date=7 November 2014 |last1=DeCandido |first1=Keith R. A. |author1-link=Keith R. A. DeCandido |title=Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rewatch: "Time's Orphan" |url=https://www.tor.com/2014/11/07/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch-qtimes-orphanq/comment-page-1/ |website=Tor.com }}

A 2015 binge-watching guide for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Wired recommended skipping this episode.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2015/05/binge-guide-star-trek-ds9/|title=WIRED Binge-Watching Guide: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|last=McMillan|first=Graeme|date=2015-05-13|magazine=Wired|access-date=2019-07-23|issn=1059-1028}}

{{Portal|Speculative fiction|Television}}

• Disaster (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (Molly is born on the Enterprise 1701D)
• Feral child

{{Reflist}}

{{wikiquote|Star Trek: Deep Space Nine#Time's Orphan .5B6.24.5D|"Time's Orphan"}}

• {{IMDb episode}}
• {{Memory Alpha|Time's Orphan|"Time's Orphan"}}
• {{StarTrek.com|times-orphan|"Time's Orphan"}}

{{Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes|6}}

{{Star Trek time travel episodes}}

Category:Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6 episodes

Category:1998 American television episodes

Category:Star Trek time travel episodes

Category:Television episodes directed by Allan Kroeker