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2017 is almost over, and in spite of it all we do seem to be inching towards a Star Trek future - this year Chinese scientists
teleported the first object from Earth to orbit, and Google introduced the
Pixel buds with real-time translation software. But it's not only in the area of technical innovation the show was prescient. Next year one of the most lauded installments in the Trek universe, the seminal science fiction saga Deep Space Nine, will celebrate its 25th anniversary. There will no doubt be a lot of retrospectives, thinkpieces and sexy Alexander Siddig photoshoots to enjoy, but let's get a head start and look back at some of DS9's most hard-hitting episodes and why they're still relevant today.
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On paper this is a pretty standard time travel episode - Sisko, Bashir and Dax travel to the past, their arrivals mess with the timeline, mankind's history changes course, and unless they can set the motion of events right the Federation and the future they know will never even happen. However, this familiar skeleton plot is only an excuse to discuss the the situation of the homeless in America. The year the crew end up in is 2024, the city is San Francisco, and the homeless problem has gotten so out of hand that they live in "sanctuary districts" rife with violence and suffering. The middle classes and rich live in different districts, and figure the homeless are fine where they are and should be grateful they have a place to stay at all. Separated, Sisko and Bashir immediately get sent to a sanctuary district, while Dax finds herself among the rich...
Why it still works: Watching this episode in 2017 it's impossible not to see the paralells with the ongoing refugee crisis. At the time the episode aired it portrayed a dystopia, but today some
62,000 people in Greece alone are living it, failed by the international community. The show also gets props for subtly but deliberately including race in the conversation, as the two characters who get shipped to the district are moc while the one who ends up with the privileged is a white woman. That said, as a comment on how America treats its homeless it's still pretty relevant - this week news broke San Francisco (the city the episode is set in!) has started utilising
security robots to deter homeless camps, breaking like, the very FIRST Asimov's law.
Far beyond the stars (season 6)This is on the surface a really fun alternate universe episode, set in the fifties, with the regular cast looking just dashing out of their regular makeup and in period costume. Seriously, look at these BAMFs:
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Benny Russell, played by Sisko actor Avery Brooks, is a member of the writing staff of the science fiction magazine Incredible Tales. The staff is remarkably diverse but they use pseudonyms to hide their gender and ethnicity. One day, however, Benny writes a story with a black space captain, peopling it with characters based on friends and family, here free to be who they are and achieve great things unhindered by their race, gender and class in a utopian future. The other writers love it but the editor argues racist ass sci fi nerds won't accept it, sending Benjamin - who had put his heart and soul into the story - spiralling.
Why it still works: Look no further than
the reaction of so-called Trekkies who pooped their pants (and still, they are pooping) when Sonequa Martin-Green was announced as the lead in 2017's Star Trek: Discovery.
Far Beyond The Stars is a dense, brave, intelligent episode which not only dares to (subtly) call out the show's fanbase, but also raises the topic on how systemic racism can traumatise an individual, and namedrops Langston Hughes, Richard Wright and Zora Neale Hurston for good measure.
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It's only a paper moon (season 7)![]()
The Ferengi soldier Nog, who lost a leg during battle in an earlier episode, returns from leave to Deep Space Nine. His friends and family come to greet him but he's depressed and sullen, refusing a welcome party. As a form of therapy he starts hanging out with the hologram Vic Fontaine, and eventually more or less moves into the holosuite, using his Ferengi acumen to expand the holosuite's casino business and hanging out with cool hep cat Vic. Eventually, Vic helps Nog realise he needs to rejoin the real world and face what happened to him, painful as it may be.
Why it still works: It's estimated that after two wars, nearly 500 000 American veterans suffer from PTSD today (according to
this article, which also expands on my further points here). This episode is remarkable enough for dedicating 45 minutes of screentime to a secondary character dealing with PTSD from combat. What's really prescient is how it also shows him dealing with it through... well, gaming. Which is how a lot of former soldiers with PTSD are coping right now. The charity
Stack Up has been going since 2015, it connects vets through gaming and has Oculus founder Palmer Luckey on its board. While Nog is listening to shit jazz and pouring his heart out to DS9's probably worst ever character (fight me, Vic fans) rather than idk shagging elves or whatever people do in World of Warcraft, he's found a world he prefers to the real one and yes - it ultimately ends up helping him deal with his trauma.
Doctor Bashir, I presume? (season 5)![]()
Julian Bashir is asked to have his personality scanned, enabling other ships to have their own hologrammatic copies of the brilliant young doctor. While initially smug, Bashir's feelings about the project turn into horror as the interviewer invites his estranged parents to participate. Eventually the truth comes out. When mr and mrs Bashir realised their son was slow and would be care-dependent his entire life, they had the highly dangerous and very illegal genetic modification procedure performed on him in childhood. Uprooting their lives and starting over, their son became intelligent, capable, athletic - and very bitter about the circumstances that led to his success.
Why it still works: While the retconning of Bashir as some kind of genetic superman annoyed a lot of fans (and Bashir actor Alexander Siddig, who hated the storyline), the questions the episode raises are only becoming more and more relevant. In the early 2000s pre-natal tests were introduced determining Down's Syndrome at an early stage, leading to
a significant drop in births of Down's Syndrome babies. As if that ethical debate wasn't heated enough, in 2017
the first human embryo was edited in the US (Chinese scientists have performed similar experiments earlier). How will the genetically "fixed" people of tomorrow feel about having deemed to be not good enough while still in the womb?
In the pale moonlight (season 6)![]()
In the midst of war, captain Sisko enlists the services of Mr. Garak, the station's exiled Cardassian tailor. The Romulan nation is neutral in the Federation/Dominion war, but their cooperation could tip the balance in favour of the Federation. Having exhausted all diplomatic options to make them join the war, Sisko hopes Garak's less traditional methods might work. Ultimately, Garak is successful, but at the cost of a life and the Romulans entering the war under false pretenses.
Why it still works: This episode is hailed as one of the finest DS9 moments, and is a shining example of how television with faith in itself can create remarkable art. Huge parts of it is simply Benjamin Sisko addressing the camera and grappling with the moral implications of his actions. He is a good man who in the name of politics has allowed terrible things to happen - lucky Sisko shaved his head or he might have been as grey as Obama by the end of the show. And to tie it up with 2017 events, examples of sabotage and international political incidents have been too rife to sum up here - but even Garak would have been impressed by the sheer weirdness of Russia's troll factory strategy.
Rejoined (season 4)![]()
Jadzia Dax, a Trill woman, is joined with the symbiont Dax who has lived with many hosts before her, and shares all of their memories. In Trill society there is a huge social taboo against a joined Trill resuming the familial relationships of previous hosts. Then one day another joined Trill, Lenara Kahn, arrives on the space station. Thing is, two previous hosts of the Dax symbiont and the Kahn symbiont were once a married couple (stay with me here). The two women, overwhelmed with recognition, fall "back" in love and decide to be together, to the horror of Lenara's family.
Why it still works: While this was obviously DS9's gay issues episode, it works as a metaphor for any two consenting adults who have to stand up to social control to be together - as depressingly relevant as ever. But while it's a great standalone episode that handles the material sensitively, it also stands as testament to an area where DS9 well and truly dropped the ball. While the episode deserves some kudos for featuring the sixth ever lesbian kiss aired on American television (if I'm reading
this timeline correctly), the show never did manage to feature an actual gay relationship. Dax had been set up as pansexual from the start and the storyline with Lenara was interesting enough to sustain itself over an arc, but everything got neatly resolved in 45 minutes, leaving the ep looking a lot like most 90's ratings grabs lesbian kiss episodes.
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In fact, gay Trek fans had to wait until 2017 for on screen representation when Star Trek: Discovery came through (ok I am aware of Sulu's blink and you'll miss him boyfriend in the Kelvin timeline, but I rebuke those films and
the weakness of that attempt). Still - at least we've progressed a little bit the last 25 years?
Episode info source: Erdmann, T.J. and Block, P.M. (2000) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion. 1st edn. USA: Pocket Books.
News sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Other sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Screencaps and text: me
Ready for the DS9 anniversary next year ONTD niners? Favourite episodes?![]()
In fact, gay Trek fans had to wait until 2017 for on screen representation when Star Trek: Discovery came through (ok I am aware of Sulu's blink and you'll miss him boyfriend in the Kelvin timeline, but I rebuke those films and 
