The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine conversation that changed television history

By Chris Snellgrove | Published 6 seconds ago

Star Trek is a dialogue-heavy franchise that has become an integral part of our shared pop culture, and even non-fans are prone to saying things like “He’s dead, Jim” or “beam me up.” However, one veteran Trek writer believes that an overlooked conversation in a largely forgotten episode could be one of the franchise’s best moments. According to prolific novelist JM Dillard, a quick conversation between Commander Sisko and Dr. Bashir in the Deep space nine The episode “The Forsaken” made television history by subverting common racist depictions of on-screen characters in the ’90s.

The conversation

The conversation begins when Bashir visits Sisko’s office to discuss the doctor’s task of escorting pesky alien ambassadors around the station. In Star Trek: Where No One Has Gone BeforeDillard admits that “there is nothing unusual about this conversation” because “it is the kind that happens every day in offices around the world.” However, “the difference is that when a black man talks to a Middle Eastern man in a typical television drama, he will almost certainly be talking about drugs, crime, terrorism or violence, and he will most likely be presented as people without education.” , heavily accented, immoral or antisocial, but never in Star Trek.”

For younger fans born after Deep space nine came out, Dillard’s claim may seem a little hyperbolic, but it’s worth remembering that this show deliberately focused on racial issues from the beginning. Avery Brooks’ Sisko was the first black lead in a Trek show and remained the only one until the premiere of Discovery. Later episodes of DS9 would explore race and racism very directly, including “Far Beyond the Stars”, an episode that reveals that the entire show could be an invention of Benny Russell, a science fiction writer facing extreme racism. (and very ugly) in the United States of 1953. .

This form of storytelling may seem obvious now, but the Deep space nine The writers felt it was necessary because Dillard was right: too many black characters in the ’80s and ’90s were portrayed as dangerous thugs rather than righteous heroes. Brooks, for example, was sympathetically portrayed in his featured role in Spenser for rentbut his Hawk character was still a largely unscrupulous hitman who often seemed written more like a racist caricature than a character.

Whether Hawk was a token or pioneering character is certainly up for debate, but Brooks himself later noted that his portrayal led many white fans to assume that he really was a gun-toting guy whom the producers recruited on “a corner somewhere.” He said some of those same fans “talk to me in some vernacular that’s supposed to be, what, black talk?” Hollywood wasn’t much better than these fans: while DS9 was still airing, he starred The great successa big-budget movie where he played (what else?) a violent mafia boss.

From the beginning, Deep space nine focused on race with its human characters and its aliens. For example, the story of the Cardassians using Bajorans as slave labor on the titular space station clearly evokes America’s troubled racial history. And Brooks was never afraid to step in and talk to writers when he thought they might accidentally be feeding into racial stereotypes. This is most evident in the series finale: Brooks insisted that Sisko tell his pregnant wife Kasidy Yates that he would return one day because he was uncomfortable with a story about a black man abandoning his wife to raise their child. only.

However, as Dillard points out, the real magic of Deep space nine is that it can tell stories about race that, however, don’t always make much of the issue. Even at its most preachy, the show never feels like we’re being lectured through an ’80s-style “very special episode.” Instead, DS9 presents characters of all races with dignity and professionalism, showing us that a Tomorrow Better is more than just replicators and warp engines. It is also about leaving our old hang-ups and prejudices in the past as we seek a better future for everyone, regardless of the color of their skin.