The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Conversation That Changed Television History

by Chris Snelgrove
| published 6 seconds ago

star trek is a dialogue-heavy franchise that has become an integral part of our collective pop culture, and even non-fans tend to say things like “he’s dead, Jim” or “pick me up.” However, one veteran Trek writer thinks an overlooked conversation in a largely forgotten episode may be one of the franchise’s greatest moments. According to the prolific author J.M. Dillard, a quick conversation between Commander Cisco and Dr. Bashir in deep space nine The episode “The Forsaken” made television history by challenging the usual racist depictions of characters on screen in the 1990s.

the call

The conversation begins when Bashir visits Cisco’s office to talk about the doctor’s mission to escort pesky alien ambassadors around the station. on Star Trek – Where no one has gone beforeDillard admits that “there is nothing unusual about this conversation” because “it is the kind that takes place every day in offices all over the world.” However, “the difference is that when a black man talks to a Middle Eastern man in a typical TV drama, it’s almost certain that they’re talking about drugs, crime, terrorism, or violence—and they’re likely to be portrayed as uneducated, heavily accented, immoral, or antisocial—but Never on Star Trek.

For younger fans born after deep space nine Turns out, Dillard’s claim may seem a bit hyperbolic, but it’s worth remembering that this show has very deliberately centered around issues of race from the very beginning. Avery Brooks’ Sisko was the first black actor on a Trek show and remained the only one until the premiere of discovery. Later episodes of DS9 would very directly explore race and racism, including “Far Beyond the Stars,” an episode that reveals that the entire show may be an invention of Benny Russell, science fiction A writer deals with extreme (and very ugly) racism in 1953 America.

Such a story may seem on the nose now, but deep space nine Writers felt it was necessary because Dillard was right: too many black characters in the 1980s and 1990s were portrayed as dangerous heroes rather than righteous heroes. Brooks, for example, was sympathetically portrayed in his breakout role in Spencer for rentBut Hook’s character was still a largely unscrupulous killer who seemed to be written more as a racist caricature than a character.

Whether Hawke was an iconic or groundbreaking character is certainly debatable, but Brooks himself later noted that his portrayal led many white fans to assume he was really a gun-toting guy the producers recruited from “a street corner somewhere.” He said some of those fans “are talking to me in some language that’s supposed to be, what, black talk?” Hollywood wasn’t much better than these fans: while DS9 was still running, he starred the big hitA big-budget movie in which he played (what else?) a violent mafia boss.

from the beginning, deep space nine In the center of the race with his and his human characters aliens. For example, the story of the Cardassians using the 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 the writers when he thought they might accidentally feed into racial stereotypes. This is most noticeable in the series finale: Brooks insisted Cisco tell his pregnant wife Cassidy Yates that he would return sometime because he was uncomfortable with a story about a black man abandoning his wife to raise their child alone.

However, as Dillard points out, the real magic of deep space nine That he can tell stories about a race that doesn’t always make a big deal of the whole thing after all. 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 respect and professionalism, showing us that a better tomorrow is more than clones and warp drives. It’s also about leaving our past dependencies and prejudices behind as we reach for a better future for everyone regardless of their skin color.