I have been re-watching DS9 on Netflix recently, and came to this episode. In a series, and season, full of excellent episodes that all seem to top the preceding, this one outstrips them all. "Far Beyond the Stars" not only showcases the intelligence and talent of the writers and cast, but does what "Star Trek" does best: provide us with a neutral ground from which to view our own faults and the ethical questions that face us in our modern world.
The issue of race, bigotry, and prejudice of all varieties has been addressed often on Star Trek, from the Original Series on, but never with such brutal honesty. From the sets and costumes, to the acting and writing, this episode gives us an uncomfortable view of a recent past that still has validity and truth in the current day.
If anyone should say that the treatment of women and people of color depicted in this episode are a thing of the past, note that author J.K.Rowling had to (as the female writer in the episode did) write under a pen-name for fear that the "Harry Potter" series would not have been successful if the readers knew the author was female. Or, look at the intense hatred for President Obama under the not-so-opaque veil of his seeming "foreign," "un-American," or just somehow, well, you know. Even the slow death-by-institutional denial suffered by the Benny character is certainly anyone in the Americanized world with a dream or a cause can recognize.
I applaud the brave use of the ugly language that, even in the large and diverse Northern American city where I live, can still be heard on a daily basis. Sometimes the truth is unpleasant, disheartening, and just plain cruel, but that is all the more reason we should face it so that we might know it and do something to change it. This is the sort of thing Star Trek has always excelled at, and why this episode represents the best of that tradition.
Artistically, by calling attention to the illusion of the Star Trek universe, this episode makes its point sharper and gives its wound more sting. The truth is that our world is much closer to Benny's than that of the color-blind and enlightened Federation. Cirroc Lofton's portrayal of a young man without hope was inspired. And Avery Brook's breakdown reminded me of nothing less than Sidney Poitier's performance in "Raisin in the Sun."
And in that poem, by Langston Hughes, to which the title of that play/film refers, we come full-circle to the episode's theme of the dream and the dreamer: "What happens to a dream deferred?"
The issue of race, bigotry, and prejudice of all varieties has been addressed often on Star Trek, from the Original Series on, but never with such brutal honesty. From the sets and costumes, to the acting and writing, this episode gives us an uncomfortable view of a recent past that still has validity and truth in the current day.
If anyone should say that the treatment of women and people of color depicted in this episode are a thing of the past, note that author J.K.Rowling had to (as the female writer in the episode did) write under a pen-name for fear that the "Harry Potter" series would not have been successful if the readers knew the author was female. Or, look at the intense hatred for President Obama under the not-so-opaque veil of his seeming "foreign," "un-American," or just somehow, well, you know. Even the slow death-by-institutional denial suffered by the Benny character is certainly anyone in the Americanized world with a dream or a cause can recognize.
I applaud the brave use of the ugly language that, even in the large and diverse Northern American city where I live, can still be heard on a daily basis. Sometimes the truth is unpleasant, disheartening, and just plain cruel, but that is all the more reason we should face it so that we might know it and do something to change it. This is the sort of thing Star Trek has always excelled at, and why this episode represents the best of that tradition.
Artistically, by calling attention to the illusion of the Star Trek universe, this episode makes its point sharper and gives its wound more sting. The truth is that our world is much closer to Benny's than that of the color-blind and enlightened Federation. Cirroc Lofton's portrayal of a young man without hope was inspired. And Avery Brook's breakdown reminded me of nothing less than Sidney Poitier's performance in "Raisin in the Sun."
And in that poem, by Langston Hughes, to which the title of that play/film refers, we come full-circle to the episode's theme of the dream and the dreamer: "What happens to a dream deferred?"