User Reviews

Great writing, great acting. I went in really skeptical about this episode, having watched it 23 years ago when it aired and not really understanding what its like to feel prejudice. Having lived 2/3 of my life in that time span and revisiting this in our current social climate, the EP's messages really hit all the right notes with me and instantly became one of my favorites. This EP was heavy and culminates with an exchange between Avery's 'Benny' and Rene's 'Pabst'.

BENNY: No, it's about my story, isn't it? That's what this is all about. He didn't want to publish my story and we all know why. Because my hero is a coloured man.

PABST: Hey! This magazine belongs to Mister Stone. If he doesn't want to publish this month, we don't publish this month. End of story.

BENNY: That doesn't make it right and you know it. PABST: Don't tell me what I know. Besides, it's not about what's right, it's about what is. And I'm afraid I've got some more bad news for you, Benny. Mister Stone has decided that your services are no longer required here.

HERBERT: What!

BENNY: You're firing me?

PABST: I have no choice, Benny. It's his decision.

BENNY: Well, you can't fire me. I quit. To hell with you, and to hell with Stone.

JULIUS: Try to stay calm, Benny.

BENNY: No. I'm tired of being calm. Calm never gotten me a damn thing.

PABST: I'm warning you, Benny. If you don't stop this I'm going to call the police.

BENNY: You go ahead! Call them! Call anybody you want. They can't do anything to me. Not anymore. And nor can any of you. I am a human being, damn it. You can deny me all you want but you cannot deny Ben Sisko. He exists! That future, that space station, all those people, they exist in here. In my mind, I created it. And every one of you know it. You read it. It's here. You hear what I'm telling you? You can pulp a story but you cannot destroy an idea. Don't you understand? That's ancient knowledge. You cannot destroy an idea. That future, I created it, and it's real. Don't you understand? It is real! I created it and it's real! It's real! Oh, God. (Benny collapses, sobbing.)

Having watched the Original Series, the Next Generation, all the movies, four seasons of Voyager (God help me) and six of Deep Space Nine, this episode is by far one of the boldest and most daring Star Trek episode I've ever seen.

Despite it being in the sixth season it, like some other episodes, has little to do with the Dominion War. Instead, Ben Sisko begins to have some flashbacks and hallucinations, culminating in him showing up in 1950s America, as a science fiction writer.

And everyone's there! Aron Eisenberg, who plays Nog, plays a newspaper vendor here, out of makeup. Virtually all the main cast members appear as 'characters' and completely out of makeup. For some, like Armin Shimerman and Rene Auberjonois, they seem entirely unidentifiable, if not for the slight gestures, manners of speech, and general behavior and chemistry that they retain from the actual show as Quark and Odo.

It's great fun to see an illustrator walk in to the writer's office drawling as he shows off his drawings for the sci-fi magazine, and realize by his voice that he's General Martok, or that the the way that sleazy officer tilts his head and stiffens his neck utterly gives him away as Gul Dukat.

Despite that, the episode does not rely on this gimmick to stay idly by as filler. If anything, the episode's message could appear outdated to some, as it deals with issues of race and discrimination of a level not experienced outside the deep south since the 60s, yet such a message can still be relevant, and comes across powerfully in the hands of writers such as these.

Unlike the path taken by "Voyager" and "Enterprise" and even some episodes of TNG, this one is bold and daring, stepping outside the mold of monotony that is offered by the likes of "Voyager". Ben Sisko is Benny Russell, a sci-fi writer who, upon viewing a drawing by Roy Ritterhouse (General Martok) of a space station (DS9), begins formulating a deeply engrossing science fiction story epic that everyone loves...

And yet Douglas Pabst (Odo) can't publish it because the main character is black. A "Negro", and the episode does not censor itself in using the term Negro or Colored. In an especially bold decision, they even use the N-word, with Jimmy (Jake Sisko) just telling it like it is to Benny; publishers will never accept him or his story, because to them, he's just a n***er.

There's great chemistry between everyone, with loads of opportunities for everyone to chew scenery with great relish (Michael Dorn blazes with tremendous ham as Willie Hawkins, a black baseball player), and the story is very deeply thought out, with these 1950s versions of DS9's cast having just enough personality traits to mirror their Trek counterparts, occasional paranoid slips, such as when Benny Russell briefly sees Kay Eaton as Major Kira, or the Preacher (Joseph Sisko) preaching about the Prophets, and touching Benny's ear like the Bajorans do.

In the end, the decision is made to publish the story, with the compromise that it all turns out to be a dream of a common, lower-class black man. Yet despite this, the entire magazine issue is "pulped" by the owner, and Benny is fired, culminating in a glorious monologue that wonderfully shows off Avery Brooks' acting abilities, and a subsequent breakdown or panic attack that has Russell carted off in an ambulance...

...and return to Deep Space Nine as Benjamin Sisko.

The ending adds a nice tease, with Sisko wondering if indeed his entire life and Deep Space Nine is just a dream, and that he really is Benny Russell. No real purpose to it, nor does it go anywhere, but it's always a neat addition.

After reports of the loss of another ship captained by a friend it seems as if the stress of the war might finally be getting to Captain Sisko. He starts to see people who aren't there then suddenly blacks out and finds himself in what appears to be 1950s America. Suddenly he is a writer working for a science fiction magazine and his co-workers are the people he knows on Deep Space Nine. This being the fifties attitudes are very different to today; casual racism and sexism that would not be tolerated in this day and age barely raise an eyebrow. When artwork for upcoming stories is given out Sisko is drawn to the picture of a space station; it is clearly DS9. The story he writes is the story of the real people on Deep Space Nine but his editor refuses to publish it saying the idea of having a black space station captain is unbelievable. It looks as though things are going well for him when a colleague comes up with a way to make the story acceptable and the editor agrees to publish it; things go wrong however when he is beaten up by the police who have gunned down a friend of his who was breaking into a car.

This is possibly the most political episode of Star Trek, drawing attention to just how recently racism was considered acceptable. It doesn't shy away from using the language of the times either; I didn't expect to hear the word 'Negro' or worse on DS9, this of course added to the impact of the story. It was great to see the cast playing somewhat different roles; Rene Auberjonois who usually plays Odo is the editor who accepts society's bigoted attitudes, Armin Shimerman plays a man with a sense of justice, not quite like Quark and Michael Dorn is a Baseball player, I didn't realise for some time that he was Worf... and till I checked here I didn't realise that the two cops were 'Weyoun' and 'Dukat'.

Far Beyond the Stars is neither the most original, nor the most well-written episode. Indeed, the reason for yet another "prophets' vision" episode is again arbitrary and the mid-20th century story fairly simple: the cast are sci-fi writers in the 1950s, working for a struggling magazine.

Yet, the episode is the epitomy of all that is good with Star Trek. Passing a message of "racism is bad" was simple enough. But unlike other times, when Star Trek touched such issues softly (often by merely portraying a world where inequality doesn't exist or seen as the trait of a less advanced race), here it actually drives the point home with a certain brutality: there was no happy ending for people like the hero of this story. And not just because of a racist system, personalised in the police, but just as much due to the inaction of others: the publisher who likes Benny's story but refuses it anyway, the other black people who are resigned to their fate, etc. It is important to remember this was America only a few years before the original Star Trek appeared. Where the presence of Uhura and Spock (among others) made the exact same point that this episode's hero attempted.

At the same time, by choosing a 50s pulp magazine as its setting, and with numerous references to the era's booming sci-fi scene, it is also a fitting tribute to all the culture that created modern Science Fiction, and a reminder that it was exactly this field that was instrumental in getting visibility to issues of discrimination: for instance, the trouble Benny has in publishing his story has many parallels with Theodore Sturgeon's The World Well Lost.

FInally, it is fun to, for once, see so many of the characters without prosthetics.

I once read a review of the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Hunted" (Season 3, episode 11) that compared it to Rambo. It was about a psychologically damaged veteran who is caught by the Enterprise while escaping from a prison planet. He later escapes from the Enterprise brig, then runs, hides, and fights against its crew. He's like Rambo in the forest. In a very different way, this episode is like "First Blood" too. It involves a character who struggles to overcome the threat of his oppressors, but instead of fighting for his life with weapons, he is fighting for his career with words.

Like the countless time travel episodes seen in many Star Trek series, this one has some fun with the characters and conventions of its show, placing them in unusual roles and environments. It re-imagines the crew of Deep Space Nine as writers for a pulp science fiction magazine.

The costumes and production design of the city are impeccable and the main cast clearly has fun playing characters very different from their usual roles. It's a pleasure to watch Bashir and O'Brien trying to pull off American accents, Dax talking like a stereotypical airhead secretary, and Michael Dorn (who plays the almost always deadly serious Worf) as a dashing, Sidney Poitier-type ladies' man ballplayer.

The idea that DS9 was invented by a socially progressive-thinking writer during a racist period in American history is a nice nod to Gene Roddenberry's vision of a future in which earth's 20th century problems like racism are nonexistent. Seeing this vision realized and the cast so enjoyably deviating from their regular personalities is very cool. My favorite moment was a very funny visual gag of Michael Dorn speaking in his cheerful ballplayer voice while '50s Sisko (called Benny) sees him as Worf for a split second.

Some of the episode's biggest flaws are how melodramatic it is at times, and the cliché villainy of the mean white cops (played by alien baddies Weyoun and Dukat) who terrorize Benny. The episode's worst offense, however, is its climax, which is what reminds me of Rambo (in a bad way) more than anything. Those who have seen the first Rambo movie will recall that it ends with Rambo giving a passionate speech about how badly the war has traumatized him. It's a good idea for a scene, but it's ruined by bad acting from Stallone (who was so great and natural in "Rocky") as he weeps his way through unintelligible dialog. Stallone reduces what should be a poignant and powerful scene into a painful farce of a dramatic climax.

There is a similar scene in "Far Beyond the Stars". It comes towards the end when Benny has a nervous breakdown in his magazine's office. He is told once and for all that he cannot tell the story he wants to tell, and it crushes him emotionally. With all of his heart and soul, he insists that the characters he invented for his story are real and no one can take that away from him, no matter how much society tries to suppress his freedom of expression.

This is a lovely and inspirational message, robbed of any power it may have had by how poorly Avery Brooks delivers it. In this scene, he exposes just how limited he is as an actor. There is a theatricality in the cadence and enunciation of his speaking that evokes Patrick Stewart's work as Captain Picard, but where he fails to measure up to Stewart is in trying to play that theatricality for serious effect.

When Stewart uses his booming, authoritative voice to give weight and gravity to the seriousness of a situation and his feelings towards it, you believe him. You can take him seriously. With Brooks here, that is not the case. He just looks like he's trying too hard. I respect his attempt, but unfortunately the dramatic notes he's trying to hit are simply beyond his range as an actor. The cast and crew of the show thought this performance was worthy of awards, but I think they were giving it way too much credit.

Much like Adam West and William Shatner, Brooks is an actor who tends to speak with a very odd rhythm, which makes it difficult for him to be convincing in serious scenes sometimes. This is evident in the final scene, when he delivers a monologue that is very unnaturally paced and rife with awkward dramatic pauses and breaths. Ultimately, it comes across as laughably stilted as Shatner at his hammiest. The words are supposed to give the episode resonance, but the way they're spoken just ends things on a corny and forced note.

With its heavy-handed moralizing, one-dimensional villains, and the disastrous acting in its climax, "Far Beyond the Stars" is a very flawed episode. Nonetheless, it manages to be fitfully absorbing because of its surface charms. There's a lot of appeal in the novelty of beautiful period detail and the crew overacting wonderfully as old time-y characters (and out of alien make-up!).

If, like me, you have fairly high standards and expectations when it comes to acting, you may find the episode very frustrating and the climatic nervous breakdown scene a little hard to watch without cringing. I don't completely hate the episode, but I'm disappointed because it could have been so much more. I was supposed to feel sorry for the main character because of how cheated he was by his society's racism. Instead, I felt sorry for him because of how badly he'd been let down by the performance of the actor playing him.

I was looking through these reviews, agreeing with a lot of them, even ones that didn't like this episode as much as I or others did. Not really intending to write one of my own, until I came across this gem of a review:

"This was my favorite episode until someone used the name of Christ in vain."

Now, that is amazing, because this person heard something that doesn't exist. The "Benny Russell" Character who is depicted as the one writing the Deep Space Nine story, says "God" one or two times, and he says "Damn" twice, but never together, not twice, not even once. Basically he states: "Calm never got me a damn thing" and then a few minutes later, he says "God" as he collapses on the floor.

Sorry, if you are going to complain about profanity, or cursing, then pick a show and an episode that actually has profanity and cursing in it. Also, do you realize that this show ended in 1999? So if you want to complain to the Makers of Deep Space Nine, well, you are 16 years way too late. The company does not even exist anymore, Paramount sold the Franchise to CBS, but they are making the new Trek movies now and no Series are being made at this moment. Finally, you really need to get the correct definition of taking the Lords Name in Vain, which does not actually include "Jesus," it only includes the Hebrew Name of God, "YWHW" sometimes pronounced "Jehovah," so nobody on this planet can ever really do any serious sinning by using Christ's name in Vain. The commandment about using "The Lord's Name" in Vain is part of the Ten Commandments, and can only apply to using the name YWHW in some nefarious way-Sorry, "YHWH" does not equate to "Jesus" in any way, shape or form. So your religious complaint about this episode is not even close to valid, it is extremely IN-valid.

But it is funny that this person should bring up Religion, as Religion really is part of the DS9 story. Only, it focuses on the religion of the planet Bajor. The writers of DS9 and this episode in general, created a religion for another planet, that has its own "Prophets," and "Vedeks" and "Kais" - Some of them even as hypocritical as religious followers on this planet. As the show got toward the end of it's seven year run, the connection of Sisko to the "Prophets" becomes more pronounced and tangible.

In this episode, Sisko is having another "Orb Shadow," similar to an earlier episode where he had found a lost city. But this new experience brings up the question, is Sisko's reality simply the Dream of a suppressed African American Writer of Pulp Science Fiction in the 1950s? Whose work is verboten simply because he writes a story about a Space Station Captain - Who is not "white." And because Benny Russell will not obey the social strictures of the 50's, he is punished for it.

A few of the other reviewers could not get a handle on the context of this episode. It's like this, what if the whole Deep Space Nine story existed only in Benny Russell's mind? Mainly, this episode gives us a good image of how that would look, from the future to the past. The period parts of this episode were done with much care and love.

That is the word there, Love. The word "Love" is important, not just to The fictional Bajoran religion, but to our religions. Without Love, you are a loud noisy Cymbal, as it states in 1st Corinthians 13 - And this is NOT a compliment. This show represented Love. Seven Years of Love, by the Actors, by the Writers, by the Production Crew, it was a Labor of Love. Because of this, I really don't see how ANY part of this show can be considered "Sinful" or "Evil", but I do consider bogus religious complaints sinful and evil. There was no valid reason to write a whole review about a non-existing religious infraction, and I must say, it offended ME, as it should offend anyone unlucky enough to read it.

I invite that person to edit their review to remove this false complaint.

Along with the other differences about this episode (set on Earth in 1953; actors portrayed without alien make-up; etc.), this episode is very visionary! Sadly, it showed a vision for a society (ours, at the moment) that doesn't fully embrace that vision (acceptance and respect for peoples of all races and creeds). I think Sisko's comments at the end of the episode (to his dad, Joseph Sisko) sum it up best: Benny (Sisko's alter-ego character from 1953) is the dreamer (as was Gene Roddenberry and those of the Civil Rights Movement), and his vision for that world of total acceptance is the *AS-YET-UNFULFILLED* dream that is the "reality" of the Deep Space 9 universe of the 24th century! That's the beauty of this episode: a warning that, if we don't get it together, we'll stay stuck in the dark-ages-like society of 1953 (or 2012), rather than progress to the visionary, all-inclusive society that Star Trek advocates!

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?"

First off if we judge our star trek captains by their acting ability then this who series would never have engaged viewers from the 60's until today like it obviously has.

Concentrated effort, enough to write a great play, book or movie script requires a form of insanity, and Bennie Russell aka Benjamin Sisko is so affected by the vision he has created that to reject it causes a break with reality. And in fact this character does have a mental breakdown.

Immediately connect to an episode in the following season (Imagine in the Sand) where this same Bennie Russell aka Benjamin Sisko is into that asylum and the doctors are trying hard to stop him from writing his Deep Space Nine story. As a sort of unique "pair of episodes" this is quite the special event. If you cannot somehow understand the irony of juxtaposition Sisko is in and relish the angst he must deal with then there is no hope you'll be a Star Trek fan at all.

"Far Beyond the Stars" breaks the fourth wall of Deep Space Nine and shows each of the Star trek characters without their heavy makeup and appliances, "Image in the Sand" requires we join Bennie Russell in his insanity and root for him to complete the storyline. It is a first for Star Trek and something that everyone needs to be questioned about in their own lives. Just how willing are we to overcome our limits and go beyond convention.

There is noting better within the whole Star Trek universe than this "pair of episodes" But the first of them Far Beyond the Stars is the better of the two for breaking that fourth wall and showing the actors "au natural."

Nowadays TV series are on the same level as movies (Game of Thrones being the obvious example) in terms of production, writing, smoothness, acting and directing. Older series suffered from being viewed as a step down from movies. But every now and then, a show would get it right, and Star Trek, far too often ignored for catering to a very specific fan base, had some of the greatest TV episodes of all. And this one is a perfect example.

* Plot (SPOILERS)

Sisko begins to hallucinate a life as a sci fi writer named Benny Russell in a US era abundant in space interest and racism. As he struggles against prejudice, he creates DS9 stories, and begins to wonder whether he is the writer or the character. Scenes on DS9 feature Sisko wondering the exact same thing. As he faces serious opposition from the prevailing racism of his time, he stubbornly refuses to budge, and stands by his creation.

* Good stuff

Boy where do I begin? Let me say that the best episodes of any series is often the one where they leave their comfort zone the most and enjoy themselves the most. Here we see DS9 in make-up-less reinvented roles and all seem to rejoice. The era could not have been brought to life any better and this 1950s New York seems at times almost palpable. Seeing Odo, Worf, Nog, Quark, Weyoun, Martok and Dukat as human characters is great fun.

The story is mesmerizing in daring and originality. Jake and Papa Sisko both have memorable roles. It contains 2 of the best lines in all of television ("To them you will always be a N....." and "You are the dreamer...and the dream"). The workplace for Incredible Tales seems like a place I want to work. The whole episode vibes with so much soul and liveliness you'll get sucked in before you can say Qapla'. Note the music which underscores every single mood and mood shift. The Quark- Odo rivalry is a joy as ever.

There is a underlying notion that elevates the episode. Not only is it about the power of fiction and ideas, but you genuinely start to wonder which world is real. There are two fantastic shots that mirror each other, Russell seeing Sisko in a reflection and Sisko seeing Russell in a reflection. The way this 40 minutes of your time well spend juggles Star Trek's dealing with racism and the vague line between fantasy and reality makes this an instant, all-out classic.

* Things I disliked

Erm...I guess I'm not overly fond of Dax in this one. Her "Ewww she's got a worm in her belly!" is pretty cringe-worthy. It would have been nice to see Rom. Sisko has been described as a Shakespearian android, in the way that he sometimes, usually when angry, delivers his lines in a broken, over the top way but I disagree. I find his final rant and subsequent collapse completely believable and a tour de force. People object to the N-word but it was used back then by the black community as it is today. People object to the religious overtones but he IS the Emmissary of the Prophets and in this episode a Creator of Words and Worlds.

* Conclusion: How good is it?

Star Trek has given us 7 contenders for best Star Trek and even Best TV episodes of all time. Harlan Ellison boggles the mind with "City on the Edge of Forever". "Measure of a Man" brings up, debates, and settles the question of robotic and AI rights light years ahead of its time. "The Best of Both Worlds" has THE best cliffhanger and shows how good TNG can be when the writers go off the beaten path. "The Inner Light" begins with a clever idea and sees Patrick Stewart singlehandedly elevate all of TNG to new levels in a performance I scale higher than any movie performance that year. "Duet" also deals with racism but in a great clash of foes and minds. "Waltz" allows 2 arch nemeses to duke it out, mentally, verbally and physically all in the light of the deteriorating mind of Dukat, which means that Sisko is in greater danger every time he gets the upper hand.

And then there is this episode. Bold, original, creative, daring. It deals with reality, racism, and passion. The directing and acting is stellar. The dialogue and monologue is out of this wold. The feel of this episode is undeniably the best in Star Trek. But is it the best overall? No. I would still choose The Inner Light and Waltz as better episodes but is deserves third place in the election. Far Beyond the Stars is DS9, Brooks, Trek, the writers, producers and directors at its absolute best and it will forever be one of my favorite episodes of any TV show. It should be mandatory viewing for kids and film students, both for its sense of oldness as well as bringing back to live an era in the past. This is a real world episode in the sci fi series most viewed as a Western setting, and it hits all the right notes. Mind-shattering. 10/10

Captain Sisko lost a friend when his ship was lost near the Cardassian border. As a result he's starting to think about whether or not he should leave Starfleet sick of the whole situation with the Dominion. Then, all of a sudden, he starts to see things that aren't really there and ends up at the infirmary where doctor Bashir states that his neural patterns are back to the way they were when he was having visions from the prophets. So far so good, but the rest of the episode is pretty much all about Sisko and the other major characters on DS9 being different people in 1950's America working as science fiction-writers...

It's a good story and it takes up important issues such as racism. It's also kind of fun to see the actors that play Odo, Worf, Quark and so on to look like they normally do without any makeup and such on. I honestly didn't even recognize some of them right away. But I feel like I'm waiting for something in this episode that never comes. We never get an answer to why Sisko was having these visions, dreams or whatever they were. My guess is that it was the prophets way of getting him to stay in Starfleet, but I still feel that the whole episode is out of context from the rest of the show. And I don't like the suggestion that maybe all of DS9 is just a dream of a science fiction-writer.

This episode had nothing to do with continuing the current storyline. It was a hallucination in Sisco's mind. Sisco gains nothing. No one does. Horrible episode.

A brilliant story and classic Star Trek episode. I won't discuss the plot in detail, since that has been done well by other reviewers. Instead I want to focus on one aspect of the story that bothered me when I watched the episode. I wonder whether others had a similar experience.

At one point in the story, Ben is told they will publish his DS9 story or series... as long as he makes the DS9 captain a white guy. Ben objects and refuses. This had to be an interesting choice for the episode writers (and for the writer character in the story). If Ben thinks race is irrelevant and racism is foolish, why would he rather have his entire story and series never published over this supposedly irrelevant change? These questions can be answered in at least two ways.

One way of thinking about racism is basically "individualism", where the "content of each individuals character" is what is important, not race. Another way of thinking about racism is basically "collectivism", where race is that race is important, and everyone should identify with others of his own race.

I was a bit surprised to see the writers of this episode have Ben more concerned with the race of one of the characters in his story than getting his story and series published, getting recognition and building his career (eventually to the point nobody cared about his race because they loved his work so much). This made it seem Ben was more concerned with racism than science-fiction and his story and series. But everything else in the episode had led me to believe he was totally taken by his story, and only secondarily concerned with racism (partly because his work-mates treated him honorably). I think the "bad treatment Ben suffers in the outside world" versus the "essentially fair and friendly treatment Ben enjoys from his coworkers" would have struck a reasonably good balance.

After thinking about this for awhile, I realized the decision they made may have been the better choice if the episode was released to audiences in the 1950s or 1960s (or possibly 1970s). But it didn't feel right seeing this choice in 1998 or on subsequent review in 2012.

This is a subtle observation, and I DO NOT ding the episode at all just because I would have made a different choice. Clearly making the change I suggest would have required many other changes in the story.

This was a great, classic episode in the finest Star Trek tradition.