selenak

Day 14- Favorite Time Travel Episode

Welllllll, while Trials and Tribble-ations is one of my all time favorite DS9 episodes, and I’m as fond of City at the Edge of Forever as the next Trekker, I’m still going with a two parter here, slightly bending the rules. Because Past Tense (DS9), when it was broadcast, does one thing the other time travel episodes didn’t/don’t. (Except the ST IV about the whales, but that was done in a lighthearted manner; also, it’s a movie, not an episode.) Usually when our crew travels back in time and encounters various misdeeds of the past, it does so in a way the watching audience can pat themselves on the back, because it’s also their past, and they themselves are already more enlightened.

Past Tense, otoh, was set in the viewing audience’s future. Not a distant future, a very close future. And not a future with an extreme event like WWIII or the Eugenic Wars to deal with which the audience could dismiss as „well, it’s part of Trek canon, but it won’t happen to us, those crazy kids in the 60s and their imagination, amirite?“ No, the near future of Past Tense has so called „sanctuaries“ in the big US cities in which the homeless, the physically and mentally disabled, the poor and the illegals are just dumped into, kept out of sight, and utterly neglected by the state. And so the story’s J’Accuse does mean the viewing audience. There is no comfortable patting on the back. Trek often gets accused of preaching? Damm right it’s preaching! On every level. (Not so coincidentally, Sisko and Bashir get up locked in a „sanctuary“ while Dax, who, spots not with standing, is classified as a white woman, gets befriended by a millionaire. ) At the same time, the characterisations are three dimensional. (And, in retrospect, amazingly optimistic.) The overworked administration worker isn’t evil or spiteful, just overworked (and herself hung out to dry by her superiors). The hostage-taking criminal developes a grudging respect for our hero. The millionaire actually wants to help. (Incidentally, all the guest stars and our regulars deliver excellent performances.)

(The bitter irony: those 1990s writers could imagine a lot, but not the intentional cruelty – rather than cruelty out of lethargy/overwork/looking away – that would put children in cages and argue that clean underwear and toothpaste are not human rights.)
The sci fi gimmick used – Sisko unintentially causes the early demise of one of his historical heroes, whom he then has to embody so history can proceed as it should – also ensures there is no feel good happy ending. When Bashir asks Sisko how people could let things ever get this far, he means us, the viewers. The question is now more urgent than ever. Not just in the US.

Day 1 - Favorite TOS Episode

Day 2 - Favorite Federation Race

Day 3 - Favorite Starship

Day 4 - Favorite Captain

Day 5 - Saddest Event

Day 6 - Happiest Event

Day 7 - Favorite TNG Episode

Day 8 - Favorite Federation Enemy

Day 9 - Favorite Character

Day 10 - Most Shocking Moment

Day 11 - Crew Position You Would Want

Day 12 – Crew Position You Wouldn’t Want

Day 13 - Favorite DS9 Episode

Day 15 - Favorite First Officer
Day 16 - Favorite Voyager Episode
Day 17 - Favorite Trek Novel
Day 18 - Favorite Non-Aligned Race
Day 19 - Favorite Enterprise Episode
Day 20 - Character You're Most LIke
Day 21 - Least Favorite Character
Day 22 - Favorite Trek Film
Day 23 - Best Trek Tech
Day 24 - Best Overall Space Vessel
Day 25 - Favorite Discovery Episode
Day 26 - Planet You Would Most Like To Visit
Day 27 - Character You Would Date
Day 28 - Name Your Own Starship
Day 29 - Favorite Trek Quote
Day 30 - Favorite Trek Series