Far Beyond the Stars
The teleplay was written by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler, based on a story by Marc Scott Zicree, and directed by Avery Brooks, who also played the episode's – and series' – central character.
He begins experiencing hallucinations of 20th-century New York City, and is suddenly taken over by his vision: becoming Benny Russell, an African-American science fiction writer in 1953, who is not conscious of his life in the 24th century.
His girlfriend Cassie (Kasidy Yates) doubts his ability to earn a living as a writer, but is faithful to him despite flirtation from baseball player Willie Hawkins (Worf).
Pabst arrives empty-handed: the owner has pulped this month's issue rather than publish a story featuring a black hero, and Russell is fired.
Although Star Trek has been noted for its commentary on racism and racial relations since its debut in 1966, this episode in particular is considered to have the most "overt discussion of white supremacy and black identity.
"[3] It also presents to viewers the difficulty of including Black people in American science-fiction and the consequential delay in developing the genre of afrofuturism.
Zicree – who was not a regular writer for the series – pitched the story with Jake Sisko as the main character, and did not deal directly with racial issues.
The story, suggested by Wolfe, featured Sisko as a contemporary homeless man who believes he is a star base captain, but who is diagnosed as schizophrenic and drugged to suppress his visions.
At that time, producer Ira Steven Behr had rejected the hallucinatory element in favor of a time-travel story, because it felt too much like a "gimmick".
Ira Stephen Behr, for instance, had been concerned at how René Auberjonois might react to being the only main cast member to play a "bad guy".
With few science-fiction elements, one of the few special effects in the episode was a shot where a drawing of the space station falls out of Russell's hand, and lands near the foot of a police officer.
The drawing was attached to a helium balloon which was connected to some monofilament on a fishing line, and had to be "yanked" towards the foot of the officer, and land at the right orientation for the camera.
[6] In 2012, Den of Geek ranked this the fourth-best episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, praising the cast's performances, and called it "a treat" to see the actors such as Michael Dorn and Rene Auberjonois without their alien makeup and prosthetics.
[14] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agreed, and said fans will consider this the "most remarkable episode in the history of Deep Space Nine", and that once Lofton's character (Jimmy) says the "N-word" – a rare departure from the franchise's generally inoffensive language – they knew they were "not on Vulcan any more".
Kwan maintains that, like Pabst, the franchise as a whole tends to ignore actual diversity, instead opting to portray a future with only a single cultural and racial norm.
[17] The storyline of the episode has been compared to a real-life experience of African-American science fiction author Samuel R. Delany, whose novel Nova was rejected by Analog magazine editor John W. Campbell, Jr. in 1967, claiming it was because "he didn't feel his readership would be able to relate to a black main character".
