3.11 — “Past Tense, Part I”

3.11 — “Past Tense, Part I”

Plot: Sisko, Bashir, and Dax are ensnared in a transporter accident that sends them back to San Francisco, Earth in 2024, just in time for the historically pivotal Bell Riots.

Thoughts: Now for something different! This is a welcome change. Ambitious, socially conscious near-future dystopian science fiction.

“Past Tense, Part I” aired in January 1995, the first Star Trek episode that year. At the time it was written, 2024 was 30 years in the future (although only 7 years from now as I write this). Some things it gets really wrong, like what is that clunky computer thing with the light pen? The split between the haves and have nots, however, with the elite turning a blind eye on the destitute and disabled–well, that looks familiar!

There is a “The City on the Edge of Forever” vibe, as Sisko argues to Bashir they must be willing to allow good people to die to protect the path to a better future. I’m guessing that classic episode is also the last time Star Trek employed so many extras, if even then. The Star Trek Deep Space Nine Companion puts the total at 80-90 people. The wardrobe and makeup folks were grateful they only had to dress the extras as grubby humans.

It would have been more convincing, and honest, to use a magic device like The Guardian, rather than the hokum about chroniton particles that conveniently place create a subspace bubble around the Defiant, paving the way for a rescue.

If it is so critical to protect the course of the future, shouldn’t any officers in danger of being transported to the past be issued cyanide capsules, or better yet self-disintegrators?

“Past Tense, Part I” has an optimistic theory of progress. If only things get bad enough, people will wake up and suddenly become better. Are there real-life examples of history proceeding this way? Perhaps elements of Dr. King’s nonviolent resistance strategy are comparable. Still, I’m not hoping for a lot more social devolution as a path to a better future. We’ve had quite enough, thank you. It’s too easy to rationalize, this will be a path to something better.

We should stick a pin in Bashir’s speech: “Are humans really any different than Cardassians or Romulans? If push comes to shove, if something disastrous happens to the Federation, if we are frightened enough, or desperate enough, how would we react? Would we stay true to our ideals or would we just stay up here, right back where we started?” DS9’s producer, Ira Steven Behr, who is given story credit for this episode and scripting credit for Part II, is known for being openly skeptical of Gene Roddenberry’s utopian future vision. Here he seems to be pushing back by exploring our first canonical Star Trek dystopia. Good for him!

I love the production value and the ambitious scope. I hope we aren’t let down by part two.

4.5 of 5 chunky twenty-first century telephones.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Past_Tense,_Part_I