Why 'Far Beyond The Stars' Is Star Trek's Most Important Message in 2025

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>> Will: Foreign

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Greeting Nerds, Blerds, Trekkies and Trekkers. Welcome back to

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Scene N Nerd Presents Blerd Trek. I'm Will Polk and

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today we're diving into one of the most powerful and relevant episodes

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of Star Trek. D Space 9. Far beyond the

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Stars. This 13th episode of D Space

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9's sixth season first aired on

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February 9, 1998, and was directed by

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Captain Sisko actor himself, Avery Brooks, and was written

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by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Bimer. From

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a story by Mark Scott, Zinkry. This

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episode is a masterpiece. A

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gut punch of, truth wrapped in science fiction.

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Exposing harsh realities of racism, sexism

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and classism, issues we're still dealing with

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today in 2025. With Black history

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Month in full swing and legitimate diversity,

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equity and inclusion programs and initiatives being

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cut and dismantled across the United States, as the

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current administration uses the acronym

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DEI as a dog whistle, it is the

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perfect time to revisit what Far

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beyond the Stars teaches us about our past,

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our present and our future. Let's get into

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it. Spoilers are ahead. And

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Far beyond the Stars, Captain Sisko finds himself

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experiencing vivid visions of another

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life, one where he's Benny Russell, a black science fiction

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writer in 1950s America. Benny's a part of a

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team of writers creating pulp science fiction stories. But his latest

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idea, a futuristic tale about a black space

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station commander, meets immediate resistance from his white

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editor. His co workers support him to varying degrees,

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but at the end of the day, the decision makers refuse

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to publish a story. And why is that? Because

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the idea of a black man in command of a space station

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is considered to be too unrealistic.

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Benny's struggle doesn't stop at his workplace. Throughout

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the episode, we see systemic racism suffocating

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him, whether it's being dismissed by superiors,

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ridiculed by society, even

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some other black characters that he interacts

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with. Questioning why he's doing this writing

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thing when, all the people

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only in the world only see him. Hm, as another N

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word. Hard R. And I think

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that's the only time that we've actually had that racial

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slur other than Star Trek. But in the most

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brutal moment, Benny's beaten

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down moments after witnessing the murder of his friend

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Jimmy by the police on his first day

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back to the office. Weeks later, Vinny's

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learned is stunned to learn that the owner

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has pulped that month's issue rather than

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publish his story about

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a black hero commanding the space

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station. Also further

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indignity, Vinnie is fired. The

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episode ends with Benny's breakdown. His cries

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of you can't erase Me

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all he. And as he is taken away in an

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ambulance, the street preacher who had appeared

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throughout the episode, appears in

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the ambulance with him and tells

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Benny that he is both a dreamer and

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a dream. Cisco wakes up back on

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the station and then he wonders as

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he's deeply moved by those visions and he wonders as

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he looks out into space, is

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Benny Russell really out there and is he

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dreaming of them and writing more stories about deep space?

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On as we end the episode, the question

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is can we still hear Banning's cry today

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of our people trying to erase us?

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This episode hits deep because it lays

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bare the struggles that marginalized voices

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have faced and still face when it's

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trying to tell their stories or just trying to do their

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job and, and make a living. Lets break it

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down first. It deals with racism in the

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workplace and society. Benny's experience

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mirrors the real life struggles of black creatives and

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professionals throughout history. From the early science

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fiction pioneers like Samuel R. Delaney to modern M

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Day, black professionals getting recognized and

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respected is an uphill battle. The idea that a

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black protagonist in a science fiction story was

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too much reflects how much mainstream media

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has limited black representation

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historically. Today we've seen improvements of course with

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series like Star Trek, Discovery having a black lead. We've

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had big movies like Black Panther and other

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things like that. But the fight for representation

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is still ongoing. And let's be real, this

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isn't just about science fiction. Black

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professionals in every field today

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are met with the same resistance, whether it's in corporate

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America, tech, entertainment. And we've

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seen the attacks on merit

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based programs and people's hard work to earn

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what they have achieved. Being attacked,

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being a DEI hire or too

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woke or any one of those pejorative terms

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that's been thrown out there and really,

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really is a code word for what they are really

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saying here, which is we didn't earn it

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and we aren't

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qualified and it's just a code word for black.

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That's the truth. This episode

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really, really puts a mirror and

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a spotlight not only in 1950s America but

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also in 2025. It also touches on

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sexism, in, in the Workplace. While Far beyond

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the Stars does rec, you know, focus its attention

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on racism, it also shows how women,

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especially white women and even, and especially

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black women have faced their own barriers.

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I mean just look at the most recent presidential election.

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And also it shows in the episode

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how a white woman in the

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1950s had to deal with it.

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But also imagine if Benny was a black woman. Do you think

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she would even had been in that office with those other

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writers. But also looking at K,

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the character played by Nana Visitor,

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who was Kira's representation

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in Benny's Dream. It

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rings true how

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in that episode both Benny and Kay were

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told to, take a sick day whenever it was

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time for the photo for

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the magazine that they were writing for.

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This also rings true, quite frankly, what Star Trek

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had to deal with in the real world back in the

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1960s when you had a white

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female writer, Dorothy Catherine Fontana,

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AKA DC Fontana,

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who wrote legendary Star Trek episodes. But she

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couldn't use her full name because probably at the

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time people would not have taken

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those stories from her as, seriously if she had used

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her given name, Dorothy Catherine instead of her

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initials, dc. So she

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wrote some of the most famous stories of Star Trek,

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including the Enterprise

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incident, Journey to Babel, among the 10 episodes,

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that she had her screenwriter credit

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to. So whether it was in front of the camera

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or behind the camera, we also think about the discourse of, Star

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Trek discovery not being real Star Trek or being too

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woke because he had a black female lead.

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Those things still resonate today. Also, when

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you think about classism and police brutality, the police

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brutality in the episode is one of the most chilling parts.

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Seeing Benny beaten down whenever he was just trying to

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find out what happened to his friend

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Jimmy mirrors many of the

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countless real world instances of racialized

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police violence that we've seen. Fast forward to

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2020. George Floyd's murder forced a national

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reckoning on policing. And then we

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had protests, policy changes and

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promises that followed. But in 2025,

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how much of that has really changed? We are seeing the

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rollback of some of those, those

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initiatives and M

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measures to address

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issues in policing. So

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we have to ask, what does far beyond the stars say

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about where we are in 2025? Let's talk

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about some recent developments. One, the

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performative versus the genuine. After

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Doris Floyd, we saw Juneteenth become a federal holiday

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and companies embracing more diversity

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equity initiative programs. But were these

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actions meaningful or were they just corporate

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PR moves? While some progress was

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real, such as increased black leadership in

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media and policy shifts in policing, of course we saw the

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election of a black man, Barack Obama, as president.

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Much of it was so we did have some

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tangible things, but in many cases it was

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just surface level. We've seen

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now the backlash and the rollbacks with

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Donald Trump being elected to office. Many of these

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DEI initiatives in both government and in the private

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sector are being dismantled and rolled back. We're

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seeing major Rollbacks in those

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corporate diversity and government

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diversity efforts to make sure that we have an inclusive and

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a representative workplace of all faces in

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America. The recent Supreme Court rulings

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for Harvard and USC admissions have put up

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programs such for affirmative action under attack

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affecting the college opportunities for many

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marginalized students. The fight

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continues. Far beyond the Stars teaches us

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that progress is fragile. Benny thought

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he was finally getting his story published only to be

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shut down. That same pattern plays out

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today when hard far gains are reversed.

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But like Benny, we can't let the system

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erase us. We have to keep fighting.

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So as we celebrate Black History Month, what can we

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take from far beyond the stars? First, it is

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the power of telling our own stories. Representation

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does matter. We need to support black and

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other people of color creatives, whether they're writing books,

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making films, leaning in tech and politics,

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academics or other professions. Recognizing

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performative activism, we got to make sure that real

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change isn't just about hashtags and

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corporate statements. It's about policy shifts and

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sustained action. And most importantly,

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we have to stay vigilant. Just because

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we've made progress doesn't mean the fight is over.

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Because if history tells us anything, it can be

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reversed if we're not paying attention. And that is what's

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happening now. Far beyond

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the Stars isn't just an episode about Star Trek.

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It's a lesson. This is a reminder of

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why we fight, why we push for

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representation, and why we can't let history repeat

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itself. If this video resonated with you, I

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would love for you to hit that like button.

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Subscribe for more nerdy explorations

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here on our channel for Blerd, Trek and

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our main show and drop a comment below.

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And last, what the Far beyond the Stars teach

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you and how can we turn

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all of these things that we talked about for beyond just

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performing vaccine activism into real

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lasting change? Thanks for joining me through

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this journey through space time and Star

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Trek or an exploration of

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justice for us not only in the Star Trek

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universe, but also in the us

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I'm Will Polk and in the next time, keep

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challenging the status quo both on screen and live

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in real life and live long and prosper.