10 Welcome Changes Deep Space Nine Made To The Star Trek Formula

With Gene Roddenberry's vision of a utopian future comes an unprecedented opportunity for showcasing ideas and storylines that touch upon issues reflecting today's culture. Star Trek has always been about equality and diversity, and in Deep Space Nine, this is shown in a number of daring new ways.

In 'Rejoined' (1995), when Jadzia reunites with Lenara Kahn, a Trill woman formerly married to a former host of Jadzia's Dax symbiont, the two share one of television's first ever lesbian kisses. The message here emphasises the lack of prejudice and homophobia in the Star Trek timeline in a way that both makes sense in the canon and sends a message to viewers of the present day.

The series also tackles racism in an ingenious multi-episode arc featuring Benny Russell, a dreamt-up embodiment of the Black American Captain Sisko in 1950s New York. Benny is a writer who envisions a story of a futuristic space station run by a black captain, but the repeated rebuttal of the idea by his superiors leads to his dismissal and eventual insanity.

In a setting where such issues no longer exist, it's commendable of the writers to take us back to a time when they did, showing us thus how far the people of Star Trek have come.