Star Trek: 15 Most Culturally Significant Episodes
1. Far Beyond The Stars
Few moments of Star Trek are as raw or difficult to watch as Benny Russell's break down. He has been physically and mentally attacked, over and over, blockaded at every turn. The police brutalise him and he is never far from death and darkness. What is Benny's crime?
Benny is a black man, living in a world determined to punish him for it.
Far Beyond The Stars is one of the greatest episodes of Star Trek, of television even, to tackle the horror of racism. Ben Sisko lives the episode in a vision from the Prophets where they remind him that, though he will be tested again and again, he must remain true to the path and spread their word.
The experience changes him. Avery Brooks directed his finest hour, playing both Sisko and Russell while guiding his co-stars as well. The episode highlights the bigotry that people of colour faced - none of them are safe. Michael Dorn plays the baseball player who may be allowed to play but certainly isn't allowed share the same space as white people. Cirroc Lofton is Jimmy, a con man who couldn't make it any other way.
Though the episode touches on sexism as well, alluding to it in Nana Visitor's character of K.C. Hunter, the spotlight is on Brooks. With a monologue that will be etched forever in the viewer's mind, his pain at the way the world has treated him is unforgettable.
Far Beyond The Stars is one of Star Trek's greatest achievements, more timely now than ever.