Far Beyond The Stars
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- Season 6, Episode 13
Hurting after losing his friend in the Dominion War, Captain Sisko is contemplating leaving Starfleet. Yet he then starts to experience hallucinations where he ends up in 20th-Century New York City. He is taken over by his vision where he is Benny Russell, an African-American science fiction writer in 1953. Throughout the episode, Russell encounters others that resemble people from the ship, none of which are in their known makeup. Benny then has the idea to write a story about Deep Space Nine, which is pretty meta.
Yet his editor tells Kira, playing Kay Eaten as well as Russell they are being excluded from the magazine’s Incredible Tales because readers might be upset reading stories from a woman and “negro.” That evening, Benny is harassed by two police officers. Persuaded by Preacher Sisko, he finishes the Deep Space Nine story about a black space captain. But the owner won’t print the story about a black hero and fires Benny. Suddenly the preacher sits next to Russell and tells him he is “both the dreamer and the dream.” Once Sisko wakes up, he is moved by his hallucination and sees Benny’s reflection in the glass.