Past Tense, Part I

I'm a Star Trek fan from its beginning, and I know that one thing they do poorly is time travel. This story is not an exception to the general rule, but today's viewer can be distracted from the flaws by the jarring effect of seeing what writers in 1995 considered fiction.

The "sanctuary" district in San Francisco interns the homeless, the unemployed, and mentally ill people. The government processes them and hands out food stamps. Welfare is not merely accepted, but an enforced one. The writers call the Bell riots a watershed moment of the 21st Century as a harbinger of change for the better. Today we can look at this fiction and see how much closer we are to it now than we were twenty years ago.

I've always admired Arthur C. Clarke for his vision of the future. He was startlingly accurate in his depiction of online media, but we lack only extraterrestrials to drive us forward into his vision. "Past Tense" doesn't require its writers to look so far ahead. They only had to extend a trend line of poverty a few years out. But, while it might have seemed far- fetched in 1995, today's viewer can see that the trend line is no longer fiction.

The only real requirement is that the writers not let the characters get in the way. There is little in the way of character development. Sisko, Bashir, and Dax are observers, even when Sisko has to take part in the action.

Still, I'm not convinced about the writer's view of neckties in 2024...

Here we are in 2021 & it's oh so familiar. Watch this episode set in 2024 to see our future. Great two part episode.

8/10.

This is a two-part episode that marks the first time the folks from "Deep Space 9" went into the distant past. In this case, Dr. Bashir, Jadzia Dax and Commander Sisko are beaming down to Earth when, inexplicably, they arrive in 2024! This turns out to be a real lousy time and place, as San Francisco has special 'zones' where they place the poor and homeless--and Sisko and Bashir are stuck in this hellish place. As for Jadzia, she's is a heck of a lot smarter than her companions and soon she ends up finding herself with the HAVES-- living life among the rich elite. It's easy to admire her ability to think on her feet and figure out that she's in the past much faster than the guys. Regardless, the two guys turn out to be REAL stupid, as they turn out to be responsible for killing a guy who is important to history--and as a result, the timeline is seriously destroyed and the Federation doesn't appear to be affected.

This is a decent episode but I also marveled at how clean and very well groomed these homeless folks often were! Also the explanation for why the Defiant continues to exist seems REALLY lame and contrived. And, the whole Gabriel Bell angle is a bit predictable. Decent but it could have been better.

The problems get all solved in the future apparently LOL. Yet said problems were worse before capitalism appeared.. then said problems increased with the rise of anti-capitalism / socialism..

Then there's the time loop paradox goofs.

Jadzia, Bashir, and Sisko try to go to a conference in San Francisco. During the transport, something goes wrong and they find themselves in 2024. LIfe on earth has become a serious class structure, where the poor and defenseless are put in ghettos. The problem has to do with the mutation of time due to actions taken by Sisko and Bashir. The second half should be interesting.