Past Tense, Part I

When this episode was broadcast, it was largely ignored; looking at it from 2022 it is eerily prescient in predicting the homelessness crisis and the inadequate government response to it. The homeless encampments where I live look very much like the Sanctuary District Sisko and Bashir find themselves in after inadvertently transporting to San Francisco in 2024.

It is also a wry commentary that two men of color, Sisko and Bashir, and locked away after being discovered without ID while Dax, an attractive Caucasian female, is rescued by a white knight.

This is also the first episode in the series that depicts Sisko as a "hero" whereas he is usually the competent administrator of DS9. This two parter marks the beginning of DS9 finding its footing and becoming what I believe is the best incarnation of the Trek franchise.

A transporter accident sends Sisko, Dax and Bashir back to Earth, 2024.

This is a strong episode with a good setting and interesting story.

The plot sets the scene nicely for what feels likely to be an eventful conclusion. I think the plight of the homeless is a worthwhile subject and it is tackled well by the writers as they give a prediction of where they think Earth will be by 2024. Also the racial themes are subtlety included with Jadzia's contrasting experience.

Sisko and Bashir have similar roles to Kirk and Spock in 'City On The Edge of Forever'. This leads to some memorable scenes with Avery Brooks and Alexander Siddig on top form. I also love Dick Miller's cameo, which was inspired casting.

I know it is nothing new for Star Trek, but some of the technobabble feels incredibly contrived to fit the story. Colm Meaney delivers it confidently as always, but it is blatant box-ticking by the writers at times.

Visually it is one of the best DS9 episodes of the show so far, primarily due to the ambition of a 1990s production showing us Earth 30 years into its future and it not looking bad in 2022.

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...

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.

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.