Cold and Distant Stars

Story: Past Tense, Part I
Written By: Ira Steven Behr, Robert Hewitt Wolfe and René Echevarria
Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Year: 1994

This is a solid beginning to a great non-Dominion two-parter. A transporter accident sends Sisko, Bashir, and Dax three hundred years into Earth’s past…a bad period of history. Dax ends up found by some richer guy, and as a result is able to work on the outside…but Sisko and Bashir end up thrown in a “sanctuary base.” Basically they are concentration camps for the homeless. But its also a week before something known as “The Bell Riots”, a pivotal moment in Earth’s history, when a riot within the sanctuary finally leads the USA to take responsibility and work on their social issues.
It is a solid lead up to the actual riots that take place mostly in the second episode. All in all strong start.

Notable for being the last episode to air before Voyager began.

NEXT TIME: Gabriel Bell