Far Beyond the Stars is an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It was directed by series star Avery Brooks and written by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler. It aired in February 1998, with a novelization adaptation released in June that same year. Benjamin Sisko experiences another life where he is Benny Russell, a talented science fiction writer of the 1950s, who comes up against the racism of American society.
Description[]
- Without warning, Benjamin Sisko is living another life. No longer a Starfleet captain, commander of space station Deep Space 9, he is Benny Russell, a struggling science fiction writer living in 1950s Harlem. Benny has a dream, of a place called Deep Space Nine and a man named Ben Sisko, and a story he has to tell. But is the Earth of that era ready for a black science fiction hero?
- Everyone tells him no, but Benny cannot abandon his dream. One way or another, he will tell the world about Captain Benjamin Sisko and Deep Space Nine.
References[]
Characters[]
Episode characters[]
- Julian Bashir • Jadzia Dax • Julius Eaton • Kay Eaton • Willie Hawkins • Jimmy • Cassie Johnson • Kira Nerys • Darlene Kursky • Albert Macklin • Kevin Mulkahey • Douglas Pabst • Roy Ritterhouse • Herbert Rossoff • Benny Russell • Burt Ryan • Benjamin Sisko • Jake Sisko • Joseph Sisko • Kasidy Yates
- Referenced only
- Ray Bradbury • Jesus Christ • W. E. B. Du Bois • Ralph Ellison • Robert A. Heinlein • Langston Hughes • Zora Neale Hurston • Eva Jackson • Charles Lindbergh • Charlie Parker • Gene Roddenberry • Duke Snider • Joseph Stalin • Theodore Sturgeon • Quentin Swofford • H. G. Wells • Richard Wright
Novelization characters[]
- Ajabwe • Julian Bashir • Cooley • Jadzia Dax • Skrain Dukat • Julius Eaton • Kay Eaton • Elaine • Willie Hawkins • Jenny • Jimmy • Cassie Johnson • Kira Nerys • Darlene Kursky • Albert Macklin • Ardelia Mathis • Kevin Mulkahey • Miles O'Brien • Ozzie • Douglas Pabst • Rike • Roy Ritterhouse • Bill Robinson • Herbert Rossoff • Benny Russell • Burt Ryan • Shakaar Edon • Big Sid • Benjamin Sisko • Jake Sisko • Joseph Sisko • Swoop • Weyoun • Kasidy Yates
- Referenced only
- Abbott and Costello • Ivie Anderson • Harold Arlen • Henry Armstrong • Louis Armstrong • James Baldwin • Richmond Barthé • Romare Bearden • Ben Bova • John W. Bubbles • Ford L. Buck • Cab Calloway • John W. Campbell • Jesus Christ • Countee Cullen • Eva Cunningham • Walt Disney • W. E. B. Du Bois • Duke Ellington • Ralph Ellison • Stepin Fetchit • Marcus Garvey • Emma Geller • Dizzy Gillespie • H. L. Gold • Benny Goodman • Coleman Hawkins • Robert A. Heinlein • Fletcher Henderson • Lena Horne • Langston Hughes • Zora Neale Hurston • Eva Jackson • James P. Johnson • William H. Johnson • Joe Louis • Jimmie Lunceford • Moms Mabley • Madame French • Owney Madden • Mary Mallon • Rocky Marciano • Pigmeat Markham • Martok, son of Urthog • Marx Brothers • Thelonious Monk • Nog • Odo • Charlie Parker • Andrew Preer • Quark • A. Philip Randolph • Franklin D. Roosevelt • Billy Rose • Fox Russell • Augusta Savage • Jennifer Sisko • Bessie Smith • Cordwainer Smith • Willie Smith • Duke Snider • Joseph Stalin • Quentin Swofford • Ed Tucker • Jules Verne • Fats Waller • George Washington • Ethel Waters • Chick Webb • Evelyn Welch • H. G. Wells • Mae West • Worf, son of Mogh • Richard Wright
Locations[]
- 34th Street • Arthur Trill building • Bajor • Bajoran wormhole • Broadway • Bronx • Deep Space 9 • Earth • East 127th Street • Eva's Kitchen • Flushing Meadows • Flushing River • Empire State Building • Fifth Avenue • Habitat ring • Harlem • Infirmary • Manhattan • New York City • North America • Operations center • Perisphere • Pennsylvania Station • Queens • Redeemer's Blood Church of Faith • Seventh Avenue • St. Philip's Church • Station commander's office • Statue of Liberty • Sweet Temptations • Times Square • Trylon • West Side
- Referenced only
- Africa • Albany • Apollo Theater • Bedford–Stuyvesant • Cardassia • Casablanca • Coney Island • Connie's Inn • Cotton Club • Cuba • England • Europe • Gamma Quadrant • Germany • Great Britain • Harlem River • Ireland • Italy • Japan • Jamaica • London • Luna • Mali • Mars • Maxie's • Mississippi • New Crest • New Jersey • Panama • Pearl Harbor • Poland • Puerto Rico • Rock of Gibraltar • Rockefeller Center • Savoy Ballroom • Showcase Theater • Siam • Sirius • Small's Paradise • South America • Taj Mahal • Washington Monument • Yugoslavia
Starships and vehicles[]
- USS Defiant (Defiant-class escort) • USS Leeds (Nebula-class explorer) • Danube-class runabout • Perikian-class
- Referenced only
- USS Cortez
Races and cultures[]
- Referenced only
- Borg (Incredible Tales) • Human (Zulu) • Prophets
States and organizations[]
- Bajoran Militia • Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation • Chevrolet • Ford Motor Company • General Motors • Giants • Interborough Rapid Transit Company • League of Nations • Lenox High School • Macy's • New York City Police Department • New York City Subway • New York Stock Exchange • New York Yankees • Planters • Starfleet • United Federation of Planets • United States of America
- Referenced only
- Back-to-Africa movement • Bajoran Ministry of Commerce • Brooklyn Ash Removal Company • Civil rights movement • Continental Army • Dominion • Gnome Press • Mali Republic • Mob • Nazi • Soviet Union • United Nations • United States Air Force • United States Navy
Other references[]
- 1776 • 1922 • 1927 • 1939 New York World's Fair • 1960 • A6M Zero • alien • ambulance • American • American Dream • American Revolutionary War • Amsterdam News • Astounding Science Fiction • automobile • bacon • Baptist • barber • baseball • basketball • bebop • Bible • Borg (Incredible Tales) • Buck Rogers • "Billy Rose's Aquacade" • Rick Blaine • boxing • breakfast • Captain Nemo • Cardassian silk • Caucasian • Cavor • cent • Christianity • Christmas • clarinet • Coca-Cola • Communism • cruller • Cuban • Deep Space Nine (novella) • Democracity • dollar • Dominion War • doughnut • Emissary of the Prophets • Episcopal Church • "The Exterminator" • Far Beyond the Stars • Fascism • Ferengi • Flash Gordon • flying saucer • football • frank • From Here to Eternity • Futurama • Galaxy Science Fiction • God • Gone with the Wind • Great Depression • gravball • Harlem Stride • Hugo Award • hydrogen bomb • hymn • ice cream • Incredible Tales of Scientific Wonder • Infrastructure • jazz • Judaism • Kirk (Incredible Tales) • Klingon (Incredible Tales) • linotronic • loafer • locomotive • Lucite • Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade • Martian • Mickey's Surprise Party • Native Son • Negro • Negro Week • New York Age • New York Globe • New York Times • Occupation of Bajor • Operation Return • orb • painter • peanut • piano • Picard (Incredible Tales) • pneumonia • President of the United States of America • prostitution • racism • raktajino • "Road of Tomorrow" • Robor • robot • saxophone • science fiction • Benjamin Sisko (character) • space station • steak and eggs • swing music • Tarkalean tea • Tarzan • taxicab • television • Thanksgiving • time warp • Timex • tribble (Incredible Tales) • uridium • winter • World War I • World War II • Vulcan (Incredible Tales) • Vulcan demicotton • Vulcan flu
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- Sources that continue Benny Russell's story after "Far Beyond the Stars" include "Shadows and Symbols", Unity, the Star Trek: Typhon Pact novels Plagues of Night and Raise the Dawn and "The Dreamer and the Dream". The character also briefly appears in Warpath. The comic When the Stars Come a-Calling and the Crucible novel Provenance of Shadows feature Russell before the events of "Far Beyond the Stars". The character is also mentioned in "Captain Proton: Defender of the Earth", "Isolation Ward 4" and "Captain Proton and the Orb of Bajor".
Background[]
- Steven Barnes included an afterword in the novelization in which he looks at the role of African-Americans in science fiction and the changing attitudes to them. He commented on Deep Space Nine that it is "a major cultural turning point for America, and therefore, the world as a whole... DS9 is, as far as I'm concerned, the first successful dramatic television show in history with a non-Caucasian star".
- Barnes had to write the novelization in a month, but "had a ball" doing so. He also commented that during the short time, he had "to create a full wraparound backstory, and do considerable research into New York in the 1950s and 1930s". (Voyages of Imagination)
- Barnes was given notes on several aspects of the episode by Michael Okuda. These notes included the design of the Incredible Tales office and the eclectic contents in it. [1]
- "Far Beyond the Stars" was the last standard-length Star Trek episode to receive a novelization. Earlier such novelizations included "Relics", "Trials and Tribble-ations", "Flashback" and "Day of Honor". Later novelizations included the feature-length episode What You Leave Behind and two-part stories from Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.
Notable cast and crew[]
- Directed by Avery Brooks
- Avery Brooks as Benjamin Sisko and Benny Russell
- Nana Visitor as Kira Nerys and Kay Eaton
- Rene Auberjonois as Odo and Pabst
- Alexander Siddig as Julian Bashir and Julius Eaton
- Armin Shimerman as Quark and Rossoff
- Michael Dorn as Worf and Willie Hawkins
- Terry Farrell as Jadzia Dax and Darlene Kursky
- J.G. Hertzler as Roy Ritterhouse
- Aron Eisenberg as the vendor
- Marc Alaimo as Dukat and Burt Ryan
- Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun and Kevin Mulkahey
- Brock Peters as Joseph Sisko and the preacher
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous novelization: ...Sacrifice of Angels |
DS9 novelizations | Next novelization: What You Leave Behind |
| Previous episode: One Little Ship |
DS9 episode produced | Next episode: Honor Among Thieves |
| Previous episode: Who Mourns for Morn? |
DS9 episode aired | Next episode: One Little Ship |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: Final Entry nineteenth entry |
Next Adventure: The Ones Left Behind sixth, seventh entries | |
| Previous Adventure: Who Mourns for Morn? |
Deep Space Nine Adventures | Next Adventure: One Little Ship |
| Previous Adventure: When the Stars Come A-Calling |
Benny Russell Universe | Next Adventure: Shadows and Symbols |
| The above chronology placements are based on the primary placement in 2374. The Pocket Books Timeline places events from this story in two other timeframes: | ||
| Previous Adventure: The Difficulties of Being Evil |
July 1940 | Next Adventure: Home Is the Hunter Russia chapters |
| Previous Adventure: When the Stars Come A-Calling |
October 1953 | Next Adventure: Isolation Ward 4 |
External links[]
- Far Beyond the Stars article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Far Beyond the Stars article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Far Beyond the Stars article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.