Was I the only one who disliked Far Beyond the Stars?

Few people admitted to being Communists in the 1950s, what with Joe McCarthy running around.

 

It's hard to tell whether Herb was angry for being slandered, labeled, or outed. Pabst's comment, though, might have been based on deep knowledge of Herb's proclivities: perhaps not a CP member, but sympathetic to socialist issues.

 

It's pretty obvious Herb is based on Harlan Ellison anyway, with his combative personality.

 

If you squint enough, you can see the episode as Herb Rossoff being a communist angry at being outed, yes.

Of course, if you squint hard enough, you can attribute almost any meaning to any episode. Which, ironically, would make the episodes all but meaningless.

 

Armin Shimerman must squint a lot.

 

Indeed he does. In order to make him a communist, you have to 'dig' in the episode with enough hypotheticals to transform him into a time travelling Quark if you so wished.

 

Or just read between the lines.

 

Count me as one who ranks this as a favorite. As my first post on this forum I'm tempted to say a lot, but the two posts below cover most of my bases and I feel are worth a re-read.

I didn't know about the Zecree connection until I did a re-watch last year, and think it explains a lot about the episode's approach. I wouldn't be surprised if the episode's genesis was as a love letter to the science fiction writers before Trek just as "Tribbilatiions" was to TOS. In this case, I think the conceit allowed/forced the writer to go thematally deeper since the setting, both in time and location, necessitates acknowledgment that the multi-racial and gender cast would be anachronistic in the era being saluted.

While it might seem over-the-top or too focused on race to some I think it does a fair job. DS9 and Trek are not noted for their subtlety and this is in the same ballpark to me. Also, I personally find nuance in that multiple views on overcoming the racial issue that remain contemporary are represented. No two African-American characters seem to agree on their own personal solution: religion, sports, crime, entrepreneurship or writing; each person is critical of the others' attempts to rise up. There is no monolithic view of how to improve their lot in life. I see this as a fairly universal problem being seen through the intensified lens of race issues, as Bad Thoughts states below.

Disclosure here: I'm also Jewish but studied African-American literature in grad school, focusing greatly on the 1920s-1950s. I've also studied Caribbean literature and have dabbled in other lesser discussed corners of literature where one can easily find the same recurring universal thematic issues made more idiosyncratic through specificity of race, gender, belief system or, like, being a goth at a, y'know, prep school. Specificity makes it resonate.

That all said... Much as I love Sisko and like Avery Brooks, I concede he can out-ham Shatner in ways that make my teeth gnash.

 

What's getting overlooked is what an incredible job Avery Brooks did with the episode. He's in every damn scene and he directed as well, almost insisting on it when he first learned of it.

 

well I hope I don't get attacked for this but I don't care for this episode too much either. It was fun to see everyone out of makeup and in a different role, and I get the message behind it, but I found the whole thing too preachy. And Avery Brooks overacting put me off this episode. I've met him in person a few times and he tends to come off preachy in person as well.