I thought it was a DS9 highpoint and used very well as a part of Sisko's overall arc.
Was I the only one who disliked Far Beyond the Stars?
- Thread starter Crazyewok
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A real time travel plot to explore racism would have been awesome. But a vision was also awesome. Why not do both?
I did not like the direction DS9 sometimes took, but if there is one thing that really made it all worth, it was this episode.
No Im fine with a story about racism and other deep matters.
I just did not like the setting.
The setting was hilarious! Pulp sci fi magazine, it was perfect.
Harold Livingston created "the whole thing?" He wrote Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The episode was neither the best nor the worst. It was however heavy handed and preachy.
Far Beyond the Stars was a decent episode, well acted, and well written, but not one of my favorites. A more novel idea than your typical filler episode, and nice to see a lot of the actors out of makeup, but personally, I can take it or leave it. I prefer DS9 episodes that advance a story arc, or the Dominion War, really.
In many respects it is a superb episode. But every second spent with the Prophets drags it down, because inflicting this doesn't make sense. The suggestion that Star Trek is Benny Russell's fantasy doesn't need any Prophets. Being aware that DS9 is fiction does rather rob that of much impact.
I've seen people in extreme emotional states and Brooks isn't overacting. His character is vulnerable, not cool, and that may not be pleasant viewing. Not the same thing at all.
I've seen people in extreme emotional states and Brooks isn't overacting. His character is vulnerable, not cool, and that may not be pleasant viewing. Not the same thing at all.
I love the episode, but I feel it needed a phildickian twist at the end where Sisko finds out that Benny Russell was real and really wrote stories of Deep Space Nine during sci-fi's Golden Age.
However, I understand why that wasn't done (assuming it was considered), because then it opens up a whole can of worms in continuity about what the Star Trek universe is -- a real place or a place of dreams.
However, I understand why that wasn't done (assuming it was considered), because then it opens up a whole can of worms in continuity about what the Star Trek universe is -- a real place or a place of dreams.
I was hoping that at some point Q/John de Lancie would show up, in a very short cameo. That would have meant that Sisko DOES write the stories about Deep Space Nine, but for real.
Is it really too much to endure 1 episode out of 170 that deals with 1950s racism?
Maybe if Cirroc Lofton could do the accent more convincingly...
He sounded like a racist radio show from the 1920s doing an African American character.
'Heavy handed' is the right word. A story about 1950s racism is a good idea, but hammering it into the audience's heads is not.
He sounded like a racist radio show from the 1920s doing an African American character.
'Heavy handed' is the right word. A story about 1950s racism is a good idea, but hammering it into the audience's heads is not.
It was OK-ish to me. Definitely over-rated.
The broad concept was OK, but the whole "vision" thing was trite - there had to be a better way. Mind you, the silly Sisko-as-part-prophet thing kinda ruined seasons 6-7 of DS9 anyway, and this is merely another symptom.
The broad concept was OK, but the whole "vision" thing was trite - there had to be a better way. Mind you, the silly Sisko-as-part-prophet thing kinda ruined seasons 6-7 of DS9 anyway, and this is merely another symptom.
Endure yes. Enjoy and think its one of the best episodes no!
And its not the racism theme I have the issue with its the setting and the whole 1950's vision rubbish.
Haven't seen the episode in years, but I took it to mean only the second vision of being in a mental institution.
I love how 'Martok' was this jovial Santa Claus-like artist. 
Far Beyond the Stars is extremely overrated. I liked the episode but there were aspects I didn't care for that much like the whole inclusion of the Prophets into the story was really stupid. I would have preferred if they somehow stayed in 'Star Trek' universe instead of the dream/vision thing. About the only thing that makes this episode any good, in my opinion, is the "heavy handed" moral and "preachy"-ness as some have put it. Also, it was neat to see the actors without the makeup.
For me, the hook of the episode was seeing the regulars playing thinly-disguised famous science fiction authors and one famous science fiction editor.
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