Episode cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Avery Brooks | ... | Commander Sisko | |
Rene Auberjonois | ... | Odo | |
Alexander Siddig | ... | Doctor Bashir (as Siddig El Fadil) | |
Terry Farrell | ... | Lieutenant Dax | |
Cirroc Lofton | ... | Jake Sisko (credit only) | |
Colm Meaney | ... | Chief O'Brien | |
Armin Shimerman | ... | Quark | |
Nana Visitor | ... | Major Kira | |
Jim Metzler | ... | Chris Brynner | |
Frank Military | ... | B.C. | |
Dick Miller | ... | Vin | |
Al Rodrigo | ... | Bernardo | |
Tina Lifford | ... | Lee | |
Bill Smitrovich | ... | Webb | |
Eidan Hanzei | ... | Male Guest (as Henry Hayashi) |
The Defiant has arrived at Earth and Sisko, Bashir and Dax are beamed to the surface, where they will address the Starfleet Symposium in San Francisco on the situation in the Gamma Quadrant. But they never arrive. O'Brien has no clue what happened: the logs show that he definitely arrived. Meanwhile the three find themselves in San Francisco in the year 2024. They have no ID and Bashir and Sisko are arrested and put in a concentration camp-like Sanctuary District. While the two try to find a way back, Sisko notices it's only days before major riots break out in the District, a pivotal moment in Earth's history. Meanwhile Dax is picked up Chris Brynner, a business man. He takes her to his home, where she starts searching for Bashir and Sisko. Written by Arnoud Tiele (imdb@tiele.nl)
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...