[DS9] Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Far Beyond the Stars"
Timothy W. Lynch
WARNING: Spoilers for DS9 lie somewhere out there, "Far Beyond
the Stars".
In brief: A compelling first four acts with a so-so fifth.
======
Written by: Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler (teleplay);
Marc Scott Zicree (story)
Directed by: Avery Brooks
Brief summary: Sisko has visions of living another life: that of a
science-fiction writer in the 1950s dealing with racism.
======
"Far Beyond the Stars" faced a difficult challenge from the get-go in
many ways. One way was in the premise: the very idea of putting
Sisko (or someone like him) back in time to Earth's past leads to
skepticism, and as such needed ample justification. The other primary
obstacle was the subject matter: although Trek's dealt with racism
before, it's never done so by examining Earth directly. Given that
race relations are still a sensitive topic (and likely will be through the
real 24th century, regrettably), the episode had to find a way to make a
point while still telling an interesting story.
By those criteria, "Far Beyond the Stars" went one for two. I found
the 1950s-era story both touching and compelling, rarely descending
into preachiness; it presented a picture of the era in a way television
SF has rarely done ("The Twilight Zone" being a major exception).
On the other hand, there was little or no justification given for jumping
into such a tale, and that was something of a problem. When the story
is truly magnificent, I'm willing to accept a justification that is perhaps
slightly shakier than normal (such as in TNG's "The Inner Light");
however, this presented even less justification and didn't quite manage
the same power.
On the other hand, one thing the episode did do, and do
magnificently, was capture the feel of the '50s SF-writing community.
I don't know whether it was Behr & Beimler who came up with many
of the little details of the episode, or Zicree who suggested them in the
story, but whichever one it was clearly knows and loves the old SF
pulps. (I suspect it was Zicree from having heard him talk about the
episode at a convention back in November, but I could be wrong.) A
partial list of the things the episode got right in this category:
-- Galaxy was a real magazine at the time, and one of the preeminent
places for SF in the decade (another being Astounding). Heinlein,
Bradbury and Sturgeon are listed as having written for Galaxy, so
that's on target as well.
-- The reference to Benny Russell writing a lot while in the Navy
mirrors the careers of a lot of SF writers of the time, including
Heinlein.
-- Albert selling a novel to Gnome Press is also on-target: Gnome
was a small imprint in the '50s that published a lot of seminal SF
work, including Asimov's robot series. (Albert seems very strongly
to have been an Asimov analogue in general.)
-- The fact that Kay was writing under the pseudonym "K.C. Hunter"
resembles the situation of a lot of female SF writers of the time.
Catherine "C.L." Moore is a good example. She also collaborated a
great deal with her husband Henry Kuttner, just as Kay did here with
Jules. (I wonder if the "K.C." here was inspired by K.C. Cole, a
current science writer for the Los Angeles Times who does excellent
work.)
There are undoubtedly other matches that I missed; I'm reasonably
well versed in that time period, but far from an expert. Suffice it to
say that as a look into what it was to be an SF writer in the '50s, "Far
Beyond the Stars" did its homework.
Another treat that was perhaps more obvious was the chance for much
of the DS9 ensemble cast to take a turn at different roles, including
ones out of makeup. In general, that came off very well; it's a
pleasure to see the actors demonstrate some range outside of their
normal characters, and they're good enough that the characters felt
completely different most of the time. Particularly good were Armin
Shimerman (for once getting to play the conscience of the group),
Colm Meaney (of course), Rene Auberjonois, and Marc Alaimo
playing an entirely different type of sleazy character. Even the small
cameos -- Aron Eisenberg as a newsboy, J.G. Hertzler as the
magazine's artist, and so forth -- were much appreciated.
Then, there's Benny Russell confronting the racism of the time.
Here, again, the choice of making him a science fiction writer in New
York probably worked to the episode's advantage. It's easy to
address things that were prevalent in the South at the time, like Jim
Crow laws and segregation; those were so obviously wrong that they
seem outdated, and it would be easy to build them up as "something
that will change". But when you have an editor telling a writer that
"the public" isn't ready to accept a black science fiction writer, and
that "a Negro captain" of a space station simply isn't believable, that's
a lot more subtle -- and as a result, a lot more insidious. That sort of
prejudice is still around in a lot of ways, even in this presumably more
enlightened time -- the segment of Trek fans who couldn't believe in a
black Vulcan is evidence enough of that. Most people like to believe
they're color-blind when it comes to judging people, but default
assumptions still show up in fiction. If I'm reading something, I do
tend to picture the characters as white unless I'm told otherwise -- it's
not conscious, but it's there, and I'll wager it's there for most readers.
That doesn't mean I find Sisko less believable than I did Picard -- but
I wouldn't be surprised to find that some people do, and for no reason
they can easily put their finger on.
The fact that no particular race was held up as good or bad in "Far
Beyond the Stars" helped keep it from being too preachy as well.
Certainly, some characters were presented as less tolerant than others
-- Cirroc Lofton's Jimmy and Marc Alaimo's cop were probably the
two most blatantly prejudiced -- but the range of attitudes really did
vary from the crusader (Shimerman) to the implicitly prejudiced
(Auberjonois to a fault, and certainly the never-seen "Mr. Stone" who
owned the magazine), to those people caught in the middle who
wanted things to be different but didn't think they could change
anything. That strikes me as a far more realistic picture of the time
than the simplistic one without shades of gray that appears quite a bit
even now. As a result of that, Benny Russell's frustration with his
situation, and growing obsession with making his Ben Sisko stories
sell, and sell *now*, came through loud and clear. (The addition of
non-racial tensions, such as the cries of "fascist" vs. "pinko" that were
common at the time, also helped make the episode seem about more
than "just" racism.)
Avery Brooks' direction is also worthy of note. For such a non-
traditional DS9 offering as this, it's important to make the setting seem
as real as possible, and Brooks did exactly that. Every locale, from
the magazine offices to the diner to Benny's apartment, created the
perfect atmosphere; no accidental anachronisms were present, either in
objects or in attitudes. The jumps between the "reality" of the 1950s
and Benny's visions of DS9 were also well handled, whether it was
Kay becoming Kira becoming Kay or the policemen beating Benny
turning into Dukat and Weyoun and back. The real felt real, and the
unreal felt unreal; as with TNG's "All Good Things", that's crucial to
pull off a show like this.
The one thing that the show didn't manage to do well, I think, was
firmly establish any sort of connection back to the usual cast of DS9
characters. On the surface, the episode seemed to be nothing more
than the Prophets helping Sisko through a crisis of conscience; while
that's all well and good, one wonders why the Prophets would choose
such an incredibly roundabout route to lead him there. We as viewers
know that the setting was chosen because someone liked the pulp SF
magazines of the '50s, but without Sisko showing an interest in the
period, why send him there?
Until the fifth act, that was a fairly minor annoyance in the back of my
mind; in that act, however, my unease took a sharp jump up. For one
thing, there was Benny's breakdown in the offices after the story is
pulped and he's fired: while it makes perfect sense that he'd finally
reach a breaking point, the manner of it made me keenly aware that I
was watching Avery Brooks Acting [TM] and not Benny breaking
down. (His final sobs were an exception; for whatever reason, I
found those wrenching.) Later, Sisko's return to consciousness felt
extremely anticlimactic; Bashir's bemusement may have made sense,
but Sisko's lack of any real reaction didn't. Were I Sisko, I'd want to
know what happened next to Benny Russell, and to the stories -- and
as the viewer, I want to know whether those stories are ones we've
seen, or perhaps ones Sisko is yet to experience. (Imagine Sisko
realizing three episodes down the line that the stories his alter ego
wrote were in fact prophecies...) As it is, all the exhortations from the
Prophets to "write the words" wound up leading to ashes; the words
were written, but never seen, and "the dreamer and the dream" has
now just gone back to his old job without much understanding of
what has transpired. I'm not sure exactly what a good ending would
have been to the episode, but I know I was disappointed with what we
got.
On the whole, though, even a weak ending doesn't hurt the episode as
much as it could. As an examination of an era, a look back at the
history of prose SF, and an acting showcase, "Far Beyond the Stars"
shines; it's only when trying to connect it back to the characters we
already care about that the show falters. Things could be a lot worse,
to be sure.
Finally, despite some of the rest of the act, Sisko's final speech about
Benny Russell "dreaming of us" hit home surprisingly well. There
may not be a real Benny Russell out there, but Sisko, his father, the
station, and everyone and everything else on DS9 *are* being
dreamed up by people, many of them wishing for a better future. The
fact that Trek can last for three decades and counting is proof that it's
touched some kind of chord in a lot of dreamers -- at its best, it often
*does* show a future people might wish for. (At its worst, of course,
it's got people evolving into salamanders ... but I digress.)
Other thoughts:
-- Another thing about the fifth act that bugged me was Benny's dark
glasses. Initially, I took it as evidence that he'd been blinded in his
beating; given the rest of the episode, however, I'm not sure what to
think. It seemed an extremely odd and jarring costuming choice.
-- Albert's suggestion to make the Sisko stories a dream was
interesting; I'm not sure why it would make a difference to an editor,
but it nonetheless felt reasonable that it did.
-- Willie, the ballplayer played by Michael Dorn, may well have been
intended to be Willie Mays; certainly, he was playing for the Giants in
1953 and on the way up. In any case, his experiences were also
helpful to establish the period's casual racism.
-- It's so rare to see Avery Brooks playing someone truly overjoyed
that his small celebration scene after selling the story was a real treat.
-- Terry Farrell's secretary was great. "She's got a worm in her belly!
Oh, that's disgustin' ... that's interestin', but that's disgustin'." :-)
-- The episode's made me realize that written SF is *still* very much a
white person's game. Perhaps I'm simply assuming authors are white
unless hearing otherwise, but I can only think of two black authors in
the SF community, namely Samuel Delany and Octavia Butler. One
wonders why.
-- Another great quote: "Tell them we look like writers: poor, needy,
and incredibly attractive."
-- The other two story assignments for the magazine -- _Take Me With
You_ and _Honeymoon on Andorus_ -- felt completely right. Those
are just the sort of titles you'd expect to see in '50s pulps, particularly
with those pictures.
That about covers it. "Far Beyond the Stars" could have been one of
the best things DS9's ever done; it fell a bit short of that level, but it's
nonetheless so different an offering and made with so much care that
it's definitely worth a look or three.
So, wrapping up:
Writing: More of a connection to the "real" DS9 events would have
helped a lot, but the tale was poignant and lots of the little
details were extraordinary.
Directing: A tad over-the-top towards the end, but generally excellent.
Acting: Dorn came off as a tad bland at times, and Brooks went out of
control towards the end; most of the time, however,
everything was great.
OVERALL: 9, I think; we'll see how it ages.
NEXT WEEK:
Fantastic Deep Space Voyage Nine.
Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.)
tly...@alumni.caltech.edu <*>
"Your hero's a Negro captain -- the head of a space station, for
Christ's sake!"
"What's wrong with that?"
"People won't accept it. It's not believable!"
"And men from Mars ARE?"
--
Copyright 1998, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
This article is explicitly prohibited from being used in any off-net
compilation without due attribution and *express written consent of the
author*. Walnut Creek and other CD-ROM distributors, take note.
WRH Bill
Tim Lynch posts, in part:
<<On the other hand, one thing the episode did do, and do
magnificently, was capture the feel of the '50s SF-writing community.
I don't know whether it was Behr & Beimler who came up with many
of the little details of the episode, or Zicree who suggested them in the
story, but whichever one it was clearly knows and loves the old SF
pulps. ). ..........
There are undoubtedly other matches that I missed; I'm reasonably
well versed in that time period, but far from an expert. Suffice it to
say that as a look into what it was to be an SF writer in the '50s, "Far
Beyond the Stars" did its homework.>>
I can't quite agree here. A lot of the small details did click, as you note,
but-- as I commented in a post on "SF magazine nitpicks"-- some of the larger
aspects of the depiction of a '50s SF magazine didn't seem believable. The
story seemed to imply that "Incredible Tales" had a staff of regular writers
who were paid a salary to write stories on assignment exclusively for that
magazine, whereas such magazines actually got their stories almost exclusively
from freelance writers. Benny Richards should have considered trying his DS9
story at some other magazine (Galaxy, maybe) when he was rejected by
"Incredible"; and while the publisher of "Incredible" might have refused to buy
any more of Benny's stories, he couldn't have "fired' someone who wouldn't have
been a regular employee anyway. Moreover, it's unlikely that Benny could have
made a living exclusively from writing SF without having a "day job" of some
sort; very few writers (of whatever race) were able to do so back then. And
another poster who has been in the magazine publishing industry agreed with me
that the bit about pulping the issue of the magazine after printing was highly
unbelievable; such a thing would have caused all kinds of problems and expenses
for a magazine. It would have been more believable, though less dramatic, for
the publisher to reject the story before the magazine was printed.
"You can't kill the truth. Well, actually, you CAN kill it...but it'll come
back to haunt you later." (Capt. John Sheridan)
Laurinda Chamberlin
tly...@alumnae.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>WARNING: Spoilers for DS9 lie somewhere out there, "Far Beyond
>the Stars".
>"Far Beyond the Stars" faced a difficult challenge from the get-go in
>many ways. One way was in the premise: the very idea of putting
>Sisko (or someone like him) back in time to Earth's past leads to
>skepticism, and as such needed ample justification. [...]
>By those criteria, "Far Beyond the Stars" went one for two. I found
>the 1950s-era story both touching and compelling, rarely descending
>into preachiness; it presented a picture of the era in a way television
>SF has rarely done ("The Twilight Zone" being a major exception).
>On the other hand, there was little or no justification given for jumping
>into such a tale, and that was something of a problem. [...]
I guess I had a different take on the link between the tales than I've
yet seen on the newsgroup. Most people are assuming that the vision came
from the wormhole-alien Prophets, but although we felt their presence
strongly, I had the impression the message came from Sisko's forefathers.
The setup here has Sisko's father, who's never wanted to leave Earth
before, suddenly show up at DS9 for a visit, just when his son seems to
be at the breaking point. It's odd enough that Sisko himself remarks on
it, and his father responds with the cryptic line, "It was now or never."
When Sisko apologizes for not having been much fun during his visit, he
says, "I didn't come here to be entertained. I came to see you and Jake."
His father seems to be taking on an understated symbolic importance here,
as if he is here in his paternal role at a crucial time to bring Sisko
the strength and endurance of past generations. His 1953 counterpart, the
street-corner preacher, has in his Old-Testament dynamism a similar sense
about him of bringing enduring wisdom to buoy up Russell in his uncertainty.
The idea of identification between Bajorans and African Americans or any
other people who have been trampled by history and risen again has always
been latent in DS9. I can see it in simple scenes such as the one early on
when Sisko, the student of history, explains to Jake the role of religious
faith in sustaining Bajorans during their oppression, which has a mirror in
the role of the church in sustaining African Americans through slavery and
discrimination. I see it, perhaps more subtly, in "Statistical Probabilities",
when Sisko dismisses the idea of surrender to the Dominion by saying that
he will go down fighting so that future generations will know what their
ancestors were made of. In the 1950s, Sisko's presumed forefathers
were about to make a similar commitment -- it's this commitment that
leads to Sisko's status in the 24th century. If he accepts this, he knows
what he is made of, just as his descendents will know if he stands firm
now. If Sisko is being shown the 1950s, it's because he exists there as
well as in his time.
>Avery Brooks' direction is also worthy of note. [...]
Indeed. He's terrific at these dark and portentous episodes, and I
especially appreciated the disorienting intrusions of the 1953 and 24th
century characters into each other's worlds.
>The one thing that the show didn't manage to do well, I think, was
>firmly establish any sort of connection back to the usual cast of DS9
>characters. [...]
Actually, one of the things I liked a lot about this episode was that
although the 1953 characters were very different than their DS9
counterparts, there was often one thing about them that recalled their
more familiar alter egos. Douglas lacked Odo's strong moral center, but
his upholding of the status quo is echoed in a sinister way in Odo's
passion for order and near capitulation to the Founders. Kay was much
softer than Kira, but both have a challenging boldness. Willie had Worf's
sense of being caught between two worlds (an aspect of Worf that has
become muted since he left TNG, perhaps in comparison to Odo's and Garak's
more acute situations). Jules' variation between warmth and cuttingness
("Oh, for a gun") recalls Bashir. Most different were Quark and Herb,
obviously. If I were looking for a social activist on DS9, I wouldn't
stop by Quark's. I have to note, though, that Quark has surprised us on
occasion by reacting strongly to injustice ("House of Quark", "Sacrifice
of Angels").
>Until the fifth act, that was a fairly minor annoyance in the back of my
>mind; in that act, however, my unease took a sharp jump up. For one
>thing, there was Benny's breakdown in the offices after the story is
>pulped and he's fired: while it makes perfect sense that he'd finally
>reach a breaking point, the manner of it made me keenly aware that I
>was watching Avery Brooks Acting [TM] and not Benny breaking
>down. (His final sobs were an exception; for whatever reason, I
>found those wrenching.) [...]
I had no problem with Brooks' acting here. He moved me.
>As it is, all the exhortations from the
>Prophets to "write the words" wound up leading to ashes; the words
>were written, but never seen, and "the dreamer and the dream" has
>now just gone back to his old job without much understanding of
>what has transpired. [...]
>Finally, despite some of the rest of the act, Sisko's final speech about
>Benny Russell "dreaming of us" hit home surprisingly well. There
>may not be a real Benny Russell out there, but Sisko, his father, the
>station, and everyone and everything else on DS9 *are* being
>dreamed up by people, many of them wishing for a better future. [...]
And that's why Russell's words didn't end up ashes. Much like Moses, many
dreamers don't live to see the Promised Land, but what they set in motion
influences and endures. You can't kill an idea. It's ancient knowledge.
>Other thoughts:
>-- Another thing about the fifth act that bugged me was Benny's dark
>glasses. Initially, I took it as evidence that he'd been blinded in his
>beating; given the rest of the episode, however, I'm not sure what to
>think. It seemed an extremely odd and jarring costuming choice.
Concussion?
>-- Terry Farrell's secretary was great. "She's got a worm in her belly!
>Oh, that's disgustin' ... that's interestin', but that's disgustin'." :-)
I thought this was one of the worst things in the episode. A truly thankless
part for this actress.
--
Laurinda She walked by herself, and
all places were alike to her.
Robert Cook
wrh...@aol.com (WRH Bill) wrote:
(snip)
>another poster who has been in the magazine publishing industry agreed with me
>that the bit about pulping the issue of the magazine after printing was highly
>unbelievable; such a thing would have caused all kinds of problems and expenses
>for a magazine. It would have been more believable, though less dramatic, for
>the publisher to reject the story before the magazine was printed.
That part bugged me, too. The guy doesn't *read* the stories before
they're officially put on paper?
Robert M. Cook
co...@sos.net
http://www.sos.net/~cook/index.htm
Timothy W. Lynch
><<On the other hand, one thing the episode did do, and do
>magnificently, was capture the feel of the '50s SF-writing community.
>I don't know whether it was Behr & Beimler who came up with many
>of the little details of the episode, or Zicree who suggested them in the
>story, but whichever one it was clearly knows and loves the old SF
>pulps. ). ..........
>There are undoubtedly other matches that I missed; I'm reasonably
>well versed in that time period, but far from an expert. Suffice it to
>say that as a look into what it was to be an SF writer in the '50s, "Far
>Beyond the Stars" did its homework.>>
>I can't quite agree here. A lot of the small details did click, as you note,
>but-- as I commented in a post on "SF magazine nitpicks"-- some of the larger
>aspects of the depiction of a '50s SF magazine didn't seem
believable.
[details snipped]
Quite true, and my apologies for missing it. I guess I was so
enthused at seeing all the little things clicking that the big ones
slipped by.
I do like your alternate suggestion for what Mr. Stone could do, by
the way; it seems to fit quite well.
Tim Lynch
Timothy W. Lynch
tcw...@netcom.com (Laurinda Chamberlin) writes:
>>WARNING: Spoilers for DS9 lie somewhere out there, "Far Beyond
>>the Stars".
[much snipped]
>Actually, one of the things I liked a lot about this episode was that
>although the 1953 characters were very different than their DS9
>counterparts, there was often one thing about them that recalled their
>more familiar alter egos.
[snip]
>Most different were Quark and Herb,
>obviously. If I were looking for a social activist on DS9, I wouldn't
>stop by Quark's. I have to note, though, that Quark has surprised us on
>occasion by reacting strongly to injustice ("House of Quark", "Sacrifice
>of Angels").
Another point: just like Quark, Herb was a rebel against the status
quo. It's just that the 2373 status quo is a whole lot warmer and
fuzzier than the 1953 status quo. :-)
Tim Lynch
bishop
Timothy W. Lynch wrote:
>
> WARNING: Spoilers for DS9 lie somewhere out there, "Far Beyond
> the Stars".
>
> In brief: A compelling first four acts with a so-so fifth.
>
> ======
> Written by: Ira Steven Behr & Hans Beimler (teleplay);
> Marc Scott Zicree (story)
> Directed by: Avery Brooks
> Brief summary: Sisko has visions of living another life: that of a
> science-fiction writer in the 1950s dealing with racism.
> ======
Wonderful post sorry I had to snip most of it.
> Other thoughts:
>
> -- Another thing about the fifth act that bugged me was Benny's dark
> glasses. Initially, I took it as evidence that he'd been blinded in his
> beating; given the rest of the episode, however, I'm not sure what to
> think. It seemed an extremely odd and jarring costuming choice.
>
I initally thought the same you did. I realized he choose the glasses to
hid the bruises he recieved from the beating.
> -- Albert's suggestion to make the Sisko stories a dream was
> interesting; I'm not sure why it would make a difference to an editor,
> but it nonetheless felt reasonable that it did.
>
I think this was the most ironic idea of the whole story. Just think
the only way a sci-fi story set 400 (?) years is the future can deal
with the issue of racism now is to couch the whole thing in a dream. It
adds to the parallelism that was prevelent throughout the story.
> -- Willie, the ballplayer played by Michael Dorn, may well have been
> intended to be Willie Mays; certainly, he was playing for the Giants in
> 1953 and on the way up. In any case, his experiences were also
> helpful to establish the period's casual racism.
I belive its Willie Mays. Isn't Ben Sisko a big fan of Willie Mays? It
would have been appropiate to have a dream were Ben dreams that he
actually knows Willie Mays in a past life.
JTKirk
>>-- Another thing about the fifth act that bugged me was Benny's dark
>>glasses. Initially, I took it as evidence that he'd been blinded in his
>>beating; given the rest of the episode, however, I'm not sure what to
>>think. It seemed an extremely odd and jarring costuming choice.
>
>Concussion?
I think it's a reference to Avery Brook's "Hawk" character in "Spenser
- for hire" and "A Man called Hawk", there he had precisely that look
(his head shaved, a coat, a beard, that cap, and dark glasses). I've
always thought that ST:DS9 producers must have had the idea the
viewers would dislike the main character looking like Hawk (who was
a high-society killer/thug, basically...), and had Brooks get a new
look, but finally Brooks got back to his usual look when it was
realized people liked a captain with a strong character... (as opposed
to Picard, see "Q-Less" if you don't understand what I mean)
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