28 Years Later, Star Trek Just Paid The Perfect Tribute to One of its Greatest Episodes

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy really is the perfect 60th anniversary series for Star Trek, and it increasingly feels like a celebration of Deep Space Nine in particular. Episode 5 focuses on the mystery of Avery Brooks’ Benjamin Sisko, whose fate was left ambiguous by the original series finale. The Emissary of the Prophets, Sisko apparently sacrificed himself in a final battle with Gul Dukat, but was in fact transported away by the wormhole aliens. Thanks to Starfleet Academy, we now know Sisko never returned home, and is in fact still watching the outside universe.

Starfleet Academy brought back two Deep Space Nine legends, not just one, because the whole episode was quietly triggered by the return of the Dax symbiote – still active in the 32nd century, now a teacher at Starfleet Academy. She sent SAM on a quest to uncover the truth about Sisko, one that took her to the Sisko Museum, where one particular item on display stood out. It’s an epic scene that subtly rewrites the entire Star Trek story, making one of Deep Space Nine‘s best episodes even better.

The Sisko Museum Contains A Surprising Artifact

The Sisko Museum contains artifacts dedicated to the life of Benjamin Sisko, and one immediately stands out; a typewriter (located on the far left in the above image). Most of these artifacts serve as nods to different aspects of Sisko’s character; appropriately enough, there’s a baseball glove with a ball. The typewriter, though, is a clear nod to one of the best Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes of all, “Far Beyond the Stars.” Released in 1998 as part of Season 6, this story saw Benjamin Sisko experience a mystical vision that informed his own character journey.

This vision took Sisko back to 1953 New York City, where he found himself living as an African-American science-fiction writer named Benny Russell. There, Sisko interacted with other individuals who loosely riffed on the people he knew from Deep Space Nine (played by the same actors, albeit now without makeup and prosthetics given they were all human). The episode that followed was one of Star Trek‘s boldest explorations of racism and prejudice, as Russell navigated a world where his stories – including one with a “Negro” captain of a space station – were rejected outright.

Star Trek has always been political, but “Far Beyond the Stars” is notable because it doesn’t tackle its themes through symbolism or parallels with some alien civilization; it’s set on Earth, confronting the brutal reality of racism. The episode further stands out because of Avery Brooks’ fantastic portrayal of Benny Russell, which demonstrated his range in a way a single episodic series had never managed before. It’s one of the most creative episodes in all Star Trek history, and it’s wonderful to see a homage to it in Starfleet Academy – one that is a lot more important than it seems.

Benjamin Sisko Never Used A Typewriter, So Why Is There One In The Sisko Museum?

There is, however, a delightful catch to this particular Deep Space Nine Easter egg. Benjamin Sisko never used a typewriter, so at first glance it seems odd to see one in a museum dedicated to his life. The explanation likely lies in the words of a Prophet in “Far Beyond the Stars,” a being outside time who suggests Russell was “both the dreamer and the dream.” The staggering implication is that Sisko wasn’t just experiencing a random vision; his mind really did meld in a sense with that of a science-fiction writer in 1953, and each saw glimpses of the other’s lives.

It’s important to note that Benny Russell did return, appearing in the Season 7 episode “Shadows and Symbols,” which suggested he’d wound up in a lunatic asylum; this should really be seen as a hint that his own story continued beyond Sisko’s vision, supporting the interpretation that two lives had been bound together. Interestingly, the producers themselves toyed with this concept when they were working on the Deep Space Nine finale; they considered a final scene showing Benny pitching a script for Deep Space Nine itself, but ditched that idea.

Starfleet Academy‘s Easter egg implies there was indeed a physical reality to Benny Russell, just as the show’s creative team indeed all those years ago. Somehow, the Federation became aware of this connection between the two men, choosing to honor it by adding a typewriter into the Sisko Museum. It seems Benjamin Sisko’s life hides even more than SAM discovered in her investigation, but she only investigated the ones inspired by the relics she focused on.

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