The spinoff show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine seems to have gone The Simpsons’ route this election season and predicted a political policy back in 1995, that might come into effect in California now. Moreover, the episode in question was also reportedly set in 2024, making the prediction all the more eerie and accurate.
The episode ‘Past Tense’ sees the world in 2024 crumbling due to rising homelessness, which is attempted to be eradicated by the politicians by sending the homeless to encampments known as Sanctuaries. This ideology has been compared to Californian Governor Gavin Newsom’s latest policy on homelessness eradication.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Predicted A Current Event In 2024
Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek franchise has always depicted a hopeful image of the future, where inclusivity and diplomacy take precedence over other victories. Violence in the show is kept to a minimum and discoveries and wonder are often encouraged. Be it the original series or its spinoffs, the future of Star Trek has always been positive.
However, this hopeful future is canonically established to have been the result of a riot that came from utmost oppression. The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode ‘Past Tense’ actually put three members of the crew, Commander Sisko, Dr. Bashir, and Jadzia Dax in the show’s past i.e. 2024, days before the ‘Bell Riots’ took place.
The episode sees the world being plagued by homelessness and a section of society not being able to support themselves being cordoned off into encampments in a place called the ‘Sanctuary District’. While the writers of the show were reportedly inspired by what they saw in the ‘90s, a new executive order in 2024 seemed to have eerie similarities.
According to CBS News, California Governor Gavin Newsom had recently issued an order to eradicate homeless encampments from under freeways and other settlements. The order reportedly mentioned that local authorities had the discretion to carry out these orders, however, there were possibilities of the department applying pressure.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Writers Said That They Were Responding To What They Saw
Sci-fi media predicting the future has always been a subject of intrigue as it indicates that not much has changed in the world since the piece was conceived. Despite technological advancements, the social and political mood of the world still seemed to be status quo.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine writer Robert Wolffe mentioned to Vox that they only got the advanced level of computers wrong in the 2024 past/future that they wrote in ‘Past Tense’. He said,
We weren’t being predictive. We were just looking out our windows in the ’90s. My wife worked with homeless and mentally ill people as a psychotherapist. Ira [Steven Behr] said what convinced him to do the episodes was walking through Palisades Park in Santa Monica and seeing all the homeless people there. They’re still there. It hasn’t changed. We weren’t being predictive. We were just being observant.
When production on the episode was wrapping up, the makers reportedly met with the news that LA mayor Richard Riordan was planning on removing homeless encampments and sending them to cordoned-off spaces called ‘havens’, which became another eerie prediction.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is available to stream on Paramount+.
