If Gene Roddenberry were around today, he’d probably be proud of how Star Trek: Deep Space Nine tackled some hard truths. One of its darkest episodes, set in 2024, shockingly parallels the real-world crisis America’s facing right now. With a storyline that’s more about current events than distant galaxies, the episode feels like a cautionary tale we failed to heed.
Instead of futuristic space battles, it focused on societal breakdowns that hit close to home. Roddenberry’s vision of the future wasn’t just about technology and adventure—it was a mirror reflecting humanity’s ongoing struggles. The eerie accuracy of this episode shows just how ahead of its time Star Trek always was.
From Fiction to Reality: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Dark Vision of 2024 Hits Home with Today’s Housing Crisis
Gene Roddenberry would likely be very proud of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s eerily relevant episode set in 2024. In “Past Tense,” the show dives deep into a dystopian crisis—one that mirrors a very real problem America is facing right now: housing insecurity. For Trek fans, the idea of a utopian future has always been appealing, but as Roddenberry believed, Earth had to hit rock bottom first. And in DS9, 2024 is that rock bottom.
In the two-parter “Past Tense,” Captain Sisko and crew are thrown into a bleak version of 2024, where the unhoused population is out of control. Cities are flooded with people facing poverty, and the U.S. government has built ‘Sanctuary Districts’ to contain them. It’s a terrifying vision, but one that hits uncomfortably close to home.
Fast forward to real-life 2024, where California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed an executive order to sweep the streets of unhoused encampments. Sound familiar? With over myriads of unhoused individuals in California alone, it feels like Deep Space Nine saw this crisis coming. Critics argue Newsom’s order, which follows a Supreme Court ruling, only deepens the problem. And it’s almost as if the so-called ‘Sanctuary Districts’ are about to materialize.
In the DS9 storyline, the Bell Riots spark change, but it’s a stark reminder of how bad things need to get before people take action. Newsom’s recent order? It feels like a step toward the cruel world Trek warned us about. Funny, isn’t it, how a sci-fi series from 1995 nailed the housing crisis of 2024?
If Newsom’s a Deep Space Nine fan, he might need to rewatch Past Tense. Because, spoiler alert, this isn’t the future we want.
How Gene Roddenberry Returned with Star Trek: The Next Generation
Paramount may have ostracized Gene Roddenberry, but they definitely brought him back in style. After the costly Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Paramount sidelined Roddenberry, rejecting his wild idea for a JFK time-travel plot (yeah, Spock on the “grassy knoll” was a no-go). Instead, he was made an “executive consultant”—which, let’s be honest, gave him no real creative control. That didn’t sit well with Roddenberry, who even leaked that Wrath of Khan was going to kill Spock.
But Hollywood loves a comeback, and Roddenberry’s came with Star Trek: The Next Generation. Despite behind-the-scenes drama, the show became a hit. Roddenberry didn’t get to control Trek films, but the legacy of TNG and the success of his universe are his true mark on the stars.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is available to watch on Amazon Prime & Apple TV.
