Summary

  • The Bell Riots in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine highlighted the social inequality of 21st century America, which is still relevant today.
  • Commander Sisko's role in ensuring the Bell Riots happened, despite accidental interference, was crucial to the founding of the utopian Federation.
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' timeline changes may affect the Bell Riots, but the harsh realities of the 21st century suggest they are still an important and relevant story.

Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) risked breaking history when he was forced to participate in the historic Bell Riots in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3. In the two-part episode "Past Tense", a transporter malfunction sends Sisko, Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), and Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) back in time to 21st century Earth. Arriving in San Francisco in 2024, they discovered that the American government housed their homeless, and unemployed citizens in ironically-named Sanctuary Districts, which were walled-off areas in major cities like San Francisco.

Star Trek: Picard revisited this idea in season 2 when Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Commander Raffaela Musiker (Michelle Hurd) found themselves inside a homeless community in 2024's Los Angeles. Intended as a comment on the contemporary state of America, Picard's take on the Bell Riots proved the social inequality that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was concerned about back in 1995 still exists today. In the Star Trek universe at least, 2024 would prove to be a pivotal moment in founding the utopian and egalitarian ideals of the Federation, but it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Sisko unwittingly breaking history and then bending the Temporal Prime Directive to fix it.

Star Trek: DS9’s Bell Riots & Sisko Becoming Gabriel Bell Explained

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Past Tense - Sisko as Gabriel Bell

The Bell Riots were a direct consequence of the cruel and dehumanizing Sanctuary system, erupting in response to a hostile takeover of San Francisco's Sanctuary Processing Center led by Gabriel Bell. The excessive use of force displayed by the National Guard to retake the Sanctuary Processing Center and control the riots led to hundreds of deaths. The public outcry over the response to Bell Riots forced the government to rethink the Sanctuary program in the US and begin to take more positive steps to address the social inequality that had existed for centuries. This was such a pivotal moment that, without it, the Federation simply would not exist.

This is why Sisko had to ensure that the Bell Riots still happened after he and Bashir unwittingly caused the death of the real Gabriel. The real Gabriel Bell was fatally stabbed when he intervened to protect Bashir from having his ration card stolen. Sisko therefore had to take Bell's ID card and play out the events as depicted in the history books. Sisko survived the violent unrest and ensured that Bell's body and ID card would be found among the casualties to keep history on course. Although he saved history, Sisko's solution caused a causal loop because the 24th-century Sisko could only play Gabriel Bell if he had already been Gabriel Bell in 2024.

Does Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Canon Change Affect DS9’s Bell Riots?

Ricardo Montalban as Khan Noonien Singh and John de Lancie as Q in Star Trek

While the Bell Riots were a hugely important moment in Star Trek history, it's unclear if they would be affected by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' timeline changes. In the episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", it was revealed that time agents like Sera (Adelaide Kane) had been meddling with the timelines, pushing back the dates of pivotal events like the Eugenics Wars and World War 3. The Bell Riots is an important flashpoint in the story of the early days of the Federation, so it could become a target in Strange New Worlds' temporal wars.

However, Star Trek: Picard season 2 and the harsh realities of real life in the 21st century suggest that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Bell Riots are unaffected by Romulan interference. The Sanctuary Districts never needed a Khan Noonien-Singh (Ricardo Montalban) to mastermind them, just old-fashioned human cruelty and an apathetic response to social inequality. The Bell Riots is sadly still an incredibly relevant Star Trek story 28 years after "Past Tense" first aired on TV.