“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” characters Doctor Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Mister Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) brimmed with chemistry throughout that series’ run — but if there was anything real behind their relationship, viewers never got to see it. But that pairing remains a fan favorite, and fans have speculated for years (and yes, created plenty of fan fiction) about the real relationship potential for two. Now, shippers finally got their happy ending — thanks to the latest episode of Paramount+‘s animated “Star Trek: Lower Decks.”
In “Fissure Quest,” the penultimate episode of “Lower Decks” (as it wraps its fifth and final season), the series’ ongoing dimensional rift storyline reaches a boiling point. This comes following an alternate version of Boimler (Jack Quaid) as he embarks on a covert inter-dimensional mission to investigate the fissures.
In what may well be the most self-referential episode in “Star Trek” history, “Fissure Quest” features a slew of returning cast members from across the franchise universe as alternate members of Boimler’s crew: T’Pol from “Enterprise,” Harry Kim from “Voyager,” Lily Sloane from “First Contact” and most notably, Bashir and Garak from “Deep Space Nine.”
First crossing paths when Andrew Robinson guest starred in the “Deep Space Nine” Season 1 episode “Past Prologue” back in 1993, the bright-eyed young Doctor and jaded “simple tailor” Garak first won fans over with their instant chemistry and easy banter, turning Robinson’s initial one-off role into a recurring character.
“Trek” prides itself on “boldly going,” but the idea of an on-screen same-sex couple (a man and a lizard, no less) didn’t quite fly in the 1990s. Bashir and Garak never moved beyond close friends, even as fans clamored for a romantic storyline.
In finally depicting the sparks between the characters, “Lower Decks” showrunner Mike McMahan said the show’s writers “have enjoyed the romantic chemistry that Andrew and Sid brought to Garak and Bashir on “DS9,” and for the thirty years since. If there’s anything the multiverse is good for, it’s spending time with these two newlyweds as they explore the universe and their relationship together.”
Long after “DS9” went off the air, Robinson and Siddig continued to champion the Garak/Bashir relationship. That included campaigning for them at conventions in the ’90s to recording an audiobook and performing fan-written works over Zoom. As a result, the duo also had a hand in stoking interest in the relationship between their characters.
Though “Star Trek” has since delivered plenty of LGBTQ+ characters and relationships in subsequent series (for example, “Star Trek: Discovery” put the romance between Stamets and Culber front and center), “Lower Decks” bringing back Garak and Bashir finally makes textual (through multiversal chicanery) an early trailblazing relationship that never got its due.
“Remember,” said McMahan, “never go to bed angry, and never break the prime directive — unless you really, really gotta.”
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