“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” characters Doctor Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Mister Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) were brimming with chemistry throughout the series — but if there was something real behind their relationship, viewers never got to see it received. But that pairing remains a fan favorite, and fans have been speculating (and yes, creating a lot of fan fiction) for years about the real-life relationship potential for two. Now, shippers finally got their happy ending – thanks to the latest episode of Paramount+’s animated film “Star Trek: Lower Decks.”
In “Fissure Quest,” the penultimate episode of “Lower Decks” (at the end of the fifth and final season), the series’ ongoing dimensional rift storyline reaches a boiling point. This comes after an alternate version of Boimler (Jack Quaid) as he embarks on a secret interdimensional mission to explore the Rifts.
In what may 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 especially Bashir and Garak from ‘Deep Space Nine’.
The bright-eyed young doctor and the jaded “simple tailor” Garak first crossed paths when Andrew Robinson guest-starred in the 1993 “Deep Space Nine” Season 1 episode “Past Prologue.” , making Robinson’s initial one-off role a recurring character.
“Trek” prides itself on “going bold,” but the idea of an on-screen same-sex couple (a man and a lizard, no less) didn’t really take off in the 1990s. Bashir and Garak never got beyond good friends, even though fans clamored for a romantic storyline.
In finally portraying the sparks between the characters, “Lower Decks” showrunner Mike McMahan said the show’s writers “enjoyed the romantic chemistry that Andrew and Sid brought to Garak and Bashir on ‘DS9,’ and that for the next thirty years. If there’s one thing 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 defend the Garak/Bashir relationship. That included campaign for them at conventions in the ’90s to recording a audiobook And performing fan-written works via Zoom. As a result, the duo also had a hand in generating interest in the relationship between their characters.
While “Star Trek” has since brought many LGBTQ+ characters and relationships into subsequent series (for example, “Star Trek: Discovery” put the romance between Stamets and Culber front and center), “Lower Decks,” which brings back Garak and Bashir, finally makes it textual ( via multiversal deception) an early groundbreaking relationship that never got its due.
“Remember,” McMahan said, “never go to bed angry and never break the prime directive—unless you really, really have to.”