The Star Trek: Starfleet Academy episode “Series Acclimation Mil” focused on SAM (Kerrice Brooks), the sentient hologram attending Starfleet Academy. As part of her assignment for her Kasqian Makers, SAM tries to solve the mystery of what happened to Ben Sisko (Avery Brooks).
Speaking to TrekMovie.com, Tawny Newsome, who co-wrote the episode with Kirsten Beyer, talked about the subtle DS9 "In the Pale Moonlight" Easter egg she insisted on putting into the episode. Newsome said:
"I made them put in Kerrice [SAM] saying some version of 'I can live with it' [a callback to Sisko’s famous line from 'In the Pale Moonlight']. And someone who kept doing a version of the script later kept taking it out. And I kept putting it back in, probably seven or eight times. And finally, it made it to it made it to filming."
This, of course, references what many consider the best episode of Deep Space Nine. “In the Pale Moonlight” has Sisko detailing to his log how he conspired, bribed, threatened, forged and became an accessory to murder, all to trick the Romulans into entering the war against the Dominion.
It ended with Sisko delivering the line on how he can live with compromising all his principles to win the war. In an odd way, SAM’s journey is the opposite of this as she too talks in her log on her exploits while carrying out her mission. However, her task has a much brighter ending, and her statement speaks to her evolution as a sentient being.
Did you enjoy this great tribute to DS9 in an episode already honoring that show’s legacy? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages. And Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is now streaming on Paramount+.