If I had a nickel for every time Star Trek canonized a popular, fan-favorite, queer relationship from a previous series, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s incredible that it’s happened twice.
Yes, you read that run-on sentence correctly. Star Trek did canonize (the act of making something official to a piece of media, usually done within said media) two different queer ships (short for relationships, opens a new window).
If you know anything about fandom (a community-oriented collection of people who appreciate and interact with a piece of media and each other) history, you’ve probably already got a guess about one of the ships.
Kirk/Spock
Spirk (the portmanteau of Kirk and Spock from Star Trek: The Original Series [TOS]), is often credited with giving many aspects of modern fandom their start. From sharing fanfiction written on notebook paper to mailing out monthly fanzines (fan magazines), Kirk/Spock started it all.
Star Trek, the Original Series
The dynamic between Kirk and Spock has fascinated viewers since the series first aired. Whether read as a deep friendship or something more, nobody can deny the chemistry when Spock and Kirk appear on screen together. And finally, after decades of their chemistry being danced around by the franchise, they’ve been recognized.
...Sorta.
Okay, so, of the two relationships discussed here, Kirk/Spock is a bit...subtler. It wasn’t canonized in any show or movie, and younger fans of the relationship might argue that it doesn’t count, but stay with me here.
In November of 2024, the Roddenberry Archive released the short film, Unification, an eight-minute story in which Kirk and Spock reunite on Spock’s deathbed. According to producers, the film is an attempt to give the two characters a proper ending, one that honors their bond far more than dying in different universes ever could.
No, literally, that’s how the producers frame it. Go read the article linked above; I don’t have the imagination to make this up.
The film has no dialogue save a voiceover from one of the original Star Trek movies, and the characters do nothing more than hold hands, but that was plenty for the fans to run with.
If you aren’t familiar with Star Trek, Spock is a Vulcan, an alien species known for being reserved, private, and logical to the extreme. Personal space is a big deal for Vulcans; they’re a society that considers standing too close together as a form of PDA.
This is why, when the original Star Trek consistently showed Kirk and Spock clasping hands, clapping shoulders, and even hugging, fans looked twice at the relationship.
It’s also why fans took the short film as confirmation of the two’s love for each other. What else could explain the emotion in their eyes as they reunited and held hands while watching the sun rise on the Vulcan home world from Spock’s bedroom?
None of that is an exaggeration. That is literally what happens in the short film. You see it now, right?
But if that’s a little too subtle, don’t worry. I understand wanting text rather than subtext.
Star Trek gets it, too, and text is what the creators of Star Trek: Lower Decks delivered in Season 5 Episode 9: “Fissure Quest.”
This popular animated entry of the Star Trek franchise saw the untapped potential of Dr. Julian Bashir and Elim Garak from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9, for short) and said, “Yeah, sure, let’s do it.”
Garak/Bashir
Much like fans of Kirk/Spock, fans of Garashir (Garak/Bashir) have been noticing the chemistry of these two since they first appeared on screen together. Unlike Kirk/Spock, however, even the actors for Garak and Bashir have campaigned for and encouraged a more intimate reading of the characters’ relationship.
Andrew Robinson, the actor who plays Garak, has gone on record multiple times saying, “It’s sexual attraction that brings [Garak] to Dr. Bashir as well as...being a spy.”
In an interview with Comics Beat, Alexander Siddig, who plays Dr. Bashir, confirmed that he was aware of and encouraged how Robinson portrayed Garak’s approach. (Side note: the article from Comic Beats is a fascinating interview with Alexander Siddig about being an Arab American actor, especially in the 90s. I highly suggest giving it a read.)
The two actors doubled down on this portrayal throughout the series. Many of their scenes play like an old married couple having the same arguments over and over for the fun of it. It’s easy to see why fans eagerly embraced their relationship’s potential, even after the series ended.
Robinson and Siddig have even acted out fan-written scripts of the two characters being together post-series. If that’s not clear-cut support for a relationship, I don’t know what is.
Enter Star Trek: Lower Decks.
The episode “Fissure Quest” is set on a ship entirely manned by characters from across the Star Trek Multiverse (an idea long since established by TOS and played with by subsequent series). The ship includes a version of Garak, who became a doctor, and a medical hologram of Dr. Bashir, both voiced by their original actors.
Yes, the hologram thing does sound weird at first, but it’s Star Trek, so hologram Bashir is sentient and can interact with the world around him.
The very first time these two are introduced, they’re called a married couple and are shown laughing and talking together. Throughout the episode, they have a familiar old-married-couple argument that ends with Bashir asking why they argued and Garak saying it’s fun.
And, if all of that wasn’t plain enough, Garak and Bashir share a kiss on screen before Garak goes off to fight aliens attacking the ship.
Within hours of the episode airing, one fan made a supercut of all the Garashir scenes and posted it to YouTube. Someone sharing this video link is how I learned of the episode.
The collective reaction to this episode on my side of the internet (a side filled with long-form social media posts about Holodecks being HR nightmares and officer uniform analysis) was, to put it succinctly, “IT’S ABOUT TIME!!”
But, while we on the internet might have felt this was long overdue, I don’t think we should forget all the good Star Trek has already done.
Star Trek's Legacy of Representation
Representation has long been a strong suit of the franchise. While every iteration of the franchise has been a criticism of the present, they have also sought to paint a future where everyone within the Federation is equal.
The original series had an incredibly diverse cast for the 1960s, employing George Takei as Sulu, Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, and Walter Koenig as Chekov (a Russian character on an NBC show in the late '60s following the post-World War II Red Scare and in the midst of the Cold War between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.).
The show has seen its fair share of controversial relationships, too.
In TOS, Kirk and Uhura kiss, which caught the studio a lot of flak from viewers for showing an interracial romance.
In DS9, two female-presenting characters kiss because one of them is the ex-wife of the symbiont that is connected to the other character. Yes, a little confusing, but it makes sense in the show, I promise. The criticism this kiss received is believed by many fans to be one of the reasons Garak and Dr. Bashir didn’t get together during the show’s run.
The canonizations of Spirk and Garashir are a vindication. They are a nod to fans who have remained loyal to the franchise and everything it means. They are the work of creators who acknowledge all these relationships could have been in their time, a promise of what they can be to fans in the future.
Perhaps I'm putting too much stock in a franchise whose pilot series used fancy salt-shakers as their portable medical scanners. Maybe I'm not reading into it enough. Either way, it's hard to describe just how much this franchise and the choices it has made mean, but let me try.
This might not feel like much to us now, but when these episodes aired, interracial or queer relationships were huge risks pushed by show-runners. In the worst-case scenarios, their show would have been canceled, and they might have been blacklisted from the industry.
While Star Trek might be a show about a brighter future, we can’t forget it is produced in our present and comes from our past. Studios and streaming platforms have been and will be worried about their profit margins. Nothing secures profit margins like staying safe and avoiding risks that could anger investors and the audience. Convincing a studio to take what they believe is a fiscal risk is no easy feat, but Star Trek has been finding ways since the 1960s.
I can’t wait to see what risks the franchise takes next.
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