As Paramount seems to solidify its streaming service, what was as soon as huge entry to beloved franchises like Star Trek has develop into slowly however certainly tighter—till a future the place Paramount+ goes to be the one choice to entry Trek new or previous. Which makes it an issue when any episode of the sequence seemingly vanishes from the streaming ether. Especially when it’s one of many franchise’s strongest.

Yesterday, U.S.-based mostly Trek followers discovered themselves in a little bit of a panic when the nineteenth episode of Deep Space Nine’s first season, “Duet,” was seemingly nowhere to be discovered on Paramount+. Paramount has aimed to make its service extra profitable not simply by creating what appears like a metric buttload of recent Star Trek to entice viewers, however by steadily making Paramount+ the one place to stream traditional Star Trek too, as sequence like Voyager, Deep Space Nine, TNG, and extra start to fall off platforms like Netflix to make approach for an unique residence inside Paramount. So it’s by no means nice when episodes you could possibly beforehand entry simply nice occur to fall into the digital equal of a wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, and Paramount+ itself is pressured to say {that a} streaming rights subject for certainly one of its personal reveals is someway the issue:

Frustrating for followers at one of the best of occasions, however much more so when it’s an episode as beloved as “Duet.” Although later seasons of Deep Space Nine—which deal with the dramatic, morally grey areas of the Federation being pushed right into a devastating conflict with the Dominion—typically led to the first few pre-Dominion-War seasons of the present being left a little bit under-appreciated because the thematic greens earlier than dessert, “Duet” is an instance of simply how early on DS9 might show it was able to some unimaginable emotional storytelling.

The episode focuses on the lingering trauma Major Kira, a former Bajoran freedom fighter turned liaison officer between her individuals and the Federation aboard DS9, feels concerning the Cardassians’ brutal occupation of her homeworld previous to the sequence’ starting. When a Cardassian affected by a deadly situation prompted at a former Cardassian work camp in the course of the occupation involves the station for remedy, Kira is livid, accusing the person of heinous conflict crimes. At first, the Cardassian claims to have been a submitting clerk on the camp, however beneath Kira’s emotional interrogation, he reveals himself as Gul Darhe’el, the “Butcher of Gallitep.”

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Only, the Cardassian isn’t. As Kira involves be taught, “Duet” is concerning the ache felt by individuals on each side from the Cardassian’s occupation of Bajor, and Darhe’el is certainly none apart from a submitting clerk named Marritza, impersonating the conflict prison as a technique to course of his personal trauma and disgrace for enjoying a component within the horrors of the occupation. The episode provides a gut-wrenchingly emotional story about prejudices within the wake of a devastatingly traumatic occasion, and the way individuals caught up within the horrifying acts of oppression are pressured to course of that, regardless of how uninvolved they could have been within the bigger battle. It’s a very unimaginable piece of Star Trek storytelling, with sensible performances from Nana Visitor and Harris Yulin as Kira and Marritza—and a stellar instance of why Deep Space Nine’s early seasons shouldn’t simply be critically dismissed because the predecessors to the actually fascinating stuff.

So you’ll be able to see why Star Trek followers acquired a bit miffed at it randomly vanishing from what’s going to quickly be the only residence of streaming any form of Star Trek. And not simply any, both. Eventually, DS9 producer Steven Ira Behr weighed in on the absence of “Duet” on Twitter—and it was solely then that Paramount+ backtracked, with its absence not a problem of rights however an obvious miscommunication:

“Duet” lives to tug in your heartstrings on Paramount+ as soon as extra. But ought to it take commentary from a present’s producers to repair points like this? It’s not the primary time that Paramount’s been caught in a Trek streaming snafu these days both—on the worldwide entrance, because the studio pushes to deliver Paramount+ to extra markets, Discovery followers have been enraged to find that the sequence had been fully pulled from its worldwide residence on Netflix simply days earlier than the premiere of the fourth season. That additionally necessitated intervention from members of the forged and crew, resulting in a hasty retreat and compromise so worldwide viewers might sustain with the present alongside U.S. ones.

For now, traditional Trek nonetheless exists partly on streamers within the U.S. outdoors of Paramount+. But if Paramount needs its personal platform to be the definitive residence of Star Trek streaming, it might’t actually afford to have any episode, not to mention iconic ones, randomly vanish into inaccessibility. io9’s reached out to Paramount for touch upon the scenario over “Duet,” and can replace this put up if we hear again. But within the meantime, why not watch “Duet” your self? Some individuals may say it’s fairly rattling important.

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