Summary

• DS9's "If Wishes Were Horses" episode brought together the worlds of Star Trek and the Brothers Grimm, using imagination as a means of interaction with the crew.
• Like Strange New Worlds, DS9's fairy tale episode centers around the relationship between a father and his daughter, with a double-edged sword of dreams coming true.
• The connection between DS9 and Strange New Worlds is further solidified by the revelation that Benny Russell, a character in DS9, is a real author in the Trek universe.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine did a fairy tale episode decades before Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' "The Elysian Kingdom." For two seasons, Strange New Worlds has brilliantly embraced multiple genres, from survival horror to musical. For example, SNW season 1, episode 8, "The Elysian Kingdom" was a fairy tale adventure that saw Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the USS Enterprise bring a children's adventure story to life. There are many Star Trek episodes about imagination being brought to life, but nothing as overt as Strange New Worlds' fully-fledged fairy tale.
And yet, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1, episode 16, "If Wishes Were Horses" brought the worlds of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek and the Brothers Grimm together for the very first time. The episode is a classic Star Trek story about an alien race seeking to understand humanity by finding a common language. In the case of the unnamed aliens in DS9's fairy tale episode, imagination is the means that they use to interact with Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and the DS9 crew. This enables Doctor Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) to meet his fantasized ideal of Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell), and also brings a classic fairy tale character to life.

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