Today In STAR TREK History: June 2nd

Pull my finger!

Welcome to our round-up of the Star Trek episodes which received their premiere broadcast on this day throughout the show's long history, along with anything else of note that may have taken place. All viewing figures quoted are for U.S. premiere broadcast (unless noted).

June 2nd
The two-part series finale of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered on this day in 1999. Titled What You Leave Behind it was the 175th and 176th episodes of the series, and the 25th and 26th episodes of the seventh season. What You Leave Behind sees the end of the long-running plot arc of the Dominion War, and the fulfillment of protagonist Benjamin Sisko's destiny as "Emissary of the Prophets".

After the show aired, a poll was carried out jointly between Star Trek: Communicator (the official Star Trek fan club magazine) and the Star Trek Continuum (the authorized Star Trek website at the time), with What You Leave Behind voted as the second best episode of the series (Trials and Tribble-ations came first).

Born on this day in 1977, Zachary John Quinto had built a resume of guest starring roles on shows including, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Charmed and Six Feet Under before landing the part of computer expert Adam Kaufman in the third season of 24 (a role he played in 23 of the 24 episodes), but it was as Sylar, the primary antagonist from the science fiction drama series Heroes (2006–2010), where Quinto first came to prominence.

Quinto would of course go on to portray Spock in the film Star Trek (2009) and its sequels Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016). His casting as a young Spock in the J. J. Abrams-directed reboot was officially announced at the 2007 Comic-Con. Speaking alongside Leonard Nimoy at a press conference to promote the first reboot film, Quinto revealed that Nimoy had been given casting approval over who would play the role of the young Spock.

"For me Leonard's involvement was only liberating, frankly, I knew that he had approval over the actor that would play young Spock, so when I got the role I knew from the beginning it was with his blessing."

Happy birthday to you.

Join us again next time for another round-up of the episodes broadcast, the movie's released, the special events, the birthday's celebrated and anything else of note that went down on this day in Star Trek history.