star trek alternate timeline

Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline explained

We've remodulated our tricorders to help you make sense of the Star Trek Kelvin timeline from the recent Star Trek movies.

Our Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline explained article is here to tell Spock from Spock.

How do you reboot a franchise that’s been around more than 50 years old and whose fan base is, shall we say, passionate about the accuracy of its canon? If you wipe the slate completely clean and start afresh, you lose the benefit of five decades of lore from which to draw inspiration and characters. If you keep the continuity, you’re shackled to decades of details from which you can’t escape. What can you do? If you’re Star Trek, you create the Kelvin Timeline.

The Kelvin timeline, or "alternate universe Trek", creates a new environment in which the events of the more recent Star Trek films (Star Trek, Into Darkness, Beyond) won’t contradict those that came before. It’s also how Spock ended up meeting himself. 

If you want to rewatch the new Star Trek movies, our Star Trek streaming guide will show you where to watch them all online. And if you're curious to see how the new movies stack up against the classics, check out our Star Trek movies, ranked worst to best article. Now, let's dive into the Star Trek Kelvin timeline.

Event One: Nero Travels Through Time 

According to Star Trek (2009), the planet Romulus was destroyed by a supernova in the year 2387. Ambassador Spock attempted to use "red matter", a substance so powerful that a single drop can destroy a planet, to save Romulus by destroying the supernova. He did indeed manage to destroy the supernova, but not in time to prevent the planet’s destruction. To make matters worse, both his ship, the experimental Jellyfish, and the Romulan mining ship Narada were pulled into the black hole’s wake and sent hurtling backwards in time. Spock emerged in 2258 while the Romulans landed in 2233. 

The Narada’s captain, Nero decides to use this opportunity to take out his grief on the organization he holds responsible for the ruin of Romulus and, by extension, the death of his family: the Federation. One of his first acts is to destroy the U.S.S. Kelvin, captained heroically to the very last minute by George Kirk, who lives just long enough to name his newborn son James.

And thus begins the Kelvin timeline. 

Spock, Meet Spock 

Jim Kirk grows up as a rebellious punk constantly trying to outrun his father’s long shadow. Christopher Pike sees something of value in him and urges him to join Starfleet, which he eventually does. Through a contrivance of events, he ends up aboard the Enterprise along with Spock, Bones McCoy, Uhura, and the rest of the Original Series crew. 

It’s now 2258 and Ambassador Spock emerges from the black hole just in time to be scooped up by Nero, who keeps the Jellyfish — and its cache of red matter — for himself while abandoning Spock on the frozen planet of Delta Vega. He wants Spock to bear witness as the Narada drills a hole into the center of Vulcan and releases red matter at the planet’s core. The Enterprise tries to stop him and fails, though they do manage to rescue Spock’s father, Sarek. Nero is eventually defeated, and Spock's young and old take a moment to reflect on their coexistence

Enter Khan, Exit Kirk 

Nero’s too-close-to-success-for-comfort attempt to destroy Earth shifts Starfleet’s ethos from one of discovery to one of protection. They still want to "seek out new life forms," but only to find out how dangerous they are. In Into Darkness (2013), Alexander Marcus, leader of the secretive Section 31, finds the SS Botany Bay, stuffed to the rafters full of augmented humans in cryostasis. He wakes one of them up — Khan Noonien Singh — and forces him to build weapons that Earth could use to defend itself against alien threats. 

Huge surprise, Khan betrays Marcus, exacting vengeance on various Starfleet targets. In doing so, he kills Kirk’s father figure Christopher Pike. Marcus tries to leverage Kirk’s hot-headedness by sending Kirk after Khan, who has fled to the Klingon homeworld of Kronos. He figures Kirk will kill, not capture, Khan, thus removing a threat and evidence of Marcus’ secret project.

Kirk goes off script and keeps Khan alive, much to the chagrin of Admiral Marcus, who tries to blow them all the heck up. The sacrifice that leads to victory happens just as in the original, except in the Kelvin timeline it’s Kirk who gives his life to save his crew. In the prime timeline, Genesis brought Spock back to life, but here it’s Khan’s blood that gets the job done.

That bit of ugliness behind them, the Enterprise receives its five-year-mission. You know the one.

Farewell to Spock 

In Star Trek: Beyond (2016), the Enterprise discovers the USS Franklin, a Federation ship that had been lost for decades. Here’s what’s fun about that: the Kelvin timeline doesn’t start until 2233. The Franklin disappeared before that, so it exists in both timelines, which means a different version of it could theoretically pop up in Star Trek media that doesn’t adhere to the Kelvin timeline. 

In Kelvin, however, the Franklin is half-buried after crashing into the surface of the planet Altamid. Few of its former crew remain, and those that do are unrecognizable, having been transformed by technology they’ve used to keep themselves alive. The Franklin’s captain, Balthazar Edison, now known as Krall, rejects Starfleet ideals of peace. He’s a soldier and he believes that he should be allowed to do what he does best. He returns to starbase Yorktown with the goal of commandeering it to launch an attack on the Federation, but first he’ll have to kill every living thing in residence. Kirk et al save the day, of course. 

This is also the point at which Ambassador Spock leaves the timeline due to the passing of the peerless Leonard Nimoy. Kelvin Spock had been planning to rejoin what remains of the Vulcan people, but instead chooses to honor his other self by remaining in Starfleet.

Crossover With the Prime Timeline 

Keeping track of the Kelvin timeline is important because there are still Star Trek properties operating in the prime timeline, such as Picard . However, there has been a little bit of crossover between the two. Picard takes place long after the titular character has quit Starfleet, and early on we discover the destruction of Romulus was why. 

Picard wanted to launch a rescue mission to save as many Romulans as possible before the detonation of the supernova, but Starfleet pushed back. He went forward with it anyway, but when his ships were decimated by a fleet of rogue synths, Starfleet gave up all rescue efforts. Picard resigned in disgust. Everything that happens after that — and therefore everything taking place in the show — is part of the prime timeline, despite being kicked off by Event One.

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Susan Arendt is a freelance writer, editor, and consultant living in Burleson, TX. She's a huge sci-fi TV and movie buff, and will talk your Vulcan ears off about Star Trek. You can find more of her work at Wired, IGN, Polygon, or look for her on Twitter: @SusanArendt. Be prepared to see too many pictures of her dogs.

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Star Trek: A Watching & Reading Guide to the Kelvin Timeline

What's the best chronological order to watch and read the Star Trek Kelvin timeline stories in? Here's our suggestion...

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This article comes from Den of Geek UK .

Over the years, Star Trek has presented us with many alternative timelines and parallel dimensions, but none have become so prominent as the Kelvin Timeline. Home to alternative versions of the U.S.S. Enterprise crew of Captain James T. Kirk, science officer Mr. Spock, chief medical officer Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, communications officer Nyota Uhura, chief engineer Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott, Helmsman Hikaru Sulu, and Navigator Pavel Chekov.

You will probably know the Kelvin Timeline from the 2009 movie Star Trek , and its sequels Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond . However, there is more to this alternate reality than just those movies.

Here we will give you an unofficial guide to the Kelvin Timeline, consisting of movies, TV series, video games, and comics. “Punch it!”

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1. Star Trek: Enterprise

Medium: TV show, seasons 1 to 4 (2001-2005)

The adventures of the Enterprise NX-01 crew, led by Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), take place between the years 2151 and 2155. Or rather, those are the adventures we see in seasons 1 to 4, as the show was cancelled before it could cover topics like the Earth-Romulan War, the origin of the Borg Queen, and the formation of the Federation. The creation of the Kelvin Timeline takes place 78 years later, in 2233, and therefore makes Star Trek: Enterprise the only TV series set in both timelines.

In Star Trek Into Darkness , a model of the NX-01 Enterprise can be seen in Admiral Markus’ collection. Video footage in Star Trek Beyond shows us that the crew on the U.S.S. Franklin wore the same uniforms as the NX-01 Enterprise crew. And the Franklin’s Captain, Balthazar M. Edison, is implied to have been part of the MACO attachment of the NX-01 Enterprise during Earth’s conflict with the Xindi.

What one must wonder is how the Borg that crashed in the Arctic after the Prime Timeline’s time travel movie Star Trek: First Contact exactly shows up in the episode “Regeneration.” Does that mean the Kelvin Timeline has no further effect on the past of the Prime Timeline, or that The Next Generation era turns out (mostly) the same in the Kelvin Timeline? We can only wait to see how the Kelvin Timeline develops.

The final episode of the show, “These Are the Voyages … ,”is only partially canon to the Kelvin Timeline, due to it basically being a holodeck episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation set during its season 7 episode “The Pegasus.” The historical parts involving the Enterprise NX-01 crew did happen, but everything involving Star Trek: The Next Generation does not.

2. Star Trek: Countdown

Medium: comic (2009)

This comic from IDW Publishing written by Mike Johnson and Tim Jones, after a story by movie scribes Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, further connects the Prime Timeline with the Kelvin Timeline and gives more motivation to movie antagonist Nero. The story leads up to the events in Star Trek , but is set in the Prime Timeline eight years after the events of the movie Star Trek: Nemesis in 2387, and it picks up some threads from Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s “Unification” two-parter. It furthermore shows where The Next Generation crew ended up since.

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Romulus, and the rest of the galaxy, is in danger of a massively destructive supernova. Spock, now ambassador on Romulus, tells the Romulan Senate of the threat and proposes the use of the Vulcan substance called “red matter” as a solution, which causes quite a stir. With a ship called Jellyfish, designed by Geordi La Forge, Spock attempts to use the red matter to create a singularity to absorb the supernova. Unfortunately, this comes too late for Romulus and the planet is destroyed. This leads to the crew of the mining ship Narada and its Captain Nero to seek revenge on Ambassador Spock and follow him through the singularity and into the past.

The destruction of Romulus eventually leads to the Prime Timeline events in the MMORPG videogame Star Trek Online . However, the canon status of that game’s story can be overwritten by potential future post- Star Trek: Nemesis projects if the power that be choose to do so.

Just recently, Eaglemoss reprinted Star Trek: Countdown as the first hardcover paperback volume in their Star Trek graphic novel collection, with a bonus classic –1960s comic story “Planet of No Return.”

3. Star Trek

Medium: movie (2009)

Directed by J.J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the story starts on the U.S.S. Kelvin in 2233. The encounter between the Romulan ship Narada emerging from the singularity and the Kelvin causes a diversion of the Prime Timeline and the creation of the Kelvin Timeline. After this, the story picks up in 2255 when Captain Christopher Pike convinces James T. Kirk to enlist in Starfleet. Three years later, in 2258, the Narada and its Captain Nero show up again to continue their vengeance for the destruction of Romulus, and threaten the Federation.

The Kelvin incident causes a number of diversions from the Prime Timeline. For example, James T. Kirk’s father, George Kirk, dies saving the Kelvin escape shuttles from the Narada, while his wife, Winona, gives birth to James T. Kirk on one of the shuttles. In the Prime Timeline, Kirk was born on Earth in Ohio.

Another difference of note in the Kelvin Timeline is an earlier born Pavel Chekov. In the Prime Timeline, Chekov was born in 2245, while in the Kelvin Timeline he was born in 2241. A change that was probably made because Chekov would otherwise be a 13-year-old during the events of Star Trek . Former Enterprise Captain Christopher Pike also goes through a number of changes that arguably benefit him, as the events of Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Cage” most likely do not occur.

The biggest change might be to the Enterprise herself. The interior of the ship is a lot different from what we saw in The Original Series . Most notably is the engineering section, which is humongous when compared to all others in Star Trek shows or movies – in fact it’s actually the Budweiser Brewery in Los Angeles. The ship’s measurements are also different. The Prime Timeline Constitution-class Enterprise is 288.6 meters in length, while the Galaxy-class Enterprise-D is 641 meters in length, but both are topped by the Kelvin Timeline Constitution-class Enterprise that has a length of 1,200 meters, according to the 2009 reference book Star Trek – The Art of The Film . However, the Enterprise we see in the Kelvin Timeline movies is likely not the counterpart of the Prime Timeline Enterprise. More on that later when we talk about the comic Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness .

IDW also adapted the movie into a six-issue comic, if you’d rather keep on reading.

There is also a tie-in videogame called Star Trek D·A·C , an arcade style top-down shooter. The “D·A·C” in the title stands for the game modes in the game: deathmatch, assault, and conquest.

4. Star Trek: Nero

This four-issue comic from IDW written again by Mike Johnson and Tim Jones, after a story by movie scribes Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, takes place during Star Trek . It follows Nero and his Narada crew between the moment they emerge from the singularity and their second appearance in the movie. The comic tells us what they did in those years. Actually, the comic takes a deleted scene of Nero on a Klingon prison planet and expands upon it. It’s a shame that scene was cut from the movie.

It might be best to read this comic after seeing Star Trek , as it’s quite spoiler heavy. Repeat viewers might find added motivation to Nero’s actions in the movie.

5. Star Trek, Vol. 1

Medium: comic, issues 1 to 4 (2011)

Overseen by writer/producer Roberto Orci and written by Mike Johnson, the Star Trek comic from IDW gives us Kelvin Timeline versions of Prime Timeline Star Trek: The Original Series stories. In this first volume, we get two stories set after Star Trek . The first is “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” which was  The Original Series ‘ the second pilot episode after “The Cage.” The second story is “The Galileo Seven,” which is a season 1 episode.

The comic contradicts Star Trek Into Darkness a bit, as in the movie Kirk says he didn’t lose any crew members during his first year as captain.

6. Star Trek, Vol. 2

Medium: comic, issues 5 to 8 (2011)

The second volume tells a Kelvin version of The Original Series ’s “Operation – Annihilate!,” the season 1 finale. This version of the story gives us flashbacks to just after young Kirk crashed the Corvette in the movie. The comic makes it clear that, unlike what the credits of Star Trek told us, the owner of the Corvette was not Kirk’s stepfather but his maternal uncle, Frank. Frank has a live-action appearance in a deleted scene of the movie.

The second story, called “Vulcan’s Vengeance,” is the first story not to adapt an Original Series story. However, according to writer Mike Johnson, the story is to be seen as the Kelvin Timeline’s answer to The Original Series ’s “Balance of Terror.” In the story, a group of rogue Vulcans want to take revenge on the Romulan Empire after Nero’s deeds in Star Trek . Spock attempts to infiltrate, but gets a nasty surprise.

7. Star Trek, Vol. 3

Medium: comic, issues 9 to 12 (2012)

Volume 3 starts with “The Return of the Archons,” an adaptation of the season 1 episode of The Original Series . In it the Enterprise gets a lead on the U.S.S. Archon, a starship that disappeared a century earlier.

The next story had to happen at some point. It’s a Kelvin Timeline version of The Original Series  season 2 episode “The Trouble with Tribbles.” In the story, called “The Truth About Tribbles,” Scotty has found an ideal pet for his cousin Chris, a furry little animal called a Tribble. It’s only after Scotty has teleported the pet Tribble to his cousin on Earth that the Enterprise’s crew discovers the unfortunate side effect of two Tribbles in one room.

The stories of Volume 1 , Volume 2 , and Volume 3 are also collected in Star Trek: New Adventures, Vol. 1 .

8. Star Trek, Vol. 4

Medium: comic, issues 13 to 16 (2012)

IDW’s fourth volume presents us with three stories. The first is “Hendorff” about the life of red shirt security officer Hendorff, which you might better know by his Kirk given nickname “Cupcake.” In the story, Hendorff muses about the Kelvin version of events of The Original Series  season 2 episode “The Apple.”

The second story is called “Keenser’s Story” and tells us how he ended up as Scotty’s sidekick.

The third story, “Mirrored,” is the Kelvin Timeline version of The Original Series season 2 episode “Mirror, Mirror.” In it Bones and Scotty have a discussion about alternate timelines. Following that we are transported to a Mirror Kelvin Timeline where there is no Federation of Planets but a Terran Empire, and where Mirror Spock is captain of the ISS Enterprise. Mirror Kirk, however, plans his revenge on Mirror Spock.

9. Star Trek, Vol. 5

Medium: comic, issues 17 to 20 (2013)

It’s flashback time in this fifth volume of IDW’s comic. In “Bones,” written by Mike Johnson and F. Leonard Johnson, we learn how Dr. Leonard McCoy ended up in that shuttle Kirk boards early on in Star Trek . In “The Voice of Falling Star,” written by Ryan Parrott, we discover more about Uhura and her first meeting with Spock. Then, in “Scotty,” we see how a young Montgomery Scott found his interest in engineering. And finally, in “Red Level Down,” it’s revealed that Sulu and Chekov’s lives were intertwined since their time at Starfleet Academy.

10. Star Trek

Medium: video game (2013)

In April 2013, Paramount Digital Entertainment and Namco Bandai published Star Trek , a video game developed by Digital Extremes for PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3. The game stars the likenesses and voice talents of the cast of the movies. With a story by Marianne Krawczyk, with input from movie scribes Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, and comic writer Mike Johnson. It’s set between the comic Star Trek, Vol. 5 and the movie Star Trek Into Darkness , about a year after Star Trek in 2259. The Enterprise encounters a group of Vulcan scientists who want to create a new Vulcan home planet. They however open a rip in space, prompting a Gorn invasion.

The story’s canon status is in dispute. While Krawczyk’s story had input from the Star Trek movie scribes, and Senior Vice President of Paramount Pictures and producer on the game Brian Miller said the story was set in the Kelvin Timeline canon, Roberto Orci later said it was not canon. Probably because the game was panned by critics. Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams said he was “emotionally hurt” by the game’s poor quality and reviews and that it hurt Star Trek Into Darkness by being released just before it. Nevertheless, in 2013, the 24th issue of IDW’s canon Star Trek comic reveals the story of the video game to be canon.

11. Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness

Medium: comic (2013)

IDW’s four-issue prelude to the movie Star Trek Into Darkness , written by Mike Johnson, after a story by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, isn’t as heavily involved with the plot of the movie as Star Trek: Countdown was with Star Trek ’s. The story of the comic chronicles the “Mudd incident” that is mentioned in Star Trek Into Darkness and explains how they got that ship they use to go to Qo’noS. But more importantly, we are introduced to the Kelvin Timeline version of Captain Robert April, who in the Prime Timeline was the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise before Captain Pike and Captain Kirk. In the Kelvin Timeline, this is still true. How is that possible, as the U.S.S. Enterprise was brand new in Star Trek ? Well, April was the captain of a U.S.S. Enterprise before the U.S.S. Enterprise Kirk is the captain of. Yes, in the Kelvin timeline there is an Enterprise between the NX-01 Enterprise and the U.S.S. Enterprise Kirk helms.

Interestingly, the way the comic portrays April’s Enterprise is more reminiscent to the Enterprise we saw in The Original Series . The comic also tells us April’s Enterprise was used before the Kelvin Timeline was created. This could mean that April’s Enterprise was the Kelvin Timeline counterpart to the Prime Timeline’s Enterprise and not the one we see in the movies. Why isn’t Kirk’s Enterprise not called the Enterprise-A then? Theorize in the comments section!

12. Star Trek Into Darkness

Medium: movie (2013)

Again directed by J.J. Abrams, and written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof. It’s now 2259, a year after the events in Star Trek , and we meet the Enterprise crew on the primitive planet Niburu. Captain Kirk and his crew violate the Prime Directive when saving the native tribes people from an impending volcanic eruption. Back on Earth this leads to a demotion for Kirk by a disappointed Admiral Pike. However, when rogue Starfleet officer John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) attacks a Starfleet summit, Kirk and his crew is sent to apprehend him. This leads to revelations of the dark side of Starfleet with which Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans are familiar with, and a Kelvin Timeline retelling of the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan .

Paramount Pictures and production company Bad Robot went to great lengths to “cloak” the true name of Cumberbatch’s character. They redubbed promotional scenes, and actors had a hard time talking around it in press interviews, often going to answers like “Cumberbatch plays a character who has previously appeared in Star Trek canon.” This isn’t untrue, as Lieutenant Harrison was indeed a character in The Original Series , appearing in season 1 episodes “Charlie X,” “The Galileo Seven,” “Arena,” “The Return of the Archons,” and “Operation – Annihilate!”

When Kirk and company visit Klingon home planet Qo’noS, something very interesting happens. Qo’noS’ moon Praxis is already destroyed. This might have enormous repercussions for the Kelvin Timeline, as in the Prime Timeline the Klingons where forced to peace talks after the moon blew up, as seen in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . In Star Trek Into Darkness , the destruction of Praxis isn’t seen as something that will halt the Klingons, meaning that those peace talks with the Federation might not occur.

Keep an eye out for a Star Wars easter egg around the one hour and seventeen minutes mark, as astromech droid R2-D2 flies by.

The U.S.S. Vengeance is said to be twice the size of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Which is enormous, as according to the 2009 reference book Star Trek – The Art of The Film the Enterprise is 1,200 meters in length, meaning that the Vengeance would be roughly 2,400 metres in length! It has to be said that there have been a number of contradicting measurements given for the Enterprise’s size, but still, that would mean the ship is still a lot bigger than the Prime Timeline’s U.S.S. Enterprise-E which is 685 metres.

To depict the engineering section, the L.A. Budweiser Brewery was revisited, but also the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, which is used as the Enterprise’s warp core.

While this was the first Star Trek movie in 3D, certain scenes where shot in the IMAX format. These scenes have had a bumpy road getting to home media. At firstthe IMAX version of the movie, which removes the black bars on the top and bottom of your screen, was only available on iTunes. Eventually this was fixed with the Blu-ray release of Star Trek: The Compendium , a collection of both Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness . But this release doesn’t have the 3D version of Star Trek Into Darkness . The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray of Star Trek Into Darkness does include the IMAX scenes, but also lacks a 3D version.

13. Star Trek: Khan

Medium: comic (2013, 2014)

This IDW five-issue series tells the story of the Kelvin Timeline’s Khan Noonien Singh before and after Star Trek Into Darkness . As we see Khan during the Eugenics Wars, this means this part of his story is set in the Prime Timeline. When Khan is awakened, he is the Kelvin Timeline version, and we see how he got on before the events of Star Trek Into Darkness . Most importantly, this comic explains how Khan goes from being a Sikh, as portrayed by Ricardo Montalban in the Prime Timeline, to the very English Benedict Cumberbatch in the Kelvin Timeline. Something that probably would have been better addressed in the movie.

14. Star Trek, Vol. 6: After Darkness

Medium: comic, issues 21 to 24 (2013)

Volume 6 of the Star Trek comic picks up after   Star Trek Into Darkness , which ended in 2260. The U.S.S. Enterprise is in preparation to embark on a five-year mission into unknown space. Doctor Carol Marcus has joined the crew, and Spock has come under the influence of the Vulcan mating condition known as “Pon Farr.” This calls for a detour to New Vulcan, where Spock’s girlfriend Uhura finds a nasty surprise waiting. Meanwhile, the Klingons are very much not amused by Kirk’s little visit to Qo’noS, and Section 31 is looking to partner up to get their revenge.

The other story in this volume involves the Gorn, and confirms that the story of the Star Trek video game is to be considered canon.

The stories of Star Trek Volume 6 , together with Volume 4 and Volume 5 , are also collected in Star Trek: New Adventures, Vol. 2 , which does not include Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness or Star Trek: Khan .

15. Star Trek, Vol. 7: The Khitomer Conflict

Medium: comic, issues 25 to 28 (2013)

The Enterprise is about to embark on the five-year mission into unknown space, picking up the last new crew members at a starbase, including, to the surprise of Hikaru Sulu, engineering officer Yuki Sulu, his younger sister.

On the planet Khitomer, a new Klingon colony is being set up. However, the colony is soon destroyed by Romulan warships who have acquired some technology from a third party. The Enterprise gets involved and clashes with Klingon ships that have an eerie resemblance to Nero’s Nerada.

Yuki Sulu is a new character that hasn’t appeared before in the Prime Timeline that we could find. It is unknown if her existence is caused by the creation of the Kelvin Timeline or that she just was never mentioned in the Prime Timeline.

You might remember the planet Khitomer from Prime Timeline movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

16. Star Trek, Vol. 8

Medium: comic, issues 29 to 34 (2014)

Volume 8 features three stories. In the first story, “Parallel Lives,” we follow a mission on the U.S.S. Enterprise helmed by Captain Jane Tiberius Kirk. Yes, Jane Kirk. This is a parallel universe to the Kelvin Timeline where the same things happened but everyone is gender swapped. This means that most of the main characters are now female. The story also explores whether Kirk’s contact with Khan’s blood will have repercussions in the future. Eventually, this gender-swapped crew encounters another Enterprise – the Enterprise of Captain James Tiberius Kirk.

In Star Trek Into Darkness , you might have spotted the cyborg-looking crew member on the bridge. This is Starfleet’s first and only Humanoid Mainframe Interface, Science Officer 0718. Where did he come from all of a sudden? “I, Enterprise” explains.

In “Lost Apollo,” the Enterprise’s away team gets stuck on a planet where they find a connection to NASA’s Apollo program.

The stories of Star Trek Volume 7 and Volume 8 are also collected in Star Trek: New Adventures, Vol. 3 .

17. Star Trek, Vol. 9: The Q Gambit

Medium: comic, issues 35 to 40 (2014, 2015)

This story has a lot of connections to The Next Generation era. We return to the Prime Timeline post- Star Trek: Countdown . Q visits Ambassador Jean-Luc Picard on the U.S.S. Enterprise-E. Here Q informs Picard that Spock survived and that his actions created the Kelvin Timeline. Before Q leaves, he tells Picard that Spock’s actions may have saved the Prime Timeline but might have doomed the future of the Kelvin Timeline. Then Q departs to visit the Kelvin Timeline U.S.S. Enterprise, where he takes Kirk on a trip to the Kelvin version of The Next Generation era.

18. Star Trek, Vol. 10

Medium: comic, issues 41 to 45 (2015)

In “Behemoth,” the Enterprise encounters its first alien lifeform in unknown space in a damaged ship. This unknown alien might be their only hope to stop a big threat coming their way.

In “Eurydice,” directly after the events of “Behemoth,” the Enterprise crew find themselves in the unknown space of the Delta Quadrant. Decades of travel away from home and with a low energy supply, they seemingly find help back to Federation space from female alien Eurydice.

19. Star Trek, Vol. 11

Medium: comic, issues 46 to 49 (2015)

Having found a way to get back to Federation space, tensions rise among the crew when the Enterprise gets stuck in a pocket of interphase, a state in which time and space cease to exist. Then the Enterprise gets stuck in “The Tholian Webs.” This story is a Kelvin reimagining of The Original Series  season 3 episode “The Tholian Web.”

Seeing the leadership potential in Lieutenant Sulu, Captain Kirk gives him command over an away team in “Deity.” On the planet, Sulu’s team encounter the native population during a ritual. When their deity shows up, Sulu’s team and the Enterprise have a clash with the Prime Directive.

The stories of Star Trek Volume 9: The Q Gambit , Volume 10 , and Volume 11 are also collected in Star Trek: New Adventures, Vol. 4 .

20. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Medium: comic (2015, 2016)

In 2258, the U.S.S. Enterprise crew are cadets at Starfleet Academy. When Cadet Uhura picks up a distress signal from the U.S.S. Slayton, she calls in some help from the other members of the would-be crew. However, when she gets close to the origin of the signal, Uhura gets stonewalled from further investigation, and the trail goes cold.

Three years later, in 2261, Vulcan Cadet T’laan wants to leave Starfleet Academy as she feels out of place. Her professor persuades her to stay to compete in the Starfleet Academy team in the Centennial Competition between academies from throughout the Federation, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Starfleet Academy. She joins a team consisting of the Andorian Shev, the Monchezkin K’bentayr, and the humans Lucia Gonzales and Grace Chen. During the competition this team also comes across the distress signal of the U.S.S. Slayton and start their own investigation.

21. Star Trek, Vol. 12

Medium: comic, issues 50 to 54 (2015, 2016)

“Live Evil” finds its inspiration in The Original Series season 2 episode “Mirror, Mirror.” When the Enterprise gets caught in an ion storm everything seems normal afterwards, until the Enterprise encounters a planet that hails them as the Imperial flagship. When Kirk leads an away team to the surface, they encounter no other than Khan Noonien Singh, man of peace.

Remember Uhura’s Orion roommate at Starfleet Academy, Gaila, with whom Kirk had a fling in Star Trek ? She is the central character in “Reunion.” When the Enterprise rendezvous with the U.S.S. Tereshkova, Gaila visits her red shirt brother Kai on the Enterprise. All seems fine until Gaila and Kai’s past comes knocking.

22. Star Trek, Vol. 13

Medium: comic, issues 55 to 60 (2016)

“Legacy of Spock: celebrates both the 50th anniversary of Star Trek as well as the late Leonard Nimoy. Set after Prime Spock attended the promotion of James T. Kirk to captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise, he intends to join the remainder of the Vulcan species. However, Spock’s father, Sarek, warns him that he should prepare for a cold greeting. The Vulcans want to resettle on the planet Ceti Alpha V, which causes Spock to speak up, as he very well knows that this planet soon will be a desolate place, as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan showed us. Meanwhile, Romulan elements see this as the opportune moment to snuff out the Vulcans…

The series finale of the ongoing Star Trek comic is “Connection.” In this story, both the Kelvin Timeline Enterprise crew and the Prime Timeline Enterprise crew encounter the same anomaly. This causes the minds of crewmembers to swap bodies. The only solution is for both crews to work together in both timelines.

23. Star Trek: Manifest Destiny

Medium: comic (2016)

This four-issue story, written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, is the final one before  Star Trek Beyond . The Enterprise encounters a rogue and very aggressive Klingon faction. The Enterprise is on red alert as the Klingons attempt to board the ship. If this situation isn’t defused quickly, war with the Klingon Empire is a high possibility.

24. Star Trek Beyond

Medium: movie (2016)

In 2263, after almost three years into the USS Enterprise’s five-year mission, the Enterprise visits the Federation Starbase Yorktown. When an escape pod is found drifting at a nearby nebula, the Enterprise investigates. The pod’s occupant, Kalara, claims her ship is stranded on the planet Altamid, located past the dangerous and unexplored nebula. When the Enterprise travels to the planet, they are greeted by a powerful, hostile force.

Unlike the previous two movies, Star Trek Beyond is directed by Justin Lin. Writing duties also changed, as Simon Pegg co-wrote the movie with Doug Jung. While Pegg reprises the role of Scotty, Jung also has a role in the movie. He plays Sulu’s husband, Ben, whom we meet on the Starbase Yorktown along with their daughter. While their daughter remains unnamed in the movie, it is possible that she is the Kelvin Timeline version of Demora Sulu, who we saw in the Prime Timeline movie Star Trek: Generations .

There is a black lining to the movie, as two stars from the series died before release. Leonard Nimoy fell into a coma on February 25, 2015, and died February 27, 2015, at the age of 83 of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Star Trek Beyond was dedicated to Nimoy.

Anton Yelchin died in June 2016, at the age of just 27. Star Trek Beyond was the first project of his that was released posthumously, and one of a number of projects dedicated to him. An “in memoriam” was included in Star Trek issue 60.

Released in the year of Star Trek ’s 50th Anniversary, there are multiple hints to the past of the franchise. The movie starts on the 966th day of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s five-year mission, a reference to 1966, the year that Star Trek: The Original Series first premiered on television screens. It also means the five-year mission is almost three years underway, which might be a reference to the three live-action seasons the show got. In the movie, Kirk says that the mission has begun to feel “episodic” – a reference to the episodic nature of The Original Series . Throughout the movie, you will see exactly 50 different new alien makeups, which was rewarded with a Oscar nomination for Best Makeup.

The passing of Leonard Nimoy is addressed in the movie, as Spock learns of the news. Among Prime Spock’s possessions is a picture of the Prime Timeline Enterprise crew. The U.S.S. Franklin and its crew are not only a call back to the Star Trek: Enterprise era, but the Franklin’s registry number NX-326 is also a reference to Leonard Nimoy’s birthday of March 26th. When Kirk asks Sulu if he can fly the Franklin, he responds with “Are you kidding me?” The line is delivered with the same expression and tone as George Takei’s Sulu in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . The name Franklin is also a reference to director Justin Lin’s father, Frank Lin. On the dedication plaque, there is a little bit of space left between “Frank” and “Lin.”

While we are on the subject of Lin’s family, his son, Oqwe Lin, is briefly seen as a green alien child when the Enterprise enters the Starbase Yorktown. The name “Yorktown” is also a reference, as Gene Roddenberry’s early script treatments for The Original Series used the name “Yorktown” instead of “Enterprise” for the name of the starship.

When Scotty discusses the theories around the U.S.S. Franklin’s disappearance, one is a “giant green space hand,” a reference to The Original Series season 2 episode “Who Mourns for Adonais?” The hand can be briefly seen during the credits.

When the Enterprise crew disembarks on Starbase Yorktown, you can hear the Starbase’s communication system call out the Federation starship NCC-2893. This is the registry number of the U.S.S. Stargazer, the starship Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s Jean-Luc Picard once commanded before the Enterprise-D. At one point in the movie, Kirk says, “I ripped my shirt again.” This is a reference to the many times Kirk ripped his shirt in The Original Series . At the end of the movie, the main cast gives the iconic introductory speech used at the beginning of both Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes.

Star Trek Beyond is the fourth movie to be presented in the Barco Escape format, which seems similar to the Cinerama technique introduced in the 1950s. This technology uses three connected cinema screens to “wrap” the picture around the audience. Two screens are placed from the sides of the central screen to the left and right wall, giving a wide, panoramic experience. The Barco Escape Star Trek Beyond trailer on the Barco Escape YouTube channel gives you an idea of what this experience is like.

25. Star Trek: Boldly Go

Medium: comic (2016-)

IDW Publishing and writer Mike Johnson return with this follow-up comic series set after the majority of Star Trek Beyond . The crewmembers have been reassigned or have taken a leave from Starfleet. Kirk, McCoy, and Chekov are reassigned to the U.S.S. Endeavour, and Sulu is reassigned to the U.S.S. Concord, while Spock and Uhura are visiting New Vulcan. Scotty is teaching at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. The cadets we met in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy return and are joined by Star Trek Beyond ’s Jaylah.

Things turn bad when the U.S.S. Endeavour picks up the survivors of an attack on the U.S.S. Concord. Sulu survived and has one eerie message from the attackers: Resistance is futile.

The first volume of Star Trek: Boldy Go , consisting of the first six issues, is available on July 25th.

Star Trek/Green Lantern Stories

IDW Publishing is known for their cross company and cross franchise crossovers. IDW and DC Comics teamed up for two of these crossovers, written by Mike Johnson, starring the cast of IDW’s Kelvin Timeline comics and DC Comics’ Green Lantern comics. The first story is called Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War and the second Star Trek/Green Lantern: Stranger Worlds , which is a direct sequel. It features the  Green Lantern comic cast coming to the Star Trek Kelvin Timeline universe as a follow up of sorts to DC Comics event Blackest Night . Lantern rings choose new bearers amongst Star Trek characters and ignite conflict between the Federation and its enemies.

These Star Trek / Green Lantern stories are set in a diversion of the Kelvin Timeline, which happens between  Star Trek, Vol. 13 and  Star Trek Beyond .

At the moment, IDW’s Star Trek: Boldly Go comic is the torchbearer for the continuation of the Kelvin Timeline. There are talks about a fourth movie, and multiple actors, like Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, have already signed on. Chris Hemsworth’s George Kirk might also return for the fourth movie. Producer J.J. Abrams has stated that Chekov would not be recast, but written out of the story, after the untimely death of Anton Yelchin.

But until the fourth movie comes around, we will have  Star Trek: Discovery in the Prime Timeline to take us where no one has gone before…

Read and download the full Den of Geek SDCC Special Edition magazine here!

Robbert de Koeijer

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers ! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Discovery and Prodigy , the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG , Star Trek: Infinite and Star Trek Online , as well as other post-57th Anniversary publications such as the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant . Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{ spoiler }}, {{ spoilers }} OR {{ majorspoiler }} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

• Memory Beta articles sourced from novels
• Memory Beta articles sourced from comics
• Memory Beta articles sourced from comic adaptations
• Memory Beta articles sourced from video games
• Memory Beta articles sourced from games
• Memory Beta articles sourced from Star Trek Online
• Other realities
• Alternate realities

Kelvin timeline

• View history

The Kelvin timeline or alternate reality was a parallel universe created in the year 2233 with the temporal incursion of the Narada , a Romulan civilian mining vessel under the command of Nero , from the year 2387 . The alternate reality differed from the primary reality in a number of capacities, including the attack upon the USS Kelvin , the launch of the USS Enterprise in 2258 , and the destruction of the planet Vulcan by the Narada . ( TOS movie , novelization & comic adaptation : Star Trek )

• 1.1 Alteration
• 1.2 Destruction of Vulcan
• 1.3 Attack on Earth
• 1.4.1 Q's gambit
• 1.4.2 Final mission of USS Enterprise NCC-1701
• 1.4.3 The Endeavour
• 1.4.4 Terminal expanse
• 1.5 Far future
• 2.1.1 Nomenclature
• 2.2 External link

History [ ]

Alteration [ ].

The Narada was pulled into a black hole and appeared in the year 2233 . Nero launched an attack on the Federation starship USS Kelvin . The Narada severely damaged the Kelvin with its powerful weapons but was crippled when George Kirk rammed his ship into it. The disabled Narada soon attracted the attention of the Klingons. A fleet led by Captain Kor of the IKS Klothos attacked. The Narada 's crew did their best to repel the Klingons, but despite killing many could not hold back the stronger Klingon force. ( TOS movie , novelization & comic adaptation : Star Trek ; TOS comic : " Nero, Number One ")

Destruction of Vulcan [ ]

The Narada attacked Vulcan, destroying all of the Starfleet ships that attempted to intervene save one: the Federation starship USS Enterprise , fresh on her maiden voyage (which due to the timeline change was pushed back to 2258 when it should have been 2245). Though the Enterprise crew tried to foil this plan, the Narada successfully drilled into the core of the planet and placed Red matter there, creating an artificial black hole at the core, which promptly consumed the planet. ( TOS movie : Star Trek )

Attack on Earth [ ]

The Narada then attempted to destroy Earth in a similar manner, but through the actions of Captain Kirk and Spock , an artificial black hole was created which then consumed the Narada . ( TOS movie : Star Trek )

Later missions [ ]

The Enterprise engaged in a series of campaigns against the Klingon Empire , the Cardassian Union , and the Romulan Star Empire , going up against some of the most advanced starships of each. ( TOS video game : The Mobile Game )

After stopping at the Aldebaran colony, the Enterprise prepared to leave the Milky Way galaxy when it intercepted a record-marker from the SS Valiant . Spock was able to analyze the memory banks, revealing an unknown force in the region that forced her captain to destroy his own ship.

Continuing its course to our galaxy's boundary, the Enterprise encountered an unusual force field known as the galactic barrier . Nine crewmembers died, and another was injured—Kirk's friend, Lieutenant Mitchell . The Enterprise also lost her warp capability.

Under the care of Leonard McCoy , Mitchell began to exhibit unusual powers, such as levitation and telepathy. At a senior staff meeting in the briefing room , the crew agreed to maroon Lieutenant Mitchell on "another Delta Vega."

Arriving at Delta Vega I , Kirk and McCoy prepared Mitchell for exile when he attacked Kirk with a blast of energy from his hands. McCoy made a split decision to knock him out with a sedative. He was later beamed down to the planet, with Kirk and Spock, while Scott and Kelso searched the facility for materials they needed to restore the ship's warp drive.

Mitchell revived, escaped his force field, then stunned Kirk and Spock with the energy from his hands. He later met Kelso, and forced his former friend to shoot and kill himself with his phaser.

Scott revived Kirk and Spock, telling them Mitchell had escaped and Kelso was dead. Kirk made a command decision to confront Mitchell, ordering Spock to quarantine the planet and leave if he had not returned in three hours.

Awaiting him in the desert, Mitchell demonstrated his power of illusion to Kirk by transforming the landscape around them into the bar from Iowa. Returning the landscape to its original state, Mitchell forced Kirk to kneel before him and beg forgiveness for his failure and his humanity. As he did so, Spock came up behind Mitchell and nerve-pinched him. Kirk ordered Spock to stand back, then shot and killed his friend.

Kelso and Mitchell were buried in space. Spock later joined Kirk in the briefing room, offering to play chess with him. Kirk accepted the offer, and Spock left for Engineering , leaving him alone in the briefing room.

• The Galileo Seven, Part 1 and Part 2
• Operation: Annihilate, Part 1 and Part 2
• Vulcan's Vengeance, Part 1 and Part 2
• The Return of the Archons, Part 1 and Part 2
• The Truth About Tribbles, Part 1 and Part 2
• Countdown to Darkness, Issue 1 , Issue 2 , Issue 3 , and Issue 4
• I, Enterprise!, Part 1 , and Part 2
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• After Darkness, Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3
• The Khitomer Conflict, Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , and Part 4
• Parallel Lives, Part 1 and Part 2
• Lost Apollo, Part 1 and Part 2

Q's gambit [ ]

Following the apparent "death" of Ambassador Spock in 2387 , Q went back in time and had the USS Enterprise transported a hundred years into the future. In the future, the Cardassian Union and the Dominion had conquered both Bajor and the Federation. However, following Dukat releasing both a prophet and Pah-wraith from the Reckoning Tablet , Q then became a vessel for the prophet and was able to destroy Dukat and the pah-wraith. Q then returned the Enterprise and its crew back to its proper time.( TOS - The Q Gambit comics : " Part 1 ", " Part 2 ", " Part 3 ", " Part 4 ", " Part 5 ", " Part 6 ")

• Behemoth, Part 1 , and Part 2
• Eurydice, Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3
• Tholian Web, Part 1 and Part 2

Final mission of USS Enterprise NCC-1701 [ ]

Following negotiations between the Teenaxi Delegation and the Fabona Republic , the Enterprise docked at Yorktown Station to resupply. During this time, Ambassador Spock has died, Spock and Uhura took a time out from their relationship and Kirk applied for promotion to vice admiral .

An escape pod was found and its occupant, Kalara , informed the Yorktown crew that her ship was stranded on Altamid . Commodore Paris agreed to let Kirk and the Enterprise enter the Necro Cloud to assist her. However, once in orbit around Altamid, the Enterprise came under attack by a swarm of ships . The Enterprise tried to escape but was crippled and boarded by Swarm drones led by warlord Krall and Manas . Kirk and his crew were then forced to abandon ship before it's saucer section crash-landed on Altamid. However, most of the crew had been captured save for Kirk, Chekov, Spock, Kalara, McCoy and Scotty.

With the assistance of fellow crash victim Jaylah , the still-free members of the senior staff were able to reunite at her "house", the wreck of the NX -class variant USS Franklin . After rescuing the prisoners in a raid on Krall's base, they repaired USS Franklin and pursued Krall's swarm to Yorktown Station, where they were able to destroy the swarm by using a radio transmission of the Beastie Boys ' song " Sabotage " to jam its communications. They then pursued Krall into the station and were able to foil his attempt to deploy a biological weapon against its inhabitants.

Kirk turned down promotion to vice admiral and was placed in command of the USS Enterprise -A , still under construction at the time. ( TOS movie : Star Trek Beyond )

During Enterprise -A's construction, Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy were then assigned to the USS Endeavour . Commander Sulu was assigned to the USS Concord and Commander Scott then took a position at Starfleet Academy . Commander Spock and Lieutenant Uhura then took a sabbatical to New Vulcan to assist in rebuilding the Vulcan Science Academy . ( TOS - Boldly Go comic : " Issue 1 ")

The Endeavour [ ]

Kirk and his crew on the Endeavour encountered the Borg , who had followed traces of Borg technology from the Narada to the Alpha Quadrant. Kirk tracked the lonely sphere back to Romulus , where the combined forces of the Endeavour and the Romulans were able to destroy it. ( TOS - Boldly Go comics : " Issue 1 ", " Issue 2 ", " Issue 3 ", " Issue 4 ")

Terminal expanse [ ]

Temporal Agent Daniels takes an early 25th century prime timeline temporal agent into the Kelvin Timeline to help the constitution -class USS Yorktown fight the Sphere Builders and their Klingon allies, who had invaded the Kelvin Timeline to gain an advantage in the Temporal Cold War. Daniels and his assistants are helped in defeated the Sphere Builders by the Yorktown 's Captain, Isaac Garret, and its Science Officer, 0718.

Far future [ ]

Vulcan civilization continued to thrive on New Vulcan by as late as approximately 5259 , where a statue of Spock Prime still stood. While many of the surrounding monuments were larger than life, the monument of Spock was life size. This was at Spock's request, as he felt a larger than life monument would not be logical. ( TOS - Legacy of Spock comic : " Part 4 ")

Appendices [ ]

Background [ ], nomenclature [ ].

The name "Kelvin timeline" does not appear in any canon material, but is CBS Television 's internal name for the alternate timeline created by Nero's attack on USS Kelvin . The name was first revealed to the public in a 2016 interview with Al Rivera , the lead designer of the Star Trek Online video game , before it appeared in the fourth edition of The Star Trek Encyclopedia and The Star Trek Book .

In " Terminal Expanse ", Daniels specifically calls this timeline the "Kelvin timeline".

External link [ ]

• Kelvin timeline article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• 1 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)
• 3 Odyssey class

Star Trek Timeline Explained, Including Two Kirks, Two Different Prequels, and the Return of Picard

Boldly go through the eons of Trek.

It began so simply: A man named Gene Roddenberry wanted to make a TV show set in the future, featuring characters who would represent the best of humanity, boldly going where no one has gone before. Now, Star Trek has become one of pop culture's most enduring touchstones, constantly evolving with the times.

It is not an easy thing to put together a coherent timeline for a franchise that consists of over 50 years of films and TV (nine series and 13 films, to be exact). Yet Star Trek , when you break it down, does hold together pretty well for a narrative that has been crafted by literally dozens of writers and directors over the decades. This is especially impressive given the amount of time travel that's been built into the story, as well as some conflicting dates (for example, the Eugenics War makes things complicated ).

Choosing the most important dates of Trek history to focus on was at times difficult, but an effort was made to pinpoint moments where the franchise’s relationship with time was most complicated — after all, the ultimate goal of this article is to take over 50 years of sci-fi adventure and make it relatively comprehensible. With that in mind, The timeline below is restricted to the film and TV entries in the Trek universe, in part because the books, comics, and other media are fascinating enhancements to the narrative (especially when they push forward into the future) but are not widely considered to be officially canon.

Given that many of these events take place on different planets — with, thus, different year cycles — some dates are approximated, especially when their placement in the timeline is based on statements like "a thousand years ago." (If Trek 's stardate dating system was easier to compute, then it would have been incorporated here. Alas.) But even when some dates don't quite line up, the franchise's central principles are rarely lost.

[Editor's note: This article was updated on September 14, 2021 to incorporate "Star Trek: Lower Decks" Season 1.]

The Films and TV Shows (Combined)

The Age of Shatner and Nimoy

• Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1 (1966-1967)
• Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2 (1967-1968)
• Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3 (1968-1969)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series Season 1 (1973-1974)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series Season 2 (1974)
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
• Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984)
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

The Next Generation Begins

• Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 (1987-1988)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2 (1988-1989)
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3 (1989-1990)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4 (1990-1991)
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 (1991-1992)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6 (1992-1993)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1 (1993)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 7 (1993-1994)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 2 (1993-1994)
• Star Trek Generations (1994)

The Next Next Generation

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 3 (1994-1995)
• Star Trek: Voyager Season 1 (1994-1995)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4 (1995-1996)
• Star Trek: Voyager Season 2 (1995-1996)
• Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 5 (1996-1997)
• Star Trek: Voyager Season 3 (1996-1997)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 6 (1997-1998)
• Star Trek: Voyager Season 4 (1997-1998)
• Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 7 (1998-1999)
• Star Trek: Voyager Season 5 (1998-1999)
• Star Trek: Voyager Season 6 (1999-2000)
• Star Trek: Voyager Season 7 (2000-2001)

The Enterprise Era

• Star Trek: Enterprise Season 1 (2001-2002)
• Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
• Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2 (2002-2003)
• Star Trek: Enterprise Season 3 (2003-2004)
• Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4 (2004-2005)

The Kelvin-verse

• Star Trek (2009)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
• Star Trek Beyond (2016)

The CBS All Access Age

• Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 (2017-2018)
• Star Trek : Short Treks Season 1 (2018)
• Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 (2019)
• Star Trek : Short Treks Season 2 (2019-2020)
• Star Trek: Picard Season 1 (2020)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks Season (2020)

Note: Spoilers follow for all of the above, including the season premiere of Picard .

The Days Before Space

4.6 Billion BCE (or maybe even more):

• The birth/arrival/creation of the Guardian of Forever on its ancient planet (ST:TOS S1E28, "The Guardian on the Edge of Forever").

4 Billion BCE:

• An unknown humanoid species, to quote Geordi LaForge, "scattered this genetic material into the primordial soup of at least 19 different planets across the galaxy," explaining why most sentient species look the same (ST:TNG S6E20, "The Chase").

3.5 Billion BCE:

• The beginnings of life in the Alpha Quadrant are threatened by Q's anomaly ( ST:TNG S7E25-26 , "All Good Things") .

400 CE (approximately):

• Approximate time when the Changelings founded what would become the Dominion, with the Jem'Hadar

900 CE (approximately):

• Kahless the Unforgettable slays the Qo'noS tyrant Molor and becomes the first Emperor of the Klingon Empire.
• First known sign of the Borg in the Delta Quadrant.

1600 CE (approximately):

• The beginnings of Bajoran space exploration leads to first contact between the Cardassians and Bajorans. (It does not go well for them.)

1800 CE (approximately):

• Establishment of the Cardassian Union.
• Picard, La Forge, Troi, Riker, and Crusher arrive in San Francisco after the discovery of Data's severed head in their century. Samuel Clemens (AKA Mark Twain) gets caught up in their efforts to save him (ST:TNG S5E26-S6E1, "Time's Arrow").
• Kirk and Spock chase a drugged and disoriented McCoy through the time portal known as the Guardian of Forever to New York City. While there, Kirk falls in love with Edith Keeler, a social worker whose life McCoy saved, but Kirk must ultimately let die, in order to preserve the timeline and prevent Germany from winning World War II (ST:TOS S1E28, "The City on the Edge of Forever").
• The Briori abduct several hundred humans from Earth and bring them to the Delta Quadrant, including Amelia Earhart (ST:VOY S2E1, "The 37's") .

1944 (alternate universe):

• Jonathan Archer and the Enterprise NX-01 crew find themselves in an altered version of World War II, where the Nazis have invaded America (ST:ENT S4E1-E2, "Storm Front").
• Quark, Rom and Nog crash their ship in Roswell, New Mexico and have to escape from the U.S. Military (ST:DS9 S4E8, "Little Green Men") .
• The Enterprise travels back to this year to prevent an agent from interfering with events, because Starfleet had a record of them doing so. Time travel is fun that way (ST:TOS S2E26, "Assignment: Earth"). The Enterprise also went on a similar mission in 1969 (ST:TOS S1E19, "Tomorrow Is Yesterday") .
• Kirk and friends, in search of humpback whales to save the future, arrive in San Francisco, where they meet marine biologist Gillian Taylor, invent transparent aluminum, and teach Spock how to swear (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) .
• The Eugenics Wars rage on (at least, according to almost all sources ). When the Enterprise first discovers genetically enhanced Khan Noonien Singh (ST:TOS S1E24, "Space Seed") , Spock says that during these years, Khan had conquered most of the Earth, before fleeing the Earth with 84 of his followers to drift through space in the S.S. Botany Bay.
• In this version of 1996 (perhaps because they've just ended?), there's no sign of the Eugenics Wars in action when the Voyager is pulled to sunny Southern California by a 29th century time ship. Despite being featured on local news broadcasts, the Voyager and its crew manage not to damage the timeline before returning to the 24th century (ST:VOY S3E8-9, "Future's End") .

December 27, 1999:

• One of Captain Janeway's ancestors gets caught up in the controversy surrounding the construction of the Millennium Gate tower, a self-sufficient structure built in Indiana that would become the model for the colonization of Mars (ST:VOY S5E23, "11:59") .
• Archer and T'Pol arrive in Detroit to stop the Xindi from annihilating the human race with a bioweapon — they succeed (ST:ENT S3E11, "Carpenter Street) .

Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2024:

• Thanks to a transporter accident, Sisko, Dax and Bashir arrive in a very different San Francisco from the modern world, and get caught up in the Bell Riots, a historical event which eventually led to massive reform of America's social issues (ST:DS9 S3E11-E12, "Past Tense") .

2026 – 2053:

• World War III ravages Earth, killing six hundred million humans.

The Dawn of the Warp Era

April 4, 2063:

• The Enterprise-E arrives at Earth after chasing a Borg sphere from the 24th century, just as the Borg plan to disrupt the launch of Zefram Cochrane's extremely important prototype warp drive flight (Star Trek: First Contact) .

April 5, 2063:

• Thanks to the Enterprise-E, Cochrane successfully completes his flight and, later that day, a Vulcan ship arrives on Earth, initiating first contact and beginning humanity's journey to its future as an architect of the Federation (Star Trek: First Contact).
• Colonies on Mars are established.
• An elderly Zefram Cochrane vanishes, after heading out on one last space voyage (ST:TOS S2E9, "Metamorphosis") .
• The Enterprise NX-01, the first starship capable of traveling at Warp 5, begins its mission to explore the galaxy. A major part of its adventures have to do with the Temporal Cold War, in which the crew found itself caught up in time travel conflicts.

March 2153:

• The Xindi attack Earth, firing a blast that causes destruction from Florida to Venezuela, killing seven million people. The NX-01 refocuses its mission on trying to stop the Xindi from causing further destruction.
• For the first time, Starfleet officers travel to the Mirror Universe, encountering a far darker version of their world (ST:ENT S4E18-E19, "In a Mirror, Darkly") .
• Discussion of uniting various planets for some sort of... federation, perhaps, begins (ST:ENT S4E22, "These Are the Voyages...") .

2156–2160:

• A four-year war with the Romulans leads to the creation of the Romulan Neutral Zone.
• Captain Archer speaks to the Coalition of Planets about the need to create...
• The United Federation of Planets, which is officially born that year (ST:ENT S4E22, "These Are the Voyages...") .
• Starfleet Academy is also founded.
• In an alternate timeline, the crew of the Defiant was sent back in time to this year, crashing on a planet called Gaia. While Kira died, the survivors eventually built a society of eight thousand people. This society, however, was wiped out of existence when the Odo living on Gaia prevented the Defiant from replicating that journey into the past, to save Kira's life (ST:DS9 S5E22, "Children of Time") .

March 22nd, 2233:

• In the Kelvin Timeline, Kirk is born aboard a USS Kelvin shuttlecraft as time-traveling Romulan Nero attacks the ship now being captained by James' soon-to-be-deceased father George (Star Trek 2009) .
• In the Prime Timeline, Kirk is born (exact location unknown, but could have still been aboard the USS Kelvin, albeit under more peaceful circumstances), and eventually raised in Iowa by George and Winona Kirk.
• Michael Burnham's family was killed at Doctari Alpha, following which Sarek brought her into his home and made her Spock's adoptive sister (ST:DIS S2E1, "Brothers") .
• The USS Enterprise, captained by Christopher Pike, launches its second five-year mission to explore the universe.
• Captain Pike, Lieutenant Spock and the Enterprise visit the planet of Talos IV (ST:TOS S1E15-E16, "The Menagerie") .
• The USS Shenzhou is called to investigate damage done to an interstellar array on the edge of Federation space, which leads to the ship being overwhelmed by an onslaught of Klingon ships. In the conflict, Captain Georgiou is killed, and Lieutenant Michael Burnham not just committing mutiny, but triggering a war between the Federation and the Klingons (ST:DIS S1E1-E2, "The Vulcan Hello"-"Battle at the Binary Stars") .

November 2256:

• Michael Burnham is, via a roundabout set of circumstances, transferred from prison to the USS Discovery under the command of Captain Gabriel Lorca (ST:DIS S1E3, "Context Is For Kings") .
• The Discovery arrives in the Mirror Universe thanks to Lorca, who had secretly snuck into the Prime Universe. The ship eventually returns home, but with the devious Mirror Universe version of Georgiou on board (ST:DIS S1E13, "What's Past Is Prologue").
• By making a pact with L'Rell and stopping an attack on the Klingon homeworld, Burnham is able to end the Federation-Klingon War (ST:DIS S1E13, "What's Past Is Prologue") .
• As the Enterprise needs repairs and the Discovery needs a (temporary?) captain, Captain Pike fills in the gap, introducing the mission to discover what's going on with the "Red Angel" who keeps appearing in multiple spots across the Alpha Quadrant (ST:DIS S2E1, "Brothers") .
• Burnham learns that the Red Angel is herself, from the future, and ultimately chases that predestination paradox (ST:DIS Season 2) .
• The Discovery, with a limited crew, travels to the year 3186. Those who stay behind, including Pike, Spock and Number One, adhere to the pact that speaking of the Discovery or its crew ever again is a treasonable offense (ST:DIS S2E14, "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2") .

2258 (Kelvin-verse):

• The Prime Universe version of Spock arrives from the future — which is just what Nero has been waiting for, for 25 years (Star Trek 2009) .
• James Kirk is just about to finish his time at Starfleet Academy when the planet of Vulcan is destroyed by Nero. Kirk and his new crew ultimately take down Nero, and end up taking over the Enterprise for a mission of exploration (Star Trek 2009) .

2259 (Kelvin-verse):

• Khan Noonien Singh arises to try to tear down the Federation. Kirk dies, but does not stay dead (Star Trek Into Darkness) .

2260 (Kelvin-verse):

• The Enterprise sets out on its five-year mission (Star Trek Beyond) .

2263 (Kelvin-verse):

• Three years into said mission, the Enterprise crew saves the space station Yorktown from destruction — destroying their ship in the process, but the Enterprise-A immediately gets commissioned (Star Trek Beyond) .
• The Prime Universe Spock, having lived in the Kelvin timeline for seven years, passes away at the age of 162 (Star Trek Beyond) .
• James T. Kirk takes command of the USS Enterprise for another five-year mission, encountering Klingons, con men and more.
• McCoy, after an unfortunate injection, rushes to the surface of an alien planet and escapes to the year 1930 thanks to the Guardian of Forever (ST:TOS S1E28, "The Guardian on the Edge of Forever") .
• The Enterprise experiences plenty of wacky experiences, but few as memorable as a trip to Deep Space Station K-7 to handle an agricultural situation aggravated by a tribble infestation (ST:TOS S2E13, "The Trouble With Tribbles") .
• After a time traveler tries to interfere with the events of DSS K-7, Captain Sisko and his crew arrive to make sure Kirk keeps the Klingons from sabotaging things (ST:DS9 S5E6, "Trials and Tribble-ations") .
• The Enterprise discovers Zefram Cochrane marooned on a remote planetoid, but ultimately leaves him behind with an alien consciousness with which he is in love (ST:TOS S2E9, "Metamorphosis") .
• At the end of the five-year mission, Kirk is promoted to the rank of Admiral, while Will Decker becomes captain of the USS Enterprise.
• When an alien-retrofitted version of Voyager returns to Earth, Kirk resumes control over the Enterprise to save Earth (Star Trek: The Motion Picture) .
• The Prime Universe Khan gets his chance at conquering the galaxy. Spock dies in the successful effort to thwart him (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) .
• Kirk steals the Enterprise, but Spock is successfully resurrected thanks to the planet Genesis's extraordinary properties. They return Spock to Vulcan so he can recuperate (Star Trek III: The Search For Spock) .
• An alien probe broadcasting humpback whale song doesn't get any response, and starts trying to destroy the planet Earth as a result. To prevent this, Kirk and his friends travel back in time (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) .
• Kirk is demoted to the rank of Captain, and thus he can return to being the Captain of the Enterprise (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) .
• The Enterprise crew goes on another adventure, which might be boiled down to this memorable incident: Captain Kirk asks the question "What does God need with a starship?" (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) .
• Hikaru Sulu becomes captain of the USS Excelsior.
• Kirk is framed for the assassination of Klingon Chancellor Gorkon, and he and McCoy even go to prison for that presumed crime, but their friends rescue them in time to prevent another assassination. Kirk saves the peace talks and is told to bring the Enterprise back to Earth. He might end up taking his time getting there (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) .
• Tuvok serves under Captain Sulu aboard the Excelsior (ST:VOY S3E2, "Flashback") .
• Later that year, Kirk and other crew members are visiting the newly commissioned Enterprise-B. After an encounter with the Nexus that destroys a good part of the ship, Kirk is considered dead (Star Trek Generations) .
• Captain Rachel Garrett and the Enterprise-C are lost while defending a Klingon settlement, an event which proved pivotal to creating peace between the Klingons and the Federation — so pivotal that when it didn't happen in an alternate universe, it led to a far worse future (ST:TNG S3E15, "Yesterday's Enterprise") .
• War between the Federation and Cardassian Union begins, with conflicts tapering off in the 2350s.
• The USS Pegasus is considered missing after experimenting with phasing technology ( ST:TNG S7E12, "The Pegasus") .

The Rise of Picard, Sisko, and Janeway

• Seven years later, Picard re-experiences this first mission, because it is revealed that the trial which Q began during the trip to Farpoint had never actually ended ( ST:TNG S7E25-26 , "All Good Things").
• Lieutenant Natasha Yar is killed in action (ST:TNG S1E23, "Skin of Evil") .
• The Enterprise encounters the Borg for the first time, after being flung into the Delta Quadrant by Q (ST:TNG S2E16, "Q Who") .
• The Enterprise-C arrives in a very changed version of the universe, 22 years after it disappeared into a temporal rift. Captain Garrett and her crew eventually return to the point of their disappearance to preserve the original timeline, with Tasha Yar (who did not die in this new timeline) returning with them (ST:TNG S3E15, "Yesterday's Enterprise") .
• Jean-Luc Picard gets abducted by the Borg, and a battle he spearheads as Locutus of Borg, known as Wolf 359, is a brutal moment for the Federation. Benjamin Sisko's wife Jennifer is one of the many, many casualties (ST:TNG S3E26-S4E1, "The Best of Both Worlds"; ST:DS9 S1E1, "Emissary") .
• With the ascension of Gowron as Emperor, the Klingon Civil War begins.
• The Klingon Civil War ends, with Gowron maintaining his control over the Empire (ST:TNG S5E1, "Redemption II") .
• Ambassador Spock travels to Romulus to try to reunite the Vulcans and Romulan people — unsuccessfully. (ST:TNG S5E7-8, "Redemption I-II") .
• Commander Benjamin Sisko arrives at the station Deep Space Nine, where he encounters the "wormhole aliens," AKA "the Prophets," and devotes himself to bringing local planet Bajor into the Federation as Bajor rebuilds after Cardassian occupation (ST:DS9 S1E1, "Emissary") .
• The Enterprise-D recovers long-lost Montgomery Scott from a transporter buffer, and Scotty sets out to go exploring the galaxy (ST:TNG S6E4, "Relics").
• Commander Riker, struggling to decide what to do when his old commanding officer Admiral Pressman asks for his help, uses the holodeck to look back at Captain Archer's big speech to the Coalition of Planets (ST:ENT S4E22, "These Are the Voyages..."; ST:TNG S7E12, "The Pegasus") .
• The Federation-Cardassian Treaty is signed, officially ending hostilities and creating a demilitarized zone that left several planets previously colonized by Federation citizens under Cardassian control. This leads to the creation of the Maquis, former Federation members who rebel against the Cardassians (ST:DS9 S2E20-21, "The Maquis") .
• Picard begins to shift in time, from his past to his future, which lead to him discovering that Q has spent the last seven years evaluating the human race, based on the adventures of Picard and his crew. Ultimately, Picard convinces Q of humanity's value ( ST:TNG S7E25-26 , "All Good Things").
• Picard learns that his brother and nephew have ben killed in a fire at his family vineyard (Star Trek Generations) .
• The Enterprise-D gets caught up in Dr. Soran's attempt to reach the Nexus, a realm outside of space and time that can feel like paradise. Picard, inside the Nexus, meets Kirk, who he convinces to leave the Nexus with him to stop Soran. They succeed, but Kirk is killed and the Enterprise is destroyed (Star Trek Generations) .
• The USS Voyager departs Deep Space Nine to track down a missing Maquis ship, but both ships end up getting dragged 75,000 light years away from Earth. The Starfleet and Maquis crews end up working together to try to get back to the Alpha Quadrant (ST:VOY S1E1-2, "Caretaker") .
• The USS Defiant, a new ship to be captained by Benjamin Sisko, arrives at Deep Space Nine (ST:DS9 S3E1, "The Search, Part I") .
• Odo learns that his people, the Changelings, are the Founders of the Dominion, which controls the Gamma Quadrant, and now aims to take over the Alpha Quadrant (ST:DS9 S3E1-2, "The Search, Parts I/II") .
• The Enterprise-E is launched.
• Thanks to Changeling infiltration at the highest levels of government, war erupts between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Worf joins the crew of Deep Space Nine (ST:DS9 S4E1-2, "The Way of the Warrior") .
• After the Battle of Sector 001, in which the Borg gets close to attacking the Earth, the Enterprise-E launches into action, following a Borg Sphere back into the past (Star Trek: First Contact) .
• When the Changeling impersonating General Martok is revealed, war between the Federation and the Klingons ends (ST:DS9 S5E1, "Apocalypse Rising") .
• The Federation first learns about the existence of the non-corporeal Pah-wraiths, enemies of the Bajoran Prophets, when one of them takes over the body of Keiko O'Brien (ST:DS9 S5E5, "The Assignment") .
• Bashir, without anyone's knowledge, is replaced by a Changeling, which is not uncovered for a month (ST:DS9 S5E14-15, "In Purgatory's Shadow"/"By Inferno's Light") .
• The Dominion, as part of the deal, helps Cardassia completely eliminate the Maquis.
• To avoid war with the Dominion, the Bajorans sign a non-aggression treaty (ST:DS9 S5E26, "Call to Arms") .
• The Dominion takes over the Bajor sector as the Federation departs, beginning the Dominion War (ST:DS9 S5E26, "Call to Arms") .
• Voyager assists the Borg in fighting off Species 8472, and a drone known as Seven of Nine gets marooned on their ship (ST:VOY S4E1, "Scorpion, Part II") .
• Meanwhile, crew member Kes leaves the ship to explore her psychic abilities (ST:VOY S4E2, "The Gift") .
• The Dominion War is fought on multiple fronts, with Kira leading a resistance effort on Deep Space Nine while Sisko and the Defiant battle to eventually retake the station (ST:DS9 S6E6, "Sacrifice of Angels") .
• Gul Dukat's daughter Ziyal is killed by Damar during the battle over DS9 (ST:DS9 S6E6, "Sacrifice of Angels") .
• Worf and Jadzia Dax get married (ST:DS9 S6E7, "You Are Cordially Invited...") .
• First major appearance of Section 31 (in the Prime timeline), as an agent attempts to recruit Bashir (ST:DS9 S6E18, "Inquisition") .
• Thanks to Sisko working with the ruthless Garak, the Romulans join the war against the Dominion (ST:DS9 S6E19, "In the Pale Moonlight") .
• Dukat, having snuck onto DS9, kills Jadzia Dax and releases a Pah-wraith which closes the Bajoran wormhole permanently (ST:DS9 S6E26, "Tears of the Prophets") .
• The Dax symbiont is joined with a Trill named Ezri (ST:DS9 S7E1, "Image in the Sand") .
• After having left DS9 for a short time, Sisko recovers the Orb of the Emissary, and returns to reopen the wormhole (ST:DS9 S7E2, "Shadows and Symbols") .
• Dukat now leads a cult devoted to the worship of the Pah-wraiths (ST:DS9 S7E9, "Covenant") .
• The Enterprise-E crew, including Worf, work together to reconcile the Son'a and Ba'ku people after a century of distrust (Star Trek: Insurrection) .
• Sisko makes plans for life after the Dominion War, and also marries long-time girlfriend Kasidy Yates (ST:DS9 S7E18, "'Til Death Do Us Part") .
• Kira, Odo and Garak go to Cardassia to help Damar, now in open rebellion against the Dominion, lead a resistance movement. Odo learns that he has been infected by the virus killing the Changelings, which was created by Section 31 (ST:DS9 S7E21, "When It Rains...") .
• The Defiant is destroyed by the Breen, and a new ship is renamed in its honor (ST:DS9 S7E24, "The Dogs of War") .
• Odo, having been cured of Section 31's disease, returns to his people to spread the cure to them (ST:DS9 S7E26, "What You Leave Behind").
• Dukat, having surgically altered himself to resemble a Bajoran, becomes a confidante of Kai Winn and manipulates her into helping him unlock the power of the Pah-wraiths in the Fire Caves on Bajor. Sisko arrives in time to stop him, but all three of them are considered dead (ST:DS9 S7E26, "What You Leave Behind") .
• The Dominion War ends (ST:DS9 S7E26, "What You Leave Behind") .
• The USS Voyager continues its journey home.
• Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres get married (ST:VOY S7E3, "Drive") .
• Neelix leaves Voyager to join a Talaxian community (ST:VOY S7E23, "Homestead").
• With the help of a time-travelling Admiral Janeway, Voyager successfully uses the Borg transwarp network to get back to Earth (ST:VOY S7E25, "Endgame") .
• Miral Paris is born (ST:VOY S7E25, "Endgame") .
• William Riker and Deanna Troi get married (Star Trek: Nemesis) .
• The Enterprise-E discovers that Data's creator, Dr. Soong, had created an early prototype of Data known as B-4, which is more primitive than Data. Data tries to help by transferring his memories into B-4.
• Picard comes to Romulus after a military coup puts Shinzon, a clone of Picard created by Romulans who ended up becoming the leader of the Remans. In the ensuing fight, Picard kills Shinzon, but Data is killed saving his crew (Star Trek: Nemesis) .
• Ensign Tendi joins Rutherford, Mariner, and Boimler to serve on board the U.S.S. Cerritos, a ship dedicated to "second contact" encounters with new civilizations (Star Trek: Lower Decks S1E1, "Second Contact") .
• Boimler jumps at the chance of promotion to serve on board the U.S.S. Titan under the command of Captain William Riker, leaving behind his friends on the Cerritos (Star Trek: Lower Decks S1E10, "No Small Parts") .
• Thaddeus "Thad" Troi-Riker is born (ST:PIC S1E7, "Nepenthe").

The Future Is a Dark Place

• Jean-Luc Picard puts the Data's Daughter painting into storage at the Starfleet Archive Museum (ST:PIC S1E1, "Remembrance") .
• Seven of Nne, working as a Fenris Ranger near the Romulan Neutral Zone, loses adopted son Icheb (a former Borg like herself) after Icheb is attacked by raiders looking for black market Borg implants (ST:PIC S1E5, "Stardust City Rag") .
• When a star near Romulus goes supernova, the entire planet is destroyed, despite Spock's attempt to stop the explosion by injecting the star with Red Matter and creating a black hole. The black hole instead brings both his ship and the nearby Romulan mining vessel containing Nero into the past (Star Trek 2009) .

2388-89 (approximate):

• In the wake of the destruction of Romulus, the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards of Mars are destroyed by rebellious synthetic workers on First Contact Day (April 5), killing thousands and leaving Mars ablaze for years to follow (ST:ST "Children of Mars," ST:PIC S1E1, "Remembrance") .
• The Troi-Riker family moves to the outlying planet of Nepenthe (ST:PIC S1E7, "Nepenthe") .
• The original year that the Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant, prior to Janeway's temporal interference (ST:VOY S7E25, "Endgame") .
• While the future that Picard saw during his final confrontation with Q was eventually rewritten, this would have been the year in which Picard reunited his old crew to work together to stop the anomaly ( ST:TNG S7E25-26 , "All Good Things").
• Thad Troi-Riker dies of mendaxic neurosclerosis at the age of 15 (ST:PIC S1E7, "Nepenthe") .
• Jean-Luc Picard, having left Starfleet years ago after the destruction of Romulus, meets Dahj, a frightened young woman with a mysterious connection to Data. She inspires him to leave retirement and investigate further ( ST:PIC S1E1, "Remembrance").
• Picard's search to understand Dahj's origins leads him to assemble a ramshackle crew and discover Dahj's synth twin Soji, but in the race to save her and her fellow synths, Picard's terminal brain condition catches up with him and he dies in the climactic battle. Fortunately, his consciousness is saved and transplanted into a synthetic body, meaning that Picard has potentially years worth of adventure ahead of him (ST:PIC S1E10, "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2") .
• Admiral Janeway, having spent years figuring out a plan, leaves her original timeline to travel to the year 2378 and change the past (ST:VOY S7E25, "Endgame") .
• The USS Discovery arrives in an uncharted future. What happens next is totally unknown (ST:DIS S2E14, "Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2," ST:DIS Season 3) .

3200s (or potentially more):

1000 years into the future of the Discovery, the abandoned ship (run by a now-sentient computer) rescues an escape pod and forms a bond with its occupant (ST:ST "Calypso") .

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‘Strange New Worlds’ Showrunner Explains Show’s “Correction” To Star Trek History

| July 1, 2023 | By: Anthony Pascale 356 comments so far

The latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has fans buzzing over how the time-travel adventure addressed some of the established lore of the franchise. Now the co-showrunner is weighing in, explaining how they didn’t really change things as much as set them right.

Star Trek history vs real history

This week’s episode of Strange New Worlds featured Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh going back in time, accompanied by an alternate version of Captain James T. Kirk. La’an’s past is inextricably associated with her infamous ancestor Khan Noonien Singh, often considered Star Trek’s most iconic villain. The 1967 TOS episode “Space Seed” established that Khan and a number of his fellow genetically augmented followers were exiled into space following the “Eugenics Wars,” which Spock noted began in 1992. The 1990s might have seemed like the far future back in the 1960s, but to us, they are already real history, with no sign of a group of genetic supermen trying to take over the world.

Ricardo Montalban as Khan and William Shatner as Kirk in “Space Seed”

This conflict between Trek history and reality was addressed head-on in “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” when La’an literally came face-to-face with her infamous ancestor as a child—not in the late 20th century, but in the mid-21st century… and in Canada. Sera, a time-traveling Romulan agent who was trying to eliminate Earth as a potential future rival to the Empire, planned to have La’an assist in killing young Khan, thus preventing the Eugenics Wars from happening (again, in the 21st century) and therefore cutting off the chain of events (including World War III) which would then lead to first contact with the Vulcans and the beginning of an age of enlightenment that resulted in the establishment of The (Romulan-hated) United Federation of Planets.

During her villain monologuing, Sera explained the timeline discrepancies.

But, yeah, so many people have tried to influence these events, you know, to delay them or stop them. I mean, whole temporal wars have been fought over them. And it’s almost as if time itself is pushing back, and events reinsert themselves. And all this was supposed to happen back in 1992, and I’ve been trapped here for 30 years trying to get my shot at him.

So while officially resetting the Eugenics Wars into the 21st century, Sera offers an in-canon explanation for why they didn’t happen in the 1990s, referencing the Temporal Cold War from Star Trek: Enterprise and asserting that the timeline has changed, but pivotal events like the Eugenics Wars will still “reinsert themselves.”

Adelaide Kane as Sera (Paramount+)

Making the “correction”

While some may believe the show is trying to change Star Trek history or even establish a whole new alternate timeline (à la the Kelvin movies), it appears the motivation was much simpler. Speaking to Cinemablend , co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman offered some context for this timeline change:

This is a correction. Because otherwise, it’s silly, or Star Trek ceases to be in our universe…By the way, this happened in Season 1, so this is not a Season 2 [issue]. It’s a pilot issue. We want Star Trek to be an aspirational future. We want to be able to dream our way into the Federation as a Starfleet. I think that is the fun of it, in part. And so, in order to keep Star Trek in our timeline, we continue to push dates forward. At a certain point, we won’t be able to. But obviously, if you start saying that the Eugenics Wars were in the 90s, you’re kind of fucked for aspirational in terms of the real world.

As noted by Goldsman, the show had already moved the Eugenics Wars into the 21st century. In the pilot episode (written by Goldsman), as Pike showed off footage of Earth’s troubled history, he said:

This is Earth in our 21st century. Before everything went wrong… Our conflict also started with a fight for freedoms. We called it the Second Civil war, then the Eugenics War, and finally just World War III. This was our last day. The day the Earth we knew ceased to exist.

Anson Mount as Captain Pike in the Strange New Worlds series pilot

Pike’s speech to the Kiley in that episode clearly tied the Eugenics Wars to World War III, which had already been well-established within Star Trek canon as happening in the 21st century, eventually leading to that visit from the Vulcans as depicted in the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact . The latest episode of Strange New Worlds only illustrated the natural conclusion that if the Eugenics Wars took place in the 21st century, then Khan Noonien Singh had to be from the 21st century as well.

Christina Chong as La’an with Desmond Sivan as young Khan

Young Khan growing up at the “Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement” indicated there likely was an older Noonien Singh running the program of genetically modifying children. Perhaps this person was also named Khan and his original 1990s history included the Eugenic Wars before that past was changed by some other temporal agent. This kind of speculation is what headcanon is for.

From “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”

Star Trek reruns to the ’90s

Strange New Worlds is not the first new Star Trek show to dabble in resetting Khan’s history. In season 2 of Star Trek: Picard , Jean-Luc Picard and his crew traveled back to the early 21st century (specifically 2024). Their mission was to fix the timeline, which included stopping an alternate future Borg Queen from changing history with the assistance of 21st-century geneticist Adam Soong. In the season finale, after that plan failed and all of Soong’s digitally stored research was erased, he pulled out a file folder and paper report called “Project Khan,” dated June 7, 1996. It wasn’t made clear if the project was active at the time or if Soong was considering reactivating it, but the implication was that he would turn his attention to it next and this would lead to the rise of Khan Noonien Singh and the Eugenics Wars in the 21st century.

Project Khan from Picard episode 210

And it’s not just the new shows. In 1996 Star Trek: Voyager traveled back to contemporary Los Angeles for the two-part episode “Future’s End,” with no mention or evidence of any Eugenics Wars (or aftermath) to be seen.

From Voyager “Future’s End”

Correcting for Roddenberry’s vision of the future

As Goldsman explains the show’s “correction” is due to them trying to “keep Star Trek in our timeline.” Keeping the Eugenics Wars (and subsequent age of enlightenment) in our future certainly helps keep the show relevant and consistent with real world history, especially for new viewers. But there is more to it. The motivation for this goes back to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who envisioned the show (and the franchise) as depicting a hopeful view of humanity’s future. This approach has continued throughout the franchise, with the producers of Strange New Worlds doing what they can to carry on this vision. Roddenberry saw tying Star Trek’s future to our present as an important distinction when compared to other science fiction. In a 20th anniversary interview in 1986, Roddenberry explained:

Perhaps one of the primary features of Star Trek that made it different from other shows was, it believed that humans are improving—they will vastly improve in the 23rd century.

Roddenberry was dedicated to a hopeful vision of the future as depicted in Star Trek . In her book Inside Star Trek , Roddenberry’s longtime assistant Susan Sackett quotes him telling her in 1990:

Almost all of this comes out of my feeling that the human future is bright. We’re just beginning. We have wonders ahead of us. I don’t see how it can be any other way, with the way the future is going. We now have got a telescope up there. We’re photographing the universe. We’re inventing the next life form, which is the computer. We’re in the midst of it. And it will happen.

During the 1970s, Roddenberry often spoke publicly about the show and the philosophy behind it. He was explicit about this link to the future and how humanity will eventually put aside division and embrace diversity. Here is Roddenberry talking again about what differentiates Star Trek from other attempts at sci-fi, as recorded in the 1976 album Inside Star Trek :

So you see that the formula, the magic ingredient, that many people keep seeking and many of them keep missing is really not in Star Trek , it is in the audience. There is an intelligent life form out on the other side of that television too. The whole show was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but to take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms. We tried to say that the worst possible thing that can happen to all of us is for the future to somehow press us into a common mold where we begin to act and talk and look and think alike. If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that’s almost certainly out there.

Hear Roddenberry’s own words below…

For more about this, check out the latest episode of TrekMovie’s All Access Star Trek podcast discussing “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.”

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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I believe if a time cop can manipulate events, then they can go back and set them right. So, just because in this moment La’an ran into young Khan in 2022/3, doesn’t mean a time agent wasn’t able to go back and adjust the eugenics wars back to the 90’s.

Maybe when La’an went back in time with Kirk, she needed to fix one thing so the injured time cop could be brought back to life to go back and fix the timeline.

Yeah that’s the basic hole in the argument. They want to use time travel as an excuse to alter history, but then conveniently ignores that Star Trek goes out of it’s way to reset that altered history to its original state again and again. That’s literally why they created Time cops in the first place, because someone finally realized maybe Kirk, Picard, Sisko or Janeway shouldn’t be responsible for resetting time themselves over and over again (and let’s be honest, they are actually responsible for a lot of it themselves even if they don’t mean to lol).

So they came up with a practical solution Starfleet would make an organization whose job is to observe the timeline and counteract any major change done to it. So it’s odd they ignore how much time was altered here. And maybe they can’t stop everything, but it’s odd it isn’t even acknowledged. It just feels like a huge plothole.

I think that partially explains the dangers of the Temporal War. I think that the agents have to pick and choose their battles and may have actually even chosen to potentially leave alone events that enhanced the Federation in some way.

That may also explain why Admiral Vance was so focused on not sending Discovery back because he was afraid to reopen this risk.

I can get behind this. I have said in the review thread for the episode maybe they just decided it didn’t stop the Federation from forming so they allowed it. But I just have a hard time believing something so big that effected literally billions of lives wouldn’t be considered important enough not to fix. But then again, in the whacky world of Star Trek, they probably had to stop something 10 times worse we never even heard of lol.

I know when the original idea of TCW came about on Enterprise, a lot of people hated the idea. I wasn’t really fond of it myself and I love time travel stories. But the concept makes complete sense as well when time travel is soooo easy to do as Star Trek has ALWAYS presented it as such and you have all these advance species trying to gain a foothold in the galaxy and the Federation is just so big and powerful. This was basically inevitable. Even more so centuries into the future where the technology has advanced much greater than in the 23rd and 24th century.

I hate to say this, but the 23rd Century truly feels far more advanced now than it ever was in TOS or its films. That may be because of the temporal incursions.

Maybe the Federation had its own Annorax for a while.

Bro they have a spore drive, they didn’t have that even in the 24th century. It’s been too advanced for years. Now they can say because it was in a different timeline. Problem solved. 😎

Nothing to do with time travel, more to do with the fact it’s 2023 and not 1969 and production values have moved on.

Perhaps only major changes can be detected by the time cops and their options for a “correction” without setting off other unintended events are limited. Perhaps in those cases they do only enough to let time reinsert the event at a later point.

That’s a valid point but then SAY THAT!! It’s odd everyone in the story know history was greatly altered but no one batted an eye over it. You would think La’an would be a bit curious about it, because her entire lineage was changed (she herself could’ve been erased) unless people want to believe all of Khan’s descendants just happen to come around like in the original timeline. There should’ve been some discussion when the DTI agent showed up in her quarters and La’an confronts her about it. That would’ve been the perfect time.

If you watch the episode Relativity, Ducane is trying to cover every little base to correct the timeline as much as possible for an event that frankly doesn’t really change anything except for Voyager itself. That’s how important it was to keep everything on the straight and narrow. But yeah I get you can’t keep everything as before if an event just has too many variables and so you clean it up to at least keep most important parts of history still flowing, but that should’ve been part of the discussion.

That’s why your idea for a TCW show that you mentioned elsewhere is a great idea! It could explain so much. :)

LOL you read that! Yes, that’s right. It would be great to have that kind of show. Although a lot of people theorized the now dead Section 31 show would maybe dealt with time altercations and even the multiverse. No idea if that was true but if so then I think TCW would’ve had some influence. And maybe the movie will have this premise.

And now thinking about what I said above, actually it’s wrong. Reading Goldsman comments and remembering what happened in the premiere episode, for La’an, Khan being born in the 21st century and not the 20th century is what always happened from her POV. She literally states it in the episode when she told Khan he was exactly where he was suppose to be because that’s how history has always unfolded for her. Again, they went on and on in this episode trying to figure what had changed in that year to alter history but Khan’s own presence was never an issue.

That would’ve been a better twist for the audience after Sera monologues about how time works and mentioned that Khan was suppose to take over the world in the 90s then La’an should’ve been like “Whaaaaaaat????’ And then had the conversation with the DTI agent that history was altered in some way long ago and they could’ve still acknowledged it that way.

Annnd that would also explain why a Noonien Singh is now aboard the Enterprise because in this timeline, that family tree held up much stronger centuries later because there damn sure wasn’t one aboard in the TOS timeline. I don’t give a damn what anyone tries to spin. It’s ridiculous on its face. But now knowing what we know, it’s not so ridiculous (but still ridiculous ;)).

But this proves the case that SNW is an altered timeline now. You can’t get around that if from their POV Khan was always just a 21st century Hitler and not another 20th century version Kirk and company learned about in school.

Didn’t think about that but it makes sense. 👍

I mean if someone can give me a different argument, I’m all ears. But what else could it be for La’an if Khan has always existed in this period for her but clearly not for Sera?

Doesn’t that just suggest she along with everyone else on the ship has been living in an altered timeline? If they ask this Spock what year Khan ruled Earth, I don’t think he’ll say 1992 like Spock in TOS did. But my head is starting to hurt lol.

As both Chief O’Briens would say, I hate temporal mechanics.

Yeah seem obvious to me too and it’s now an altered timeline.

Or, just call it a “reboot” and be done with it.

DTI is much more interesting than Section 31.

You get to have dozens of out of time characters; an Andorian from 210 AD, a Surak era Vulcan, a liberated Borg from the 29th Century, a Human woman from 1980s San Francisco, all living together on a Space Station out of time inside of a Black Hole with a dramatic view of the end and beginning of the Universe.

Oh definitely agree on that. I wasn’t endorsing the idea of a Section 31 show and was really not into the idea for a host of reasons. But I would’ve supported it if it happened, especially if was going to be based on time travel.

But I love your idea of a DTI show. Fans keep saying they want to do something new and interesting with the franchise, this is the perfect example. Think a bit more out of the box. Trek has so many amazing concepts out there and they can do all kinds of interesting things with a time travel component.

The key problem here is Akiva and co. Thinking they need to marry up events with our current history. Trek is fiction, and has its own history. There is no reason to assume that the 1990’s of Trek’s past couldn’t have happened. The changes they’re making are far more egregious than two episodes of Voyager where they go back to the 1990’s with no mention of the Eugenics wars. Yet.. here we are, saying this fits within canon and this is the prime timeline. I guess we’ll just shift again when Trek shows are produced at the time Toronto is supposedly wiped out. smh. So lazy. What a joke.

I understand your gripes, but I also really appreciate what Goldsman said. Keeping the Trek Universe in our future is part of the core philosophy of the entire franchise in the first place. It’s aspirational. I didn’t like the episode at all (aside from performances) but I love the idea of keeping the aspirational aspect intact.

I think everyone can agree it’s good to make the show feel connected and aspirational to our world, but I don’t know how moving a story about supermen taking over the planet does that?? It’s just a very odd thing to connect it to.

And then what’s really head scratching about it is he says he wanted to move the event forward to keep up with our reality BUT this is also the same guy who created a manned mission to Jupiter in Picard season 2 that isn’t anywhere close to our reality but suppose to believe is happening a year from now.

So let me get this straight, he wanted to move the Eugenics War because it dates the show too much due to it’s time placement. But then he creates another event that dates the show literally the year it was introduced in? So what are we missing???? Unless people are convinced NASA is going to start flying people to Jupiter by next year or something it already feels out of place to our world.

And I get the Eugenics War is a well known event and has a wider impact on canon. But this is why people get frustrated because no one is forcing anyone to do these things but then they still break their own rules and story consistency. So in another 5-10 years, should we expect someone to retcon that flight or just tell us Picard somehow got the date wrong too because he’s super old and time travel wrecks havoc on the brain.

And that’s why I don’t buy anything this doorknob says about his show working within Trek canon. I honesty don’t know if he is just so high on his own fluctuance that he really believes this stuff or if he is fully aware his show screwed up so very badly that he had to make this stuff up in a weak attempt to cover up is own incompetence.

I like you! 😊

No, there is no reason they can’t keep the aspirational theme and keep all of the fictitious Trek history where it was. None. In fact, one could argue that since in reality there was no Khan is aspirational in and of itself. Things need not match our reality to be aspirational. The character Superman is aspirational. But he’s not real, either.

So, no. What he says I really can’t believe he truly buys. I think he’s desperately trying to make his pathetic mistakes work within the realm of the Trek sandbox.

I’m cool with the change but yeah this explanation is just silly. I been watching Trek since 1998. and don’t think I ever watched Space Seed until a few years later. I remember watching it and thought Khan had a cool backstory and not remotely caring that the war happened when I was still in high school because it’s a fake story on a TV show for bleep sake.

I didn’t fall in love with Star Trek because of it’s fake history. I fell in love with it because of its great characters, cool aliens and smart stories (that excludes Threshold of course…still my worst episode in Trek). I never cared it was close to the real world or not.

You have to be an old hardcore nerd to let something like this bother you for 30 years. 😅

Star Trek is just a TV show. None of this is real.

I think its more laughable that they still used paper on TOS lol.

Currently , there never was Eugenics war in the 1990s, so obviously that correction never happened.

Yep. If there is a future “temporal agency” designed to keep things right and make sure time incursions don’t deviate history too much they would have certainly gone back and fixed it so Khan rises to power in the ’90’s.

This is all BS to explain away why their foolish takes on Trek are better.

I certainly get Goldsman points and that the ultimate message of showing how the world will evolve for the better in our universe. But same time, people have to also just accept it’s all fiction too and that you’re working on a property that made just as many crazy predictions about Earth’s past as its future and you’e not going to resolve it all by just throwing the show in an alternate timeline over and over again.

For the record, I don’t have an issue of what they did and really like it actually. But not because it keeps Star Trek fake history ‘relevant’ but because it made clear the show was in an alternate timeline thanks to the TCW and because of that it doesn’t have to follow canon so stringently. When you move the Eugenics War by 30 years that is also still 300 years in the past then that ripple effect can change practically anything even if a lot of it ultimately gets course corrected. But now they can have an open war with the Gorn years before Kirk encounter them in Arena. Hell, I suspect the way things are going on this show, Kirk and Pike will be fighting the Gorn together next season lol. If Spock decides he wants to dump T’Pring and be with Chapel, that can happen too. Of course I don’t know how his feelings change for his fiance because Future Guy changed history enough for Khan to be born later but I still don’t understand how Nero destroying the Kelvin made Sulu suddenly gay either. It’s time travel and alternate universe shenanigans, that’s the beauty of it, no one can figure it out, so don’t even try lol.

I know for anyone who knows my handle that I sound like a broken record at this point but if you want to keep Trek’s history relevant to contemporary times, fine, just reboot it and you can say the Eugenics wars started in 2100. Zefram’s Cochrane’s warp flight didn’t take place until 2150 and the Federation is born in the 23rd century instead of the 22nd. Maybe Kirk’s Enterprise 5 year mission was in the 24th century and not the 23rd. Because again, if you are so adamant that the past has to be changed, then why can’t that be the case with the future too to keep things on track with our current times? Roddenberry had no idea people would still be making Star Trek now, no one did. So then if you want to go down this rabbit hole then make it ALL consistent and fit with the flow of time, right?

Even if you don’t want the precious prime universe rebooted, you have to admit this makes things much easier instead of what they are setting up now which I guarantee will turn it into a bigger and confusing mess in the end since they can’t even keep to their own canon they set up as Picard season 2 made clear.

> But same time, people have to also just accept it’s all fiction too

Nobody thinks Star Trek is real. They do however hope it someday CAN be real.

Sure me too. But you still have to accept the show can’t present the ‘real world’ when it has ridiculously whacky things like the Eugenics War to begin with. I hope we can still make warp nine ships and all have the chance to make out with Orion girls WITHOUT multiple genocides happening before then. Maybe we can aspire to that instead. ;)

So then why waste time trying to match the show to our reality?

In another story thread, I mentioned that when I was a kid watching TOS I did like to believe that was potentially our timeline’s future. That of course was laughably ruined when TOS depicted a civilian Saturn V being used by the DoD to launch an orbital nuclear weapons platform in Assignment Earth which was of course pure fiction. As a space geek, I was dismayed haha. As an adult, TOS just became another fictional TV show with additional multiple historical errors like the NOMAD launch in 2002, etc., but i understand why some including Goldsman is trying to change the date of the Eugenics War and subsequent launch of the Botony Bay. Returning Trek to our timeline is perhaps a noble but ultimately fruitless endeavour. That said, I too like how you point out the potential benefits of changing canon as it frees up writers to make changes – something I am okay with AS LONG AS THE NEW STORY IS GOOD! Happy Fourth too all!!

I guess for me I was always one of the weirdos who never looked at the show as ‘real’ to our world but more as potential possibilities of what could happen. In other words maybe some of it will come true, others not so much. It’s just fun to see what they do get right but I’m not upset when they don’t either because it’s fiction, not a documentary. And chances are that ratio is probably 10/90 although that can be good too when it comes to chances of our planet being controlled by authoritarian supermen. ;)

But I never saw it as a direct relation because that’s just not realistic. Hollywood writers can’t predict the future, only what they think it could be. Those are two different things. And we have a flood of science fiction shows and movies whose predictions usually gets it way more wrong than right. And yet, no one seems bothered by this. Star Trek is not the only show out there making serious claims of how society will turn out. No one seems that bothered the Terminator movies still gets it very wrong lol…at least so far. ;) So, I don’t understand why anyone feel this show alone has to carry this burden? What other shows or movies do people feel also shares this responsibility? If you can’t name a single one, then it’s just more proof some fans take this show a little more seriously than they should. Just being honest.

But yes, I do think in the end this will be a good thing so I’m fine with the change, I just don’t care about this specific change. But if others do, that’s great, especially if it makes them enjoy the show more. And it will just be easier to deal with canon in the future and have the freedom to tell a story however they want.

Oh and thanks man and Happy Belated Canada Day! :)

I would honestly be surprised if there are that many fans who really think Star Trek is (or at least, STILL IS) in OUR timeline. I personally haven’t ever thought of it that way. I like that is connects back to our historic people, places and events, but (as has already been said) there’s been too many things that Star Trek has addressed since the 60’s that has never happened.

But what confuses me the most about the current era of Trek is how someone like Goldsman is going out of his way to try to convince everyone that one of the main points of Trek is that is connects to our history and therefore they are justified changing the timeline for the Eugenics Wars and beyond. BUT in the meantime, the Europa mission – which is a HUGE part of Picard season 2 – is supposed to be launching within a year and a half!! How can you create a HUGE PLOT DEVICE that is clearly fiction and not happening anytime soon, and then go out of your way to DESTROY canon just so you can keep Trek “in our timeline”??? I just don’t get it.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ve already made up my mind that SNW is in an alternate timeline and that the “Prime Timeline” as we knew it is gone. I just don’t know why they are trying so hard to just not admit it to themselves….

I agree. I think the majority of fans and casual fans don’t see Star Trek as our real world, at least not directly. Again, because too much of it has already changed as you said. I certainly don’t because the past Earth of Star Trek is ironically too depressing and cynical beyond what ours ever was. According to Q In a few decades its going to kill off all its lawyers and the military will be controlled through drugs. Yes all this still happens in ‘the future’ but I’m going to guess this will never happen on our planet.

But then on the flip side of that, we do have a few positive historical events happening in Star Trek’s Earth that is actually way ahead of us at this time like its space program. You mentioned the Europa flight (which I used as an example as well) which is suppose to happen next year and we know that idea is very absurd. We’re probably still decades away from sending manned flights to anywhere in our solar system outside of the moon and yet it was Goldsman himself who came up with that idea, so it’s bizarre and very contradictory. But same time it actually keeps with Star Trek’s history of space flight. On Star Trek’s Earth, the first manned mission to Saturn also takes place sometime in the early 21st century according to TOS. That probably should’ve happened already in fact. The first manned Mars manned mission is 2032 according to Voyager. That’s less than a decade away now too.

So ironically even though the Europa mission makes absolutely no sense in our reality today, it actually fits in perfectly with the progress of space travel in Star Trek’s chronology. Humans are already exploring the solar system in this time but we’re not even close to that reality yet. And then add the first Lunar colonies and the invention of warp travel which also suppose to happen in the 2060s which is obviously now within our lifetime.

And the other irony is we have to have these types of programs happening now in the Star Trek universe if we to believe a century from now Earth will now have the means and capabilities to transverse hundreds of solar systems and colonizing planets outside our solar system before the NX-01 even launches. And once that does, that number jumps to thousands of solar systems. So the writers of Picard actually did their homework, it all makes sense….for Star Trek’s history, but not our own.

So this is more proof that A. Star Trek is simply not our reality, not even close and B. that you can’t retcon all of it to fit current times without turning into a mess. That’s literally why I suggested in my OP if want to reconcile today’s real world history and progress with Star Trek, then you have to r-e-b-o-o-t it to align with the real world. Everything would probably have to be moved up a century and TOS wouldn’t start until the 24th century and TNG the 25th for example because we have now caught up to it’s future and we’re nowhere close to it, Eugenics War or not.

But then no one wants to do that and prefer to keep putting band aids on a bullet wound instead like Golsman is obviously trying to do; so I keep hitting my head against the proverbial brick wall.

And I agree, SNW is now in an alternate timeline. If you don’t want to believe that reality fine, but as I just proven, we can definitely say Star Trek is in an alternate timeline to our real world and has been for decades now even if the Eugenics war itself was never a thing. ;)

At the very least people have to admit I’m making a lot of sense here lol.

I won’t go so far as to say the prime timeline is “gone”. It’s still there waiting for competent writers and producers to go back there.

If writers & producers are incapable of operating in that world with those rules or feel the need to alter the existing prime universe to match their version then either say up front “this is our version of Pike’s Enterprise.” Or, “This is our version of a star ship some decade before TOS and is not a part of that universe.” Or, this is our version of Picard as an old man.” Or best yet, everything our production company makes is its own thing and any connection to any Star Trek that came before is pure coincidence. We aren’t trying to make any of it match.”

When I watched as a kid I knew it was a fake future. But it was still a positive one. One that was not ruined by the activities in “Assignment: Earth”. And it still wasn’t ruined when 1992 came and went with no Khan. Trek history was still Trek history and the inspirational and positive aspects of it still existed even when our real time passed stuff that Trek mentioned. Probably the biggest negative to our aspirational future came in the TNG pilot when they spoke about “post atomic horrors.” Which I HATED. One of the things I loved about Trek, especially in the 70’s when nearly all sci-fi revolved around nuclear annihilation was it it was probably the only sci-fi out there that did NOT predict nuclear holocaust. Which I never believed would happen, myself. I found that very positive. Then TNG had to go and ruin that right off the bat.

Sorry… I got off track at bit from my original comment. Which was, fiction set in our future don’t need to match our REAL future to be effective.

I have been talking about the same thing since the 80’s. It was apparent the timeline between Star Trek and us has divulged too far. We are supposed to have Warp Drive in 40 years. Khan in 1996. Colonel Christopher Jupiter mission around now. It’s going to get worse unless they address it. That said, I still have a problem with the Gorn showing up early. 👍

“That said, I still have a problem with the Gorn showing up early.”

But this is ultimately the issue. You can’t have your cake and eat it too (and I’m not talking about you specifically of course, just in general). But it’s all open season now. Now they can just say ‘Temporal Cold War’ and now the Gorn is invading Earth next season. When you open this kind of can of worms that you are using time travel as an excuse to change major historical events in canon, then everything can be in question, even centuries later.

Star Trek has always operated on the butterfly effect model of time travel. Incidentally that’s exactly why the reset button was used over and over again so they can keep saying none of it had a true effect to the rest of history. Now they can no longer say that and why this is obviously an altered timeline this show is living under.

I have been talking about the same thing since the 80’s. It was apparent the timeline between Star Trek and us has divulged too far. We are supposed to have Warp Drive in 40 years. Khan in 1996.

Isn’t it just fiction though? Star Trek isn’t real. 🤣

Yeah… I have the same Gorn problem. And both things really are mutually exclusive. Just because our reality doesn’t match Trek’s history doesn’t mean they get to more the first Gorn encounter as they see fit.

Unless, of course, they want to call it a REBOOT.

Is Akiva Goldsman full of crap? There is nothing to be corrected. It’s a fictional universe, it doesn’t have to align with ours completely.

Star Trek has a rich future history thay has been built over 5 decades,.is it going to be jettisoned just because we are getting near the time these they are meant to happen.

Be creative, use the lore, don’t erase it. Find creative ways to make the existing lore work.

There is no need to for personal insults. The producers are simply wanting to make the fictional Trekverse seem more “real” to reviewers by removing the glaring disjunction that there was no Eugenics War in the 1990s. I appreciate the effort toward verisimilitude. As it is, I think every Trek series has had its own time travel story to the 20th or 21st centuries. Maybe it’s time for a “time out” on them. One wonders why all these time travellers haven’t bumped in each other!

That dude always personally insults Akiva.

To be fair, they did use the lore. They used the concept of the TCW that has been based in canon for over 20 years to explain it. That’s being creative. It just sounds like some don’t like how it was used but he actually did what you claim he wasn’t doing.

Now if you just don’t like it, feel it’s erasing history instead of enhancing it, that’s fair. And I have been on record saying I wish they could just mooove on from Khan completely so we wouldn’t have these annoying debates at all. But same time this is Star Trek and they have done goofier things in the past (no pun intended ;)).

You could not be any more wrong on how Rodenberry set up Star Trek — he set is up as our possible future, not the Marvel Multiverse fantasy BS.

The biggest problem I have with Strange New Worlds is that it can’t do “Yes, and…”

Instead of constantly fiddling with the Gorn, Khan, etc., introduce new species and new places. Add on to the franchise’s narrative instead of reinterpreting what’s come before.

Agree with this as well. Make something new. I had the same problem with Picard too but at least none of it went against canon like this show.

To be fair when you go forward there are fewer restrictions on your show. No need to be concerned with what is coming in the future. Only what happened in the past.

Which exactly why going forward is always a better idea than going backwards IMO. And for me it will always be more exciting to get something completely new versus just ‘filling in’ to stuff we already know like a lot of prequels do. The whole Khan thing being the perfect example. Sigh

The irony is “Strange New Worlds” was given its name completely based on the idea that this was going to be a show that would explore… well… strange new worlds. That’s not to say that they haven’t shown us a few, but we’ve seen nothing that really has been all that groundbreaking. The end of the most recent season of Discovery was TRULY a strange new world, and I thought it was really interesting and a “big swing”. So far, it appears that SNW is more of a metaphor that actually means the exploration of new and existing characters and relationships. New aliens, planets, even technologies are all just being sidelined because for some reason, exploring the actors and their stories (which every series has done before within the course of the story) is apparently the most important thing.

I don’t think this group is capable of doing what you are suggesting. I really don’t.

How dare you ask Secret Hideout to “be creative”!

According to them, they understand Trek better than anyone and making the best Trek ever made!

Won’t we still just run into the Eugenics War again in ten or twenty years? I don’t mind that they moved it, but if just seems pointless to me.

They’ll need to do a complete reboot of the entire Trek franchise by then anyway — a pretty complete reimagining I would think. It’s already near laughable to watch TOS eps and watch SNW and not notice how low-tech and unrealistic, and how male-dominated, everything is in TOS — and I am saying this while having TOS as my all time fav Trek series. So the continuing with the canon today with all oi the pretending and rewrites that need to happen is already getting difficult, and there is no way that a 2060 Trek series, presumably in VR 3D, is still going to be able to claim it lines up with 1960s’ Trek or even 1980’s Trek. At some point that attempt to line it all up will become a complete joke.

You don’t need to reboot something just because the older entries are old. We all understand that technology and values evolve over time.

I’m talking about when you get like the unprecedented 100 year freaking point of the franchise, with say 25 series of future history sci-fi with thousands and thousands. Yeah, I think at that point you would want to do that — and the fans would want that by then as well. My opinion.

If the show is still running in 2063, then they might have to either reboot or use some more time travel shenanigans to move things around. Its still a little early to be worrying about that though.

I thought TV was going in 2040.

Goldsman is going to retcon that too in episode 5. ;)

Also agree it’s pointless but whatever.

Not a fan of taking an iconic franchise that has endured for over half a century and retroactively fixing it to make it feel more “real” when there’s no need to. I mean, what’s the point?

You just answered your own question — to make it more convincing and real.

If you want the story to be convincing and real, maybe don’t write a story where your main characters are able to check into a hotel without a credit card and sneak back and forth across international borders without any ID. Because chess money solves all those problems according to the script.

But you know the genetic superman being born in the 1960s instead of the 2010s is the beginning and end when it comes to believability, right?

Yet when the stuff in Pic S3 got nuts and Starwarsy, you had no issue with it???

We can go back and forth all we want here. But I don’t have one set of rules concerning realism for shows I like and a different set of rules for shows I dislike.

What exactly does it mean to go “Starwarsy”? Is it because they’re in space? I can’t work with your comment if you’re going to be that vague with your points.

The last two eps of Picard literally carbon copied ROTJ. I’ve covered this multiple times on comments in past articles, so I assume most have read this from me by now, but sure, here is the summary of this again:

In Picard S3, Data Calrissian did a great job with those crazy awesome piloting skills getting the Millennium-D into the center of the Death Cube to destroy it just as the Picardwalker father and son team clashed, but then shrugged off the negative controlling force and came to together to destroy Borg Queen Palpatine….all in parallel with Han and Princess Seven doing the the important support mission in the same system. More specifically:

The Emperor in the Death Star = Borg Queen in CubeLuke and Vader’ struggle with each other and then overcoming Palpatine = Picard and Jack’s struggle with each other and then overcoming Borg Queen. The supporting mission on Endor occurring in parallel with the Death Star ending events = the supporting mission near Earth by the Titan crew Jacks and Picards dark powers they must overcome as father and son = Vader and Luke’s dark powers they must overcome as father and son So we just sat through a season of Return of the Picard that I enjoyed for the TNG closure/fan service elements, and held my nose up at the Trek masquerading as Star Wars elements. I can live with that and accept the joy from the reunion elements that I got from it…but that is all I need in terms of more Star Wars-like stuff from this franchise.

If you’re that convinced I cannot help you. I’d rather have a Star Wars knock off as a TNG final than whatever Star Trek Nemesis was trying to be.

That’s just another part of why these writers are terrible. I was wondering how they crossed the border. Did they walk through a wilderness? All in a couple of days? With a few bucks they made from chess? Did they bribe customs agents? So many many issues with the episode they made only so their version can be the dominant one.

Why would we want to make Star Trek feel ‘convincing and real’? It’s a fictional show. To say that the stories told are “silly” because they don’t feel like they happened in “our” real history is like being upset that there is no Metropolis when doing a Superman series. Should we change the name to New York so that it doesn’t become “silly”?

The funny about your comment is that I doubt you even know that New York City was originally named New Amsterdam. :-)) Whoops! LOL

Additionally, Superman is fantasy, not science fiction, so that’s an invalid analogy anyway.

The funny about your comment is that I doubt you even know that New York City was originally named New Amsterdam. :-)) Whoops! LOL

You may never know.

Additionally, Superman is fantasy, not science fiction, so that’s an invalid analogy anyway.

You really want to stand on that hill? I know certain fantasies that use fungi to bring dead people back to life.

The hill has lumps and some areas that need mowing, but yeah, I’m fine to stand on it versus that trench with the runoff below.

True. But in this case, the point was to make their version the “real” version. They have ignored so much of TOS that they felt they needed to just go and say “ours is the prime time line now”.

Thank you for this article.

I didn’t have any problem with them moving the Khan event from the 1990s to the 21st century, and I completely understood why they wanted to do it. I remember growing up as a fan of Star Trek and imagining that it was in our universe and our future history. Not that I wanted anything like a eugenics war to happen or anything terrible like that, but it was still nice to imagine that the shows were our possible future and that did make them feel relevant for me. So, I totally get it.

I can still enjoy everything that came before and the TCW stuff is a good enough explanation for me why things have changed. I can still watch and accept Trouble with Tribbles even though DS9 replaced it on the timeline with Trials and Tribble-ations and I can still watch Space Seed and TWOK and accept that at one point those events mentioning the 1990s were correct, but now aren’t.

It’s all fiction after all and it doesn’t take much to headcanon it all together in the absence of an official explanation. And now we have an official explanation and I accept it. I appreciate the attempt at trying to keep Star Trek relevant for the current audience.

Well said. 100% agree.

I didn’t either and I didn’t like the episode that much either. So many dumb things happened in it. They are going to let a guy who stole a car go with the car?? Sigh, sadly hacks still make these shows. But they explained TCW changed stuff so that part is cool.

At least it’s not like Star Trek Into Dumbness where white Khan shows up and no one even notices.

I’m pretty hard om NuTrek at times but I give then credit when they at least try to have stuff makes sense.

And I never cared about the Eugenics war stuff.

OMG I didn’t think about the car thing until now lol. Yeah, people have pointed out to me how messy this episode was and I’m not talking about the Khan stuff. That actually made the most sense lol. I still liked it though.

And I like the idea of the Eugeics War, but it’s funny it gets brought up sooo much these days and yet they still seem embarrass to even show it. In STID, they had Khan and they still couldn’t be bothered to explain what the Eugenics War was to the newbies watching it. I can’t even remember if they even said the name in the movie (reason #47 it was ridiculous to even have him there if they never wanted to develop the guy). And that’s because they know how ridiculous the concept comes across in ANY time period. If the last 30 years taught us anything, it’s really that this kind of invasion happening is unrealistic today. It’s too many safeguards now and it actually shows we have progressed. Sadly we have things like the Ukraine invasion still happening but even that proves how different things are now because Putin really thought it would be like the old days and they can just swoop on in and take over a smaller country without any push back.

While we;re certainly not at Star Trek level, it proves democracy and progress is higher today even when we have people like Putin and Trump trying to test it as much as they are.

What’s interesting is that Goldsman says they already moved the Eugenics Wars to the 21st century back in season one. I guess that went unnoticed since I don’t recall reading any reactions about it. I certainly missed it.

And yes, the car thing was silly and looked more like product placement than anything else.

Someone else mentioned it happened in the first episode of the season when Pike is showing video of the world getting nuked to the aliens and that was around the time the Eugenics War happened too sometime in the 21st century.

And that’s confirmed because we see the January 6th video of MAGA Trumpers trying to take down America and threatening to kill Pence with their failed coup attempt and then all the other stuff supposedly came after that. Is it supposed to all be connected? Yeah probably!

That’s what Goldsman seems to be talking about.

The car scene was absolutely ridiculous and took me out of the show because of how dumb it was. 🙄

Video of riots in 2020-1 doesn’t confirm anything in Trek history. If they really wanted to show an honest to goodness coup they could have shown video from Myanmar in Feb of ’21.

Well it should. 😉

This is actually why I believe this was always an altered timeline because Goldsman basically confirmed this was in place since the show started; literally with the first episode. At the time, it just sounded more like a lazy retcon and they just pushed the date up maybe hoping no one will notice too much. ;)

But after the time travel stuff and Sera talking about the altercations it caused, it was obvious it was much more than that.

There is truth there. But they are just doing basically what Kurtzman & Orci did to create the KU. Alter the time line to create their own reboot show.

I still don’t know if this was their intent all along or if they realized how badly they screwed up and this was their attempt to make it all work. Well, their explanation essentially says their shows are all reboots more than they say ‘this is how we fixed things’.

Exactly. They are essentially creating a new timeline. Now I will say it is a bit different from the Kelvin universe since it does still happen in the Prime Universe, but it now gives them the freedom to change whatever they want. You can’t with a straight face say you can somehow change 30 years of history over the Eugenics War but then everything else stays the same.

But I do suspect unlike the KU, they will try and stick to the original canon as much as possible because they know if they go too far off the deep in, many fans will just consider it non canon to the Prime universe. But I know, you and others already think they have veered too far from the Prime timeline. I’m not really there yet but I won’t be shocked if that ends up being the case by the end of this season.

I honestly don’t think they have any intent to even try to stick within the rules. They didn’t before. Why would that change? And now they have this explanation that pretty much allows them to do anything they damn well want and still consider what they are doing “prime” or canonical. I promise, they will pick up on some small thing that happened on one TOS episode (and pat themselves on the back for noticing it foolishly thinking it will give them standing among the fans) and decide to run with it to the point that it ignores 20 other things in the Trek universe. But it is OK because… Time line changes or other.

As I said I wouldn’t be shocked if they didn’t, especially since they were already changing things anyway. I guess the question is how FAR will they go? I stated in the past the way they are treating canon now is basically stick to the broad strokes of what we know in TOS like ultimately Spock will still be with T’Pring, Kirk will still run into the Gorn later, etc. But now I wonder will they just totally ignore whatever they want and have Kirk and Pike fight the Gorn together as an example. I mentioned this in my OP they basically CAN do that now. But I suspect they will still keep to the broad strokes of things but we’ll see. I think the Gorn episode this season will give us a big heads up if really goes much bigger.

Since they pretty much admitted this is now an alternative time line, like the KU (cough *reboot*) they have essentially completely obliterated all of TOS and by extension everything that came after. Even TNG. No way can Arena still have happened. It just can’t. Their own explanation says it can’t. They are now free to run stories from TOS they way THEY feel they should be done.

I still stick to my idea that this was their way to completely free themselves from canon. All this did was make me wish they just called everything they did their own new rebooted Trek universe. Because that is what it is. The only thing left is for the people associated with creating this stuff to come out and outright say it.

Again you can be right. We’ll see. I just don’t know if they want to go that far with it but you’re right, nothing stops them now either.

Personally, I’ve been fine for the last 30 years with the idea that the Eugenics War was a fictional plot device that never actually happened. I get a quick chuckle every time I re-watch Wrath of Khan and get to that line where Montalban mentions 1996. It never detracts from the quality of that particular story. I remember 1982, and how at the time everyone had unrealistic expectations about the next two or three decades. (See also: Bladerunner. See also: Back to the Future Part II.)

Star Trek is full of predictions for the future that didn’t exactly pan out. Humpback whales haven’t gone extinct yet (ST IV actually did a lot of good PR for their cause) and Jackson Roykirk didn’t launch the Nomad probe in 2002. We don’t have sanctuary districts in 2023, therefore ST’s predictions for 2024 seem grim. And according to TNG there will be 52 stars on the U.S. flag by 2033, but the prospect of adding two more states is as unlikely now as it was in 1988.

Goldsman’s explanation about the date of the Eugenics War is fine for what it is, and not worth arguing about. This week’s episode was fun, and it wouldn’t have been as impactful without the La’an / Khan connection, and all right, so a fictional date has been reset. It remains as fictional as it was in 1966 and 1982.

But what gets me is this: the assumption that the Star Trek franchise is “broken” and that I therefore wake up early every Thursday morning in eager anticipation of seeing it “fixed” by these new shows. So what are we going to do when the Eugenics War doesn’t break out in 2032, thus invalidating even Goldsman’s version of events? Are we going to need yet another episode “saving” Star Trek with yet another ret-con?

Please, let’s focus instead on advancing the franchise forward and spending less time shoe-gazing at its past.

It’s only some fan’s getting all whiny about “oh no, there fixing Star Trek.” The producers are just trying to tell a good story and remain consistent with Rodenberry’s intent that, hey, this stuff could happen. So a few dates get updates, and so they might get updated again in 30 years…so freaking what?

2024 is gonna blow though. So they got that right.

Yeah it’s fiction. It’s not real history.

But if they want to change it fine as long as they come with a good reason and they did.

It’s just in an alternate timeline. Fixed.

That way you can watch TWOK and not think about why there are two different dates now.

I like the idea as well and there is nothing wrong to see it as an alternative timeline since none of it is real one way or the other.

But it’s just ridiculous to take fictional entertainment and treat it like some source of real history or think your fans will think less of a TV show just because it doesn’t align with real events. If you have to care about that, I think it’s more important to get the real historical events right than the fake ones.

We allll understand it’s not real, but we can still feel immersed in that world just the same. And note to Goldsman, if you are making your universe with great stories, strong characters and solid writing, they can still feel just as credible in that universe even if it doesn’t stack up to ours. And most people watch Star Trek for the possibilities, not for its ‘reality’ since very little of Star Trek has anything to do with reality.

We allll understand it’s not real, but we can still feel immersed in that world just the same. And note to Goldsman, if you are making your universe with great stories, strong characters and solid writing, they can still feel just as credible in that universe even if it doesn’t stack up to ours. And most people watch Star Trek for the possibilities, not for its ‘reality’ since very little of Star Trek has anything to do with reality.

No argument here.

Which is why I think this was their attempt to correct THEIR show. Not Trek in general.

Yeah… They are just opening yet another can of worms. They put themselves in the terrible position that the more early 21st century Trek predictions that don’t come the more they are going to have to “fix” their shows. What is more likely is this is a pathetic attempt to explain why their show is so amazingly out of sync with what came later. and they used a device Kurtzman already used to create a different Trek reboot, too.

This correction also includes the line; “… what used to be called Canada.”

Sorry, but could you explain?

It’s not stated explicitly, but the nation-state of Canada appears to have disappeared by time the United Earth government was created, although it’s still referred to by that name as a historic / geographic region.

It’s clear by passing references in TNG and other shows that Canadian cities and regions still exist (Calgary, Manitoba, Vancouver), but maybe it’s part of a greater North American sub-state in the UE context.

Sure, ok. But remember in TNG’s “Lower Decks” one of the young ensigns stated that Riker was Canadian, though he’s actually from Alaska. Note the clear borders drawn here. But hey, that’s one line.

I think this is just a TV show that tells stories. Let’s not lose any sleep over this.

You must be new here Mark. ;D

LOL, yeah, there is that. You make too much sense for our group here.

Aren’t you the guy super triggered Lower Decks is canon for over 3 years now? 🤣

It’s just a TV show that tell stories too.

Talk about hypocrisy.

Why are you addressing me? I have not addressed you in ages, per our mutual agreement.

Now that IS hypocrisy

Yeah you’re right but I couldn’t let that one go. You’re one of the biggest whiners here and complain about Lower Decks as if the show stole your wife or something but then you complain that others take a TV show too seriously? Really? People shouldn’t whine about stuff they don’t like just like you do everywhere? Maybe follow your advice then.

This is why I want to ignore you in the first place. Alright see ya.

You forgot to include emoticons in this post so that everyone can see you pat yourself on the back for how clever and amusing you are.

You’re right! Won’t happen again! 🙂👍

Good God get over it. None of this is real. Just enjoy the fact that we still get good Star Trek and move on. Nothing changes the old series…put in your DVD and watch it. See…..Khan is still Khan. Grow up.

Who is this aimed, at Goldsman or people not happy with it? Because it could be aimed at both lol.

LOL, great point!

In Star Trek Voyager, the crew traveled to a ’90s from an alternate timeline, created when Braxton crashed in the 1960s and was found by Starling. After they killed Starling, they reset the timeline and it never happened, as the second Braxton made clear when he literally told Janeway that he never experienced it.

I think that version of the 90s did still happen, but not to that version of Braxton. But then the two Braxtons were merged anyway.

The crazy Braxton came from a point in the future after the events of Relativity , when he became stricken with temporal psychosis. He was not the Braxton from Future’s End. Most likely than not it was that psychosis that allowed him to remember the events from this timeline even though he never lived through them. Temporal psychosis was not that well defined, which allows for such a thing to be true.

Both versions of Braxton from Relativity remembered Future’s End. They mentioned reintegrating alternate versions together. I always assumed that meant they were just Tuvixing them together.

Could be, but Braxton himself stated that he never lived through that timeline. Ergo, his having memories from it must be due to his temporal psychosis.

As I started below, when Braxton reappeared at the end of part two he was onboard the same ship he was on in part one, right?

If so, that ship couldn’t have crashed in 1967, where Starling found it, and, later, been destroyed in the 1990s.

If the ship never went back in time, then Starling couldn’t have reversed engineered its technology to create Chronowerks.

In truth, the second part of Future’s End should have concluded with a reset similar to the one in Time & Again, with Voyager in the Delta Quadrant and the crew having no memory of what happened, just like it happened in that episode.

After Braxton said that he didn’t remember those events at the end of Future’s End, they picked up the other version of Braxton that was wandering around LA and merged the two together.

He didn’t say that he didn’t remember them. He said he didn’t experience that timeline.

How could there have been another Braxton when that timeline never existed, having been erased when Voyager destroyed Braxton’s ship when Starling tried to take it to the future?

One theory I heard today from a poster on YouTube was really interesting and tied those Voyager episode, Picard season 2 and this one together. Essentially the Eugenics war didn’t happen as you said because Braxton traveled back to the past and just delayed those events and why we never saw or heard about any remnants of the Eugeniics War when Voyager arrived. But when Sterling was killed, the company went another direction and genetic engineering became their new focus and how the Khan project was born which we saw Soong holding up in Picard season 2; also the same year Sterling was killed.

We could later learn he was the one who had previously worked for Sterling with his cloning experiments and genetic engineering became part of the company, just in secret of course. They weren’t part of the original experiments but their involvement helps push the timeline a closer like before and how Khan came to be in the 2010s.

Obviously it’s all just fan fiction but it actually could work if they didn’t just want to use ‘Temporal Wars’ as the cause and something much more specific and part of past and preset canon.

Except that if the timeline reset and Starling never found Braxton’s ship then Chronowerx never existed, though. Yes, despite the seeming appearance of one of their laptops in a later episode of Voyager. It had to have been a mistake.

But I don’t think the timeline totally reset though because the Doctor still had his mobile emitter which Sterling created with 29th century tech. So there is obviously room there or that would’ve disappeared too.

The emitter probably remained for the same reason that Voyager did in the 20th Century and the crew remembered what happened.

Let us look at it from another perspective.

When Braxton reappeared at the end of part two he was onboard the same ship he was on in part one, right?

If so, that ship couldn’t have crashed in 1967, where Starling found it, and, later, been destroyed in the 1990s.

If the ship never went back in time, then Starling couldn’t have reversed engineered its technology to create Chronowerks.

In truth, the second part of Future’s End should have concluded with a reset similar to the one in Time & Again, with Voyager in the Delta Quadrant and the crew having no memory of what happened, just like it happened in that episode.

Yeah OK, again it’s just a fan speculation, so not a huge deal. I don’t really disagree with your points at all,, but it’s still Star Trek and they really wanted to find a way…they would find a way lol.

But obviously none of this is connected.

That’s as good an explanation as any.

I think there is a problem with moving the Eugenic Wars 30, 40 years to the future: this ALREADY IS a thing that CHANGES EVERYTHING.

There is no way you move something so big and nothing changes. It is like move Hitler’s ascension to 1963 and pretend nothing changes with it. The people fighint changes, the deaths change, the tecnology of the war changes, until the end of the war could change.

In reality, no. In fiction, of course you can do all of this.

I think this if far beyond the suspension of disbelief

No, it’s the exact opposite. By updating the timeline it increases ones ability to suspend disbelief that some of the science fiction they are saying could possibly happen in one form or another one day.

Dumbass stuff that takes one out of the ep, like wondering, “wait, I lived in the 90’s and their were no Eugenics Wars?” don’t need to continue for all the near future shows…just update it and move on. And that’s exactly what they are doing.

The whiners need to stop bitching and moaning about it — this is a necessary correct to the timeline that should not really be a big deal at all.

Except that no one was really whining about the Eugenics Wars taking place in the 90’s or Star Trek being in “our timeline” until this episode brought it front and center. It seems to me that pretty much everyone on these message boards’ “suspension of disbelief” was in a MUCH BETTER place prior to “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”.

What many people HAVE been whining about is that SNW is taking canon and throwing it out the window. And I’m FINE with that if they just establish this is a whole new timeline, and then who cares when the Eugenics Wars took place?

If they really want people to see this as “our timeline”, then just leave well enough alone and come up with new story ideas that don’t need to mess with other stories that were done well enough the first time.

And if “updating the timeline” is really that necessary, tie it into a story point that matters. Not just an excuse for a crew member to not feel lonely and expand a backstory. That could have still been done while writing an entirely original story.

Fully agree. I said it somewhere else, while I don’t mind the idea, it’s just fan service of the worst kind because A. it’s ‘correcting’ something most people never cared about correcting in the first place because most of us recognize its just fiction and B. It has nothing to do with SNW as a show. Sure they found a way to tie it into La’an’s story, but it feels very forced for obvious reasons. But then everything about La’an’s character and backstory feels very forced lol.

But this feels too much like a TOS story line than a SNW one which is the real problem with this show. It’s just focused too much on what TOS created but not trying to create anything new in itself. Again, if it had more than 10 episodes a season, then it would probably be fine. I’m not surprised by it obviously but when you build an entire episode around Captain Kirk and a Khan descendant, that’s another blatant example its being too focused on the wrong show IMO even if you liked the episode.

Imagine on DS9, the third episode of season 2 had Captain Picard and O’Brien together dealing with a secret mission with the Cardassians or Romulans and all the characters the show is suppose to be about are barely shown or not even relevant to the story. That’s basically what this episode felt like.

This doesn’t feel like a TOS story to me at all. There were two in the first season that felt like it was something TOS might have done. (and for sure would have done them better) But for the most part this show feels more like everything else Secret Hideout has made far more than anything TOS might have done. TNG had tons of episodes that felt like they would have worked with TOS, BTW.

Dude, I’ve been bringing up the eugenics wars timeline issue for years on this site and other fans have agreed with me on this issue… Again going back years, so way before this ep. And I also recall major discussions about this when Star Trek into darkness came out, for obvious reasons

That’s yet another thing. I don’t recall hearing over the years about Trek fans annoyed the Eugenics wars never happened. If anything it’s just a bit of a laugh. But seems to me fans accept Trek history as different from reality. Because we know it’s fiction.

This is Goldsman deciding he needed to fix something that was never broken. Which is why I still cling to my theory that he only did this because he and his staff are so creatively bankrupt that they are incapable of writing stories that hold to the rules that Trek created for that time frame. It has nothing to do with GR’s vision or any other such hogwash. It’s only so he can lamely cover his a$$.

“That’s yet another thing. I don’t recall hearing over the years about Trek fans annoyed the Eugenics wars never happened. If anything it’s just a bit of a laugh. But seems to me fans accept Trek history as different from reality. Because we know it’s fiction.”

Never once have I heard this either. Even more proof, we been talking about Augments and Khan since 2013 thanks to STID, Picard season 2 and now this show and the actual date of the war rarely comes up at all. With regards to Picard, if anything people were legitimately upset with Matalas answer when he said that the Eugenics War probably happened later and that Spock got the time mixed up.

So most fans didn’t care and had no problem with keeping it in the 90s. And it probably has to do with the fact in real time, it’s now been over 30 years lol. That’s a loooooong time. People have came to the realization that yeah, Star Trek isn’t real so it didn’t matter anyway.

They already said it did change things because of the TCW. Makes sense. We just don’t know how much.

Fascism would still be a problem, with or without Hitler. If nothing else, someone else would have taken up the mantle.

The Eugenics Wars in the 1990’s is one of countless examples of Star Trek history being different than our own. To view that as something that needs to be “corrected” or practical to address is nonsensical. Even Season 2 of Picard had enough sense to recognize that our history =/= Trek history. Even J.J. Abrams knew how reboot something while leaving the original intact.

Nope. It needs to be periodically updated so that it can remain a possible future for all of us — exactly as GR intended.

You don’t have to like it, but this it what is happening here, and it’s going to keep happening. I suggest you either stay on the train, or get off at the next station. :-)

It’s ridiculous. And they will probably turn it into a bigger mess in the end. But I do think it’s creative, but unnecessary

Well, this show is basically doing what JJ did. And Kurtzman was one of the writers who did it. So SNW is stealing from Kurtzman, essentially.

But SNW isn’t in a different universe. But the idea is definitely similar.

But if Pike starts blasting Beastie Boys off duty, we’re in trouble. 🤣

By claiming all the time changes they have come as close as one can get to admitting this is a reboot/alternate reality as one can get without actually admitting it’s a reboot/alternate reality. At least the KU films had the balls to full on admit that is what they were doing. These weasels can’t even bring themselves to say it.

We may not hear the Beastie Boys but I’d wager dollars to doughnuts Kurtzman probably really wants too…

This is exactly what I said the other day here on a previous article on this ep — that Rodenberry intended the Star Trek timeline to be OUR FUTURE — and I got crucified for it.

It’s nice when those that control canon prove me 100% right

I mean, I gotta accept that Lower Decks is canon because CBS and their producers say it is, so those that love that show while not liking this canon timeline correction will just have to grin and bear it like I do with the juvenile cartoon sitcom events and drama being part of the future history.

Roddenberry (and Goldsman and Co. for that matter) and canon are two different things . If Roddenberry had appeared in Star Trek (even if it was some sort of news clipping, flashback, etc.), then it would be canon. Since he didn’t, it really doesn’t matter what his intention was, and there’s nothing that’s happened on screen to outright say that we are in the same timeline. In fact, there’s been enough differences through the series to say the exact opposite.

Even so, this article and Goldsman’s comments are still just extrapolating Roddenberry’s vision based on quotes that don’t directly say that Roddenberry placed Star Trek exactly in our timeline. In fact, all he really seems to say in the quotes in the article is that he tried to RELATE it to our reality in hopes of people seeing that our future could be a positive one and things could improve. I don’t think he really believed that we would form Starfleet and launch the Enterprise. He did, however, hope that humanity would get past its current problems and focus on bettering ourselves and thinking beyond the confines of our planet.

Trying to say that he truly believed that a group of superhumans would try to take over the world is not anywhere close to true, and I doubt he really believed that time traveling humans were coming back to the 1960’s, 80’s, 90’s, or 2000’s to try to make right what once went wrong. He knew it was fiction and a fictional timeline. He just wanted to make it more realistic than Buck Rodgers and other contemporary sci-fi shows that didn’t connect with reality.

Dude, GR himself updated the Star Trek science fiction future himself in TMP. TMP Trek universe looks vastly different than TOS Trek universe. He updated the ships, the aliens l, starfleet, the technology, and pretty much everything we saw on screen. And not only that, in the next generation, he changed the warp factors, with work 10 being a new maximum.

GR would be the last person to gripe about updating in the timeline for events to keep it consistent with our current set of events and recent past. It has nothing to do with him claiming to predict perfectly future events (of course he wasn’t doing that and of course I wasn’t suggesting that), but it certainly has to do with making common sense updates to the timeline so that it can still be a potential science fiction future for all of us today.

That’s what you and others don’t seem to be understanding. It’s not really all that complicated and it’s not really that big of a deal. You all need to chill out and relax…It’s going to be okay, lol

Of course he updated the look for TMP. They had millions of dollars more at their disposal to update sets, special effects, make up, and anything else. They also had to compete against 2001 and Star Wars. I believe GR himself said if they had the money and time, the tv Klingons would’ve looked different, and more in line with the movie.

Personally, I found the in-universe explanation for the Klingon look was silly. I think most of us understood with more money, and advances in makeup, updating the look was a logical step. Half the time it’s the writers complicating things, not the fans.

Exactly — well said!

This is a dumb reason to alter the canon of the show.

The previous iteration has been part of the franchise for 56 YEARS ! It didn’t bother me that we didn’t suffer through the Eugenics Wars and Khan’s rule when I was a kid watching Deep Space Nine , because I understood I was watching fiction. Doctor Who , which is just as much a cultural signifier to British audiences as a science-fiction series that explored the human condition as Star Trek is to American audiences, isn’t undermined because the Daleks never invaded London in the 1960s.

This is why I find the “updating for modern audiences” excuse really stupid. People that like and love Star Trek will accept all of the weirdness and cardboard sets that came before because it’s a part of Star Trek , the same way Who fans accept the Doctors with question marks on their clothes who wore celery as a fashion accessory and stopped multiple alien invasions of Earth that never happened.

“ And it’s not just the new shows. In 1996 Star Trek: Voyager traveled back to contemporary Los Angeles for the two-part episode “Future’s End,” with no mention or evidence of any Eugenics Wars (or aftermath) to be seen. “

That’s not exactly true. Images of the DY-100 sleeper ship, Botany Bay, appear in those episodes.

Yet you are the dude who acted so defensive when a number of us pointed out all the Star Wars science fantasy-BS and stuff inconsistent with TNG in Picard S3? Now suddenly your a traditionalist for adhering to other Star Trek elements?

I can’t keep up with you, dude? LOL

Ah yes, aren’t you the guy that cries a little inside every time someone says something nice about Matalas. LMAO

If you need the plot of a near 60-year old story within a fictional TV show altered in order for you to find “aspiration” and for it to be “real,” that says a lot more about the whacked out creative decisions of Akiva Goldsman and the skewed priorities of the people praising this mess than it does about the quality of the writing or having a cohesive narrative.

If you need the plot of a 56-year old story within a fictional TV show altered in order for you to find “aspiration” and for it to be “real,” that says a lot more about other things than it does about the quality of the writing or having a cohesive narrative.

Nah, it just says I want some details changed just so laughable shit (especially for new generations of fans being brought in by the new shows) doesn’t show up to make it seem like Trek doesn’t take place in the Marvel Multiverse.

Weird how you give a free pass to space zombies, the D flying around like the Millenium Falcon, and Picard’s son having The Force-like powers in Picard, but these date changes in a couple SNW eps just to keep the timeline from looking too silly really bother you? Wow!

Yeah, I’d agree there is a problem if one can no longer be inspired by the positive aspects a show presents just because real events don’t follow how that fictional show presented them to go.

I keep saying that Star Trek has to be presented as our possible future, or else it ceases to be aspirational. That means periodic recalibration is inevitable. That said, I would have preferred Greg Cox’s approach, as I thought that was a really elegant solution, by saying the Eugenics Wars were a label retroactively attached to events that already happened in the real world.

I keep saying that Star Trek has to be presented as our possible future, or else it ceases to be aspirational. That means periodic recalibration is inevitable.

Well said! Also, I did like Greg Cox’s take.

I’m sorry Eric, but I just don’t buy this at all. The Eugenics War was suppose to happen 30 years ago in our real time. There has been tons of Star Trek since. The show has also gained millions of new fans too, mostly in the 90s itself when surprisingly our planet wasn’t attacked by superhumans.

And oddly enough Star Trek still managed to be ‘aspirational’ just the same in all this time. Again, I’m not bothered by the move in itself, I think it’s very creative in fact. But it’s silly to suggest people can’t separate fake history from real history on a TV show and now can’t feel inspired over it. I don’t know a single person whose had that problem in the last 30 years, including new fans. So I have no idea what Goldsman is on about?

I love Star Trek, but it’s sci fin hokum. The very idea you have genetically advanced super humans taking over a quarter of the planet should tell people that lol. Show of hands, do anyone think this is actually possible in our real world? If the answer is ‘no’, then it goes back to the reality it’s just fiction then, right? It’s ridiculous but it makes for a fun story. But that’s all it is, a s-t-o-r-y!

But if it takes some fans to feel connected because of it, fine, but these people should maybe watch less TV shows and focus more on real life if that’s the case. Just being very honest.

The way I prefer to look at Trek’s future is that while it needs to be inspirational I am also glad that some of the predictions it made didn’t come true. Maybe this is a sign that as humans we are improving as a species (albeit more slowly than Trek anticipated). In order to make it more asprational for the future it needs to make new and bolder predictions about the future, not re-heat what came before.

exaclty. the Khan books dealt with this issue very smoothly already. It was all happening behind the scenes and under the radar. That’s how a real writer works a new story into existing lore. Ive said this about Trek and what’s happening over at Disney with Star Wars. Their refusal to hire actual writers who have a proven track record in crafting good stories within the existing framework (and actually enjoy the challenge) is mind-boggling.

No, Eric. I find that ridiculous. Tons of fantasy is inspirational. Just because it’s not real doesn’t make it any less so. Trek was always a fiction. It held up a world we might hope to achieve. Does it really matter that atrocities they claimed took place never did in reality? Maybe it does to you but I doubt it does for most.

When it comes to Star Trek time travel episodes and the many ways they inevitably contradict previously established canon, I suggest following the Kathryn Janeway Philosophy of Temporal Mechanics: “ My advice on making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple: don’t even try.”

I don’t care either way. Now that SNW is an alternate timeline that will make things easier for sone fans to accept it more.

Maybe we will get more TCW stories too. That would be cool.

I understand the frustration at changing the established dates of the Khan cafuffle. But this episode did go out of its way to say that the date it happens makes no impact on history. The 29th century time chart identical to Relativity and the upcoming Lower Decks crossover keep us cemented in the timeline we know. It does also help explain the normality of 1996 when Voyager traveled back there in Future Tense. Admittedly the 1996 Project Khan file Adam Soong was looking at is a little trickier to work out at 3am but it’s doable.

“Names, dates, places. It’s all open to interpretation who’s to say what really happened” a little suspension of disbelief, a small amount of mental gymnastics and ignoring the odd line of dialogue (which let’s face it is not a new practice lest we try and work out how the eugenics wars was in the 2100s) and you’ll be fine.

This is probably the dumbest thing ever in the star trek universe, and that’s saying a lot. Goldman’s explanation is ridiculous, of course star trek was never supposed to be a prediction of things to come in our universe. Only really good writers should attempt a time travel story, and these morons aren’t that. The whole 2nd season of SNW is a joke, I’ll never waste my time with it again

I’m enjoying season 2 but I can’t disagree with your points either. What if we only had TOS and nothing else? Are people going to tell me they would stop watching reruns of the show today because they got their fake future wrong? It’s so ridiculous on its head. It’s science fiction, emphasis on fiction .

I don’t know… But it certainly does rival the Lorca reveal.

The real question is how many different Kirks are we going to see?

LOL next time we’ll be on the third version, but at least the correct one. ;)

To quote the man himself, “We find the one quite sufficient.”

Goldsman can make this all go away by simply declaring that Strange New Worlds is an alternate Star Trek. Simple as that. No one will be upset then. He’s got a good show on his hands that is true to the spirit of Star Trek. We don’t mind it being ‘alternate.’

Insisting that its canon just pushes the idea that Goldsman is obsessed with leaving his ‘mark’ on Star Trek forever and ever. Its not necessary, its divisive. Just let SNW be its own thing, keep making a good series, and everyone will be happy.

For most people, this move makes it an alternate timeline anyway if you have two different Khans born at different times. Now three Khans when you include the British version in the other universe. ;)

What Goldsman is doing we’ve seen before – Chris Chibnall nearly Ruined DOCTOR WHO with his obsession to put HIS Mark on it and the BBC had to bring back Russell T Davies to fix it…which from all accounts (leaks, clips, photos) he’s going to! pull it off! Maybe it’s time to ask Rick Berman back…say what you will, the man kept STAR TREK Going for more than a decade and a half after Gene Died and Bennett bailed.

Berman era is easily by far my favorite and it obviously still has a huge influence on the franchise today. But looking at what these new shows are today, one thing I really do appreciate about that time, especially now, is they did try very hard to make every show feel like its own with all original characters, new aliens, etc. Yes they certainly fell back on fan service, most which I loved, but it was done in moderation and they were producing 50 episodes a year.

I’m not complaining, I like most of the shows now and happy to have legacy characters like Pike, Picard and Janeway back and Picard season 3 was great. But I wish we can have shows that can just do their own thing like the old days and not focus on so much nostalgia but creating new things like those shows tried to do a bit more often. I guess we have Discovery for that now and I like it’s in a very different time period for a change, but it’s been a huge disappointment for me and that’s being kind.

And while I like Kurtzman Trek, I don’t see it lasting 18 years the way things are looking right now and two shows have already been cancelled. But maybe it has a chance to reach a decade at least and that would be considered a success.

Honestly if they are going to bring back a previous show runner my vote would be for Manny Coto. In his short time at the helm he showed he not only knows his Trek but is very reverential to the lore.

But to me, just getting this out of the hands of Secret Hideout would be considered a win.

exactly. If they just admit it’s a different timeline then all is well. Go crazy.

After all his timey-whiney and ridiculous mental gymnastics he went through to try and make his square peg fit in the round hole I think we can safely say his personal ego will NEVER allow him to admit this an alternate reality. Let alone a reboot.

Star Trek is fictional. It can be aspirational without being made current to today’s timeline. Better that it isn’t in our timeline so they can be more creative. As for Khan and the dystopian events of the 90s, according to the Cushman books, Roddenberry himself named Khan and added the dictatorial backstory, which the second season episode “Bread and Circuses” also referenced.

from healthline.com

“If you inhale something instead of swallowing it or if stomach contents back up and enter your airway, you experience aspiration . Some people may experience complications, including infections. Aspiration means inhaling some kind of foreign object or substance into your airway. Usually, it’s food, saliva, or stomach contents that make their way into your lungs when you swallow, vomit, or experience heartburn.”

For my money, Star Trek is already so aspiration al, it’s likely to kill me.

I’m just referencing the producer’s quote above. Personally, I wish they’d concentrate on making good solid entertainment. Love the show, but entertainment is primarily what I’m looking for.first.

Biggest bull**** since Chris Chibnall created “The Timeless Child” and tossed out 57 years old “Doctor Who” history and continuity.

Goldsman may have won an Oscar, but let’s not forget he wrote “Batman and Robin” and derailed a franchise for years…which had to start from square one…

As if Dr. Who is something to be taken seriously…lol

Goldsman won an oscar?? wow.

It wasn’t in the mirror universe? 🤪🙄

It’s “Oscar.” And he’s also won a Golden Globe for a screenplay, and two BAFTA’s for screenplays. You can put that all in your little red wagon of cynically, boorish negativity. :-)

Oh Gene what have you done creating this star trek thing that has everyone tying themseleves up in knots tryin figure out its timelines!

Is it me or does Akiva Goldsman come across as a complete ass anytime he speaks on this show? He just seems uber defensive as if he knows what he’s saying and the content of the episodes are going to rankle fans

Here’s the level of logic we’re dealing with here: Goldsman felt it was necessary to alter a 60-year old story about a genetic superman for believability and aspiration, but in the same episode he didn’t worry about the story believability of 2 people hopping back and forth across an international border and staying in a hotel suit with no id and nothing except their chess money.

Also, it’s a 14 hour drive round-trip Toronto to Vermont, but you know you can take a taxi there.

When you’re used to making massive plot cheats and committing teleplay seppuku with the network’s blessing and a deal extension, you don’t give a second thought to real-world aspects — either for research or then to just ignore what you find — while doing that particular brand of ‘screenwriting.’ It’s all about attaining your result, then backtracking over everything between that and the start point, and about as dishonest as a scientist performing an experiment, then changing his hypothesis to fit the result.

Exactly. What really hit me on my second watch was just how much they just forced pieces around to get to the ending. Like Sera herself, it’s such a bizarre coincidence they meet her at ground zero of the explosion but then she randomly shows up again. OK at this point you can just buy she’s following them. But then, for some strange reason disappears again after telling them her ‘crazy’ conspiracy theory and leaves. So at this point we have to believe they went all the way to Vermont to meet Pelia but then when they arrive back in Toronto she’s following them again? Did she have a tracker on one of them or was just literally waiting for them to make their move to the laboratory? Or are we suppose to be believe she followed them to Vermont as well?

I really loved the Pelia scene but it just makes it more messy when you add the time crunch as you said but now with Sera supposedly watching them when they get back. In reality, they could’ve cut ALL that out and have Sera meet them the second time and manipulate them to get to the lab since that was the whole point.

But it just felt like they had to extend the episode instead of just naturally building up to the ending and a lot of plotholes along the way with the car, Vermont, Sera and the hotel.

Thank goodness no one here exhibits those traits.

You know, all this headache could have been avoided if they simply didn’t have a descendant of Khan on board. Why was this character even necessary beyond the name recognition? Shouldn’t Star Trek move past Khan by now? I sometimes feel like he is only big-name bad guy of the show. Yes, we have the Borg and Klingons and Romulans but I feel like Star Trek needs to introduce another NEW, MEMORABLE big bad character. I mean it shouldn’t be that hard right?

Bc its KHAAAAN! and The Wrath of Khan is like the best movie evver! And that Khaaan! meme from the movie is twitter iconic!

Soooooooo true!

It still makes no sense. But I honestly think they gave the character that name to just somehow squeeze Khan in one way or another and we got it in this episode.

No one is begging for more Khan. For most fans, the character died long ago and had no problem just moving on. To be honest, they probably would love to just pull a Star Trek resurrection and make him alive again and a big villain of the franchise. But that’s hard to do when he’s on a ship that blew up in a million pieces….so we get this stuff instead.

If you want another boogeyman for the franchise, then just create one instead of characters or species that is either already dead or not suppose to meet until yeas later. Provide something new they can really play with instead of teetering around the edges of 55 year old canon.

Khan Resurrection would be relatively easy to pull out the hat, simply have it revealed via flashback scene that Khan was reborn on Genesis after Reliant went boom, and kid Khan was khanapped by Romulans before Grissom found Spock, put in cryofreeze for a century he’s eventually defrosted and ages 35 years, working as an underground Romulan assassin; until takes on Picard and TNG in their 1st P+ movie! “Star Trek The Vengeance of Khan”

Dude don’t give these people anymore ideas.

And judging by this board, people are just really sick of Khan and this is primarily a very pro-TOS board. The problem with Khan is he’s a very one note character and his entire history has been told. He’s obviously a great character but canon makes it very hard to do much with him and everyone seem to acknowledge that accept for the people making Star Trek today and fanboys like Goldsman. I’m 100% certain La’an is named Noonian Singh is due to this guy. (sigh)

Their best chance to really give Khan a new life was obviously STID and we saw how badly they screwed that up. So just move on. Most of us have literally decades ago.

The fact that La’an is a Noonien-Soong is so inessential to the character (outside of this week’s episode) that it really reinforces my belief that her being so is simply pointless fan service. They could have really made it work in last season’s “Ghosts of Illyria”. But outside of being pissed at Una for one scene, they did absolutely nothing with it.

As it stands, La’an is the only character on the show I care a whit about, but she’s lumbered with this needless legacy connection that is just tired at this point.

I agree this is dumb. Also, it’s a budget saving device so they never have to show what a 1990s Eugenics War would really look like.

Creating a controversy is another way to waste or occupy our minds with stuff about Star Trek that shouldn’t even matter. What should matter is original, thought provoking stories in the Star Trek world that already exists. That should be the minimum Star Trek work requirement.

That 1990 eugenics war was already broken by enterprise with carpenter street and maybe also with DS9. It’s a TV show it can’t keep stuck to old stuff or you can’t do anything with it. If it followed TOS every ship in the federation could easilly travel in time.

I thought the DS9 Bell Riots episode pretty much confirmed the original timeline with no problems. Is that what you mean? I’ll look again at Carpenter Street.

The thing I am saying is that creative writers can do anything: The Eugenics War could be a secret war — or a war in an unseen part of the world that “we” don’t see as living during that time period.

For example, would anyone on the streets of NYC know anything about King Leopold’s genocidal war in Africa as it was happening? I think not.

Right now, outside of the Russian War on Ukraine, what do people really know about the conflicts that are going on right now?

In TOS Kirk mentions the Armenian genocide.. that was one of the first mentions of it on TV.

They didn’t have to change a thing.

Also, given the very limited ways they are showing planets and cultures, a very hermetically sealed Eugenics Wars in our immediate past could have been very cost-effective, fan servicing, and freaking interesting.

Was it? Not seeing how….

Especially for something that doesn’t even matter to the show itself. That’s another reason this feels so eye rolling. It’s 300 years in the past from where the show takes place, so who really cares??? How does this change affect the show and its characters? This is ‘fan service’ in the cringiest way possible. You’re moving up a date to a fake event so fans can feel more ‘inspired’ by it? Sorry, it just sounds like a load of B.S. and most likely something Goldsman wanted to do because he’s way too obsessed with Khan.

And another reason this show feels more like a TOS prequel than an actual Pike show at times because it’s waaaaay too focused on stuff we got in TOS instead of concentrating more on how to make their own show stand out with its own mythology and elements.

If we had 25 episodes like the old days, you can take a detour to do stuff like this. With just ten though, I think it would be better to have stories that matters in the actual present or sets up the future and not the past.

Absolutely. #whereispike? I hope they deliver.

Why are we so obsessed as to when Picard and SNW have set the potential eugenics war when we’re skimming over his point that Voyager went back to 1996 and there was no mention of the eugenics war

Because there’s an investment here in the idea that the things people don’t like about post-ENT are *unique* to it among iterations of Star Trek.

… this was addressed back by the writers of that episode in a magazine interview… because Eugenics Wars in Trek canon *ended* in 1996…. after they arrived.

And the bulk of the wars as written in non-canon novels took place in Asia and the Middle East.

There was nothing concrete to say that the area of Los Angeles the episode took place was re-built or unaffected.

That IS a bit of a tiny cop-out… but it’s slightly logical nonetheless.

The cool part is that we pretty much literally saw this play out on screen in the second episode of the fourth season of Enterprise when Daniels showed Archer the timeline resetting after they stopped Vosk from traveling forward in time and ended the Temporal Wars.

The more Goldsman tries to justify what SNW is doing with whatever timeline this is now, the less interested I become. How about leaving the whole Khan thing alone to begin with and writing something NEW and original?? This is getting boring. And canon, forget about it.

That’s way too risky for the beancounters. You have to revisit “fan favorite” material, or do something topical and socio-politically relevant. Otherwise the audience might not be interested, and then how would they recoup their costs?

Why try to compete on innovation when you well understand your own creative bankruptcy? That’s a loser’s fight.

Don’t get the Khan thing at all? They killed that guy off in the Regan era. Most people here don’t seem to care either. Just a weird thing to focus on.

As pretty much always Danpaine, once again we agree! And we’re both old school TOS fans.

The problem isn’t canon. The problem is the writing and the choices they make. When this show was announced, we all thought we were getting a show that was about exploring worlds and big ideas. They started off that way but have now course corrected to whatever S2 is supposed to be. The season has been disappointing. Hopefully, it gets better.

Also, this is an alternate timeline. It doesn’t affect TOS at all. So, as long as the stories are good, they can do what they want.

Yes. It’s the choices the writers made. In the first season they really screwed with Trek history with the Gorn and Spcok-Chapel & such. They probably realized what they did. Now AG feels he needs to “fix” his show to make it work. Now, he can’t say HIS show was messed up. No way. He’s making the best Trek EVER! No, it has to be the rest of Trek that is wrong. So this “fixes” THEIR problems for them.

I’m sure he’s waiting to issue a huge “You’re welcome” to all the grateful fans he thinks he created.

So fine, do some timey wimey handwaving to align Trek history with the actual current state of things. Honestly, I’m not against that.

And then create a totally fictional “Lake Ontario Bridge” going into present-day Toronto to screw up that message.

Also, I’d love to know how Spock actually existed in alternate future time, given that he was a product of Sarek and Amanda, and it looks like the Vulcans and Humans are not really best friends.

It makes more sense than Mirror Spock existing. I don’t think a lot of Terrans would want to dirty their bloodline by mating with a Vulcan.

This all goes back to Deep Space Nine. When Siskos cast went back to Gabriel Bells time it moved the time of the Eugenics War to the 21st century time. I keep seeing people claiming Strange New World changes things but that aint the case. DS9 changed it a long time ago an this is just the old new norm. I read a good article on this: https://richhandley.com/2023/06/30/its-been-a-long-road-getting-from-there-to-here/

This is an odd justification from someone who is producing a show that at some level is trying to adhere to the same style and technological advances predicted by a show that premiered in 1966.

Getting tired of revisiting Khan. This was supposed to be Pike’s Enterprise, and the title of the show is “Strange New Worlds”. How about let’s have a little more of that….

Right…three (2 mediocre, and #1 was terrible, imo) episodes in, and where’s Pike? It’s his E, right? Anson Mount’s talent, being wasted.

Anson Mount had just become a new father and had restricted availability for filming for a while.

That’s what I think of Khan and the Eugenics wars.

I find many flaws in Akiva’s logic. He wants to preserve Roddenberry’s optimistic vision for the future, but doesn’t change the eventual occurrence of the Eugenics Wars, just the date in which they occur. He claims that since we have already moved past the 1990s in our real history, it was necessary to move the date. Yet, there are many aspects of recent Trek, including the Lake Ontario Bridge from this very episode, that are not part of our actual history. It is also unfathomable to me that this Khan, who lived 3 decades after he was supposed to (based on actual dialog from the episode) will have the same experience on the Botany Bay that will lead to him being found by Kirk in 2267. Heck, is he even the same genetic individual if he was born that many years from when he was “supposed” to have lived? Perhaps, but even if so, his life experiences are bound to be very different. Despite the attempt to downplay the significance of these creative choices, it seems like this has for sure created a new timeline within the Prime Universe that erases much of what we know about TOS and beyond. This isn’t being portrayed as a separate universe like the Kelvin universe. It truly changes the Prime Timeline, which seems hard to believe since the Deptartment of Temporal Investigations should have cared more about fixing it. But, I do think it goes a long way towards explaining all the inconsistencies in Discovery and SNW. I just wish it didn’t do it at the expense of almost 60 years of previously established canon. I am curious to see how this all plays out over time, and whether this series or a future series tries to reconcile everything into a single, coherent timeline. As some on this board have suggested, that might make for a great show!

I think his justification is back to front. It’s making things more cohesive with later depictions of 20th and 21st century Earth in universe than it is keeping things in line with the real world.

TOS has a lot of inconsistencies so it’s easier to ignore a lot of it than try and work it out (clocking in cards, no female captains, a chapel on a starship etc) just say hey it was the 60s and consider TOS patchwork canon.

Agreed with all of this!

As I said in my OP, I think this change is much bigger than knowing Khan was born 30 years later and could have a huge impact on ALL Trek canon going forward. Some will see it as a bad thing but others a good thing if it gives the show a way to avoid all the canon stuff in universe and not just trample over it like many felt it did in season one.

I do like SNW, but sadly like DIS before it, I’m just not sure if making more prequels are the answer if they can’t stick to basic canon and they know they have a very fickle fanbase. But maybe now they found a middle ground to make everyone happy and gives the freedom to do what they want without calling it a reboot or throwing the show 900 years into the future. We’ll see I guess.

I agree that they should stay away from prequels, but they just can’t seem to help themselves :-) In general I’m OK with them using established canon (the Temporal Cold War) to explain differences and give them the freedom to chart their own path forward. What bugs me is that for the Kelvin movies, Abrams & Company went out of their way to say that those films were in a separate universe and did not “erase” the Prime Universe. I’m not sure that can be said for the creative path they have taken with this revised timeline… This seems to erase/change the Prime Universe and is more difficult for me to digest. Perhaps there is a longer-term plan for how this is resolved – assuming these new shows continue long enough given the recent challenges. I actually do appreciate that TPTB are trying to provide in-universe explanations for some of the canon discrepancies. That shows that they care at least enough to appease those of us who appreciate better consistency among the shows.

Yeah…unfortunately. Sigh

I will admit, I was kind of hoping when SNW came around that maybe they would either just do a better job with the canon issues than DIS did or just wrote around it (ie, DON’T make the Gorn as your main villains and so on). Now, it’s still way better than Discovery, that’s not even a question. But it’s also obvious the same people who made that show is involved with this show. Yes, they learned some lessons, but unfortunately not enough.

OR maybe they have and as said this will make it an alternate timeline which I said I’m all for. But I understand to you and others it may feel like it’s ‘erasing’ TOS, I just don’t really see it that way personally. It’s all fiction and of course you can just tell yourself whatever you want. I see it just taking its own course away from what we seen in the prime timeline. Maybe that is trying to have my cake and eat it too, I admit that, but since TOS and the other shows are still available to buy or stream, then I can go with that and not think too much about it. ;)

But yeah I think it’s great to have an in-universe explanation and it does fit logically even if it’s not necessary. I just think this is a case that really didn’t need to change at all but whatever gets Goldsman more sleep in his mansion every night I guess.

I am very curious to see what it all means going forward. Not the Khan nonsense, I just can’t begin to care, but I mean the stories actually set in the 23rd century. ;)

Actually I was thinking about this today and your theory could be right. Because didn’t the Romulan say she went to 1992 to kill Khan but he wasn’t around until later?

Just stick with me now, but if history was already changed BEFORE she got there, so how would she remember it if the timeline was already changed?? Doesn’t that suggest she just came from the original timeline then? So there are two timelines now (at least). Maybe I’m just remembering it wrong but if true then maybe the Prime timeline doesn’t get erased and everything that happened in TOS was just like before.

So TOS stays in the original with the other old shows but SNW veers off into a new one thanks to TCW.

Works for me! 🙂👍

Exactly! How do you remember a timeline if it’s already been erased IN YOUR TIME? And something that already happened centuries ago now, regardless if she came from the 23rd century or the 27th since we have no idea when she came from. But since she said she didn’t recognize Kirk until later, she’s probably came from a later century than them.

Now I’m guessing the writers who wrote it probably wasn’t thinking that hard about it and just wanted to acknowledge that time has shifted and that was really the only way to do it. But Goldsman and everyone working on Trek today should know how fandom works and that every little word and line is scrutinized to the tenth power. I remember after the 09 movie came out and was on IMDB and there was a thread with hundreds of posts over Uhura’s ‘alternate reality’ line and did it mean alternate timeline or universe or both? Yeah we think about this stuff way more than we should lol.

But ironically the only other story I can remember where someone showed up in an already altered timeline and was unaware of the changes is Spock in the first Kelvin movie. So yeah, this is pointing in the exact same direction and it’s just two different timelines and nothing has actually been erased in the Prime timeline.

The only vision Roddenberry had was Dollar Signs. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

There are two very practical reasons why they needed to re-set the Khan timeline, and nothing has anything to do with canon or Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future.

• People love Star Trek episodes/movies where our heroes come and visit “us” in our time. It connects us to them. 2023 is clearly AFTER the Eugenics Wars which (as told in the 1960’s) happened in the 1990’s. So any story set after the 1990’s would have to be in a reality that is VERY much not our world and our time.
• Further, one of the reason that time travel stories to “our time” are so popular with the writers and producers is they are cheaper to produce – no sets to build, no costumes (so to speak), etc. Setting any visit to “present day” in a world that is post-eugenics wars means that there’s no more production savings, because a whole post-apocalyptic world would have to be manufactured.

Personally, I have no problem with them resetting the dates. It only makes sense.

These are the same people who made Picard season 2 last year that traveled back to ‘our’ world in 2024 that had a scientist producing human clones, Sanctuary districts existing and apparently we now have the technology and capability to send people on manned flights to Jupiter. Someone mentioned the bridge that was seen in this episode is also just made up.

None of that exists in our world today but that didn’t stop them from including it anyway. And unlike the Eugenics War, they weren’t trying to predict a future decades away, this all takes place in modern times. So I don’t buy this idea that they are trying to mimic the ‘real’ present day even now when the same guy who is saying Star Trek, a show literally about the future, needs to keep up with the present times but still had no problem throwing a lot of sci fi goobly gook in what is suppose to be our reality. I don’t know how much more contradictory it can get.

And that’s fine because A. Star Trek is not our actual universe and B. it’s just a TV show.

It basically comes down to this: Akiva Goldsman is a writer first, showrunner second. As a writer with no prior interest in Star Trek and with no connection to anything that preceded his involvement, it has less to do with Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic view of the future and far more to do with the inconvenience of canon which may get in the way of telling a story.

With First Contact just 4 decades away, they can only push the goal posts so far.

Denny C, we really need to keep our facts straight and not promote inaccurate narratives here, however unintentionally.

Akiva Goldsman has been a fan since childhood.

– He watched the show as a young child in first run.

– He attended the first-ever con in NYC in the early 70s.

– He and a friend formed on of the first ever fanzine-like clubs.

Yes, he’s a writer before all, but he’s also a writer who’s really sensitive to what Roddenberry’s vision was and was paying attention to what Roddenberry himself said in the 70s because he was at those cons.

Now on the timeline solution:

Yes, there are excellent reasons to do this from a writer’s perspective, but what they’ve done is what makes sense from a physicist’s point of view. In fact it’s about the only explanation that fits with modern physics.

In fact, what makes no scientific sense whatsoever is the idea that all the various temporal shenanigans throughout the history of the franchise has not altered the Prime Universe continuity.

Check out the comments of Trek writers who understand physics like Christopher L Bennet (author of the DTI books) who comments on TOR and on the Trek BBS. For him, the temporal physics referenced in this episode are obviously the only ones that work. He’s pleased that it’s finally articulated in onscreen canon.

With this in-universe confirmation that the Prime Universe timeline is adjusting and pushing back against incursions, First Contact need not take place 40 years from now, just like humanity didn’t achieve Warp in the 1990s as originally stated in TOS.

My bad. That should have read involvement, not interest.

My point, ultimately, is that he wasn’t involved with TOS or any production from the Berman era and not being married to that legacy means he can simply ignore it.

As for First Contact not taking place 40 years from now and with SNW as part of the timeline and Picard and company already having witnessed First Contact, it would appear to be a fixed point. For all we know the timeline was impacted by Kirk and crew when they returned from 1986 with the whales (and primarily because Scotty provided the formula for transparent aluminum years earlier than we should have had it?).

But, in the end, it’s still comes down to a showrunner wanting to tell stories in their own way and having worked with a number of them over the years, there’s the story they tell in interviews about why they did something, and the actual conversations happening behind the scenes. I think for Akiva Goldsman, SNW is where he finally hit his stride with Star Trek and he’s making it his own.

All this talk of “Roddenberry’s Vision” makes me chuckle because said vision was TNG Season 1… and isn’t that derided as being one of the work Trek seasons ever made?

Wasn’t it really TMP first before TNG? That movie seriously put me to sleep. 🥱

I didn’t start watching Trek until after Roddenberry died and not really a TOS fan. TNG is my favorite show but after Michael Piller took it over in third season.

So never cared about Roddenberry’s vision. And he started to sound like a nutty zealot over it…although now I’m understanding why some people treat this show like a religion and not just a TV show.

No, it doesn’t make a lick of sense and it doesn’t matter what any physicist says or thinks. The bottom line is Trek history is a fictional history. That fictional history is under no obligation to match our reality. A Trek prediction that does not come to pass in reality doesn’t invalidate Trek or make it less inspirational or any other such hogwash.

What makes most sense is AG & Co screwed up so badly with their foolish comments about how “in sync” with canon they are that they felt they needed something like this to make their show work better. And as usual, they really didn’t think it through because what they succeeded at doing was admit without admitting it that their show was a reboot. Or a new & independent time line. Which is essentially a reboot without wanting to call it a reboot.

“As a writer with no prior interest in Star Trek”

NOT TRUE — NO WAY — SERIOUSLY?

Akiva has been a Star Trek fan his ENTIRE LIFE since childhood? And he’s been involved in Trek fandom since being a teenager? THESE ARE INCONTROVERTIBLE FACTS!

You know, I have no issue with fans being critical of this man’s creative decisions, and I can understand some passionate blowback as well, but I have to draw the line and defend the dude when false accusations are made against him — that’s just wrong and dishonorable!

I clarified above.

OK, thanks, but that clarification severely weakens your overall point. If what you had said had been true, then your original point would have been much more convincing.

Now, its basically that we have a life long Trek fan, who went to some of the original Trek conventions in the 1970’s, and even started his own fan group, but he didn’t work in Trek before Kurtzman…like, so what? That’s just not all that compelling without the falsehood that he never had been interested in Trek his entire life before that to back up your point.

So your Jango constructed tower doesn’t hold up when that falsehood wood block at the bottom that is propping the tower up up is removed — the Jango tower falls.

Look… I’m a born and bred Star Trek nerd-fan. (Maybe not as hardcore as some of you, but compared to 99.999% of the world, I’m a Star Trek nut job.) I get that the logic of all of this is sometimes not there. I get that it’s easy to get caught up in all of that. But (you knew that was coming), the vast majority of fans don’t care that much. They want to be entertained and caught up in the spirit of what Star Trek is about. Optimism. Adventure. Exploration of the unknown. Crews that feel like family. And, of course, rad ships and amazing future-tech. The average viewer is not at all confused about why TOS looks like something shot in someone’s garage compared to SNW even though SNW comes first in the timeline. Not only are they not confused, it also don’t bother them in the slightest. My wife is a fan by marriage and of all the things she asks about that are confusing for her, the things brought up here are not even on the list. She can just enjoy it.

So, no… they don’t need to, nor will they, reboot Star Trek. Are there inconsistencies? All over the place. But there always have been. Always. Some of them will be ignored. Others will be “explained” (a la Klingon ridges or the lack of spore drives after the TOS era), but by and large, the history is consistent. (I’m sure if Roddenberry and the producers of TOS had ever thought they were launching a new universe and that every plot point would have to be revered in the future, they would have put some more care into defining it.)

But, here’s the thing (and then I’m done, I promise)… I’m not even saying that you’re wrong for tearing it apart or getting caught up in all of it. What I’m saying is, by doing so, you’re just getting in the way of enjoying something that the majority of viewers are able to enjoy and go along for a very fun ride. Your choice… but as someone who used to be on your side of the fence, the grass is definitely greener over here.

Dude, that was just so well said! I love your broader perspective even though I also enjoy evaluating how the sausage gets made.

Except they have rebooted Trek already. The 3 Kelvin movies were reboots. And a very strong case can be made to say that all the nu-Trek is a reboot.

I would argue that they tried to reboot Star Trek. At the time, the intention was that it would be a reset for Star Trek altogether and they could let old Trek die. It didn’t work. (Obviously, because we’re here.) So much so, that now we’re back in the Prime Universe (not asking for a debate on that) and that’s just an alternate reality we may or may not visit again. And, sure… a strong case could be made that “nu-Trek” is a reboot. Which is exactly my whole point. You can choose to sit here getting lost in the weeds of debate over ever nuanced detail (totally an acceptable choice), or you can accept that sometimes it doesn’t all perfectly line up and just enjoy the ride of a well-made and very entertaining show. (BTW… if you put this much scrutiny on “old-Trek,” you’d never make it past TOS without throwing your hands in the air.)

I don’t think that was the intention. To let old Trek die. I think they just felt they wanted a movie reboot. That’s all. There was nothing preventing a continuation with the prime for another feature or TV show.

I am getting the “let’s overwrite old Trek and let it die” vibe from the people making Trek now, though. More than that… By using their timey-whimey gobletygook it turns their alternative reality vision of Trek into the prime version. At least to them.

“ Because otherwise, it’s silly, or Star Trek ceases to be in our universe ” Trek is not OUR future. That is obvious when in STP there is a manned Europa mission in 2024. Goldsman doesn’t get it. It is an “alternate” timeline from an in-show standpoint.

Sorry, but that is just dead wrong!

GR set this up as a construct that would present a generally possible science fiction future for mankind. You don’t have to agree with that, but that’s a cornerstone of the franchise that doesn’t get changed, ever.

This ain’t the Marvel Multiverse or For All Mankind. This has always been built with the general theme of being a science fiction theoretically possible future set-up. We can of course nitpick, list exception eps, and point out many flaws, but GR’s approach is the construct the franchise must follow — like it or not, the main crew and events in most of the eps are fictionalized to take place in our future, NOT an alternate timeline.

We don’t get to change this, and neither does Akiva, Henry or Alex. They are doing the correct thing in making minor updates, and some fans just need to chill out (or maybe go see The Flash this week with the 15 batmans if that’s the sort of approach you prefer…lol).

And if CBS ever says this an alternate, multiverse timeline, then that is the day I stop watching Star Trek.

Goldsman knows a encyclopedic definition of what Star Trek is, but he doesn’t get what makes Star Trek great.

“Trek is not OUR future.”

I been saying this for about 20 years now. At some point it was, but that stopped being the case a long time ago once our real time caught up to Trek’s fake history; unless you think in the next 40 years we’re going to have a nuclear war, invent warp travel and make first contact with Vulcans. C’mon people lol.

There are more things in TOS that indicate it’s not actually supposed to be our future than I remember (thanks, Christopher L. Bennett.)

I actually pointed this out in another post myself like the fact they already had a manned mission to Saturn by the early 21st century. (Tomorrow is Yesterday)

Another reason why this is pretty pointless.

Yep. I think most people understand the difference between a fictional history and reality. I guess AG underestimates the fans. Or, he’s just trying to cover up his screw ups because he is incapable of admitting he made a huge mistake.

Well said bro! 👍

He wants the show to feel like our own world but then make the Europa mission just shows what a true hypocritical hack he is. 🙄

We want Star Trek to be an aspirational future.

It wasn’t already?

Also Pike’s line in SNW S1E1 ignored certain geopolitical realities.

I’m guessing what he meant by that was that after the three dark, depressing seasons of Picard, and the juvenile and cynical antics of three seasons on LDS, they wanted to get Trek back to this aspirational future that those two series were severely lacking on?

Exactly, Mike.

LMAO. This is nothing but another load of BS on his part with help from you to excuse a badly done and unoriginal episode. And calling it a correction of Gene’s vision is pure arrogance.

Blaming Anthony Pascale at Trekmovie, falsely claiming this was not GR’s intention for his vision, and whining like a middle-schooler that this is all BS…well, in baseball we know that: 3 strikes and you’re out!

This may be the most moronic and just flat out nuts post I have seen in 2023 so far.

I like the episode and the concept, but yeah definitely badly done. And I was very excited about this one.

True. This is indeed an obvious load of BS from AG. And in doing what he did is indeed the height of arrogance. Although I wouldn’t blame the article author. He’s just reporting what this sorry excuse for a producer said.

The potential for creating a new time line is to great to believe time travel would be allowed by any sentient species. Every single atom of our time line must function as it is designed in order to get the results. One changed thing even so minor as a dead fly could alter or create a new time line.

I honestly believe that the showrunners of Enterprise purposely created the temporal Cold war to justify the changes they wanted to make prior to the original series. There was an interesting line from Discovery season 2 where Michael Burnham’s mother says that time travel basically enhances technology.

I thought at the time that was the showrunners acknowledging that the optical changes to the prime universe were a result of time travel. I don’t understand why fans are having such a hard time just accepting this it makes sense.

There are plenty of instances throughout Trek Cannon to justify a soft reboot of the entire franchise and I don’t see anything wrong with that. Comic book writers do it all the time. Star Trek first contact in the Enterprise episode regeneration are prime examples of that. No pun intended.

I think the crossover with lower decks is going to delve more into this. I’m enjoying great Star Trek content. I don’t mind the reboot of the original series.

There are many instances where the original series does not hold up in our modern world. Scotty using words like Oriental. Khan being painted. Klingons in black face not to mention the way women were treated on the show like weak props. Did you guys forget about mudds women ?

I love the original series but you’re being intellectually dishonest if you didn’t see this coming. Once they rebooted the original series in the movies and created a distinct universe I knew that the original series would have to be retooled. I love it but there are parts of it that don’t hold up. Abraham Lincoln called Uhura a charming “Negress”…. The list goes on sure it’s a reflection of 1960s culture and speculative fiction of what the future might be. I get that. No franchises immune to tweaks and retcons. Star wars does it all the time.

I love the original series but you’re being intellectually dishonest if you didn’t see this coming. Once they rebooted the original series in the movies and created a distinct universe I knew that the original series would have to be retooled. I love it but there are parts of it that don’t hold up. Abraham Lincoln called Uhura a charming “Negress”…. The list goes on sure it’s a reflection of 1960s culture and speculative fiction of what the future might be. I get that. No franchises immune to tweaks and retcons. 

EXACTLY !!!!! THANK YOU !!!!!

The producers of SNW have said this is in “the Prime Universe,” so it’s the both sides of their mouth speech from the series conception that has made it a problem for some people. Not everyone is as enlightened as you or UD-NN and knew this would be a reboot from the jump. Absolutely nobody forced them to make a prequel to The Original Series. That was their choice. There’s baggage attached to that they opted to take on — this is the internet so you tone policing complaints is par for the course, but blowhard producers body englishing their way into something beloved to do their own “take” on it shouldn’t get a free pass.

That Lincoln example is a weird example of how Trek doesn’t hold up. If the fantasy is that Lincoln talks to 23rd century characters, then it makes sense. If you’re just saying that certain behaviors or words in TOS conflict with modern sensibilities, then I get it but that doesn’t mean it’s the best argument that old = bad, new = good.

All that said, I think using the stupid Temporal Cold War concept is a fantastic way for everybody — fan, bored producer, studio that never liked the property that made them billions alike — to get what they want. It all happened, and you can pick which version of history you prefer.

So um which part are you opposed to. Lincoln speaking like he’s from 1850? A 1960s show having Lincoln speak like he’s from 1850? 2260s Uhura not being outraged and not trying to cancel him???

You do realize he’s not really supposed to be the actual Abraham Lincoln right? . They did not bring him back from the past through time travel. He’s an artificial construct that the aliens created. Hence, he knows about Vulcan philosophy and can easily interact with 23rd century humans. So the whole “negress” thing is silly, unnecessary, offensive and dated.

Man, about half of these criticisms I see about strange new worlds are from fans who really don’t know the original series eps all that well or haven’t watched an episode in years, but still think they know what happened in the eps…lol

Know your Star Trek!

Nothing you said answers the question. (And it is ridiculous that you think everyone doesn’t realize it’s a simulation Lincoln – so why are you concerned about a simulation – maybe you should revisit Uhura’s retort.)

It’s an obvious extension of what I already said — if they are going to make a simulated Lincoln that could already talk in 23rd century lingo as well as know Vulcans and Vulcan philosophy, then of course the simulation wouldn’t suddenly call and African American woman a negress…that’s laughable. As further proof, he didn’t say anything to Sulu or Chekov that illustrated dated racial terms.

Dude, it’s not the real Abraham Lincoln brought forward in time. It’s an artificial Lincoln construct that is designed to communicate with 23rd Century Federation crew, including aliens event.

I liked your post. Thanks. Gave me a chuckle. And it makes a ton of sense, too.

It’s a show from the 60s. Lors of shows from that time are out of date. I don’t understand how another show is changing that? People will still just watch TOS anyway so I don’t get this logic at all.

It’s just a TV show it’s not real life. I think sone Trekkies forget this little detail.

I pointed this out too. It doesn’t stop people from watching TOS lol. So I don’t even understand this argument???? All SNW is doing is just creating an alternate timeline to solve it’s own canon issues basically, which is fine. But it doesn’t just erase another show either lol. Again, people think waaaaay too hard about this stuff. If you decide to watch Space Seed or TWOK, nothing changes at all. You’re just assuming everyone is going to watch SNW or accept it as the priority. Not everyone will or even have to.

But if you feel that strongly about it, then just purge that show out of the timeline completely and don’t show it at all. Then watch the uproar over it. ;)

If they said TOS was no longer canon or something then that would at least makes sense. But no one would ever dare do that so nothing changed. Everything is still there, sexism and all.

Exactly. But no one is saying that obviously.

“I love the original series but you’re being intellectually dishonest if you didn’t see this coming. Once they rebooted the original series in the movies and created a distinct universe I knew that the original series would have to be retooled. I love it but there are parts of it that don’t hold up. Abraham Lincoln called Uhura a charming “Negress”…. The list goes on sure it’s a reflection of 1960s culture and speculative fiction of what the future might be. I get that. No franchises immune to tweaks and retcons. Star wars does it all the time.”

No one is being ‘intellectually dishonest’ We just don’t see the need it has to be retooled because it’s a TV SHOW, not a law. Everyone understands watching it today it wasn’t made in 2023, it was made in 1966 and people still watch it just the same, right?

It happened 30 years ago already. Who is no longer watching Star Trek because of it?

But if you truly feel this way then reboot it and start over ! Instead of constant retcons and just muddying up 55 year old canon, maybe just ignore it completely and just start anew. You mention comic book writers retooling things, but they also do entire redesigns of those characters and story lines to keep the stories fresh but also to update it for modern times. SNW is not ‘modernizing’ TOS, it’s only retconing some of its canon. TOS is still there.

If you want to modernize TOS, then you have to do what the Kelvin movies did and just wipe the slate clean and retell that show.

And this isn’t aimed at you, but I really want to knock my head against a wall with these discussions because A. Most people don’t seem to even want a prequel in the first place, but yes SNW is definitely an exception B. Most people are far more interested in building new mythology and stories and not just retelling old ones. And that’s because C. We don’t have to continue to get in inane and tedious arguments such as these in the first place.

All that said, now that’s it done, can we MOVE ON to actual new stories and not ones based on 300 years in the past?

That’s what I wish (and had been hoping) the Kelvin movies were in the first place.

It really should’ve been. But ironically it’s probably why they seem so reluctant to reboot it today because of how divided fans became over those movies and being in another universe.

But instead, let’s keep outdated and archaic canon held over from the 60s so we can keep having tedious and tireless debates like this one. Makes total sense.

The TCW appeared on Enterprise ONLY because the UPN execs wanted some kind of futuristic element on the show. They were not completely on board with going to 100 years before Kirk. The creators didn’t want to do any of that at all. So they adapted an idea for a completely separate TV show one had come up with and altered it to fit with the Enterprise setting. They weren’t big on it and there weren’t many episodes that dealt with it as a result. So you are dead wrong there.

Also, TOS wasn’t “rebooted” for the features at all. Not sure where you got that from. Altering the Klingon look doesn’t mean it’s a reboot. Changing the uniforms doesn’t mean it’s a reboot. Giving the Enterprise a refit doesn’t mean it’s a reboot. In fact absolutely nothing about the TOS features even suggests reboot.

I guess maybe they mean a visual reboot? That’s certainly true at least.

In the sense that in reality 15 years later new car models come out, fashions change, new architecture appears… That’s not a “visual reboot”. That’s called the passage of time.

This was subtle, but it turns out we have the Canadians to blame for the Eugenics War.

The solution to all this is very simple: just take the original episode Space Seed and dub in the word “2023” in place of “1992” — problem solved! Repeat in TWOK and anywhere else you need to. Ten seconds of overdubs = no more conflicts!

LOL! Someone should’ve suggested this to Goldsman. ;)

How Do Star Trek Stardates Actually Work?

There are few handier delivery mechanisms for "Star Trek" exposition than a Captain's log entry, crucial Starfleet records that mark time with "stardates" — an enigmatic calendar system integrating decimals into each date. Although based on a real-world astronomical dating system, the Starfleet version doesn't make a ton of sense because it was never meant to, which is why  the "Star Trek" timeline can seem confusing  the deeper you dig into it.

As outlined in a  1967 "Star Trek" writer and director's guide, "The progression of stardates in your script should remain constant but don't worry about whether or not there is a progression from other scripts." Still, understanding the Julian date system can be a good starting point for those who care to try.

Speaking with The Space Review  in 2019, "Star Trek: The Original Series" technical advisor Kellam de Forest explained that the futuristic calendar system was inspired by the Julian day — the solar day measurement used in the 365-day Julian solar dating system that predated the Gregorian calendar. Because the Julian day system creates a continued count of dates from the beginning of the Julian period, the ease of calculation between two dates without breaks has made it the preferred calendar for many scientific applications, including astronomical software. Julian dates are calculated by adding the Julian day — that is, the solar day since the beginning of the Julian calendar — and then adding a decimal point to indicate the fraction of the day that has passed since noon in Universal Time Code (UTC). Although the Julian date calculates days running into the millions, only the final five digits are commonly used by astronomers — and just four are used in "Star Trek."

Star Trek's stardates are intentionally difficult to calculate

According to the "Star Trek" writer's guide, the Starfleet calendar system was invented to deemphasize the in-universe date. As the guide puts it, "We invented 'Stardate' to avoid continually mentioning Star Trek's century (actually, about two hundred years from now), and getting into arguments about whether this or that would have developed by then."

Speaking on the 1988 documentary  "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story," de Forest emphasized that this almost wasn't the case since the original script contained dates from the Gregorian calendar. Upon reviewing the script, de Forest felt this didn't feel right for the future spacefaring society. As a solution, he pitched the Julian-inspired concept, which the tech advisor felt had a futuristic vibe thanks to its use of decimals.

While  "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry  liked the concept as a jumping-off point, his version was always meant to be a little esoteric, as Samuel A. Peeples, who wrote the second pilot for "Star Trek: The Original Series," recounted in  "Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and Man Behind Star Trek."  According to Peeples, "We tried to set up a system that would be unidentifiable unless you knew how we did it." Conceptualizing the revised stardate system over drinks, Roddenberry and Peeples took into account the weirdness of space and relative time, ultimately concluding that any  date-related continuity errors in "Star Trek"  could be chalked up to these issues. Or as the "Star Trek" writer's guide put it, "Stardates are a mathematical formula which varies depending on location in the galaxy, velocity of travel, and other factors, can vary widely from episode to episode." In other words, don't think too hard about it.

• Items that Bind on Equip
• Kelvin Timeline
• Maximum Auxiliary Subsystem Power
• Bonus Exotic Damage
• Kinetic Damage
• Maximum Engine Subsystem Power
• Maximum Hull Capacity
• Proton Weapons
• Maximum Shield Subsystem Power
• Maximum Weapon Subsystem Power
• Recharge Speed for Captain Abilities
• Phaser Damage
• Photon Projectile Damage
• Kinetic Damage Resistance Rating
• Physical Damage Resistance Rating
• Increased Hull Healing

Alternate Timeline Set

• VisualEditor
• View history

The Alternate Timeline Space Set consists of four consoles:

• [ Console - Universal - Auxiliary Ejection Assembly ]
• [ Console - Universal - Proton Charge Launcher ]
• [ Console - Universal - Mining Drill Laser Emitter ]
• [ Console - Universal - Broadside Emitter Arrays ]

These consoles are equippable on any Federation , Klingon Defense Force , Romulan Republic and Cross-Faction vessel. They can be put into any console slot.

• 1.1 Game Description
• 2.1 Game Description
• 3.1 Game Description
• 4.1 Game Description
• 5 Set Powers

Console - Universal - Auxiliary Ejection Assembly [ | ]

• +150% Speed and +300% Turn Rate for 4 sec (stacks 4 times)
• Immunity to Movement Debuffs for 4 sec
• _____ Kinetic Damage (x4)

The Console - Universal - Auxiliary Ejection Assembly can be obtained by the players of all four factions.

Game Description [ | ]

Redundancy is a way of life for the Federation , regardless of timeline. Constitution -class comes equipped with an Auxiliary Ejection Assembly which will allow the ship to release small antimatter intermix chambers that are then detonated to deal massive damage to nearby foes while offering the user a speed and maneuverability boost.

This console also provides a passive bonus to Exotic Damage abilities and Auxiliary Power Levels. (Note: Sources of max power do not stack – only the strongest applies, per subsystem.)

Console - Universal - Proton Charge Launcher [ | ]

The Console - Universal - Proton Charge Launcher can be obtained by the players of all four factions.

With a focus on ambushing and overpowering foes with the maximum amount of available firepower, this Klingon Raider comes stocked with Proton Charge Launcher which can unleash a barrage of high-powered projectiles at both a primary target, and randomly selected secondary target, every half-second for several seconds.

This console also provides a passive bonus to the Maximum Hull and Engine Power Levels. (Note: Sources of max power do not stack – only the strongest applies, per subsystem.)

Console - Universal - Mining Drill Laser Emitter [ | ]

The Console - Universal - Mining Drill Laser can be obtained by the players of all four factions.

Although the technology was developed for civilian mining operations, a Mining Drill Laser comes standard on every T’laru. Easily weaponized, and potentially devastating, this long-duration energy discharge grows more and more powerful the longer you keep it focused on an enemy, while steadily eroding their damage resistance. The recharge time on the Mining Drill Laser is also proportionate to the time spent locked onto a target, allowing you to use it for brief bursts of additional damage at regular intervals if desired.

This console also provides a passive bonus to Max Shield Capacity and Shield Power Levels. (Note: Sources of max power do not stack – only the strongest applies, per subsystem.)

Console - Universal - Broadside Emitter Arrays [ | ]

The Console - Universal - Broadside Emitter Arrays can be obtained by the players of all four factions.

Klingon and Romulan players can obtain it by purchasing a Kelvin Dreadnought Package from the Lobi Store which includes both the Console and the Starship Trait unlock for a lower price.

As if its standard array of weaponry wasn’t enough, the Vengeance is pre-fitted with the Broadside Emitter Arrays . This technology is basically additional banks of emitter arrays, mounted on the exterior 'broad side' arcs of the ship. In order to minimize their power draw and performance impact, these emitters can only be powered up for brief periods of time, and their targeting sensors are set to automatically acquire targets. In an attempt to make up for their limited usage, they have been set to fire at an extremely rapid pace.

This console also provides a passive bonus to the recharge of all Captain Abilities and Weapon Power Levels. (Note: Sources of max power do not stack – only the strongest applies, per subsystem.)

Set Powers [ | ]

For each item added after the first, an additional power is available.

Set 2: Standardized Armaments

Set 3: Subatomic Elasticity

Set 4: Timeline Resonance

Gallery [ | ]

Mining Drill Laser Emitter Activated

Launched proton charges

Proton charges Explode

Aux core ejected

Aux core ejection Explosion

• 2 Playable starship
• 3 Reputation System

Picard Never Appeared In Star Treks Mirror Universe But His Doppelganger Was Just As Evil

• General Picard's reign of terror in the Confederate Earth was just as brutal as the Mirror Universe's Terran Empire.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation never visited the Mirror Universe due to a cooler, scientific approach by the producers.
• Fans had to wait until Star Trek: Picard to meet General Picard's evil alternate, as TNG rejected the idea.

Audiences never met the Mirror Universe version of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), but Star Trek: Picard revealed that he had an evil doppelgänger who was just as evil as anyone in the Terran Empire. In Picard season 2, the machinations of Q (John de Lancie) created an alternate timeline in which the United Federation of Planets becomes the Confederation of Earth. This brutal regime was the antithesis of Star Trek's Federation, drawing comparisons between the Confederation and the Terran Empire .

Both the Confederation and the Terran Empire placed humanity above all other species in the galaxy, leading to a bloody and brutal subjugation of other alien races. As Star Trek: TNG didn't visit the Mirror Universe , General Picard was the closest that fans got to seeing his evil counterpart. Just like the Mirror Universe version of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), the Confederation's General Picard was a cruel despot who had conquered countless worlds and killed scores of enemies .

Worf Ruled The Mirror Universe In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (No, Really)

General picard of confederation of earth was as evil as mirror universe.

Of the many reveals about Star Trek: Picard 's Confederation , the information about General Picard and his reign of terror was the most chilling. General Picard annihilated the Klingon home world Qo'noS, much like the Mirror Universe's Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) did in Star Trek: Discovery . Rather than command the USS Enterprise-D, Picard was in command of the CSS World Razer, a fearsome looking starship of which an oil painting was hung in the General's study . General Picard's study was also decorated with the skulls of some notable Star Trek figures, including:

• Borg Sentinel One of Two
• Grand Nagus Zek (Wallace Shawn)
• Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo)
• General Martok (J.G. Hertzler)
• Director Sarek (Mark Lenard)

Like his Prime Universe counterpart, General Picard also had a synthetic body, which he had acquired following a battle with Gul Dukat . The General's chateau was staffed by both Romulan and synthetic slaves, who maintained his home while he was on important business for the Confederation Corps. When Prime Picard arrives in the Confederation reality in Star Trek: Picard season 2, it's on the eve of Eradication Day, in which the General is scheduled to publicly execute the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching). The Borg Queen's skull would have joined the others in Picard's trophy room if Jean-Luc and the La Ceritos crew hadn't saved her.

Why Star Trek: The Next Generation Never Went To The Mirror Universe

The notion of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode set in the Mirror Universe existed from as early as 1987, when David Gerrold joked about a sequel to "Mirror, Mirror" in Starlog magazine which would have featured Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) and dangerous, carniverous Tribbles . Jerome Bixby, who wrote the original Mirror Universe episode of Star Trek: The Original Series pitched a sequel for TNG that would have featured older versions of the TOS characters . However, this idea was rejected by Paramount, who didn't want to feature them so heavily in TNG .

Of the many Mirror Universe episodes pitched to Star Trek: The Next Generation , hardly any of the failed pitches have become public knowledge.

A.J. Black's book Lost Federations: The Unofficial Unmade History of Star Trek suggests that the pulpy idea of a darkest timeline didn't sit well with " The Next Generation's cooler, scientific approach to Star Trek, particularly in the Piller era. " Black's assumption is largely correct, backed up by Michael Piller himself. Piller explained that he " wasn't interested " in revisiting the Mirror Universe during TNG , despite the multiple "Mirror, Mirror" sequels that were pitched to him . While Piller would eventually acquiesce and produce a "Mirror, Mirror" sequel on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , fans would have to wait until Star Trek: Picard to meet Jean-Luc's evil alternate.

All episodes of Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: The Next Generation are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Picard

After starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and various other Star Trek projects, Patrick Stewart is back as Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard focuses on a retired Picard who is living on his family vineyard as he struggles to cope with the death of Data and the destruction of Romulus. But before too long, Picard is pulled back into the action. The series also brings back fan-favorite characters from the Star Trek franchise, such as Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701 alternate reality)

• View history

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was a 23rd century Federation Constitution -class starship operated by Starfleet . Launched in 2258 , the vessel was officially made the Federation flagship , and the first Federation starship to bear the name Enterprise . ( Star Trek ; Star Trek Beyond )

In 2260 , the Enterprise became the first starship assigned by the Federation to undergo a five-year exploration mission of uncharted deep space . ( Star Trek Into Darkness )

After nearly five years of service, the Enterprise was destroyed during the battle over the planet Altamid in 2263 , when it was attacked by Krall and his Swarm ships . It was soon replaced by the newly-built USS Enterprise -A . ( Star Trek Beyond )

• 2.1 Construction
• 2.2 Maiden voyage
• 2.4 Going after "John Harrison"
• 2.5.1 Mission to Teenax
• 2.5.2 Final voyage
• 3.1 Christopher Pike's command crew
• 3.2 James T. Kirk's command crew
• 4.1 Appearances
• 4.2 Background information
• 4.3 Apocrypha
• 4.4 External links

Lineage [ ]

Service history [ ], construction [ ].

The Enterprise under construction in Iowa

The Enterprise was under construction around 2255 at the Riverside Shipyard , in Iowa , and launched into service from the San Francisco Fleet Yards , Earth . ( Star Trek )

During its construction, a piece of the Enterprise NX-01 was used as it was the previous ship to bear the name. ( SNW : " Those Old Scientists ")

Maiden voyage [ ]

The Enterprise ready for launch

In 2258 , the ship's planned maiden voyage, under the command of Christopher Pike , was brought forward after Earth received a distress call from Vulcan while the bulk of the fleet was engaged in the Laurentian system . As a result, the Enterprise was crewed primarily by Starfleet Academy cadets.

The Enterprise departs spacedock

The ship launched from Starbase 1 with seven other starships to respond to the call, including the USS Farragut , the USS Truman , and the USS Hood . However, its departure was delayed because helmsman Hikaru Sulu forgot to disengage the external inertial dampener , which actually saved the ship after it arrived shortly after the rescue fleet had been destroyed by the Romulan mining ship Narada .

The Enterprise warps into Nero's mess

The Enterprise proved to be no match for the technologically-advanced missiles of the Narada . Fortunately, Nero recognized the Enterprise as the vessel that Spock served on. He chose not to destroy the Enterprise in order to allow Spock to see the destruction of Vulcan.

Enterprise found that it was unable to contact Starfleet or to begin evacuating the inhabitants of Vulcan, as the Narada 's drill platform , while in operation, prevented communications and transporter use. Despite the sabotage of the drill platform, Nero launched a container of red matter into the planet's core, which created a singularity that caused Vulcan to implode, killing all but about ten thousand Vulcans.

Following the destruction of Vulcan and the capture of Captain Pike, Acting Captain Spock intended to take the Enterprise to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet at the Laurentian system, but acting First Officer James T. Kirk thought it better to attempt to stop Nero first. A fight ensued, and Spock then marooned Kirk for mutiny on Delta Vega , but Kirk managed to beam back on board with the help of another Spock and Montgomery Scott . Spock was forced to resign his command to Kirk according to Regulation 619 , and the Enterprise reversed course in an attempt to intercept the Narada before it could strike Earth.

The Enterprise rises above Titan

Emerging from warp in the atmosphere of Titan , the Enterprise hid from the Narada 's sensors using the magnetic distortion of Saturn 's rings, while beaming Spock and Kirk aboard the Romulan ship before its drill could be activated. However, the duo could not be rescued as the drill was turned on shortly after their arrival. Kirk then rescued Pike, while Spock confiscated the Jellyfish and used it to destroy the drill.

The Enterprise fires on the Narada 's missiles

Spock then warped out of the system, with Nero pursuing. Spock set a collision course, and Nero launched his remaining missiles to defend the Narada . Unexpectedly, the Enterprise then warped in, firing phasers full spread, destroying the missiles, and allowing Spock to continue. Shortly before impact, Spock, Kirk, and Pike were beamed out by Scott onto the Enterprise .

The Enterprise being pulled into the black hole

The impact ignited the red matter aboard the Jellyfish , creating a black hole which caused the Narada to be stuck. When Kirk offered assistance, Nero refused, saying that " he would suffer the death of Romulus a thousand times, " and that " he would rather die in agony than receive the Enterprise 's assistance. "

Kirk acknowledged the refusal and the Enterprise brought all her phasers and photon torpedoes to bear on the Narada , firing on the ship and blasting it to pieces, causing the massive ship to collapse and be pulled into the black hole. During the attempt from escaping the black hole’s gravity, the Enterprise was nearly pulled into the black hole as well, even through warp. However, the ship was saved when the ship's warp core was ejected and detonated; the resulting shock wave propelled the Enterprise to safety.

Following the successful mission of the Enterprise , Pike was promoted to admiral and Kirk was assigned to command the Enterprise as his relief. Kirk subsequently chose Spock as his first officer. ( Star Trek )

Enterprise resurfacing on Nibiru

In 2259 , the Enterprise was sent to survey the planet Nibiru when the crew discovered a volcanic eruption would render the primitive Nibirans extinct. Kirk parked the Enterprise underwater, despite Scott's protests,ultimately forcing Kirk to expose the ship to the natives in order to transport Spock out of the volcano before the cold fusion device he placed detonated.

After appearing to the natives, in violation of the Prime Directive , the Nibirans drew a sketch of the Enterprise on the ground and began to worship the ship as a deity. Returning to Earth, Kirk was demoted, but Pike convinced Admiral Alexander Marcus to let him appoint Kirk as his first officer.

Going after "John Harrison" [ ]

The Enterprise departs Starbase 1

That evening, the rogue agent John Harrison attacked Starfleet Headquarters to assassinate Marcus, but killed Pike instead. Marcus gave a vengeful Kirk permission to take the Enterprise to Qo'noS where Harrison had fled, and fire on his location with 72 advanced long-range torpedoes . Chief Engineer Scott protested the loading of the photon torpedoes aboard Enterprise without his chance to examine them, offering his resignation, which Kirk accepted. Chekov was appointed as Scott's replacement.

Enterprise and Vengeance come face to face

Kirk found Harrison on Qo'noS and had him brought to the brig . Harrison was reticent about his motives, but suggested Kirk examine the torpedoes Marcus gave him, and also gave him a set of coordinates , which the captain sent to Scott to investigate.

Marcus's daughter Carol and McCoy opened up a torpedo and discovered it held a man in cryogenic stasis . Harrison revealed he was Khan Noonien Singh and the torpedoes held his fellow Augments , with whom Marcus had threatened him into cooperation. Marcus arrived in the USS Vengeance and demanded Kirk hand over Khan, but Kirk refused, intending to expose the conspiracy by bringing Khan to trial on Earth.

The USS Vengeance fires on the USS Enterprise

The Vengeance caught up with the Enterprise at warp and fired on it, halting it as it arrived just outside Earth . Marcus beamed up his daughter before preparing to wipe out all other witnesses to his plot, but Scott, who had sneaked aboard the Vengeance at the coordinates given by Khan, temporarily deactivated its weapons. Kirk and Khan donned thruster suits to commandeer the Vengeance , while Spock ordered McCoy to remove the cryo tubes from the torpedoes.

The crippled Enterprise spiraling down to Earth

Aboard the Vengeance , Khan killed Admiral Marcus and demanded Spock hand over the torpedoes in exchange for Kirk, Scott, and Carol and the safety of the Enterprise . Spock, knowing Khan would renege on letting the Enterprise survive, set the transported torpedoes to detonate in the Vengeance 's cargo bay. The damage inflicted caused both ships to hurtle to Earth: the Vengeance 's engines were compromised while the Enterprise 's warp core became misaligned, causing loss of power and propulsion. As the ship plummeted toward Earth, Kirk realigned the ship’s warp core despite Scott’s warning about the high radiation levels.

The five-year mission [ ]

The Enterprise 's refitted impulse engine and nacelle fins

In 2260 , following nearly a year of repairs, the Enterprise was rechristened and refitted to become the first starship to embark on a five-year mission of uncharted deep space exploration. ( Star Trek Into Darkness )

During its five year mission, the Enterprise made a stop at Thasus and picked up a supply of Saurian brandy . ( Star Trek Beyond )

Mission to Teenax [ ]

In 2263 –nearly three years into its five-year mission–the Enterprise visited the planet Teenax , where Captain Kirk was tasked with brokering peace between the Teenaxi and the Fibonans . Following that failed assignment, the Enterprise traveled to Starbase Yorktown for resupply. ( Star Trek Beyond )

Final voyage [ ]

The Enterprise at Starbase Yorktown in 2263

Soon after docking at Yorktown, the Enterprise was ordered to traverse the Necro Cloud to rescue Kalara 's crew, allegedly stranded on the planet Altamid . Despite the navigational difficulties presented by the cloud, the Enterprise was equipped with the most advanced navigational sensors and emerged from the nebula in orbit of Altamid–immediately coming under attack by Swarm ships commanded by the tyrant Krall .

The Enterprise in the Necro Cloud

The Enterprise was unable to handle this style of attack, the ship's phasers having minimal to no effect against the swarm, the photon torpedoes proving to be ineffective, and the shields unable to identify the assaulting ships as threats, leaving them open to attack.

The first assault destroyed the Enterprise 's phasers and main deflector dish and, as the ship attempted to warp back to the nebula, the swarm severed its warp nacelles . The ship was then boarded by Krall's drone soldiers and his henchman Manas , searching the ship for an artifact known as the Abronath and killing many Enterprise crew members.

Krall's swarm overwhelms the Enterprise

As Lieutenant Sulu attempted to pilot the Enterprise away from Altamid at impulse speed, Krall ordered yet another assault on the ship, this time severing the primary hull from the secondary hull . With the Enterprise critically damaged, Captain Kirk ordered all hands to evacuate and the ship's escape pods were launched. However, Krall's ships captured the pods and carried them to the surface of Altamid.

The crew abandons ship from the secondary hull of the Enterprise

The remains of the secondary hull drawing power from the impulse engines prevented the saucer from escaping until Lieutenant Uhura successfully separated the ship. However, the Enterprise had fallen into the planet's gravity well and even with impulse engines restored, could not escape. With the Abronath safely hidden away, Kirk ordered the last of his crew to man their Kelvin pods and abandon ship. The primary hull then fell out of orbit and entered Altamid's atmosphere, crash-landing to a stop at an angle.

Kirk and Chekov return to the wreck of the Enterprise

With the crew scattered on Altamid, Kirk decided to return to the wreckage of the Enterprise and attempt to use her scanning systems to locate the crew. Kirk, Chekov, and Kalara boarded the ship through a hole in the hull and returned to the ruined bridge, where Chekov was able to restore power to the engineering console and scanning systems. Kirk took Kalara to supposedly retrieve the Abronath, at which point Kalara called Krall to report. Unknown to Kalara, Kirk suspected the double-cross and had Chekov use the Enterprise 's scanners to track Kalara's call back to Krall's base.

The saucer of the Enterprise burns on Altamid

After the deception was revealed, Kalara and a few of Krall's drones chased Kirk and Chekov through the wreckage of the Enterprise , ultimately cornering them against one of the thrusters . Discovering the ship's thrusters to still be primed, Kirk used a phaser blast to ignite them, causing the Enterprise to flip over.

As the ship flipped, Kirk and Chekov were able to use the distraction to escape by shooting out the bridge window and sliding down the saucer. The saucer flipped upside down and crashed to the forest below, killing Kalara, who was underneath it. Following the flip, the wrecked saucer was left upside down on the forest floor of Altamid, burning.

After Kalara's death, Krall's men searched the wreckage of the saucer for the Abronath but were unable to locate it. They retrieved the ship's logs while aboard the information in which inspired Krall to threaten Sulu to find the Abronath. The Enterprise crew, once reunited, repaired the USS Franklin to escape and chase Krall, abandoning the wreckage of the Enterprise on Altamid.

After Krall's defeat, the surviving members of the Enterprise crew made a toast to their fallen ship and were later reassigned to a new starship, the USS Enterprise -A , and continued their mission of exploration. ( Star Trek Beyond )

Command crew [ ]

Christopher pike's command crew [ ].

Pike in command

• Christopher Pike ( 2258 , 2259 )
• Spock (2258) (acting)
• Spock (2258)
• James T. Kirk (2258, 2259) (acting, later promoted)
• Olson (2258)
• Puri (2258)
• Leonard McCoy (2258)
• McKenna (2258)
• Hikaru Sulu (2258)
• Pavel Chekov (2258)
• Hannity (2258)
• Hawkins (2258)
• Nyota Uhura (2258)

James T. Kirk's command crew [ ]

Kirk in command

The Enterprise crew in 2263

• James T. Kirk (2258– 2263 ) (acting, later promoted)
• Hikaru Sulu (2259) (acting)
• Spock (2259) (acting)
• Spock (2258–2263)
• Montgomery Scott (2258–2263)
• Pavel Chekov (2259) (acting)
• Hikaru Sulu (2259)
• Leonard McCoy (2258–2263)
• Hikaru Sulu (2258–2263)
• Pavel Chekov (2258–2263)
• Darwin (2259) (acting)
• Nyota Uhura (2258–2263)
• Brackett (2259)
• Froman (2258– 2260s )
• Spock (2258-2263)
• 0718 (2259–2260s)
• Carol Marcus (2259–2260s)

See also: USS Enterprise personnel (alternate reality)

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• Star Trek (First appearance)
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Star Trek Beyond

Background information [ ]

In the script of Star Trek , the Enterprise , in its ready-for-launch condition, was referred to as "miraculous" and "the queen of the fleet". At the end of the script, the vessel was additionally described as "the greatest starship ever built." [2]

The revised Enterprise appearing in Rihanna's video for "Sledgehammer"

For its appearance in Star Trek Beyond , the Enterprise was refitted by Sean Hargreaves . According to Hargreaves, the redesign consisted primarily of proportional modifications, including placing the warp nacelles further apart and sweeping back the warp pylons to pull the engines back from the rim of the saucer. [3]

The revised Enterprise appeared in the music video for the song " Sledgehammer ", the single from Star Trek Beyond by Rihanna .

Apocrypha [ ]

The previous USS Enterprise of the alternate reality

Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness , Issue #2 shows that the Enterprise had another predecessor after Enterprise NX-01 in the alternate reality. This ship was in service since, at least, 2239 , during which it was under the command of the alternate reality's Robert April ( β ), who abandoned the ship and disappeared during that same year. The ship was then later decommissioned in 2257 . According to the biography on the Star Trek movie app, Christopher Pike was appointed captain of this USS Enterprise ( β ) in 2254 .

The 2013 virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals has the USS Enterprise as card #108.

The Enterprise , or rather the alternate reality Constitution -class, is available as a playable ship in Star Trek Online with the release of the Agents of Yesterday expansion pack, via players opening in-game Kelvin Timeline lockboxes that have a chance to have the vessel inside. It is known in the game as the "Kelvin Timeline Heavy Command Cruiser". Players in the game, who play starship captains in the "prime" universe, also participate in missions visiting the alternate reality, interacting with the Constitution -class ship USS Yorktown ( β ) and crew member 0718 .

The Constitution -class of the alternate reality is significantly larger than the prime timeline's version, and is both longer and "taller" than a prime universe Galaxy -class vessel. In-game references state that thanks to rapid development of military technology in the alternate reality, its weapons and other systems are comparable to those used by prime universe starships in the early 25th-century, despite being developed over a century "earlier".

The Star Trek: Boldly Go comic series revealed that the crew of the Enterprise went different ways while the USS Enterprise -A was being built. James Kirk was given temporary command of the USS Endeavour ( β ) with Leonard McCoy and Pavel Chekov joining him. Spock and Nyota Uhura took a leave of absence from Starfleet and were living on New Vulcan with Spock, focusing on building a new Vulcan Science Academy . Montgomery Scott divided his time between supervising the construction of the Enterprise -A and teaching at Starfleet Academy . Hikaru Sulu was promoted to lieutenant commander and assigned to the USS Concord ( β ) as first officer under the command of Clark Terrell ( β ).

External links [ ]

• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (alternate reality) at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Experience the Enterprise
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Every Episode of Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Ranked

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 was a varied and emotionally heavy season, and here's how critics and fans ranked each episode in the time-travel saga.

This article contains a brief mention of suicide.

The return of Jean-Luc Picard to the Star Trek universe was always meant to be a three-season affair. The second season was filmed during the height of the pandemic, and went through many iterations under the direction of three executive producers. In more ways than one, it was a tonal shift from the seasons on either side of it. How critics and fans ranked every episode of Star Trek: Picard Season 2 shows how challenging and contentious the middle chapter of this saga was. The story explored time travel, introduced an alternate timeline, and was bookended by a massively important moment in Starfleet's present.

Picard Season 2 was an emotionally heavy season with a clear political point of view and a sense of fun that comes with setting sci-fi characters in the contemporaneous present. In both the special features of The Complete Star Trek: Picard home release and the making-of book Star Trek: Picard: The Art and Making of the Series , the challenges in making this season are laid bare. With Rotten Tomatoes representing the critics and IMDB's user ratings representing the audience, each episode of Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is ranked based on the story it told and the impact it had on both the characters and audience.

10 The Picard Season 2 Premiere Was Full of Promise

Star trek: picard season 2, episode 1 "the star gazer", star trek theory: picard retconned the divisive enterprise series finale.

Of all Star Trek: Picard 's ten sophomore episodes, "The Star Gazer" ranks the highest among its peers in Season 2 . It's a fantastic beginning to the story, which both ties up loose ends from Season 1 and sets the characters on a new adventure. Most importantly, however, it brings Starfleet back into the fold in a big way. Picard delivers a Starfleet Academy commencement address, and he is then summoned to the USS Stargazer to answer a plea for help.

The episode sends off Soji, an ambassador for her synthetic siblings on the galactic stage. Dr. Agnes Jurati is with her, but quickly beams aboard the Stargazer, commanded by (her ex) Captain Cristobal Rios. Raffi, Elnor and Laris return, the first two also in Starfleet and the latter still with Jean-Luc but yearning for something more. It ends with the return of Q who, at the last moment, whisks Picard away from certain death.

9 Picard Season 2 Almost Took Place in an Alternate Timeline

Star trek: picard season 2, episode 2, "penance".

The first two episodes of Star Trek: Picard Season 2 debuted the same day, so it makes sense they are ranked close together. The strange new world this episode introduces may be why some viewers became disillusioned with the rest of the season's 21st Century setting. Executive Producer Terry Matalas said on Inglorious Treksperts that this episode mostly came from the Season 1 showrunner Michael Chabon before he left to adapt one of his novels for Paramount.

The characters were meant to spend more time in this alternate timeline , which reveres Adam Soong, one of many Brent Spiner lookalikes related to the creation of Data. The Earth is ravaged by climate change and seems very similar to the xenophobic Mirror Universe. Picard, Raffi, Seven of Nine, Elnor, Jurati and Rios have to bust a Borg Queen out of prison so that they can time travel and fix the past. Still, it might have been fun to spend more time in this evil, alternate future.

8 Season 2 Teamed Picard Up With a Character Tying TOS to TNG

Star trek: picard season 2, episode 5, "fly me to the moon".

Actor Orla Brady played Laris, who is absent from the season save for the first and final episodes. However, she returned to the cast as Talinn, the Romulan successor to Gary Seven from The Original Series . The character known as a "Watcher" was introduced as a potential spinoff from Gene Roddenberry for NBC. While it didn't take off, it did create an interesting bit of Star Trek lore. While Gary Seven was a human with access to advanced alien technology, Talinn is a Romulan tasked with protecting the timeline on Earth.

Laris is primarily responsible for the safety of Renée Picard, ancestor of Jean-Luc and the woman who discovers "a sentient microbe" on Europa that helps fix climate change. It's also the episode where the other political storyline (Rios and the present-day "Butterflies" being persecuted by ICE for helping undocumented migrants) are broken out of custody in a fun action sequence. It's also the episode where Agnes is injected with Borg nanoprobes by the queen, setting up the next episode in the Star Trek: Picard Season 2 ranked list.

7 A Gala, a Sassy Borg Queen and a Musical Number Shook Up Picard Season 2

Star trek: picard season 2, episode 6, "two of one", 'keep being noisy': picard star provides star trek: legacy update.

This version of the Borg Queen was played by Annie Wersching , who passed away in January 2023 from cancer. Great throughout the series, this episode features the Borg Queen and Jurati sharing a mind. As the Borg Queen tries to take over her body (reliant on emotional responses for control), the two make a great inside woman as they help Team Picard sneak into a gala. Allison Pill also does a rendition of the great Pat Benatar song, "Shadows of the Night."

"Two of One" doesn't just refer to the Borg-ified Jurati, either. This episode features Jean-Luc have a touching heart-to-heart conversation with his ancestor Renée. They are also two of a kind. Picard also faces off with Adam Soong, though he runs the Admiral down with his car. Because of his synthetic body, Rios, Raffi and his friends take him to Dr. Teresa Ramirez, leader of the Butterflies and physician who doesn't ask a lot of questions.

6 Picard Season 2 Does 'Star Trek: The Voyage Home'

Star trek: picard season 2 episode 3, "assimilation".

The third episode of Picard Season 2 is ranked high because it continued the breakneck pace established by the first two episodes. Team Picard time travels to the past with the help of the Borg queen, presenting the third new locale for the series: the 21st Century . However, this is where the bulk of the season takes place, much like Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was mostly set in the then-contemporaneous present.

A lot happened in this episode. Seven of Nine and Raffi try to blend in to the 21st Century and scan for a person using technology too advanced for the time. Rios is meant to help, but he's injured and ends up in a clinic with Dr. Teresa Ramirez and her son Ricardo, who are eventually arrested by ICE. Agnes and Picard try to outwit the Borg Queen. However, the most important moment in the episode was the death of Elnor. Fatally wounded by Seven of Nine's alternate timeline husband, his death devastates Raffi.

5 Guinan Brought the Return of an Old Friend With a New Face

Star trek: picard season 2 episode 4, "watcher".

Whoopi Goldberg's affable bartender Guinan returned in the Picard Season 2 premiere , but the character returned in a big way played by Ito Aghayere. The first episode established that Guinan, an ageless El Aurian, can alter her appearance to older or younger as she sees fit. Picard has to convince her to help him save humanity, even though she doesn't think Earthlings are worth the effort.

This is the episode which focuses most heavily on the immigration story in Season 2, with Rios in ICE custody trying to explain why he has no identification. As Seven of Nine and Raffi try to find him, they discover how migrants can fall through the cracks of the system. This plays out while juxtaposed with Guinan's condemnation of humanity. However, Picard is able to make a plea based on what he knows of where humanity can go in the future, in a very Roddenberry-esque Star Trek moment.

4 Picard and Guinan Find Mercy and Vulcans from Agent Wells

Star trek: picard season 2 episode 8, "mercy", star trek's wil wheaton wants a crusher brothers spinoff series.

Introduced at the end of the previous episode, Jay Karnes makes his return to Star Trek . Having previously played a time agent in Star Trek: Voyager , in Picard Season 2, he plays FBI Agent Wells, who is a firm believer in alien activity and arrests both Guinan and Picard based on video footage he has of the latter transporting onto the street. He questions them both, threatening the mission and the timeline. It's revealed that he had a pre- First Contact Vulcan encounter as a child . He ultimately lets Picard and Guinan go, seemingly fired for bringing them in at all.

Meanwhile, the Borg Queen has control of Agnes, and Seven of Nine and Raffi have to try to find and capture her. They find her consuming metals from car batteries, which is toxic to Agnes, but is what the Borg Queen needs to assimilate more people. She doesn't kill Seven or Raffi, proving Agnes still has some measure of control. Borg Jurati then goes to Adam Soong, convincing him to help her steal La Sirena and strand Team Picard in the 21st Century.

3 Season 2 Brought Picard Face-to-Face With His Greatest Fear and Regret

Star trek: picard season 2 episode 7, "monsters".

This episode is ranked one of the lowest by Picard viewers, and it's understandable. Not a lot happens in the episode, despite the introduction of James Callis as a hallucination of a therapist and Picard's father . This episode dives deeply into the memories of guilt and the mystery of what happened to Jean-Luc's mother. It's emotionally heavy and does somewhat lag on the breathless urgency of trying to find Agnes and stop Adam Soong.

Still, this is an emotionally powerful episode that recontextualizes what viewers have been seeing about Picard's past. His father is revealed to not be the abusive villain fans thought. Picard's mother is not a victimized woman trying to be free, but rather someone suffering from mental illness or injury. It's a traumatic, frightening event and (with help of Watcher Talinn and some sci-fi telepathic technology), Picard works through it.

2 The New Borg Were the Best Thing Picard Season 2 Brought to Star Trek

Star trek: picard season 2 episode 10, "farewell".

While the finale of Picard Season 2, "Farewell" is mostly about denouement, outside of the last mission to ensure that Adam Soong doesn't kill Renée Picard. Talinn sacrifices herself. Rios decides to stay behind in the 21st Century. Wesley Crusher returns as a Watcher , and Q and Picard have a final heart-to-heart chat, just before he sends them all back to the proper future. He's even able to resurrect Elnor since he had a little power left over because Rios stayed behind.

The best part of the finale was the reveal that Agnes Jurati was the Borg Queen from the first episode of Picard Season 2. With the alternate timeline Borg Queen, she created a new kind of collective. People choose to join the Borg, and even retain some measure of individuality . These new Borg agree to stand guard against a rupture in spacetime through which an unknown threat has yet to emerge. They become provisional members of the Federation, continuing the Star Trek tradition of old enemies, eventually becoming allies.

1 Star Trek's Most Emotionally Heavy Episode Is About Picard's Guilt

Star trek: picard season 2 episode, "hide and seek".

The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is a massive episode, both for its action and its emotional weight. There is a big battle at Chateau Picard where the new Jurati Borg assimilate mercenaries hired by Adam Soong. They try to kill Picard and his friends, but Agnes eventually convinces the Queen to try a different way than she had in the past, since in every timeline assimilation and violence leads to the Borg's destruction.

Most importantly, this episode reveals how Picard's mother died and why Jean-Luc felt so much guilt for it. His father locked her in a room to stop her from hurting herself. Jean-Luc unlocked the door and went to lie with his mother and comfort her. After he fell asleep, she took her own life. As much as Picard Season 2 was about fixing the past, outsmarting the Borg and other Star Trek things, Picard's revelation was the true mission . He had to forgive himself by letting go of the guilt that kept him at arm's length from people and preparing him to be a father.

The complete Star Trek: Picard is available to own on Blu-ray, DVD, digital and streams on Paramount+ .

Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 pits the iconic Admiral against his greatest nemesis Q for a time-travel adventure that exposes Jean-Luc's deepest secret.

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Published Apr 24, 2024

Stuck in a Loop: The Best of Star Trek's Time-Jumping Episodes

From The Next Generation to Discovery, going around and around is sometimes very revealing.

StarTrek.com

In the Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 episode, " Face the Strange ," Captain Burnham and Commander Rayner find themselves both stuck in a loop, but also, jumping all around the timeline of the titular starship. From the point before the U.S.S. Discovery was launched, to pivotal moments in Season 4, Season 3, Season 2 and even very early in Season 1, Rayner notes at one point that, "We’ve gone back in time to when you went forward to the future. That’s a little confusing."

Throughout all of Star Trek 's history, time travel has been just as propulsive to the narratives as space travel. But, within the various time travel stories of Trek , there is a special kind of time-skipping episode — the time loop story. Discovery has recently shaken-up this formula with "Face the Strange," but many elements of this episode pay homage to a proud Star Trek tradition. Here’s the history of the best time loop, and time-jumping episodes across the entire Final Frontier.

" Cause and Effect ," Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 5, Episode 18)

"Cause and Effect"

Perhaps one of the greatest science fiction episodes of all time, The Next Generation set the gold-standard for how to do time loop episodes.

When the Enterprise collides with another starship in the first scene, this episode poses one question right off the bat: What happens after you blow up the ship — and everyone on it — before the credits roll? The answer is mostly connected to whether or not we can even remember when we're stuck in a loop. Without actually spoiling this classic episode, let's just say thank the stars for Dr. Crusher and Data.

The brilliance of "Cause and Effect" cannot be overstated, but the 21st Century legacy of this episode is utterly appropriate. When Geordi reveals how the time loop works, Riker says, "You mean we could have come into this room, sat at this table and had this conversation a dozen times already?" This scene has become a popular meme format across various social media platforms, satirizing the time loop of some aspects of the internet experience.

" Parallels ," Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 7, Episode 11)

"Parallels"

Arguably, when Worf starts slipping between realities in "Parallels," the story is more focused on other dimensions, rather than a true time loop. But, each time he pops into a new reality, Worf does tend to reply to his own personal log, which is what began the episode.

Obviously, in each new timeline, Worf's personal log is different, and because he checks it so often in the episode, this gives "Parallels" the feeling of a time loop story, even though Worf is technically moving both forward in time, and also, side-to-side.

On top of all of this, "Parallels" feels time-loopy because so many ideas and plot points from previous seasons of The Next Generation are revisited here. From references to " The Best of Both Worlds ," to the return of Wesley Crusher, "Parallels" brings all the good things of TNG back around again for another look, from a different point of view.

" All Good Things... ," Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 7, Episode 25)

"All Good Things..."

Speaking of the best of The Next Generation , the immortal series finale is, from a certain point of view, one big time loop. As Jean-Luc Picard shifts between past, present, and future, the biggest mystery of "All Good Things…" is what caused the anomaly in the Devron system? Eventually, we learn that the ending and the beginning of this story are inextricably connected, a paradox that creates a kind of loop that must be broken.

Twenty-nine years later, in the Star Trek: Picard episode, " Imposters ," Captain Liam Shaw references this moment, and notes that Picard and Riker have a "real chicken and egg thing going on." It doesn’t get any more time-loopy than that!

" Visionary ," Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Season 3, Episode 17)

"Visionary"

When O'Brien starts seeing another version of himself appearing randomly throughout the station, Dr. Bashir briefly floats the idea that he's just having really boring hallucinations. But, as the episode goes on, it becomes clear that O'Brien is actually seeing brief moments in the future, and then, catching up to those moments in the present.

"Visionary" messes with what we expect from a time loop episode, because in all instances of future occurrences, there are literally two O'Briens present, and, when the past O'Brien catches up to the future moment, the duplication effect happens again, creating a kind of visual loop for the audience. The funny thing is, in several instances, the future doesn't play out exactly the way past O'Brien saw the first time, making this one of the wobblier time loops in all of Star Trek .

" Relativity ," Star Trek: Voyager (Season 5, Episode 24)

"Relativity"

In a move very similar to Discovery 's "Face the Strange," this unforgettable episode of Voyager briefly takes us back to a point before the series even begins, showing us Janeway's first moments on Voyager before the ship left the Utopia Planitia Shipyards on Mars. (In "Face the Strange," Burnham and Rayner see Discovery in a drydock on Earth well before the events of Season 1.)

But, Voyager 's jaunt into its own prehistory is just the beginning of a very specific type of time jumping episode. Here, Seven of Nine isn't exactly repeating a loop, but, making several attempts at different times, to prevent a bomb from destroying Voyager . As Tuvok aptly puts it when encountering one version of Seven from the future, "Like many time paradoxes, it's improbable, but not necessarily illogical." Because this episode features multiple versions of Seven, and leaps to various eras of Voyager , it pairs very nicely with Burnham and Rayner's similar jumps in "Face the Strange." Especially the moment where Seven meets herself.

" Shattered ," Star Trek: Voyager (Season 7, Episode 11)

"Shattered"

Does Voyager have the best timey-wimey episodes in all of the Trek franchise? It's hard to say, but if there's another Trek episode that feels like an older sibling of Discovery 's "Face the Strange," it's almost certainly "Shattered," a fan-favorite episode from Voyager 's final season. Here, the captain and the first officer — Janeway and Chakotay — find themselves on a version of the ship that has been split into different time periods.

"Shattered" is one of Star Trek 's greatest retrospective episodes, touching on moments across all of Voyager 's story, and teaming past versions of characters with ones closer to the present. It's a touching story, and, structurally, it's wonderfully homaged in Discovery .

" Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad ," Star Trek: Discovery (Season 1, Episode 7)

"Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad"

One of Discovery 's stand-out moments from Season 1 fully set the stage for "Face the Strange" in Season 5. In "Magic to Make The Sanest Man Go Mad," Harry Mudd sets the ship on a true time loop, in which only Stamets can truly remember what is going on. Like in "Face the Strange," Stamets has a perception that exists outside of time, thanks to taking on the Tardigrade DNA in "Choose Your Pain."

This detail comes in handy in "Face the Strange," where Burnham and Stamets again have to re-team to get Discovery out of a time loop caused by nefarious enemies using time travel technology as a weapon. In Season 1, Burnham and Stamets barely knew each other, much like Burnham and Rayner's relationship in Season 5. But, if there's one thing a time loop or time-jumping episode can do, it’s make people who are just colleagues into best friends for life.

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Ryan Britt is the author of the nonfiction books Phasers on Stun! How the Making and Remaking of Star Trek Changed the World (2022), The Spice Must Flow: The Journey of Dune from Cult Novels to Visionary Sci-Fi Movies (2023), and the essay collection Luke Skywalker Can’t Read (2015). He is a longtime contributor to Star Trek.com and his writing regularly appears with Inverse, Den of Geek!, Esquire and elsewhere. He lives in Portland, Maine with his family.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and also airs on Cosmote TV in Greece. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Screen Rant

7 star trek: voyager alien villains worse than discovery’s breen.

Discovery season 5 almost brought back a Voyager villain instead of the Breen. So which 7 Star Trek: Voyager enemies are badder than the Breen?

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors"!

• Breen Imperium emerges as main threat in Discovery S5, seeking Progenitors' tech to destroy the Federation.
• Voyager's Vidiians were considered as villains, but Discovery went with DS9's Breen instead.
• Species like the Hirogen, Species 8472 and Jurati's Borg could wreak havoc with Progenitors' technology.

The crew of Star Trek: Discovery should think themselves lucky that they're facing the Breen and not some of Star Trek: Voyager 's more dangerous enemies. It's now confirmed that the Breen Imperium will be the larger antagonists in the second half of Discovery season 5, following the revelations about Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) and the Erigah placed upon them. Discovery season 5, episode 5 , "Mirrors" revealed that Moll and L'ak were seeking to hand over the Progenitors' technology to the Breen, to erase their blood bounty. With the Progenitors' technology, the Breen will be able to destroy the Federation .

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors", was written by Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco, and directed by Jen McGowan.

Carlos Cisco, who co-wrote Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors" with Johanna Lee, discussed the Breen on The 7th Rule podcast . While discussing Discovery 's new " jelly Breens " , Carlos Cisco revealed that the Star Trek: Voyager villains, the Vidiians were considered as possible season 5 villains. Given that the Vidiians were seemingly cured of the Phage in Star Trek: Voyager season 5, episode 20, "Think Tank", it's hard to see what would be driving them to secure the Progenitors' technology 800 years later. So, while Discovery was probably right not to choose the Vidiians, there are some other Voyager villains that are more than a match for the Breen .

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7 the krenim, voyager's temporal scientists have already caused trouble for discovery..

The USS Voyager ran afoul of the Krenim in the season 4 two-parter, "Year of Hell". Commanded by temporal scientist Annorax (Kurtwood Smith), the Krenim Time Ship was able to force entire species out of the space-time continuum, creating alternate realities as they did so. Annorax wanted to restore the Krenim Imperium to power by reshaping history in his own image, but he never quite worked out the calculations, meaning that he only made things worse. Each change that Annorax made to the established timeline, the further he seemed to get from restoring the power of the Krenim Imperium in Star Trek: Voyager .

Annorax was the third of Kurtwood Smith's four Star Trek roles between 1991 and 2021.

Star Trek: Discovery confirmed the Krenim's role in Star Trek 's Temporal Wars when one of their Chronphage weapons found itself aboard the USS Discovery. With temporal technology outlawed, the Krenim Imperium may be looking for other ways to reestablish their dominance . Therefore, the Progenitors' technology would provide an ideal way to restore power to the Krenim Imperium. It can both create and destroy life, meaning that the Krenim would no longer need to rely on temporal technology to erase their enemies from the space-time continuum.

6 The Vaadwaur

An ancient alien race seeking to assert their dominance..

The Kellerun and arguably even the Breen are deep cut Star Trek: Deep Space Nine aliens that feature in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. So Discovery season 5 could certainly have brought back the deep-cut Star Trek: Voyager villains, the Vaadwaur. The snake-like aliens existed in the early 15th century, using subspace corridors to attack multiple planets, including Talax, the home world of Neelix (Ethan Phillips) . Eventually, a coalition of races formed against the Vaadwaur, seemingly driving the race to extinction.

The Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Dead Stop" features a Vaadwaur corpse in the repair station, suggesting that there were other survivors of the coalition's attempt to destroy the species.

The USS Voyager recovered surviving members of the Vaadwaur 800 years later, in Star Trek: Voyager season 6, episode 7, "Dragon's Teeth" . Manipulating the crew of Voyager, the Vaadwaur tried to use the ship to strike back against the races that had risen up against their imperialism. They were prevented from launching another attempt to dominate the galaxy, but their ability to navigate subspace corridors, combined with the powers of the Progenitors' technology in the 32nd century could easily have led to the rise of a second Vaadwaur empire in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

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The voth may have preceded the progenitors..

The Voth weren't especially dangerous in their one and only Star Trek: Voyager appearance, however there was one big warning sign. A species that was believed to have originated from Earth's dinosaurs, the Voth left Earth and eventually established themselves in the Delta Quadrant . The existence of the Voth, and their genetic connection to Earth's dinosaurs means that the Progenitors' effectively took their planet from them by seeding humanoid life there. This could have set up a fascinating dynamic where the Voth, perhaps fleeing devastation in the Delta Quadrant, could have tried to reclaim Earth with the Progenitors' technology.

The story of the Voth in Star Trek: Voyager bears a striking resemblance to the Silurians from Doctor Who , right down to one Voth having what looks like a third eye on their forehead.

The new Star Trek: Voyager aliens were largely depicted as religious extremists in "Distant Origin", as many Voth refused to believe they originated elsewhere in the galaxy. Such zealotry could easily be tipped the other way, with the Voth in Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd century becoming convinced that possession of the Earth is a divine right . Possessing the Progenitors' technology would also give the Voth power over their human successors, making them a deadly potential foe with fascinating motivations as villains.

4 The Vidiians

The phage-infected aliens could finally cure all ills..

Star Trek: Voyager season 5, episode 20, "Think Tank" revealed that a cure for the Vidiian's virus, the Phage, had been found by a group of hyper-intelligent aliens. Whether this was true or not, 800 years have passed since the end of Voyager , meaning that the plague-stricken Vidiians could have found history repeating itself in Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd century. Voyager established that the Vidiians would stop at nothing to mitigate the effects of the Phage, from harvesting organs to conducting horrific scientific experiments .

The Vidiian scientist Sulan was able to split Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) into her human and Klingon halves, creating two distinct B'Elannas in Star Trek: Voyager season 1, episode 14, "Faces".

While there were sympathetic Vidiians like Dr. Danara Pel (Susan Diol), who was one of the love interests of Voyager's Doctor (Robert Picardo). However, the majority of Vidiians encountered in Star Trek: Voyager were keen to harvest innocent people in their never-ending battle against the Phage. As a humanoid race, the Vidiians would have a strong cause for seeking the Progenitors' technology, as they could presumably use it to erase all illness in their species . It seems unlikely that the Vidiians would stop there, potentially using the technology for larger, more nefarious goals.

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3 the hirogen, discovery's progenitors' tech could give them unlimited prey..

The Hirogen were a nomadic alien species that lived for the hunt, and anyone or anything was fair game in the Delta Quadrant . To try and assuage their murderous impulses, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) gave the Hirogens holodeck technology. However, this went wrong when the hunter species changed the programming to make more suitable prey, resulting in a hologram uprising in the movie-length Star Trek: Voyager episode , "Flesh and Blood". Giving the Hirogen the ability to create their own prey with the Progenitors' technology in Star Trek: Discovery is a very chilling thought.

Star Trek: Picard season 3 revealed that Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) was hunted by a Hirogen while in command of the USS Enterprise-E.

Creating sentient life purely for the purposes of hunting them is unbelievably cruel, but it would also be on brand for the Hirogen . Throughout Star Trek: Voyager , the Hirogen proved that they placed the hunt above all else, meaning that the galaxy would get caught in the crossover of such a rampant expansion of their hunt. While the Hirogen aren't as likely to burn the Federation to the ground as the Breen Imperium, a massive expansion of their hunt could create a moral and diplomatic nightmare in Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd century.

2 Species 8472

A non-humanoid species who once waged war against the borg..

Star Trek: Voyager 's Species 8472 villains were incredibly powerful beings that were able to defeat the Borg Collective. Existing in fluidic space, Species 8472 had immensely powerful biotechnological abilities, and even possessed the power to shape-shift. While Captain Janeway eventually negotiated peace between Species 8472 and humanity, averting a full-blown invasion of Earth, it's still possible that future events could lead to hostilities resuming. Species 8472 were one of 1990s Star Trek 's most outright alien villains, so they'd likely have different intentions for the Progenitors' technology .

Species 8472 was the first completely computer-generated alien species in the Star Trek franchise.

Star Trek: Discovery 's updated Breen aren't straightforwardly humanoid, but they're also far less alien than Species 8472 . An alien race that didn't originate from the Progenitors, with the ability to wipe out all humanoid life in the galaxy is a terrifying prospect for the 32nd century. Thankfully, Janeway's peace with Species 8472 appears to have lasted long into the 32nd century, meaning that the Star Trek: Voyager villains aren't appearing as Discovery season 5's major antagonists.

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1 the borg collective, picard finished what janeway started, or did he.

Given the success of Star Trek: Picard season 3, it's probably for the best that the Borg Collective don't feature in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. It's one of many lessons Discovery learned from Picard season 3 , however it's worth pondering just what the Borg could do with the Progenitors' technology. The ability to create life with the Progenitors' technology would give the Borg Collective a never-ending stream of drones with which to assimilate the entire galaxy . It's just as well that Admiral Picard finished what Janeway started in the Voyager finale, by killing the Borg Queen once and for all.

Captain Janeway faced the Borg Queen three times in Star Trek: Voyager , compared to Picard's two in Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Picard season 3.

A Borg Collective presumably still exists in Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd century, led by Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill), who wanted to use their technology to heal, rather than destroy. Even though Jurati had more benevolent intentions in Star Trek: Picard , the Progenitors' treasure combined with Borg technology is a frightening concept. Such a combination could have been a recipe for the bad old days of Star Trek: Voyager 's treacherous journey through the Borg Collective's native territory of the Delta Quadrant. Starfleet, and the Breen, just wouldn't stand a chance.

Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

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Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

Star Trek: Voyager

The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they've never faced before.