star trek enterprise who was future guy

Star Trek: A Major Theory Surrounding Enterprise's Most Mysterious Character Was Actually Confirmed

Future Guy was one of Archer's most iconic enemies on Star Trek: Enterprise, and as it turns out, he might've been a future version of himself.

Enterprise became one of the franchise’s great unfinished projects in the  Star Trek franchise after turmoil in the Paramount corporate offices truncated its run at four seasons. Among the questions left hanging at the end of its run was the identity of “Future Guy," a mysterious figure aiding the sinister Cabal during the Temporal Cold War. He was intended to be one of the series’ primary antagonists, but Enterprise’s cancellation left him and key parts of the Temporal Cold War up in the air, and his ultimate identity was unconfirmed when the series ended.

According to the notes in the novelization of Season 1, Episode 1, “ Broken Bow ,” showrunners Rick Berman and Brannon Braga created the character without knowing who lay behind his silhouetted form. That gave them options as the series moved forward that could potentially allow them to adjust to future concepts, and tie them more elegantly into the eventual reveal. Of course, this never came to pass and the Temporal Cold War was swiftly wrapped up, but the mystery led to multiple theories about who or what Future Guy might actually be. Well, as it turns out, Braga revealed the truth in a 2012 tweet : the silhouetted villain was actually Jonathan Archer himself.

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Future Guy himself was located in the 28th century, far in the future from the perspective of Archer and his crew. He used the Suliban Cabal as catspaws to enact his schemes, which included starting a civil war in the Klingon Empire and arranging for Archer to obtain evidence of a Xindi attack on Earth. He also often adopted seemingly contrary positions -- appearing to help Archer and the Enterprise sometimes, while standing against them on other occasions. Future Guy's interference officially ended in Season 4, Episode 2, “Storm Front, Part II,” which ended a temporal paradox and brought the war to a close.

The character acted through proxies in those instances -- he himself couldn’t travel through time and was forced to use the Suliban. While they took the fall in “Storm Front,” he simply vanished, and the remainder of Enterprise’s final season largely concerned itself with other plot threads. That left him in limbo, presumably still in the 28 th century, and with no more idea about his identity than at the show’s beginning. In fact, even actor James Horan, who portrayed Future Guy, said he was never certain who the figure was.

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With that being the case, fans developed their own ideas about who lay behind his shadowy façade, and Braga himself implied that it might be a Romulan on the special features of the Enterprise Season 1 Blu-ray. And while he also mentioned the idea of Future Guy actually being Archer in the same segment, it took a tweet to finally confirm it. The Romulan idea, it seems, was a red herring because Archer as his own confounding antagonist held too much potential.

The plan was for Archer to find himself in a dark and unhappy future that he himself brought about, possibly after having his life extended by Suliban genetics. He was attempting to influence his younger self into making better decisions to prevent whatever bleak fate he engineered for himself and the galaxy. That him Future Guy the impetus to behave in a seemingly contradictory manner, and the producers could always explain it away by saying Archer’s efforts to found the Federation prevented the grim timeline that his future self lived in.

Of course, that direction would've required a few logistical maneuvers  and fixing mild continuity errors, but the rumors can at least be put to bed. The answer would've come in a future Enterprise season fans never got to see, but  Star Trek's first captain was his own worst enemy.

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Star Trek: Enterprise: How Future Guy’s identity changes the series

By rachel carrington | dec 19, 2020.

Star Trek: Enterprise kept us all guessing when it introduced a humanoid hidden in the shadows who controlled the Cabal

Although only appearing in five episodes, Future Guy” as he was labeled by the fans was a source of great curiosity on Star Trek: Enterprise . He controlled the Cabal and gave the Sulibans their technology and abilities. He also warned Captain Archer of the coming threat from the Xindi. But his identity was never made clear during the run of the series. But viewers finding the show on streaming channels will have that knowledge, and it just might change how they see the captain of the Enterprise as, according to Brannon Braga , (In Conversation: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga, a 70-minute behind-the-scenes documentary shown on the Season 1 Blu-ray)Future Guy was Jonathan Archer.

Supposedly, Archer was from a really bad future which he, in some way, influenced. So he figured out a way to go back in time to make some changes and hopefully create a better future. But Braga’s explanation doesn’t clarify why the future Jonathan Archer gave the Suliban enhanced abilities and advanced technology. Coming from the future, he would have known what the Suliban were capable of. It just doesn’t seem feasible that the Captain Archer we knew in the 22nd century would work with these aliens.

But more than that, if Future Archer knew about the initial attack on Earth which killed seven million people, why wouldn’t he have tried to prevent that as well as the second attack? It doesn’t make sense that Captain Archer, in any time period, would allow the destruction of innocent people.

This isn’t the Captain Archer viewers came to know for four seasons on Star Trek: Enterprise. While he did step across the line on occasion, he wasn’t a monster, and naming him as Future Guy changes his entire character. While it’s certainly possible he could have made a bad decision in the future, it’s difficult to believe the Jonathan Archer who was devastated when he thought Enterprise was responsible for the destruction of Paraagan II and when the first attack on Earth happened could be the same one who could come back from the future and not do everything within his power to prevent senseless deaths. In essence, it doesn’t make sense.

What do you think? Does knowing Jonathan Archer was Future Guy affect how you see Captain Archer on the series?

dark. Next. Star Trek: Enterprise: Fans are devoting time and effort to revive the series

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Jamran Harnoth

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Jamran Harnoth (also known as the Sponsor or Future Guy by DTI agents) is a founding member of the Order of Omega . As a temporal agent from the 28th century , he was a major antagonist in the Temporal Cold War .

History [ ]

He was the unknown benefactor of countless factions across time and throughout the galaxy , empowering agents with genetic enhancements in exchange for their loyalty. He never traveled back through time when communicating with those he recruited, but rather projected a blurry temporally projected image of himself.

In the 22nd century he recruited Silik and other members of the Suliban Cabal , and also manipulated the Tandarans , by allowing them to discover the Cabal were receiving help from their future, thereby leading them to their research into Temporal Security. Federation Temporal Agency agent Timot Danlen traveled to the same time period, and under the alias of "Crewman Daniels", often recruited Captain Jonathan Archer in his attempts to stop Harnoth. ( ENT episode & novelization : Broken Bow ) However, he also warned Archer of the Sphere Builders ' plan to have the Xindi destroy Earth . ( ENT episode & novelization : The Expanse )

In the 24th century he recruited a number of Romulans who were willing to die for his cause. When a descendant of the Cabal, Shelan , an agent of the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations attempted to discover the origin of his messages, Harnoth had her surgically removed from the timeline . Despite his best efforts however, she was able to transmit enough data to be analyzed, leading to his eventual discovery. Having fled to the 22nd century, he was finally apprehended by Daniels.

When questioned by temporal agents from three separate time periods, as well as a representative of the Aegis , he finally revealed that not only had he manipulated so many different races with the intent of altering history to benefit the Omegans, but as a descendant of at least three of those races ( Suliban , Romulan , and Tandaran ), he had done so to ensure his own existence. He finally agreed to be tried for his crimes in the 31st century , receiving a fairer trial than he would in his contemporary time, in return for cooperating in the neutralization of his 24th century Augments. ( DTI novel : Watching the Clock )

External links [ ]

• Jamran Harnoth article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
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WMG / Star Trek: Enterprise

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The Federation was a plot by Archer to acquire alien technology Since childhood, Archer had harbored resentment towards the Vulcans for forcing his father to actually work to develop a fast warp drive, rather than simply handing him the technology on a platter. He continued to maintain this bitterness his entire life, and it only got worse as he encountered other alien species with more advanced technology than humanity had. However, seeing the Xindi cooperating (somewhat contentiously) to achieve their collective ends gave Archer an idea. If he could form a permanent "alliance" between Earth and other, more advanced, species he could make technology sharing an intrinsic part of that alliance by claiming it was all for the common good.

When he toppled the Vulcan High Command, his opportunity began to solidify. The less paranoid Vulcan civilian government underestimated Archer's cunning. Citing the recurring external threats that species in the region faced, he pushed forward the idea of the Federation and Starfleet as a common defensive strategy. Of course, such a strategy would work best if the Federation had the highest possible level of technology. So members were encouraged to be more open in allowing each other to study their tech. Since humans were one of the less advanced species, they benefited the most from this arrangement while giving up the least.

Archer played the mutual distrust of established space powers such as the Vulcans and Andorians like a musical instrument. Thus he was able to promote the idea of comparatively "primitive" Earth as a "neutral" center for this emerging Federation, and with a little politicking he managed to make it both the capital of the Federation and the headquarters of Starfleet. Humanity now had access to a wide range of alien science and scientists, who congregated in the new political/military center of the Federation. No longer would Vulcans maintain their technological superiority in secrecy.

The Federation has worked this way ever since. It uses its advanced technology as a lure to get new members to join, while cherry-picking new technologies from each new member species. The Prime Directive was Archer's tool for making sure that this arrangement perpetually worked to Earth's advantage. By prohibiting the sharing of technology without a world first joining the Federation, only those deemed to have something useful to contribute would receive anything from the Federation. The Federation was, of course, allowed to take and study any alien technology it could get its hands on.

That the Federation government, and most especially Starfleet, are dominated by humans is the key proof point. Archer was an obvious hypocrite for coveting alien technology and resenting those who refused to share it with humanity, even as he repeatedly withheld technology from other races (to the point of allowing extinction). Humans remain more passionate about the Prime Directive than almost any other Federation species except perhaps the Vulcans. This is because the system is designed to keep the flow of new technology pointed at Earth, while limiting the advancement of potential rival powers. Earth became the literal center of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants through clever theft of alien technology. They don't want anyone else doing likewise.

• Maybe the reason the Enterprise D encountered so many temporal anomalies was because they were near misses and/or sabotaged attempts at temporal incursions in the temporal cold war.

Involving Archer in the Temporal Cold War was itself a move in the war A common criticism of Archer (especially in seasons 1-3) is that he seems like an incompetent putz promoted way above his actual ability who only gets by due to the tireless efforts of everyone else around him working to prevent him from screwing up too badly. This includes Time Agent Daniels, who outright reveals Archer's destiny as a founder of the Federation to him. It seems less like a preventative move to keep history from being changed and more like an effort to actually change history to ensure a specific outcome. Since time travel is involved here, the entire existence of the Federation could be a Stable Time Loop created by the future Federation to secure the timeline in which they are a dominant temporal power (as proposed above). Since Archer's antagonistic personality would normally be incompatible with founding an interstellar, multi-species space nation, he had to be outright shown what he was supposed to do to bring about the creation of the Federation so that the goal would be fixed within his mind and he would work towards it despite his normal inclinations.

Surak is the real founder of The Federation Surak's katra was a kind of spiritual Amulet of Concentrated Awesome , which Archer had inside of his head during season four, a time when he was changing from outright imbecile to plausible hero. There is little question that Archer after "Kir'Shara" seems more self-controlled and authoritative than he was before the incident on Vulcan. It has been shown in the past that deep mind melds can leave behind something of the Vulcan's personality. Maybe the reason Surak insisted on remaining inside Archer's mind for so long was because he was quietly reprogramming him and imprinting aspects of his own personality onto Archer? When Archer moved from captaining a starship and into politics, he proved to be unexpectedly competent. This could have been pieces of Surak surfacing and altering Archer's behavior. Surak was visionary enough to conceive of something like the Federation, and saw Archer as a useful tool because the humans were less strongly-aligned with any particular interstellar power paradigm than the Vulcans, or any other species within the local sectors.

Enterprise is responsible for the Klingons having cloaking technology. In the episode "Unexpected", when the crew relocates the Xyrillians , Archer and team convince the Klingons to not destroy the Xyrillians , but part of that deal includes giving the Klingons the Xyrillian's advanced Holodeck-like (yes, that Holodeck) technology. The Klingons proceed to ask "Can this technology be adapted to our power matrix?" Good work, Enterprise, you just gave the Klingons cloaking technology .

• Jossed by Star Trek: Beyond.
• One of these timelines is the Mirror Universe

As extension of the above theory, the Temporal Cold War occurred as a direct or indirect result of the creation of the two divergent timelines.

• This timeline is essentially a Close-Enough Timeline ...at least until Nero arrives from the Prime Timeline...
• Further evidence: A number of crew members in Ten Forward at the start of These Are The Voyages... have the flat collars used in the first few seasons of TNG - but The Pegasus occurred in Season 7. By then, everyone in the main continuity had the stand-up collars.
• Additional evidence: The ship is named Enterprise. Later-era shows give Enterprise counts that include only NCC 1701 through 1701-E. Zephram Cochrane, Lily Sloane, and others were told during Star Trek: First Contact that Picard and co. came from the Enterprise; this influenced the later naming. It may also have influenced the design; Lily spent a lot of time in the Enterprise-E. design, including places usually reserved for engineers.
• Also see the "NX-01 becomes the NCC-1701" suggestion below.

• The point is that there have been a million and one examples of Close Enough Timelines in Star Trek — First Contact being just one of them. In each case, the Close-Enough Timeline becomes the official Star Trek timeline from then on. So Enterprise having had the events of First Contact take place in its past does not mean it's set in a different timeline (which somehow delegitimises it in the eyes of the Fan Dumb ) — it means it's set in the latest version of the correct timeline.

The mirror universe is the 'normal' timeline. The opening of In a Mirror Darkly shows Earth's first contact with the Vulcans. Picard and co are nowhere to be seen. That's because in this universe, the events of First Contact never happened, so the Enterprise-D crew never travel to 2063 and reveal to Cochrane the potential of his invention, which would have resulted in the push to explore and the creation of the Federation. When the Vulcans land, Cochrane just assumes they're evil alien invaders and kills them. Earth then pushes to aggressively expand its territory in order to defend against future invasions. The regular Trek universe was essentially brought about by the actions of its own inhabitants.

• It is based only on what has been declassified, the rest being pure guesswork.
• Internal-sensor recordings were nowhere near as complete then as later.
• over two hundred years, the NX-01's exploits have become legend .

This could easily explain the presence of TNG-and-later aesthetics, spotty production values, shouting Vulcans, and continuity issues. The real story of the Enterprise NX-01 has not been told.

• This would also explain how this one ship somehow manages to blunder into every signature species or technology of the 24th century, none of which rated even a passing mention in the Kirk era and at least one of which was unknown at the beginning of Picard's era. It explains how that same ship was directly responsible for much of the political landscape of the quadrant. And it explains why that ship just happened to be named "Enterprise," as if the name itself always meant something special. It's just like when modern-day stories of the medieval period feature gender equality and good hygiene, or when medieval authors described Greek warriors as fully-armored knights with lances. Enterprise is nothing more than a historical retcon that takes 24th-century stuff for granted.
• There seems to be a theme here...
• Enterprise takes place during the time frame of TNG: "Pegasus" (see ENT: "These Are The Voyages..." where this is established. The time is 2370 (stardate 47457.1, per the Captain's Log, via Memory Alpha.) A young engineer with an interest in holo-programming creates a historical simulation for his friend Reg Barclay, noted holo-addict, but he hasn't quite got the technique down, especially historical verisimilitude (see the continuity issues referenced above in this WMG entry. The engineer eventually refines and improves his skills as a holo-programmer, and four years later (stardate 51721.3, approximately, per Memory Alpha's stardate on DS9: "In The Pale Moonlight", the nearest show to the character's debut in DS9: "His Way"), he goes on to create Vic Fontaine. Which means the entirety of Enterprise was just Felix's beta test.

"These Are The Voyages..." is itself a Show Within a Show that Riker and Troi made under duress.

The novel The Good That Men Do basically took this concept and rolled with it, but even if one discounts the book, every charge of inaccuracy it levels against the holodeck simulation is credible, and supports the claim that it's a fake record. However, one may note that Riker and Troi are also a bit older and heavier than they were in the TNG episode "The Pegasus" and that Riker didn't actually go through with his supposed decision to tell Picard everything he knew about the Pegasus until the situation forced him to talk.

I think the last episode is also actually an inaccurate holodeck history, and that Riker and Troi deliberately inserted clues to its inaccuracy because they were being forced to make it, and wanted everyone who saw it to know the history they were portraying was just as false as the history it showed them supposedly viewing. Hence, they allowed the program to show them using advances in the holodeck technology that hadn't occurred yet, didn't adjust their appearances to look any younger than the age they actually were when they made this story (many years after the actual Pegasus incident), and subtly undermined the whole purpose of this fake history in every way they could.

• Except that time travel in Star Trek does not work that way. Any changes that were made as a result of First Contact have become part of the "prime" timeline, Cosmic Retcon style. The episode "Regeneration" does indicate that the events of First Contact (with Picard's crew and the Borg) did happen in this series' backstory, but that doesn't make it a "parallel universe to the one we know" — it is the Star Trek universe we know. Deal with it.

The time travel aspect causes the two universes to be linked, leading to...

Enterprise is the history of the Mirror Universe. This is pretty much Jossed , but think about it anyway. This theory is partly cribbed from William Shatner's Mirror Universe Trilogy, wherein Cochrane, who now knows about the Borg, realizes that there is danger out there and decides to explore much more carefully. It comes down to a coin toss.

Now, look at Enterprise. Within four years from beginning to explore deep space, how many Big Bads have our guys run into? It's easy to see them being pushed too far and becoming overly defensive, turning the Federation into the Empire.

• It is Canon that the Star Trek universe has more than one parallel. (See the TNG episode "Parallels.") The 'mirror universe' episode of Enterprise just tapped into yet another one. And it seems oddly fitting that a terrible show should be consigned to the Mirror Universe. That there's more than one parallel Mirror Universe? Okay.... oww.....
• The alternate opening for "In a Mirror, Darkly" shows a Luftwaffe plane getting shot down. Maybe in this reality, the Axis had no racial supremacy agenda. They still used the swastika, but in it's classically benevolent context. They still lost, though.
• It is a Luftwaffe plane from WWI not II so not a Nazi plane
• He's playing both sides to ensure that history happens the way he thinks it should.
• It makes sense. The Temporal Cold War is The Last Great Time War we hear so much about, "Ninth Doctor" on. The "Temperal Operatives" are the Time Lords!
• Daniels's nervous demeanor in general is actually quite reminiscent of many of The Doctor's more quirky incarnations....
• So is Archer his reluctant "companion"?
• Not really; Khan was cryo-frozen and launched into deep space in the 1990s, while the Soong family spent several generations devoted to research, first in genetics, and later in cybernetics. The only connection between the two is the similarity in the names, which was caused by Khan and Noonien being named after a friend of Gene Roddenberry.

The Spherebuilders powered the Xindi's subspace vortex system. The Xindi could quickly teleport entire ships half way across the galaxy, a feat that only Sufficiently Advanced Aliens can do in later series. The Xindi are friendly with humans at the end of the Xindi arc, but they never show up again; you'd expect that a race that could travel that quickly would be somewhat important in the future of the galaxy. Nor does the Federation acquire their technology.

• But the Aquatics returned Enterprise to Earth after the sphere network was destroyed.

A Xindi Civil War still takes place some time after the Xindi arc in Enterprise , and at least one of the five Xindi species we see in Enterprise will be extinct by the 26th century. When Daniels takes Archer 400 years into the future to show him the battle of Procyon V, he reveals that there are Xindi serving aboard the Enterprise-J...but notably does not say which Xindi species. At the end of the Xindi arc on Enterprise , it looks like the Xindi council will be re-formed, with there being a line about how the Reptilians will have to re-join, given that even the Insectoids have now aligned with the others. However, we've seen that at least some of the Reptilians think they alone are the rightful leaders of the Xindi; they may not be willing to join their brethren, even given a four-against-one scenario. Or, since the Reptilians had turned on the Insectoids when the latter began to question the former, the Insectoids may not be so ready to forgive and accept the Reptilians as the other Xindi species are. Either way, the Xindi civil war is still coming, and which Xindi species are still alive in the 26th century, let alone serving on the Enterprise-J, remains uncertain.

The Xindi, or one sub-race of them, are the same race as the Kzinti The Kzinti, from Star Trek: The Animated Series (as borrowed by Larry Niven from his own universe ), are the Felinoid variant of the Xindi race, cast out years before for some reason. When Chekov refers to there having been a war with the Kzinti, he's referring to the war with the Xindi as displayed in ST:ENT. Presumably, the Kzinti Felinoid branch of the Xindi were discovered by humans afterwards, the whole thing was put together, and Chekov didn't bother with knowing that they weren't all together or that the felinoids had nothing to do with the Xindi war.

It makes sense. LOOK AT THE NAMES! Even better, say them — they are near-homophones!

The I.S.S. Avenger was named for Grand Admiral Solo's flagship from The Revenge of the Jedi through Legacy of the Force . We know that they had similar stories in the Mirror Universe , but darker and with considerable Values Dissonance .

• Given that the original show had him leap into one of his ancestors, it's possible that he also leaped into a descendant. Of course, that means that Al is also in every episode, probably confused as hell at the technology around them and wandering off to spy on T'Pol whenever Archer needs him most.

Dr Noonien Soong from TNG is indirectly named after Khan. It's canon that Dr Noonien Soong is the great-grandson of Dr Arik Soong, the villain from the three-part Augments story. I figure that Dr Arik Soong had a son whom he named Noonien after the most notorious of Augments, Khan Noonien Singh. The Dr Noonien Soong we know from TNG would thus be the namesake of his grandfather, who was himself named after Khan.

Why the extensive refit in ST:TMP instead of building a completely new ship? Testbed for the new hull type. Other Constitution II ships were later built according to the data gathered from its performance.

The M-5 computer? Testbed. The husky female computer voice? Testbed.

This is why the ship was being retired in ST3:TSFS , although the Admiral got the years wrong: the Enterprise was not 20 years old, but 120 .

This also explains why the new Enterprise felt so strange to Scotty in ST5:TFF . It was built directly into the Constitution II class, so it lacked all the legacy structures that the old one gathered during its long history.

And finally, this explains why the NX-01 was never mentioned in the other series, despite its importance in creating the Federation: it was always there, right from the beginning!

• The Menk have the same facial marking as the Pakleds
• The Breen are never seen outside of their bulky suits. The other characters assume these are refrigeration units because their world is a frozen wasteland, but Weyoun claims their planet is actually quite temperate. Under this theory, their suits are actually some kind of med suit to help them survive the genetic condition Phlox and Archer refused to treat.
• The Breen join the Dominion War fairly late in the game, after the tide has started to turn against the Dominion, immediately attack Earth and demand for Earth to be part of the territories they're given after the war. Seems like they have quite a serious grudge against humanity, which would make sense given the events of the episode.
• Alternatively, it may be that the Menk are the ones that become the Breen. Phlox was adamant that they had tremendous evolutionary potential . Sisko once remarked that the Breen are better than anybody at keeping things cold. Yet apparently they don't need cold to live, if Weyoun was being honest about the climate of their homeworld. So why would the Breen need to excel at refrigeration technology? Because just a couple of centuries earlier they were buried up to their armpits in the corpses of the Valakians! It would also account for the environmental suits, as such huge numbers of dead bodies would serve as incubators for an insane number of diseases. The Menk might have started wearing the suits and developing freezing technology because their entire homeworld was a charnel house littered with so many dead that the Menk couldn't possibly bury them all! Eventually the suits just kind of stuck as a cultural trait, perhaps because they had become Terrified of Germs . Their advanced, but unusual, technology would reflect Phlox's assertion that they were going to evolve very rapidly. But doing so in isolation led them to develop radically different technologies than other species that interacted more.
• We start with the original Borg, who understand and adapt technology and are a single species.
• original Borg assimilate a computer on the enterprise E
• Original Borg see how special humans are, with the frequency in which they find rare cosmic phenomenon, encounter super-powerful creatures and encounter odd instabilities in the timeline and yet constantly come out on top. We'll refer to this phenomenon as humans being lucky.
• Deciding that Humans Are Special , they determine them to be the only species worthy to also be Borg
• The original Borg create the queen and her private collective with the specific task of understanding humans and assimilating them. The queen has more imagination and listens to her impulses and emotions more to emulate humans. Her private collective consisted of a single cube.
• The queen has her private cube assimilate Picard
• The queen's cube is destroyed in the battle at Wolf 359 and Picard rescued
• The Original Borg recreate the queen with her knowledge and memory intact. They give her a new private collective and she equips the drones with nano-probes capable of assimilating humanoid species.
• The queen's new cube attack Earth, assimilating several (federation only) species on the way
• The queen plans fail when her cube is destroyed and she decides to attack Earth in the past
• During the events of First Contact the queen gets killed and all her drones get destroyed, with the exception of a few in the Antarctic, who merely got lobotomised
• The lobotomised drones forget that their private collective wasn't the entire collective and lose much of their intelligence.
• The events of regeneration happen and the Borg send a signal containing information about their present state to the original Borg. They use an encryption to make it appear on the surface as just being a set of stellar coordination
• So now there's an in-universe reason why the Borg started sucking in Voyager due to First Contact ? That's actually...pretty neat.

Mirror Archer suffers from Clarke's Syndrome...

• This also might explain his resilience in the agony booth prototype. Doctor Phlox was quite openly impressed: "Ten hours in the booth!" If Mirror Archer was constantly in pain from Clarke's Syndrome, that booth might have been only mildly worse than what he had regularly been suffering all along.

Denobulans were related to the Cardassians... Their facial ridges are similar enough to indicate at least some shared ancestry. We never saw them "before" Enterprise because they had been exterminated by their Cardassian "cousins" through ethnic cleansing campaigns. This also explains why the Federation would not only fight a war against the Cardassians, but why years later many people in the Federation still vehemently hate the Cardassians. Genocide against a founding member of the Federation would have that effect.

Information about the voyages of the NX-01 are spotty at best, due to: 1) War with the Romulans. Many colonies were destroyed and records were lost. Possibly the records on Memory Alpha (or its predecessor.)

2) Shoddy record-keeping by the Federation itself.

3) Supression of information by Section 31.

4) Revisionist history due to millions of people writing Fan Fic holographic programs over the intervening 200-plus years - which explains Trip getting pregnant.

Dr. Arik Soong is Dr. Noonian Soong. They look identical , and Arik Soong is familiar with the Briar Patch, which has a convenient Fountain of Youth Planet in it. It's possible that after his release from prison, he traveled back to the Briar Patch, stumbled upon the Ba'ku world, and developed his positronic brain technology there, before leaving almost two hundred years later and resettled with a new identity on Omicron Theta. He hyped the technology a lot, but the prototypes failed for some reason , so was ridiculed out of the scientific world. Also, The Ba'ku know an awful lot about positronic brains, despite being technologically isolated for centuries .

• Other possibility was that archer ran against that dog. The election was one by one vote, and that was because the dog hit the Archer button by mistake.

A spy within the Starfleet WANTED the Enterprise to be a disaster

Somebody high within Starfleet wanted humanity to fail to get to the stars, to trigger as many wars with other races as possible and get destroyed. So, he or she (a Romulan spy or a somebody else posing as a human) used their influence to get the dumbest bunch of incompetent morons who applied for Starfleet to run the ship, and made the dumbest of them all the captain. Sadly sheer dumb luck allowed the Enterprise to be somewhat of a success.

The reason why Archer's ship wasn't in the pictures of Enterprise in TMP was because at that time, he was written out of the history books for his complicity in the Valakian genocide. It was discovered that he intentionally withheld a cure that would have helped save a sentient species, and so, disgusted by this, while not written out of the history books, had his monuments torn down (the Prime Directive having yet to chrystalise into its dogmatic state). However, he was reinstated later when it was realized that Phlox's so-called cure would have been about as effective as a sugar pill because of the numerous mistakes he makes with regard to all sorts of sciences in that episode. Archer is written down as having made a bad decision but was being given terrible advice.

Everything in the series is 100% accurate, every other series simply had it's facts wrong Because after realising that time travel was real and messing with the timeline a serious threat they decided to start falsifying their records about interactions with aliens in order to make the timeline harder to disrupt. Only a certain, top clearance, group of Starfleet officers have access to the real records and they eventually become the future time police. This practice either stopped once Starfleet became confident their timeline was sufficiently secure or it continues to thsi day, explaining every continuity issue in the entire franchise.Naturally, the finale was based off the false records, as it was nothing more than a holodeck simulation, and is thus complete nonsense.

Everything is just a nightmare Captain Kirk had while he was asleep onboard the Enterprise. Because after he had one too many weird experiences, he decided to set up a Marty Stu version of himself in charge and a bunch of other weirdos.

• When Archer and his crew first scanned the station, they found it to be filled with a liquid helium atmosphere; helium has to be at temperatures very close to absolute zero to exist as a liquid, and T'Pol did mention how low the temperature was. Who's known (in later series) for being from a frozen planet and therefore being experts on cryogenics and refrigeration? The Breen, that's who.
• The Breen are known to be reclusive, secretive, and treacherous in their dealings. ( Weyoun , for his part, wondered why they needed refrigeration suits, since what he saw of their planet seemed quite temperate to him.) The station is also remarkably secretive and treacherous, "playing dumb" in response to the various characters' more probing questions even as it reproduces Archer's voice perfectly to trick Mayweather into walking into a trap. The station obviously has the same personality as the Breen, and that's because they're the ones who programmed it. Its motives are just as inscrutable as their own.
• While several victims found on the station are from species to whom humanity hadn't even been introduced yet (including a Cardassian, for one), none of them are Breen. Why not? They built it, that's why; of course they would know about the station's "hidden fee" and would leave a back door to allow themselves to use it free of charge. They probably use it to take samples so they can study the psychology and physiology of other species and tailor their diplomacy and weapons accordingly. Only a few species with an innate distrust for bargains that seem too good to be true (the Ferengi, for one) probably ever managed to avoid losing a crew member to the station, and even so it probably still has some exquisitely detailed information on them from its sophisticated scanners.
• Just to add to this, and because I love analysing obscure lines as if the show had all been plotted out intentionally, in the TNG episode "Up the Long Ladder" Data referred to the "chaos of the early 22nd century". They apparently wouldn't have been surprised if a colony ship was launched with no records. That colony ship was launched in 2123. For comparison, Archer was born in 2112 and his father was shown working on the Warp 5 engine in 2121 (the Enterprise being launched by 2151). So evidently the Earth society, which the Vulcans wanted to hold back, is also one which humanity itself would later consider to have been in chaos.
• Canonically, United Earth did not include all of Earth's nations until 2150. Just looking at real-life events (e.g. Brexit) many nations could have been refusing to surrender their sovereignty to a world government and this might have extended to threatening military action if United Earth tried to force them to join. Maybe this is why the British Royal Navy still existed? It is cited that the Mariposa was a ship of the European Hegemony, not United Earth. The Vulcans watching all of this would naturally have been very concerned that United Earth might fail and that the nations might revert to warfare. Vulcans live longer than humans, so a wait-and-see approach would have been logical.
• In that case humans probably started the Temporal Cold War with advanced versions of the Quantum Leap technology which would insidiously let time travelers infiltrate any level of your society.

The Vulcan versus Andorian conflict began because of Delta Vega In the 2009 Star Trek , Delta Vega is an arctic planet in the Vulcan System. It is understandable why a species like the Vulcans, who evolved on a hot, dry, planet, would not colonize such a world even though it was technically inhabitable. The environment was, however, absolutely perfect for Andorians. Since the Vulcans did not seem to be using the planet for anything, the Andorians may have wanted it for their own colony. Especially if they learned about it back when their ships were slower and could not travel as far as they could in later years. But since it was so close to Vulcan, and the Vulcans are not overly-sociable, they would not want another species colonizing within their star system. This escalated into a dispute between the Andorians, who felt that the Vulcans were wasting a perfectly good planet, and the Vulcans who did not want the Andorian "Empire" claiming territory near their homeworld. Eventually it progressed into full-blown hostility.

The Menk will become evil because of Archer and Phlox's decision The Social Darwinist stance taken by Archer and Phlox in "Dear Doctor". Justified by the pseudo-scientific hypothesis that Goal-Oriented Evolution is driving the Valakians to extinction because Evolutionary Levels are supposedly a real thing and the Menk have the potential to become "more evolved" than them. A common defense of Prime Directive philosophy is that you don't want to "create a new Hitler" through well-meaning interference in a species' development. But, the Menk are already sufficiently sentient that the Valakians employ them in various jobs, in addition to caring for them generally. What will be the cultural impact on the Menk of watching their sibling species, a whole advanced civilization that has treated them nicely, die within a short span of time such that they will be up to their armpits in the corpses of the dead! What will this do to the psyche of their people as they evolve into "more advanced" beings? Odds are, in order to survive the massive psychological trauma, they will become callous. Also, xenophobic, since aliens came and offered no help in curing the dying Valakians. Will some of them make the logical connection that attacking the aliens and taking their technology by force rather than peaceful request might have saved the Valakians? If so, then their probable belief will be that when you need something you don't ask nicely, you take it forcefully. Otherwise you may not get what you need. Since they will have to be left wondering if what happened to the Valakians could happen to them too, they will likely evolve such a paranoid, violent, society.

The Xyrillians were more devious than they appeared, and they are guilty of repeated rape by lack of meaningful consent. A species so advanced they have a Holodeck and cloaking technology one hundred years before TOS needs help from people who are barely warp-capable to repair their engines? And the repairs break down that quickly? Sure. It sounds like a porn plot - "Oh please Mr. Handsome Exotic Engineer, please come help us fix the engine" - because that's exactly what it is. Holo footage of Trip and a wide swathe of other unsuspecting humanoid males with their hands in the pebble box is totally being trafficked to Xyrillian women with an alien fetish.

There's a reason why Risa looks very different than it did in the 24th Century. In "Two Days and Two Nights," the crew spends some R&R on Risa, and it actually looks pretty nice. It has a very calm Pacific beach resort feel to it, and there's not a single mention of "jamaharon." So, how did the planet become such a sex-filled brothel in the 24th Century? Well, soon after their official contact with the Federation, the Ferengi took an interest in this vacation world. A few tourism moguls began investing money into the planet, building new exclusive resorts, subtly adjusting the culture. Picard's visit came at a transition time, as explained by his unfamiliarity with jamaharon and the presence of Ferengi at his resort. By the following decade, when Jadzia and Worf took their vacation, the transformation into full-blown sex colony was complete. Because Sex Sells , am I right? That was Quark's business plan with his holosuites, after all!

The scene in the opening credits for In A Mirror Darkly where a colony on the moon is attacked happened in the Prime universe. There was a certain alien species with a colony on the moon already there, and a conspiracy occurred in which their existence was covered up on Earth.

Humanity didn't overcome greed, they channeled it into expansionism Looking back on the plot of "Terra Nova", one has to wonder why, exactly, United Earth would simply write off an unoccupied Class M planet just 20 light years from Earth. After the first wave of colonists (all 200 of them) declared the independence of their Planetville and refused to accept further colonists they simply went silent. This was actually because they were nearly wiped out by a chance meteor strike.

However, it would be more than seven decades before Earth would send a ship to investigate. Allegedly this was because their early ships were too slow, and asking for Vulcan assistance in checking it out carried too high of a "price". Yet, as was established in "VOY: Friendship One", Earth had unmanned, warp-capable deep space probes during this time. There was no reason they had to send a manned ship on the 9 year journey. Likewise, the only likely "price" of involving the Vulcans was simply more pressure for humanity to focus on colonizing close to Earth, rather than wandering further out.

But this was not in-line with Earth's relentless demands that the Vulcans help them build faster starships. Their self-proclaimed victimization by the Vulcans, who kept insisting You Are Not Ready , was fueled by a false sense of urgency about needing to find as many new worlds as possible. Never mind that most human colonies even in the late-24th Century would only have populations measured in tens of thousands ! Humanity just likes claiming new planets, even if the number of actual colonists is small. Terra Nova had already been found and settled, so Earth was no longer interested in it. Rather than start moving lots of people to a nearby Class M planet, they wanted to move smaller groups of people to lots of planets further away!

This was an outlet for the acquisitive tendencies that humanity had only just recently seemed to have escaped from. Peace on Earth was achieved by the promise of limitless real estate in space. Hence the low priority attached to an existing colony as opposed to locating and settling new ones. In most of Trek , "Federation" colonies usually translates as human colonies. Which the residents are often quite militant about holding onto. The entire Maquis revolt in the late-24th Century was nothing more than a small number of colonists refusing to vacate multiple planets in a very distant, contested, region of space!

Kelby was supposed to be chief engineer for Enterprise . When Trip comes back to Enterprise after his transfer to Columbia , it's clear that they do not get along, making it unlikely that Kelby was promoted from the existing engineering staff. It's probable that Kelby was on the shortlist of candidates for chief engineer, and was upstaged by Trip just because he was Archer's best friend. Years later, he was getting ready to take over Columbia's engine room, but Trip took that job as well.

The Xindi were actually an early experiment in the Ancient Humanoids from "The Chase". The Ancient Humanoids in that TNG episode were said to be responsible for the spread of humanoid life in the galaxy. Essentially, they "seeded" it in a way that would cause life to evolve towards the humanoid form. Given some humanoids such as the Cardassians had reptilian traits (and were identified as having been one of their seeded races) whereas others were clearly mammalian (though in fairness Cardassians did have breasts) it's likely that very different evolutionary paths were taken to get to the humanoid form depending on what was available. Perhaps the Xindi were an experiment in attempting forced humanoid evolution from several different creatures to see how it would work. It didn't work well for the Aquatics.

Possibly related to (though possibly independent from) the above, the Ancient Humanoids from "The Chase" became the Sphere-Builders. They share a similar appearance (not identical but similar enough to what variation we've seen within single species). If the Ancient Humanoids still existed, it's certainly likely they'd have the level of technology (such as easy time travel) the Sphere-Builders showed. It's possible that the Ancient Humanoids (possibly trying to extend their lives or become energy beings) got trapped as trans-dimensional beings outside of our universe no longer able to exist here.

The Terran Empire in the Mirror Universe were original the US Government First, let me make it clear that this is in no way a political WMG and I am in no way suggesting the US Government resembles the Terran Empire in real life. I'm simply referencing a line in "In a Mirror, Darkly" where Archer referred to the Terran Empire as having endured "for centuries". This suggests they must have been around on Earth since at latest the 1950s. It quite reasonable to suggest that they weren't originally called the Terran Empire. It's also notable that the Enterprise opening credits for that episode show footage from the first two world wars (though not the third) implying they still happened in this universe. The moon landing meanwhile involved a Terran Flag, not a US flag (and a more futuristic EV suit). This suggests (or rather leads one to guess, given this is a WMG) that in this universe during/after World War II the USA (who in this universe were probably closer philosophically to the NAZIs) ultimately went onto world domination and formed the Terran Empire (realising the calling themselves the United States of America didn't make much sense when their members weren't states and weren't based in America). The extended time spent in expansion slowed the space race but advanced technological development, hence explaining why the moon landing involved the more advanced EV suit and Terran Flag. This may also have allowed them to avoid World War III and put them in a more stable position for technological development, explaining their ability to develop a single Vulcan ship with no support or allies into a War Fleet superior to their Prime Universe counterparts.

All the events of "Enterprise" happened, but Starfleet destroyed and covered up all records and evidence of Captain Archer, his ship and his mission, due to one embarrassment too many. Specifically...

... Shortly before the tragic death of his chief engineer, Archer declared, "If anything happens to Trip, I'LL be the one watering their trees!" After the events of the series finale, the crushed Captain was found outside Starfleet Headquarters, quite inebriated, and finally making good on his threat, on Boothby's rose bushes (Boothby's VERY old you know). That was the last straw, and Archer was not only stripped of his rank and booted out of Starfleet, but his entire embarrassing mission was erased from Starfleet history. The punishment for bringing up any Enterprise before Kirk's is a demotion to "Redshirt" and an assignment to a new away mission.

This is why no one afterward seemed to remember Archer, his Enterprise, or how he encountered the Ferengi, the Borg, and the Temporal Cold war

The Andorians' eyesight works different from humans' This is to explain why Shran constantly refers to humans, and not Vulcans, as "pink skins", in a way that strongly suggests that pink skin is a very characteristic trait of all humans and no other species (which makes no sense from our point of view).

Having evolved on an ice planet, the ability to detect temperature would be a useful skill, and the Andorian eyesight could incorporate infrared as part of its visible spectrum. It's been canonically established that Vulcan blood is colder than human blood. Therefore, to the Andorians, it's possible that the Vulcans appear to be of a completely different color, whereas humans - regardless of ethnicity - always appear as the color they call "pink" (translation conventions may apply).

The Sphere-Builders will become the Prophets of Deep Space Nine Both the Sphere-Builders and the Prophets are aliens living in a trans-dimensional realm beyond normal space and time, a realm that's depicted onscreen with all-encompassing white colour. Since the Sphere-Builders appear to be humanoids and want to conquer the physical universe, it seems likely they originally lived in this universe but were somehow trapped in the trans-dimensional realm ages ago, and wish to return to their original home (see the above WMG for one possible explanation of their origin). However, after their attempt to conquer the universe is thwarted and their connection to it cut, they decide to try and properly adapt to their new home. Eventually they will evolve to live fully beyond space and time, losing their physical bodies in the process, and becoming the beings Bajorans referred to as the Prophets. At some point a random wormhole opens up a new connection between the trans-dimensional realm and the physical universe, but at that point they have forgotten they'd ever existed outside their realm, and have no wish to leave it. The only exception to this is a subgroup among them called the Pah-Wraiths , who still hold on to some subconscious Sphere-Builder mentality, and who are therefore more interested in manipulating the physical universe and its inhabitants.

The Mirror Universe actually doesn't have Never Was This Universe properties, and the Zefram Cochrane scene illustrates the point of departure after all. Some WMGs have suggested that the Mirror Universe is the timeline that would have happened if the Enterrpise -E never came back with the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact . This appears to be Jossed by the assertion of Mirror!Phlox searching through the Defiant 's databanks and finding significant differences in the culture of both universes all through history.

The fact that the Terran Empire is so tyrannical might well prompt a lot of Internal Retcon type interfereance in history, even up to the point of extending its history back "centuries" (unlikely given Cochrane seems to be living in the same post- WW3 world as the film) and even rewriting classic literature to fit better with the values of the new society . Except, of course, for William Shakespeare .

Kolos from Judgement is an ancestor of Martok. He was played by J. G. Hertzler, after all, and it wouldn't be the first case of Identical Grandson in Star Trek .

That D7 class Klingon ship that showed up in Enterprise is actually a D6. The writers admit that it was a stupid mistake to have a D7 show up almost a hundred years before they should be around. But the Star Fleet Battles gaming universe does establish the almost identical D6 as a predecessor. Also, the D5 class ship that does show up does not necessarily have to be the same D5 that Kor mentions in Star Trek Deep Space Nine S 07 E 07 Once More Unto The Breach . The Star Fleet gaming universe establishes a D5 class as a variant "war cruiser" class using D6 or D7 hulls. The portrayal of Vulcans in Enterprise was not so inaccurate For those who insist that Vulcans were always logical and free of prejudice, remember dating back to the original series many Vulcans proved to be very judgmental. From the Vulcan children telling Spock he wasn't really a "Vulcan" because of his human half to T'Pau's scorn of McCoy and Kirk's presence at Spock's Ponn Far to Spock's fiancee forcing a fight between Kirk and Spock for purely self centered reasons (despite Spock saying it was logical) just to name a few. In addition there were Vulcan terrorists in The Next Generation episode concerning an ancient artifact. In addition, the film The Wrath of Khan shows Saavik openly weeping at Spock's funeral and in the Undiscovered County Valeris betrays the Federation and Spock. There was also the DS9 episode in which Sisko's baseball team play against a Vulcan team led by a Vulcan who has clear prejudices against humans. Tuvok in Voyager, often, seemed moody and judgmental as well.

The events of Cold Front explains why the 23rd Century looks so different in Discovery and Strange New Worlds . In the episode, Enterprise is struck during a plasma storm which causes a chain reaction that almost destroys the ship, with it only being saved by an act of reverse-sabotage by Silik under orders from Future Guy (thanks Temporal Cold War).

It could be that in the original timeline, Enterprise was destroyed by the plasma storm and Starfleet, upon learning that their first starship was destroyed with all hands mere weeks after launch, ended up putting Henry Archer's engine in mothballs considering it unreliable and started again from scratch (which is consistent with the fact the Vulcans believed humans were advancing too fast and wanted them reined in). As a result, Starfleet was set back decades therefore when the next starships were finally launched decades later they were far more basic than they would have been had the NX Program continued.

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The Most Difficult Star Trek Questions Finally Answered

Created by Gene Roddenberry as a western in space , the groundbreaking "Star Trek" series launched in 1966, and sparked one of the first global science fiction media franchises the world has ever known. After running for three seasons on NBC, the lights went dark in 1969, but not even cancellation could stop it. Revived in 1976 for a short-lived cartoon, it came back full throttle in 1979 with the first of six feature films starring the original cast.

The television revival of the '80s and '90s brought four new series to television, and four more big-screen outings. By the mid-2000s, another cancellation and a corporate split could have ended "Star Trek" for good, but once again like a phoenix it rose from the ashes with three blockbuster movies from producer and director J.J. Abrams. We're now in a new golden age of "Star Trek," with several new shows on streaming platform Paramount+.

With such a long and complicated history, there's any number of complex issues and topics that fans and pundits have mused about for decades. Whether it's a legal conundrum, an unresolved historical footnote, or a canon mystery, we're here to settle them once and for all, or as best as we can. These are the most puzzling "Star Trek" questions, finally answered.

Was The Cage ever aired on television?

The 1966 pilot episode of "Star Trek," titled "Where No Man Has Gone Before," wasn't actually the first episode filmed for the series —  two years before , another pilot called "The Cage" was filmed, sporting a number of differences to the final aired pilot, including an entirely different captain. Instead of James T. Kirk it was Christopher Pike manning the captain's chair — the same Pike who would much later lead "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

The studio didn't like the first pilot and commissioned a second with a number of changes, including a new captain and first officer. After the second pilot debuted, the studio clearly didn't want to waste the footage from "The Cage," so it was cut up and used as flashbacks in the two-part episode "The Menagerie." In the years prior to home video, this could have led many to believe they had watched "The Cage" on television in the 1960s. 

Decades later, in celebration of the franchise's 20th anniversary in 1986, "The Cage" was released on VHS  and laserdisc, reassembled using a mix of scenes from "The Menagerie" and a B&W print owned by Gene Roddenberry. Just a year later a film archivist found the original 35mm color negatives, and in 1988 as part of a primetime special, "The Cage" finally aired on TV.

Why don't Vulcans have emotions?

It's well known that Vulcans are seemingly emotionless beings, guided by a strict sense of logic. But that's not quite true: they have all the same emotions as any human, they've just chosen to suppress them. We've seen emotional Vulcans a number of times in "Star Trek," usually when their logic fails them due to an outside influence or illness, or during the seven-year mating cycle known as Pon-Farr.

In the original "Star Trek" episode "This Side Of Paradise," Spock inhales the spores of an alien flower and is overcome with strong feelings of love; in the "Next Generation" episode "Sarek," the Vulcan illness called Bendii syndrome causes a breakdown of Sarek's emotional control. In the "Voyager" episode "Blood Fever," the Vulcan ensign Vorik becomes rageful during his Pon-Farr when unable to take a Vulcan mate. "Star Trek: Enterprise," meanwhile, suggested that living among humans can cause a Vulcan to be more emotional, because humans are a reminder of the way Vulcans used to be. Before the time of the Vulcan messiah Surak, founder of Vulcan logic, Vulcans were a warlike people fueled by emotions. 

But thanks to the teachings of Surak, Vulcans are now trained to repress feelings through strict mental discipline, and sometimes undergo a ritual called the Kolinahr, which purges the last remnants of emotions. That said, we have seen some Vulcans rebel against their culture's tradition, including a faction of Vulcans who embrace emotion in the "Enterprise" episode "Fusion," and even Tuvok, who fought against it in his youth.

Is the animated series officially canon?

Airing for two seasons, "Star Trek: The Animated Series" continued the adventures of the starship Enterprise. Nearly the entire cast of the original series reprised their roles, and for fans in the 1970s it was enough to satiate their hunger for new "Star Trek."

Thanks to animation, the stories were able to envision truly wild aliens and environments, some of which pushed the boundaries of science fiction. But they were also quite often ludicrous, including an episode with a gigantic 20-foot tall clone of Spock , and a race of beings who could separate their head and legs . Many of the stories defied common sense, and the show is largely seen today as a curious oddity, often mocked , even if lovingly . The fandom has often asked whether the series is officially canon, given its sometimes off-the-wall stories. The answer is a little complicated.

For decades, "Star Trek" onscreen rarely, if ever, acknowledged the series. But some episodes of "Enterprise" and "Discovery" have taken plenty of details that first appeared in "The Animated Series" and made them canon. The short answer is that "TAS" is not entirely canon, but most of it probably is. Modern writers have used it as a source of inspiration, and cherry-picked key elements for more canonical stories. It seems that despite its flaws, the series is still loved and respected, and today's creators are happy to pull from it, especially the more outlandish "Star Trek: Lower Decks."

Why did the Klingons used to look so different?

If a "Star Trek" fan only watched the movies or the '90s TV shows, they might be surprised to learn that the Klingons in "The Original Series" were ordinary human-looking beings with goatees and gold tunics, because when the franchise transitioned to the big screen, the Klingons got a major facelift. With a big-screen budget, producers wanted a more alien-looking race, and so the Klingons suddenly had big forehead ridges, sharp teeth, and a new and unusual language. This is how the Klingons would mostly remain, and how they became known in pop culture.

Later, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" established them as an honor-bound and ritualistically warlike people who glorified combat as a cultural tradition. But their visual changes were never explained, happy to be hand-waved as real-world budget issues. In fact, when three Klingons from the original show appeared on "Deep Space Nine" they sported ridged foreheads, reinforcing the notion that Klingons had simply always looked this way.

But that would change in the "DS9" episode "Trials and Tribble-Ations," where the crew traveled back to the events of the 1967 episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" and were confronted by human-looking Klingons. While the script jokingly dismissed the differences , an episode of "Enterprise" several years later explained the changes canonically as the result of a genetic plague. While a clever idea and a solid story, it created the expectation among fans that changes to designs should have an in-story explanation, causing serious problems when "Star Trek: Discovery" once again updated the look of the Klingons.

What does Spock's Vulcan salute mean?

The Vulcan salute seen in "Star Trek" has become an indelible part of pop culture, with fans and non-fans alike holding up their hands and parting their four fingers as if to say "peace out." But what does it really mean, and where did it come from? The first question is pretty simple, as the salute is a visual gesture representing the oft-spoken Vulcan greeting, "live long and prosper." Sometimes said "peace and long life," it very well could be interpreted by modern audiences as a farewell meaning "peace out."

Generally, Vulcans in "Star Trek" use the salute as both a greeting and a goodbye, meaning it's essentially the science fiction aloha. As for how it came about, we have actor Leonard Nimoy to thank , who came up with the salute for the episode "Amok Time" when Spock returns to Vulcan. "The idea came when I saw the way Joe [Pevney, the episode's director] was staging the scene," Nimoy said. "He had me approach T'Pau and I felt a greeting gesture was called for. So I suggested it to Joe, who accepted it immediately." Nimoy has gone on to explain that he was inspired by Jewish religious leaders from his youth, who used the same gesture during certain ritual prayers. "when I saw the split-fingered gesture of these men ... I was entranced. I learned to do it simply because it seemed so magical."

Who was the first captain of the Enterprise?

Casual fans of the franchise might be tempted to answer this one "James T. Kirk" with some level of certainty. But after thinking a little more, a light bulb will pop up over your head: Perhaps you saw Season 2 of "Star Trek: Discovery" or you saw the two-part "Original Series" episode "The Menagerie" and will correct yourself, confidently giving your final answer as Christopher Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter in the original "Star Trek" pilot "The Cage," and by Anson Mount in "Star Trek: Discovery." It's a good answer that shows off some deeper knowledge than the average Joe on the street... but you'd still be wrong.

Introduced in the "Star Trek: The Animated Series" episode "The Counter-Clock Incident," Captain Robert April is actually the first person to helm the classic Enterprise, NCC-1701. "The Animated Series" isn't 100% officially canon, but this is one bit of background information from that series that writers of "Star Trek: Discovery" drew from when writing Season 2. Not only did he get a name drop in the first season as one of Starfleet's most decorated officers, but Pike's own service record onscreen shows that he took command of the Enterprise from its previous captain, Robert April.

How does time travel work in Star Trek?

The short answer is, "however the writers want it to." Which is to say it has worked differently across different episodes and movies. As far as methods of time travel go, two episodes of the original series and the film "The Voyage Home" had the Enterprise use the "slingshot maneuver" to create a time warp by manipulating the gravity of a star, while at least two episodes have used the Guardian of Forever, a sentient portal, to move back and forth through time. But the question remains: How do the rules of time travel work in "Star Trek"? 

In most episodes, the franchise has used "Back To the Future" rules, where changing history results in an altered present. This kind of time travel was used in "City On The Edge Of Forever," the movie "Star Trek: First Contact," and the "Deep Space Nine" episode "Past Tense," among others. Some stories, however, have used causality loop rules, where we discover that the travel back in time was part of the recorded history all along, and they just didn't know it. This is how the "Next Generation" two-parter "Time's Arrow" worked, for example, with the crew discovering Data's head on Earth, buried for hundreds of years, even before they traveled back in time.

But more recently a third time travel ruleset appeared in the 2009 "Star Trek" movie from J.J. Abrams, where the Romulan Nero's travel back in time resulted in the creation of an entirely new branching reality.  Ultimately, the writers of "Star Trek" seem to use whatever rules they want to service the story in front of them.

Is Trelane a Q?

The 1967 "Star Trek" episode "The Squire Of Gothos" features an enigmatic villain named Trelane, a powerful trickster who kidnaps Kirk and Sulu off the bridge of the Enterprise. After Spock rescues them with a transporter, Trelane appears on the bridge of the ship without explanation, and with no discernible technology, transports the entire bridge crew down to his planet Gothos. He magically changes people's clothing and plays childish games with the crew before putting them on trial. There, Trelane is the judge, in full courtroom dress, and charges them with treason, conspiracy, and fomenting insurrection. Eventually, his games are put to an end not by Kirk, but by a pair of non-corporeal beings who scold Trelane for misbehaving, revealing him to be little more than a child of his god-like race.

If this sounds like the character of Q, who tormented the Enterprise-D in "Next Generation," you're not alone. Q too displayed similar powers and has more than once dressed as a judge and put the crew of the Enterprise on trial. The question of whether Trelane is himself a Q has been the subject of much debate for decades. According to actor John De Lancie, who played Q, the answer is a clear and unequivocal yes. "My feeling, not having known Star Trek in as deep a way as a lot of people did, was that Trelane was a Q," he said in  a 2010 interview with StarTrek.com . The non-canon novel  "Q Squared" by Peter David did indeed confirm that Trelane was a renegade who hailed from the Q Continuum, though nothing onscreen has yet confirmed it.

Why does Discovery look so different?

Despite being set just 10 years before "Star Trek: The Original Series," the 2017 streaming original "Star Trek: Discovery" seemed to be a continuity-breaker. The ships, uniforms, and technology appear vastly more advanced in appearance and sometimes in function than anything we saw on the original 1966 series set just a decade later. Even the Klingons, who should have looked more human in this time period, were now reimagined as hulking dark-skinned, bald monsters, unlike any Klingon we'd seen before. For many fans, this visual change seemed to indicate that "Discovery" might not be canon.

So what happened? Was "Discovery" in a different universe than the prime "Star Trek" timeline? The answer to this one is pretty straight forward. According to writers, "Discovery" is indeed in continuity with the original "Trek" shows, as confirmed by producer Akiva Goldsman at the outset ( via ComicBook.com ). But for fans, the visuals tell an entirely different story, and many obstinate fans doubted the word of the producers and writers of the series, looking for clues in their comments that might have hidden meaning. The simple truth however, is that the visuals were updated to fit with modern viewing expectations. With a bigger budget, HD televisions, and state-of-the-art special effects, the simple, quaint designs of early "Star Trek" were in dire need of an upgrade. As with "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in 1979, the studio took the opportunity to give the franchise a much-needed facelift.

How do holodecks work?

The holodeck has provided "Star Trek" opportunities to venture to new worlds within the confines of the ship. It can recreate the most elaborate locations at the touch of a button, whether it's a Romulan landscape or an Irish town on Earth. The room uses a combination of hard light holograms, force fields, and replicator technology which in tandem can create the illusion of an endless 3D environment that users can interact with. With replicators, a person in the holodeck can even leave the confines of the room and take a simulated object with them, such as their clothes or a piece of paper.

Additionally, we've seen the capabilities of the holodeck expanded on a few occasions. In the "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Dark Frontier," Captain Janeway and the crew tie two holodecks together, allowing one team to operate on a recreation of Voyager, while the other simulates a mission on a Borg cube, with actions in one affecting the other. Likewise, in "The Killing Game" an alien race called the Hirogen take over Voyager and install holo-emitters throughout the ship, turning the multiple decks into one massive simulation of 1940's wartime France.

All this said, the holodecks have been shown to be a big drain on the ship's power, and are usually the first things shut down in emergencies. They also seem extremely vulnerable to malfunctions, with power surges switching off safety protocols, or making exit impossible. This has made the holodecks the source of much drama, as the crew can get trapped in a dangerous world within their own ship.

What sparked the creation of the Maquis?

Introduced in the "Deep Space Nine" episode "The Maquis," this group of freedom fighters actually had their beginnings in the "TNG" episode "Journey's End." Starfleet and the Cardassians both viewed the Maquis as enemies, though their story is a bit more complicated, and exemplifies the kinds of morally ambiguous tales often seen on "DS9." The origin of the group can be found in the Federation's conflict with the Cardassians, and the final treaty that ended it. The agreement created a new border between their territories that became hotly disputed, and established a Demilitarized Zone as a buffer. 

The problems began when Captain Maxwell of the USS Phoenix made stunning accusations of the Cardassians violating the armistice even before the treaty was signed. Once the treaty was in place, and a new border agreed to, it left several Federation worlds in what was now Cardassian territory. Bureaucrats on both sides agreed to exchange those worlds, but the people on them were unwilling to relocate and soon became victims of Cardassian aggression. They were offered little help by the Federation, who had warned them that they should have left those worlds after the treaty. 

Now under attack from Cardassians who were violating the terms of the Demilitarized Zone, these colonies too began arming, and the two sides found themselves in a private little war. Eventually, the group would be wiped out when the Cardassians joined the Dominion, the evil interstellar union from the Gamma Quadrant.

Do transporters actually kill you?

One of the most fundamental pieces of technology on "Star Trek," the transporter is also one of the most baffling. Since it converts a person into energy and then reforms them at another location, many have wondered ... does a transporter actually kill you and create a duplicate of you on the other end? It is perhaps the best scientific and philosophical question the series has raised, but it's rarely addressed onscreen.

According to the science of the show, the transporter works by scanning and converting your physical matter into a stream of all of your subatomic particles .  Once a location is selected for transport, your matter stream is "beamed" there and reassembled. The same particles that were you before are still you after. But the problems arise when it's not  the same particles, such as when a duplicate of Will Riker was created by a second transporter beam in the episode "Second Chances." If the original matter that was Riker rematerialized on the ship, where did the matter that made the second Riker come from?

Because the transporter doesn't have to reconstitute you using the same atoms, it can replace them with new ones using the blueprint the transporter created of your energy pattern. This is why some believe a transporter is a kill and copy machine. A 2017 ArsTechnica article did a great job examining the issue and likened the problem to the "Ships of Theseus" thought experiment. Therefore, we're left to take the word of fictional "Star Trek" scientists — the transporter doesn't kill you, it transports the real you, body, soul and all.

Who was the 'future guy' on Enterprise?

Introduced in the first episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise," the character referred to by fans as "Future Guy" was a projection that spoke to people in the 22nd century from a far off future. Through his vague silhouette he would speak to the Suliban — a race of genetically modified villains — to influence events in his past for his own ends. Another time traveler named Daniels traveled back to recruit Archer to help stop him, and put an end to what he called the Temporal Cold War.

But who was this Future Guy? Unfortunately, the series abandoned the plot thread and was canceled before viewers would get concrete answers. At one one point, series producer Brannon Braga and former showrunner Manny Coto, speaking at a convention in 2009, claimed that a proposed fifth season would have revealed Future Guy as a Romulan  attempting to change history. But on Twitter in 2015 , Braga stated that the original plan was that the mystery villain would have eventually been revealed as Captain Archer himself, attempting to manipulate his destiny from the future. 

In the expanded universe of "Star Trek" novels, the shadowy baddie was revealed to be  Jamran Harnoth, a 28th century time agent who worked for an organization called the Order Of The Omega. Onscreen, there's yet to be a definitive answer as to his identity, but with mention of the Temporal Wars on "Star Trek: Discovery," perhaps we might still get one.

Are odd numbered Star Trek movies always bad?

One of the more popular franchise myths is the odd/even numbered movie rule that dictates the quality of a "Star Trek" film. But is it really true? 

While "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" had and still has many fans, it received some harsh reviews, with the New York Times using words like "banal" and "tacky" to describe it. By contrast, the second film was met with tremendous praise from the same paper , which opened its review saying "after the colossal, big-budget bore ... here comes a sequel that's worth its salt." The third film in the series was met with mixed reviews , and the fourth garnered a much stronger response from audiences and critics alike, and was the highest-grossing film in the series at the time. The fifth was a colossal disaster in every respect, but the sixth was a return to form that critics loved . 

Likewise, the second "TNG" film, "First Contact," received acclaim, far more than its mediocre predecessor , while its followup "Insurrection"  was brow-beaten by reviewers. But dig a little deeper, and it's not quite as clear cut as the odd/even rule. Because the even-numbered "Star Trek: Nemesis" was thrashed at the box office  and by audiences , while reviews of "Star Trek III" were actually  fairly strong , with Roger Ebert awarding it three out of four stars, even if most agreed it wasn't as good as "Wrath Of Khan." Suffice to say, this myth is a lot of fluff, propped up by mere coincidence.

Can anything go faster than Warp 10?

This question has plagued "Trek" for decades because the series seems to have rewritten the rules of warp travel more than once. In the original "Trek" series episode "Journey To Babel" it's said that speeds above Warp 10 are unsafe, while in "The Changeling" anything above Warp 15 is called a "multiwarp." Meanwhile in an "Animated Series" episode the Enterprise went as fast as Warp 36. Considering many aspects of canon were ever-changing during the run of the original show, we might have to discard those statements for this one, and stick with what we know from the movies and onward.

By the time of the "Next Generation," it seems that the fastest possible speed a starship could achieve was Warp 9.9 — just shy of Warp 10. According to the "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Threshold," anything Warp 10 or beyond was "infinite velocity" and meant you would exist at every point in the universe simultaneously. Time and distance would have no meaning at Warp 10, because you could be anywhere at any time in the blink of an eye. In achieving Warp 10, Tom Paris and Captain Janeway wound up evolving into slug-like creatures . 

So while it seems that achieving such speeds are technically possible, they're not really recommended. Still, there are other ways of traveling the stars that are faster than Warp 9.9. We've seen a slipstream drive in use on "Voyager," and a protostar drive on "Star Trek: Prodigy ," both moving ships beyond the highest warp speeds.

Does Star Trek have the most devoted fanbase?

Many fandoms, sci-fi and otherwise, could stake a reasonable claim to "most devoted fanbase." Whether "Star Wars," "Doctor Who," or "Harry Potter," few can say that their legions of fans have kept their favorite franchise alive by their collective will, or forced the movie and television studios behind them to revive their favorite property — but that's exactly what Trek fans did. In 1965, the original "Star Trek" was struggling in the ratings, and cancellation was looming. Fans were distraught, and one devotee, Bjo Trimble , took it upon herself to spearhead a massive letter-writing campaign that helped get "Star Trek" another season. 

Though it would only get one more year on the air, those extra episodes gave the series enough episodes to get it into syndication, and that's where the show really took off . Airing across the country during the 1970s, whether it was in the afternoon in the Midwest, or Saturdays in the Northeast, the fanbase grew, and soon the first dedicated fan conventions  started popping up. Its growing popularity also prompted some of the earliest fanzines and fan fiction, some of which have become so well respected they've influenced the actual series . 

Similarly, a letter-writing campaign in 1976 convinced U.S. President Gerald Ford to rethink the name of the new NASA space shuttle, which was eventually dubbed "Enterprise" in honor of the fictional starship. While many fanbases can tout their own achievements, few can say they influenced the decision of a U.S. President.

Are the JJ Abrams movies connected to the rest of Star Trek?

When the 2009 movie "Star Trek" landed, many were upset and confused by the appearance of Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise in an entirely new rebooted universe. The movie tells the story of Spock, in the original or "prime" timeline, entering a black hole, pursued by the Romulan villain Nero who wants vengeance for the destruction of his homeworld. They travel back in time and change the future, creating an entirely new timeline. Here, the arrival of Romulans from the 24th century more than two decades before the original "Star Trek" series altered the entire history ... or so it would seem. Now, Kirk winds up aboard the Enterprise much sooner, and an entirely new universe of stories is created. So what happened to all the "Trek" we'd seen before?

While some postulated that Nero and Spock's time travel had obliterated the previous continuity, with the new movies overwriting it, that's not the case. The original Prime universe continued, and continues today. In fact, in "Star Trek: Picard," much of the story of the first season revolves around the aftermath of the destruction of Romulus that sent Nero seeking vengeance. It's clear that both timelines still exist, and in "Star Trek: Discovery" an episode even referenced the J.J. Abrams films as being an alternate universe parallel to the prime timeline. Many even suspect that a crossover between the two may be inevitable .

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Published Oct 19, 2020

How Discovery May Have Just Wrapped Up a Big Enterprise Plotline

One simple line referenced a major Enterprise storyline and established a new past.

StarTrek.com

The brave new world of Star Trek: Discovery might be set in the 32nd century, but the Season 3 premiere episode — “That Hope Is You, Part 1” — helped tie-up loose ends from the 31st and 22nd centuries, too.  When it comes to the rules of time travel, Book (David Ajala) tells Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) a few things that only fans who watched all four seasons of the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise might fully understand.

Here’s why one quick piece of dialogue from Book in the Discovery Season 3 premiere sews together threads from a major plotline on Enterprise and the rest of the Trek franchise all at the same time.

Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 1, “That Hope Is You Part 1.”

Throughout the first three seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise , and the beginning of the fourth, the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise unwittingly participated in a Temporal Cold War waged by shadowy combatants from their distant future. Captain Archer’s only real ally in this fight was a Temporal Agent named Daniels, who initially worked undercover as a faux-Starfleet officer before revealing himself as a time traveler in the Enterprise Season 1 episode “Cold Front.” Daniels originated from a point in the 31st century, and his mission was basically to make sure, in his words, that the timeline of the 22nd century wasn’t “screwed with.” To this end, he even brought Archer to the barely-glimpsed USS Enterprise NCC-1701-J in the 26th century in the Season 3 episode “Azati Prime,” to prove how the Federation helps to shape a positive future. Throughout all this time-travel war waging in the background of Enterprise , several factions fought to destabilize the history of the 22nd Century, including the Suliban, the Na'kuhl, and the mysterious Sphere Builders. All of these factions, including the 31st-century resident Daniels, were from Captain Archer’s future, and relative to the rest of Star Trek history, they were also in the future for Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway. And, they were in Burnham’s future, too.

But not anymore. Now, the future-forecast from Star Trek: Enterprise is in Burnham’s past. The year 3188, the year in which Burnham emerges from the wormhole, is at least a century past the 31st century where Daniels and his temporal agents operated from. And from what Book tells Burnham about “The Burn” in Discovery Season 3 premiere, it’s not only been a while since time travel was as common as it was for Daniels but more specifically, everything that Daniels and the other factions did specifically caused time travel to be outlawed. Book is a pretty smart guy and has Burnham pegged as a time traveler way before she talks about it openly. And it’s at this moment, Book reveals a vital piece of information that piggy-backs on what we knew about the 31st century in Enterprise .

“I don’t know how came by whatever you used to get here,” Book says, referring to Burnham’s time suit. “All time-travel technology was destroyed after the temporal wars. Outlawed.”

Relatively speaking, the Temporal Wars occurred in all sorts of different places and times. Arguably, the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 and the USS Discovery fighting Control in 2257  is another iteration of a different kind of Temporal War. In fact, in “Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2,” Spock even attempts to encourage Starfleet to double-down on making time travel illegal in the 23rd Century, with the hope of preventing a temporal conflict on the scale of what he saw happen with Control. Obviously, we know Spock ends-up time traveling a lot in his own life, but in Spock’s defense, just like his sister Michael, he didn’t always have a choice.

The point is, Book’s comment about the temporal wars is very pointed. Of all the factions mentioned by Daniels in the Temporal Cold War, his side was the one that was the furthest in the future; in the 31st Century. But, again, Daniels and his cronies are all in Book’s rearview mirror. If Book’s history is correct, it seems like that at some point after the Temporal Wars were over, time travel tech, at least legal time travel was totally eradicated. In “Storm Front Part 2,” after the Enterprise NX-01 stops the Na'kuhl in an epic battle in an alternate version of 1944, Daniels tells Archer that the timeline has basically been reset and that everything is back to normal. Book’s parents or grandparents probably didn’t know Daniels personally or even anyone who was involved with the Temporal Wars. But then again, you never know. Book knows that the Temporal Wars directly led to time travel being outlawed.

If you’re a casual Star Trek fan, Book’s line about the Temporal Wars quickly helps you understand why Burnham’s time travel tech is such a big deal in the 32nd century. But, in this one moment, it indicates Book is the person who has unique insights not only on the 32nd Century but, retroactively, all of Star Trek history. True to his name, Book contains multitudes.

This Season on Star Trek: Discovery | Season 3 Sneak Peek

Ryan Britt's (he/him) essays and journalism have appeared in Tor.com, Inverse, Den of Geek!, SyFy Wire, and elsewhere. He is the author of the 2015 essay collection Luke Skywalker Can't Read. He lives in Portland, Maine, with his wife and daughter.

Star Trek: Discovery streams on Paramount+ in the United States, airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada, and on Netflix in 190 countries.

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Scott Bakula Explains How ‘Enterprise’ Could Have Run 7 Seasons; Says He’s Open To Returning To Star Trek

| January 16, 2023 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 149 comments so far

We are still looking over all the great panels held during the weekend TREKtalks2 fundraiser livestream event. The event ended with a rare appearance of Scott Bakula. The Star Trek: Enterprise star doesn’t do a lot of conventions or Star Trek interviews, but he showed up for his former co-star John Billingsley to support the Hollywood Food Coalition . Bakula touched on some of the same issues covered in last week’s TrekMovie interview with Billingsley , and offered some hope that he would actually return to the role of Jonathan Archer.

How Enterprise could have run for 7 seasons

One of the issues Bakula discussed was how he sees Enterprise ‘s cancellation after 4 seasons due to problems at UPN. He points to changes at the Viacom-owned network during the 2001-2005 era when Enterprise was on the air, affirming his belief the show would have matched the 7-season runs of the three previous Star Trek series if it had been distributed through syndication (like The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine ):

Had we been syndicated, we would have gotten an easy seven, easy breezy. And our numbers were beyond what anybody else had done when we started out, but the nature of network television… it was just a different animal. There were lots of changes in the hierarchy, of not only Paramount but of the network. And we were there at an kind of an unfortunate time. And yet I still have to say, gratefully, we got four seasons. But yeah, it would have been nice to do more. We certainly had more stories to tell, we have places to go, but it didn’t work out. You can’t really point a finger at one person or another. There were so many elements to the beginning of UPN and the transition there in terms of [UPN President] Dean [Valentine] leaving [ in 2002 ]. And just people at Paramount left also. A lot of champions that were Star Trek folks kind of left during the course of the four years. It was a strange time and volatile time. But we slugged our way through it. And I’m so glad that we got the four years because there was a moment when we were only going to have three and that would have been a real shame.

One year after Enterprise was canceled, UPN ceased to exist. The network combined with The WB to form The CW, a joint venture between CBS and Warner Brothers. Only a handful of former UPN shows made the transition to The CW, with Veronica Mars being the sole scripted drama to do so.

Scott Bakula with UPN president Dean Valentine at the UPN TCA party in 2001 (Getty)

Open to returning to Trek

When asked if he would follow in the footsteps of Patrick Stewart and other Star Trek veteran actors to return to the role of Jonathan Archer, Bakula was open to the idea. The actor says that if he got a call from executive producer Alex Kurtzman, he would hear him out:

I’ve been doing this too long to ever say never or no to anybody. I talk to everybody about stuff. So, sure.

He also indicated he is open to following other legacy actors in lending his voice to an animated Trek show:

I’ve done a bunch of animated voice-over work and animation, so I enjoy it. It just hasn’t come across my desk. But I do appreciate being referred to as “legacy” as opposed to “old Trek.” That’s very nice.

Bakula being open to a return to Trek may be a surprise to his former Enterprise co-star John Billingsley, who last week told TrekMovie he didn’t see that happening, at least not as a regular. Bakula made big news last year when he chose not to participate in NBC’s reboot of Quantum Leap , so he has a history of saying no.

Talking in general about how the Star Trek franchise continues to create new shows, Scott discussed why he still sees the franchise as relevant:

The reason that it stays relevant, sadly, is that we have most of the same issues still exists on our planet. We have not made the jump to figuring out that we’re all in this together… that’s straight out of the Trek playbook. And we got to settle that on this planet first, and we’re a long, long way from that, apparently, judging by how we’re living amongst each other. So those stories, they remain relevant and poignant. And however they’re parsed out in all these different incarnations, they’re valuable. I’ve always loved Trek because you gloss it over with the space stuff, but then you sneak all the hard stuff right through the middle of it. It’s a thing of beauty. It still is.

Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer in “These Are The Voyages”

Thrilled to see new fans discover Enterprise

The actor also said he was pleased to know that people are still discovering Enterprise through streaming:

When we were in the midst of making the show and when we… got our fourth season done, we all talked about hoping that the show would be more appreciated as time went on. Because I felt like we achieved something pretty wonderful in those four years, especially, in my opinion, in the last two and a half years– that kind of building through the Xindi element and with the 9/11 component fusing the writers’ brains and minds and hearts. We were always hopeful, all of us. We had done a lot of good work and that we would hope that we would be appreciated as time marched on. I’m thrilled.

Bakula pointed to the show’s spirit of exploration as something he was particularly proud of:

I love that spirit of the show, which is what we were going for from the get-go. I liken it to the original show. And there was that that positive—my character had that going forward and that kind of wild west aspect of it all, but at the same time, let’s do something for humanity. Let’s put humanity out there in a good way. Let’s try and work with others. He didn’t go out with a lot of chips on his shoulder about who he would or wouldn’t do business with. Once he got past the Vulcan thing, I think he was pretty much free sailing. I was really, really pleased with where we ended up on the show.

Season 1 Enterprise publicity photo

Watch the full TREKtalks panel here , and if you can, donate to the Hollywood Food Coalition .

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

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The CW could have followed up Enterprise with a Starfleet Academy series.

The CW settled quickly into a marketing vehicle for Paramount/CBS and WB to sell shows internationally and to streamers. In some ways it was a kind of syndication Mark II. The shows were never profitable on CW ad revenue alone.

It’s unfortunate that Enterprise wasn’t given the opportunity to be seen as an investment in that way.

The stupidest thing CW did was follow up Enterprise with a Britney Spears/Kevin Federline reality tv show. It lasted like 2 episodes.

I assume you meant UPN? Enterprise never made it to the CW.

So much Enterprise stories to tell. The Earth Romulan War. The founding of the Federation.

The Earth/Romulan war would have been a great story to see on screen. I’m sad we missed it

Yeah still plenty of stories to tell in the 22nd century. I would love to go back there one day.

we need to see Archer team up with Picard in a P+ movie ‘Star Trek Days of Generations Past’

I like the sound of that… a lot :-)

I’m not sure how much value there would be in watching Archer pushing a wheelchair around.

Don’t have to do that. You could show him in flashbacks or maybe some form of holographic recording and, of course, there’s ALWAYS time travel.

Your comment is a little odd because Bakula is almost 70 himself, no spring chicken either.

So he’d be pushing around the wheelchair very slowly, sitting down from time to time ;-)

Probably because Bakula is just more active and fit for his age in general. We all love Patrick Stewart but he does comes across as a lot more frail these days. Bakula still does actiony roles like on NCIS.

Yet Bakula turns 69 in a few months….whoops! :-)) lol

We. Need? No, we don’t. If you’d like it, that’s fine, but there are plenty of people out there who understand that Enterprise was a clusterf**k of a show.

There are plenty of people out there who understand that Enterprise was a clusterf**k of a show.

You said it. Failed series, less viewership every year (and within each season) as fans kept dropping out, deserved to be cancelled.

You have to remember this is the first enterprise ship to ever go out and explore. It looks outdated because it’s the very beginning of space travel by the Federation. You can’t expect great technology 150 yrs or so before capt Kirk.

Enterprise started out as a clusterf**k of a show but what star trek series other than TOS or SNW didn’t? They all happen that way. By season 3 and 4 Enterprise came into it’s own like every other Trek series did. It just didn’t get the chance to live on like the others did.

That opinion is not shared by everyone. As Wehmut posted today, and which I fully agree with, the first two seasons of Enterprise were actually superior to the final two. I am calling BS on the entire Many Coto Improved Enterprise narrative. The first two seasons were at least credible Star Trek, even though there were many boring eps and poorly drawn drama, while the last two seasons reeked of over-reaching fan service and dumbass storylines that were simply piss-poor Star Trek.

The Many Coto Improved Enterprise narrative is an urban legend — it’s a rewrite of history today by the small, yet vocal group of Enterprise fans who can’t accept that it was failed series. The fact is that in both of Coto’s seasons, not only did the viewership continue to be reduced from the previous seasons, but within each of those two seasons, fans kept dropping out week-to-week over the season. This is because it was bad Star Trek and as such fans were right then to bail out, and Moonvies was right to cancel it.

The thing is, Enterprise should never have had the whole future guy story. If it was going to be a prequel it should have just been that. A prequel. The whole guy from the future thing erased Enterprise completely because over the course of 22+ episodes you could never solve the resolution that people were tuning in for. and they meant it to go over multiple seasons which was never going to work. ever.

Fully agree on this point!

Remember… The Future Guy element was forced on the producers by the network. They wanted no part of it.

So we’re clear, when its said the first two seasons were superior, a decent comparison is to an old bottle of milk. The first two seasons, it just had that weird taste, before becoming a stinky, chunky mess the last two seasons.

Sorry. Manny Cato absolutely improved Enterprise. The show got noticeably better when he joined the writing staff and later took charge. This is hardly an “urban legend”. This is the consensus of fandom. Yes, the show did drop ratings the longer it ran. But one must remember the fans kept watching. They were the ones who saw the improvement after the general viewership was siphoning off. And at that point it really was too late to salvage given the goings on at the network at the time. They could have had a ratings spike and it was likely it still wouldn’t have made it through the merge.

I know there are Enterprise bashers out there. They are in the minority. Just as I am in the minority of TVH bashers. I know what that is like. But still must adhere to the reality that TVH was pretty well received by the general public.

Cato was awful. The last season was the worst thanks to him.

If you think Manny Coto is bad, imagine how others feel about Michelle Paradise and turning Discovery into a tedious bore and making it a Lifetime drama movie….in space. One of the worst show runners in Star Trek ever. She explained the Burn was due to some kid having a tantrum lol. Just so ridiculous.

There are a dozen episodes in season 4 of Enterprise I watch over and over again. Please list all the episodes you watch over and over again in season 4 of Discovery lol.

I strongly disagree. Season 1 and 2 for the most part very much felt like rejected scripts from Voyager . There was precious little ‘birth of the Federation’ stuff going on (and the few times they did are among the best episodes of those seasons.) Way too much Temporal Cold War (which never made a lick of sense) happening, and ridiculous ‘lets bring in the Ferengi and the Borg” stuff. Season 3 broke out and took on a Galactica -like gritty storyline, and then Season 4 finally lived up to the show’s original premise. On rewatch, Season 3 and 4 are much more enjoyable to me.

I agree season 3 was the break out season but I really liked season 2 as well.

I actually started to love the show by the second season. I think Enterprise got better every season. I think so many people including me was just tired in Star Trek in general by then, NOT happy it was a prequel (my biggest issue at the time) and yes the first season wasn’t great. But that’s a very common Star Trek trend lol. If it was the third or fourth show by then and not the fifth, more would’ve at least stuck around a little longer even if they still hate it by the end.

Although I will argue the new animated shows also had great first seasons, especially Prodigy.

It’s totally true that Star Trek wore out it’s welcome by that point. But here we are now with more Trek shows than on TV than ever before and it is going stronger than ever. So who knows? What I do know is that the whole future guy thing just didn’t work. If Enterprise was just a real prequel and acted as such it probably would have survived. BUt that whole future guy bs tanked it.

Because it’s only been a few years lol. Try 15 years later and then we’ll see. ;)

And we also have to remember most of these new shows only has 10 episodes a piece unlike the 25 episode seasons we used to get. The irony is we technically have more Star Trek shows but in terms of actual content it’s literally the same amount we got when two shows ran together in the 90s. And even less so because the animated shows are only 30 minutes.

And frankly people are excited to just have more Star Trek again in ANY form. I mean people complain about a lot of these new shows but they are still watching them every week. Because end of the day people want to be back in that universe again.

And while I didn’t love TCW I don’t think that was the sole reason people abandoned the show. I think there were tons of factors at the time, the biggest just being a prequel. That’s honestly I think one of its biggest issues. NO ONE was begging for a prequel at the time. No one is begging for more prequels now lol. Most people really wanted to keep going forward. Sure there were plenty of people excited over the birth of the Federation idea but I don’t think most cared at the time.

I remember people back then having the same issues asking why are they going backwards just like when it was revealed Discovery was a prequel. SNW got away with it for many reasons, the biggest being we now have four shows going forward again when it showed up. If it was the ONLY show like Enterprise was, people would still complain even if they really liked the show. Until Enterprise, people were used to going forward for 30 years at that point. Even ideas of TOS prequels like Spock and Kirk meeting at the academy never got off the ground because most people didn’t really want it at the time.

And of course that was the entire irony over TCW idea. It was the studio who pushed for it because they were afraid most fans didn’t want a prequel setting and wanted a way to still tell stories in the future if they had to. So even they weren’t convinced fans really wanted a prequel show.

Ironic about the prequel thing… I was actually excited for Enterprise when I heard it was going to be set before TOS. I thought that offered a new and fresh take over the sterile sameness we got from the other 3 spinoffs even though DS9 managed to put a positive spin on things.

I feel like you do about House of the Dragon. I’m just not interested in going back as it feels like the GoT history was well covered even in the run of the show. I’m FAR more interested in going forward in Westeros. I want to see where that world goes as they get advance in technology and in society. But that is not what we got, unfortunately.

The Enterprise premise did nothing for me when it was revealed. But I also really loved those 24th century shows. They are my top 3 shows in the franchise even now. But of course I’m just speaking for myself, I know there are plenty of people who wanted to go back and see first contact with the Klingons, wanted to see the Romulan war and all of that. I honestly never cared lol. Not remotely close. When it was revealed Discovery was going to show us the Klingon war I literally rolled my eyes…and still rolling them. ;D

But obviously I did ultimately come around. I love Enterprise today, really enjoying SNW so far and I now feel season 2 of Discovery was the best one even though I like it being in the far future. So obviously if something is good my mind can be changed. But overall I just think going forward is what Trek should be doing and obviously so do the people running it now thankfully, another reason I support Kurtzman,. But I think we’ll be getting more prequels as well. That’s fine, most of us just wanted a balance between the two, that’s all and now we got it.

It just used to really really irk me when ‘fans’ said you can’t do anything past post-Nemesis anymore and no one wants to see it anyway. I really hated these people lol. And yeah, they have been proven VERY wrong on both counts.

And I still haven’t watched the new GOT show either because yeah, like you,it just doesn’t interest me as a prequel. It’s not a Star Trek thing lol. But everyone including my brother who is a huge fantasy fan swears by it so I’ll check it out at some point.

I am watching it at the moment. But honestly, we aren’t seeing anything new. It just feels like GoT with new people. And the fact that it starts 170 before GoT… To me that is a negative. Not a positive. I’m FAR more interested in where the story goes from where GoT ended. They could even jump a generation and I’d be curious.

I never heard people say you couldn’t go forward from Nemesis. That makes no sense. It’s like saying they couldn’t go forward from TUC. (The era I WANT to see in a Trek show, just not one from Secret Hideout). There are plenty of shows that can be set in a just past Nemesis world.

I suspect like Star Trek, there will be plenty of GOT spin offs and one will be a sequel. But yeah the new show just doesn’t interest me much on that alone. But clearly it does plenty of people. It’s HBO’s biggest show since the LAST GOT lol. And I think it just won a Golden Globe for best series. So it’s obviously a really popular show. Like I said, I plan to watch it. I was going to watch it when it first started, but I keep pushing it off basically because the prequel setting just doesn’t grab me. But I’m still going to watch and decide on my own. It’s the same issue with the Lord of the Rings show. That’s a prequel too. But unlike GOT, that’s been HIGHLY mixed in terms of reviews so not really too bothered either way for those two reasons, but will give it a chance as well at some point.

As far as the ‘don’t go beyond post-Nemesis’ haters, believe me there were plenty. There is one on this thread in fact, A34. When it was just Discovery that guy went on and on how he thought anything beyond the 23rd century was a waste and said many times no one wants a post-Nemesis show and having one past that would get cancelled. We argued about it many many times lol. Now not only do we have four of them, it’s still funny Discovery ended up going forward more than any show probably will ever go forward!

Of course I expect him to post to say he never EVER said that although there are countless posts of him saying just that. This is why I wish we had ignore button but moving on. But I’ll at least be fair and it looks like he came around since he seems to like all those shows. He seems to like a few more than I do lol. So just like me with prequels, people can change their minds if the show just appeals to them.

Now I know most of those people were in the minority for sure but they were definitely around. I still remember one, can’t remember their handle, the day the Picard show was announced this guy was practically LIVID over the fact they were even making a show post Voyager lol. He got on my case directly about it because I was simply happy they were going forward again….in a show that’s literally about the future lol. This guy was so upset over it, it was bizarre. Like you do know this is all fiction right? And no one has a clue what the real future will look like 100 years or a 1000 years from now,, so what does it matter??? If you don’t believe me, find that article and you’ll see what I mean. There are just some people who thinks Star Trek just belongs in one period. Well they certainly lost that war now.

But yeah, they were obviously in the minority since we now four shows and they all seem to be popular to a degree.

I suspect like Star Trek, there will be plenty of GOT spin offs and one will be a sequel. But yeah the new show just doesn’t interest me much on that alone. But clearly it does plenty of people. It’s HBO’s biggest show since the LAST GOT lol. And I think it just won a Golden Globe for best series. So it’s obviously a really popular show. Like I said, I plan to watch it. I was going to watch it when it first started, but I keep pushing it off basically because the prequel setting just doesn’t grab me. But I’m still going to watch and decide on my own.

No spoilers, but HOTD Season 1 does include some plot twists that have huge implications for the Targ dynasty’s earlier history on Westeros *and* GOT’s ending (both Dany’s story arc and potentially Jon Snow’s ultimate fate post-GOT). This is deliberate: It’s meant to change how you interpret those major events. The show itself isn’t flawless, but it’s actually much better than how GOT eventually became, and the overall quality in all aspects is much closer to GOT’s excellent earlier seasons.

HOTD also demonstrates the ways some important GOT characters weren’t necessarily acting in isolation but influenced by established cultural and political patterns of behaviour from their society over the centuries. For example, HOTD shows there were significant historical precedents, the behaviour of some core GOT characters makes more sense now, and so on. (HOTD has a lot of foreshadowing about GOT).

So it’s worth checking out for all those reasons.

Speaking of Jon Snow, last year it was confirmed that a sequel focusing on him is definitely in the works. Apparently they’ve been secretly planning this for a few years, but they’d managed to keep it quiet.

Honestly none of that really improves the story of GoT at all. Knowing that doesn’t make that show better. Or worse. It really feels more like Solo to me. Yeah, it’s OK but… Why? I’m finishing it out because I’m now curious the exact path it goes but honestly if I could not finish the final few episodes I don’t feel like I would be missing anything I haven’t already seen before.

Personally I’m less interested in John Snow than I am about Westeros’ future as a whole but if Snow can be used as a vehicle that goes forward then I am all for it. But part of me would like to see a generational shift forward. Yes, they don’t make these things for me. Got to appeal to the masses.

First off Jai, where you been dude??????

I don’t think I’ve seen a post of yours for over 6 months at least. I guess it just means you have a life and I don’t lol. I watched all those UFO docs forever now but I don’t think I ever saw you again lol. Or maybe you posted in places I never clicked on. It’s OK, it’s just funny.

As for your assessment of HOTD, I admit that sounds pretty good. It’s so far in the past, I didn’t really expect any real influence to the original show. Maybe I’m wrong but the gap bigger than what it is between PIC and DIS now. Or maybe a little less? So OK, you won me over! I’m going to check it out now. I actually watched some of the first episode but never turned in after that. I’ll rewatch that and start watching next week! And since I watched all those UFO vids you know I’ll watch this too lol.

Eiither way, nice to see you back!!

Hi there — Sorry for not replying sooner but I was offline during the weekend.

I’ve posted comments here during the past few months, but it was only a couple of times, and it was brief stuff on threads that were already fizzling out. Thanks for watching the UFO docs too, I hope you enjoyed them; there have obviously been a few more revelations since then, and apparently more stuff is in the pipeline this year.

The gap between HOTD and GOT is around 150-170 years, I think. Season 1 of HOTD takes a little while to get used to because of the completely new characters, and there are a couple of time-jumps (and repeated recasting of the younger characters) that are a little jarring too. But the story does settle down and take off after that. Acting- and charisma-wise, the two main actresses in the grown-up versions of their characters along with with Rhys Ifans, Matt Smith and Paddy Considine are particularly good. There is some great stuff from a couple of the regular secondary characters too.

Thanks for the friendly words :) I’ll post a reply to you under one of the new Trekmovie articles when I can in case you miss this one.

It specifically states it starts 172 years before GoT. And there are multiple time jumps that are pretty jarring to the viewer. At the point where I am there have been three (or 4? I honestly don’t remember there seem to have been so many) time jumps already and since the show started we are some 25-30 years after that. Meaning we are now some 145 years before GoT.

While I, and the producers, were no fans of the Future Guy stuff, that was not why the show went only 4 seasons. There was a lot more going on. I do believe there was a bit of “franchise fatigue” going on. A break would have done the franchise some good. I like Enterprise but even I was saying they should wait a season or two before going into the next show. Also, the politics of the goings on at the studio is what I believe killed the show more than ever nowadays.

Picard apparently played with a toy of the NX-01 as a kid.

Would be fine with seeing that provided it’s done by anyone but Secret Hideout.

The romulan war could be handled within an animated series. The Rise of the Federation Novels would be a nice template for a conclusion in a regular Series.

ENT needs to return ASAP. If the X-Files could come back after a 15 year “hiatus”, ENT can do so too. This is the final thing that needs to happen to make me entirely happy.

The X-Files revival crashed and burned. If that could happen with a show that had the pedigree the original run of X-Files had, an Enterprise revival would be destined to fail.

I have to agree here. I wish the X-Files never came back. They screwed up the whole mythology 100%

Agreed. Using the X-Files revival as an example of why we should bring back Enterprise is like suggesting that we should bring back Sambos given Bennigan’s recent lackluster new start up that nobody really cares about…lol

I love Gillian Anderson and I wish she never came back as Scully

To be fair, the mythology had been a mess long before that. The revival just doubled down on the awfulness — and then some! However, I did enjoy a few of the monster of the week episodes, so it wasn’t a complete disaster.

Yeah no doubt. I was a HUGE X Files fan from literally day one when few people were paying attention to it at the time and was enthralled. But even I stopped watching after the 7th season because the mythology was just becoming an unyielding mess. To this day I have never seen most episodes in seasons 8 and 9.

I think many people thought when the revival started that they were going to basically start over to a degree, streamline it and wrap it up in a finite way and it only got worse lol.

Yeah, eventually it reached the point with the revival when the “written by Chris Carter” credit would come up that I had to brace myself for another terrible one.

He should’ve let someone else handle it. Darin Morgan maybe. His episodes were good. In my head canon “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat” is the real series finale.

the standalone eps were definitely the reason to watch the revival

And how did that X-Files revival turn out? Lol

This would be like another Sex and City movie…groan! Lol

I’d LOVE to see Enterprise come back more than anyone here I would imagine.

The problem is I absolutely do NOT want to see it come back under the ineptitude of the people at Secret Hideout. I’d rather nothing ever happen again if SH was a condition of its return.

NCIS: TREK 🤔

Law & Order: DTI (Dept of Temporal Investigations)

I said this way back when CBS said they were reviving Trek…

Starfleet JAG.

Scott is an actor worth bringing back. And there aren’t many I can say that about left now.

I thought he was great on Quantum Leap , but I never like him as Captain Archer. I think he might actually be better as President Archer, if they want to do an Enterprise follow-on like Star Trek: The West Wing or something.

Like many Star Trek fans, I enjoyed *”Star Trek Enterprise”.* It was a great show to watch, with a great storyline. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was disappointed when *”Star Trek Enterprise”* was discontinued when it was. It would have been interesting to see where the story went. How the Federation formed.

totally agree with you!

You could also feature a new cast in the time period and have Bakula as President or Senator Archer (I think he became the Andorian Ambassador first, but you get the idea) who is the mentor character.

Nah, I want to see him finally been revealed as future guy. We all want to that don’t we?

The continuation of the Future Guy story and the return of Tucker is exactly the right stuff for this crew.

Will be a great stand alone movie. Could also be successfully attached to Section 31 or Discovery.

I still can’t figure out why archer would someday become future guy when he knows what damage future guy does?

I never liked the theory that Archer was future guy. It still makes no sense to me. I always thought it should be a Romulan trying to change the outcome of the Romulan war.

I don’t like it either. Why would he do this if he experienced all the bad things that future guy did in the first place? It makes no sense

Archer goes from being a emotionally and intellectually constipated captain to an emotionally and intellectually constipated president?

Actually that pipeline sounds very reasonable now that I see it spelled out in black and white lol. Turned on the news lately? LOL.

Although perhaps the opposite of constipated? LOL

These days, it seems like every week another former Trek senior citizen actor shows that they are smelling the p plus cash. LOL

Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve had enough Archer for the one lifetime.

We don’t agree often, but we do here. File Archer under been there, done that. He doesn’t get better with age.

I’m not so sure. But with the evidence in front of us it certainly appears that Picard for sure did not get better with age.

Yes! All Star Trek characters deserve an opportunity. Absolutely. Would like very much to see crossovers with the Enterprise crew. There are a lot of good stories. The Future Guy. The Temporal Wars. The return of Tucker with T’Pol. And long due good/decent stories for Sato, Mayweather, and Reed.

A real finale. Crossovers with current productions. Mini series. Short Treks. A stand alone P+ movie. All of the above. This is something I have been waiting for decades. Really hope Archer and his crew are enlisted for upcoming projects!

I understand is all about money. But this crew really deserve better. I think I am not alone, many fans would like very much to see more Enterprise stories.

I think a healthy and logical application of discernment is in order here. No way do I just say let’s bring back ALL characters from past Star Trek shows as you are suggesting just because they can. No offense meant, but I find that ridiculous, not to mention, financially impossible. Their needs to be some intelligent filtering done here — not ALL, no way.

It should be done on a case by case basis based on both the new series being looked at and the history of both that character and the actor’s performance, and yes, the actors current age and health.

I am talking about the main cast. If they are willing to join, why not!?

It has been done with TOS, now with TNG. I am pretty sure we will see everyone from Voyager, and eventually from DS9. Lower Decks’ DS9 episode with Kyra and Quark was a really nice episode.

Some fans love Sato. Some fans Reed. I think they all deserve an opportunity for the actors and the fans.

Just to be clear. Is not bringing them just for fan service. They need a good story and they all deserve to shine.

Yeah I assumed that was what you intended, but still, not ALL of the main cast on all of the past shows should or need to be featured. Discernment/filtering should be applied. Again, as I mentioned, It should be done on a case by case basis based on both the new series being looked at and the history of both that character and the actor’s performance, and yes, the actors current age and health. Just giving a free pass to ALL former main cast members I think is ridiculous.

We are going to have to agreed to disagree on this. IDIC.

You probably heard me say this many times, but I think EVERYTHING is on the table and they all have a chance to come back. It doesn’t mean they will, but just seeing what they been doing the past few shows alone, it’s possible.

Matalas, McMahan and Goldsman has all said they either could see or like to bring back Enterprise characters in the future. Goldsman even suggested an anthology show with Archer once. Again that doesn’t mean ANY of this will ever happen. But why is he even suggesting it? Because he knows there are fans out there who would want it. No one is suggesting a Quark and Rom anthology season (but I would watch it lol).

But your main point is right, they have to come up with a good story to even think about it. And I don’t know if anyone is rushing to do anymore 22nd century stories, Enterprise or not.

All that said do I think we will see at least some Enterprise characters show up in the future? That is 100% yes ! It’s not even a question. Dude they brought back Sybok, anything is fucking possible now lol.

Four of the five classic show’s characters have all appeared on these new shows. DS9 just got their last year as you stated and more of those will come. I will not be shocked the cast Voyager ends up on Prodigy soon. But those shows all happen in those time periods.

Enterprise is obviously trickier given it’s time period, but they will find a way. Maybe they already did. ;)

Let’s test that theory. Anyone up for a Reg Barclay series? Cooking with Neelix?

How about an Ensign Kim Series: Almost Famous 2 — I am Trek Legend

Or a Neelix Series: Star Trek Into Kessness

Trust me, you will find fans who will watch those too lol.

Ugghhh Neelix is a podophile. Seriously. he dated Kes at 9 yrs old and she was so ignorant and innocent and she had no clue what was going on.

I never looked at it that way but yes I know many did and why they ended that relationship. Ethan Phillips confirmed it.

They are aliens on the other side of the galaxy 400 years in the future, they don’t live on Earth or have to think like us at all. They have a completely different biology and cultural norm than we do. That’s why I loved their relationship, it finally showed an actual alien dynamic. Let’s be honest, Star Trek has ‘aliens’ on it, but 90% of them follow Earth norms for a reason, because it’s a TV show and it can’t be too ‘out there’. But sure I understand that, it is a TV show and one in the 90s where norms were more conservative versus today.

It’s like when the Traveler gave Wesley a chance to explore with him and people were calling the guy a ‘pedophile’. I just shake my head every time. It just proves as open minded we think we are as Trek fans, we’re still humans in our very human mindset in the 21st century and not the 24th.

And he dated Kes at 2 years old lol.

Yes I know what you are saying but still… Its disgusting.

You kind of proved my point. Imagine if we had same sex aliens dating each other on TOS. You can agree fans would’ve used the same word for it. They use it for the human characters on Discovery now lol.

But yes I get your point too and probably why it wasn’t a good idea to do it.

Actually I’ll keep it on topic with Enterprise and I will say one of the things I loved about that show from the beginning was that they had Phlox and Denobulans having a bigamist culture and had multiple wives and husbands. That was one of the few times, once again, they made aliens feel truly alien.

I don’t support bigamy personally (one marriage is enough as it is lol) but obviously others do which I’m fine with. Ironically no one seemed bothered by Phlox being a bigamist so I thought that was refreshing as well.

Yeah, a total creepy, gross-out and takes me out of the eps when they are together.

Yeah, that was very creepy and still grosses me out to this day.

Lets not go there. Optics (and conspiracy theories) aside, the show made it clear Kes aged in dog years. How that would have worked clearly wasn’t thought out, as she would have had to have died of old age during the shows run, had they not jettisoned her for the Borg catsuit.

Yeah, I understand why it put people off for sure and I certainly can’t blame them. But this is literally the entire point of Star Trek, to explore, wait for it, waaaait for it, strange new worlds and civilizations. And most life they do find is really not that strange considering the amount of life they find out there. Most of the Federation members are humanoid aliens that’s has some biological and cosmetic differences but pretty much human overall.

As far as Kes and the old age thing, they were clearly setting her up to live a lot longer. One of the other Ocampans she met was 15 IIRC and still looked young. I suspect her special abilities was going to be part of that development. I really loved the idea of a sentient species living such a short life. Now everyone seems to live up to a 150 lol.

They should have been recasting the role every two years, as THE CROWN does.

That said, this was a pairing between one of the most cringeworthy characters in Star Trek (Neelix) and one of the most boring (Kes, admittedly not the only boring one that cast). The show improved immensely when they showed her the exit and brought in Jeri Ryan.

Weird that you saw it that way. You do realize that since her species only live, what was it… 7, 8 years? That it they must procreate at some point before they are 8 Earth years old. You know what? Dogs are adult and ready to reproduce at what… 1? 2 max? Do you find that gross and disgusting, too?

Neelix a pedophile… I mean… Wow.

Linda Park is a Goddess

Yes she is!

I love her so much

I am compelled to agree there.

I would like to see the Star Trek novel Federation adapted where, instead of Kirk and Picard, Pike’s Enterprise meet Archer’s Enterprise NX-01 in the singularity and pass of Zefram Cochrane from the 21st Century to the 23rd Century.

Best show. Especially liked the first two seasons. Would love to see them come back in a regular show.

I agree with you that the first two seasons were at least better than the last two. It’s funny, but the urban legend that Many Coto came in and improved the series is utter BS. The show went downhill in S3 and S4 — Coto sunk a ship that was already taking on water when he arrived.

You know what I would support — a complete reboot series of Enterprise — done right this time, with better casting, better writing, better music, and a starship design that doesn’t rewrite canon and insult my intelligence. And the universe needs to be made to look like a direct predecessor to TOS this time, not pre-TNG.

@ UpperDecks-NormalNecks – Yes, all of that. Plus better uniforms too. The boilersuit look on this show was awful too.

I’m not opposed to the idea of a reboot of Enterprise, but I think it would be a hard sell to create an aesthetic that won’t look anything like Trek.

How on earth does the starship design “rewrite canon”? With the exception of the Botany Bay, did we ever see century-old ship designs in TOS?

The ships Spock described in “Balance of Terror” are not what we saw on Enterprise. The producers basically turned the NX-01 into a scaled down Constitution class as quickly as they could.

I have to admit, it was the first season that originally put me off to this show. But second season was great (except Precious Cargo….ugh). But I like season one a lot more today. Still my least favorite but a lot of solid episodes for sure.

They screwed up the time line, from experimental warp drive vehicles to building the enterprise a just few years later.

Let’s be honest EVERY prequel show has screwed up the timeline at this point. Discovery is still the biggest culprit IMO.

Yep. Don’t get me started with Discovery… It just shows me how well ENT did in retroperspective

It wasn’t a mere few years. More like 50 to 100.

Not sure why Enterprise gets dissed but it was as good as any Star Trek series. I would have loved to see it go seven seasons

Nearly every Star Trek show gets dissed lol. Have you seen people’s reactions to Discovery and Picard here and other places? It’s the nature of the beast. I think people who hate Enterprise has VALID reasons not to like it just like people who don’t like some of these new shows. Not everyone is going to love everything. That’s OK! It’s only when someone is attacked FOR liking something (or not liking something) when it crosses the line.

I love the show today but I don’t have a single problem with people who utterly loathe it. I never understand why others feel so bothered over these things. They are just TV shows, everyone will have their own personal thoughts on it.

Enterprise was a very controversial show at the time. But to be completely honest, it feels like every show and movie since has also been controversial to me except maybe Prodigy and SNW. And there are still detractors for those shows too. It’s been a rough 20 years for Star Trek and fandom, I’ll put it that way lol.

I still think he’s going to show up on Quantum Leap. Just sayin…

No doubt he’s waiting for the cash offer to be what he wants

Agreed. He’ll be in the Season Finale, that’s why NBC has already renewed it for Season 2.

Great to read how Bakula feels about the four seasons of Enterprise.- sounds like he is proud of the work the cast, the crew and writers put together from 2001-2005. I hope he and the others have a chance to return and tell more tales of the NX-01.

For me personally, although I’m a legacy Trek fan from the 70s, I enjoyed Enterprise – especially the last two seasons. I also used the show, including the opening theme as inspiration to learn to fly and to start a new career in the commercial space industry, where I remain to this day.

Enterprise has aged very well today. There is a reason why more fans like it more today than it when it was on, including a lot of fans who didn’t like it originally like me. And the great thing is it has found a new legion of fans who are watching it for the first time today and they don’t have any baggage with it like a lot us old fans. They just watch the show. They don’t care the Borg or Ferengi showed up because it’s all new.

I was one of those fans who gave up on it early and now I’m one of it’s biggest supporters. It’s amazing how utterly ‘Star Trek’ the show feels today, especially when you compare it to something like Picard. The show also has tons of heart I didn’t appreciate enough at the time.

For me, I would take another season of Enterprise over Discovery, Picard or another movie. Well OK, the jury is still out on the third season of Picard, so that might be an exception. ;)

Haha, yeah even seasons 1 and 2 had some great stories. One of the episodes that really emphasizes the crew seeking out “new life” is Vox Sola. I especially like the epilogue when they leave the creature’s homeworld and you see the “Strange New World” where they are from!

Exactly! And I remembered being so bored watching Vox Sola at the time. Now its great lol.

For people who still think the show sucks, I definitely get why. The show DID have issues for sure…but what Trek show doesn’t??? And for the record, there are TONS of missed opportunities on this show. I don’t want it to come off like all rose colored glasses lol.

But I also think there were people like me at the time who was not only fighting the idea of a prequel but at that point it was just a feeling it had all been done before. Yeah it was in a different package but it was still things we seen before over and over again. That’s what happens when you watch something for 15 years straight lol.

But once I finally started watching the show, REALLY watching the show, 8 years after it was cancelled, I saw it with fresh eyes and I was kicking myself why did I stop watching this show lol. And this was also when STID had came out and I was sooo disappointed in not only that film, but the direction those movies were taking in generally. Again, this is the irony but I thought that the Kevin movies were going to go in the direction Enterprise did on day one and get back to exploring and feeling like the final frontier feel instead of boring uber-villains every movie. They finally did that more with Beyond (still my favorite), but unfortunately too little too late.

But Enterprise gave me that in a big way which I honestly didn’t even care about when it was on. I think they just needed to take Star Trek off the air a few years after Voyager and a lot of us would’ve saw it with different eyes and enjoyed it more.

To me a stand out from the first 2 seasons was “Dear Doctor”. That was classic Trek right there.

It’s really amazing how much I love Enterprise today. Bakula said it, the show was about pure exploration which I just didn’t appreciate enough at the time because we had so much of in multiple seasons in TNG and VOY. Frankly a lot of Enterprise just bored me in the first season. How many times have we landed on a planet and something goes wrong? And TCW just did not grab me and I love time travel stories. But I think it would’ve been nice to keep Enterprise as a true prequel. But the irony is we have not had a true prequel with any of the shows or reboots since.

I stopped watching it in it’s first season and never tried watching again until 2013. So when I say the show didn’t interest me, I mean it lol. But then once I gave it a second chance, I kicked myself for not watching it. Enterprise is the sole reason I’m (still) sticking with DIS because I didn’t want to pre-judge something so quickly again.

And today though, I watch Enterprise every week. I did a grand rewatch of the entire franchise chronologically starting New Years day 2021, Broken Bow was the first episode I started with in my 800+ hours voyage and it was pure joy watching that show. It was light, fun and full of adventure. And yes they actually EXPLORED and did a lot of it, something all the new movies and shows were missing at the time. By the time I finished, I was a little depressed because I wanted more.

And always loved Archer when I didn’t love the show. He and Pike have a lot of the same personality, except Archer definitely has a temper lol. Would love a fifth season!

It was originally planned as a prequel. First season was going to just be on Earth. The future stuff was added because of the network. Not sure how well a full season on Earth would of panned out. It was on the bluray documentaries for Enterprise.

I think doing the first four or five eps on Earth would be have been very cool, but not the entire season…then a couple eps where cool stuff happens on the shakedown cruises, then move to traditional eps.

This format could have been used to better establish the characters.

Oh yeah I know and I think that would’ve been great if they did a full season on Earth. But like you said, I don’t know how that would’ve went over too, but some of it could’ve startd on Earth at least. I think the episode First Flight gave us a nice insight into the kind of shows we would’ve gotten if it stayed on Earth. Another one of my favorites!

People complain that Enterprise was basically just TNG in the 22nd century but that’s because that’s what UPN wanted basically. Like Voyager, they just wanted more TNG. Berman really wanted each show to be its own thing but the network hands out the money and end of the day they didn’t really want a prequel show and a LOT of compromises were made over it like TCW.

In fact I found out recently UPN originally wanted a show to take place in the 26th century. They basically wanted to start over by going forward while Berman wanted to start over going backwards and you can see why there was so much friction from the start.

And I think I’m going to watch First Flight tonight now! :)

Yeah Berman and Braga didn’t know if they could write more characters that were even more “perfect ” than the 24th century characters. First Flight was a good episode. I personally really enjoyed Enterprise.

If I’m being very honest I definitely would’ve preferred a 26th century show. I think a lot of people would’ve. But I can understand by that point it would’ve just felt more of the same at that time to them just in another century. They wanted Enterprise to have a bigger hook being the show that basically created the elements of Star Trek we have today. Once I embraced that idea, I really came to love this show.

Bill and I were so proud to interview Mr. Bakula as part of this wonderful fundraising event for the Hollywood Food Coalition. The Trek Geeks certainly were aware that Mr. Bakula does not do a lot of interviews or conventions, and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to talk to him. he was so wonderful and I would LOVE top see him return in live or animation form as Captain/Admiral/President Archer!

You guys did a great job! Thank you for this and was happy he agreed to it.

Thanks for doing this — nice job!

Ditto RE the above replies! I have often read that Bakula is very fond of his time on Enterprise as well as the time he spent with fellow cast members. Thanks for confirming those stories with an actual interview.

Now let’s see if Mr. Kurtzman and company can somehow give us a true conclusion to the series and elliminate that horrible last episode from our collective memories… as if it never happened.

I didn’t have a UPN affiliate in my area at the time, so I never got the chance to get into the show while it aired. However, I do feel each season is an improvement over the one that came before. Even though it still would have (probably anyway, due to production costs) been a casualty of the UPN/WB merger, a fifth season would have been amazing.

I was a preteen when Enterprise came out and one of the biggest problems with it is that it really wasn’t that friendly to a younger audience. I will say though that it does deserve a second chance and I hope it gets one.

Plus any chance to see/hear Jeffrey Combs again is nice.

Premature cancellation always tints the past a little rosy, but I would have happily watched another 3 seasons. I do agree it was hitting its stride.

Still say Bakula is not really realistic about what the syndication market was like in the 2000s though.

My wife and I would be among those who would enjoy having ENT come back. That is the show that was on TV when we were dating so it is very special to us in many ways. Through the conventions and the cruises, we have become closely acquainted with the actors, and relish that relationship. Scott shows his professionalism by not speaking ill of UPN or any honcho at UPN, but does speak truth to power about the causes. While there are detractors of ENT who did not like the show based on an earlier time, pre Federation, or not another 100 years past TNG-DS9-VOY. Having loved Trek since 1966, I, for one, always wondered about the time from Armstrong/Aldrin stepping on the moon to when Kirk set sail on the NCC-1701. That approximately 200 years of exploration must have or could have a lot of exciting history. No reason why we could not have a follow up series in the form of ENT to tell those stories.

I think SB is right. It should have continued.

ok. Revisit the era, sure, but for cripes sake kill that Enterprise theme song. That garbage Chicago / Journey knock off did more to kill the series from day one than anything else. And I’ll gladly die on that hill :)

I agree with those who say the show kept getting better as it went on. Once Coto came on board it really started to find its footing, imo. Sadly the way they ended it was just terrible. I wouldn’t mind seeing Archer/Bakula or T’Pol or Phlox back for a limited role in one of the new shows, as long as it made sense to the story.

Another agreement. My favorite seasons in order: 4-3-2-1. So that should tell you everything and I actually started loving it in season 2. I didn’t even love DS9 or TNG that early and those are my two favorites.

Coto was exactly what Trek needed. Someone who respected the source material and talented enough to make the right decisions. I heard it said that he had big plans for future seasons. Season 5 he wanted to add Shran as a permanent crew member. He said he had an idea for an episode called “Starbase 1”. He wanted to see an early version of Stratos. I’d be very interested to see his take on that world 100 years earlier. And I had heard indirectly that he was indeed planning to take the show up to and possibly into the Romulan war.

Unfortunate to think of what we could have had. And now we have… Secret Hideout. (sigh)

Has to be my favorite series ever id watch years of it

Mr. Bakula is more than welcome for a return. He did great and was easily one of the best Captains in Star Trek history. (Don’t let me rank, it is hard to decide…)

Yes starfleet adacemy with Wesley crusher

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Future Tense

• Episode aired Feb 19, 2003

Enterprise discovers a pod with the body of a human that seems to be wanted by both Sulibans and Tholians. Enterprise discovers a pod with the body of a human that seems to be wanted by both Sulibans and Tholians. Enterprise discovers a pod with the body of a human that seems to be wanted by both Sulibans and Tholians.

• James Whitmore Jr.
• Gene Roddenberry
• Rick Berman
• Brannon Braga
• Scott Bakula
• John Billingsley
• Jolene Blalock
• 8 User reviews
• 4 Critic reviews

• Capt. Jonathan Archer

• Sub-Cmdr. T'Pol

• Lt. Malcolm Reed

• Ensign Travis Mayweather

• Ensign Hoshi Sato

• Cmdr. Charles 'Trip' Tucker III

• Adm. Maxwell Forrest

• Suliban Soldier
• (uncredited)
• Enterprise Crewman
• Ensign Hutchison
• Enterprise Sciences Crewman

• Human Corpse

• Suliban Warrior
• Brannon Braga (showrunner)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia An early pitch for the story that became "Future Tense" had the USS Defiant (from The Tholian Web (1968) ) appearing instead of a timeship from the 31st century. The Defiant later appeared in In a Mirror, Darkly (2005) and In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II (2005) .
• Goofs When Enterprise is running from the Suliban trying to get to the safety of the Vulcan ship, they state they are only a few million and then a few hundred thousand km away, yet they are traveling at maximum warp and are a few minutes then several seconds away, respectively. Even at the speed of light, it would take less than half a minute to travel a few million km At maximum warp, it would take them about a tenth of a second.

Captain Jonathan Archer : If a Human and a Vulcan did have a child... I wonder if he'd have pointed ears.

• Connections Referenced in Star Trek Online (2010)
• Soundtracks Where My Heart Will Take Me Written by Diane Warren Performed by Russell Watson Episode: {all episodes}

User reviews 8

• Mar 20, 2017
• February 19, 2003 (United States)
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• Runtime 43 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Researcher Noye , or Envoy , is a Krenim scientist, who was stationed in the Kyana System . Until a temporal incursion in 2410 , he was married to a fellow researcher, Clauda .

• 1.1 Agents of Yesterday
• 1.2 Iconian War
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• 1.4 Future Proof
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• 2 Other involvement

Missions involved [ | ]

Agents of yesterday [ | ].

Iconian War [ | ]

Yesterday's War [ | ]

Future proof [ | ], j'ula's discovery [ | ], other involvement [ | ].

• In Tales of the War #12, Nog must manage infighting among the Iconian Resistance researchers, including Noye. At the briefing, Noye explains that the Resistance has been unable to locate a suitable target for the weapon.
• In Tales of the War #18, Seven of Nine composes a series of letters to Admiral Kathryn Janeway . The letters chronicle Seven's misgivings about the Krenim timeship project, and her conflicts with the other researchers there, particularly Noye. Her concerns culminate in her decision to leave the project prior to the events of “Butterfly” .
• "Suspicions" : It is revealed that in the aftermath of the war, Noye has been acting with hostility toward his fellow Krenim researchers, and has revoked their access to the shielded temporal core.

Gallery [ | ]

Noye prior to Season 19.

Noye in “Temporal Ambassador” .

Noye in the original timeline.

Noye, displaying injuries as the Envoy.

Notes [ | ]

• Noye's facial hair changes during “Butterfly” : he starts out with a small beard but when the player speaks to him at the end of the mission, he has a full goatee, possibly an indication of the changes to the timeline caused during the mission. As of "Measure of Morality (Part 1)", wherein the player confronts an Excalbian simulacrum of Noye, he now sports a full beard and mustache.
• Additionally, during the first visit to Kyana Station, Noye is listed as 'Team Leader' and there is an unnamed 'Krenim Lead Temporal Researcher' talking to Nog, but on the second visit at the end of the mission, Noye is now listed as 'Lead Researcher', indicating that one of the alterations from the failed temporal incursion is possibly that he now has a different position on the project.
• As of Season Nineteen: Legacy , he is voiced by James Horan , who was the voice of " Future Guy " in Star Trek: Enterprise . Previously, he was voiced by Marc Biagi. Al Rivera, director of Star Trek Online, had attempted to get James Horan to voice Noye for the story arc, but were unable to get him at the time. Al Rivera made it a priority for the Tenth Anniversary. [2]
• Noye's looks has been slightly redone from Season 19, such as the change of his hairstyle, facial details and his goatee.
• ↑ Ten Years of STO Infographic
• ↑ Funny story there: James was originally meant to be Noye's voice, but we couldn't get him at the time. @CaptainGeko made it a priority for the 10th. :)
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The Long-Lost Original Star Trek Enterprise Model Is Heading Home

After going missing from gene roddenberry's collection half a century ago, the very first model of the starship enterprise is back in his family's hands..

It was our first look at the vision of Star Trek ’s future: the original ship model of the USS Enterprise that zoomed across screens in the show’s opening credits. But after being loaned out during the making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , it had gone missing... until now.

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After, bizarrely, it randomly turned up on eBay last fall—the first time it had been seen publicly since it had gone missing —the original model of the Enterprise made for the Star Trek pilot “The Cage” and shooting its opening titles sequences is now back in the hands of the Roddenberry estate. After the eBay seller quickly learned just what they had their hands on, the model was handed over to Heritage Auctions for authentication, and when it was confirmed to be the long-lost Trek icon , held in storage until it could be handed over to Rod Roddenberry this past weekend. “After five decades, I’m thrilled that someone happened upon this historic model of the USS Enterprise . I remember how it used to adorn my dad’s desk,” Roddenberry said in a statement provided over email. “I am tremendously grateful to Heritage Auctions for facilitating the return of this iconic piece of Star Trek history to my family.”

The original model served as the prototype for what would become the primary original 11-foot shooting model of the Enterprise , which has had a similarly long and winding history on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum —it was damaged, then tweaked in an a restoration that was ultimately undone to restore it to its original glory just in time for Trek ’s 50th anniversary back in 2014. Like its successor, the newly recovered model will find a life outside of a private collection: Roddenberry Entertainment intends to put it on public display.

“I can’t wait to figure out how we are going to share it with my extended family, Star Trek fans around the world,” Roddenberry’s statement concluded. “We look forward to making that announcement.”

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .

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5 star trek time loop episodes, ranked.

Star Trek loves a good time loop and here are 5 of the best. Star Trek loves a good time loop and here are 5 of the best.

• Time loop stories are a classic science fiction premise Star Trek excels at.
• Star Trek: Enterprise and Voyager had excellent time loop episodes, but The Next Generation's "Cause and Effect" is the best.
• Star Trek: Discovery had two time loop episodes, "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" and "Face the Strange".

Time loop stories are a classic science fiction premise, and Star Trek has dipped into that well several times. Although Star Trek: The Original Series never did a traditional time loop episode, plenty of Captain James T. Kirk's (William Shatner) adventures involved time travel. Every Star Trek series since has incorporated time travel in some way, including two of the franchise's most highly regarded films, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home & Star Trek: First Contact. Not every Trek series has done a time loop episode, but it's an incredibly fun premise that makes for great television when it's done well.

The time loop premise fits so well within the world of Star Trek , that it makes sense the franchise would return to it multiple times. Time loops (or "temporal causality loops") are apparently so common in the Star Trek universe, that Starfleet uses a time loop simulation as one of their training drills. In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2, episode 8, "I, Excretus," a holodeck simulation called "Time Loop" was one of the possible drills the USS Cerrtos' Lower Deckers had to run, along with things like infiltrating a Borg cube or escaping the Mirror Universe. Being a Starfleet officer means being ready for anything, and here are five Star Trek episodes that trapped their characters in a time loop.

Many television shows have taken advantage of a time loop premise, with Stargate SG-1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, and Supernatural all delivering particularly fun time loop episodes.

20 Best Star Trek Time Travel Episodes & Movies, Ranked

5 "future tense", star trek: enterprise season 2, episode 16, star trek: enterprise.

Although not a time loop episode in the traditional sense, Star Trek: Enterprise's "Future Tense" features two different miniature time loops. When the Enterprise NX-01 finds a derelict shuttlepod from the future floating in space, the temporal radiation leaking from the ship causes time disturbances. As Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) and Lt. Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating) continue to examine the shuttlepod, they find themselves reliving the same moment over and over.

"Future Tense" has some fun moments, including the time loops.

Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and Sub-Commander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) discover that the pod is from the 31st century and presume it must be connected to the Temporal Cold War in some way. To keep the pod from the Suliban or the Tholians, Archer and Reed try to booby-trap it but end up stuck in another time loop. Eventually Trip activates the pod's distress signal and the ship vanishes, presumably back to the 31st century. "Future Tense" has some fun moments, including the time loops, but the Temporal Cold War storyline on Enterprise never quite worked as well as it could have.

The 31st-century shuttlepod is impossibly bigger on the inside than the outside, a nod to the time-traveling TARDIS on Doctor Who .

4 "Coda"

Star trek: voyager season 3, episode 15, star trek: voyager.

When a shuttlecraft carrying Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) crash lands on a planet, Janeway is seriously injured. Before long, Star Trek: Voyager 's villains the Vidiians find the crashed shuttle and kill Janeway and Chakotay. The two then appear again on the shuttle just before they crashed. Immediately realizing they're caught in a time loop, Janeway and Chakotay try something different, but this time, their shuttle explodes. Time resets again, and Janeway and Chakotay make it back to Voyager before Janeway is killed again.

"Coda" is an entertaining and even frightening episode, and Kate Mulgrew delivers a great performance.

In the final loop of Star Trek: Voyager 's "Coda", Janeway sees herself "die" and encounters the supposed spirit of her father. Realizing that something isn't right, Janeway refuses to go with him and wakes up on the planet as Chakotay and The Doctor (Robert Picardo) revive her. "Coda" is an entertaining and even frightening episode, and Kate Mulgrew delivers a great performance. However, the final reveal that most of the story happened in Janeway's head undercuts some of the more emotional moments.

3 "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad"

Star trek: discovery season 1, episode 7, star trek: discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery season 1 received a mixed reception from fans, but "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" stands out as a solid and entertaining take on a classic premise. When Harry Mudd (Rainn Wilson) arrives on the USS Discovery, he enacts his plan to kill Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) and sell Discovery's spore drive technology to the Klingons. Mudd has a time crystal that allows him to repeat the same 30-minute time period over and over.

Victorious, Burnham delivers the coup de grâce line to Mudd: "Turns out you can con a con man."

Due to the tardigrade DNA in his system, Lieutenant Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) remains aware of the time loops, and he recruits Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) to help him stop Mudd. Mudd kills Lorca repeatedly and nearly succeeds in his plan, but Stamets, Burnham, and Tyler reroute Mudd's signal to his fiancée, Stella (Katherine Barrell), and her father rather than the Klingons. Victorious, Burnham delivers the coup de grâce line to Mudd: "Turns out you can con a con man."

10 Star Trek: Discovery Positives You Only Notice On Rewatch

2 "face the strange", star trek: discovery season 5, episode 4.

In one of Star Trek: Discovery's best episodes so far, Captain Burnham and her new First Officer, Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) , find themselves jumping through different time periods in Discovery's past, present, and future. Like the previous time he was stuck in a time loop, Stamets remains aware of the jumps and works with Burnham and Rayner to find a solution. They revisit multiple moments from past seasons of Discovery , and Michael even encounters her past self, resulting in a Burnham vs. Burnham fistfight.

The time jumping turns out to be the result of a Krenim "time bug" that courier Moll (Eve Harlow) snuck onto the Enterprise in the previous episode.

Burnham and Rayner also get a glimpse of a possible future where the Breen ended up with the Progenitors' technology and destroyed the Federation. Thankfully, Stamets, Burnham, and Rayner prevent this future by destroying the time bug, and Discovery loses only six hours rather than the weeks it could have lost. Not only is Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4 an incredibly fun episode of Star Trek , but it also shows how far Burnham and the other characters have come since the show's first season.

1 "Cause and Effect"

Star trek: the next generation season 5, episode 18, star trek: the next generation.

In Star Trek's first true time loop episode, the USS Enterprise-D is destroyed over and over again as Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) and the rest of the crew try to find a solution. After a cold open that ends with the Enterprise blowing up, the crew members end up back at their game of poker. Although they do not initially realize they are stuck in a time loop, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) begins experiencing a sense of déjà vu. After they discover their predicament, Data sends a message to himself using his positronic brain.

Wonderfully directed by Jonathan Frakes, every time loop in "Cause and Effect" feels unique.

At the end of each loop, the Enterprise collides with another ship as it emerges from a space-time distortion, after Data's suggestion to use the tractor beam fails. Data eventually realizes the message he sent himself indicates they should try Commander William Riker's (Jonathan Frakes) suggestion to decompress the main shuttlebay. The plan works and the Enterprise finally avoids the collision. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) then contacts the other ship, the USS Bozeman, which has been missing for over 90 years. Wonderfully directed by Jonathan Frakes, every time loop in "Cause and Effect" feels unique, and the episode remains one of Star Trek's most memorable time travel stories.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, & Star Trek: Discovery are all available to stream on Paramount+.

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Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage

The first model of the USS Enterprise is displayed at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, shake hands over the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at the Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, view the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

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DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model’s disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model’s return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he’s thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves,” Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

AP AUDIO: Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage.

AP correspondent Margie Szaroleta reports on the return of the original model of the USS Enterprise from the TV show “Star Trek.”

Heritage’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they’d discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn’t go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it,” Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show’s original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series’ episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless,” Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is,” he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn’t something he’d thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don’t think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he’d thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

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The long lost original model of the USS Enterprise has been returned

The model, in the opening credits of Star Trek , had been missing since the 1970s. It popped up on eBay last fall. The seller helped facilitate its return to the family of the creator of Star Trek .

(SOUNDBITE OF ALEXANDER COURAGE'S "THEME FROM STAR TREK")

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Leila Fadel.

The long-lost original model of the USS Enterprise, the one that could be seen in the opening credits of the TV show "Star Trek," has been returned. Missing since the 1970s, the model popped up on eBay last fall. The seller eventually took down the item and helped facilitate its return to Rod Roddenberry, the son of the late "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry. Roddenberry, the son, says he now hopes to get the model into a museum for the public to enjoy.

It's MORNING EDITION.

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The Future Begins

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Summary [ ]

Background information [ ].

• This is book two of the What's Past miniseries.
• This eBook was collected in the print omnibus What's Past .

External link [ ]

• The Future Begins at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein

Lost for a generation, original ‘Star Trek’ Enterprise model finally completes its voyage home

DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model's disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model's return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he's thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

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“This is not going home to adorn my shelves," Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

Heritage's executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they'd discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn't go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it," Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show's original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series' episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless," Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is," he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn't something he'd thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don't think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he'd thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

Long-lost model of 'Star Trek' Enterprise makes voyage home

April 18 (UPI) -- The original model of the starship Enterprise has returned to the family of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

Heritage Auctions last week returned the long-lost model, featured in the original Star Trek series' opening credits, to Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry Jr., CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment and son of the late Gene Roddenberry, the company announced on Thursday.

The three-foot-long USS Enterprise was believed to have disappeared in the 1970s when Gene Roddenberry loaned it to the makers of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

It resurfaced last fall when an unnamed person discovered it and brought it to Heritage for authentication. The auction house then contacted Rod Roddenberry to coordinate its return.

"Once our team of experts concluded it was the real thing, we contacted Rod because we wanted to get the model back to where it belonged," Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena said in a statement. "We're thrilled the Enterprise is finally in dry dock."

Walter "Matt" Jefferies designed the original USS Enterprise and was the namesake of the Jefferies tubes referenced in numerous Stark Trek episodes.

Jefferies, in the 1968 book The Making of Star Trek , said the ship's design was based partly on designs from NASA, Douglas Aircraft and other aerospace engineering outfits, and that Gene Roddenberry wanted the ship to be "believable."

"My feeling was that if you didn't believe in the spaceship, if you didn't believe you were in a vehicle traveling through space, a vehicle that made sense, whose layout and design made sense, then you wouldn't believe in the series," Gene Roddenberry wrote in book.

Once Roddenberry and Jefferies agreed on a design, model-maker Richard Datin Jr., built the three-foot, wooden, hand-painted model, which would appear in the show's opening credits and in the pilot episode "The Cage."

The model now in Rod Roddenberry's hands also was the prototype for the 11-foot-long Enterprise famously on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

"After five decades, I'm thrilled that someone happened upon this historic model of the USS Enterprise. I remember how it used to adorn my dad's desk," Rod Roddenberry said.

"I am tremendously grateful to Heritage Auctions for facilitating the return of this iconic piece of Star Trek history to my family. I can't wait to figure out how we are going to share it with my extended family, Star Trek fans around the world."

Long-Lost First Model of the USS Enterprise From 'Star Trek' Boldly Goes Home After Twisting Voyage

The first USS Enterprise has boldly gone back home, solving a decades-long mystery

Long-Lost First Model of the USS Enterprise From 'Star Trek' Boldly Goes Home After Twisting Voyage

Josh David Jordan

The first model of the USS Enterprise is displayed at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry's son decades after it went missing.

The model's disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model's return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he's thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves," Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

Heritage's executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they'd discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn't go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

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Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it," Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show's original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series' episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can't get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless," Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is," he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn't something he'd thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don't think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he'd thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years," he said with a laugh.

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Long-lost first model of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise finally returned home

The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original Star Trek television series — has gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model’s disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last autumn.

The sellers quickly took it down and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model’s return.

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves,” Mr Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

Heritage’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they had discovered the model in a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing”.

They reached out to Mr Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do.

He wouldn’t go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that”.

“No one knew what happened to it,” Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3ft (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show’s original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series and was the prototype for the 11ft (3-meter) version featured in the series’ episodes.

The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The original Star Trek television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is,” he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Mr Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu”.

He said it wasn’t something he’d thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don’t think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Mr Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumour: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he’d thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

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