Connected universe on screen have been a bigger deal now more than ever before now that one of the most popular, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has embraced Marvel’s diverse history before it was it’s own singular media empire. Shared universes have always been a bit of a cool thing to see on screen whether it was a subtle one such as Michael Keaton reprising his Jackie Brown role as Ray Nicollet in Out of Sight, to spin offs such as Frasier bringing in the old Cheers gang, there’s a novelty to seeing the fictional worlds interconnect with each other from time to time..
For Star Trek’s divergence to telling a story about another crew, the shared universe began with unsubtle hints that this was the same universe as Kirk’s adventures with DeForest Kelly in aged make up as retired Admiral McCoy before offering a sequel episode early on. A few other cameos would follow here and there before the different series would fully converge in recent years with Seven of Nine jumping from Voyager to Picards side, Chakotay and Admiral Janeway being central to Prodigy, but none of those crossovers have taken away from the novelty of seeing two crews combined…
Captains of the Enterprise, Generations (1994)
It wasn’t the first major cross crew connection, nor was it the first re-appearance of the original cast in Star Trek’s spin offs. Technically speaking, it’s not even the first instance of two show leads sharing a screen thanks to Picard’s appearance in DS9’s debut episode. Yet Generations remains something special in spite of always being overshadowed by First Contact’s intense Borg drama as it was the official changing of the guard between two era’s of Star Trek as the Next Generation took centre stage for the big screen whilst Captain Kirk got his final mission.
Generations as a film is at times over-encumbered by it’s own history, but bringing together both Captains of the Enterprise and having them work together to the bitter end made for one of the biggest crossovers in Star Trek’s history.
Uncaged, Discovery Season 2 & Strange New Worlds
Focusing on a lead character who’s connections to Star Trek was clear from the start, Discovery wasn’t shy on bringing in elements from Trek’s early years after reviving Harry Mudd and delving into Sarek’s complex parental experiments. Though the second season’s introduction of a new Captain, who also just happened to be Star Trek’s first Captain, ended up becoming one of the shows best decisions.
Lasting just for the original pilot, later repurposed as a flashback episode, Captain Pike was always hinted at as one of Starfleet’s legendary captains, yet one that would go largely forgotten as Trek moved forward. A sombre and reflective captain in his singular episode, this time Pike was filled with a new confidence in taking over Discovery’s big chair while the Enterprise was under repair. Anson Mount’s portrayal of Pike included a direct follow up to the pilot episode as well as linked to his future and life changing accident portrayed in the original series.
Seeing Pike finally take charge on screen for a full season won fans over enough to continue the story with spin off series Strange New Worlds.
Those Old Scientists, Strange New Worlds Season 2
In the modern world of Star Trek, it’s hard to stay connected. The Next Generation era all happened within the same time frame where as now we’ve had Strange New Worlds in the 23rd century and Discovery in the 32nd while Prodigy and Lower Decks follow different decades after Voyagers return. But crossovers still find a way….
In one of the most fun to date, the crew of Lower Decks being brought from animation to live action thanks to a time portal was just ridiculously fun. Unphased by the time travelling shenanigans, the Lower Deckers mixing with legends in their time worked far more than it should have.
Nothing But Tribble, DS9 Season 5
While the writers tried to promote the offshoot show, DS9 had a few familiar faces from Next Generation appear and even helped to bring back three original series Klingons with modern make up. But not even Thomas Riker stealing the Defiant or Terran Tuvok would match the absurdly entertaining episode that crossed over two era’s when DS9 celebrated 30 years of Star Trek by interjecting themselves into an original series episode.
Using ‘Forest Gump’ techniques with par-built sets and green screen, Sisko and the crew were stitched seamlessly into The Trouble with Tribbles after Arn Garvin, the antagonist of the piece, uses a Bajoran orb to take the Defiant into the past to change his own history and kill Captain Kirk.
Spocktacular, Almost Everywhere…
Following Sarek’s earlier introduction to the Next Generation, the return of Spock was a fairly big deal when the iconic science officer made the jump to Picard’s era. As the years progressed, the rogue ambassadors plan to try and find peace with Romulus and combined their shared ancestry wasn’t just a cool story to give a new link between era’s, but has become one of the most touched on core elements of modern Star Trek.
The two part episode was given a direct sequel in Discovery, showing a future where Romulans and Vulcans were living as one, and his ties to Romulus were the basis of both the first season of Star Trek Picard as well as the link to the Kelvin Timeline where a Romulan incursion to the past spawned an alternate timeline where Spock would live out the rest of his life.
That one appearance had perhaps made Spock the most important character in Star Trek retrospectively, as a key element in the original series era, a political icon during the Next Generation era, a legend in Discovery’s far future, and now following his re-introduction in the Strange New Worlds prequel where we explore his early years under Captain Pike’s command.
Of course, not every crossover connections a winner. Looking at you, Enterprise! But as Star Trek continues to embrace new crews and new adventures, we can surely expect to see more connections throughout the era’s in the years to come.
You can look back on all the above and more through Paramount+’s Star Trek Archive. For more on the behind the scenes info on The Trouble With Tribbles, check out the DS9 Season box set!
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