Beyond the final frontier lies worlds even stranger than those encountered by heroic starship crews week after week. Running parallel to our world are many more. Some slightly different, some dramatically so and with each possibility time splinters into further alternate realities where everything that could be, is.
Star Trek has never been shy in exploring these worlds with Discovery’s last season delving into the effects of travelling between realities while the Bad Robot produced movies starting in 2009 explore those alternate lives in whats known as the Kelvin Timeline. And as we look forward to the return of Star Trek Picard, it looks as if we’ll visit another broken timeline.
Looking back at all those alternate worlds and perspectives, we’re picking out five of the best times we saw our favourite Starfleet officers find themselves outside the “Prime” timeline.
Yesterdays Enterprise
Next Generation (Season 3)
Investigating an anomaly, the crew of the Enterprise witness the ships predecessor, The Enterprise-C, emerge, displaced from it’s own time. Instantly things change; their exploration mission non existent as we see a Starfleet in war mode against an increasingly aggressive Klingon Empire.
History recorded the Enterprise-C being destroyed after responding to a Klingon distress call, hekping to solidify peace between the two. But ambushed by Romulans it was thrown forward in time and as a result, none of that happened. Only Guinan has the spidey sense to realise something went horribly wrong, knowing tactical officer Tasha Yar shouldn’t exist.
Having faith in his close adviser, and knowing that the Federations on the edge of defeat, Picard and his predecessor Captain Garrett decide to send the Enterprise-C back to where it left, save the Klingons and hope to avert the war with Yar going with them to have the meaningful death she was denied in the prime timeline.
In A Mirror Darkly
Enterprise (Season 4)
First in the Original Series in a one off, the Mirror Universe made a return several times on Deep Space Nine where we learned of the Cardassian-Klingon Alliance era before making an impact on Discovery as the entire universe was reimagined in a more sinister light.
However, for a special two parter, Enterprise was the first series to show us the Terrans from their perspective without an outsider from our Prime reality dropping in. Connecting the early stages of the Terran Empire’s conquest into space to finding the USS Defiant from the Original Series lost through time and space, In A Mirror Darkly showed us the trials and treacherous tactics a Terran has to deal with in a backstabbing and power hungry reality.
Timeless
Voyager (Season 5)
Utilising the slipstream drive technology discovered during the events of Hope And Fear, Voyager managed to retrofit their warp drive and find a way home by having Chakotay and Harry Kim fly ahead and feed back information to Voyager to help it survive the trip (bit more complex than that , but lets keep it to TLDR here!).
Harry’s eagerness to save the day outweighs everything else. That eagerness leads to a mistake he cant cover in time. Chakotay and Harry get home with the Flyer. Voyager is thrown out of the slipstream and straight into a crash landing killing the entire crew.
Timeless is far from Voyagers best episode. But Harry Kim is close to the shows Chief O’Brien, so seeing an older and bitter version of him and Chakotay fighting to change the timeline they knew always sets a level of intrigue, especially when intercepted by Captain Geordie La Forge…
Parallels
Next Generation (Season 7)
When it comes to roads not taken, Season 7’s dimension jumping adventure gave us a look at how timelines can branch off with subtle changes as well as dramatic difference. That was the case for Worf when reality begins to change little by little and he realised he wasn’t in Kansas any more.
Skipping through different versions of his life, including a world where Geordie dies and Riker gained full time command of the Enterprise following the battle of Wolf 359, it showed him different aspects of what could have been from joining the command track to entering a relationship with Commander Troi.
Of course he does venture back to his own universe by the end, but would be inspired to try and change some aspects of his life that we’d see in the years that followed.
The Visitor
Deep Space Nine (Season 4)
One of Deep Space Nine’s finest hours of storytelling came down to a young man who lost his father. During a tragic accident, Captain Sisko and Jake end up in Engineering fixing up the Defiant and with a burst of energy, the elder Sisko vanishes in front of his sons eyes.
In the years that followed, Starfleet would withdraw from DS9 and the political landscape would change without the Emissary. But then The Sisko appears again, trapped in time only returning for moments at a time. Growing up without his fathers influence, Jake would become successful but over time obsessive over finding a way to save his father. Realising that their lives are tethered due to the accident, he tries and fails the scientific route before realising there’s only one way to break the connection and reset the timeline; End his own life.
Told from the perspective of an older Jake Sisko recounting his life to an aspiring writer, The Visitor’s alternate timeline and sci fi leanings are secondary to Jake’s story of loss, suffering and love for the father he feels responsible for and would, in the end, give his life to save.
About the author
[Treknology] Tea On Demand. The Replicator.
Trekking across the universe needs powerful engines to traverse the vastness of the Galaxy, devastating weapons to survive perilous territory, and all the trinkets to explore every inch of the unknown while making new friends among new civilisations. But the future Star Trek creates isn't just shaped by the tools of the trade for Starfleet and it's various allies and enemies. Some of the more incredibly technologies come from the mundane day to day necessities. Unlike a lot of Trek tech, the Replicator took a while to develop. In the original series food synthesisers were a simple hole in the wall system. Put a card in, open the door and it's dinner time! By the time the Next Generation took over, the hole in the wall had a more appealing visual look and functions that would carry through nearly every […]
Inside Trek/Outside Trek: Colm Meaney
To the entire Star Trek Universe, Colm Meaney will forever be remembered as The Chief. Making his first appearance in The Next Generations pilot as a background character, Meaney soon found himself in the rotating guest cast for the Next Generation as the character O'Brien was fleshed out and used to bridge the next spin off when he became part of the core cast of Deep Space Nine. Becoming a favourite as the mild mannered transporter chief, O'Brien solidified his place in Star Trek history in Deep Space Nine thanks to Meaney bringing a grounded, working-class style into the collection of officers and diplomats around him, kicking and cursing at broken down equipment in DS9's pilot episode and continuing to bring the most human character as a father, husband, mentor and overworked fixer of all things. Beyond Star Trek, […]
[For The Uniform] The Pioneers: Mid 22nd Century
Giving us a glimpse of Starfleet's formative years, Star Trek Enterprise embraced a world before colourful uniforms, flashy computer panels and creature comforts all around. Set a century before Captain Kirk's five year mission and focused on the first line of Starfleet ships built to take on the final frontier, the show focused on Starfleet's first steps into becoming what we all knew and loved.... Offering a dramatic shift in visual identity, Enterprise took a massive step back from the comfortable styles of the Next Generation, and even further away from the colour coded optimism of the original series. Instead of bold colours and hidden zips, designer Robert Blackman took inspiration from his own century, using Enterprise's timeline to bridge the style gap between Kirk's era and our own.Taking inspiration from NASA's flight suits, Starfleet's were idealised as the next […]
[Treknology] Beam Me Up!
Step into the transporter and with the touch of a few buttons and sliders you're whisked away to an alien landscape ready to explore. As synonymous to the Star Trek lore as phasers and tricorders, the transporter is one of the most vital tools within Starfleet, letting officers and crew travel instantaneously between environments without the need for time consuming shuttle trips or finding a starship-sized parking space to land in. Developed as a narrative tool, the transporter lets the story move along swiftly without breaks in the action and in a budget friendly manner. All you need to film is someone stepping into the large chamber, paste over some special effects, then pick up in another filming location. Aside from the creative benefits, it also showed the enhanced technological nature of the 23rd century. How it works is fairly […]
That Guy From That Thing: Harris Yulin
Among the many acclaimed guest appearances from all corners of the Star Trek Universe, there are only a small few who gave as deep a performance as Harris Yulin in his sole appearance in the franchise. Taking the spotlight as Aamin Marritza in Deep Space Nine's first season episode Duet, a Cardassian civilian who arrives at Deep Space Nine and raises a massive red flag for Kira when she learns he has a condition that links him to a brutal mining camp that many Bajorans suffered through during the occupation. Yulin is an actor who you may not recognise by name, but you always recognise. Having made his name in the New York theatre scene in the 60's, he quickly established himself as a serious dramatic talent with an incredible command of language, subtly and presence before he'd ever step […]
A Fistful of Justice
Although it's one of the worlds most legendary science fiction shows, Star Trek has always dabbled with format and genre's, all dressed up behind deep space adventures. Whether using the holodeck for a touch of fantasy, or diving into the horrors of war through Deep Space Nine's run, the variety of story telling never seems to fit one mould. But out of all the different tales told in the wonderful world of Starfleet, one that always promises to deliver is the court room drama. This month we're diving into the most captivating of Star Trek's courtroom drama's with a Fistful of Justice! AD ASTRA PER ASPERA Strange New Worlds, Season 2 One of the most modern examples of Strar Trek's court room drama saw Pike's own Number One, Una-Chin Reilly, under court martial for a serious breach of Starfleet regulation […]
Related
A Fistful of O’Brien
Entering the Star Trek world as an unnamed extra with a few bits of dialogue, O'Brien soon became a fixture on the Enterprise D as it's transporter chief before moving to Deep Space Nine to head up engineering and operations on what was thought to be a backwater outpost before it became one of the most strategically important stations in the quadrant!As the only enlisted or non commissioned officer to feature in the main cast of any Star Trek show to date, O'Brien stands as the only working class hero in the Star Trek universe with a vast and varied career taking from the front lines of the Cardassian war as a soldier, to the front lines of the Dominion War as an engineer, retrofitting DS9, keeping the Defiant from blowing itself apart, and even sniping Dominion troops. All in […]
A Fistful of Justice
Although it's one of the worlds most legendary science fiction shows, Star Trek has always dabbled with format and genre's, all dressed up behind deep space adventures. Whether using the holodeck for a touch of fantasy, or diving into the horrors of war through Deep Space Nine's run, the variety of story telling never seems to fit one mould. But out of all the different tales told in the wonderful world of Starfleet, one that always promises to deliver is the court room drama. This month we're diving into the most captivating of Star Trek's courtroom drama's with a Fistful of Justice! AD ASTRA PER ASPERA Strange New Worlds, Season 2 One of the most modern examples of Strar Trek's court room drama saw Pike's own Number One, Una-Chin Reilly, under court martial for a serious breach of Starfleet regulation […]
A Fistful of Sisko
In the past few years, Star Trek has made several nods to it's past. But while The NExt Generation and Voyager had their continuations, Deep Space Nine continued to 'black sheep' of the family with it's history and name drops being few and far between. Until Academy when we had an entire episode based around the legend of Starfleet's most complex captains. Starting his show as a widower and single parent, Benjamin Sisko started his time in Star Trek as a reluctant hero turned religious icon who's become a prime figure in Bajoran history, the Federation-Dominion war and much more. If you missed his series, first of.... why?! And also, if you want a quick intro - here's our Sisko top five to see what the fuss is all about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzBkvzPoofQ IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT Season 6, Episode 13 Lets […]
A Fistful of Honour Beyond Bloodshed
Feared throughout the galaxy due to being fearless warriors who thrive on battle and bloodshed, the Klingon's are one of Star Trek's most iconic races and yet, with all their history, perhaps the most misunderstood. Starting off in the original series as authoritarian and distrustful antagonist, they were written as a parallel to Russia with the Klingon Empire in a cold war with the Federation following a long conflict. The Klingons would have a bit of reinvention in the movies thanks to higher budgets giving the producers a chance for a more alien look, while their culture and history would get a little more depth on The Next Generation thanks to the inclusion of Worf, the first Klingon member of Starfleet. But Worf's views on the Klingon culture weren't quite spot on. From a noble house, Worf was displaced and […]
A Fistful of Familiar Surroundings
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. President Forward During the Next Generation multiple set pieces were re-used and recycled from the set pieces built for the film franchise. From the obvious re-use of internal corridors, to smaller pieces such as Dr Crushers office being McCoy's, it's hard for a keen eye to ignore how much the productions shared between them. But as The Next Generation became the dominant forcer with ongoing production and full standing sets, eventually the turn tabled and by the final original cast instalment, it was the TNG stages that became the obvious redress solution. The most jarring of the films set re-uses was the office of the president. As Kirk and McCoy were charged with assassination, a political poop show begins and the Federation […]
A Fistful of New Beginnings
The coming of a new year always comes with a feeling of new beginnings. Whether it's hearing the bells at midnight or planning a list of new years resolutions to forget about by February, the changing of numbers and another year ahead can bring us a sense of starting over. To commemorate another year passing, and the beginning of a new Star Trek milestone, we're kicking off with our usual list looking at five times Star Trek itself was able to give itself a fresh start. GROWING THE BEARD Between the first and second seasons of The Next Generation, things changed. A lot. A lot of the Next Generation was just carrying over from the abandoned Phase II and Roddenberry's constant rewrites led to a very inconsistent start for the show. By the second season things has calmed down a […]
