Picking up a loose thread from the Next Generation, Discovery turned a one off story about a quickly forgotten galactic revelation into a full season of expanding the lore and mystery of the Progenitors. It’s not for the first time either. Spock’s plan for unifying Romulus and Vulcan started in the 24th century and had been realised by the time Burnham landed in the 32nd.
It’s not just Discovery pulling at the tapestry. Picard showed us what happened to the disconnected Borg Hugh, Lower Decks revealed Academy dropout Nick Locarno as a season baddie. Even Prodigy picked up on Janeway’s career following her cameo as an Admiral on the big screen. The trend continued in recent years with Picard mining the Next Generations past, answering questions fans had long pondered from the fate of Ro Laren to what happened to the other Soong type androids.
The method of using the past to build the future worlds seems to be in style. But with so much ground covered, what other loose ends can be pulled?
A Continuing Conspiracy
In the early days of the Next Generation the command structure was wiped out after some creepy alien bugs planted themselves in the head of Starfleets finest in a bid to take over the fleet and be generally evil! When you think about it, Starfleet Security really need to get some extra training because it took Picard and Riker running around blasting alien heads off before anyone noticed….
It’s common knowledge by now that Conspiracy ended with a signal to bring reinforcements afor a second go. And nothing happened because creative ideas changed. Biological assimilation was replaced with technological and the Borg were brought in instead. But what about that bug alien signal? Sure, it might be a bit quick to try that story again. Out of Picard’s three seasons, two of them involved a conspiracy within Starfleet. Doing it again might be a little bit much, especially after Discovery landed on a feeling of hope.
Yet, if we’re mining for mysteries to solve, it might be time to find out if someone did answer that signal….
Beyond The Barrier
Not visible from afar, yet very visible in close range with a hefty effects budget, is a barrier surrounding the galaxy. Filled with weirdness that makes it hard to travel through without spending even more of your effects budget, the barrier made it’s debut in the original series before being revisited in Discovery when the crew reached out to mysterious Species 10C. Even in the 32nd century though, the barrier felt like a limit to exploration…
For all the exploration in the Star Trek Universe, in real terms the reach the Federation had was still very small and our galaxy is only a tiny dot in the wider universe and no matter what era, the same people around bringing he same conflicts. The idea of breaking the barrier has only seemed to be broached behind the scenes, whether it was a pitch of a lost starship or the idea that the 26th century Enterpise J could survive the journey, but the risks seem to hold Star Trek into avoiding he same exploration as other franchises such as Stargate in expanding beyond the limitation. It might not technically be a loose end, but breaking the barrier to race to another galaxy is one idea the franchise could boldly go next.
Commander Sela & Tasha Yar
Thanks to timey wimey shenanigans, an alternate version of Tasha Yar ended up on the Enterprise-C during a battle with the Romulans. In the regular timeline, that Tasha was captured, birthed Sela. Sela became a massive antagonist to Captain Picard and the Enterprise. Then she just dissapeared. Unlike the Duras sisters, who kept popping up until they popped their cloggs, Sela’s story just came to a stand still.
Considering everything that happened in the years following, from the Romulans and the Dominion to the entire Senate being executed in Nemesis, it always seemed mystifying that such an intriguing possibility was left behind. Sure,. Star Trek Online told a story of what Sela could have become. But with all the references and returns in recent years, there’s still a huge possibility to have Sela return one day…
The Jurati
Technically this has had a season to itself. Picard’s second season was pretty much an origin story for a new type of Borg. Once Assimilated by the Bnorg Queen from another dimension, Agnes Jurati managed to counter that assimilation and assimilate the Queen right back. It wasn’t entirely forgotten. Shaw mentioned it in Picard’s third season, hand waving Jurati as not the real Borg, but it’s such a huge thread to leave wide open. The turn of the century has peaceful Borg!
Of course, there’s no show set in that time period right now and it’s uncertain if there ever will be. Despite the fan campaign for a Legacy show to continue the adventures, Terry Matalas has moved on to pastures new and executive overlord of all Trek Alex Kurtzman has said it’s not even his call if Paramount wants to greenlight or not. Will we ever see how the Jurati fit in as the Federations protectors?
The Sisko
It’s been twenty five years since Benjamin Sisko made his promise to Kassidy Yates. Just like Arnie, he said he’d be back. Well Ben, we’re waiting!
Deep Space Nine was a show that had a complete ending. As every character either said their goodbyes or began a new chapter of their life, Kassidy and Jake were left waiting for Sisko to return after he left the corporeal world to join the Prophets. Sisko’s arc was mostly complete. He went from a depressed and bitter widower to rekindling his life on DS9, becoming a religious icon, war hero and remarried. There’s even another Sisko on the way who’s be well into being an adult by now guided by his mother and much older brother.
But there’s still a lot of stories to tell. The Prophets have always protected Bajor and whether by threat or by unity, the Emissary will always have a reason to return. Especially after so much turmoil in the Federation which would have reached DS9 and Bajor.
Sadly, it’s unlikely we’d ever see this happen. Avery Brooks has long retired form acting and stopped even doing fan conventions as he didn’t like retreading old ground so often. Which is fair. But if Patrick Stewart can end Picard in his 80’s, and William Shatner willing to return (with the aid of CGI!) to end his voice to Kirk once more, we can still hold on to the slightest bit of hope that The Sisko will return….
About the author
Resistance Is Optional: Sunday 8th February
We've trialled, we've tested and we're ready for nonsense! This weekend we're inviting the fleet to come together and just enjoy talking Trek, general life, throw questions at Admin and generally misbehave in our Discord server while we run a live first run on the server. For those who've never used Discord before, we're migrating what we can from our social platforms to the Discord server in the coming weeks and months due to it's versatility as a desktop app, web-based client or mobile app; having multiple methods of communication from voice chats, to hosted events, to simple forum and live forum style discussions and of course – aside from them occasionally promoting their Nitro features – it’s ad and payment free with privacy controls to suit you. Also it lets us run video and voice chat - both of […]
“There is no greater enemy than one’s own fears”; ‘Vox In Exelso’, Starfleet Academy S1E4
When an existential crisis threatens to wipe out a beloved but infamous Star Trek species, a cadet is forced to confront his past and strained relationship with his family. As he pursues an unexpected method of coping, Nahla races against time to save this species from extinction.... Writers: Gaia Violo & Eric Anthony Glover Director: Doug Aarniokoski Ever since Discovery took the jump to the future, there were questions that were left unanswered. A few hundred yeas of changing cultures and political landscapes combined with the galaxy-devastating effect of the Burn gave us a familiar surrounding that had undergone massive change. We found out what happened to the Federation. We found out the Orions took advantage of the power vacuum. We even got to meet an isolationist Earth and see the reunification of Vulcan and Romulus. But for a […]
Revenge Of The Nerds; ‘Vitus Reflux’, Starfleet Academy S1E3
Proving yourself at Starfleet Academy always seemed to come down to competitive rivalry. Whether it was Sisko failing to win over Solok, Finnegan's constant pranks on Kirk, or Georgiou drinking everyone under the table, even the most professional stand up Captains have spent their youth in a knife fight with a Nausican. Vitrus Reflux get it all out the way as cadets Lythe and Raymi get locked into a battle of the ego's while the War College next door pops up to assert their dominance! Writers: Alex Taub & Kiley RossetterDirector: Doug Aarniokoski As the more militaristic war college use their current standing as the primary source of Starfleet for the past hundred-plys years to prove the revival of the Academy is a failed experiment, tensions begin to bubble over through mixed physical training leading to conflicts, a war of words and […]
[Q2&A] Positively Positive.
Last week Starfleet Academy debuted and something odd happened. If you're a regular to any Trek news or discussion site, you noticed a spike. Even our usually sleepy Facebook profile went from a handful of likes to over 2,000, am good chunk of which got deleted. It wasn't a normal spike, certainly not normal for a debut show, not normal to be everywhere and – to be frank – not normal in terms of comments. It was a mix of disturbing and sad. Disturbing for the high amount of bigoted and sexist memes and commentary that seemed to mock murdered US citizens. For a subculture of fandom that grew up praising – to the point of gloating – that Star Trek was about intellectualism and inclusion, it certainly showed that as a fandom, and a united international culture, we've taken more […]
[Retro Review] Where No Man Has Gone Before….
During a search and rescue mission that takes the Enterprise through the Galactic Barrier, ships captain James 'R' Kirk has another problem. During the trip through the barrier, Kirks crewmate and long time friend Gary Mitchell takes a blast of weird energy that slowly transforms him into everyone's best friend, to a telekinetic megalomaniac proving that old parable about absolute power.... By this point, everyone knows the story of Star Trek's two pilots. The Cage was filmed, rejected and the show got a rare second chance. That second chance as Where No Man Has Gone Before. Same ship, different Captain and crew aside from a green blooded alien... This year marks the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, so it seems only fitting we should start, where the show began on screen with the pilot that saw the idea become a […]
Everything Whale Be Alright; ‘Beta Test’, Starfleet Academy S1E2 Review
Rebuilding after being torn down by 'The Burn', Starfleet and the Federation are getting back on mission, rekindling old alliances, developing new technologies and now ready to re-open Starfleet Academy to raise the next generation of explorers... Writers: Noga Landau & Jane Maggs Director: Alex Kurtzman Whether it's seeing hios potential, or just sheer guilt, Captain Ake is bending over backwards to integrate Caleb into the Academy. Trouble is, he's not putting in the same effort. Fighting against his own inflated ego and distracted with his quest to find his mother coming to a dead end. Spiralling following an argument with instructor Jet Reno, Caleb tries to run, but instead he runs into Tarima; a visiting Betazoid who can see right through his bravado. Following the Burn, Betazed isolated itself from the Federation and now their president has an […]
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