Decades after the original crew launch their five year mission, 1987 introduced us to a new era of Star Trek as Captain Jean Luc Picard took centre stage of an all new Enterprise.
The relaunch of the series was a bold move, replacing the lovable figures of the original crew with an all new cast, including an Android and a Klingon on the bridge! At the time it was a shocking change, but now for many of us, this is the Star Trek we grew up with.
Despite initial hesitation, 30 years later the Next Generation is one of the most iconic of the franchise.
Long after the original series was cancelled, Kirk and crew had found new life on the big screen. By 1986 they were on their fourth instalment of the film franchise and the popularity was at an all time high. Paramount began to wonder, is it time to get Star Trek back on TV?
In the latest issue of Comms we look at the origins of the Next Generation, how it gave new life to the Star Trek franchise, not only by bringing Star Trek back to our televition screens, but re-inventing the show and bringing new life through further spin offs over the years.
You can read in full in the Spring 2017 edition Comms, free to all members of SFC Quadrant 2. Our latest issue also looks at the latest incarnation of Trek, Discovery, and it’s new cast members as production begins and a lot more including the latest DS9 documentary, news and reviews from Star Trek’s ongoing novel series as well as more from across all sci fi!
The Spring 2017 Edition of Comms is available to all logged in registered members at sfcq2.com/comms. To join SFC Quadrant 2 and gain access to Comms and all other members benefits, membership is completely free!
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[Retro Review] Space Seed
By chance, the Enterprise comes across an ancient Earth ship drifting through space. On board they find a whole bunch of people held in suspended animation, wake up the leader of the gang and accidentally unleash one of the most iconic villains of the franchise. Being coy with his identity at first, ship historian Marla McGivers becomes fascinated with a glimpse at the past while Kirk and the rest of the non-historians figure out that he just happens to be one of the most notorious war lords in Earths history... Star Trek, Season 1 , Episode 22 For all the action and adventure of deep space and the idea of using alien make up to mask more down to earth stories, Space Seed gives the first real glimpse of Star Trek's history. Khan is a relic of Earth from long […]
Resistance Is Optional: Choose Your Adventure!
Our trials of bringing the fleet together have been hit and miss with scheduling and dates being a bit slim. So we're opening the floor to the fleet to pick the next date and theme! You can make your selection below on what works best for you ahead of our next fleet event! The final outcome will be shared at Europa on Facebook and in Fleet Alert in the Officers Hub as soon as we have a comfortable number of notes. For more information or to get direct updates on non-Discord online events, you can the subscribe to Twitch channel, visit twitch.tv/sfcq2. Google Meets events are hosted by our google account - you can add sfcquad2@gmail.com to your whitelist to ensure direct notification. Info and invite confirmations may also come from jt@sfcq2.com directly.
Sixty Year Mission…
It's been a really weird year already for the world of Star Trek fans. We started 2026 with a new venture into a strange new future with Starfleet Academy. Then just as the show had won people over, we found out it's the latest in a long list of recent productions to get a cancellation order, is a bit of a weird way to start the 60th anniversary of a legendary franchise. The past few years we've kind of spoiled. Growing up it was exciting to have Deep Space Nine run alongside the Next Generation. In modern times we had multiple shows going at once with Discovery's launch spawning a new world of story telling from revisiting Picard in his post-Starfleet years, to animated comedy with Lower Decks, to finally telling the story of Captain Pike and even a peek […]
[Retro Review] Let This Be Your Last Battlefield
Often shown in highlight reels and quoted in discussions about Star Trek's more forward thinking messages, Let This Be Your Last Battlefield is at it's simplest, a story of the ridiculousness of segregation. En route to a vital mission of mercy, Kirk and his crew end up in the middle of a political minefield. Interrupted in the mission by a stolen Federation shuttle carrying an injured alien, Lokai from the planet Cheron, they're soon further interrupted by Commissioner Bele, an official representing Cheron who announces Lokai as a political traitor and demanding custody. One asylum request later, Kirk's stuck between the two trying to find the right course of action knowing he has orders to follow beyond the situation. The separation between Belle and Lokai is a simple context. And also a strangely charged one looking at it from a […]
[Treknology] The Holodeck
An immersive experience in itself, the Holodeck is one of the many creature comforts that help bring comfort and entertainment within the life of a starship years from home that not only acts in creating a live action gaming environment, but as a useful tool for educational simulations, experiments and the occasional Hirogen nightmare! The holodeck is a complex device. Essentially a simulated environment generator, the holodeck is usually a vast room that used a combination of forcefields, matter replication and visually manipulative holographic systems to create an immersive environment that one or multiple people can use to not only see and hear, but physically interact with. Able to replicate anything from historical settings to an entirely original landscape, the holodeck ios Knightmare in ultra high resolution without a headset or guide, but a physical interaction with a created world […]
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 […]
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Relay Recap: July 2024
All Features Universe Categories Fleet Alert Comms GORN GIRL recap; july 2025 Picking up on the Season 2 cliff-hanger, Strange New Worlds returned to our screens this month to find Captain Pike and his crew on the edge of war with the Gorn as Season 3 was finally released!Exploring new worlds and new problems, the Enterprise crew are back in action on Paramount Plus and we're keeping ourselves up to date with weekly episode discussion threads on our FB Continuing Mission Group & Weekly episode reviews from Admin ! Explore... Episode Reviews Spoilers Group ACROSS THE UNIVERSE As we look back on Pike's adventures on the Enterprise in the prequel series, Paramount also gave us a look at whats to come next as Entertainment Weekly and SDCC's Star Trek Universe panel gave us a sneak peek at the reopening of […]
A Fistful Of…. Other Worlds
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, LGBT & Me.
The concept of IDIC - Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations - has always been core to the ideology of Star Trek and to SFC. As we celebrate Pride month, a celebration of diversity in itself, we're proud to introduce the first post from Churchill's CO Stephen Lester in sharing his experiences in what brought him to the world of Star Trek and to SFCQ2. Hello, my name is Stephen Lester aka Sebastian Rax. I am the Captain of the USS Churchill. I am a gay man with a partner. When I was at school, I wasn’t into Football like the other boys. I didn’t really have many friends who were boys. We rarely have anything in common and besides, they used to bully me. Calling me Gaylord. I preferred to get along with the girls and hang out with them. […]
Diversity and Inclusion in Star Trek
Sovereign's Sam Lewis (right) and their wife, Claire. Diversity and Inclusion in Star Trek June marks Pride month, celebrating diversity and inclusivity in the LGBT+ community. Star Trek has had mixed success with representation of LGBT+ individuals despite being otherwise representative of other minorities such as people of colour and those with a disability. Despite these hiccups the enduring message in Star Trek has always been one of inclusion and nothing demonstrates this more than Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. IDIC was first heard during the season 3 TOS episode "Is There In Truth No Beauty" where the symbol is first seen and talked about by Spock and Dr Jones, the actress whom went on to play the polarising TNG character Dr Polaski. The Original Series did not have any openly LGBT+ characters and whilst Roddenbery promised gay characters in […]
Raising a Glass to the Fathers of the Future
Darting from planet to planet, discovering the unknown, Star Trek has shown that relationships are a struggle when your main focus is on exploring the unknown. Yet beyond the great adventure, one of the most complex relationships shown on screen have been between parents and their children. Family drama is one of televisions most loved tropes and Star Trek has mined that particular well more than a few times over the years; particularly with father figures. For every inspiring and supportive Joseph Sisko, there's a Kyle Riker holding a life long resentment over their children. Occasionally there's an Enabrin Tain, who'd deny his parentage right until his deathbed. Not every family relationship in Trek has been antagonistic and some have been inspirational to both characters within the story and the audience at home. Today we're celebrating Fathers Day by looking […]
The Best of Trek!
On the build up to our latest issue of Comms, members of SFC Quadrant 2 taking part in our Facbeook group have been voting for the Best of Trek. Using fan created polls throughout the years and suggestions form members, the best and highest rated episodes of all five Trek series have been picked out and put into battle in a knockout tournament. Over the past week members have been asked to choose their favourites in the first four groups. Each of the qualifying groups contains one highly rated episode of each series. Members can vote on their favourites and the winner moves onto the next stage. At the half way mark we've seen the first four groups dominated by the original series with the only non-TOS winner being DS9's time travelling anniversary special Trials and Tribbleations! Tonight we'll see […]
