star trek spin off in the 80s

10 Best Star Trek Spinoffs, Ranked

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The Star Trek franchise is entering a new era with new Paramount+ series and movies on the horizon and the final season of Picard now streaming in its entirety. As audiences continue to return again and again to the final frontier and wide variety of worlds in Star Trek , the franchise is nowhere near its end.

In 50+ years since Star Trek: The Original Series first aired, the franchise has introduced ten different spinoff series that have carried forth their predecessor's legacy. While each of these shows has its merits, some simply stand above the rest as the greatest spinoffs in the Star Trek galaxy.

Updated January 18, 2024 by Robert Vaux: The article has been updated to reflect changes in the Star Trek franchise since it was originally written. It has also been updated to conform with current CBR guidelines.

10 Star Trek: The Animated Series Captured The Original Show's Magic

Star trek: the animated series.

The further adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise, as they explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.

Star Trek: Voyager Actor Weighs in on Controversial Tuvix Debate

Star Trek: Voyager's Tuvix actor Tom Wright shares his opinion on whether Janeway made the right decision about his character's fate.

Star Trek: The Animated Series was the first official spin-off of the original show, as well as the first animated project in the franchise. Coming several years after the cancelation of The Original Series , this spin-off depicted the continuing adventures of the USS Enterprise crew, bringing back many members of the original cast in voiceover roles.

The Animated Series is a terrific entry in the Star Trek pantheon, though its popularity hasn't withstood the test of time in the same way that other spin-offs have. Though the series was able to mostly capture the magic of its predecessor, the animation, technical aspects, and general tone are a testament to the age in which it aired, paling compared to later series.

9 Discovery Paved the Way for a Star Trek Renaissance

Star trek: discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery launched in 2017 as the first Star Trek series in over a decade, following the crew of the eponymous starship, which included are entirely new characters. The show acts as a prequel to The Original Series , set a decade before its events and occasionally featuring cameos from future Enterprise crew members, including Spock (Ethan Peck)

During its early seasons, Discovery landed with critics but created controversy among audiences : drawing criticism for apparent tampering with the Star Trek canon, including the surprise reveal that Spock had an adopted sister. However, the series deserves credit for effectively rejuvenating the Star Trek franchise, paving the way for multiple new series set in the original franchise canon for the first time since the movie reboot in 2009.

8 Prodigy Is Star Trek for the Family

Star trek: prodigy.

A group of enslaved teenagers steal a derelict Starfleet vessel to escape and explore the galaxy.

Did Star Trek (2009) Incorporate a Story From a Canceled Original Series Movie?

When J.J. Abrams helped reboot Star Trek in 2009, elements of the film seemed borrowed from The Academy Years, a discarded Original Series era movie.

Star Trek: Prodigy is an animated spinoff directed at children while also acting as somewhat of a spiritual successor to Star Trek: Voyager . The series follows a group of young aliens who commandeer the USS Protostar and travel across the galaxy, with the crew of the Voyager , including Captain Katheryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), in pursuit.

As a fun exploration of Star Trek 's vast world, Prodigy is certainly a worthwhile series for any fans of the franchise, especially as a follow-up to Voyager . However, because it is aimed primarily at children, Prodigy never reaches the emotional depths and moral quandaries of its other sister series, though future seasons may reverse this trend.

7 Picard Brings Back a Favotire Star Trek Character

Star trek: picard.

Retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard is drawn back into action when a mysterious young woman seeks his help, triggering a journey that leads him to confront the ghosts of his past. As he assembles a new crew to uncover the truth behind a dangerous conspiracy, Picard navigates a galaxy that has changed significantly since his days aboard the Enterprise.

Star Trek: Picard finally returns to the story of fan-favorite Starfleet admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) 20 years after his final appearance. The series acts as an epilogue to Picard's story after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation and even features several returning characters from other Star Trek properties throughout its three-season run.

Despite the incredible cast for Picard , the series struggled to find its stride. The first two seasons paled in comparison to Picard's earlier adventures, failing to justice the show's existence. However, Picard truly soared in its third and final season, which finally does justice to its title character and beloved cast of characters. It may have taken a while to get there, but Picard firmly stakes its claim in the Star Trek fandom.

6 Lower Decks Let Star Trek Laugh at Itself

Star trek: lower decks.

The support crew serving on one of Starfleet's least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, have to keep up with their duties, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.

After Star Trek: Discovery, the 32nd Century Should Be the Franchise's New Frontier

Star Trek Discovery avoided a host of potential continuity issues by leaping 900 years into the future. The franchise as a whole should follow suit.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is an animated spin-off exploring the lives of lower-ranking crew members on the USS Cerritos . Poking fun at the franchise's propensity to ignore any Starfleet crew members not listed in the opening credits, Lower Decks is the first Star Trek series to be considered a comedy.

Star Trek: Lower Decks is one of television's strangest spin-offs , becoming one of the more unique series in the franchise by far. However, it brings a much-needed fresh perspective to the long-running franchise. Though some viewers may worry that Lower Decks doesn't take the franchise's canon seriously enough, it is difficult to deny that the show doesn't make for entertaining television.

5 Enterprise Showed the Early Days of Star Trek

Star trek: enterprise.

A century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation.

Set a century before the events of The Original Series , Star Trek: Enterprise follows the first crew of the eponymous starship on their early adventures throughout the galaxy. Sporting a crew that included Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), Trip Tucker (Connor Trineer), and T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), the series ran for four seasons in the early 2000s.

Enterprise was a stark departure from previous series, building out the lore of the franchise and focusing on character-driven drama. Although the series started out well, it dwindled in quality enough to receive a cancelation order after its fourth season, creating a long hiatus wherein no new Star Trek series were produced until 2017's Discovery . Nevertheless, Enterprise remains a generally enjoyable foray into deep space with fun and engaging characters.

4 Voyager Took Star Trek Beyond the Final Frontier

Star trek voyager.

Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.

10 Controversial Star Trek: TOS Episodes That Wouldn't Fly Today

Star Trek: The Original Series has released several polarizing episodes that wouldn't work today, from "Omega Glory" to "Mudd's Women."

Star Trek: Voyager took place in the 24th century, following the crew of the titular spaceship, led by Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), and their adventures in deep space as they attempt to return home. The series ran for seven seasons, ending in 2001.

Voyager was the perfect next step after the end of The Next Generation . Exploring an all-new starship and its cast of new characters, the series greatly expanded the borders of the franchise in all the best ways. Furthermore, its gender-balanced cast, which included Star Trek 's first female Starfleet captain, marked a significant turning point in the franchise.

3 Deep Space Nine Showed the Shadows in Star Trek's Universe

Star trek: deep space nine.

In the vicinity of the liberated planet of Bajor, the Federation space station Deep Space Nine guards the opening of a stable wormhole to the far side of the galaxy.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the first series in the franchise not set aboard the USS Enterprise . Instead, the series follows the inhabitants of the Deep Space Nine space station, led by Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). The series, which was set in the same timeframe as Voyager , ran for seven seasons before coming to an end in 1999.

Deep Space Nine is one of the best Star Trek series, building the lore of the franchise in new and inventive ways. Although early seasons struggled as a result of the show's sedentary setting, later episodes fixed this issue by moving to the USS Defiant . While Deep Space Nine separated itself from previous series in all the best ways, modern Star Trek learned all the wrong lessons from Deep Space Nine , often falling short in its reimagining of the franchise.

2 Strange New Worlds Returns to Star Trek's Roots

Star trek: strange new worlds, gene roddenberry created star trek, but who is the woman behind the franchise.

Fans laud Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, but he didn't do it alone, with Dorothy D.C. Fontana being a very important woman in franchise history.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a spinoff of Discovery , with both series set in the same timeframe. The show follows the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), James T. Kirk's predecessor aboard the Enterprise . Having only aired two seasons, Strange New Worlds has rapidly become a fan favorite.

Strange New Worlds gets Star Trek right , using the perfect blend of old and new characters to expand the lore surrounding the crew of the Enterprise . The series manages to set up events to come in The Original Series without belaboring its point, and while there is still plenty of time for it to go off the rails, it is the best Star Trek series currently airing new episodes.

1 The Next Generation Moved Star Trek Beyond Kirk's Enterprise

Star trek: the next generation.

Set almost 100 years after Captain Kirk's 5-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers sets off in the U.S.S. Enterprise-D on its own mission to go where no one has gone before.

Star Trek: The Next Generation was the first live-action spin-off in the franchise, following the crew of the Enterprise , led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, nearly a century after the events of The Original Series . The Next Generation ran for seven seasons, with its cast also appearing in four original films.

The Next Generation is everything a spinoff should be, improving upon its predecessor in every way. The beloved series holds a deep reverence for the original without repeating its story. Instead, the show introduced new concepts, characters, and storylines that expanded the franchise well beyond what it had been before. The Original Series may have kicked off Star Trek , but The Next Generation made it a franchise.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

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Late '80s "Star Trek" spinoff series: Abbr. - Daily Themed Crossword

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The Best '80s TV SpinOffs, Ranked

The '80s are widely considered a golden age of TV. From great sitcoms to inventive late-night variety shows, the 1980s really changed television forever. But not to be forgotten in all of that great TV are the tremendous spin-offs that premiered in the '80s. These are the best1980s spin-offs, ranked from best to worst by TV fanatics. Some of these shows expand the universe and continue the journey of fan-favorite characters from their predecessors, while other great 1980s spin-offs on this list merely take place in the same location as the show they're based on.

What are some of the series that you'll find on this list of1980s spin-offs list? After appearing in popular segments on The Tracey Ullman Show , The Simpsons were given their own series in 1989. This great spin-off holds many titles including the longest-running sitcom and the longest-running animated program in America. Mork & Mindy is another good spin-off that aired in the 1980s.

A Different World followed The Cosby Show character, Denise Huxtable, as she went off to college. Other great shows on this top '80s spin-offs list include The Jeffersons , The Facts of Life , and Muppet Babies .

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Late '80s "Star Trek" spinoff series: Abbr. Crossword Clue

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Ranking All The ‘Star Trek’ Series That Never Were

From Captain Kirk to Captain Picard and back to Captain Kirk, the Star Trek franchise has thrilled its fans with several awe-inspiring chapters on both television and the big screen, but it’s also worth remembering that there have been numerous unrealized additions to the Star Trek canon. So, as we all celebrate Star Trek and its illustrious half century of existence and inspiration, lets look back at (and rank) those projects that ultimately failed to boldy go.

6) Hopeship

Science-fiction author Darlene Hartman briefly developed a hospital ship-based Star Trek spin-off with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in the ’60s that never came to be. Later, she’d publish the Star Trek -influenced Einai novel series under the name Simon Lang. Its fifth book, published in 1994, was titled Hopeship . And that might have ultimately been the best place for such a concept. As a complimentary piece, the portrayal of advanced medical procedures, tools, and medications is fascinating and at times riveting, but it’s not immediately clear where the conflict would have come from on a high-tech space hospital show in the ’60s.

5) Untitled Spock/Vulcan Series

After the cancellation of TOS , Paramount wanted Roddenberry to produce a spin-off that centered around Spock and the planet Vulcan. As detailed in the book, The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Roddenberry passed on this idea due to his belief that the human element that surrounded Spock on the Enterprise and in Star Trek allowed Spock’s unique alien behavior to stand out, and that without that “contrast,” it wouldn’t work. He probably wasn’t wrong.

4) Star Trek: Phase II

In 1975, after years of pushing for a continuation of the franchise, Roddenberry started work on Star Trek: The God Thing — a project which was to be the first Star Trek film. This eventually gave way to the Chris Bryant/Allan Scott-penned Star Trek: Planet of the Titans before the idea of a film was scrapped and the idea of Phase II — the apple in the eye of the planned Paramount TV network — was given life. ( Star Trek: Voyager was charged with the same responsibility when UPN launched in 1995 and the brand new Star Trek series would also be used to attract subscribers to CBS’ streaming service, CBS All Access, so some things never change.)

Phase II , which was supposed to take the crew of the Enterprise (absent Leonard Nimoy, who wasn’t interested in coming back at the time) on another five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, chugged toward realization with casting, set construction, and scripting underway before the Paramount network failed to launch, ultimately causing Star Trek: The Motion Picture to rise from its ashes.

In that this was supposed to be a continuation of the original show, it’s hard to judge the concept harshly. But the idea of losing a weekly Star Trek series without Nimoy is tough to mourn, especially when you consider that the death of Phase II led to the birth of a mostly successful film franchise that might not have existed had the show come to be.

3) Assignment Earth

More than a mere concept, Assignment Earth came to life in a season two episode of TOS that served as a backdoor pilot featuring Robert Lansing as Gary Seven and Teri Garr as his assistant, Roberta Lincoln.

In the episode, Seven, a human born off-world, takes over a mission from two dead colleagues to ensure that mankind doesn’t launch into a nuclear war. Unfortunately, Kirk and Spock are not initially aware of this, but everything works out in the end, and Seven is told that, according to Federation records, he and Lincoln have more adventures on the horizon. Unfortunately, the Federation didn’t check with NBC because the Assignment Earth series never made it to air, but the characters lived on in The Eugenics Wars novels (where Seven’s story ties to Khan Noonien Singh’s at one point) and in a 2010 John Byrne comic book mini-series.

An Assignment Earth TV series would have been interesting in that it would have — for better or worse — allowed Roddenberry and his team the chance to churn out topical and politically relevant sci-fi stories without the barrier that Star Trek ‘s aliens and deep space travel provided. But it also would have felt a bit like Doctor Who. (Seven had a companion and a sonic screwdriver-like device called a Servo, after all.) So, maybe it’s for the best that the show never came to be.

2) The Hard Reboot

J. Michael Straczynski ( Babylon 5 ) and Bryce Zabel didn’t want to create another Star Trek series back in 2004 : They wanted to go back to the start to retell the story of the original five-year mission with Kirk, Spock, and the rest in an effort to unburden the franchise from the weight of its own history and the limitations created by the canon. The team also wanted to implant a central mystery within the show, with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy leading the Enterprise into the unknown to find an advanced race and seek out the “common origin of all lifeforms everywhere, the truth that will unite a galaxy.” It was a big idea, to be sure, and one that made sense on its face when you consider the state of the franchise at that time with poorly recieved Next Generation films and Enterprise as the most recent entries. But while the J.J. Abrams’ reboot shows that the studio was interested in doing something extreme, this wasn’t it — most likely because it would have iced the idea of a film franchise for years.

1) The Adventures of Harry Mudd

There have been plenty of lovable space rogues — Han Solo, Mal Reynolds, Jack Harkness — but Harry Mudd was among the first, and he’s a part of the archetype’s DNA. Unfortunately, the idea of developing a spin-off following the mustachioed smuggler’s two live-action appearances on TOS fell by the wayside. Why? Because there just wasn’t enough time to develop it, according to Gene Roddenberry, who revealed the existence of the once-possible spin-off to Mudd actor Roger C. Carmel at a party after the moment had passed. Of all the spin-off ideas, this seems like the one that is furthest from the central ethos of Roddenberry’s Star Trek universe, but it also sounds like it would have been the most fun.

This article originally ran on November 3, 2015

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The History of the Star Trek Spin-Off

We sit at the edge of over 20 new Star Trek spin-offs , everything from the second season of Star Trek: Discovery to a yet unnamed Star Trek Picard series. It is hard to imagine a time when every department store aisle was not filled with Star Trek spin-offs. From cereal to bedsheets Star Trek is everywhere.

It was not always this way.

“Star Trek” was slow to launch. Spin-offs started extremely modestly compared to the warp speed we see today.

During the shows, original run spin-off merchandise was hard to come by for early fans. This was due in part by the fact that television properties, unlike today, were not considered good candidates for spin-offs in any form. This expectation came much later, thanks to Star Wars which fully cemented and realized the spin-off juggernaut that we see today.

“Rack Toys”

Those first Star Trek fans that witnessed the birth of a cultural phenomenon were offered very little that they could bring home to show their love of the iconic show. Besides the quick-to-produce t-shirts and buttons, the first merchandise was the usual “Rack Toys.” Rack Toys are those cheap toys that are found in dollar stores (traditionally grocery stores, drug stores, and dime stores) these toys bear little resemblance to the property that they are tied to. While these examples did not come out until the early 70s, some examples of these early toy spin-offs, include a parachuting Kirk and Spock rubber “figures” and guns that looked nothing like the iconic Phasers seen in the show. Nothing says Star Trek like a parachuting Spock.

Uniquely Star Trek

Two spin-off products that were available while the show was finding its way during its original run are unique even until today. The first were AMT model kits. Model Kits are obviously not unique, but the licencing deal that Gene Roddenberry cut with AMT certainly was. Part of AMT’s licencing fee included providing models for the show. Some of these first AMT models can be seen in episodes, “The Doomsday Machine” and the popular “The Trouble with Tribbles.” AMT models most significant contribution to the show was building the now iconic shuttlecraft, first seen in the episode “Galileo 7.” AMT designed and built not only the model kit to be devoured by these early fans, they built the full-scale prop used in the episode itself. This was one way Gene Roddenberry was able to finance the vision he wanted for the cash-strapped show.

The second spin-off item available to fans while the show was still in its first run was the book The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry.

This book first released in 1968 helped establish everything we now take for granted in Star Trek . While spin-off merchandising was still unexplored territory so too was opening up the behind the scenes story of how to create a hit TV show. This book did just that, it is part how to write for TV book and part Star Trek history. The book documents the rich backstory and incredible level of detail that Gene Roddenberry poured into the show. From the set design by Matt Jefferies to Gene’s consultations with DARPA the deep state defence contractor.

These two firsts helped establish Star Trek as something unique in television and built the fan base it continues to enjoy. From these early spin-offs, we now have highly detailed Star Trek blueprints and technical manuals right up to cut away model kits of the Enterprise itself. Both of these early works the unique licencing deal and the making of book were unheard in annuals of pop culture and remain unique to Star Trek .

The first true media spin-off of Star Trek was found in print. As mentioned fans craving more Star Trek could find it in the bookstore. From making of books to original novels and episode adaptations. Long before home video was an option and even before the episodes could be found endlessly in syndication. Episode adaptations by James Blish were available to fuel fan imaginations. These adaptations often based on early draft scripts were first released in 1967 while original episodes were still airing weekly.

Star Trek has a long and rich history in the printed word.

1972 – The Convention is Born

Another first in pop culture was the Star Trek spin-off conventions. While Sci-Fi conventions had been around for years, Gene Roddenberry had even promoted his new series at such conventions. Star Trek was the first television show to receive its own dedicated convention. Just 3 years after the last original episode aired the Star Trek Lives! Convention blew away every expectation in 1972. These conventions and their offspring continue almost unabated.

Toys Improve

The most iconic toy merchandise in a landscape of both limited choice and half hatred attempts were found in the now classic Mego Star Trek figures . These figures first released in 1974 a full eight years after the show initially aired were a runaway hit for both Star Trek and Mego. Mego Corporation was a true pioneer of the action figure genre all through the 70’s.

The company went bankrupt and closed its doors in 1982, yet just a few months ago in July 2018 Mego Corporation has returned . Many of these early Star Trek figures can now be bought again at retail, but this is a story for another day.

After the loss of Mego, toys continued to flounder as spin-offs. Few licenses found success through the movie years in the 80’s. Even Galoob’s line based on the release of S tar Trek: Next Generation in 1988 fell flat. Toy spin-offs finally found success again in 1992. In 1992 a full 5 years after the primer of Star Trek: Next Generation Playmates Toys released its first action figures. Toys have continued to find success since then through various licenses.

Star Trek Returns to the Screen

Star trek: the animated series.

The first true spin-off of Star Trek after print was Star Trek: The Animated Series . For the first time, Gene Roddenberry’s vision could be seen on TV again with new episodes. The show featured many of the same writers, producers from the live action series. In addition, almost the entire cast returned to voice their characters. The series produced by the now iconic Filmation Animation Studio, lasted only 2 seasons.

The animated series managed to correct a few of the original show’s flaws, like including 2 entrances to the bridge. Being an animated show, the production was able to utilize many elements that were too costly to include in the original series. These include more complex aliens like the three-armed alien bridge crew. The series also features a plot device most associated with Star Trek: Next Generation – the Holodeck. Plans to include a Holodeck go back to the original series but were deemed too costly to realize.

False Start: Star Trek Phase II

By 1974, it was clear to Paramount Pictures that more Star Trek was needed to fill the demand. Rumours of the show’s return were everywhere. Paramount’s first attempted following the cancellation of the animated series was the never-realized Star Trek: Phase II television series. Scripts were written, sets were built, but something happened on the way to V’Ger. Star Wars exploded in 1977, thus, the new TV series turned in to Star Trek: The Motion Picture .

Star Trek: The Motion Picture launched what became the continuation of new adventures with the original TV crew. In all, 6 movies were released between 1979 and 1991 featuring the 1960s cast.

While the 80s proved Star Trek was still popular and viable, yet another spin-off came in the form of Star Trek: Next Generation . Set 80 years after the events of the original crew’s adventures, Captain Picard and crew set out to explore strange new worlds.

In all, 5 spin-off series have come from such humble beginnings. Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Enterprise and finally Star Trek: Discovery .

The Future is the Undiscovered Country

Who knows where it will end? With a premise as rich as Star Trek , it is hard to imagine it ever could. One could easily envision almost any genre working within the Star Trek frame. A Star Trek series could make an impressive, futuristic backdrop to a crime police drama for example.

Case in point – CBS All Access (CBS’ streaming service) has just optioned the first official Star Trek comedy series . The newly announced series Star Trek: Lower Decks will be a half-hour animated comedy series. It seems at least for now we have come full circle, with the latest Star Trek spin-off going back to the first spin-off as an animated series. Hopefully, this one will last a lot longer than first.

No release date has been announced for Star Trek: Lower Decks , so until then catch the latest Trek on Star Trek: Discovery returning January 17th 2019

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Michelle Yeoh's Star Trek: Discovery spin-off is now a Section 31 movie event

The Oscar winner is officially returning to Star Trek.

Michelle Yeoh is officially returning to Star Trek for her own spin-off, only it'll be slightly different than what fans were expecting.

In 2019, the olden days when Paramount+ was called CBS All Access, the Trek gate-keepers announced that Yeoh would be returning to the franchise for a Section 31 spin-off series focused on her Star Trek: Discovery character Philippa Georgiou. That project has been in development all this time, but it now stands as a movie event coming to Paramount+.

Philippa Georgiou led multiple lives on Star Trek: Discovery , mainly that of Starfleet captain of the Shenzhou. That version of Philippa was killed off the show, but an alternate universe version of her from the mirror dimension persisted: the emperor of the Terran Empire, who became an immediate fan favorite.

Star Trek: Section 31 will focus on Yeoh's Emperor Philippa Georgiou as she joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, while facing the sins of her past. Could a certain bald-headed golden statue have helped make this a reality?

"I'm beyond thrilled to return to my Star Trek family and to the role I've loved for so long," the newly minted Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar winner says in a statement. " Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of Star Trek launched."

"To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that's shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams," she continues. "We can't wait to share what's in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise)!"

Olatunde Osunsanmi, a co-executive producer and director on Star Trek: Discovery , will helm Star Trek: Section 31 , which was written by Craig Sweeny ( Medium ). The project is set to start filming later this year.

"All the way back in 2017, before the first season of Star Trek: Discovery had even aired, Michelle had the idea to do a spin-off for her character, Philippa Georgiou," executive producer Alex Kurtzman says. "She broke new ground as one of the first two women on screen in the pilot to usher in a new age of Trek , and now, six years later, Star Trek: Section 31 finally arrives on the heels of her latest groundbreaking win. Everyone on Team Trek couldn't be more thrilled to have our legendary friend return home to us as we expand our storytelling into new and uncharted corners of the Trekverse. Long live Emperor Georgiou; long live Michelle Yeoh!"

Yeoh costarred with Sonequa Martin-Green on Star Trek: Discovery starting in season 1, which premiered in 2017. The show is now heading into its fifth and final season , set to debut in 2024. Star Trek: Picard , the Patrick Stewart-led offshoot, is also ending with its third season, concluding this week. However, Section 31 joins the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series in the next phase of Trek.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks were also renewed for more seasons.

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10 TV spin-offs from the last decade that were better than the original show

Sometimes TV series spin-offs surpass the originals that spawned them.
Insider rounded up many of the best TV spin-offs that topped the shows they originated from.
From "Better Call Saul" and "The Good Fight" to "The Flash," here are 10 great TV spin-offs.

"Better Call Saul"

Generally considered one of the best TV spin-offs in recent memory with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 98% , "Better Call Saul" centers on Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) six years before he represented Walter White (Bryan Cranston) on "Breaking Bad."

Goodman at the time was simply known as Jimmy McGill, a struggling, shifty Albuquerque-based attorney and underdog whose morals and ambitions frequently clash while working with low-income clients.

Jimmy works with private eye Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), a former Philadelphia cop and expert "fixer" of sticky situations that Jimmy learns to appreciate.

Throughout the course of six seasons, " Better Call Saul " is meticulously plotted, visually arresting, and emotionally engrossing, eventually culminating in Saul's fateful first meeting with Walter and Jesse (Aaron Paul).

"Intelligent to the core, 'Better Call Saul' was also, for all its blood and death, the most fundamentally humanistic drama of its time," wrote Time's Judy Berman.

"Chilling Adventures of Sabrina"

This supernatural teen drama, spun-off from "Riverdale," followed Archie Comics' Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) as she reconciles her dual nature as an incredibly powerful half-witch who battles the evil forces that threaten her, her aunts Hilda (Lucy Davis) and Zelda (Miranda Otto), and her friends.

While the critically acclaimed show tackled two crossovers during the sixth season of "Riverdale," Netflix prematurely axed "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ross Lynch, who played Harvey Kinkle, told NME .

"The Flash"

Spun-off from "Arrow," " The Flash " is now The CW's longest-running Arrowverse show, with its ninth and final season expected to air in February.

"The Flash" follows Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), a crime-scene investigator who gains superhuman speed after the explosion of the S.T.A.R. Labs' particle accelerator.

As the Flash, Allen uses his power to fight criminals in Central City and embarks on wild adventures in the process, like creating an alternate timeline and meeting his future daughter Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy) and son Bart (Jordan Fisher).

"Producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg (already delivering the green with "Arrow") have adhered pretty closely to Flash lore, while making modest adjustments that aim to cater to the uninitiated," wrote Variety's Brian Lowry. "Yet perhaps the best things this 'Flash' has going for it compared with its predecessor are the current mainstreaming of superhero fare and the liberating freedom that comes with playing on a niche network, where audience demands are considerably smaller."

"The Good Fight"

It's difficult to top a show like " The Good Wife ," which consistently brought enthralling drama to your living room each week.

But over the course of six seasons, " The Good Fight " managed to outsmart the original thanks to strong performances from its lead Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), a late-career feminist lawyer perpetually flirting with retirement, and attorney Liz Reddick (Audra McDonald).

Coupled with the show's unwavering willingness to take risks — the season four opener, for example, imagined an alternate reality where Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election — "The Good Fight" remained captivating until the very end.

"Good Trouble"

" Good Trouble " picks up where " The Fosters " left off, trailing Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) and Callie (Maia Mitchell) as they settle in Los Angeles to begin the next chapter of their lives, which started by moving into The Coterie, a communal living building downtown.

As the show progresses, Mariana, Callie, and the residents at The Coterie overcome significant challenges in their professional and personal lives, and learn hard lessons, making "Good Trouble" a surprisingly compelling spin-off, even after — spoiler alert — Mariana exits the show during season four.

"Grown-ish"

A spin-off of " Black-ish ," "Grown-ish" largely follows the Johnsons' oldest daughter Zoey (Yara Shahidi) as she leaves home to attend the fictional California University of Liberal Arts (Cal U), pursues a career in fashion styling, and moves to New York to help start a fashion company.

From season five on, " Grown-ish " changes gears, focusing on the Johnsons' oldest son "Junior" and his time at Cal U.

"It's a potent, college-comedy-with-basic-cable-cursing chaser to its still-formidable parent series," wrote AV Club's Erik Adams.

"House of the Dragon"

" House of the Dragon " may have only just wrapped its first season, but already the "Game of Thrones" spin-off has made a big impression on critics, edging out the original on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 93% .

This prequel, which takes place nearly 200 years before "Game of Thrones," follows the events leading up to the Targaryen civil war (and presumably the war itself), including the Targaryen children's battle for control of the Iron Throne.

Despite two major casting changes nearly halfway through the first season, the show's performances, particularly from an ill and aging King Viserys (Paddy Considine), are particularly strong, and the palace intrigue is surprisingly compelling.

"Yet somehow, with 'House of the Dragon,' the new showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik (with some help from Martin) made more than reheated "Game of Thrones" leftovers," wrote Kyle Chayka of The New Yorker. "To my own surprise, I was back to appointment viewing, next-day debriefs, and scattershot plotline predictions ahead of the finale on Sunday."

"Legends of Tomorrow"

Spun-off from "Arrow" and "The Flash," " DC's Legends of Tomorrow " gathers heroes and villains from both shows, bringing them together in London in 2166 under the guidance of time-traveling rogue Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) on a mission to prevent the destruction of Earth by immortal Vandal Savage (Casper Crump).

Sporting flashy action sequences, several recognizable comic superheroes in rotation, and some punchy dialogue, "DC's Legends of Tomorrow" aired for seven seasons before wrapping in 2022.

"This is the kind of unapologetic fantasy escapism that used to scare TV executives," wrote Rolling Stone's Noel Murray in 2016. "Now it's rapidly becoming the norm — which means that if this show succeeds, our tomorrows could get a lot more legendary."

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds"

A spin-off of "Star Trek: Discovery," " Star Trek: Strange New Worlds " follows Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the crew of the USS Enterprise as they explore new worlds throughout the galaxy during the decade before "Star Trek: The Original Series."

Although it's only one season in, "Strange New Worlds" has made a positive impression on critics, earning a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, who praised the cast's strong performances and memorable, episodic narratives, with some episodes like "Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach" offering surprising depth and moral dilemmas that sometimes lacked tidy resolutions.

"True to its roots, 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' is the story of a complex universe bound by the hope that mensches can make a positive impact or die trying, and that humanity's most shining moments come at times of crisis," wrote The Wrap's Thelma Adams. "The stunning ensemble space-drama remains true to the original while reaching for the stars."

"Young Sheldon"

In this prequel to "The Big Bang Theory," 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) wrestles with having a brilliant mind capable of calculating advanced mathematics and science in East Texas, an area where church and football are king.

While the vulnerable, gifted, and naive Sheldon deals with the world, his father George (Lance Barber), a high-school-football coach, and protective mother (Zoe Perry) struggle to understand him.

"' Young Sheldon ' hasn't fully delivered on the promise of its pilot just yet," wrote Indiewire's Ben Travers in 2017. "But in subsequent episodes, it's achieved a stronger balance between comedy and drama — and surpassed its predecessor in the most unexpected of ways."

Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.

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New 'Star Trek' spinoff series 'Starfleet Academy' beaming to Paramount+

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Even as we wait for official word on where Star Trek will boldly go next on the big screen , on television, the iconic franchise is streaming full speed ahead. In addition to its recent reveal of the full spring schedule for all things Enterprise at Paramount+ , the platform has reportedly given liftoff to a new Trek -themed series that follows cadet-in-training life at Starfleet Academy.

Citing sources close to the franchise, Deadline reports that Paramount+ is indeed moving forward with plans for a new series titled Star Trek: Starfleet Academy , whose name harkens to Interplay’s 1997 Star Trek: Starfleet Academy video game . That report indicates that the project is planned for a followup debut as the next major Star Trek spinoff after Section 31 , featuring Michelle Yeoh as Star Trek: Discovery ’s Philippa Georgiou, finally gets off the ground.

Though we’d already suspected that a Starfleet Academy show was in the works — potentially from The O.C. executive producers Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz — Deadline indicates that Absentia co-creator Gaia Violo is “working on a take for the project.” The show is reportedly being developed by CBS Studios and Star Trek franchise mastermind Alex Kurtzman 's Secret Hideout production company.

Early details on the show are slight, but they’re also right in line with what the title suggests. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will reportedly be “set among the college of cadets mentored for leadership roles in the United Federation of Planets space force,” according to the report, which indicates the show will be “pitched to Paramount+ shortly” with plans to enter full development next year.

Kurtzman confirmed to Deadline that something new and Trek -related was in the works beyond Section 31 , but declined to comment further on whether it’s Starfleet Academy . He did say, though, that Paramount+ definitely has large-scale plans for more distant Star Trek titles that haven’t yet been revealed. “We have to think several years out,” he explained. “We’re thinking about knowing we’ll want new shows on the air two or three years from now so we have to start planning those now. There’s a bunch of things in development now that are starting to take shape and we’re super excited about it.”

Shaping the wider Star Trek universe might be a years-long enterprise (ahem), but we’re just a mere week away from fresh Trek TV content. Star Trek: Discovery makes its midseason return on Feb. 10, followed by the March 3 premiere of Patrick Stewart in Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard . Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrives at last on May 5, while animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks beams its third season onto Paramount+ beginning this summer.

Looking for something out of this world? Download SYFY's free app to watch full episodes and tons of extras.

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‘Star Trek: Picard’ Showrunner on Possible Spinoff, How [SPOILER] Returned for the Finale and Getting That Final Shot

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

Inside the ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Series Finale: The Last-Minute Coda, the Surprise Easter Eggs, and What Season 6 Would Have Been About (EXCLUSIVE) 4 days ago
Marvel Sets Vision Series for 2026 With Paul Bettany, ‘Star Trek: Picard’ EP Terry Matalas as Showrunner (EXCLUSIVE) 2 weeks ago
Marvel’s New ‘X-Men’ Movie Lands ‘Hunger Games’ Screenwriter Michael Lesslie 2 weeks ago

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 19: (L-R) Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Jeri Ryan, Gates McFadden, Patrick Stewart, Alex Kurtzman, Jonathan Frakes, Terry Matalas and Michael Dorn attend the IMAX "Picard" screening at AMC The Grove 14 on April 19, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount+)

SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in “The Last Generation,” the series finale of “ Star Trek: Picard ,” currently streaming on Paramount+.

The last time the cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” cast performed together on screen — in 2002’s “Star Trek: Nemesis” — it ended with a sour one-two punch: the sudden death of Data (Brent Spiner) and the financial failure of the film, which caused Paramount to stop making movies with the cast. Effectively, after a brilliantly successful seven-season run on TV, “The Next Generation” had been canceled from movie theaters.

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In 1969, a Terrible Star Trek Episode Helped Save the Fandom — And the Franchise

Let’s go behind the scenes.

Spock, Kirk and Bones in the last episode of 'Star Trek: The Original Series.'

Endings are hard, especially when your last episode wasn’t planned. Star Trek: The Original Series was ingloriously canceled after three seasons, despite valiant fan efforts to keep it on the air. That means its finale wasn’t written as a finale, and it generally ranks among the worst entries in the entire franchise.

On June 3, 1969, the last episode of Star Trek , “Turnabout Intruder,” aired. Originally slated for March 28, NBC delayed the episode after the passing of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Loyal fans had to wait for one last episode, several months after the previous episode had aired, in a countdown to a letdown. Fifty-five years later, “Turnabout Intruder” isn’t secretly great; its basic premise is embarrassing and outdated. But despite its deep flaws, the world of sci-fi fandom would be much, much darker without it. Here’s how “Turnabout Intruder” accidentally ushered in a new age of fandom.

Janice and Kirk switch bodies in "Turnabout Intruder."

Written by Arthur Singer from a story concept by Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, “Turnabout Intruder” is a Freaky Friday -style episode in which one of Captain Kirk’s ex-girlfriends, Dr. Janet Lester (Sandra Smith), switches bodies with him in an effort to destroy his life. If Dr. Lester were the episode’s main character, or if this was a different TV series, it could almost be read as a kind of feminist revenge story. But because Kirk is the show's hero, the sympathies lie with him, and Lester is portrayed as a heartbroken, man-hating lunatic.

While Star Trek is often lauded for its progressive vision, the classic series’ sexual mores are far less advanced than its push for diversity. And because “Turnabout Intruder” writes Janet Lester as an utterly unsympathetic person, the story comes off as sexist. One can imagine a rewrite in which the tone is slightly different, and Kirk has to answer for messing up Lester’s life. But we’re not given any reason to doubt Kirk, so anything potentially interesting the episode might say is muddled.

Still, “Turnabout Intruder” is a gender-switching Original Series episode in which manly man Willian Shatner plays a woman. This, from a cultural curiosity viewpoint alone, makes it worth watching. “Turnabout Intruder” is replete with the now-classic Shatner overacting and body spasms, but in 1969, Star Trek wasn’t playing this concept for laughs. Right up until the end, Star Trek thought of itself as a serious drama, even if camp had taken over the aesthetic.

Spock mind melds with Janice Lester in 'Turnabout Intruder.'

Spock (Leonard Nimoy) mind-melds with Janice Lester (Sandra Smith), who’s really Captain Kirk.

The episode also accidentally fueled an emergent fan phenomenon: slash fiction. As fanfic readers know, the concept of slash fiction, in which fans pair one character with another, derives its name from Kirk/Spock fanfic, which imagined the famous duo as lovers. In “Turnabout Intruder,” after Spock mind-melds with Janet Lester and realizes Kirk is in her body, he holds their hand, treating Kirk like his girlfriend. It’s not subtle. Supposedly, even the actors were aware the story’s gender-role-switching elements prompted all kinds of questions about Kirk and Spock’s true feelings. In a famous outtake, William Shatner jokingly reworked his line to say, “Spock, it’s always been you, you know it's always been you. Say you love me too.”

We know this because super-fan Joan Winston got herself onto the “Turnabout Intruder” set. In the fan-made essay collection Star Trek Lives! Winston recounted the experience in great detail, including the anecdote about Shatner jokingly professing his love to Spock. By 1972, Joan Winston would become one of the key organizers of the world’s first Star Trek conventions.

In 1970, only 300 people attended the first San Diego Comic-Con. In 1972, Winston brought 3,000 people to the first Star Trek convention. By 1974, Winston’s fourth Star Trek Lives! convention attracted at least 15,000 attendees. Star Trek conventions helped create large-scale genre-themed conventions in general, which is partially why today’s geek landscape even exists. Small fantasy and sci-fi conventions existed before Star Trek , but Trek made the idea of having a big convention possible, and Joan Winston was one of the movement’s key pioneers.

Joan Winston on the set of 'Star Trek' with Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley

Joan Winston with Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley on the set of Star Trek’s last episode, “Turnabout Intruder.”

Crucially, Winston made personal connections with Star Trek’s stars while on set. She drove around LA with DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy), which later helped her recruit him as a convention guest. As television moved on, she documented what it was like to see Star Trek end. In her essay “My Six Glorious Days on the Star Trek Set,” Winston goes into great detail about what the filming of “Turnabout Intruder” was like, and the cast’s mood as the show ended. Winston focuses on how Shatner fought through the flu, and on the cast’s hard work and commitment, despite their sadness that this would be the USS Enterprise's final voyage .

The last Original Series scene filmed was the episode’s first scene, in which Janice and Kirk switch bodies. Nimoy and the other cast members had completed their filming the previous day, and Winston saw some weighty moments. “I got there just in time to see Leonard slowly and ceremoniously remove his ears for the last time,” she wrote. About the wrap party, she said, “It was a quiet party, no one really felt in a party mood. Some gifts were exchanged, good-byes were said. Soon the set was cleared, all the props were put away, and just the empty sound stage was left.”

While “Turnabout Intruder” is a lousy episode, its legacy is its impact on real-world culture. Joan Winston’s writing and her subsequent galvanization of a fledgling fandom reshaped the pop culture landscape we all live in. In another universe, maybe Winston would have visited the set of Star Trek while they were filming a good episode. But there’s something beautiful about Star Trek ending on a low note, just as its fervent fans were getting ready to light a spark that would change fandom forever.

Star Trek: The Original Series streams on Paramount+.

Phasers on Stun!: How the Making — and Remaking — of Star Trek Changed the World

Science Fiction

Whatever Happened To The Cast Of Star Trek: Enterprise?

Travis Mayweather, Jonathan Archer and Hoshi Sato

The sixth series in the long-running "Star Trek" franchise," "Star Trek: Enterprise" ran from 2001 to 2005 on the UPN Network (now The CW). The series, created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, took place approximately a century before the events depicted in " Star Trek: The Original Series " (TOS) and followed the crew of the first starship named Enterprise (not the one depicted in "TOS") as they had their first encounters with the show's most iconic alien races, such as the Klingons and Vulcans. Scott Bakula was at the helm as Captain Jonathan Archer, leading his diverse crew through four seasons of science fiction adventure before the show's abrupt cancellation in 2005.

Like all "Star Trek" alumni, the cast of "Enterprise" has enjoyed a certain degree of acclaim long after their series left the air, thanks to the ardent "Trek" fanbase. Some have continued to act and gain even greater fame, while others have settled comfortably into careers split between doing new work and looking back nostalgically at their "Trek" experiences. Following is a list of the primary cast members of "Enterprise," as well as several actors who played recurring roles, and what they've been up to since the mighty starship was permanently parked in spacedock.

Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer

As Captain (and later Starfleet Admiral) Jonathan Archer, actor Scott Bakula led the crew of the Enterprise through four seasons of adventures on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Bakula was arguably the best-known cast member on the series, having earned a Golden Globe and multiple Emmy nominations as the time-traveling hero of the original "Quantum Leap." Bakula was also visible to film and TV audiences through appearances in high-profile projects like "American Beauty" and "Murphy Brown," as well as extensive work in Broadway theater productions.

After "Enterprise" completed its final mission in 2005, Bakula remained extremely active as both a leading man and guest or recurring player. He starred as Special Agent Dwayne "King" Pride in seven seasons of "NCIS: New Orleans," for which he netted a People's Choice Award nomination in 2015. Bakula also starred in the critically-acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning comedy-drama "Men of a Certain Age" with Ray Romano and Andre Braugher, and guested on series ranging from "The Simpsons" to a very funny episode of "What We Do in the Shadows," in which Nandor and Nadja confuse him for Count Dracula.

On the film front, Bakula has collaborated with Steven Soderbergh on several occasions, including the 2009 feature "The Informant!," the TV drama "Behind the Candelabra" — which earned him a fifth Emmy nomination in 2013 — and most recently, the 2023 science fiction thriller "Divinity," which Soderbergh produced.

Jolene Blalock as Science Officer T'Pol

Landing the role of Science Officer (and later First Officer) T'Pol on "Star Trek: Enterprise" proved to be the big break for Jolene Blalock's acting career. It also turned out to be her most notable screen role: the former model enjoyed guest appearances on series like "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "JAG" prior to joining the cast of "Enterprise." While appearing on the series, she also turned up twice on another small-screen sci-fi drama, "Stargate SG-1," and co-starred with Ray Liotta in a thriller, "Slow Burn," which was filmed in 2003 but released in 2007.

Blalock gave only a handful of film and TV appearances after "Enterprise" ended in 2005. The majority of these were guest appearances on "CSI: Miami" and "House," and co-starring turns in the Jason Segel comedy "Sex Tape" and several direct-to-video features, such as "Starship Troopers 3: Marauder." She appears to have stepped away from acting after 2017, preferring instead to focus on her marriage to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, with whom she has three sons. The couple also oversee the Rapino Foundation, a charitable organization that benefits developing nations.

Connor Trinneer as Chief Engineer Trip Tucker

Washington State native Connor Trinneer graduated from stage work and bit parts on television to romantic hero status when he was cast as chief engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Trip's primary storyline was an on-and-off relationship with T'Pol throughout all four seasons of the series, though the pair eventually settled for friendship prior to his apparent death in the final episode of the series. For his work on "Enterprise," Trinneer earned Saturn Award nominations in 2002 and 2003.

Trinneer's post-"Enterprise" work has featured a recurring run as the villainous Wraith Michael on "Stargate: Atlantis" and guest roles on numerous series, including "9-1-1," "NCIS: Los Angeles," "and "24." Film projects included a lead in the SyFy original movie "Star Runners" in 2009 and "Unbelievable!!!" a broad comedy featuring 40 cast members from various "Trek" series, including his "Enterprise" co-stars Linda Park, Dominic Keating, and John Billingsley.

More recently, Trineer appeared in the Tom Cruise drama "American Made" (as President George W. Bush) and Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans." In 2023 he reprised the role of Trip Tucker in an episode of the animated short series "Star Trek: Very Short Treks." He's also co-hosted several popular "Star Trek" podcasts, including "The Shuttlepod Show" and "The D-Con Chamber," with "Enterprise" co-star Dominic Keating.

Dominic Keating as Tactical Officer Malcolm Reed

British-Irish actor Dominic Keating was already well-known in his native England for roles on series like "Desmond's" before crossing the pond to play Tactical Officer Malcolm Reed on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Keating came to the United States in the late 1990s and landed guest roles on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and other series before joining "Enterprise" for all four seasons on the UPN Network.

Keating remained busy as both a live-action and voice-over actor in the years after "Enterprise." A four-episode arc as an Irish mobster on "Heroes" and guest roles on series like "Prison Break" and "Sons of Anarchy" kept him on screen into the mid-2010s, while video games like "Diablo 3" and "World of Warcraft: Legion" made excellent use of his vocal talents. Keating also played an '80s-era British pop star in a series of TV spots for Sprint/Nextel in the 2010s. More recently, as noted earlier, Keating teamed with Connor Trinneer to co-host the "Star Trek" podcasts, "The Shuttlepod Show" and "The D-Con Chamber."

Linda Park as Communications Officer Hoshi Sato

Shortly after graduating from Boston University in 2001, Linda Park embarked on both her screen acting career and her tenure as a "Star Trek" hero by landing the role of communications officer Hoshi Sato on "Star Trek: Enterprise." Park, who made her feature film debut that same year with a small role in "Jurassic Park III," remained busy with other projects during the series' four-year run, including the 2004 feature "Spectres" starring fellow "Trek" vet Marina Sirtis. She also made her debut as a producer with the 2003 short film "My Prince, My Angel."

Park quickly segued to series regular work on the short-lived "Women's Murder Club" and a recurring role on Starz's "Crash," which was inspired by the 2004 film of the same name. Guest roles on "NCIS" and "Castle" kept her busy for much of the next decade, though she revisited the "Trek" universe in the short fan film "Star Trek: Captain Pike" in 2016. The following year, she joined the cast of "Bosch" for three seasons while also appearing on shows like "The Affair" and "Grey's Anatomy."

John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox

John Billingsley had been active on television and in films for over a decade prior to landing the role of Dr. Phlox on "Star Trek: Enterprise." His work included roles in features like "High Crimes" and on network series like "Northern Exposure" and "The West Wing," as well as a recurring turn as serial killer George Marks, the only criminal to escape capture on "Cold Case."

When "Enterprise" came to a close in 2005, Billingsley resumed his busy TV and film schedule , which included recurring roles as the creepy, vampirized coroner Mike Spencer on "True Blood," scientist Shenandoah Cassidy on the short-lived "Intelligence," and conspirator Terrence Steadman in Season 1 of "Prison Break."

By the mid-2010s, Billingsley was appearing in multiple series per year: between 2014 and 2019 alone, he was in episodes of "Bones," "Twin Peaks," "The Orville," and "Lucifer," while also enjoying recurring roles on "Turn: Washington's Spies" (as the father of Revolutionary War spy Robert Townsend) and the Freeform series "Stichers," in addition to his work on "Intelligence." His busy streak has continued well into the next decade, with guest turns on "Station 19," "Manhunt," and "Pam and Tommy."

Anthony Montgomery as Ensign Travis Mayweather

Ensign Travis Mayweather served as the Enterprise's navigator and helmsman throughout the four-season run of "Star Trek: Enterprise." As played by actor Anthony Montgomery, Mayweather lent stalwart support to the Enterprise crew's adventures, and on occasion, became the focus of an episode. Among these was the Season 2 episode "Horizon," which introduced viewers to Mayweather's family and his complicated relationship with his father and brother.

Montgomery, whose grandfather was the legendary West Coast jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, was familiar to TV viewers prior to "Enterprise" through a recurring role on the WB series "Popular," a short-lived early TV credit for Ryan Murphy. When "Enterprise" completed its final mission in 2005, Montgomery moved on to guest roles on "Grey's Anatomy" and the rebooted "Magnum, P.I." and recurring roles on series like "Greenleaf." He also returned to series regular work with the BET limited series "The Family Business" in 2020.

In addition to his acting career, Montgomery also released a pair of albums of original music and created a graphic novel series, "Miles Away," with writer Brandon Easton.

Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral Maxwell Forrest

Though Vaughn Armstrong's name may not seem immediately familiar to you, he holds something of a celebrated place in the "Star Trek" universe. Armstrong played 12 different characters on four separate "Trek" series, including nearly every alien race in the show's vast array of extraterrestrials, including multiple Klingons, a Borg, and a Romulan. However, he's probably best known as Starfleet commander Admiral Maxwell Forrest, who initiated the Enterprise's missions, on 14 episodes of "Enterprise." True to form, Armstrong also played Klingon and Kreetassan commanders on the series as well.

The LA theater veteran, who appeared in episodes of "Wonder Woman," "Days of Our Lives," and "Melrose Place" prior to his run on "Enterprise," remained very busy after the show's conclusion. Guest and recurring TV credits include "Mad Men," "Modern Family," and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," while Armstrong also turned up in several independent features (including "Unbelievable!!!") and lent his voice to several "Star Trek" video games. In addition to his acting work, Armstrong also led the Enterprise Blues Band, a folk and blues group that featured several other "Trek" performers in its lineup, like Richard Herd and Casey Biggs.

Gary Graham as Ambassador Soval

Though science fiction fans may often associate actor Gary Graham with the mostly forgotten "Alien Nation" spinoff series and its many made-for-TV features, the Long Beach, California native also made several appearances in another long-running sci-fi franchise. Shortly after guest-starring on an episode of "Star Trek: Voyager," Graham played the Vulcan ambassador Soval on 12 episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise," and reprised the role in the short "Star Trek" fan film "Prelude to Axanar." He also turned up in two other "Trek" fan films, "Of Gods and Men" and "Renegades," as well as the slightly more professional "Unbelievable!!!"

Graham's pre-"Trek" and "Alien Nation" credits included the films "All the Right Moves" and Stuart Gordon's "Robot Jox," and after "Enterprise," he appeared in episodes of "Nip/Tuck" and "Crossing Jordan." He kept busy with roles in low-budget independent films throughout the 2000s, including the critically panned "Jeepers Creepers: Reborn" in 2022, and also played in various amateur bands. The 73-year-old Graham died of cardiac arrest on January 22, 2024.

Randy Oglesby as Degra

Randy Oglesby was another character actor who found regular employment on various series within the "Star Trek" universe. He made his first appearance on a Trek series in an episode of "The Next Generation" and later played multiple characters on "Deep Space Nine," while also enjoying a guest shot as a Brenari refugee on "Voyager." He is perhaps best known for playing Degra, the architect of the world-destroying Xindi weapon, on 10 episodes of "Enterprise." He also played a Xyrillian on "Unexpected," the fifth episode of Season 1, before taking on Degra in Season 3.

Oglesby began acting in the early 1980s, appearing in films like "Pale Rider" and on series like "Dallas" under the names Thomas or Tom Oglesby. After adopting his middle name (Randall) for screen work, Oglesby appeared steadily through the 1990s and 2000s in projects like "Independence Day" and "Pearl Harbor" before making his "Enterprise" debut. He continued to appear on other series during this time period, most notably on "The Practice" and "JAG"; post-"Enterprise" roles included guest shots on "Mad Men," "True Blood," and most recently, "WandaVision" (as Wanda's doctor). Oglesby also enjoyed a recurring role on " For All Mankind " as the conservative governor and later vice-president Jim Bragg.

Jeffrey Combs as Commander Shran

Actor Jeffrey Combs is perhaps best-known for his horror film roles, including mad scientist Herbert West in the "Re-Animator" trilogy, along with "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Would You Rather." But Combs also has a long history of film and television roles outside of the horror genre; like Gary Graham, these included guest and recurring appearances on numerous titles in the extended "Star Trek" universe. One of his best-known "Trek" turns came as the flinty Andorian commander Shran on 11 episodes of "Enterprise" between Seasons 1 and 4.

Combs' "Trek" work also included multiple characters on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," as well as appearances on "Star Trek: Voyager" and voice-acting on "Star Trek: Lower Decks" and several "Trek" video games. Combs' post-"Enterprise" roles have been firmly divided between live-action and animated projects: the former included episodes of "The 4400," "Cold Case," "Gotham" and "Creepshow," while Combs could also be heard voicing characters on "Transformers: Prime" (as Ratchet), "Ben 10: Omniverse," "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" (as The Leader) and "SpongeBob SquarePants."

Rick Worthy as Jannar

Like Jeffrey Combs, Gary Graham, and other versatile character actors on this list, Rick Worthy turned up in several different film and television projects within the "Star Trek" franchise. The most substantial of these was a recurring appearance as the sloth-like Arboreal named Jannar on 10 episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise," but eagle-eyed viewers can also catch Worthy as a Klingon on "Deep Space Nine," two different androids and a Starfleet crew member on "Voyager," and as an Elloran officer in the 1998 feature "Star Trek: Insurrection." Two years prior to that appearance, Worthy also lent his voice to the 1996 video game "Star Trek: Klingon."

Worthy's credits prior to "Enterprise" included appearances on "NYPD Blue" and "Stargate SG-1," and he remained exceptionally busy on TV after the "Trek" series came to a close in 2005. He played the humanoid Cylon Simon in eight episodes of the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot and later turned up in multiple episodes of "Heroes," "Supernatural" (as the Alpha Vampire), and "The Vampire Diaries" (as the father of Kat Graham's character, Bonnie Bennett). More recently, Worthy enjoyed lengthy runs as Resistance member Lem Washington on "The Man in the High Castle," and as Henry Fogg, dean of the magic university Brakebills, on "The Magicians."

“Star Trek” spinoff series: Abbr. Crossword Clue

Star Trek spinoff series Abbr NYT Crossword Clue Answers are listed below. Did you came up with a solution that did not solve the clue? No worries we keep a close eye on all the clues and update them regularly with the correct answers.

STAR TREK SPINOFF SERIES ABBR Crossword Answer

June 3, 2024 | ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Season 2 Coming To Netflix In July
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May 30, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Pulls It All Together For “Life, Itself”
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Terry Matalas On How ‘Picard’ Season 3 Ends, Setting Up ‘Star Trek: Legacy’ Spin-Off

| April 3, 2023 | By: Anthony Pascale 212 comments so far

In addition to talking about why he put James T. Kirk’s body in Daystrom Station , Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas spent time during his Inglorious Treksperts GalaxyCon panel talking about how season 3 will end and how it sets up what he hopes will be a new spin-off series .

Giving the TNG crew their Star Trek VI ending… without the signatures

When it was first announced that the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew was reuniting for the third season of Picard , Matalas said one of his motivations was to give them a “proper sendoff” akin to the one the TOS crew had in the 1991 film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . In his GalaxyCon chat, Matalas offered insight into how he sees a parallel in the way season 3 ends:

[ Star Trek VI ] really does have a feeling of finality to it. You do feel like at any moment, these characters might die. So the stakes are quite high. And again, it does a lot right for James T. Kirk… At the end of [ Picard ] season 3, it’s narratively right in that it closes a lot of narrative loops.

Even though he sees Star Trek VI as a model for season 3, there is one element he isn’t using. The Undiscovered Country ended with the cast’s signatures ; when asked if he would do the same, Matalas explained why he wouldn’t:

No, because of Avengers: Endgame . [Marvel producer] Kevin Feige is one of the biggest Star Trek fans out there and he did it brilliantly in Avengers: Endgame and I felt like I can’t do it… But I think we do something quite nice, I will say. I think you will feel good.

Closing shot of the TOS cast in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Season 3 passes the torch for Star Trek: Legacy

As we previously reported, Matalas has pitched an idea he calls “ Star Trek: Legacy ” that would continue on the story after season 3 with a combination of new and legacy cast members. At GalaxyCon, he confirmed that no work is currently happening for this concept but again reiterated how season 3 sets up another show:

Look, I love this time period in Star Trek, the 25th century. I always view it as the present day in Star Trek, for me. It’s where we all left off. And the way we leave this season is a passing of the torch from the last generation to the next… I would certainly love [the spin-off] to happen. We certainly leave it so that you can do that.

The executive producer also offered some specifics on the kinds of characters and storylines that could be part of Star Trek: Legacy :

Boy, wouldn’t you want to check in with the Klingon Empire? Wouldn’t you want to check in with Deep Space Nine and The Doctor [from Voyager ] and everything that went on with the Berman-verse? So that’s kind of where I see is to explore the galaxy and sort of get back to the Next Gen roots of storytelling is what I would see as a kind of version of Star Trek I’d like to see, with this group of characters that we’re seeing. I don’t want to talk too much about them although I think you could guess as to who I would like to see. And by the way, I think that includes a great deal of some of these legacy characters who I think have never been better, Jonathan Frakes being one of them… I mean come on, guys, he’s amazing!

When moderator Mark Altman mentioned an earlier panel in which DS9 star Nana Visitor said she is loving the new season, Matalas indicated he would like to revisit the character of Kira Nerys as well:

She’s so good. I mean, gosh you want to see that. You want to see Nana so bad and what’s going on with her and everyone. That would be phenomenal.

Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker, Patrick Stewart as Picard, Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher and Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher in “No Win Scenario”

Matalas says “be loud”… and watch Picard

When it comes to how fans can make this spin-off happen, Matalas made it clear it wasn’t up to him. When asked what fans could do, he offered some thoughts:

I have no idea what you can do. I think be loud, I guess. I don’t work for Star Trek right now. We are not developing anything. I know that Star Trek came back to life because of the fans. They get to decide. So however you best make noise is however to do it.

Matalas did agree that past techniques like letter-writing campaigns do not work in the new era. He said that one of the best ways for fans to show their support for the spin-off is to watch the show on Paramount+ and to encourage former fans who may have “walked away” from Star Trek to try season 3 of Picard .

If you do want to show your support, one way would be to post or amplify messages on Twitter using the #StarTrekLegacy hashtag . There is also a petition calling for Star Trek: Legacy which has passed 15,000 votes, up 5,000 since we first reported on it 10 days ago. But Paramount+ is a business, which is why Matalas says viewership (and future DVD/Blu-ray sales) will likely be big factors in any decisions about it.

Ed Speleers as Jack Crusher and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut as Sidney La Forge in “Dominion”

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“I always view it as the present day in Star Trek, for me.”

Except he’s wrong. Trek has no present day objectively. You can tell stories after ST6 in the late 23rd century, pre-Kirk, or a thousand years beyond. He might feel that’s the present for him, you might too, but it doesn’t mean it is.

After all, Kirk was the “present day” in 1986, and then it wasn’t.

Probably why he said, “for me”.

Also why I repeated that. But Garth Borca’s “this” implies that it’s “correct” sentiment.

Once again, it’s so great to have multiple future eras in current production at the same time.

It’s also so unhelpful to make give this some kind of competition between eras. Comments like ‘this is present day to me,’ begin to edge into that.

While I am so very glad that the Berman-era idea, that it wasn’t possible to go forward after Voyager returned, has been buried with 3 shows going forward in the late 24th century, I don’t need the 25th century to be Trek’s present.

Exactly. I’m happy we’re in the 25th for this series. But I still love the 23rd in SNW, and I would love a series set in the movie era too. I understand fans want to know “what happened after Voyager” — but I still want to know what happened during the 75 year gap between Movies and TNG, or explore the early days of the Federation post ENT Season 4.

Ahhh….I’ve been hoping for a tv series set in the TOS movie era for so long. Dunno if we’ll ever get it.

That’s not my first choice though. My “first” would be a series set in the 25th century era to continue that story telling. Picard’s leaving, so I really do hope they have a series to continue that. They’ve paid tribute to TNG…maybe it’s time they had a series to pay tribute to Voyager or (maybe even better) DS9.

Yeah it’s why I’m loving Trek so much right now. I’ve always said this is what I wanted even back in the DS9/VOY days and we have different Trek shows in different eras. One might be in the 23rd century. Another in the 24th. Another could be in the 26th and so on.

And thanks to Kurtzman we got it. We currently have shows in four different centuries. That’s pretty amazing. I’m not really worried we won’t get more 25th century Trek, it’s more about when and what form. If they are willing to go back to the 32nd century, then I have no idea why they wouldn’t go back to the 25th century lol. Especially now that fans are genuinely excited about it and there are so many legacy actors to leverage. One thing we can safely say is it’s allll about the member berries with these new shows and that’s probably reason number one we have PRO, LDS and PIC today.

And I don’t think there is any worry about ‘competition’ between eras. There is so much Star Trek around, there will be plenty to explore. But people are very impatient lol. But these shows probably won’t last more than 5 seasons generally if Discovery is an indicator and if Paramount plan to keep at least 3-4 shows on minimum, they will be making many many shows in the next decade alone and my guess is the 23rd-25th century stories will be the main basis of shows although I hope we get a 26th century show at some point too.

I feel you might be misinterpreting Matalas and seeking problems where they do not exist. “For me” is an explicit statement of personal performance- no need to misconstrue it as ANYTHING other than that!

Personally I don’t see it as competition. I get the impression that he views the 25th century as the ‘present day’ of Trek because he grew up in the Berman era and Star Trek Picard picked up in ‘real time’ after the last Next Gen movie. For him the TNG era is his youth, TOS and earlier the past and Discovery the future. If he was a decade or so older and had been introduced to Trek by TOS he’d likely consider anything set 30 years after TUC to be Star Trek’s ‘present day’. It’s a personal thing, I have a similar perspective but I still love to see Star Trek content set in different time periods and there’s nothing to suggest that Terry Matalas doesn’t either.

Blindingly obvious that Garth Lorca like Matalas were speaking for themselves and not all of objective reality so your pedantry is not required.

If you bothered to pay attention, you’d be more up to speed and not retorting with such silliness.

No, it implies that it’s correct for Garth, also. And it’s correct for me, as well, by the way.

I think the idea is that “Present day” is whereever the prior series left off

For TNG, present day was 2371 For DS9, present day was 2375 For Voyager, present day was 2378 Then Nemesis had 2379

Now Picard is 2401

I get the logic, I share it..but its also one of many POV’s

So what you’re saying is, “present day” is right when Harriman took command of the Enterprise-B?

I think that would be a suggestion- present day is whenever based on the series. Matalas is stating a preference for 25th century. Personally, I wouldn’t mind any time period – all I want is well written scifi based in Roddenberry’s vision and stories which respects the precepts of Roddenberry’ Federation and Starfleet plus throw in talented creators and writers who UNDERSTAND Star Trek and I’d be very happy. Sadly, only seen this in Season 3 Picard in recent times!

You didn’t see that in SNW or PRO either? I did.

Even in LDS, but yes that’s a more controversial one, so I won’t argue that one too much. But what is SNW and PRO missing for you that you are currently getting in PIC?

Yes, all he means is however long it’s been since Nemesis ended in real time which would be a little over 20 years later. And since we never had anything past that until Discovery jumped to the 32nd century so that implies the future. And everything prior to Nemesis is the past since it already happened in the timeline.

So logically that’s what he’s saying. It’s the present because it would be where we left off in the current timeline after Nemesis opened back in 2002.

But yes, in a world about a fictional show that doesn’t even start until at least another century after we’re all dead in real life, ‘present day’ can mean literally anything lol.

AlphaPredator, yes and no. If it is nothing but a matter of perspective, then even Pre-Archer could be the present or future. But fans have clamored for 20 years they want to go to the future, the future of NextGen…That’s the era we expect something worthwhile to happen.

But if they move to the 32nd century for SFA, then okay…that should be the new present. But then, everything… an Enterprise-X series or a Voyager-J series in another galaxy. Because only then, only then, a SFA makes sense, if it leads up to something meaningful…As an isolated teen soap going nowhere, it’s a waste of time…

Yeah; I’m really sad about that. They really had me, a perfect momentum, a perfect storm. Trek seemed to be going exactly in the right direction for a couple of weeks. All they had to do is announce Legacy and scrap all those other sorry concepts…

You know, I no longer care. I’ve decided to live in the past. I’ve just ordered 200 TOS, TNG and VOY novels I still haven’t read. Not the Litverse stuff, that’s been obliterated by Coda. No, the original standalone adventures set in each series’ timeframe. I’m gonna spend the rest of my life canonizing them, one seperate adventure after another, trying to imagine it’s still the 80s or 90s…

That’s my answer to SFA being set in the 32nd century…

But you may like the show. I know it’s divided in the fanbase but we still know very very little. I’m hoping we will at least hear more about it on First Contact day.

But I will also say if it’s just a soapy teen drama then no I wouldn’t be very interested in that either. But I’m hoping it won’t be that lol.

Here’s a thought: give Matalas Starfleet Academy- he’d make work, as his storytelling medium is scifi and he’s a Trekker through and through. The employment of the CW Nancy Drew producer speaks heaps towards the type of show & medium she’s versed in. Want to repair a spaceship: get an a spaceship mechanic NOT a car mechanic – a car mechanic can give it a go – however they’ve never worked on a spaceship before!

Definitely agree about Matalas. He would definitely make it work.

As far as the new show runner, I never heard of her or seen her shows before so I admit my optimism is also coming from one of ignorance. ;)

So if people think her other shows suck, I can’t argue it one way or the other. All I can say is I hope she gets and understands Star Trek and will surprise people who currently doubt her.

But as someone who really thinks Michelle Paradise is an awful show runner of Discovery only making that show even worse if that was possible was, surprise, surprise, also plucked from a CW show before doing Star Trek. Knowing that, I’m a little more worried now. :(

When with a carrot so goes the apple cart.

Always one!!!

Yea yes yes!

This! It’s even for me. Picard Is my Present day, where Discovery was Far Future

You know it’s 2023, right?

I fully agree with Matalas as well. The 25th century is present day Star Trek. I think for many fans and why they want to see more of it.

For me, the 25th century what I view as Star Trek’s present as well. Would love to see more stories told in that timeline. Again, that is only my subjective viewpoint and not a statement of fact. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It’s sad we need to make all these clarifications to keep certain someones from whining about how our individual view is wrong.

LOL, yeah it’s always best to try and not offend certain people on a message board. I’ve done it many times without even trying. ;D

And we will definitely get more 25th century stories. It’s not even a question, just really when and in what form? I know some people are freaking out over the Academy show announcement (if they are not happy with it but I’m totally fine with it personally) but that show has been in development for 5 years now, so it was just its turn. It doesn’t mean anything more than that.

And they got the message loud and clear what the fanbase wants. They were also the people who wanted TNG/25th century show in the first place. Let’s remember, they went to Patrick Stewart first asking for another show, he didn’t go to them. ;)

So there will definitely be more and what’s sad is if Stewart didn’t want to stop doing the show after the third season they would probably be gearing up for the fourth season right now. But I don’t remotely blame the guy, he is 82 years old.

I agree totally. I want to see more of the universe that Next Gen,DS9 and Voyager and now Picard created. This is the timeline I want to see, Enterprise, Discovery and SNW are not the same for me.

Wake me up when Legacy gets a greenlight, or the 4th JJ film. I’m snoozing on Star Trek Academy.

Be prepared for a Khan-like cold sleep then, because I think it’s going to be a very long wait, if ever.

I am simply skeptical that they would view this as a market-expander type of series.

The most you will get is some mini series starring some old trek characters. Maybe Worf gets a cooking show.

Gagh is served raw. No cooking needed.

I’d watch Worf teach Klingon cuisine!

Indeed, they seem to be more intent on alienating a vast fanbase of millions of legacy fans and intent on pursuing their Disco era fanbase – with a keen teen focus (ala the ex CW producer) … such a BIG Universe, you’d think they’d pursue both groups!

Who says they’re not?

There’s every reason to believe it will happen, but if we’ve learned anything, it’s that Paramount is tortoise-like in getting to announcing new Trek shows.

As Tiger2 and I keep pointing out, it was more than a year after Discovery season two was streamed in 2019 that Strange New Worlds was officially announced.

There were also some SNW pilot-like Short Treks in between.

Then another 2 years until the first season premiered in 2022.

We first heard the Starfleet Academy show was in development 5 years ago, and there’s finally an announcement last week.

S31 was also announced as in development 5 years ago. I’d expect an announcement of a limited series for that before any Legacy projects are confirmed.

Cheers for your scoop as key Entertainment Outsider.

Same. Nothing there for me.

Have to keep the faith! It was just the Academy show’s turn, it’s been in development for 5 years. I’m actually excited about it (assuming it will be good), but I understand why others aren’t.

But there will be a 25th century show and hopefully Matalas will be leading it.

Star trek Academy could be good but hardly anyone in the star trek fan base trust Kurtzman. An I don’t think they know how to do it. I don’t want some school drama.

They need to bring in a team of people from Top Gun an Stanhurst and NASA to design a proper starfleet academy curriculum. It needs to feel like a real academy preparing people for space exploration.

If it parties and love stories, it won’t survive.

And that’s my problem with SFA being set in the 32nd century. It takes away attention from the NextGen’s NextGen… SFA in the early 25th century… I would rave about this out of joy! But 32nd? Not so much. I view DSC 3-5 as some sort of extended glimpse of the far away future à la Relativity or Daniels. But we should not stay there yet… I want to continue from where the Bermanverse and PIC left us.

The relegated the entire Litverse to “Legends” for the sake of PIC via Coda. Now they have to deliver on-screen!

I know, I know, to some I may come off as one of those die-hard TOS fans back in the 80s who were not willing to give TNG a chance because it wasn’t “their” Star Trek anymore… That’s so true. But I can’t help it. I grew up watching the 24th century and this along witrh the TOS era is where my heart belongs… not some remote 32nd century setting.

Call me a biased angry “old” man who doesn’t care about younger audiences. But hey, we do have an economic expiry date well in the 2040s, so Paramount should cater to us for at least two more decades. And older generations are simply more people due to demographic change. Why winning over 1 million 12-year-olds when they can exploit the purchasing power of 2 million 42-year-olds for the next 20 years?

You are a biased angry “old” man who doesn’t care about younger audiences.

(per your request)

I don’t know. I’m old enough to have watched TOS on NBC, and I would prefer to see the franchise move forward. I was all for TNG when it came out, although as you said, a lot of fans from my generation (as it were) were pretty down on it, and I didn’t get it.

Well, from my POV, Legacy would be all about moving forward and it is, unless you regard the 32nd century as the new present. And this where my problems lie. DSC 3-5 has turned the future of Next Gen into the distant past. They denied us “our” future, moving another 750 years into the future.

Hmm, sounds like how TOS movie era fans felt when TNG denied they “their” future for some snoozefest. Yikes!

Yeah, if anything, “ST: Legacy” is nothing but moving BACKWARDS, taking us back to characters we’ve seen a thousand times before.

I’m not against it, and may very well love it. Because I don’t believe Trek has to “go forward” to be Trek. Good stories are all it needs.

But the idea that “going forward” means returning to legacy characters in a time linearly after we last saw this just downright laughable.

I’m not against it, and may very well love it. Because I don’t believe Trek has to “go forward” to be Trek. Good stories are all it needs.

Exactly. I don’t really care what era a Trek show is in so long as it gives me good Star Trek. I mean, I see some of the same fans who drool over the Lower Decks cartoon suddenly act all concerned about the Trek timeline now — I mean where was that concern for the seriousness of Trek’s future history when that silly cartoon was thrust upon us as canon?

I don’t even care about the same characters. Yes, they could show up here and there, but it’s many the setting in the timeline I care about. The main characters of a 25th century show could be all-new characters…

Heck, the show could even be set 50 or 100 years later and I’d be fine with it! A true NextGen…

But 750 years? I cannot relate to that era. It’s beyond my comprehension of a fictional timeline because too much is missing inbetween. They’ve wasted CENTURIES (!) worthwile of storytelling by going to that particular time and while I liked DSC 3+4, I still cannot forgive them…

“I still cannot forgive them…”

Dude, you are ridiculously dramatic.

We’ve got two years before we even see this show and this article isn’t even about Starfleet Academy.

I’m learning more about your personality quirks than star trek.

Dudes like this are always dramatic. They view Trek as important as actual reality. They’ve been consumed by fiction.

“Heck, the show could even be set 50 or 100 years later and I’d be fine with it! A true NextGen…”

That’s what I wanted back in 2017 and have a show take place 50+ years after Nemesis in the 25th century so they can start new and fresh with completely new characters and universe in a way. And most of the TNG era characters would be dead or retire so you couldn’t rely on legacy characters. That just made the most logical since.

Instead we got Discovery lol. And of course the even bigger irony the show would’ve fit much better in the 25th century than it did the 23rd but that’s been talked about to death.

But admittedly for me I don’t mind the 32nd century and made clear I do want to see more of it. And I never personally cared how much the show ‘related’ to me personally. I just like seeing cool future stuff lol. But I understand your point.

You can’t relate to 750 years forward, but you can relate to 375? Incredible comment, should be pinned to the hall of fame.

Nope, it’s been made clear that Legacy would rely significantly on the “next next generation” of characters. Do try to keep up.

You’re the one not keeping up. They said it would be a mix of both, and if you’ve bothered to actually read any comments here, you’d see that the overwhelming sentiment is that nobody wants “the next next gen” they want the “old old old.”

Are you sure you’ve not just accidentally wandered here from a video game website or something?

Uh that’s not right either. Garth Lorca, the person who started this discussion, literally said he would like a show 50-100 years post Nemesis. I agreed with him and said I wanted that back in 2017. Many people actually did want to start fresh going forward with all new characters post Nemesis back in 2017. Very few were calling for a TNG revival show.

And the fact is, most were happy when Discovery jumped to the 32nd century even though they loved having Pike and Spock on the show. But many argued it was better for DIS to do something new. Unfortunately the show still sucked for many, but it wasn’t because it was doing something different with new characters. The irony is people seem to like the new characters we did get like Book, Kovich, Vance, etc even if still not fond of the setting itself. I’m actually hoping Kovich and Vance show up on the new show.

In this case, people are simply responding to what Matalas is saying and saying they have no problems with a legacy show. Yeah others want it, but no one seems to be against a 25th century show with new characters either which Garth Lorca also said and I agree with.

Again, it’s not an either/or option. Most fans will watch anything if its good. Of course if you tell them there is an idea for a show starring Kirk, Picard or Janeway most people will gravitate to that first. But as I always say, there was a time those were obviously new characters people just happen to fall in love with meaning they can fall in love with the next Kirk, Picard or Janeway if they are indeed good characters.

Some of the TOS actors complained too, but presumably more out of economic self-interest than anything else.

Hmm, sounds like how TOS movie era fans felt when TNG denied they “their” future for some snoozefest. Yikes!

Yeah, how obtuse some fans get — this has happened before and it will happen again. It’s time for some fans to just grow up and accept that we have many centuries of Trek’s future history to go to.

Yeah Opinions are great and all, but sometimes you just have to tell a guy it’s not all about his wants and he’s just going to have to find a way to cope.

Yep that’s how I felt when I heard about Enterprise and Discovery lol. But people have to stay open minded about things when you’re dealing with a franchise that now has a thousand years of history to play with.

I’m old enough to remember seeing a fan in a TNG uniform at a costume constest say he liked TNG more than TOS at a con and the whole room booed him.

Star Trek fans like this are sad lol. But I’m assuming this is probably the early days of that show.

Early. Probably season 1 or 2. Star Trek V hadn’t come out yet. The word cosplay wasn’t a thing. We just had costume contests.

I’m old.

Thought so. Thanks for the response.

And here’s the reason why I generally gave cons and clubs a wide berth between 1987 & 89.

Fortunately my friends who had an all Trek wedding party sometime around then just went with regular wedding attire and not some kind of divisive cosplay.

I actually went to a con in 1989, got to meet John De Lancie.

I think I saw James Doohan at one around the same time.

There were some good regional cons from ‘89 through the mid 90s. Once things settled down and the proportion of Berman-era fans began to muffle the TOS die-hards.

TAS is what attracted me to Star Trek in the first place. I was very young. Then i saw the movies. Then finally i appreciated TOS. If it wasn’t for the kids toon i never would have found out about Star Trek at least until high school. I watched everything animated good or bad. It was almost my entire tv diet at that age.

That’s what we got PROD for…But that series introduces kids to the late 24th century, not some obscure distant future… Again, a SFA series is a VERY good idea, in a meaningful era I can relate to via other ship-based shows and movies… I want younger audiences, but NOT at the price of selling out the future of TNG. If SH thinks they need the 32nd century to excite the kids, then I am simply sad…

Likewise, that’s what Academy will be good for: introducing pre-teens to the franchise who may be too old for Prodigy, but don’t get the appeal of SNW or PIC just yet.

Pre-teens being too old for Prodigy??? You’re too old for Prodigy at 10, 11 or 12? You’re never too old for Prodigy, and certainly not as a pre-teen…

And again, I’m absolutely not against AN Academy show introducing teens to Trek.- But they need to introduce them to mainstream Trek (TOS era, TNG era), not an obscure era introduced by an unpopular sidetrek that even the fanbase cannot fully appreciate as a whole…

I’m not a DSC hater at all, but anyone knows the show is divisive and controversial among fans.

I think he just means who want something a little more mature. And most people who is introduced to one show usually gravitate to the others in time. I hear it every day on other boards. People who has watched TNG, VOY, the Kelvin movies, ENT, TOS and on and on for the first time usually become curious of the other shows and wants to know what they should try out next and so on.

As far as I can tell, TNG still seems to be the most watched show for newbies and it does draw them in to TOS, DS9 and so on.

Star Trek is one big gateway drug lol. The idea is to get people to try a show they THINK will appeal to them or who would never give Trek a chance on its own. But once they give that a try and like it, they usually keep going trying out the other shows.

And the new show isn’t Discovery. It will be it’s own thing with new characters and situations. And yes hopefully better but we’ll see.

Yes, pre-teens are not the target demographic. As for DSC being “divisive and controversial” — take a look around. All modern Trek is divisive and controversial. Fans can’t agree on anything these days.

And frankly, the more divisive the better. The faster the franchise can push out canon purists, knee-jerk reactionaries, and ultra-right-wing conservatives, the better.

Please stop saying pre teens. So creepy.

Using a the accurate term for an age demographic isn’t creepy.

It is creepy when a bunch of old guys keep talking about them.

Dude, A34, some of us are parents and grandparents here.

We do have a clue, and good reason to wish to share the franchise with our families.

If Starfleet Academy is more in line with The Magicians or Nancy Drew in terms of niche, it may skew older than Alpha Predator is thinking of though.

Have they confirmed that the SFA they greenlit is the 32nd century version with Tilly? I see no mention of the setting in any of the press releases.

It’s strongly implied. No actual details have been divulged as of yet.

It says the Academy is reopening after 100 years.

That’s clearly 32nd century.

Tilly is TBC.

I really hope Cronenberg’s Kovich is a recurrent character. He adds a palpable level of intrigue. The Magicians was able to be successful as a campus based show with a multi season mystery. I hope SH takes a leaf out of that storytelling approach.

Cronenberg seems to love to take modest roles in locally made productions just to be on the other side of the camera. As long as he doesn’t have to leave Toronto. They should get him as much as they can.

Yes I definitely want Kovich back too for this show. But if he is, I hope they make it clear what the guy actually does lol.

Go back and reread what you wrote. It reeks of self indulged privilege. Do you want to speak to the manager?

I love this season, and I really like Terry Matalas, but it always bugs me when a filmmaker has to tell the audience to support the show more. It reeks of Jeb Bush’s “please clap.”

We are fans. If we like it, we’ll watch it, we’ll support it, we’ll get excited without that ask.

Matalas just wants a pay check

You should start a “fire Matalas” petition, you’ll get a LOT of support.

I probably will. We all know it doesn’t take long before the fans start to bite the hand that feeds them.

How could they fire Matalas? He isn’t even currently working for them. They’d have to rehire him just to fire him.

There isn’t that much logic in the sock puppet troll accounts.

I was being sarcastic, because A34 just like shouting the opposite opinion.

Yeah, this reminds me of some of the studio workers on the TNG Blu-Ray sets telling me I need the pay the $90 first day price on those sets to support TNG HD. I eventually did buy them all, but at a realistic price for the BR market and my personal budget.

I saw them all for free and uncut in full HD quality on BBC America. I paid nothing. Same with TOS remastered before they cut them down for more ads. Would pay for Deep Space Nine in HD, or Voyager. Been meaning to get Enterprise but i never get around to it i’m always able to find something more important to spend that hundred dollars on.

I have a blu ray player built into my PS4 and I have never watched a blu ray disc in my life. Streaming has leapfrog that technology.

I live for collecting physical media. It’s my replacement family.

Streaming can only replace cinema or linear TV, but it can never replace my absolute passion for collecting and owning things. I don’t know how to live on mere access. That’s why I have lost touch with Star Wars lately. As I can no longer own it, I cannot fully embrace it anymore. The linking piece is missing… I watch it but it doesn’t connect with me the same way it would if I could some day order it on BD…

Agreed. It’s my hobby, as is my “theater like” 4K home projection system and high-end audio set-up.

I just don’t like owning a lot of stuff.

I’ve compared the DVDs to the Blu-rays and even Blu-ray to streaming and its no contest. Well, streaming comes closer to Blu-ray, but the colors are better balanced on disc and the sound quality is sharper. I’m glad I own the blu-rays so I don’t constantly have to subscribe to watch the show.

Yeah, the video and audio quality is not even close between streaming and BR, and 4K UHD BR versus 4K streaming is a joke — 4K UHD BR is vastly superior.

I have no problem with anyone who prefers streaming, but it is so bizarre how some of them have some weird chip on their shoulder where they need to act all superior about them not having physical media?

If you can accept the lower quality video and audio, good for you then.

If you haven’t watched a Blu-Ray (or 4K disc) you don’t know what you’re missing. It runs rings around streaming quality. Apple devices are probably the highest quality for streaming, but they still don’t come close to a good disc player.

I have a 4K tv hooked up to a PS4, but I just really don’t care. I’ve never even touched a blu disc in my life. Ten years ago I would have cared though. Streaming technology is just more superior for its instantaneous gratification in my opinion.

So a vastly inferior picture and sound has leapfrogged physical media. I say thank god we still have it as those heavily compressed dark scenes are hard work watching on streamed media. There is no comparison I want every new Star Trek on UHD Blu Ray please.

Matalas didn’t raise the point; he was asked about it.

Absolutely. And he gave a response that rubs me the wrong way. If they’d asked “do you want to work on a spin-off” and he’d say “yes!” than that’s a very different story.

I’m more tolerant of this as people are literally, directly asking Matalas, “How can we influence Paramount to make more things like this that we like?”

It’s also true that Kurtzman and Secret Hideout have come to recognize how important it is to have a creator-showrunner with a clear vision to champion a show.

However, as I’ve said, the optimal choice for a 25th century show, limited series or anthology of shorter projects might not be precisely what Matalas had pitched.

In the end Paramount will read the metrics, and may agree to some one-offs to and limited series carrying on from Picard to work out what would be a successful multi season show.

Better to have more Short Treks and one-offs to refine things as they did wit SNW than to have more rough starts like Discovery and Picard.

Matalas was asked about how fans can support the show so he answered. But please get back to your 100 plus comments a day, which aren’t at all obnoxious.

I’m not even sure why this minor criticism is eliciting an angry response from people lol

But thanks for being a fan. I’m on Cameo if you want a private video message!

Well I personally never once thought while watching Trek 6 that one of the characters was going to die.

Had she been Saavik Valeris betrayal certainly would have cut more deep. In a way that would have been worse than a character dying. They threatened Kirk dying in rura penthe but they would have never done it. Generations doesn’t count for me Kirk and the TOS story ended with his final signoff.

It would have, but only if they’d hired Kirstie Alley. Even Robin Curtis wouldn’t have had the same effect.

Making Saavik a conspirator never made sense to me. It didn’t fit with what (admittedly little) we’d seen of the character.

I remember watching the trailer and thinking someone may die – but not the movie.

Part of that may be because in those days that sort of thing wasn’t really done as much. Today, big budget prestige franchises will kill off a major character so often that it’s become an expectation.

Good point!

That’s funny, I do remember being afraid Kirk might die in TUC because the trailer showed him getting vaporized. Those tricky, tricky shapeshifters.

They did show Kirk getting vaporized it the ads. Turned out it was Martia.

Star Trek: Legacy = Star Trek: Last of the Summer Wine

That’s a good analogy. Or Dad’s Army if we continue with British sitcoms. Nonetheless, I can understand why fans would support the idea. I just don’t think you’ll expand the fan base and garner a bunch of new P+ subscribers with it.

I completely agree with you.

That’s what Starfleet Academy, Prodigy, and SNW are for.

All Good Things Part III

I see Star Trek Legacy as likely starring Seven, Raffi, the La Forge Sisters, Jack Crusher, the bald Vulcan lady, and perhaps Shaw, with guest appearances from some TNG people. And I, a 35 year old who grew up on 90’s Trek in particular, would LOVE that.

Perhaps Shaw?

I’m enthusiastic about a Titan show. To each his own view of who we most want to see continue among the original characters.

A social media roundup however provides a different set of fan priorities.

There are a lot of exuberant Shaw fans on other social media saying they’ll ‘riot’ if Shaw is killed off this season, and want him back more than any of the other original Picard characters.

Sidney LaForge is the other season 3 original character that taking off.

I don’t think Matalas and Co expected Jack’s primary appeal to be as a potential romantic interest of Sidney’s.

So far, I’ve seen Shaw, Seven and Sidney in every single fan-designed poster for a new Titan or Legacy show. Jack was in just one with the other new Titan officers.

More, there are two excellent fan-made vfx title sequences with the Titan. Both feature Shaw, Seven, T’Veen and Ohk. One adds Mura as well. Neither lists Jack.

The Vulcan scientist officer T’Veen, Bajoran tactical officer Mura, and even Dr Ohk are getting more fan advocacy.

That’s the problem with a ST: Density series. It is the Enterprise-G with the Voyager-C and a thousand other starships in a preachy Federation where we tell the aliens how perfect we are, outside of some TOS movie era story where it’s David Marcus Picard and a (Neo) Constitution class starship in some one off where Starfleet has been totally hijacked, the `win’ is “Look it’s Tuvok!!! Look it’s Riker!!! OMG It’s Worf!! OMG it’s some character from some show back when no one even wanted to see a TNG movie let alone a show!” which I think restricts the fan base. Now you’d say, “Hey Cmd. Bremmon, what gives, you love JTK, Spock in SNV, etc!” But the key there was never that you needed a TOS character, it’s that you needed the TOS action and adventure where you could still have the Federation learning, colonizing, aliens allowed to be aliens, facing danger, not being perfect while one starship was a big deal (the only ship in the quadrant!”). SNW has that (added bonus, we get the big E!”). I only wish they let SNW do a TOS movie era type story arc, hopefully that will take place one day.

That sounds horrible to me.

Dude if you ran Star Trek we probably would’ve gotten 5 more seasons of Discovery and that sounds really really horrible. ;)

No nude Trek for you.

Nobody has successfully lobbied Paramount for their own Star Trek show (Seth MacFarlane even when to Paramount himself pre-SH and asked to take over the franchise) so TM has a lot of history working against him by doing this so publicly, but good luck to him. The Pike-Strange New Worlds situation was different because that was basically the fans gassing up something that Akiva and Alex did and Trek is their thing right now and it was still early enough in the SH reign that they had the juice to do something like that.

This definitely has a lot to do with having sat on the finished season for so long. I feel like he’s talked about it a lot, to the point that some of the surprises this season haven’t hit as hard, and that includes teasing the ending of ST:P-3 to the point that it sort of encroaches on this Legacy pitch. Yeah, some of this is my fault for being online to the point that I see a lot of his comments, but also this feels like a guy who’s being forced to play to the public to drum up support because he doesn’t have a deal with Paramount/SH anymore. Of course, Hollywood being what it is, they’re more likely to say, “Hey, thanks for boosting the brand, best of luck in the gutter, pal!” than say, “Hey, come back and do some more for us!” Kurtzman, especially, is adept at winning out over his direct competition (RIP Bryan Fuller’s career).

But I think we can all understand where Matalas is coming from. It’s very easy to get excited about Star Trek, and having made it and having had a good experience with it, why wouldn’t he want to keep making it?

Not even Shatner or Reeves-Stevens for the Kirk Academy concept prequel. That became a single novel. Collision Course.

Kurtzman is as good at disposing of his competition as anyone I’ve ever seen, and I used to practice corporate law.

Fuller successfully lobbied for his own show. He just didn’t get to end up running it.

Same with Chabon.

CBS TV was already planning a new Star Trek to launch their streaming platform Fuller lobbied to get it. That is a big difference from what Matalas is doing. Chabon, too, was brought on board when Secret Hideout, which had won the bid to have the right to pitch new Trek projects, wanted to do a Picard show. From an LA Times article dated 6/9/2020:

Chabon: When they asked me to join, they were like, “We’re trying to get Patrick Stewart to come back and do Picard.” There was a bit of discouragement from Patrick Stewart’s side, and it seemed like the ship might be sailing. So I wrote this long document … that got sent to Patrick.

YEah but Matalas isn’t really doing a ‘new’ show either, it sounds like it will be a continuation of what we got in third season at the end of the day, just with a new story line. But a lot of the same characters will be coming back while others won’t. Maybe we’ll get 1 o 2 new characters but I suspect it’s going to basically be the characters we have now and even continues on the Titan if the ship survives.

He’s not trying to reinvent the wheel, just keep it rolling basically.

It’s new as in it does not currently exist. There is not currently a show called “Star Trek: Legacy.” A spinoff would still be a “new” show. What other word should I have used to make that clear (I thought I had)? I get the compulsion to have the last word in a discussion, but this is a weird callout.

But this is not the same thing as a new pitch. Basically what we are watching now is a back door pilot which Matalas said was always built in. I guess it’s different because if the next show takes place on the Titan starring Riker, as its new Captain with Seven, Sidney, Crusher, etc, I don’t really see it as something brand new.

Now if its TRULY different and it’s more of a Starfleet spy show staring Worf and Raffi yeah I agree, it’s a new show. But just based what he’s been saying, it really just sounds it will be what we have now with a few different variables. And if it’s considered a hit in terms of views and praise, it’s not really a risk in the sense you are pitching something completely cold like officers working on a space station near a wormhole or a Starfleet Academy show in the 32nd century, etc.

But if it something radically different, then we agree. To me, it basically sounds like it will be the same show minus Picard essentially but I could be wrong. And it does sound like there will be some big game changer to the season at the end, so that could radically change things too in terms of what the show could be.

And I’m not trying to get the last word since this is the first time I responded to this topic, just having a conversation.

I don’t see how “a Starfleet spy showing [starring] Worf and Raffi” would be “TRULY different,” since we’re already seeing them do exactly that in this season of Picard and it has been integral to the story. And, based on Matalas’s comments, it doesn’t seem like the thrust of Legacy would be a serialized story — it might be more episodic; so, that would be different from ST:P-S3, too.

Regardless, maybe I should’ve used the word “iteration” instead of “new?” I think the focus on the word “new” when I really mean next / a show that has yet to produce a season 1 (Star Trek: Picard – Season 3 is not season 1 of Legacy, just as season 8 of The Practice was not season 1 of Boston Legal) is kind of getting in the way of a comment that seems uncontroversial:

Matalas is trying to pitch his own Star Trek show to the studio via public comments and nobody has ever done that before and been successful. Nobody has ever done it privately, either! Paramount came to Roddenberry to develop a show (which then became TOS), then they came back to him to do Phase II, before Star Wars pushed them to tell him to make it a movie, then they came to him to revive TNG, came to Berman & Piller to make DS9, take TNG to the movies, and then VOY to launch UPN and then ENT to give that network something stable. Then P+ sought out someone to come up with a take to launch their new streamer. (And yes, I’m aware that throughout *most* of this chain of events, fan demand played a huge part — but in motivating Paramount to act)

And whether or not he did pitch season three as setting up a new series/backdoor pilot (which is debatable, given that they didn’t sign any of the new cast to holding deals), he doesn’t have a deal anymore. Maybe Paramount/SH will go on and make a version of his pitch, but he’s pitching himself to be the one running it. I’m sure plenty of people without deals have pitched their own Star Trek shows to the studio, but they’ve all failed. Matalas is trying to be the first to succeed. That’s the only real point I was trying to make. I wasn’t trying to get granular with the concept of what is new.

OK, fair enough! I get your point. We’ll see how it all plays out but I think his chances are good if this season is a big hit. Again, end of the day that is the big difference. He’s one of the few people pitching a new show based on one that’s actually running now . That’s never happened before in terms of Star Trek AFAIK.

So that gives him a major advantage if fans are liking it and it’s pulling in major views; and so far they seem to be. There is now even a petition for another show. The last time that happened was for SNW. So the apatite is there and it’s so much easier to go with that if there is real backing behind it from the fanbase and they are watching this show in droves. But yeah nothing is guaranteed obviously until someone just says yes.

ST Legacy or ST Titan needs to happen! I have no interest in a Tilly lead 32nd century academy show. If you set the show after ST6 during the ENT-B or C era I’d be interested.

I feel like Paramount would say we can’t have 2 ship shows (SNW & Titan) they’re too similar. As much as I like SNW, I’d much rather a Tian show with Shaw, 7 & company.

I think the ST Legacy could be an anthology series like American Horror Story, where we get a 5 ep series each year with a different story each time.

I just have no interest in anymore Discovery shows…like academy or S31. If academy or S31 were in the 23rd-25th century I’m interested though, the premise of both are fine it’s just DSC I want to be done with

I don’t think they’d say we can’t have two ship shows. We have them right now, with SNW and PIC, and last season we had SNW and DSC.

The different eras – particularly the tone of those eras – helps make them distinct.

Well, the setup with Georgiou for S31 was that she stepped into the Guardian of Forever and vanished, with the only promise being that she’d be closer to her own time period.

I’m loving Picard but it’s because we are really getting the Next Gen as it should have been, a TOS movie era spin off with some DS9 politics making the analog work. But that ship has sailed and I don’t know how to keep it from evolving into playing space hotel in a series. Another Dominion War? Maybe they can bring back the Borg, the real collective Borg, not the lameness they devolved into? We’ve got SNW that I’m happy, a starship (better yet the Big E) exploring a still dangerous final frontier (space when it was really wild) but what’s next? Could be the Academy show of it is a story about rebuilding the Starfleet in the 32nd century where you have a handful of people who have an idea, and the rest just cadets trying to do the best they can (vs. just cadets in school). The only thing that hurts this is all the magic tech (mushroom spore drive, detachable nacelles). I suppose Calypso opened the door to lose all that, you have it where the spore drive screws up space-time and you end up with multiple copies of DIS or something. These days I lean to a soft reboot, you do Cochrane in Montana post WW3 and use the modified timeline from FC vs. prime timeline as an out.. Cash in on the SpaceX analogs. I suppose you could go into the temporal cold war era with a Starfleet legacy show?? And go all in on that – into exploring the multiverse, multiverse politics etc. – all these universes link up and time lines are irrelevant. If your going that route, colonize with the Genesis II when lost out there and you need to regenerate JTK to save everything. lol

A post WW3 and pre ENT show is also my idea. I’d love to see a more realistic Star Trek show setting in the near future. I also consider First Contact as a slighty altered timeline with ENT and DSC as a sequel.

There’s some issues with that theory ya know..

Namely we’ve now seen the NX-01 in the prime timeline, as well as Zefram Chochrans statue from Enteprise in Picard, etc.

Ah but that has the Borg having been on Earth. In theory there is a (prime?) timeline where that did not happen yet I think that conundrum is how you can get away with a soft reboot and you can even leave the viewer to decide which is prime (is ENT pre or post FC?). That being said I think you don’t need to play with canon that much. You can bring in relics of Vegan Tyranny to explain why races are emerging around the same time (the answer to the Fermi paradox being they were being destroyed only now free to develop), you have the rebuilding of the sol system, you can use the Kzinti as the big bads Vs. The Romulans. You can even have the XCV Enterprise from TMP (a Vulcan ship gifted to Earth). Pilot I think would be Cochrane’s Montana team testing warp in prep for a mission to Alpha Centauri discovers a distress call from a Vulcan science ship captured by a Tyranny relic. To Cochrane’s surprise no Vulcan rescue effort is planned given it would be illogical to attempt given the distress call was sent weeks ago, the superior tech of the Tyranny and the fear of rekindling a force that once ravaged the quadrant. The new rep from the just formed (and dysfunctional) “United Earth” gives Cochrane’s space probe agency agrees not to attempt a rescue as well with a mandate the team is to focus on the rebuilding of Earth. Hearing the distress signal again Cochrane and his team decide to proceed with a rescue mission anyway (which ultimately succeeds despite being an epic failure on many levels).

It’s all a time loop anyway imo

One problem with a “legacy” show is that Paramount seems to be all-in on Toronto as the ST production nexus (heh), and that might complicate getting some actors, a lot of whom are CA based. Frakes used to live in Maine, but he’s back in California now, and Stewart originally insisted on filming PIC in LA as a condition for doing the series.

This is precisely why I think that we won’t see Jeffrey Combs in live action again. Animated characters are more likely to be all we get there with him and that’s okay. I’ll be sad but I understand it and I respect it.

Frakes seems to be more than happy to go up to Toronto/Mississauga to direct.

He also spends a lot of time in Vancouver and Georgia working on non-Trek projects.

I don’t think it would be an issue for recurring projects.

For some UK legacy actors, e.g., Siddig, working in Toronto would be more appealing than in the US.

I don’t think its a huge deal since I doubt Riker would even be on the show full time. And Frakes seems to have no problem going there since he’s shot a ton of Discovery episodes there and as a director you’re spending weeks to prep an episode before you even shoot it.

Also Anson Mount didn’t seem very excited about shooting a show full time in Canada, especially the length these new shows shoot for since he lives in the states but they figured it out. I suspect most of the actors will do it if they want to do more Star Trek. If not, the beauty of this time period is there are ton of legacy actors out there to choose from if someone else says no.

Two words: More Sidney.

I second that emotion.

I want both Sidney and Alandra… time for a first family of Trek :-)

More Sidney, Shaw & Seven.

Also agreed!

I would like to see Star Trek: Legacy set around the time of Star Trek Online, which takes place in 2409.

May I ask why? Why that year specifically since this show is already in 2401. Is there something special that takes place in that game?

The team behind this season would knock a new series out of the park. If they doubled down on the hope and optimism, turned the lights up and remind the world that the reason Star Trek stands out in a sea of generic Sci-Fi is because it leaves it’s viewers feeling good. This is needed so very badly because the real world is so dark and divided right now. We need Star Trek’s hope for a brighter future more than ever.

The reason I am not keen on Star Trek Legacy is because it would most likely than not take place on the Titan be about the characters from The Next Generation and Voyager rather than the ship it should be about, the Enterprise.

Destroy the Titan and transfer this crew over to the Enterprise-G and then I’ll care.

We already have one show set on the Enterprise.

In the past. Not in the 25th Century.

Or, just name every ship in the fleet Enterprise. Problem solved.

“Oh no! It’s another Enterprise.”

McMahan had to be thinking of this kind of thing when they put those words in Pakled mouths.

Better rename her Enterprise after the F gets destroyed :-)

Nah, I think they will be introducing an Enterprise G. Why else retire the F they already confirmed is happening when they haven’t even shown the ship yet?

Put that password generator to work… USS Enterprise – G.4A7$/@rySp3

It’ll be great. Crewed by clones of the TNG crew and cheap positronic knockoffs.

That actually sounds like the 32nd century version of the Enterprise which I think Discovery confirmed existed in season 4. ;)

That is certainly an option.

Ah this brings back memories

“Star Trek is based on the enterprise..not some space station”

Thanks for the nostalgia trip

And I’d subscribe to that any day. Star Trek IS based on the Enterprise. DS9 and the other shows are SET in the same universe, just like Torchwood is set in the Doctor Who universe but isn’t Doctor Who.

And you may get your wish. ;)

People keep saying that they will probably not have two shows concurrently running that takes place on an Enterprise. And I agree, that’s probably less likely to happen. Buuuuuut, if the spin off happens, it’s probably 2-3 years away regardless. SNW may be done by it’s fifth season anyway assuming they didn’t just cancel Discovery for low ratings and they are about to begin the third season. So I can definitely see this show starting up after SNW is done. And even if SNW is still running, they may still put the show on the E-G if SNW only has another season to go or something.

So it’s possible for sure. Probable, that’s a different question though.

I’m cool with a legacy show. Terry has done great work with this season so I would watch it. Besides, I’m getting the SFA series so I’m happy. #TrekForever

Once again, posts about upcoming episodes reportedly with details from people who have seen them will be deleted.

And just like that, Matalas let slip that Riker doesn’t die.

LOL! But seriously I don’t understand why people think anyone would even die??? They already killed off Ro, they can say they killed off a ‘legacy character’. No one is looking for anyone to die, I don’t understand why there needs to be even a thing at this point. Everyone knows it’s really hard to kill off the characters permanently anyway, ie, welcome back Data. ;)

They can’t let Riker die. Outside some TOS movie era story awesomely pasted over TNG where it’s David Marcus Picard and a (Neo) Constitution class starship in some one off where Starfleet has been totally hijacked, the `win’ of a ST: Destiny is “Look it’s Riker!!! OMG!” at least as long as it is a story about the Enterprise-G with the Voyager-F with starships a dime a dozen telling aliens how great the Federation is. That being said miniseries where we get more of this TOS movie era type stories, I’m all aboard! Thinking about it, one option is if the Starfleet is hijacked by AI on frontier day/Borgized, they have to lose most of the new era ships and rebuild? That might work? Or have to chase a Borg-Dominion alliance in older ships to some far off galaxy or something? There is a reason why the Burn had to happen in the 30th century.which is where some fans think that “Star Trek is only about going forward” and thus need to set the series after.. thus SFA. That being said Starfleet Academy has to be about rebuilding the Federation, that you get back to discovery and starships not being a commodity. Just wish they could ditch the magic mushroom drive.

Yeah we agree, Riker is not dying! :)

And the fanbase would have Matalas head lol.

A good mini-series follow up might be Riker and Troy trying to save their son, maybe a tie in to the Guardian of Forever arc. Doesn’t make sense why all the obsession by Picard on saving Data and AI and time travel after time travel arc while Thaddeus stays dead.

I loved Carl on Discovery. One of the best characters to return! I’m all for a GOF/Carl miniseries.

More Carl the evolved Guardian of Forever? Yes please!

Yeah Carl is pure a-w-e-s-o-m-e!

The more I read about the drive to “Legacy” the more I’m finding myself torn. As some folks have wisely stated, a Legacy show doesn’t really drive the franchise forward. That said, I sympathize with the feeling of the “present” being early 25th century, and finding it hard to connect to DSC’s 32nd century setting. It doesn’t – for me – have the vibe of Star Trek. There’s an in-universe continuity that I recognize from ENT to TOS to TNG-era to S3-PIC. I feel like SNW fits into that, even if it pushes the boundaries a little. Even LD feels like it’s set in that continuum, even if the tone is very different.

Apart from the CW-esque element, that’s the disconnect for me with Late Discovery-era Trek. It doesn’t feel like it comes from the same universe. That doesn’t make it wrong – of course things would change in 700 years – but it makes it more difficult for me to emotionally connect it with the franchise as a whole. I remain skeptical, but as with all other Treks, I’ll give it a go. I love LD, and I was so down on the concept when it was announced. It could be fun! I hope to be proven wrong.

Coming back to the point though, I don’t think I want “Legacy.” I’d be happy to see ST: Titan. Captain Shaw flying around, doing stuff. Even bring along Seven! She’s killing it this season. Sure, maybe bump into legacy characters every once in a while ( a la Encounter at Farpoint, Unification, Relics, etc.) but don’t make them the focus of the show. It took PIC two swings and misses to get basic storytelling right. I don’t want to see the same floundering with other characters.

Alternate series pitches if you need to bring back Legacy characters:

Star Trek: Combs – everyone played by Jeffrey Combs
Star Trek: Ghost Hunters – O’Brien and La Forge become space ghostbusters
Star Trek: Garak – just Garak, scheming (give him the Star Trek S31 show)
Star Trek: Succession – Alan Ruck comes back as Harriman, but is also Connor Roy somehow.
Star Trek: Enterprises – stories from the Enterprises B and C

Some of those are more serious than others.

Any and all of these would make sense for one-shots or limited series.

Any Legacy character, place or time period would work. Or, as you suggest, fill in some gaps.

If people want more Crushers, give Beverly and Jack a handful of episodes and fulfil fans’ pleadings for a Starfleet medical show on a Starbase.

Star Trek: Ghost Hunters

Mike Stoklasa?!

I mean, who actually wants a Section 31 show, Starfleet Academy show over Legacy?

Star Trek IS mainly the TNG era so how do you not capitalize on that? Look at SNW’s success after they relaunched the TOS era. No Titan though, we already have a Constitution-class ship. If not the Enterprise-G, make it some other new, large, flagship.

They should have, however, made Starfleet Academy in the TMP era just like the video games. That would have been epic.

The Academy show has been something they been trying to get on the air for five years now. They have been developing this specific concept for over a year according to news articles. And that makes sense given the Tilly/Academy episode we got in season 4.

If you ask me personally which show would I take, I would take the Picard show 100 times over, no question. BUT I would also take the Academy show as well. And I don’t think they knew just how much people would like this season given how badly received its first two seasons have been. It’s just more of bad timing IMO announcing a new show that sounds like it’s not really made for old fans over something people have been wanting again since the 90s.

I’m pretty sure we will still be getting a spin off show, it will just come later, that’s all. People hollered about a SNW show and we got it, but I have to remind people that show didn’t get announced until literally a year after season 2 of Discovery ended and didn’t premiere until another two years after that; so it may take some time regardless.

Section 31 is the GOAT bro.

A series that doesn’t yet exist is the GOAT? Now….that’s getting pretty damn rich 🙄 IF Paramount was using its noodle 🍜 they would somehow bring Picard back for one more season AT LEAST. The idea of a Star Trek movie is wickedly cool but they’ve all bombed out big time. Go with what works and Picard Season 3 is the 🐾 🐈. 🐾 Cats meow and that’s the honest truth.

Me. I want a Section 31 show over Legacy.

“Boy, wouldn’t you want to check in with the Klingon Empire? Wouldn’t you want to check in with Deep Space Nine and The Doctor [from Voyager ] and everything that went on with the Berman-verse?”

Yes, yes, and yes.

Wouldn’t it be better to give these legacy characters and settings their own one-shots and limited series?

‘Visiting’ will mean that the legacy characters will be subordinated to the ship’s storylines.

I’d rather have a shorter piece that really focuses on a legacy than a series of cameo visits or small world coincidences.

Absolutely count me in as well!

While I do like the Idea of continuing on with the USS Titan, I would like for them to get rid of most of the Legacy characters and just do some good Trek Stories in this time period. Keeping Seven around makes sense storywise but the rest of the TNG cast should be retired in universe. We’ve had more than enough membermerries. Maybe the odd cameo once a season but I would like a Trek Show that actually tells Trek Stories and the only one that somewhat manages to do so is Lower Decks. Haven’t seen Prodigy past the first three episodes and SNW just pretends to tell Trek Stories while delivering mostly empty calories. But at least the format works and I do like most of the charakters.

On another note: I’d like there to be a post credit scene in Season 3 of Picard, where Geordy fixes the Lights on that ship

I like better the strategy that TrekMovie quoted Kurtzman on a week or so ago.

There could still be Star Trek: Titan with Shaw, Seven Sideny and the other new officers to have new adventures in the earliest 25th century.

But for the Legacy characters, it makes sense to have a separate, kind of anthology frame of limited series and one-shots.

Here are a few that could work, and that would fulfil some longstanding fan pitches for other kinds of shows in the universe.

– Janeway as Admiral, C-in-C, with some Federation political complexities;

– Beverly Crusher returning Starfleet to run a medical centre, with Jack moving from emergency medical technician towards a full physician;

– Troi and Riker returning to regular ship service (with Kestra in whatever post-secondary);

I’m sure that there would be similar opportunities for DS9 and other Voyager characters too.

I’m hoping Worf and Raffi end up with Georgiou in S31.

Yeah. Going that route could work. Basically doing little movies every once in a while. Wouldn’t even have to be specific to a certain time frame or universe, if the’d like to do some Kelvin- oder Enterprise stuff. I allways thought a Romulan War mini-series aboard the NX-01 could be something (though I don’t know if the time frame works for show and actors).

However … I so do not care for Kurtzmans hardon for S31. They should really let go of that.

I appreciate a great trip down memory lane, for sure, but enough with the fan service. It’s too much.

Please… a new crew, a new situation, new adventures. There are so many stories to tell in the Star Trek universe without having to go back to the same well so often.

Just pass the torch already.

Please… a new crew, a new situation, new adventures. There are so many stories to tell in the Star Trek universe without having to go back to the same well so often.

Lamentable that I had to scroll through nearly 100 fantasy football comments to find this.

In fairness, the Secret Hideout penchant for dreaming up idiotic Star Trek pastiches, throwing the mud against the wall, and seeing what sticks has undoutbedly contributed to this.

Star Trek 90210. Boggles the mind.

Personally think ent, disco, original series have all covered substantial ground on the early days, I always say that gap in time between star trek 6 and TNG has never truly been explored…let’s gap fill!!

And yes give DS9 it’s day in the sun, I think producers are scared of tampering with its legacy as it was a near perfect tv series

Yes, I’ve always wanted to see that 80 (or so) year period explored as well. With proper writing, there’s a lot of potential there.

That is what i wanted Nick Meyer to explore instead he wanted to give Khan a prequel.

That is the one prequel setting I would love to see as well. And I’ve always to see something like how first contact with the Cardassians went and how they ended up in a war with them.

I want signatures in space!

like every good SF, ‘trek’ can illuminate the state of the present day, not just the possible utopia of the future.

The change.or link is useless. One can’t subscribe, just pay.

change.org was bought over by a private company.

Many people are reluctant to support petitions listed there now.

It is basically making money off of promoting the petitions it hosts.

It also will spam email addresses to promote other petitions. This isn’t a big volume if you’re outside the US, but I understand that it’s a major deterrent to signing any petitions in the US.

Terry is the voice Star Trek has needed for a very long time

I would like to see RIKER get his own show.

I am fully on board with Legacy getting the green light. So long as we can all recognize that Goldsmith and Kurtzman were not involved and that is the ONLY reason Picard season 3 is good.

That the writing, and setup for all of this was only possible because the other two horrible producers were not around to turn it into hot garbage.

Matalas needs full control.

We are extremely lucky that this strange turn of events has occurred. Unlike the other producers, Matalas was actually a fan of the series before the bad writers and horrible producers came into the picture. And he wrote this without them.

It actually astounds me how there are people who don’t realize just how trash the writing has been for these past few years of Trek.

I wonder how mad at Matalas his coworkers are, considering the amount of blatant spat in their face he has done in Picard S3. It’s very clear he wanted absolutely nothing to do with any of the other productions, or their terrible writing.

Help us Terry Matalas, you’re our only hope!!!

'Star Trek: Discovery' Series Finale Ending Explained: The Franchise Lives On

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Editor's Note: This article contains spoilers for the 'Star Trek: Discovery' series finale.

The Big Picture

Captain Burnham makes a bold decision regarding Progenitors' tech in the Star Trek: Discovery finale, ensuring it stays out of dangerous hands.
Saru ties the knot with his Vulcan fiancée in a romantic ceremony, while Burnham and Book rekindle their romance.
A character from another show is revealed to have secret ties to Star Trek: Discovery , linking the series to past storylines.

Star Trek: Discovery has reached the end of its journey. After premiering in 2017, Discovery managed to run for five seasons — which is becoming a rarity in the streaming age (and ironically marks the length of time for a five-year mission under Starfleet). Discovery also helped kickstart the Star Trek renaissance on television , with series including Star Trek: Picard and the spin-off Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , so seeing it end after all this time is rather bittersweet.

Despite the circumstances, Discovery was determined to end its final voyage in style as Captain Michael Burnham ( Sonequa Martin-Green ) tracked down technology that belonged to the Progenitors, a race of beings who seeded the universe with intelligent life. Further complicating matters is the fact that the crew of Discovery is finding themselves being pulled in different directions : Saru ( Doug Jones ) is now an ambassador for the Federation of United Planets, Hugh Culber ( Wilson Cruz ) has a literal out-of-body experience that he struggles to come to terms with, and Burnham must deal with her lingering feelings for Book ( David Ajala ), especially as the two separated. How does it all come together in Discovery's final episode, "Life, Itself?"

Star Trek: Discovery

Taking place almost a decade before Captain Kirk's Enterprise, the USS Discovery charts a course to uncover new worlds and life forms.

Captain Burnham Makes a Decision Regarding the Progenitors’ Tech

"Life, Itself" begins with Burnham waking up on a platform that serves as the bridge to multiple worlds, alongside Moll ( Eve Harlow ), who had been seeking the Progenitors' technology. After the duo strike a truce, they discover an interface that will let them speak to the Progenitors, leading Moll to betray Burnham and try to access the interface, only to get frozen for her troubles. Burnham eventually does talk to one of the Progenitors, who offers her a choice: Either she becomes the steward of the Progenitor tech or leave it behind. Burnham takes a third option and uses the Discovery's tractor beam to send the tech into the event horizon of a black hole , making sure no one can access it.“It’s too powerful for one person or one culture to access or control,” she tells the rest of the crew.

While Burnham is on another plane of existence, the Discovery is fending off an attack by the Breen and manages to defeat them using a combination of intellect and intimidation. Commander Rayner ( Callum Keith Rennie ) teleports a Breen dreadnought into the far reaches of space, while Saru intimidates the Breen primarch into calling off the rest of their forces by implying he'd bring a force unlike anything the Breen saw upon their heads. The moment was a full circle for both of them because Rayner finally grew into a commander who could lead Discovery in dangerous situations and Saru proved that he could engage in aggressive negotiations (to borrow a phrase from that other science fiction franchise).

A Wedding and No Funerals for ‘Star Trek: Discovery’s Series Finale

"Life, Itself" also has another major moment: Saru finally gets married! The Kelpian ties the knot with his Vulcan fiancée T'Rina ( Tara Rosling ), with the entire crew of Discovery in attendance. As if Saru getting married wasn't already romantic enough, Burnham and Book rekindle their own romance . "Let's see what the future holds," Burnham tells Book, right before the episode leaps forward a few decades to showcase said future. Not only are the two married, but Burnham is now a Starfleet admiral and is ready to congratulate their son Leto ( Sawandi Wilson ), who's recently become a captain himself.

A ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Character Has Secret Ties to Another ‘Star Trek’ Show

When Discovery made the leap to the 32nd century in Season 3, Burnham and her crew made a number of new allies while trying to rebuild the Federation. One of them was Dr. Kovich ( David Cronenberg ), a mysterious scientist who almost always seemed to know more than he lets on. The reason for this was finally revealed: Kovich is the temporal agent Daniels, who first appeared in Star Trek: Enterprise . Daniels and other temporal agents were tasked with keeping history intact during a "temporal cold war." Daniels also tells Burnham that he's been to "other places," with his office containing objects from different points in Star Trek history . Among them is the baseball that Benjamin Sisko ( Avery Brooks ) held in his office in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and the VISOR used by Star Trek: The Next Generation engineer Geordi La Forge ( LeVar Burton ). It is another full circle moment for Discovery , especially since Season 5 drew from the plot of a Next Generation episode that set up the Progenitors .

Here's What 'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 6 Was Going To Be About

They were going to take a long trek back to a Short Trek.

The ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Finale Pays Off a Plot Thread From ‘Short Treks’

"Life, Itself" even manages to tie up one dangling plot thread that stretches back to Discovery 's beginning. Burnham is tasked with one final mission of warping Discovery to a mysterious point in space where it's meant to stay as a "time capsule" for future generations to explore. This sets up the events of the Star Trek: Short Treks episode "Calypso," where a human soldier ( Aldis Hodge ) discovers Discovery centuries in the future; his only companion is Zora, the Discovery's sentient computer. Zora was uploaded to Discovery in the Season 3 episode "Forget Me Not," hinting that the show would tackle this plot thread sooner or later. Showrunner Michelle Paradise even hinted that Discovery would have touched on this plot thread if it was renewed for Season 6, telling Variety : “The story, nascent as it was, was eventually going to be tying that thread up and connecting ‘Discovery’ back with ‘Calypso.'"

Despite Discovery ending, future Star Trek projects are slated to explore elements it set up . Starfleet Academy will be set in the 32nd century, while the Star Trek: Section 31 movie centers on Burnham's former commanding officer/Mirror Universe refugee Philippa Georgiou ( Michelle Yeoh ). Star Trek: Discovery , much like Burnham and her crew, weathered trials and tribulations while serving as the foundation for the Star Trek renaissance, and it serves as a worthy chapter in the Trek franchise.

Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Watch on Paramount+

TV Features

Screen Rant

Star trek’s next series must explain discovery’s spore drive replacement.

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Every Upcoming Star Trek Movie & TV Show

Every star trek: discovery main character’s ending explained, star trek: discovery’s “calypso” short trek & finale epilogue reveal explained.

Star Trek: Discovery introduces the pathway drive as a new propulsion system to replace the spore drive.
Captain Burnham and crew are close to obtaining powerful Progenitors' technology.
Lt. Sylvia Tilly is the perfect character to explain the pathway drive in the new spin-off series.

Star Trek: Discovery has introduced the pathway drive as a propulsion system to replace the USS Discovery's spore drive, but Star Trek's next show will have to explain how the new technology works. As Discovery season 5 comes to a close, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her crew are close to acquiring the powerful technology of the Progenitors. Burnham and her friends have outsmarted the Breen before, but Moll (Eve Harlow) remains a force to be reckoned with. As the Progenitors were the supposed creators of all humanoid life, their technology should contain the power of creation itself.

Even before the titular ship traveled to the 32nd century, Star Trek: Discovery has introduced new Trek technology. Star Trek: Discovery season 1 debuted the USS Discovery's displacement-activated spore hub drive . The spore drove is a revolutionary new way for Discovery to travel instantaneously from one location to the next. The spore drive had its disadvantages, and controversially, it was too advanced for the Starfleet of the 23rd century, but it made Discovery one of Star Trek's most unique ships. With the shortage of dilithium caused by the Burn, the Federation of the 32nd century has researched other means of propulsion. While they considered putting more resources into spore drive technology, they ultimately decided to pursue something called the pathway drive.

As one of the scientists who created the spore drive, Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) was particularly disappointed that his work would not be the new gold standard for Starfleet ships.

Star Trek is ending series like Discovery and Lower Decks but renewed Strange New Worlds while setting up new streaming and theatrical movies.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Can Explain Discovery’s Pathway Drive

Discovery is running out of time to explain how the pathway drive works..

Star Trek: Discovery only has one episode left before the series ends, and there are a lot of story threads left to tie up. Since Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is a direct spin-off of Discovery, it falls to the next Star Trek series to address the functionality of pathway drive technology. If the United Federation of Planets plans for the pathway drive to be the new standard for Starship propulsion, Starfleet cadets will likely be learning about it at the Academy. Having students learn about the new propulsion system in an engineering class is a great way to explain how the technology works to the viewer, as well.

Starfleet's prototype spore drive was stolen by its creator, Dr. Ruon Tarka (Shawn Doyle), and destroyed at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 4.

Although the pathway drive has been mentioned numerous times throughout the final two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, the series has yet to show it or fully describe how the technology works. From what has been surmised, Starfleet's new pathway drive is apparently much faster than warp drive , but its exact capabilities regarding speed and distance remain unknown. The prototype of the pathway drive was installed on the USS Voyager-J , and the USS Mitchell, and an experimental shuttlecraft has also been equipped with the new system.

Starfleet Academy Already Has The Perfect Star Trek: Discovery Character To Explain The Pathway Drive

Lt. sylvia tilly can make complicated science and technology easy to understand..

Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) is the perfect character to explain the pathway drive to both Starfleet Academy cadets and viewers. Throughout Star Trek: Discovery, Tilly has truly come into her own as a character, gaining confidence and growing into a strong leader. In Discovery season 4, Tilly stepped outside of her comfort zone, and she eventually took on an assignment leading a group of Starfleet cadets. Tilly successfully completed the mission, even after things went sideways, and went on to become an instructor at the newly reopened Starfleet Academy.

Although it has not been confirmed whether or not Lt. Tilly will be a cast member of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, she would undoubtedly be the perfect addition to that show. Tilly has a way of explaining things and encouraging those around her that makes her a great leader, especially of young bright-eyed cadets who just need a little confidence boost. With her intelligence and enthusiasm, Tilly can grasp complicated scientific concepts and explain them in a way that makes sense to those with less scientific knowledge. Star Trek: Discovery is running out of time to explain the pathway drive, leaving that task up to its upcoming spin-off, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

The series finale of Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursday, May 30 on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

Marvel Hires 'Star Trek: Picard' Producer to Run Vision Series Starring Paul Bettany

“Agatha All Along” isn’t the only “WandaVision” spin-off in the works. A series about Vision starring Paul Bettany has been confirmed.

Vision Series

“WandaVision” creator Jac Schaeffer was previously developing a Vision series but shifted focus to the Agatha show. Marvel Studios has hired “Star Trek: Picard” executive producer Terry Matalas to take over as showrunner.

Matalas was showrunner of “Star Trek: Picard” for its second and third seasons. For the series finale, Matalas was nominated for the Astra TV Award for Best Directing in a Streaming Series, Drama and won the award for Best Writing.

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is a “Star Trek” fan and appeared with Matalas on a February episode of “Star Trek” podcast “Inglorious Treksperts.”

Matalas was the creator and showrunner for Syfy’s “12 Monkeys” and executive producer and showrunner of season 4 of CBS’ “MacGyver” reboot. He’s also written for “Star Trek: Enterprise,” “Terra Nova,” “Nikita,” and “Nightflyers.”

The Vision series is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in 2026. It’s Marvel’s first new live-action series pickup in almost two years.

Vision, based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name, was introduced in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015). He’s a Synthezoid created by Ultron but stolen and brought to life by the Avengers using Iron Man’s J.A.R.V.I.S. AI. Bettany originally voiced J.A.R.V.I.S.

In “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), Thanos killed Vision to get the Mind Stone that powered him. Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), brought Vision’s body back to life years later, as seen in “WandaVision.” She also created a version of Vision to live in her mental projection. The two versions faced off during the show, with Wanda’s mental Vision restoring his physical counterpart’s memories before he himself vanished from existence.

Bettany will presumably portray the “White Vision” in the new series, which has not been named.

Source: Variety

For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram .

The post Marvel Hires ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Producer to Run Vision Series Starring Paul Bettany appeared first on WDW News Today .

“Agatha All Along” isn’t the only “WandaVision” spin-off in the works. A series about Vision starring Paul Bettany has been confirmed. Vision Series “WandaVision” creator Jac Schaeffer was previously developing a Vision series but shifted focus to the Agatha show. Marvel Studios has hired “Star Trek: Picard” executive producer Terry Matalas to take over as ... Read more

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ is over. Now Alex Kurtzman readies for ‘Starfleet Academy’ and ‘Section 31’

Alex Kurtzman leaning against an old TV set with a lamp hanging above him.

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In “Star Trek” terms, and in the real world of “Star Trek” television, Alex Kurtzman, who oversees the 21st century franchise, might be described as the Federation president, from whose offices various series depart on their individual missions. Indeed, to hear him speak of it, the whole enterprise — honestly, no pun intended — seems to run very much on the series’ ethos of individual initiative and group consensus.

The first series to be launched, “ Star Trek: Discovery, ” has come to an end as of Thursday after five seasons on Paramount+. Others in the fleet include the concluded “ Picard, ” which brought “The Next Generation” into a new generation; the ongoing “ Strange New Worlds, ” which precedes the action of what’s now called “The Original Series,” from which it takes its spirit and several characters; “Lower Decks,” a comedy set among Starfleet service workers; and “Prodigy,” in which a collection of teenage aliens go joyriding in a starship. On the horizon are “Starfleet Academy,” with Holly Hunter set to star, and a TV feature, “ Section 31, ” with Michelle Yeoh back as Philippa Georgiou.

I spoke with Kurtzman, whose “Trek” trek began as a writer on the quantum-canonical reboot movies “ Star Trek ” (2009) and “ Star Trek: Into Darkness ” (2013), at Secret Hideout, his appropriately unmarked Santa Monica headquarters. Metro trains glide by his front door unaware. We began the conversation, edited for length and clarity here, with a discussion of his “Trek” universe.

Alex Kurtzman: I liken them to different colors in the rainbow. It makes no sense to me to make one show that’s for everybody; it makes a lot of sense to make a lot of shows individually tailored to a sect of the “Star Trek” audience. It’s a misnomer that there’s a one-size-fits-all Trekkie. And rather than make one show that’s going to please everybody — and will almost certainly please nobody — let’s make an adult drama, an animated comedy, a kids’ comedy, an adventure show and on and on. There’s something quite beautiful about that; it allows each of the stories to bloom in its own unique way.

A tall, thin alien and a human woman walk through the tunnel of a spaceship.

Do you get pushback from the fans?

Absolutely. In some ways that’s the point. One of the things I learned early on is that to be in love with “Star Trek” is to engage in healthy debate. There is no more vocal fan base. Some people tell you that their favorite is “The Original Series,” some say their favorite is “Voyager” and some say their favorite is “Discovery.” Yet they all come together and talk about what makes something singularly “Trek” — [creator] Gene Roddenberry‘s extraordinarily optimistic vision of the future when all that divides us [gets placed] in the rearview mirror and we get to move on and discover things. Like all great science fiction, you get to pick your allegory to the real world and come up with the science fiction equivalent. And everybody who watches understands what we’re talking about — racism or the Middle East or whatever.

What specific objections did you find to “Discovery”?

I think people felt it was too dark. We really listen to our fans in the writers’ room — everybody will have read a different article or review over the weekend, and we talk about what feels relevant and what feels less relevant. And then we engage in a healthy democratic debate about why and begin to apply that; it seeps into the decisions we make. Season 1 of “Discovery” was always intended to be a journey from darkness into light, and ultimately reinforce Roddenberry’s vision. I think people were just stunned by something that felt darker than any “Trek” had before. But doing a dark “Star Trek” really wasn’t our goal. The show is a mirror that holds itself up to the times, and we were in 2017 — we saw the nation fracture hugely right after the election, and it’s only gotten worse since then. We were interpreting that through science fiction. There were people who appreciated that and others for whom it was just not “Star Trek.” And the result, in Season 2, Capt. [Christopher] Pike showed up, Number One showed up, Spock showed up, and we began to bring in what felt to people more like the “Star Trek” they understood.

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You’re ending the series after five seasons. Was that always a plan?

You know, we were surprised we didn’t continue, and yet it feels now that it was right. One of the things that happened very quickly as streaming took off was that it radically changed watch patterns for viewers. Shows that used to go 10, 12 seasons, people would tap out after two — like, “I got what I want” — so for any show to go five seasons, it’s a miracle. In ways I don’t think we could have predicted, the season from the beginning feels like it’s the last; it just has a sense of finality. The studio was wonderful in that they recognized we needed to put a button on it, we needed a period on the end of the sentence, and so they allowed us to go back, which we did right before the strike, and [film] the coda that wraps up the series.

Alex Kurtzman, the executive producer of Paramount's new "Star Trek" franchise, sits in a Danish modern chair.

“Discovery” is a riot of love stories, among both heroes and villains.

There’s certainly a history of that in “Star Trek.” Whether or not characters were engaged in direct relationships, there was always a subtext of the love between them. I believe that’s why we love the bridge crew, because it’s really a love story, everyone’s in a love story, and they all care for each other and fight like family members. But ultimately they’re there to help each other and explore the universe together. If there’s some weird problem, and the answer’s not immediately apparent, each of them brings a different skill set and therefore a different perspective; they clash in their debate on how to proceed and then find some miraculous solution that none of them would have thought of at the outset.

One of the beautiful things about the shows is that you get to spend a long time with them, as opposed to a two-hour movie where you have to get in and out quickly and then wait a couple of years before the next one comes along. To be able to be on their weekly adventures, it affords the storytelling level of depth and complexity a two-hour movie just can’t achieve in that way.

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It’s astonishing how much matter you got into these things. Some storylines that only lasted an episode I remembered as seasonal arcs.

The sheer tonnage of story and character we were able to pack into “Discovery” every episode was kind of incredible. The thing to keep in mind is that “Discovery” was made as streaming was exploding, so what I think you’re also seeing there is a lot of writers who were trained in the network world with an A, B and C story applying it suddenly to a very different kind of storytelling in a much more cinematic medium. And when you have that kind of scope it starts to become really, really big. Sometimes that works really, really well and sometimes it was too much. And we were figuring it out; it was a bunch of people with flashlights in the dark, looking for how to interpret “Star Trek” now, since it had been 12 years since it had been on a television screen.

Are you able to course-correct within a season?

Sure. You get people you really trust in the room. Aaron Baiers, who runs Secret Hideout, is one of my most important early-warning systems; he isn’t necessarily in the room when we’re breaking stories, but he’s the first person who’ll read an outline and he’s the first person who’ll read a script. What I value so much about his perspective is that he’s coming in cold, he’s just like, “I’m the viewer, and I understand this or I don’t understand it, I feel this or I don’t feel it.” The studio executives are very similar. They love “Star Trek,” they’re all die-hard fans and have very strong feelings about what is appropriate. It then goes through a series of artists in every facet, from props to visual effects to production design, and they’re bringing their interpretations and opinions to the story.

Three seated officers and the standing captain on the bridge of a starship

Did “Strange New Worlds” come out of the fact that everybody loved seeing Christopher Pike in “Discovery?”

I really have to credit Akiva Goldsman with this. He knew that I was going to bring Pike into the premiere of the second season of “Discovery,” and said, “You know, there’s an incredible show about Capt. Pike and the Enterprise before Kirk takes over; there’s seven years of great storytelling there” — or five years, depending on when you come into the storyline. I said, “We have to cast a successful Pike first, so let’s see if that works. Let’s figure out who’s Number One, and who Spock is,” which are wildly tall orders. I hadn’t seen Anson Mount in other things before [he was cast as Pike], and when he sent in his taped audition it was that wonderful moment where you go, “That’s exactly the person we’re looking for.” Everybody loves Pike because he’s the kind of leader you want, definitive and clear but open to everyone’s perspective and humanistic in his response. And then we had the incredibly tall order of having Ethan [Peck] step into Leonard [Nimoy’s] and [Zachary Quinto’s] shoes.

He’s great.

He’s amazing, just a delight of a human being. And Rebecca Romijn‘s energy, what she brings to Number One is such a contemporary take on a character that was kind of a cipher in “The Original Series.” But she brings a kind of joy, a comedy, a bearing, a gravitas to the character that feels very modern. Thank God the fans responded the way they did and sent that petition [calling for a “Legacy” series], because everybody at CBS got the message very quickly. Jenny Lumet and Akiva and I wrote a pilot, and we were off to the races. Typically it takes fans a minute to adjust to what you’re doing, especially with beloved legacy characters, but the response to “Strange New World” from a critical perspective and fan perspective and just a viewership perspective was so immediate, it really did help us understand what was satisfying fans.

Two men in the control room of a spaceship

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What can you tell me about “Starfleet Academy?” Is it going to be Earth-based or space-based?

I’m going to say, without giving anything away, both. Right now we’re in the middle of answering the question what does San Francisco, where the academy is, look like in the 32nd century. Our primary set is the biggest we’ve ever built.

So you’re setting this —

In the “Discovery” era. There’s a specific reason for that. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set “Starfleet Academy” in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now.

It’ll be a nice fantasy, but it’s not really going to be authentic. What’ll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on “Star Trek: Discovery,” where the Federation was greatly diminished. So they’re the first who’ll inherit, who’ll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasn’t room for that during the Burn — everybody was playing defense. It’s an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; it’s a very funny show, and it’s a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.

And I’m very, very , very excited that Holly Hunter is the lead of the show. Honestly, when we were working on the scripts, we wrote it for Holly thinking she’d never do it. And we sent them to her, and to our absolute delight and shock she loved them and signed on right away.

A woman with long brown hair in gold-plated chest armor.

And then you’ve got the “Section 31” movie.

“Section 31” is Michelle Yeoh’s return as Georgiou. A very, very different feeling for “Star Trek.” I will always be so grateful to her, because on the heels of her nomination and then her Oscar win , she just doubled down on coming back to “Star Trek.” She could have easily walked away from it; she had a lot of other opportunities. But she remained steadfast and totally committed. We just wrapped that up and are starting to edit now.

Are you looking past “Starfleet” and “Section 31” to future projects?

There’s always notions and there are a couple of surprises coming up, but I really try to live in the shows that are in front of me in the moment because they’re so all-consuming. I’m directing the first two episodes of “Starfleet Academy,” so right now my brain is just wholly inside that world. But you can tell “Star Trek” stories forever; there’s always more. There’s something in the DNA of its construction that allows you to keep opening different doors. Some of that is science fiction, some of it has to do with the combination of science fiction and the organic embracing of all these other genres that lets you explore new territories. I don’t think it’s ever going to end. I think it’s going to go on for a long, long time. The real question for “Star Trek” is how do you keep innovating, how do you deliver both what people expect and something totally fresh at the same time. Because I think that is actually what people want from “Star Trek.” They want what’s familiar delivered in a way that doesn’t feel familiar.

With all our showrunners — Terry Matalas on “Picard,” the Hagemans on “Prodigy,” Mike McMahan on “Lower Decks,” Michelle Paradise, who has been singlehandedly running “Discovery” for the last two years, and then Akiva and Henry Alonso Myers on “Strange New Worlds” — my feeling is that the best way to protect and preserve “Star Trek” is not to impose my own vision on it but [find people] who meet the criteria of loving “Star Trek,” wanting to do new things with it, understanding how incredibly hard it is to do. And then I’m going to let you do your job. I’ll come in and tell you what I think every once in a while, and I’ll help get the boat off the dock, but once I hand the show over to a creative it has to be their show. And that means you’re going to get a different take every time, and as long as those takes all feel like they can marry into the same rainbow, to get back to the metaphor, that’s the way to keep “Star Trek” fresh.

I take great comfort because “Star Trek” really only belongs to Gene Roddenberry and the fans. We don’t own it. We carry it, we try to evolve it and then we hand it off to the next people. And hopefully they will love it as much as we do.

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The Greatest Star Trek Spinoffs, Ranked
May 23, 1994. Star Trek: The Next Generation was the first live-action spin-off in the franchise, following the crew of the Enterprise, led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, nearly a century after the events of The Original Series. The Next Generation ran for seven seasons, with its cast also appearing in four original films.
List of Star Trek television series
Two spin-off series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager (on the new network UPN), followed in the 1990s. Star Trek: Enterprise, a prequel to the original series, was broadcast on UPN beginning in 2001. The series was canceled in 2005. ... 80% (5 reviews) ...
Late '80s "Star Trek" spinoff series: Abbr.
Daily Themed Crossword is the new wonderful word game developed by PlaySimple Games, known by his best puzzle word games on the android and apple store. A fun crossword game with each day connected to a different theme. Choose from a range of topics like Movies, Sports, Technology, Games, History, Architecture and more!
Star Trek spin-off fiction
Almost continuously since 1967, a number of companies have published comic book series based on Star Trek and its spin-off series.. Whitman 1967-1979 Gold Key. The initial publisher of Star Trek comic adaptations and tie-in comics was Gold Key, part of Whitman Publishing.The series ran for 61 issues between July 1967 until March 1979, and is noted for the first nine issues of the series ...
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Late '80s "Star Trek" spinoff series Abbr. Crossword Clue
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The Crossword Solver found 30 answers to "Late '80s Star Trek spinoff series: Abbr.", 3 letters crossword clue. The Crossword Solver finds answers to classic crosswords and cryptic crossword puzzles. Enter the length or pattern for better results. Click the answer to find similar crossword clues . Enter a Crossword Clue. A clue is required.
List of television spin-offs
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When facing difficulties with puzzles or our website in general, feel free to drop us a message at the contact page. We have 1 Answer for crossword clue Star Trek Spinoff Series Abbr of NYT Crossword. The most recent answer we for this clue is 3 letters long and it is Tng.
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Late '80s "Star Trek" spinoff series: Abbr. - Daily Themed Crossword

Late '80s "Star Trek" spinoff series: Abbr.

More answers from this level:

The Best '80s TV SpinOffs, Ranked

The Jeffersons

Laverne & Shirley

Mork & Mindy

The Simpsons

Family Matters

The Facts of Life

Three's Company

Mama's Family

Muppet Babies

Star Trek: The Next Generation

A Different World

What's Happening Now!!

She-Ra: Princess of Power

Just the Ten of Us

Count Duckula

Joanie Loves Chachi

Degrassi Junior High

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Late '80s "Star Trek" spinoff series: Abbr. Crossword Clue

Recent Daily Themed September 21, 2022 Puzzle

Ranking All The ‘Star Trek’ Series That Never Were

6) Hopeship

5) Untitled Spock/Vulcan Series

4) Star Trek: Phase II

3) Assignment Earth

2) The Hard Reboot

1) The Adventures of Harry Mudd

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“Rack Toys”

Uniquely Star Trek

1972 – The Convention is Born

Toys Improve

Star Trek Returns to the Screen

False Start: Star Trek Phase II

The Future is the Undiscovered Country

Make us feel loved

Happy Bandersnatch Year

Courage (for Gord Downie)

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