Part of me does enjoy the nerdiness of the references, and I'm aware that it's there with the best intentions. I have just always found the 'endless connections' thing a bit trying on suspension of disbelief when we are asked to imagine a whole universe beyond the bits we see. Not one captain who hasn't featured in a TV show so far is considered 'great'? That rather reduces the scope of that universe. Just make up some names, three or four is all I ask!
I posted the below in the thread announcing Sarak being gin the series, and why I felt it was SoB breaking:
There are somewhere between 120-150 member species spread out over a thousand words in TOS. No canon population in TOS I know of but a hundred years later the estimated casualties of a drawn out dominion war is 900 billion, and that still leaves enough of a population base to eventually re organize and successfully rebel against the Dominion.
So let's say a conservative estimated population of 1 trillion among 120 species on a thousand worlds at the time of Discovery. Seems fair since humans alone are approaching 7 billion on one world 250 years earlier.
.4% of the US pop actively serves in the military. Since the Federation doesn't have a "military" assume the same in Starfleet.
Hell, let's half that.
And then half it again. Why not? And then use only a tenth of that. Say only .01%
That's 10 BILLION active Starfleet officers.
That's why all this stuff feels fanwanky and small universey.
Last edited: