What is your personal head canon?

[JonnyQuest037]

Mudd in TOS was involved in sex trafficking and the drug trade. He hijacked the Enterprise.

I wouldn't call that a "lovable rogue".

Yeah, I think you have to remember that "Mudd's Women" was conceived as a science fiction version of a "mail order brides for settlers" story, which was a thing they did in the old west. And Mudd was obviously intended as a lighter, more comedic villain. It's utterly strange from a 2024 lens, but it was considered fine as family entertainment in 1966.

Ah, the good old times.
Remember in "the cage" when Pike was contemplating becoming an Orion slave girl trader?
Now you say the same thing and get cancelled.

And this is a perfect example of something nobody batted an eye at in 1964 that doesn't really work in today's climate.

OFFICER: Funny how they are on this planet. They actually like being taken advantage of. Suppose you had all of space to choose from, and this was only one small sample.
ORION: Wouldn't you say it was worth a man's soul?

YIKES.

 

[fireproof78]

Just like Jack Sparrow who is completely and utterly morally reprehensible yet people see as a hero.

People are strange.

 

[Tenacity]

And this is a perfect example of something nobody batted an eye at in 1964 that doesn't really work in today's climate.

Go a couple of decades into our future and how much of "todays climate" will be passe and regarded with at best amusement.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'll get back to my Borg Long Game soon but first I wanted to finish re-watching Discovery Season 5. Then I'm finishing re-re-watching Picard Season 3 (I got up to Episode 8), along with "Regeneration" from ENT, before continuing. Those are important parts of what this is all leading up to.

In the meantime, an oldie but a goodie: My updated head-canon for the TOS Film Era. As of 2024.

2270: The Five-Year Mission ends. Kirk is promoted to Admiral. Spock doesn't want to be Captain, resigns, and goes back to Vulcan. Starfleet does something that pisses off McCoy and he resigns, swearing he'll never return.

2270-2273: Kirk accepted the promotion out of ambition but now he finds he hates it. He was made Chief of Operations but his colleagues and superiors challenge him at every turn. Kirk thinking on his feet out there on his own doesn't translate well into coordinating the activities of a fleet. Kirk becomes a walking, talking example of the Peter Principle.

Kirk tries to reunite with Carol Marcus, this is how David is able to remember him before TWOK. David isn't told Kirk's his father. After it's clear things aren't going to work out with Carol, Kirk gets into a one-year marriage with Vice Admiral Lori Caini. They don't renew their vows. Kirk is lonely and hates his job. By 2272, he really starts to want the Enterprise back and tries to figure out how to make it happen. When the V'Ger crisis gives him an opportunity in 2273, he jumps on it. To quote McCoy, "You rammed getting this command down Starfleet's throat! You used this emergency to get the Enterprise back!"

2270-2273: Spock has become too Human-like during his time on the Enterprise, especially under Kirk, and he immediately has a hard time being accepted on Vulcan. To solve this problem, he undergoes Kholinar to purge all remaining emotion.

2273: TMP happens.
2273-2278: Second Five-Year Mission.

2278-2281: Planet of the Titans happens. Kirk is missing for three years. Spock is promoted to Captain. https://forgottentrek.com/phase-2/planet-of-the-titans-the-film-that-wasnt/

2281-2285: With Spock already Captain of the Enterprise, Starfleet Command assigns Kirk to become an instructor at Starfleet Academy. Kirk eventually pulls strings to get the Enterprise assigned to Starfleet Academy, and Spock goes along with it. He really doesn't want to be Captain, yet can't find a place on Vulcan, so being First Officer of the Enterprise is the only place he sees for himself.

One of the cadets who trains on the Enterprise is Saavik. Saavik knows Kirk and Spock for four years by the time of TWOK. So, basically, they've known her from freshman to senior. She's the equivalent of a grad student in TWOK, which is why she has the rank of Lieutenant and is training to be a Captain. She's essentially at the Command School level by TWOK. Spock is her mentor. Kirk is an enigma to her. "He's never what I expect, sir. He's so... Human."

Kirk meets Antonia in 2282. He doesn't resign from Starfleet. Taking this idea from @JonnyQuest037 . At least not in 2282. He considers resigning in 2284 and wants to propose to Antonia, but ends up doing neither. This is something he wants to do over in Generations.

2285-2286: TWOK, TSFS, and TVH. The Genesis Trilogy.

2286-2287: Enterprise-A shakedown period. The only reason Kirk even has this ship is for PR reasons after he and his crew saved Earth from the Whale Probe. That and Sarek probably pulled some strings.

2287-2292: Kirk's one and only Five-Year Mission with the Enterprise-A.

2292-2293: Running out the clock before the crew retires and the Enterprise-A is decommissioned. Reaching a dead end with Starfleet since he doesn't want to go any further, Spock explores idea of following in his father's footsteps, which will eventually lead him to become an Ambassador.

2293: TUC happens at the beginning of the year. GEN happens towards the end.

 

[Tiran O'Saurus]

Does TFF not happen in your headcanon?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

2270: The Five-Year Mission ends. Kirk is promoted to Admiral. Spock doesn't want to be Captain, resigns, and goes back to Vulcan. Starfleet does something that pisses off McCoy and he resigns, swearing he'll never return.

Nowadays I'm less enamored of the idea that McCoy quit Starfleet in a fit of pique. I find it more appealing to imagine he'd just served his time, got an honorable discharge, and went off to do something else with his life. McCoy has never struck me as the career military type, even though that's what he ended up being after he returned to Starfleet in TMP.

2270-2273: Kirk accepted the promotion out of ambition but now he finds he hates it. He was made Chief of Operations but his colleagues and superiors challenge him at every turn. Kirk thinking on his feet out there on his own doesn't translate well into coordinating the activities of a fleet. Kirk becomes a walking, talking example of the Peter Principle.

Yep, this pretty much how I see it, too. If they ever made a movie about Kirk's time at Starfleet Operations, I'd imagine it would be pretty dull, with Kirk doing a lot of reading and writing of reports about fleet deployments, budgeting on a massive scale, and endless meetings with other Starfleet brass, including that one Vulcan Vice Admiral who drones on endlessly about everything and the Tellarite Rear Admiral who argues with everyone about that day's lunch order.

Kirk tries to reunite with Carol Marcus, this is how David is able to remember him before TWOK. David isn't told Kirk's his father.

I don't know if Kirk attempted a full blown reconciliation with Carol, but yeah, Carol probably shared an adventure with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy somewhere along the way, as she remembers them both in TWOK. That would also be when Kirk met a young David, as David seems to be talking about Kirk from personal experience. I'm sure Kirk knew he was David's father by then, but David was probably too young to realize the truth.

2281-2285: With Spock already Captain of the Enterprise, Starfleet Command assigns Kirk to become an instructor at Starfleet Academy.

Another idea I used to believe but now I don't. Kirk is pretty bored with his life by the time of TWOK, and I think he'd be more stimulated by teaching, or even being Academy commandant, than that. He also doesn't seem to be very familiar with the Enterprise cadets outside of Saavik and Peter Preston, the two with personal connections to his old friends Spock and Scotty. So I think his Enterprise inspection tour in TWOK was likely just a ceremonial thing Spock & company set up for Kirk's birthday.

I think Kirk's day job at the time of TWOK was likely his old Starfleet Operations job that he was forced to take after his post-TMP 5YM, or something equally dull.

One of the cadets who trains on the Enterprise is Saavik. Saavik knows Kirk and Spock for four years by the time of TWOK. So, basically, they've known her from freshman to senior. She's the equivalent of a grad student in TWOK, which is why she has the rank of Lieutenant and is training to be a Captain. She's essentially at the Command School level by TWOK. Spock is her mentor. Kirk is an enigma to her. "He's never what I expect, sir. He's so... Human."

I agree that Saavik is in Command School at the time of TWOK, which might be why Kirk is more familiar with her. This is essentially how I see their relationship, only perhaps as more of a passing acquaintance thing than a mentor-mentee thing.

Kirk meets Antonia in 2282. He doesn't resign from Starfleet. Taking this idea from @JonnyQuest037 . At least not in 2282. He considers resigning in 2284 and wants to propose to Antonia, but ends up doing neither. This is something he wants to do over in Generations.

Outside of Kirk not resigning from Starfleet, this doesn't have much in common with my idea. My idea is more radical than that: Antonia was just a woman that Kirk met in passing while on vacation at his uncle's cabin who became his fantasy of the domestic life he could've had. The "Antonia" we saw in the Nexus was no more real than Picard's wife in his Nexus fantasy. Think of her as Kirk's equivalent of the girl with the white parasol Bernstein talks about in Citizen Kane:

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Basically, I hate how GEN shoehorned additional details into Kirk's movie era bio that didn't really jibe with anything previously established, so I decided to reinterpret the movie backstory I don't like (GEN) to conform to the one I do (TWOK) rather than vice-versa.

2285-2286: TWOK, TSFS, and TVH. The Genesis Trilogy.

I personally interpret these movies as happening in 2283-2284, to preserve it being 15 years since "Space Seed," as both Kirk and Khan say it was in TWOK. I've never cared for the Okuda Chronology saying it was 18 years instead. I have TWOK happening in late March 2283, TSFS happening in October, and then TVH beginning three months later, shortly after the New Year in January 2284. Then TFF happens sometime later, in 2287.

2286-2287: Enterprise-A shakedown period. The only reason Kirk even has this ship is for PR reasons after he and his crew saved Earth from the Whale Probe. That and Sarek probably pulled some strings.

I'd like to think Kirk being a pretty great Starship Captain factored in there, too.

 

[Macintosh]

Does TFF not happen in your headcanon?

Personally, I "broad-strokes" it.

 

[Lord Garth]

Does TFF not happen in your headcanon?

That would be during the Shakedown Period.

 

[evilchumlee]

One of my headcanons: The Borg aren't trying to entirely assimilate/destroy The Federation. Rather, the Borg "farm" the Federation. The Borg don't create or innovate, they assimilate. The Federation however, they are constantly moving along and innovating.

The Borg, on occasion, toss a cube at the Federation and let them throw everything they have it. They assimilate what they can, shoot it back to the Collective, and then integrate that new knowledge in.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[Humanoid #77]

In my head cannon this happened in one episode of TNG. Maybe in the holodeck, maybe not.

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[Humanoid #77]

And this clip replaces the Christmas Nexus fantasy scene in Generations:

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[Citiprime]

The transwarp drive testing of the USS Excelsior (NX-2000) is responsible for changing the warp velocity scale from TOS to TNG.

Circa Search for Spock, Starfleet thought they had achieved transwarp speeds, but the data from later tests revealed their drive was just approaching the redline of velocities within normal warp physics. This caused Starfleet to reset the scale to make it logarithmic and better set a standard for what constitutes warp and transwarp.

Alternate personal head cannon: There was some sort of long-standing dispute between Federation members about what should be the proper scale to measure warp speeds similar to modern-day arguments about using Imperial or Metric units, or which side of the road should be the standard for driving.

In the early 24th century, the logarithmics finally won the warp speed argument, when humanity (like ancient citizens of the United States who refused to use Metric like the rest of their world) finally gave in and agreed to let Starfleet measure warp drive like every other civilized culture in the Milky Way.

 

[kirk55555]

A new head canon I just invented, its not evidence based but it makes me feel better:

The events of Star Trek Prodigy are all a holo novel written by The Doctor, who has become a successful author since Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant. Nothing in it is things that really happened, and the unrealistic stupidity and annoying traits of the original characters comes from this being The Doctor's first attempt at writing a holo program for small children. It has connections to Voyager because the Doctor is using his own experiences to help write the story, and this includes sticking a few real people into the fictional story, like Admiral Janeway.

 

[Commander Troi]

the unrealistic stupidity and annoying traits of the original characters

Wow. We're watching different shows!

 

[kirk55555]

Wow. We're watching different shows!

Well I'm not going to fight you on it . I just tried (for the last time) to give the show a try, and I can't do it. Its like if Star Wars Rebels was written for even younger kids then its already "too young to watch Star Wars TCW" demographic. I'm pretty sure the rock alien is literally a pre schooler, and the purple kid is just a giant idiot. Between that and the story just coming off as a rejected Star Wars story, I couldn't make it past the first episode.

I don't feel angry at it like I do Discovery, but I just can't tolerate it, and I watch and enjoy a lot of shows technically made for kids. So I made an (admittedly kind of cheeky) head canon, which I 100% acknowledge isn't supported by in show evidence but I prefer it to having to count Prodigy as canon to the shows not made specifically for little kids. Besides, it being a holo novel makes way more sense then a bunch of children being able to outsmart actual starfleet officers repeatedly.

 

[FredH]

For some reason, my “headcanon” mostly involves what comes after the shows we’ve seen. The Zora/Craft setup in the DISCO finale leads to a pretty definite idea in my head of what the 43rd century looks like — which for some reason also leads to similarly definite ideas of what things look like a thousand years after that, etc.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Well I'm not going to fight you on it . I just tried (for the last time) to give the show a try, and I can't do it. Its like if Star Wars Rebels was written for even younger kids then its already "too young to watch Star Wars TCW" demographic. I'm pretty sure the rock alien is literally a pre schooler, and the purple kid is just a giant idiot. Between that and the story just coming off as a rejected Star Wars story, I couldn't make it past the first episode.

I don't feel angry at it like I do Discovery, but I just can't tolerate it, and I watch and enjoy a lot of shows technically made for kids. So I made an (admittedly kind of cheeky) head canon, which I 100% acknowledge isn't supported by in show evidence but I prefer it to having to count Prodigy as canon to the shows not made specifically for little kids. Besides, it being a holo novel makes way more sense then a bunch of children being able to outsmart actual starfleet officers repeatedly.

You're missing out on a really good show.

Don't forget that Young Wesley Crusher managed to outsmart several adults as well.

 

[Henoch]

Don't forget that Young Wesley Crusher managed to outsmart several adults as well.

 

[Forbin]

You're missing out on a really good show.

Don't forget that Young Wesley Crusher managed to outsmart several adults as well.

A lot of people would really like to forget that.

 

[kirk55555]

You're missing out on a really good show.

Don't forget that Young Wesley Crusher managed to outsmart several adults as well.

I've pretty much definitively proved to myself that I can't stand Prodigy and never will. Its fine if others like it, I'm not judging anyone, but for me its just intolerable for several reasons.

That said, bringing up Wesley Crusher certainly isn't helping your case