List of continuity "callbacks"

[Grant]

When I was growing up in the 70s, one of the things that I loved (and I assume others did) about Star Trek was the continuity within its universe. The show had an entire lexicon of tech and history and lore.

But I really did love the occasional specific continuity references to earlier episodes and events. While not nearly as extensive as the spin-offs---- they ones did throw in I always found welcome.
But how many actual callbacks were there to earlier events.

My quick list includes these.
　
1. Corbomite from “Corbomite Maneuver” is referenced in “Deadly Years”
2. Sulu’s line, “We’ve tangled with them before.”--referring to the Romulans also in “Deadly Years” in my mind was a specific callback to “Balance of Terror”
3. Kirk’s log reference to the “Space time whiplash effect” in “Tomorrow is Yesterday” was a reference to “Naked Time”
4. Kirk’s mention of the events of “Mudd’s Women” in “I, Mudd” is obvious.
5. The “Neural neutralizer” from “Dagger of the Mind” reappeared in “Whom Gods Destroy” and Kirk refers to knowing of the slightly altered device.
6. The mention of the “Organian peace treaty” is a callback to “Errand of Mercy” in “Trouble with Tribbles”
7. The trick Spock uses on the guard in “Taste of Armageddon” is mentioned and used again in “By Any Other Name”
8. The events of “The Empath and
9. The events of “The Tholian Web’ are both referenced in “Turnabout Intruder”
10. The reference to Capt. Pike being murdered by ‘mirror Kirk in “Mirror-Mirror” was a chilling callback to “Menagarie”
11. Sulu mentions the silicon creature from "Devil in the Dark' in "That which Survives"---from LMAOschwarz
12. The "galactic barrier from "WNMHGB" is mentioned by Rojan and acknowledged by Krik in "By Any Other Name."---from The Old Mixer
13. The "Cochrane deceleration maneuver" mentioned in "Whom Gods Destroy"is a clear callback to Cochrane who we saw in "Metomorphosis"---from Kelso
14. Sulu's hobby of botany in "Man Trap" (episode 6) is mentioned in "Naked Time" (episode 7) by Riley as "last week it was botany"---from The Old Mixer
15. It was mentioned Kirk received a medal from the Axanar mission in "Court-Martial", in "Whom Gods Destroy" the Axanar mission was brought up again.---from The Old Mixer


* A refernce to Sarek was cut from “Elaan of Troyius” in a long scene where they discuss a method to calm Elaan.
** In "Turnabout Intruder" they misquote the death penalty order from "The Menagarie"--from Last Redshirt

That’s all I can think of quickly---what others are there?

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

There's also That Which Survives, in which Sulu references the silicon creatures of Janus VI, from Devil in the Dark.

 

[Last Redshirt]

A reference to the General Order that was told in The Menagerie was given in The Turnabout Intruder

 

[ZapBrannigan]

A reference to the General Order that was told in The Menagerie was given in The Turnabout Intruder

But they got it wrong. "Turnabout Intruder" says General Order 4 is the only death penalty, while "The Menagerie" said General Order 7 had that distinction. Why couldn't they have looked it up and given us the continuity?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

A reference to the General Order that was told in The Menagerie was given in The Turnabout Intruder

But they got it wrong. "Turnabout Intruder" says General Order 4 is the only death penalty, while "The Menagerie" said General Order 7 had that distinction. Why couldn't they have looked it up and given us the continuity?

Everybody was stampeding for the exits.

 

[Grant]

There's also That Which Survives, in which Sulu references the silicon creatures of Janus VI, from Devil in the Dark.

Great one--how did that slip my mind? I'll add it.

A reference to the General Order that was told in The Menagerie was given in The Turnabout Intruder

Good call, but they did get it wrong so I'll add that to the asterisk list!

There is a sub genre of characters mentioned that DON'T appear in the episode

Scotty is mentioned 3 times in episodes he doesn't appear in........

This Side of Paradise
Journey To Babel
Amok Time

Chekov is mentioned in........
That Which Survives

I believe that is a complete list of those occurrences.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Great one--how did that slip my mind? I'll add it.

When I saw the thread title, I thought "Well, this will be a short run." as I could only think of maybe two in the series. But your list thus far made me realize that there were more than I expected.

 

[The Old Mixer]

In "By Any Other Name," they revisit the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy from "Where No Man Has Gone Before," and IIRC, Kirk says that they've been there before.

In "The Naked Time", when talking about Sulu's latest hobby, Riley says "Last week it was botany", a reference to a hobby of Sulu's shown in "The Man Trap". Sulu's interest in botany comes up again in "Shore Leave".

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

In "The Naked Time", when talking about Sulu's latest hobby, Riley says "Last week it was botany", a reference to a hobby of Sulu's shown in "The Man Trap". Sulu's interest in botany comes up again in "Shore Leave".

Ooh...subtle! I never connected those!

 

[Grant]

In "By Any Other Name," they revisit the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy from "Where No Man Has Gone Before," and IIRC, Kirk says that they've been there before.

In "The Naked Time", when talking about Sulu's latest hobby, Riley says "Last week it was botany", a reference to a hobby of Sulu's shown in "The Man Trap". Sulu's interest in botany comes up again in "Shore Leave".

Love that reference about the barrier--partly because it is the only regular series reference to the WNMHGB pilot events---I think.

Sulu's interest in botany and also his interest in antique weapons are a little sketchy as they are general personality traits being mentioned and not specific events.
I liken it to any mention of Scotty liking Scotch after the first mention---is that a continuity event callback?
I'm not sure. It was also mentioned in "Way to Eden" as being one of his interests--but its not really calling back an "event"

I will throw that one up for a vote if folks think it belongs I'll add it.

By the way I was thinking the same thing about General order 7 or 4---is it a direct callback to an event or just the mentioning of something that is now part of the lore? But the fact they screwed up the continuity saved me from the tough decision!

Is every mind meld a callback or only if they reference a specific meld he did in the past?

Now a real tough trivia question........

In episode production order what is Spock's next mind meld after his first with Van Gelder?

 

[GSchnitzer]

In "By Any Other Name," they revisit the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy from "Where No Man Has Gone Before," and IIRC, Kirk says that they've been there before.

In "The Naked Time", when talking about Sulu's latest hobby, Riley says "Last week it was botany", a reference to a hobby of Sulu's shown in "The Man Trap". Sulu's interest in botany comes up again in "Shore Leave".

Love that reference about the barrier--partly because it is the only regular series reference to the WNMHGB pilot events---I think.

Sulu's interest in botany and also his interest in antique weapons are a little sketchy as they are general personality traits being mentioned and not specific events.
I liken it to any mention of Scotty liking Scotch after the first mention---is that a continuity event callback?
I'm not sure. It was also mentioned in "Way to Eden" as being one of his interests--but its not really calling back an "event"

I will throw that one up for a vote if folks think it belongs I'll add it.

By the way I was thinking the same thing about General order 7 or 4---is it a direct callback to an event or just the mentioning of something that is now part of the lore? But the fact they screwed up the continuity saved me from the tough decision!

Is every mind meld a callback or only if they reference a specific meld he did in the past?

Now a real tough trivia question........

In episode production order what is Spock's next mind meld after his first with Van Gelder?

Mind meld #2 was in "Return of the Archons."

 

[Grant]

In "By Any Other Name," they revisit the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy from "Where No Man Has Gone Before," and IIRC, Kirk says that they've been there before.

In "The Naked Time", when talking about Sulu's latest hobby, Riley says "Last week it was botany", a reference to a hobby of Sulu's shown in "The Man Trap". Sulu's interest in botany comes up again in "Shore Leave".

Love that reference about the barrier--partly because it is the only regular series reference to the WNMHGB pilot events---I think.

Sulu's interest in botany and also his interest in antique weapons are a little sketchy as they are general personality traits being mentioned and not specific events.
I liken it to any mention of Scotty liking Scotch after the first mention---is that a continuity event callback?
I'm not sure. It was also mentioned in "Way to Eden" as being one of his interests--but its not really calling back an "event"

I will throw that one up for a vote if folks think it belongs I'll add it.

By the way I was thinking the same thing about General order 7 or 4---is it a direct callback to an event or just the mentioning of something that is now part of the lore? But the fact they screwed up the continuity saved me from the tough decision!

Is every mind meld a callback or only if they reference a specific meld he did in the past?

Now a real tough trivia question........

In episode production order what is Spock's next mind meld after his first with Van Gelder?

Mind meld #2 was in "Return of the Archons."

Too fast --you made that seem simple.

I must have watched the episode a few times before I really noticed he had his hand in the traditional place.

It clearly must have been the victim of editing because every other meld in the entire series was mentioned before it happened.
In this case the scene starts with the meld already begun and he says nothing about a meld.

he just removes his hand from McCoy's face and says that it's not working.

 

[Harvey]

A reference to the General Order that was told in The Menagerie was given in The Turnabout Intruder

But they got it wrong. "Turnabout Intruder" says General Order 4 is the only death penalty, while "The Menagerie" said General Order 7 had that distinction. Why couldn't they have looked it up and given us the continuity?

The original script made a worse error when it indicated in dialogue that, "Starfleet expressly forbids the death penalty...There are no exceptions. The death penalty is forbidden."

Luckily, someone at de Forest Research caught this error, writing:

This is NOT true. Violation of General Order Four, forbidding contact with Talos IV, carries the death penalty. It was suspended on one occasion dramatized in “Menagerie.” It is still in effect. Suggest regularize. (Menagerie is one of the best known, most honored episodes of STAR TREK, winner of science fiction awards, etc. Its precedents can hardly be ignored.)

With all of the old guard at this point having jumped ship (Roddenberry, Coon, Fontana, and Justman were all gone), nobody was around to notice that de Forest Research mixed up the General Order number.

The people at de Forest Research were generally pretty good at remembering past incidents. Sometimes, they recommended referencing past episodes, but were overruled. In their comments for "The Last Gunfight" (before it was re-titled "Spectre of the Gun"), for example, they wrote:

To individuals, at close range, they are as deadly as phasers – This didactic comment from Kirk is hardly necessary. The crew has had one serious encounter with primitive firearms (‘Private Little War’) when Spock was shot and nearly killed. Suggest line might reflect memory of this incident.

 

[Kelso]

"Whom Gods Destroy" also references Cochrane, Kirk's involvement with the Axanar Peace Mission, and the Romulans.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I brought up the botany example because of the "last week it was botany" line...it always struck me as a somewhat tongue-in-cheek in-story way of the writers acknowledging that the character had a different hobby a couple of episodes back.

Also, it strikes me as good continuity that he's using said hobby as part of a landing party in "Shore Leave".

 

[Grant]

"Whom Gods Destroy" also references Cochrane, Kirk's involvement with the Axanar Peace Mission, and the Romulans.

The Cochrane one was is good because it references a character we actually saw and met. So it is clearly a callback to Metamorphosis.

When had Axanar been previously mentioned?

I brought up the botany example because of the "last week it was botany" line...it always struck me as a somewhat tongue-in-cheek in-story way of the writers acknowledging that the character had a different hobby a couple of episodes back.

Also, it strikes me as good continuity that he's using said hobby as part of a landing party in "Shore Leave".

The really sly thing about the "last week it was botany" line is that in fact the previous filmed episode "Man Trap" had indeed been filmed the week before "Naked Time" so I admit that's pretty accurate continuity.

Was Daystrom's name ever mentioned again in TOS after "Ultimate Computer" ?

More trivia...........

What was last episode the leather "holsters" were used for the phasers (whatever it was they were used too long) ??

Last episode Kirk used the wraparound tunic?

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think Axanar first came up among Kirk's list of medals/achievements in "Court-Martial".

 

[Grant]

I think Axanar first came up among Kirk's list of medals/achievements in "Court-Martial".

Thanks.

 

[Harvey]

And, since I'm full of de Forest Research trivia today, it's worth pointing out that "Axanar" was provided by them for "Whom Gods Destroy" when they were asked by the production to provide a suitable reference for Kirk's past.

 

[Robert Comsol]

Very cool thread idea! I'm thinking hard of other examples.

"Whom Gods Destroy" also references Cochrane, Kirk's involvement with the Axanar Peace Mission, and the Romulans.

I always find these references rather interesting:

• "Cochrane Decceleration Maneuver" sounds like a military maneuver. What kind of conflict was Cochrane involved in to come up with such a maneuver? (independence of the Alpha Centauri colonies from Earth?)
• The Enterprise defeated a Romulan ship near Tau Ceti. That's only 11 light years from Earth!

Bob