Even in the BermaTrek era, there was very little in the way of interconnected story lines. The Maquis came closest, and it became a DS9-only thing once they served their purpose for Voyager.
Fucking boo! None of this stuff exists without those “jelly beans” and “plywood”.
I'm not sure I'd agree. The Maquis was the only thing which continued across all three shows, but there were a fair amount of other things.
The single most important thing by far after this was how Worf's personal arc continued without skipping a beat when he moved from TNG to DS9. This dragged in a lot of elements of his story; Kurn, Alexander, Gowron, etc. The "Klingon arc" feels like a continual story.
There's also of course the O'Brien stuff - much more minor, since was barely a character on TNG, with only a few episodes to shine, but his dynamic with Keiko had already been established.
Early DS9 was also pretty big on TNG tie-ins. Not only with the pilot, but with Q, the Duras Sisters, Lwaxana showing up for no good reason, etc. Later on, Thomas Riker shows up as well.
On VOY, the single biggest thing came late in the show, where the whole Pathfinder arc brought along Barclay (and Troi). But Q reappeared several times as well. In addition, you had Riker, LaForge, Boothby, those Ferengi from The Price, etc.
There was also a tiny bit of DS9/VOY crossover, between the pilot and Lewis Zimmerman showing up on DS9.
Was this a lot of crossover? Not really. But it was a lot of crossover for its time.
I'm not arguing with that. It looked amazing... In 1969. I don't want stuff made in 2026 still look like it was made in 1969. That goes back she's a part of my comment that you didn't quote about the budget.
And, I'm going to be honest, when we first saw the Enterprise bridge on Discovery, it sent shivers down my spine. It was shinier and had more red lights, but the lines were the same and I truly felt as if I'd come home.
That's entirely fair, especially concerning Worf. When I think when I think of the term "crossover", I tend think more of the terms of "the story begins here and then ends there" than in terms of recurring elements.
It's possible to have competing design philosophies at the same time. Maybe the Crossfield designers went in a different direction. One that might be picked up by later designers a few years later.
Last edited:
There are certainly outliers in design aesthetics across all the eras
Bring up a new story with a new crew and a new ship/space station, it's that simple.
If it was that simple, they’d already be doing it and rolling in the monetary windfall.
After a thousand hours of content, people are going to want the concept to grow.
Indeed, I think part of the problem that Trek had in the VOY/ENT era is they literally ran out of plot ideas that hadn't been done (that worked within the Trek universe). People would come to them with story ideas, and someone would remember they did it already on TNG. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I'm not one of those people who says "there are only X number of stories." However, the thing that makes the relatively finite number of plots interesting is character. I don't think it's really a problem if you put Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, or Archer into the exact same predicament, because the decisions they make to address it should be different in each case.
That's the way you keep storytelling interesting - have compelling characters which are more than simply their roles on the ship. Dig into them, test their limits, and put them into (slight) conflict with one another.
If you get the characters down cold, people will sit through the most generic of concepts.
Also, depending on their natures, how they got into trouble may be somewhat different.
And for what it's worth, those jelly beans are/were still used on the Strange New Worlds sets! Sourced from the guy who runs the official TOS Set Tour and used to make the New Voyages fan films.
Irrespective of whichever paradigm the next Trek show goes with, part of me is excited about the potential for seeing a new starship being showcased - and at this stage in my relationship with all things Trek starship, I wouldn’t mind seeing some kind of industrial starship being the focus.
By this, I think I mean something quite mechanical, and not at all ‘flagshippy’ or cutting edge, in terms of tech - a bit more robust and utilitarian perhaps? Purely for a different type of trek visual - and less like what has been done before. Perhaps going full-nasa design-wise, but rather than during an earlier period, pre-enterprise - taking it further into the future?
Just what’s on my mind this week, and more vibe-y than specific. Sometimes, during potential lull periods between series, it can be fun to ruminate on what might be coming around the corner…
Within the context of this thread, anyone else have potential new series paradigm starship-specific wants and hopes?
By this, I think I mean something quite mechanical, and not at all ‘flagshippy’ or cutting edge, in terms of tech - a bit more robust and utilitarian perhaps? Purely for a different type of trek visual - and less like what has been done before. Perhaps going full-nasa design-wise, but rather than during an earlier period, pre-enterprise - taking it further into the future?
Just what’s on my mind this week, and more vibe-y than specific. Sometimes, during potential lull periods between series, it can be fun to ruminate on what might be coming around the corner…
Within the context of this thread, anyone else have potential new series paradigm starship-specific wants and hopes?
That really hurts with the recent Discovery episode I watched, "Su'kal". Lots of interesting stuff but the framing of it on the ship made zero sense and made Starfleet once again look like idiots.
Similar threads
