Here’s fun. What sci fi movies and shows could be retconned in to Trek with minimum retconning? Films like Independence Day or Terminator clearly contradict Treks account of future history, but many don’t. Just a few tweaks here and there and you’ve got a whole new addition to Trek lore. I’d take Forbidden Planet as an obvious starter. Add a star drive to that saucer, and a few red shirts, and you’ve a TOS prequel, Event Horizon, pre warp experimental ship, maybe something the Eastern Alliance was working on, Total Recall, again, prewarp colonisation of the solar system. Robocop, because why not. Sea Quest, before WW3. Highlander, because Ziest eventually joins the Federation. Passengers, those sleeper ships they talked about in TOS and TNG. X-files I suppose too.
I can't see Highlander as part of Star Trek, but I've finagled it into Buffy the Vampire Slayer more than once. ETA: I thought I posted in this thread in General Trek Discussion. Am I responsible for the move?
As a kid, I was convinced that the STAR TREK transporters were based on the pioneering work of David Hedison in THE FLY. The original 1958 version, of course.
Space:1999. The technology of the moonbase, weapons and ships at that point in then "future history" would make some of TOS' advances seem plausible by the time "The Cage" appeared on the calendar.
The Roddenberry-produced movies Planet Earth and Genesis II - with some tweaking of dates and timelines they could show Earth reemerging after the nuclear holocaust to help form the Federation (Pax in these films). Admittedly this would have worked a lot better back in the 1970's when all we has was TOS/TAS and Trek's pre-TOS timeline was much less defined.
I haven’t seen any Orville. I’ve access to it via Sky but i missed the beginning episodes so I’m waiting for the box sets to appear for a binge watch. I have dim memory about this, any links to learn more? Which bits? That pull out shot of space station is one of my favourite all time scenes. Buffy I struggle with, the hell mouth and HSTs don’t fit for me. Highlander though. There are immortals in Trek, especially Requiem for Methuselah. Add in a line about a claymore or two, and you got a sister series. I posted this in general Trek, I suppose general sci fi fits just as well.
I wasn't saying Buffy as part of Star Trek. I was saying Highlander as part of Buffy. A mysterious immortal shows up, and Buffy stakes him, thinking he's a vampire. She pulls out the stake, he gets up and says "Ouch. That hurt." and mumbles something about having to go talk to his Watcher about it, as she stares after him in disbelief.
Two British series come to mind: Moonbase 3 - aired in 1973 set in 2003. Mankind has returned to the Moon and set up six small colonies in preparation to explore the solar system. Star Cops - aired in 1987 set in 2027. Mankind now has permanent space stations in orbit and colonies on the Moon and Mars. Both series could be set in the period between the Eugenics Wars of the Nineties and World War III in 2053. The Voyager episode 'One Small Step' set in 2032 about an Ares mission to Mars could fit in with Star Cops and their attempts at a successful Mars colonization.
Considering the ending is over 150,000 before Star Trek you can link the BSG remake into the tineline. Perhaps even having the cylons part of the Borg's origin.
Quantum Leap. Obviously Sam Beckett would be an ancestor of Jonathan Archer. But it could be deeper than that. Star Trek is full of many time travelers, aliens, and "higher beings" trying to adjust human history for good or evil. On QL we learned that there where other time travelers than Sam. The Mysterious Barender Al in the final episode who was maybe God, Fate, or Time who was guiding Sam's Leaps looked suspiciously like Captain Braxton of the 29th Century timeship USS Relativity.
You could include the Jurassic Park movies in there as well. It's not stated anywhere that the Eugenics Wars were fought using ONLY humans, was it? Maybe that concept art of the human/raptor hybrid was used as soldiers. And possibly some velociraptors were involved too