• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

What happened to the Short Treks?

1. Calypso

2.
Discovery was refitted before the events of Calypso occurred, but Calypso shows the original version of the ship.

As of yesterday, it's officially been six months since that episode aired, so we can talk about the DISCOVERY REFIT as freely and openly as we like without fear of moderator backlash.

I feel that, with Discovery in a future that features crazy programmable matter, that resorting to a pre-refit appearance should be trivially easy. Admittedly, that's a trivial answer, and not what Calypso intended, but it's alot more easier to slot it into the timeline than otherwise.

The introduction of the phrase "V'draysh" shows that they are taking Calypso flavorings and inserting them into the series, and it's obvious they are keenly aware of it, if only from people constantly telling them about it, and its presence on the Memory Alpha page for the USS Discovery, their much-overused resource for all things Trek.

It's only a matter of time before they solve the Calypso conundrum, albeit they'll probably do so clumsily and/or lazily, but Calypso is much more important to the overall Star Trek franchise than, say, the Shenzhou/Archimedes Shuttlecraft from "The Brightest Star".
 
Of course, it's only speculation that the events of "Calypso" postdate S3, in the subjective-timeline-of-NCC-1031 sense. The show is all about weird travel back and forth through time and dimensions, in addition to space; for all we know, the thousand-year stint into the murky green nebula happened during the second season, with the seeds of Zora already planted into the computer but without the benefit of 32nd century upgrades.

Did the crew eventually return, perhaps when the ship somehow traveled back to the S2 present? Was it ever away for real? Or was this some sort of a self-negating time loop that the crew no longer remembers after the ship returns to 2258? All these options and more are available to the writers.

Timo Saloniemi
 
The Short Treks were just filler stuff that didn’t really add anything to the overall story (much like the nuBSG webisodes), and the one that was the best got contradicted later. There were people here who mentioned that they wish there was a Short Trek for such things as finding out what happened to Archer, or Garak, or (insert name here), but that wasn’t really the point of the Short Treks.

No. But its up to the writers to make such follow ups fit in and not be contradictions. So, if we see Garak speaking to a new character in the mid-2390s, and then we see this same new character meet the characters in Lower Decks ten years earlier. Or we see Sarek reading up on the history of Trip, T’Pol & Elizabeth shortly after meeting Amanda Grayson. Or Archer sponsoring Georgiou’s/Pike’s/Una’s entrance into Starfleet Academy. Or a student (let’s say M’Benga or a young Lenard McCoy) question’s Phlox’s understanding of evolution in “Dear Doctor” during a lecture he’s giving and then its followed up in a later season of SNW during a visit to Valakis.

It’s certainly possible to both follow up on classic characters while focusing on the new characters and new shows.

Short Treks is why I keep giving DIS more chances. So more Short Treks can’t be a bad thing.
 
Unless Garak has something to do with Picard (or they’re making a Garak show, which is highly unlikely), I doubt we’ll see a Short Trek about him.
 
Unless Garak has something to do with Picard (or they’re making a Garak show, which is highly unlikely), I doubt we’ll see a Short Trek about him.

Garak is (almost) essential if they ever want to deep dive into Cardassian politics again. But, due to the actor's age and the fact that Picard has a singular focus without bringing up tons of cameos, I expect any Garak sightings to be relegated to Lower Decks.
 
Considering that Cardassia Prime is a smoking pile of rubble and most of the Cardassian people were killed by the Dominion in retribution, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of politicking going on. But then again, look at the Romulans. :shrug:
 
Considering that Cardassia Prime is a smoking pile of rubble and most of the Cardassian people were killed by the Dominion in retribution, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of politicking going on. But then again, look at the Romulans. :shrug:

Indeed, In Picard,, their main planet has been supernovaed, yet look at the size of that fleet!!!
 
Like the Romulans would not have some reserves of ships under construction, especially after the Tal Shiar/Obsidian Order incident. It is not outside the realm of possibility that the more paranoid leaders of the Tal Shiar would be shifting resources to augment past loses. The needs of the common Romulan would not be regarded as important.
 
The Short Treks were just filler stuff that didn’t really add anything to the overall story

"Filler" implies that there was some empty slot that needed "filled" that wasn't really important to some larger story, but that's really not the case with Short Treks. There was no larger story -- Short Treks is just what it says on the tin: a series of short episodic adventures. They're all independent of any larger arcs. You might as well complain that a Stephen King short story collection didn't "add anything to the overall novel;" there was no overall novel.

the one that was the best got contradicted later.

We have no idea how the Discovery got to its state in "Calypso," and it's entirely possible that that is yet the fate that awaits her.

There were people here who mentioned that they wish there was a Short Trek for such things as finding out what happened to Archer, or Garak, or (insert name here), but that wasn’t really the point of the Short Treks.

Totally disagree. The point of Short Treks was just to tell nifty short adventures, and while it wasn't originally envisioned to deal with characters from other series besides DIS, its last episode was a tie-in to PIC, so doing a short episode about Archer or Garak or whoever would be entirely consistent with the premise of the show.
 
We have no idea how the Discovery got to its state in "Calypso," and it's entirely possible that that is yet the fate that awaits her.
I'm pretty sure there is plenty of time for any variations to line up between Calypso and Discovery. Even a Doctor Who-esque simple scene of "revisiting a familiar face."

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sci
Wouldn't this be better as a show?

I'll watch either.

and who this Sybok fellow is, and who Uhura is...

To my mind, she knows of him. My personal view of Spock's early life is: Sybok leaves Vulcan>>his pet dies in yesteryear>>Michael Burnham arrives. Having lost his half brother and sehlat right before she gets there adds context for me to his initial cold reception when she arrives and deepens the trauma of their Lassie/Harry and the Hendersons moment later on.

that might be a long list of heroes by the time of the 32 century.

Great: bring on the Short Treks!

the Fen Domar too?

Sure, if you like.

depends on if STO is made canon.

We can hope...

you mean the events in ENT that were probably hidden away in Section 31 filing cabinet somewhere? Or the Battle of Procyon V in the 26th century involving the Ent-J and all those old (at that point) Federation ships and Klingon ships from the late 24th century?

The 26th century. She'd presumably already know about the 22nd.

If I remember right, Short Treks was made as a way to lessen the blow of the delay between seasons of new Trek. Remember we had quite a long delay between the first two seasons of Discovery. However, we aren't seeing huge gaps now with all the new shows (Discovery season 4, Picard season 2, Short Treks season 2, Strange New Worlds season 1, and Prodigy Season 1). We are in an insane era where FIVE Trek TV shows are in concurrent production, along with possibly another movie as well.

Six counting Ready Room...seven if they go ahead with Section 31...eight if they go ahead with the Starfleet Academy show mentioned in above posts...

I didn't like most if them, especially the animated one. I'd not be particularly upset if there's no more.

Which? There are two animated Short Treks.

Considering that Cardassia Prime is a smoking pile of rubble and most of the Cardassian people were killed by the Dominion in retribution, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of politicking going on. But then again, look at the Romulans. :shrug:

They've presumably been rebuilding in the 23 years between the Dominion War and Picard. They certainly have if you consider the novels, comics and Star Trek Online at all canon.
 
In Discovery season 3, there are Cardassian background Starfleet officers. In Discovery season 4...
The Federation president is part-Cardassian.
So I'd say they rebuilt.
 
Considering that Cardassia Prime is a smoking pile of rubble and most of the Cardassian people were killed by the Dominion in retribution, I don’t think there’s a whole lot of politicking going on. But then again, look at the Romulans. :shrug:

Being turned into a smoking pile of rubble is the most opportune time to politick, as Garak might say. Although, really, I never really liked the idea of him becoming Cardassia's leader. More likely, he'd pick someone for the job and then control things behind-the-scenes.

WYLB said:
Bashir: You and I both know that the Cardassians are a strong people. They'll survive. Cardassia will survive.
Garak: Please, Doctor. Spare me your insufferable Federation optimism. Of course it will survive, but as not the Cardassia I knew.
 
Being turned into a smoking pile of rubble is the most opportune time to politick, as Garak might say. Although, really, I never really liked the idea of him becoming Cardassia's leader. More likely, he'd pick someone for the job and then control things behind-the-scenes.

The old Garak would do that. But the fundamental premise behind the depiction of Garak in the novels is that his time with Bajor and the Federation, and then seeing his world burnt as a consequence of their actions, leads him to realize that Cardassia's old ways will lead to nothing but death for his world, and that he and Cardassia need to embrace democracy. And in that context, Garak becoming a prominent Cardassian democrat, helping to build a democratic government under their first post-war castellan, becoming Cardassian Ambassador to the Federation, and then becoming castellan himself, makes perfect sense. This new Garak is someone who does not believe in the legitimacy of "powers-behind-the-throne" anymore.
 
There were people here who mentioned that they wish there was a Short Trek for such things as finding out what happened to Archer, or Garak, or (insert name here), but that wasn’t really the point of the Short Treks.

Then why were they going to make a Short Treks episode about Picard which eventually turned into the series we got? Seems it really COULD be a point of Short Treks and anybody's wishes are as valid or moreso than the rain you're creating for their imagination parades.

Heck, Nichelle Nichols returning as Uhura was meant to be in that one as well. Very much contradicting your thoughts on this.
 
Last edited:
Then why were they going to make a Short Treks episode about Picard which eventually turned into the series we got? Seems it really COULD be a point of Short Treks and anybody's wishes are as valid or moreso than the rain you're creating for their imagination parades.

Heck, Nichelle Nichols returning as Uhura was meant to be in that one as well. Very much contradicting your thoughts on this.

All of that was in preparation for the actual show we got. They didn’t just decide to make a random Short Trek about a synth attack on Mars in 2387 that had nothing to do with anything, and then later say, “Hey, maybe we should make a show about this!”
 
Last edited:
All of that was in preparation for the actual show we got. They didn’t just decide to make a random Short Trek about a synth attack on Mars in 2387 that had nothing to do with anything, and then later say, “Hey, maybe we should make a show about this!”

Incorrect. The preparation had zero to do with Picard or even the synth story we got. They were going to make a Short Trek featuring Uhura with zero intentions of it becoming a series.

KIRSTEN BEYER: So, at the very, very beginning, we were talking about ‘Short Treks’ for the first time, and what kind of stories you could tell — and we were actually beginning with an Uhura story, and the idea was that we very much wanted to see we could bring Nichelle [Nichols] back in at this point in time, and then see what kind of stories [Uhura] might tie in to.

And then Patrick’s name came into the mix, and could we get him, would he be interested… so the very first idea was a meeting between Uhura and Picard — a very, very young Picard.

KURTZMAN: The original idea was that a young Picard had been called to a hospital where Uhura had a mission for him, and it was related to the Borg.


Again, the concept being that Short Treks could be about anything and any character. Including "Archer, or Garak, or (insert name here)" if they wanted to. If the concept was good enough for Uhura, then any character is/was potentially on the table.
 
A half-baked idea about old Uhura and the Borg (which had zero chance of happening BTW, what with Nichols’s physical and mental state at the time) is quite different from what we actually got. It was literally a first-draft-caliber idea that was immediately changed to something more focused on the show they decided to produce.
 
Last edited:
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top