star trek legacy platforms

Why Hasn't 'Star Trek: Legacy' Been Greenlit? CBS CEO Explains Paramount's Plans

CBS' CEO George Cheeks isn't ruling it out, but "it’s really about the cadence and the timeline of it."

The Big Picture

• The Star Trek: Picard spin-off, Legacy, has not been greenlit yet.
• CBS' CEO George Cheeks confirms that Star Trek is still a priority for Paramount.
• Cheeks is not ruling out the possibility of a Legacy series, but explains that it's all about timing.

Paramount+ has a number of Star Trek projects in the works, but the proposed Star Trek: Legacy spin-off of Picard has yet to get the green light — despite the wishes of fans and creatives. A new interview with CBS CEO George Cheeks sheds some light on the matter, suggesting that the go-ahead for any future Trek projects is all about timing. In a conversation with Vulture , when asked about an official go-ahead for Legacy and the future of Trek at the streamer, given the recent cancellation of Star Trek: Discovery and the reassignment of Star Trek: Prodigy to Netflix, Cheeks gave the following answer:

"Star Trek remains one of the most important franchises for Paramount Global, and Paramount+ specifically. There’s so much great opportunity with the franchise, and it’s really about the cadence and the timeline of it. We don’t want to offer up all these amazing premium drama series at once. We want to time it out appropriately. Luckily, we have this incredible partner in Alex Kurtzman , and we all work together to sort of manage long-range planning across many years, to figure out what’s the right cadence for dropping new Star Trek series. So there’s a lot we’re focused on, but it should not suggest to you [a scaling back]. There is a tremendous amount of focus and prioritizing of the Star Trek franchise."

There are currently more official Star Trek projects in the works than ever before. Two live-action series are in production; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently filming its third season , and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is in the pre-production stage. The fifth season of the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks is in the works , as is the first-ever Star Trek TV movie, Section 31 . Prodigy , although it is no longer available on Paramount, is currently completing post-production on its second season, which will be released on Netflix this year.

What Is 'Star Trek: Legacy'?

While much of Picard 's final season focused on reuniting the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation for one final adventure to save the Federation, the series also set up a potential "next Next Generation " of characters who could propel the franchise into the future.

The series ended with Seven of Nine ( Jeri Ryan ), a former Borg drone introduced in Star Trek: Voyager , being given command of the newly-rechristened USS Enterprise-G . Other crew members include Picard characters Raffi Musiker ( Michelle Hurd ), Jack Crusher ( Ed Speleers ), the son of Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher; and Geordi La Forge's daughter, Sidney LaForge ( Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut ). The series' final episode ended on a potential teaser, as the godlike Q ( John De Lancie ) appears before Crusher , telling him that his "trial," much like the one he subjected Picard to over the course of Next Generation 's seven seasons, had just begun.

Picard's third-season showrunner, Terry Matalas , has noted his eagerness to continue the story with a Legacy spin-off, as have members of the show's proposed cast . Fans, likewise, have responded with a letter-writing campaign to Paramount. Speleers is also confident that the series will happen if fans stay "noisy about it."

Star Trek: Legacy 's future at Paramount remains unclear. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

Star Trek: Picard

Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life.

Watch on Paramount+

Star Trek: Legacy

• View history

Star Trek: Legacy is a real-time strategy space combat video game published by Bethesda Softworks in 2006 .

• 2 Plot summary
• 3 Ship classes
• 4.1 Cover gallery
• 4.2.1 Mad Doc
• 4.2.2 Bethesda Softworks
• 4.3 Modifications
• 5 External links

Summary [ ]

Star Trek: Legacy spans all Star Trek eras and allows you to play as the Federation and Starfleet in single player and the Borg , Romulans , or Klingons in multiplayer (as well as the Federation). There are sixty different types of ships available to command, divided across the four playable races. The years that the game takes place in are: 2159 ( May 8th ), 2270 ( stardate 7106.7), 2272 (stardate 7489.6) (although Kirk is referred to as an admiral instead of captain and he commands the USS Enterprise -A instead of the refit NCC-1701), 2333 (stardate 10372.6), 2368 (stardate 45252.6), and 2380 (stardate 57327.8).

Some of the "hero" starships (that the main character plays as) include Enterprise NX-01 , the original USS Enterprise , and the USS Stargazer . It also includes the Earth-Romulan War (during the Enterprise era) as well as is the first Star Trek game to feature a Daedalus -class starship.

Star Trek: Legacy was released in December 2006 , intended to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Star Trek only three months earlier.

Star Trek: Legacy begins in the year 2159 and ends in 2380, a span of 221 years.

Plot summary [ ]

In May of 2159, Captain Jonathan Archer and the Enterprise NX-01 save a Vulcan scientist named T'Uerell ( β ) from the Romulans . After this, there is a series of missions that Archer is assigned to, and comes to learn that T'Uerell is behind many disasters in the Alpha Quadrant including infecting planets with toxins, destroying a Starfleet facility with crew members on board, and attempting to use toxins to annihilate Earth . This plan is thwarted by Captain Archer and his task force. T'Uerell goes into hiding and is not heard from until the late 23rd century .

One hundred and eleven years later, in 2270 , Captain James T. Kirk and the USS Enterprise , along with a Starfleet task force, head deep into Klingon space to capture an experimental vessel, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey . After Kirk is able to capture the ship with a tractor beam , he infiltrates Klingon space and finds T'Uerell scheming with the Klingons to once again destroy the Federation with a Klingon beam weapon. The weapon is destroyed, but T'Uerell flees again, much to Kirk's ire. Two years later, in 2272, Admiral Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise thwart T'Uerell's plan to conquer the Federation, and learn that she is working with strange cybernetic creatures that are assimilating Klingon vessels. Many ships are destroyed in the resulting conflict. During the attack, thousands of omega particles destroy subspace in a three light year radius. Kirk asks Starfleet to develop the Omega Directive . Kirk is disappointed that he did not defeat T'Uerell and concludes his quest.

In 2333, Captain Ruhalter of the USS Stargazer is monitoring a fight between the Romulans and T'Uerell's ship. As she is vastly outgunned and outnumbered, T'Uerell activates a Borg device which destroys an unpopulated planet and causes large pieces of stellar debris to break off from the planetoid and head for the Phidian star system filled with hundreds of millions of people. The resulting shock wave from the planetoid's core hits the Stargazer and Ruhalter is killed. His first officer, Lieutenant Commander Jean-Luc Picard takes command and heads to a starbase. After the ship is somewhat repaired, the Stargazer takes a task force inside the system and destroys many pieces of stellar debris. Later, the task force saves three heavily-populated planets , Phidian I, II, and III, with the help of modified sensor pods now armed with phasers , which the task force drags into orbit by tractor beams . Later, a huge piece of stellar debris breaks off the planetoid and heads for Phidian III, a class M planet. Picard realizes that he will not be able to break it up with his ship's phasers and photon torpedoes , but will be able to destroy it by using the ship's tractor beam to drag other debris into the huge chunk (although it is possible to destroy it with the ship's weapons). After obliterating the immense piece of stellar debris, the system is saved from annihilation. Picard is then promoted to captain and takes command of the Stargazer .

Thirty-five years later, in 2368, Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Sisko is taking the newly-completed USS Defiant into a nebula -filled system for its first trial run. Sisko notes that there are warp dampeners all over, which makes use of the ships' warp drive impossible. Shortly after this discovery, the ship unfortunately runs into three Romulan D'deridex -class warbirds and has to take evasive maneuvers, since she cannot escape at warp. Sisko and his crew are soon captured and are placed at a Romulan starbase while their ship is impounded. Fortunately, the USS Enterprise -D , commanded by Captain Picard, comes to the rescue by beaming an away team in and setting the Defiant 's crew free. After destroying enough warp dampeners, the Defiant , the Enterprise -D and the task force leave at warp. Sisko records a log entry stating he had seen a Vulcan ship under attack as he and the Enterprise -D fled the system. Sisko files a complaint with Starfleet Command . He is told that this is not the first case of a Vulcan ship doing strange things like that. Sisko then says that he plans to discover more about it but admits that it probably "won't be to (his) liking."

Twelve years later, in 2380 (shortly after the events of Star Trek Nemesis ), Picard, along with the USS Enterprise -E and new personnel head into a final confrontation with T'Uerell. T'Uerell's once pristine Vulcan ship is now overrun with Borg technology. Picard is aided by the help of Admiral Kathryn Janeway and her old starship the USS Voyager . They meet with T'Uerell and learn her true intentions. She plans to conquer the Alpha Quadrant with the Borg. She believes that everything she has done, including the deaths of many Starfleet personnel have been for the greater good. Picard and Janeway try to convince her otherwise, but she refuses to listen. Janeway leaves the system and tells Picard that "(she) will be back with some friends" and orders Picard to defend Federation colonies from assimilation. Picard succeeds and orders that the ship be taken to Deep Space 9 .

T'Uerell and the Borg cubes make their way to Bajor and the Deep Space 9 space station. Picard and his task force help to defend the Klingon and Romulan forces, showing how far things have gone in the past two hundred years. With the loyalty Picard has garnered, the Romulan and Klingon starships place themselves under his flag. The forces engage T'Uerell and her Borg allies and they are defeated. With that, T'Uerell escapes with the Enterprise -E in hot pursuit.

After this, T'Uerell flees to a star system with many Borg vessels, with Janeway noting that she will not be able to leave, because of the Trickster String. After destroying a Borg tactical cube , the Federation/Klingon/Romulan forces, along with the Enterprise -E and its task force engage T'Uerell. After destroying the string that is protecting her, all ships open fire. T'Uerell's ship cannot stand the pounding and is finally destroyed, thus bringing to an end 221 years of unending conflict. Picard could hear T'Uerell calling out to him in her final minutes. Whether it was the Vulcan or the Borg in her remains to be seen.

Ship classes [ ]

• Minuteman – The design of this craft seems to be extrapolated from the design of the Mars Defense Perimeter drone and the Soliton Wave rider from various episodes of The Next Generation .
• Hero ship: Enterprise
• NX-09 Avenger (Note: This NX-class variant was introduced in the Enterprise series as the ISS Avenger ( ENT : " In a Mirror, Darkly ") and was shown with Terran Empire insignias and improved subsystems. This ship does not resemble the Terran NX-class starship, yet its designation remains in accordance with the Terran version.)
• Another ship, the NX-16 was identified as the USS Currie . The NX-16 featured all the same components as the previous NX-class ships, but it is unclear whether this variant is consistent with the NX-class subsystem blueprints.
• NX-02 Columbia is another NX-class starship but does not have the updates shown in the series.
• Poseidon ( β )
• Strider ( β )
• Yorktown ( β )
• Akula ( β )
• Constellation (Hero Ship: USS Stargazer )
• Constitution (Hero Ship: USS Enterprise -A )
• Miranda (Hero Ship: USS Reliant )
• Proxima ( β )
• Defiant (Hero Ship: USS Defiant )
• Galaxy (Hero Ship: USS Enterprise -D )
• Intrepid (Hero Ship: USS Voyager )
• Sovereign (Hero Ship: USS Enterprise -E )
• Steamrunner
• Stinger ( β )
• Death Boot ( β )
• Death Rite ( β )
• Ravenous ( β )
• Stalker ( β )
• Battlehawk ( β )
• Bird-of-Prey
• Hunter ( β )
• Skyhawk ( β )
• Swarm ( β )
• Swiftwing ( β )
• Gryphon ( β )
• Praetor ( β )
• Stormbird ( β )
• Vengeance ( β )
• Whitewing ( β )
• Winged Def.
• Harpy ( β )
• Talon ( β )
• Obelisk ( β )
• Pyramid ( β )
• Rectangle ( β )
• Tactical cube
• Suurok -class science vessel
• Ti'mur class

Background information [ ]

The five actors who portrayed the live-action Star Trek captains up until that point ( William Shatner , Patrick Stewart , Avery Brooks , Kate Mulgrew , and Scott Bakula ) provided the voices of their respective characters in the game. This marks the first time all five have worked together on a Star Trek production. [1] (X)

Cover gallery [ ]

Voice cast [ ]

• Susan Allenback – various voices
• Jeff Baker – Captain Radonovich / USS Scott captain / Romulan / Borg
• Bari Biern – T'Uerell ( β )
• Jonathan Bryce – Captain Jameson / ENT captain / TOS crew / Klingon
• David DeBoy – Reggie ( β ) / TOS captain / Romulan
• Shari Elliker – Sub-Commander Vorel ( β ) / Romulan / TNG captain / Medical ship crew / Starbase 61 crew / TOS crew
• Ty Ford – Commander Lo'Tal / Romulan / Klingon / ENT captain / Borg / TOS crew (voice)
• David Jackson – Ruhalter ( β ) / Borg / Romulan
• Wes Johnson – Menvek ( β ) / Klingon Captain / Borg / TOS Captain / TNG Crew / TOS Helm (voice)
• Linda Kenyon – Medical ship first officer / TOS captain / Romulan / Borg
• Kathryn Klvana – Research Station away team / ENT crew / Borg / Medical ship crew
• Beau Marie – Romulan Captain / Klingon Captain / ENT Crew
• Mike Rosson – Tuc'Nev / Klingon / Borg / TNG Crew / ENT Crew
• Craig Sechler – Capt. Hollister / ENT Crew / Klingon / Romulan

Mad Doc [ ]

• Legacy Team: Bart Whitebook, Ben Wilson, Chris Koerner (ChessMess), Chuck Nicholson, Dan Conti, Diane Damon, Ian Lane Davis (Dr.), Eric Anderson, Eric Krasnauskas, Eric Walsh, Gary Conti, Ian Currie, Jamie Gotch, Karen Wolff, Lou Catanzaro, Matt Madeira, Michael Belair, Michael Blanchette, Parker A. Davis, Peter J. Calabria Jr., Scott Haraldsen, Shanti Gaudrealt, and Shawn Shoemaker
• Admiral Team: Brian Mysliwy, James Wiley Fleming, Jason Craig Dunlop, John Cataldo, Ken Davis, Kevin Wasserman, Matthew Nordhaus, and Nicholas Greco
• Mad Doc Support: Bev Manning, David J. Fielding, Debbie Waggenheim, Ed Donaghue, Gordon Fellows, Jay Gill, Jeff Desharnais, Matt Wilson, Monica Keleher, Nate Raymond, Nick Warseck, Paul Elliot, Robert Belair, Ron Rosenberg, Sandy O'Toole, Sean McCarthy, Shaun McDermott, and Steve Gargolinski
• Additional Work: Chris Bold, Chris Forsythe, Chris Palmer, Craig Brooks, Gabe Warshauer-Baker, Ike Adams, Joseph Wyman, Kabir Oshodi, Liquid Development, Mathew Corthell, Nick Hunter, Patrick Clark, Rick Knox, Scott Downey, Sergei Gourski, Tony Ferrao, and Trevor O'Brien
• Special Thanks: Monyet Kecil, Jon Laurie, Brian Lamkin, Mom & Dad Davis, Stephen Crane, Rodney Nakamoto, Vicky Wu, Mom & Dad Conti, Shelby Lawrence, The 2004 Boston Red Sox, Linda Currie, Devon Currie, Julie Catanzaro, Lily Catanzaro, and Faith Catanzaro

Bethesda Softworks [ ]

• Executive Producer: Todd Vaughn
• Producers: Charles Harribey and Lafayette Taylor
• Associate Producer: Tim Bumar
• Quality Assurance Manager: Robert Gray
• Quality Assurance – Team Leads: Adrian Miller and Ruben S. Brown
• Quality Assurance Testers: Hal Jenkins, Jabarie Brown, Robert Wallach, Jamie Altman, Alex Agnew, Alexandra Souder, Christopher Briggs, Dwight McCallum, James Gedling, Kyle DeShetler, Ryan Hall, and Hao Chin Chang
• Manual and Packaging Design: Lindsay Muller, Michael Wagner
• Vice President of PR and Marketing: Pete Hines
• Manager, PR and Marketing: Erin Losi
• Coordinator, PR and Marketing: Jackson Boyd
• President: Vlatko Andonov
• Sound Design: Soundelux Design Music Group
• Additional Sound Design: Mark Lampert
• Video Design and Editing: Steven Green
• Story by: Dorothy Fontana and Derek Chester
• Voice Casting and Production: Blindlight LLC
• Voice Talent: William Shatner , Patrick Stewart , Scott Bakula , Avery Brooks , and Kate Mulgrew
• Music composed and produced by: Rod Abernethy, Jason Graves, www.rednoteaudio.com
• 2D Art: Kieron Dwyer
• Concept Art: Craig Mullins
• Special Thanks: Harry Lang, Daniel Felts, Marco Palmieri , Richard Lambert, Michael Fridley, the entire Bethesda Softworks IT, Accounting and Legal departments.

Modifications [ ]

USS Aventine , a Vesta -class starship over Saturn

Several unofficial modifications have been created for the game. Some of these modifications are the inclusion of more ships from other canon races, such as the Terran Empire , the Xindi , and the Dominion , as well as performance improvements, new ships for stock races, new missions and maps, and tools for modders.

External links [ ]

• Star Trek: Legacy at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Star Trek: Legacy at Wikipedia
• Star Trek: Legacy at TrekCore
• Star Trek: Legacy at the Internet Movie Database
• 3 USS Antares (32nd century)

Screen Rant

Star trek: legacy - everything we know.

Star Trek: Picard may have come to an end, but the potential adventures of Starfleet in the 25th century could still continue in Star Trek: Legacy.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Finale - "The Last Generation" Star Trek: Picard may have come to an end, but the potential adventures of Starfleet in the 25th century could still continue in Star Trek: Legacy . Terry Matalas, who was the showrunner for Picard season 3, has made it clear he'd love to keep telling stories in this particular corner of the Star Trek universe. Critical and fan reception to Picard season 3 was strong, so it makes sense that Matalas could get another crack at the whip.

Star Trek: Picard

The end of Star Trek: Picard pretty perfectly sets up a spinoff series, with Captain Seven Of Nine (Jeri Ryan) taking her place as the new commanding officer of the USS Enterprise-G. There's also ample opportunity for members of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast to have recurring roles on the series if they so choose. All that said, there's no guarantee that Star Trek: Legacy is going to happen, certainly not anytime soon, for several reasons.

Related: How Picard's Finale Sets Up Star Trek: Legacy

Why Star Trek: Legacy Hasn’t Been Greenlit (Yet)

Fans have been growing anxious as Star Trek: Picard has wrapped up and there's been no news of a Star Trek: Legacy spinoff. The reality is there's no reason to worry at this point; Paramount plans their Star Trek projects years in advance. After Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) gained massive popularity in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, it was still over a year before his spinoff, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , was announced. Paramount also seems poised to be more conservative when it comes to greenlighting ongoing series in the wake of industry-wide cost-cutting measures and the current WGA writer's strike. Star Trek: Legacy might have a bit of a wait before it gets that green light.

Which Picard Actors Will Return In Star Trek: Legacy

Many of the key players from Star Trek: Picard season 3 would likely return for Star Trek: Legacy . Captain Seven is in place, as is her First Officer and former lover Commander Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd). Lieutenant Sidney La Forge (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) remains at the USS Enterprise-G's helm, while Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) son Ensign Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) is onboard as the Enterprise-G's Special Counselor to the Captain. The bridge crew and supporting cast of the Enterprise-G are all in place, and Star Trek: The Next Generation 's legacy cast have all stated their enthusiasm to reprise their roles. The occasional guest appearance from the likes of Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) or Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in Star Trek: Legacy would be more than welcome.

Star Trek: Legacy’s Story - What We Know

The exact nature of the potential story of Star Trek: Legacy remains a mystery. When last seen in the Star Trek: Picard series finale "The Last Generation," the USS Enterprise-G had just undergone a year-long refit after its Frontier Day showdown with the Borg and the Changelings. The ship seems to be poised for the sort of traditional exploratory mission that has defined Starfleet vessels for so long, though they could also be forced to grapple with the continuing fallout from the Dominion War regarding the new Changeling offshoot. Q (John de Lancie) also made a last-minute appearance to confirm Jack Crusher must take up his father's trial. Star Trek: Legacy also has numerous storylines set up by Picard season 3 it could easily explore.

When Star Trek: Legacy Could Release On Paramount+

Paramount+ has a full slate of Star Trek content on the horizon. The popular Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for season 3 even before season 2 airs, while animated shows Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy continue production as well. While Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Discovery may be ending, those holes are quickly being filled by the likes of the recently announced Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series and Michelle Yeoh's Star Trek: Section 31 movie.

Paramount likely understands the demand for Star Trek: Legacy . Star Trek: Picard season 3 was arguably the most successful Star Trek project since the franchise returned to television in 2017, and fans clearly have an affection for the cast and crew of the Star Trek series of the 1990s that Picard so deftly honored. When and if Star Trek: Legacy happens will likely come down to mundane considerations like time, money, and resources, with a series debut unlikely before 2025. However, after Picard season 3's rapturous response, Paramount would be pretty foolish to pass up an opportunity for a spinoff with built-in viewer goodwill like Star Trek: Legacy .

Star Trek: Picard Season 3 is available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek streaming guide: Where to watch the Star Trek movies and TV shows online

Our Star Trek streaming guide will allow you to go boldly where you've never gone before, without getting off your couch.

How to stream the Star Trek Movies in the US

How to stream the star trek tv shows in the us, how to stream the star trek movies in the uk, how to stream the star trek tv shows in the uk.

Here's our Star Trek streaming guide, so you know where to go boldly where you've never gone before... Without leaving your sofa. We've come up with this Star Trek streaming guide because since the first ever episode aired back in 1966, there's been  a huge number of additions into the franchise. 

Star Trek is currently in a bit of a purple patch for content as Paramount Plus , which is the home of all things Star Trek, is responsible for several new shows in recent years. But, it's not just new content, you'll also find where to stream the classics both movies and TV series below. 

Before, Star Trek content was scattered all around different streaming services and searching for what you wanted to watch could feel like hunting for a cloaked Bird of Prey. However, these days you're able to stream all Star Trek content out there on Paramount Plus. However, we do have round-ups of the best sci-fi movies and TV shows on Netflix , Disney Plus and Amazon if you want to check them out. 

You can also check out our take on the Star Trek movies, ranked so you know which movies to beam up onto your device. While Paramount Plus has everything Star Trek out there, you can find the odd bit of content on other platforms. So, below you'll find where you can watch what, regardless of where you're based, in our Star Trek streaming guide.  

The Star Trek movies can be divided into three tidy groups: the original cast, the Next Generation cast, and the reboot cast. All of them can be found on Paramount+. However, Paramount+ isn't the only place you can stream the movies and in some cases you can rent or buy from places such as Amazon .

Here’s how to stream the Star Trek movies in the U.S., in order of release:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture — Paramount+ Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — Paramount+ Star Trek III: The Search for Spock — Paramount+ Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home — Paramount+ Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — Paramount+ Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country — Paramount+ Star Trek: Generations — Paramount+ Star Trek: First Contact — Paramount+ Star Trek: Insurrection — Paramount+ , Spectrum Star Trek: Nemesis — Paramount+   Star Trek (2009) — Paramount+ , Pluto TV Star Trek Into Darkness — Paramount+ , Pluto TV Star Trek Beyond — Paramount+ , DIRECTV , Freevee

When it comes to Star Trek on the small screen, you can find them all in one place. Paramount+ not only has every episode of every legacy Trek show, it’s also the home of all the new Star Trek programming, such as Picard and Strange New Worlds. If you’re a Trekkie, you absolutely want to have Paramount+ to keep up with the object of your affection. A word of warning though, other streaming platforms may only have select episodes or series to stream.

Star Trek: The Original Series — Paramount+ , Pluto TV Star Trek: The Next Generation — Paramount+ , Pluto TV Star Trek: Deep Space Nine  — Paramount+ , Sling , Spectrum Star Trek: Voyager — Paramount+ , Pluto TV Star Trek: Enterprise — Paramount+ Star Trek: Discovery — Paramount+ , DIRECTV Star Trek: Picard — Paramount+ Star Trek: Short Treks — Paramount+ Star Trek: Lower Decks — Paramount+ Star Trek: Prodigy — Paramount+ ,   DIRECTV , FuboTV , Spectrum Star Trek: The Animated Series — Paramount+ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — Paramount+

Now that Paramount+ has arrived in the U.K, streaming Star Trek is a lot easier. You can view most of the movies on the streaming platform. Star Trek Beyond is the exception but that can be found on Amazon Prime. If you're not prepared to subscribe to Paramount+, the movies are available to rent or buy from a number of different platforms. 

Star Trek: The Motion Picture — Paramount+ Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — Paramount+ Star Trek III: The Search for Spock — Paramount+ Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home — Paramount+ Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — Paramount+ Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country — Paramount+ Star Trek: Generations — Paramount+ Star Trek: First Contact — Paramount+ Star Trek: Insurrection — Paramount+ Star Trek: Nemesis — Paramount+ Star Trek (2009) — Paramount+ , Amazon Prime Star Trek Into Darkness — Paramount+ , Amazon Prime Star Trek Beyond — Amazon Prime

Now that Paramount+ has reached those across the pond, the U.K. can enjoy streaming Star Trek shows as well. Netflix is also another great option to fulfil your Trekkie viewing needs, especially if you're interested in checking out Star Trek: The Animated Series, which is exclusive to Netflix. 

However, for the likes of Picard and Lower Decks, you’ll have to hop on over to Amazon Prime. It's worth noting that platforms such as SkyGo may only have a select number of episodes or series to stream.

Star Trek: The Original Series —   Netflix , Paramount+ Star Trek: The Next Generation — Netflix , Paramount+ , SkyGo Star Trek: Deep Space Nine  — Netflix , Paramount+ Star Trek: Voyager — Netflix , Paramount+ Star Trek: Enterprise — Netflix , Paramount+ Star Trek: Discovery — Paramount+ Star Trek: Picard — Amazon Prime Video , Paramount+ Star Trek: Short Treks — N/A Star Trek: Lower Decks — Amazon Prime Video Star Trek: Prodigy — Paramount+ , SkyGo Star Trek: The Animated Series — Netflix Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — Paramount+

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Susan Arendt is a freelance writer, editor, and consultant living in Burleson, TX. She's a huge sci-fi TV and movie buff, and will talk your Vulcan ears off about Star Trek. You can find more of her work at Wired, IGN, Polygon, or look for her on Twitter: @SusanArendt. Be prepared to see too many pictures of her dogs.

This Week In Space podcast: Episode 105 — Apoc-eclipse 2024!

'Star Trek: Discovery' season 5 episode 2 sows the seeds of seasonal plot threads (Under the Twin Moons recap)

I'm driving 6 hours through New York's Adirondacks to see the 2024 total solar eclipse from Potsdam. Here's why.

Most Popular

By Tantse Walter February 06, 2024

By Fran Ruiz January 29, 2024

By Fran Ruiz January 26, 2024

By Conor Feehly January 05, 2024

By Keith Cooper December 22, 2023

By Fran Ruiz December 20, 2023

By Fran Ruiz December 19, 2023

By Fran Ruiz December 18, 2023

By Tantse Walter December 18, 2023

By Robert Lea December 05, 2023

By Robert Lea December 04, 2023

• 2 Total solar eclipse 2024: Live updates
• 3 This Week In Space podcast: Episode 105 — Apoc-eclipse 2024!
• 4 Total solar eclipse 2024: Here's the national weather forecast for April 8
• 5 William Shatner is beaming in to see the 2024 total solar eclipse from Indiana (video)

Download Star Trek: Legacy (Windows)

• My Abandonware

Star Trek: Legacy

Windows - 2006

Description of Star Trek: Legacy

In 2006, Bethesda Softworks LLC, Ubisoft Entertainment SA, 1C Company publishes Star Trek: Legacy on Windows. This action, strategy and simulation game is now abandonware and is set in a real-time, sci-fi / futuristic, licensed title, space flight and tv series themes.

External links

Captures and snapshots.

Comments and reviews

Tinman 2024-02-22 0 point

How do I launch the game? All patches have been installed in the correct order, and the game is installed also. I have mounted the file to a virtual drive. I'm running on Windows 10 and I have no clue where the option to run the game is? Answers if possible very needed.

grimm 2023-12-14 -1 point

is there a way to play this with a controller?

Capt'n Cad 2023-07-04 0 point

Thanks for the info TESLA! I can mount the ISO file but is there any kind of install that needs to run once its mounted? After mounting I install the patches which go to a file on the C drive but when I go back to the mounted ISO file it still fails to run/install. I just want to play the game but can't figure this bit out!

TE5LA 2023-07-03 0 point

For those who don't know and are trying to run the ISO file directly: You need to either burn a DVD from the ISO or mount the ISO to a virtual DVD drive. UltraISO is one such software that will work. I installed this on Windows 10 64-bit Pro and it worked perfectly.

TE5LA 2023-07-03 1 point

I just downloaded this on Windows 10 Pro and it works perfectly. Others not being successful installing this on the same OS must not be doing something correctly. Download the ISO, mount it to a virtual drive, then run the 3 patches in order. Make sure the game and all patches follow the same game path. IF anyone knows how to force 2560x1440 resolution, please let me know. The game option is only to 1080.

Capt'n Cad 2023-07-01 2 points

Any idea how to install the base game? I can install the patches fine but the base download file fails saying the install was interrupted? Trying to install on Windows 11.

Dukat 2023-06-27 0 point

Works perfectly on Win10 x64 after patches 1.1 and 1.2 are applied (not tried to run the 1.3 patch as it's unofficial according to the installer)

Aspinal 2023-05-18 6 points

Can anyone post step by step instructions as to download, unzip, and install? I am having issues getting this to install and am not sure why. Windows 11 and tried running in compatibility mode.

Tomaso 2023-05-13 1 point

Worked for me... Do i clean install of the downloaded game (don't run it), install all patches by number and only run it after ALL the patches have been installed. Keep in my mind this is an ISO file so it has to be mounted on the drive when you run the game! have fun

GH 2023-05-13 -1 point

Massive crash.

Jeff 2023-04-24 -1 point

As per the others, the game doesn't work.

Rhisiart 2023-04-09 0 point

FRAAM I had the same error ,locate the .exe file that starts the game and right click on it and select run as administrator, also make sure to install the 3 patch/mod files in the order advised.

CabbageBoy 2022-08-25 2 points

so do i need an emulator to play or can i just play it and if so how do i use the UU mod?

mlsplays 2022-06-13 -3 points

PLZ install the 3 pachis and the ultimate universe mod in order First https://www.moddb.com/downloads/ultimate-universe-20-part-1 2nd https://www.moddb.com/downloads/ultimate-universe-20-part-2 Last https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-ultimate-universe/downloads/ultimate-universe-22-update Also make shure that you copy your download adress by pressing Ctrl+c to copy No + to paset Ctrl+v ones agen No +

sBeDs 2022-05-12 4 points

working flawlessly on win 10 so far, for those having trouble try this, first make sure to install all 3 patches in order, then right click on the shortcut on your desktop, choose properties, go to the compatibility tab, tick the box in the compatibility mode section and in the drop down choose windows xp(service pack 3), hope it help!!!

Jarohnev 2022-01-19 2 points

I like Star Trek

scottyP 2021-12-18 1 point

Did anyone get this game to work?

trekkie 2021-02-11 -1 point

I just bought it on disc and still having problems with it.

Captain kev 2021-02-03 1 point

anonymous 2020-08-25 -13 points

downloading is to slow are you sure if this is a game?

reeper6 2020-06-27 -1 point

ok so for windows 10 users i have a low end gaming pc i downloaded star trek legacy iso from this website right here burned iso setup install wizard to a dvd r disc then when it finished burning iso file to disc i clicked run disc it installed star trek then i clicked on game it opens up and plays campaign and skirmishes if it says acess violation just let it close out of game or close it out restart game also downloading the three patches alows to play skirmishes im not sure about multiplayer online it might need a patch to play that

swallowMyGrandkids 2020-04-11 -2 points

Game only works for me with mods, the vanilla game just crashes or something

fraam 2020-04-11 0 point

I download the game and install it but when I go to play the game it says "Star Trek Legacy Unhandled Exception Exception Access Violation" and it gives me the offer to either debug it or quit and both options lead to it closing the window.

bruhlord 2020-04-07 0 point

I downloaded the game and installed it but nowhere can i find an option to play it

RetroJim 2020-04-05 -2 points

To get this game to be fully functional including multiplayer Just use Windows XP as this game Is problematic with any Newer other then XP OSes. Multiplayer will crash on Newer OSES both Lan & internet. No matter the settings

david 2020-04-05 0 point

brockster17 same you find a way to fix it?

HinDan01 2019-12-25 0 point

Too bad i haven't had the game on CD for a long time, but when I downloaded it on this homepag and installed it, I was hype.

star trek fan 1 2019-10-21 -4 points

downloaded fine wouldn't install.

dakit3 2019-09-02 3 points

To get this to work i set the setup.exe compatablility for XP Service Pack 2, and the .msi file to work with previous versions of windows. Then i ran the setup.exe as an administrator

Brockster17 2019-07-11 6 points

I downloaded it, but it will not run. When trying to run any program in the download, it just says the download wizard was interrupted and nothing happened. Installing the ISScript does nothing. How can I fix this problem? (Im running windows 10)

Write a comment

Share your gamer memories, help others to run the game or comment anything you'd like. If you have trouble to run Star Trek: Legacy (Windows), read the abandonware guide first!

Download Star Trek: Legacy

We may have multiple downloads for few games when different versions are available. Also, we try to upload manuals and extra documentation when possible. If you have additional files to contribute or have the game in another language, please contact us!

Windows Version

Game extras.

Various files to help you run Star Trek: Legacy, apply patches, fixes, maps or miscellaneous utilities.

Similar games

Fellow retro gamers also downloaded these games:

• Sid Meier's Civilization
• Need for Speed II: SE
• Oregon Trail Deluxe
• The Incredible Machine
• Mario Teaches Typing
• The House of the Dead
• Prince of Persia
• Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
• Yu-Gi-Oh!: Power of Chaos - Yugi the Destiny
• The House of the Dead 2
• Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
• The Typing of the Dead
• Punch & Judy
• P.T.O.: Pacific Theater of Operations
• Psy-O-Blade
• Professional Tennis Simulator
• Professional Mahjong Gokū
• Pleasure Goal: 5 on 5 Mini Soccer
• Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius / Rocket Power Extreme Arcade Games

Ad Consent Terms About Contact FAQ Useful links Contribute Taking screenshots How to play

Star Trek: Legacy

Images & screenshots.

Star Trek: Legacy Review

Star Trek: Legacy News

Star Trek: Legacy Review

Star Trek Legacy for the Xbox 360 captures the grandeur and feel of the epic starship battles in the famous television series.

By Jason Ocampo on December 19, 2006 at 6:23PM PST

It seems like a can't-lose proposition: a Star Trek game, arriving in the year of the franchise's 40th anniversary and featuring nothing but glorious starship combat, as well as the voices of all five Star Trek captains. That sounds like paradise to Trek fans starved after an unexpected hiatus from new games over the past several years. And in some ways, this is true, at least if you're playing Star Trek Legacy on the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 version is similar in many ways to the PC version, but the big difference is that while the PC version is plagued with bugs and broken features, the Xbox 360 version works fine. And the control scheme that was awkward with the PC's keyboard and mouse is natural when used with the Xbox 360 controller. The result is a good starship combat game that feels right at home on the Xbox 360.

Legacy puts you in charge of a one- to four-ship task force of Starfleet vessels, spanning the entire breadth of Star Trek. You'll start with Archer, in the NX-01, before moving on to Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and Janeway. The plot cleverly ties together all five Star Trek franchises by using the Borg as the plot device. By chance, a typically long-lived Vulcan scientist learns about the Borg during the early days of the Federation and figures out a way to become their queen, though this quest will take decades. Along the way, she crosses paths with every famous Star Trek captain, and each one will attempt to ascertain what she's up to and stop her. Sure, there's a lot of revisionist history going on here--enough to make any Trek purist's head spin--but because Star Trek has always felt free to tinker with its history, it's not horribly egregious.

As a game of starship combat, Legacy delivers on the majesty of Star Trek's starship battles. This isn't a game of twitch reflexes or starships that maneuver like fighters. Instead, it's a game of maneuvering, as you attempt to get your ship into position where it can bring its weapon banks and torpedo tubes into action against an enemy. Thankfully, the control scheme is up to the task. You'll use one joystick on the Xbox 360 control pad to control your starship while the other stick moves the camera around. It takes a bit of practice, but once you have it down, you'll be able to easily maneuver your starship in combat while keeping the camera fixed on the enemy.

You'll dive into a campaign filled with some good highs but also some infuriating lows. There are plenty of massive battles to partake in, which is when the game looks best, as starships and explosions fill the screen. There's a fair amount of thinking required because you can use the command screen to order your task force to different parts of the battlefield. Thus, you can do a hit-and-run on an enemy space station, fall back for repairs, or dive into the thick of the action to help out allies. The downside is that you can't save at all during a mission, which means that if you fail, you have to start the entire thing over. Considering some missions can easily last an hour, the lack of an in-mission save gets annoying awfully quickly. It doesn't help that mission objectives are sometimes hazy, and you'll zoom about trying to figure out what you need to do. At other times, the mission objectives are insanely difficult, and you'll need to turn in a superhuman effort to win. A case in point is a save-the-planets mission where you have to warp around and destroy stellar debris before they crash into planets. However, the margin for error is so small that the slightest misstep can cause mission failure.

The skirmish and multiplayer modes provide some interesting gameplay outside of the main campaign, but it's a bit annoying that both modes follow the one-and-done formula. So every time you finish a skirmish or multiplayer battle, you drop back to the main menu and have to set up another game. If you're playing on Xbox Live with a good group of people, that's absolutely no way to keep the good times going because someone has to restart the server after every mission success or failure. Still, the multiplayer battles can be very tactical in nature because you can use the size of the maps to warp around and hide from your enemy, or you can team up together to crush an isolated foe. However, the battles do not provide a lot of variety. For example, there's a deathmatch game that you can play in teams, or a co-op wave game, where all the players have to survive as long as possible against a wave of endless enemies--and that's about it. The multiplayer suite could have been a lot better, but at least it works when compared to the PC version. The achievement points are well distributed, so you'll be rewarded a fair amount for playing through the campaign. You'll receive special rewards for doing so at higher difficulty levels or not losing a ship during an era, which encourages long-term play and distinguished performance.

If you're a fan of the original Enterprise, the Enterprise-D, the Defiant, or any one of the many iconic starships from the show, you'll be satisfied with the level of detail that's achieved in the game. It looks even prettier during the large-scale battles, as Federation, Borg, Romulan, and Klingon starships trade fire and explode. However, there are issues. Smaller vessels break apart nicely, but the artists should be embarrassed by how badly anything large, like a space station or a Borg cube, explodes. The Borg cube breaks apart, then a fresh cube appears in the middle of the explosion and breaks apart; then another cube appears in the middle of that crack-up and breaks apart, before the large chunky pieces spin in place like a top twirled at high speed. Then there are the bumper-car physics. If a starship runs into anything, such as another vessel, an asteroid, or even a ridiculously out-of-scale planet, it just rubs against it and then moves on. It's these kinds of oversights that ruin the otherwise solid presentation.

Considering that Legacy boasts the voice acting talents of all five Star Trek captains, you'd think that all the stops would have been pulled for the game's audio. But for the most part, the efforts seem wasted because a number of the actors sound like they're dialing it in. William Shatner does his best to infuse his unique delivery, but he also sounds every one of his 75 years at times. Only the captains' voices make an appearance, because the story is told in overly long, drawn-out voice-overs while the camera pans over ships and space stations. Riveting viewing it is not. The music is typical Trek, which means noble orchestral themes for the most part. The sound effects are also fairly authentic, though some of the phaser fire seems off. However, only hardcore Trek fans should notice these details because they live for this kind of critiquing.

Despite some noticeable flaws, the Xbox 360 version of Legacy manages to capture the epic feel of Star Trek combat like no other game to date. There's something captivating about watching these stately and beautiful vessels fight and die onscreen, which is something that any Star Trek fan who owns an Xbox 360 should definitely check out.

• Leave Blank
• All five Star Trek series and captains tied together into one game
• captures the grandeur and feel of Star Trek combat
• iconic starships are modeled in good detail
• Multiplayer and skirmish modes feel tacked on
• mission difficulty can be frustrating at times

About the Author

Jason Ocampo

More gamespot reviews.

Use your keyboard!

Log in to comment

• PlayStation 3
• PlayStation 4
• PlayStation 5
• Xbox Series
• More Systems

Star Trek: Legacy – Guide and Walkthrough

Pc xbox 360.

Guide and Walkthrough (PC) by kevinchitwood24

Version: 1.0 | Updated: 01/03/2007

View in: Text Mode

AGP Platform Analysis, Part 2: New Cards, Single-Core System

Star trek: legacy.

• Page 1: Introduction
• Page 2: The New AGP Lineup
• Page 3: The New AGP Lineup, Continue
• Page 4: Test System And Methodology
• Page 5: X3: Reunion
• Page 6: F.E.A.R
• Page 7: PREY
• Page 8: Star Trek: Legacy
• Page 9: Need For Speed CARBON
• Page 10: Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
• Page 11: Conclusion

Now let's examine the results with the Star Trek: Legacy engine, a relatively new title with some very impressive visuals:

At low settings the game is completely limited by the system, even on the 3400+. With the resolution set to 1280x1024 with 2xAA however, things begin to change:

The X1950 PROs have essentially the same results as they did at low resolution and detail, showing that the CPU is still capping the maximum frame rates. The Geforces are slower compared to the X1950 PROs, which was not the case on the older AthlonXP 2500+ system:

On the 2500+, the performance was definitely bottlenecked by the CPU.

Will the performance of the X1950 PROs on the Athlon64 3400+ platform stay high if resolution is increased to 1600x1200 with 4x anti-aliasing?

The answer is a definite "kind of." The performance slips a bit on the X1950 PRO cards compared to the lower resolution, but the results are very similar and the game remains very playable. The Geforces are taxed at these settings and are rendered unplayable.

Stay on the Cutting Edge

Join the experts who read Tom's Hardware for the inside track on enthusiast PC tech news — and have for over 25 years. We'll send breaking news and in-depth reviews of CPUs, GPUs, AI, maker hardware and more straight to your inbox.

Current page: Star Trek: Legacy

MSI rolls out a new high-end Nvidia gaming GPU in China — GeForce RTX 4090D 24G Ventus 3X comes as a more affordable option

AMD announces open-sourcing of its GPU software stack and documentation, including MES

AIO workstation has 128 CPU cores and 28,416 GPU cores crammed into surprisingly small form factor

Most Popular

By Matthew Connatser February 19, 2024

By Denise Bertacchi February 15, 2024

By Albert Thomas January 18, 2024

By Shane Downing January 13, 2024

By Matt Safford January 09, 2024

By Matt Safford January 05, 2024

By Ross Rubin December 23, 2023

By Jarred Walton December 22, 2023

By Matt Safford December 20, 2023

By Mark Tyson December 20, 2023

By The Editors of Tom's Hardware December 18, 2023

• April 6, 2024 | ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Showrunner Explains Why They Reopened A TNG Mystery To Start Season 5
• April 5, 2024 | Roddenberry Archive Expands With Virtual Tours Of Deep Space 9 Station And The USS Discovery
• April 5, 2024 | Podcast: All Access Reviews The First Two Episodes Of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 5
• April 4, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Embraces Second Chances In “Under The Twin Moons”
• April 4, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Returns With New Vitality And A Lore-Fueled Quest In “Red Directive”

Interview: Terry Matalas On ‘Picard’ Moments And ‘Star Trek: Legacy’ Hopes – “There’s So Many Stories To Tell”

| February 10, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 136 comments so far

Star Trek: Picard  was the big winner at the Saturn Awards last Sunday. At the event TrekMovie had a chance to talk to showrunner Terry Matalas about the final season of the series and get an update on a potential “Star Trek: Legacy” follow-up.

Gene Roddenberry received the Saturn Lifetime Achievement Award in 1980, just like the TNG is crew being honored with tonight. And Picard is also up for Best Series [which it won along with 3 acting awards]. So this is a bit of full circle. What was it about Gene’s legacy you were trying to convey in Picard and did you feel you were running into the so called “Roddenberry Box” when it came to character conflict?  

No, I didn’t. I never really looked at it that way. I think what Gene did is he created a family. In the 1960s he created that diverse family of brilliant minds, and that increased when they went to feature films and it really became a family of sacrificing things for each other. So I think that was really what we wanted to do here was a season about a family coming together: the Next Gen family, the Titan family, the Picard family. And I think true Star Trek for me, it’s characters.

Season 3 spawned many memes, like the Shaw “No” moment… As you are putting together the show, do you ever think about how this or that is going to be a memorable moment? 

No. You are too busy terrified about whether or not this is going to work because you have two hours to get the scene to really think about it. You hope. Sometimes when it cuts together, you’re like, “Man, I think this character is going to pop” or “I think this moment will be great,” but you never really know.

What is something that popped that you weren’t expecting or maybe something that didn’t that you thought would pop?

Something that I didn’t think? We ran a gag that Chateau Picard isn’t the best wine. It doesn’t taste the best. I didn’t think anybody would really pick up on it and people really, really picked up on it.

Michelle Hurd describes Seven and Raffi’s relationship status at the end of Picard as “complicated,” w ould you pick up on the Raffi/Seven relationship storyline if Legacy were to happen?

You have to. A first officer and a captain with a past? – well first, there’s nothing to say [about Legacy ], I wish there was – but yeah, there’s a there’s quite a few storylines that we talked about from the beginning about where that would go. And it’s just such a rich opportunity.

Just to put a button on it, since Picard wrapped up last April – not counting the period during the WGA strike – has there been any discussions or work on Star Trek: Legacy with Paramount?

There’s not. They have Star Trek that they are making and they only have so much money and streaming space. There’s currently not, but we’re looking forward to whatever the Star Trek universe brings… and never say never.

Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker and Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine in “The Last Generation” (Paramount+)

They just started shooting the  Section 31 streaming TV movie with Michelle Yeoh. If they came to you with the idea of making a sort of Legacy backdoor pilot TV movie, would you go for that? Is it possible considering the logistics and sets and all that?

Look, anything is possible. We certainly wouldn’t be “Oh no, we aren’t going to do a movie.” For me, I would just need this crew, I would need this cast, and as long as that was a possibility, we would figure something out, yeah. A series is obviously ideal because there’s so many stories to tell. And the 25th century in general in Star Trek is such a rich thing.

People see the name “Legacy” and think it would be all about the legacy stars. But would it actually be more about the new cast and characters? Would every episode have a former famous Next Gen/Voyager/DS9 guest star in it?

Not necessarily, no. I call it “ Legacy” mostly because it was in the 25th century. Like the idea of people from Deep Space Nine coming in, and Raffi and Worf, and Raffi and Worf’s son Alexander. I could sit and – let’s get a dry-erase board and break it right now. There are just so many stories from that era.

Terry Matalas accepting the award for Best Drama Series for Picard (Saturn Awards)

More to come from the Saturn Awards

TrekMovie spoke to more Star Trek presenters, nominees, and winners at the Saturn Awards so come back for more interviews and updates.

Check out our earlier Saturn Awards interviews: Doug Jones on Discovery and Tawny Newsome on Lower Decks and Starfleet Academy , We also have exclusive updates from Nicolas Cage’s desire to be in Star Trek and Danai Gurira’s almost casting for Star Trek 4 .  You can hear audio from these interviews and more in the latest All Access Star Trek podcast .

Keep up with news for the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

This interview has been edited for clarity. 

Related Articles

CBS/Paramount , Star Trek Universe TV , Star Trek: Legacy

Alex Kurtzman Teases Star Trek “Surprises” Coming Up, But Greenlighting ‘Legacy’ Is Out Of His Hands

Section 31 , Star Trek: Legacy , Starfleet Academy

‘Star Trek: Section 31’ First Look Revealed With ‘Academy’ Details, Plus Glimmer Of ‘Legacy’ Hope

Books , Review , Star Trek: Picard , VOY

Review: Action-Packed ‘Star Trek: Picard: Firewall’ Reveals Seven’s Compelling Quest For Identity

CBS Chief Says Star Trek Remains A Priority For Paramount, Answers Why ‘Legacy’ Has Not Been Greenlit

“There’s So Many Stories To Tell” Agreed. As Captain Jellico said: “Get it done.”

He’s an admiral now. He got that done

Except that Jellico was rather humorless. If Legacy does happen, I hope that we can have some fun with it.

Jellico was still the same stuck in the mud character in Prodigy as well lol. Some people are just born without a personality.

More stories to tell? Perhaps. But the nostalgia and “fan service ” police would probably come out in full force. I want to be fan serviced I don’t care. So sue me. Alot of Trek novels were/are fan service products. I also will watch and try Starfleet Academy . There’s room for originality ( if it really truly exists anymore honestly) and tried and true. Life is too frigging short.

“fan service” is basically a derogatory term for world building. I’ve always liked shared universes. I like it when the pieces fit together. It’s fun. I don’t need to put it down and pretend I’m really too cool for all this.

agree 1000%

Huh? You and mini-Phil are mistaken. Fan service and world building are two different things.

Worldbuilding is the process of constructing a world, originally an imaginary one, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task for many science fiction or fantasy writers. Worldbuilding often involves the creation of geography, a backstory, flora, fauna, inhabitants, technology and often if writing speculative fiction, different peoples. This may include social customs as well as invented languages for the world.

Fan Service is material in a work of fiction or in a fictional series which is intentionally added to please the audience. The term originated in Japanese, in the anime and manga fandom, but is now used across media. Additionally, fan service adds in something with no direct relevance to the story or character development into a media production for the purpose of pleasing fans.

Call it whatever you want, man.

Okay, just don’t call me late for dinner

I’m not sure when fan service has become such a nasty word in fandom, especially since Star Trek has been doing it in the last 40 years. But I guess there is a divide on how the classic shows did it versus NuTrek does it now. It does feel more in your face today but again that’s a bigger issue for Hollywood overall today. It’s all about nostalgia and, sorry, legacy. Every major franchise out there over 30 years old is literally doing the same thing. I would love to hear someone prove me wrong but I’m not. Star Trek is following the same trend of all of those.

And Star Trek from 2009 on to today has all done many times. Outside of Picard season 3, SNW is easily the worst culprit. They literally remade a TOS episode lol and yes an excuse to bring in Kirk. But most fans seem to love it as many did for Picard season 3. I’m not talking about places like this board, it’s a very tiny one and doesn’t represent the fandom as a whole. But most places people can’t enough of it and why I only see more of it happening. I’m fine with it, just as long as it fits the story they are telling, which can be the issue at times.

Also I think its overlooked that when a franchise gets up in years, the stories are going to inevitably feel a little derivative. Every franchise has to be true to itself and stick to a certain familiar framework, because that’s what people are paying to see. If you are going to get compared to the past no matter what you do, you might as well embrace it and make it a virtue.

Yep that’s certainly true as well. Again, look at SNW, it can’t get any more derivative if it tried…and yet people are loving it lol.

I think every old franchise just runs into a case where it gets harder to repeat itself, but same time people actually enjoy the familiar. Comic book stories are the perfect example. They have done every crazy story line under the sun for 70 years now and yet they are still popular because A. people like formulas, that’s why they work and B. there is always new fans exposed to it so it’s all new to them until its not. Rinse and repeat.

VOY and ENT were accused of just regurgitating TNG. Yeah, that was true, but that happens on every popular TV show ever made. They all follow what made the original so successful, just with their own spin on it. TNG obviously just copied what TOS did, because until then, that’s all what people thought of Star Trek.

Again, the perfect example is Discovery versus Strange New Worlds. Discovery to its credit really tried to do something different with the franchise we haven’t seen since DS9. But I don’t think it being different was the main issue, it just wasn’t very good while trying to remake the franchise. SNW just went back to what the fans knew from TOS-ENT and we now have episodic bumpy forehead alien of the week again where everything is tided up in an hour, the ship warps out to another new place and everyone is happy.

And we have stuff like LDS, PRO, Picard season 3 and as mentioned, SNW. LDS and PRO have a different take on what they do but it sill feels very very familiar as well. SNW and Picard season 3 are super popular because it’s comfort food in a way we haven’t seen since the 90s. It’s basically more TOS and TNG and few people are complaining about it.

In other words, they really did try to make Star Trek something different with Discovery and now it’s all the same old stuff. That’s what the fans seem to want so yeah.

The problem with Discovery for me was that while it tried to be different it also tried to be the same as well. Basically it wanted to get its cake and eat it too. Take the character of Michael Burnham for example, the character on its own I think would have worked very well but then they had to go and connect her with Spock for some reason. She could have just been an ordinary human who studied or grew up in Vulcan (maybe parents were ambassadors there or something) and it still would have worked, maybe even better. The connection with Spock here is not world building, on the contrary its making the world smaller just to get some fan attention.

Completely agree. Making a new character Spock’s sister just felt so desperate and nonsensical. They didn’t learn their lesson after Sybok??

All it did was backfire in their face instead.

The people who make that show are utterly clueless.

But it’s also why I am excited for SFA because maybe it will buck the formula as Discovery tried and just be it’s own thing. I would truly love that. It’s why DS9 is my favorite show because it was the DIS back in it’s day…just well written with amazing stories. ;)

But I also love what all the other shows are doing. Because yeah you can truly want both comfort food but also something inventive. Despite what some fans think, it’s not a binary choice. I would happily take a Seven show on another Enterprise in the 25th century but also take new cadets living on Earth in the 32nd century. I know, a fan who can be excited for both ideas equally, it’s shocking lol.

I’m sure it will buck the formula. But at the end of the day, it will still be warp drives, aliens, and transporters, which is what I meant by framework. There will always be someone making the case that it’s same old same old.

I’m not saying I care, just that it’s not my first day on the internet.

Also agreed. In fact I been saying literally since the show was announced that I truly expect the show to take place on a Star ship. I could be wrong obviously but every fiber of my being see them all ending up on the Voyager J at the end of the day. Or maybe it will be the Voyager K to really shake things up lol.

Obviously I’m joking but I see a lot of posts out there with people predicting the show will take place on a new Enterprise. That can be completely wrong obviously but it’s being said because it’s kind of a wish fulfillment to many people out there.

I don’t want to go into another huge rant lol but this is the problem. You have a big loyal fanbase who DON’T mind change in one way but same time always wants certain elements they exclusively define as what Star Trek is. When TNG appeared, people were probably split on new characters but it was no way they could have a show without an Enterprise. If you called it the Voyager it would’ve been cancelled in one season. ;)

DS9 to this day is still the only show to be it’s own thing and yet they still ended up with the Defiant in the third season.

And it’s nothing but ship based shows since. Again, perfect example, Picard really tried to buck the trend too in it’s first season avoiding being in Starfleet completely. By the end of the final season everyone is now back on another Enterprise.

And why so many are begging for the Legacy show now lol. No matter what they do, it will always come down to this. Because for most fans, that is ultimately what Star Trek is and it’s hard to get away from that.

Maybe SFA will prove me wrong. But trust me, if they do hang out on Earth in the first season and fans balk, they will be on a starship heading out to the unknown in no time faster then you can say ‘where no man has gone before’.

Also I remember reading back when the Abrams movies were starting, the argument then was you can’t do more TNG or even TOS on the small screen. Those days were over. If we ever got another show, it would have to be something wildly different than what they had been doing in the last 30 years. A new show would have to have a radical approach and can’t rely on the old formula to stay relevant.

Fast forward to today and all the new shows minus Discovery is just more TOS and TNG lol. Matalas, McMahan, Goldsman etc are all just doing what they grew up with. And now we have multiple shows that are literally TNG, VOY and TOS in all but name only because they know that’s what people want.

And there are people literally on these boards saying they want another TOS or TNG show. You can’t get away from it. Everyone is too obsessed with what they grew up with and TPTB clearly knows it.

They can do different shows within the framework of Trek and still use starships and the technology of Trek. The characters are the key factor here. For example they could do a Medical show taking place in the Trek universe or a violent/dark show based on the Klingons, or maybe something comedic with the Q etc.. or some totally new alien species. They just have to use their imaginations to come up with accessible characters.

Is it really “fan service” to just pick up where a long-running story left off and keep telling it? I just call it “the next chapter of the story.”

No, just continuing a series not fan service. Here you go:

Some of these “audience pleasing” elements are those that tie together different parts of the franchise, that in effect create threads of unity and continuity across the vast Trek universe, which is a sort of world building. So not necessarily gratuitous as implied. Also, at times people have been shouting “fan service” at those who defend strict adherence to canon, as they imagine that fan service gets in the way of new ideas, many of which would require the stretching or breaking of said canon. You want to show things the way they’ve looked since TOS, instead of something entirely new? “Well that’s just fan service!” But it’s not that simple.

Certainly there is crossover and it’s not black or white where the border is between these two definitions — I agree with that.

Fan service? So basically Strange New Worlds then? No thanks, I’d rather the 25th century and moving forward.

The Raffi/Seven relationship was one of the weakest aspects of Star Trek: Picard. The actors had no chemistry and no interesting scenes together, and there was barely ever any indication they were actually a couple. Why in the world would anyone want more of THAT?

You must be so much fun at parties being a constant source of negativity.

Lorna’s not wrong though. Seven and Raffi was a big nothing. Raffi and Worf was far more interesting and entertaining.

Yeah, Raffi and Worf were great together. The biggest surprise to me has to be Frakes. He was great, better than Stewart I think.

There are 2 moments I will always remember in regard to S3 of Picard.The moment my jaw dropped when I saw that Picard’s interrogator was to be ,Ro Laren and when Riker kicked Picard off the Titan’s bridge. I NEVER saw that coming!

Raffi had more chemistry with Worf than she did with Seven. Seven and Raffi’s relationship felt as forced and non-existent as the Seven and Chakotay relationship did.

I blame the writers for being too chickenshit to explore their relationship

Maybe, but I also feel that the episode count is too low for any meaningful character development or exploration of relationships.

I would say in most cases you’d be right, but in terms of Pic S2 there was just so much filler in that strung out season that would have had plenty of time to fit this in by cutting a lot of that filler.

Yes, absolutely agree.

Why not argue for their merits as an onscreen duo instead of inviting another personal tit-for-tat?

Because M1701 is a negative influence here who enjoys attacking people.

Personal attacks are never a good response. Grow up.

Well that’s ironic.

– The Comic Book Guy

Jesus, this Raffi thing is like you’re me with LDS – you just can’t let this go – lol

A fault confessed is half redressed.

Yeah! You are on a roll today.

Listen, if LDS bothers you so much that you need to vent your angst every occasion you can, then so be it. At least you know what you’re doing. Apparently I’ve been pissing people off with some of my posts too so complaining about what people post is just, wait for it, hypocritical of me!

Thanks, I appreciate that. Take my advice — here is a famous movie line from Dirty Harry that I apply to myself:

“A man’s got to know his limitations.”

See, comments like that one never make sense to me. This is a message board. Each new article provides a topic to discuss. This article mentions Rafi and Seven, so I commented on Rafi and Seven. If the article were about Deep Space Nine, I wouldn’t have commented on Rafi and Seven. Why does my comment bother you? You don’t see me riding you about your hatred of Lower Decks. I respect your opinion.

I was having some fun given both of us have some obvious obsessions here — so some self-deprecating humor on me too.

If you felt insulted though, I apologize.

BTW, you’ve turned me around on Rafi with all of your comments — I agree with you now.

“They have Star Trek that they are making and they only have so much money and streaming space.”

Spoken like a seasoned showrunner. Streaming space is infinite. Money, on the other hand, is in short supply. Especially now.

If a series fails to perform as hoped, there’s always something ready to take its place.

In his favor is how he was able to deliver a popular and largely well-reviewed season on almost certainly a lower budget than season 1 or Disco season 4 or SNW season 2. There were times in the second half where it was very obvious and they could have benefitted from not having to do everything on the same sets, but the best story of the season IMO was “No Win Scenario,” largely a bottle episode.

But you never know. Despite DS9’s plaudits, Paramount never approached Ira Steven-Behr or Ron Moore to run a new Trek series, so it’s not all about reviews and fan favorites.

In the end we got a loving Valentine to TNG made by someone who knows and cares deeply about these characters and brought them some extra depth and meaty material to play with. It was not perfect, but it hit a lot of great notes and if that’s all we get with them, they now have a more triumphant send-off than was Nemesis (or Endgame).

And pulling off what he did with a much smaller budget demonstrated his strengths as a television producer and showrunner.

I’m not sure if Ron Moore had any real desire to revisit Star Trek but I suspect that had he been approached by CBS he would have taken things in much different and much more compelling direction after seeing how he approached “BSG”, “For All Mankind” and “Outlander” since his Star Trek days.

Terry Matalas has a lot on his plate so if they eventually decide to move forward with something and want his involvement, they’ll need to work around his schedule but even they can’t work him in, he pulled something off that for many didn’t seem possible.

Matalas is doing the Witch Mountain reboot series now. I am happy for him, and I think that sort of fantasy/lite scifi blend is perfect for his talents — he has a comfort level the mind-force, super powers stuff, obviously.

I disagree on the budget. I think it’s more likely that they had the same budget approximately as the first two seasons (not accounting for series start-up costs prior to S1), but for S3, the actors budget share (given they brought the entire TNG cast back + other TNG characters) was likely double of the previous two seasons, so they had less budget available for the other areas of production, hence the crappy, low cost VFX, poor lighting and derivative finale.

I was referring to the below the line budget.

Matalas said in an interview on top of the TNG casts salaries the budget was lower as well because the pandemic made everything more expensive to shoot, especially in season 2 when it was at its height and they shot everything back to back. And many things in season 2 went over budget as well, again due to the pandemic issues.

It sounds like by the time season 3 started, they had already spent a huge amount shooting season 2 unfortunately and had to scale down.

It’s really remarkable what he was able to do with more limited resources and time kind of like how great Meyer made a great movie in TWOK with similar limits.

Ah, well there you are then!

You can’t pin the lighting on budget, that was, somehow, a ‘creative’ choice.

Unless, of course, the dim lighting was employed to cover deficiencies in the standing sets. I found it interesting that in an interview published on this site the S3 production designer stated that if ‘Legacy’ was ever greenlit he’d want take another crack at the look of the show.

In any case, judging from the overall response (not just my own) I’d expect them to turn the lights up next time.

You can see the main bridge set in more light at the end of s2, it is pretty much the same bridge just tweaked. And I remember a wallpaper of it that filled my monitor (briefly) and the only defects I saw were aesthetic, not cosmetic. Plus the camera is far enough back from the screens most of the time anyway that nothing would show (and traditionally DPs have always been expert at shooting around defects or putting something in the foreground to mask them.)

No, I really think this look of Joffin’s was something he sold to the producers, and then the other DP, who was already onboard from s2, had to match to it.

Now if you’re talking about stuff like Amanda Plummer’s bridge, you may have a point. That was done almost Roger Corman style from what I was told.

A lot of the DS9 writers room ended up doing their own shows after that series ended

Of course. But Paramount still never approached them. Bryan Fuller on paper was a perfect person to reach out to though, until he wasn’t.

Yeah sadly true but we’ve all been saying this. I mean someone pointed this out in another thread, three years ago Paramount ws producing five Star Trek shows, but now they are only producing three. We have the S31 movie but that will probably just be the cost of 2-3 typical episodes. It’s not going to be Killers of the Flower Moon or The Grey Man lol. It sounds like it will have a very standard TV movie budget.

Again to me, they are just being short sighted. Yeah Legacy would definitely be the more expensive show but it will probably make the most money in the long term if it’s a huge hit in the base. Unfortunately the people running Paramount today only thinks in the short term. But they probably more worried of the studio being around long term than any one show or movie.

And yeah look at the Sheridan shows, those don’t sound like they are getting hung up on budgets or how many shows they are willing to make.

Well, unless they think about giving a Trek show to Sheridan, I highly doubt we will see more than 2 Trek live action shows at any given moment.

Yep, sadly agree with this.

Come on Paramount, give Matalas a series. Lots of us older fans liked his work.

Before someone says I’m old and I didn’t. Sure you’re old and didn’t like it. I’m just saying that lots did and this is reflected n it’s success.

I’d disagree about the old part – the main audience of this poorly written drek was aging Gen Xers clinging to their past while death stares them in the eye. I wish the writer’s strike was still going on – anyone involved in the writing of the hackneyed plot of Picard 3 deserves to be out of work.

Death stares everyone in the eye sooner or later. Nobody gets out alive. If you’re young now, you won’t be for long.

The window for his availability is beginning to narrow. At the very least they should be trying to retain him in some capacity by offering him a development deal before he gets locked in somewhere else. Retaining talent at Paramount has been a bit of a stumbling block over there for years.

Good point. Eventually Mr. Matalas is going to be presented with job offers, especially coming off a win like this. If/when Legacy (or whatever they decide to call it) eventually happens in whatever fashion, it’s probably not going to be discussed until Section 31 is in the can and they can reassess their Star Trek budget. Will the fans that want Legacy still want it if Matalas is unavailable to actually serve as show runner?

There are a lot more stories that Matalas is well suited to tell:

Jacko: A Star Trek Story The Borg Powers Awaken Rise of Picard The Rigelorian Rogue 1701 The Book of Harry Mudd Attack of the Synthetics The Collective Strikes Back Return of the Picard

Hey you’re being subtle. Didn’t know you had it in you. Not sure I agree that Picard S3 borrowed too much from Star Wars, but to each his own.

Dude, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. (hugs!) :-)

As long as the hug is a bro hug, with a handshake and shoulder to shoulder thing, I’m good. I’ve decided to tone it down with my posts. There are way too many sensitive types who take themselves too seriously (oddly enough you’re not one of them) that it’s not worth the aggravation.

The Orgianian Peace Treaty II is officially now a thing. (And good to see.)

The Legacy show is the only thing I truly care about for Kurtzman Trek. Season 3 of Picard felt like classic Star Trek again. I hated the first two seasons and turned one of the best characters in Star Trek into a secondary character in his own show. But the seasons were simply bad, season 2 especially. I gave up on it halfway through and didn’t finish it until season 3 started.

Fans should be pushing to get this show on. Especially something over Starfleet Academy that just sounds like will be a melodramatic teen show. That’s how the Abrams movies felt to me as well and they were supposed to be adults on the most important ship in the fleet but came off like teenagers. Embarrassing.

Matalas made his characters feel and sound like adults again. That’s why so many are excited about the Legacy show. It could be a show for adults again like the golden era.

I’m good with current plan, and I’m not alone. As for Pic, S1 was by far the best because it was true TNG-like Star Trek, it presented us with a real science fiction story with intellectual meat and issues rather than the space opera, superhero-like powers Star Wars-like BS in S3, plus Stewart turned in the best performance of his across the three seasons by far in S1. S3 was mediocre — you know my issues with it, but nevertheless it was well acted and nice sendoff for TNG crew.

S2 though was the worst Star Trek season since the abysmal S4 of the justifiably cancelled Enterprise series cluster-f&#k.

It’s clear Legacy is not happening. Fans need to let it go and embrace the new series and movie coming up. Really, it’s all going to be OK!

Don’t tell me what to do. Think what you want about anything. I don’t care.

And I’ll keep saying how much I want a Legacy show. You can move on though. No one is stopping you.

So it’s OK for you say:

“Fans should be pushing to get this show on.”

But yet you have hissy fit when I similarly say:

“Fans need to let it go and embrace the new series and movie coming up.”

How is my comment any different from yours in telling fans what they should do?

PS: And I’ll move on when I personally decide it’s time to move on.

I’m talking to the people who actually want the show genius, not everyone in existence who likes Star Trek. Hence the word…fans.

Does this really need to be explained to you? Are you still in school? Or really slow?

Stop wasting my time.

I’m talking to the people who actually want the show genius, not everyone in existence who likes Star Trek. Hence the word…fans.

So again, you want to apply a different set of rules to what you can say versus what I can say. That’s called being a hypocrite.

And your childish insults and amateurish attempts to belittle me just illustrate your petulance and your lack of ability to control your emotions — you are embarrassing yourself.

Bring your A-game next time…this is way too easy for me.

Take season 3, replace all the TNG actors with new characters, and tell the exact same story.

Would you have posted the above? I think not.

Because the new characters mostly suck. Discovery characters are some of the worst around.

I had no problem loving new characters in the old shows and I was around when there was only Kirk, Spock and McCoy. I been a fan since 1968 and only knew those characters for 20 years.

For old farts like me TOS was the only Star Trek there was.

But somehow I managed to love new characters from TNG, DS9 Voyager and Enterprise. I don’t know how familiar you are with old Star Trek but I assure you none of those characters were on TOS either.

Even the old characters like Kirk and Spock suck on SNW. I’m not interested in them either.

So stop trying to tell me what I want. You obviously have no clue missy.

Was the sexism at the end really necessary?

Saying missy is considered sexism?

Since I’m a woman as well I guess I’m being sexist to myself too?

Sorry to Emily and myself I guess then. People can be upset over the weirdest things today.

It’s was a little extra. Emily is pretty one track and adds little, mostly trying to bait people.

Yes, apparently so.

And this is what Emily do lol. Over and over and over and over again. Don’t take it personally.

I don’t really understand why it’s so hard for some people to fanthom you can actually want both ole and new characters? The issue with NuTrek unfortunately is the new characters just haven’t broke out in a huge way yet. I mean, the one character everyone seems to say they love is Saru. Maaaaybe Rios after him? After that it gets more hazzy at best. I mean in terms of a consensus.

But for me personally there are a lot of new ones I really do like like Saru, Mariner, Tendi, Rios, Lorca, Tyler, Rok, Boimler, La’an, Rutherford, etc. But are any of these more popular than Janeway, Sisko, Kirk, Bashir, Spock, the Doctor, Worf, Trip, etc. No, because I haven’t spent 20 years with those yet lol. It takes time obviously. But of course many could love the new characters over many of these old ones, but that’s how opinions work. It’s all varied.

But yes, there are certainly people who only care about the characters they grew up with. That is certainly true too. The funny thing is you mentioned how you like the old characters from the spin off shows but there was a time many old TOS fans didn’t accept those characters either. There were just as many people saying ‘Star Trek to me is only about Kirk and Spock’ back in the day. And the day wasn’t that long ago lol.

I guess I’m an old fart as well because I remember all of it like it was yesterday. But now you have probably younger people believing this is some new idea lol. It isn’t, this happend back in the 80s and 90s as well. Today all the 90s fans are who is watching Star Trek today and now SOME of them are acting like the TOS fans did back then and Star Trek is still Kirk obviously, but it’s also Picard, Sisko and Janeway as well.

For the record, I also grew up with only TOS on but I had no problems accepting the new shows or characters. I was the complete opposite, finally new characters and shows!! But I was also just a kid when TNG came on, I wasn’t some old guy stuck in my ways like today lol. Like many people who grew up with TOS and now TNG era, people can be very frigtened of change as someone once famously said. Oddly that statement seems to hold the most truth for Star Trek fans lol.

It’s history repeating itself. And guess what in another 20 years it will again lol. Everyone will be saying Burnham and Mariner are true Star Trek and these new people are just impostors no one wants. ;)

I don’t understand why are so many people so uptight here? One person seems really angry other people like Enterprise and another is upset people like to see old characters? I think Discovery is awful, I’m not upset because other people like it. Very strange behavior.

And fid I miss the memo where I said I would only watch new shows with old characters? I watch new shows with new characters all the time. I also watch new shows with old characters too. I been watching Law and Order since 1990. They have made nearly 10 shows and some with new characters and some with old characters. No one in the Law and Order boards are remotely upset about this very old idea in television lol.

Fun fact, Norman Lear for you youngins out there made some of the most diverse and varied shows in all of television. Characters from his spin off shows would show up in previous shows with old characters . Why, because they were established characters that the TV exes knew fans loved and would pepper them in the other shows. This was back in the 70ss and 80a. Not the 2020s but the 1970s. Crossovers became very common in the 80s and 90s especially.

This is how TV has always worked. Why this poster is shocked about this is someone who seems to only watch Star Trek and very little else.

And I don’t know any new Star Trek show that only has old characters in it on it. Even Strange New Worlds has new characters. So why are they so angry?

If you don’t like it, fine, but that’s how TV has always been in the last 50 years. Star Trek is a TV show last I checked.Very strange.

But as I established I watched TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT. TOS characters showed in most of those too. I welcomed it because that’s my favorite show and loved seeing those characters every chance I could get! Where does that imply I am less interested in Archer, Janeway, Data, Odo or Kira because I was happy to see Spock or Sulu make an appearance?

I’m actually a Law and Order fan myself. :) I haven’t been keeping up with it as much the last few years but I seen a few seasons of every show.

But yes, I hear your frustration lol. You’re right, all TV shows do this and has been for decades if A. It’s part of the same franchise and B.it’s established as a shared universe.

And that’s what Star Trek is, a shard universe. It’s not doing anything you will find on TV today. All the the cop/lawyer/forensic shows does it obsessively. The CSI’s, Law and Orders. Criminal Minds, Chicago and on and on have multiple crossovers every season. And all the Dick Wolf shows go even farther than that and set up crossover events where all he shows in one franchise share the same story line as an excuse to bring their bigger characters to the smaller shows. He that does with L&O, Chicago and the FBI shows. He has had characters from shows outside of franchises like L&O now show up in shows like Chicago and FBI because he established it as one universe.

Old characters have been spun off to new shows more times than anyone can count. They been doing this for literally over 30 years now once SVU came on the scene. No one cares and since there are now way more shows than Star Trek shows have right now it’s obviously working and on multiple networks.

But Star Trek, it’s a sign the franchise is near collapse lol. I love these boards but sometimes I really want to put my head through a wall. They don’t have to like it, but calm down . This is what TV and Hollywood in general always does. I think most Star Trek fans look at Star Trek as ‘above’ those other shows and see it differently because we look at it as more than a TV show at times.

But I really hate to break it to people, it’s still just a TV show like everything else and uses the same rules and gimmicks to keep that loyal audience loyal. People who want to see a character they love on a new show has happened on every show out there that is older than ten years old.

But I will say I think in the Berman era, because the TPTB mostly bucked this trend by having all the new shows with all new characters and not a spin off of Riker commanding Voyager has made people like Emily more appreciative of that time and wants to see that trend continue. I totally get that and love it too. And it HAS in some of the new shows, ie Discovery and Lower Decks both started off with completely new characters. Why this gets ignored over and over I don’t understand it. But when you have 5 shows on and nearly all of them exist in the same time frame as legacy characters do you shouldn’t be shocked to see legacy characters lol.

I can’t think of a single TV show with spin offs has not done the same thing in the last 50 years.

I’m actually a bigger Law and Order fan lol. But I been watching Star Trek way longer.

I also watch Chicago too and they have crossed over L&O characters multiple times too. Those are really fun. A big reason I love Organize Crime so much because they brought Elliott back. But I love all the new characters too. Olivia also shows up every season on there roo and she’s the main lead in SVU for over 20 years. These are iconic characters in that franchise so fans enjoy seeing them again. We also enjoy all the new characters too because unlike Star Trek L&O actually has a big turnover rate with their characters.

But it’s become a big franchise so many do come back and appear on other shows too like Elliot. He left SVU 15 years ago and now he’s back on a new show. No different then Picard and Seven when they finished TNG and VOY and now back in Picard.

I don’t understand how people can get so uptight about something that has been a fixture of TV for so long?

And she obviously missed my main point is that I want Legacy because it will feel like a grown up show again. If I only cared about old characters then I should really SNW since they have every old character showing up there too. I should be more excited about that since Kirk and Spock are literally my two favorite characters.

And yet I don’t really care about that show. That should give her a clue she has no idea what she’s talking about.

People like this wants to mouth off and have no clue what they are talking about. She completely avoided what I even said. People like that just seem to be bitter in real life when all they want to do is have useless arguments with everybody over a computer.

I will also agree though the old shows in the golden era went out their way for the main characters to be new. Obviously I like this idea very much since I made clear I like all those shows too.

But not sure where it stated every Star Trek show should only have new characters? This is certainly not a rule in TV. And If that was true hardly anything in Secret Hideout would even exist. But maybe explains why she’s so bitter outside of them being mostly bad shows too.

My advice stop watching those shows then.

Also I remembered how many of my TOS friends at the time thought the idea of making a Star Trek show with new characters was blasphemy. I didn’t understand it either. Gene was making a new show in a new century of course they would be new characters it was a new show.

I would’ve loved if he brought back all the old characters at the time. I still love them the most today. But even to me at the time it made sense to make new Star Trek for new fans. We were still getting TOS movies on top of it so what was the problem?

But many TOS fans were stuck in their ways. I can’t tell you how many of my own friends at the time refused to watch the show and predicted it would be cancelled after one season. Instead it ended up staying in TV twice longer than TOS did lol.

I didn’t think I would love TNG either. I had no problem it was a new show but it really sucked in the beginning. Today Discovery makes early TNG look like an Emmy nominee.

What I don’t understand is TNG started bad but it was the first new show, it was going to take time to figure it out. Discovery is the sixth show and it’s the worst one by far. And then Picard was just as bad. Kurtzman Trek is awful. They don’t seem to understand what makes good Star Trek IMO. SNW is better but still very mediocre with nonsense canon.

Very true. They’ve created some new memorable characters and shows nearly 60 years after TOS – that’s a friggin’ privilege for anyone who enjoys Star Trek and shouldn’t be taken for granted or discounted.

As for the use of legacy characters, time spent on them in the past pays dividends later, which can sometimes be fan service shortcuts but often returns have real dramatic purpose.

The more poignant episodes of most of these shows only come after we’ve gotten to know the characters properly, after the writers have found the little things that inspire them. TWOK works in great part because it’s a treatise on aging and legacy. It would lose so much poignance if we didn’t have 16 years’ worth of stories about these lived in characters we cared so much more about.

Very well said as well. And notice, no one was upset they were using Khan to be in a movie. Not quite the same reception with STID though lol.

But that’s also the point, it’s all fan service people, all of it because end of day, no matter how you justify including 30+ year old characters in new stories it’s ultimately being done because someone thinks fans would like to see them return. TWOK was obviously done in an organic way where it made sense for Kirk to confront his own past. So it worked. But Harve Bennett also said Khan just seem like a character people could revel in and why he wanted him. Also why it didn’t work in STID because none of those themes worked in that movie. Khan was just another guy Kirk had zero attachment to in a story that didn’t even need Khan in it and why it felt like lazy fan service but I digress.

But end of day people want to see old characters because they feel like they are part of their family, even the bad ones (in my family especially the bad ones lol). Some fans also know more about these characters than their actual families lol. That’s just a hard thing to turn away from especially when given the opportunity to see them again.

Frankly, I think this is one of the best posts posted here in a long while. Well put, Legacy.

Except that he’s baiting fans of shows he doesn’t like with very insulting comments on them. I don’t have a problem with that so long as he doesn’t then act all high and mighty about when others do it too — which is what he’s doing here with his laughable “oh I am so surprised people are doing this” fakey BS.

He obviously baits people and then fakes like he’s so surprised when they push back and pretends he’s better than that. Well he ain’t fooling me, and I would suggest you look at some of his other posts before commenting on how supposedly insightful this dude is.

Also agree per usual Danpaine!

I have to agree here, the writers of SNW have written Spock as a really annoying comic relief character, I can’t stand this version of spock. He is probably the worse character in the show. The best character by a mile for for me was the engineer in season 1 and he was killed off to be replaced with another sitcom character as the new engineer . Season 2 it is very hard to take SNW seriously with such poor writing which is a shame as season one had it’s really good moments when you take away that stupid Spock sit com episode.

Yes exactly. I was very excited about SNW when I heard it was coming. I was curious about how they would handle Pike and see various characters from TOS. I thought it was going to be a slow burn type of show and got to see real professionals like TOS and the challenges of being one of the few starships heading into the unknown on a 5 year journey.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. It started out OK but immediately they turned everyone into a comic relief and forced jokes everywhere like a CW show. And Spock, one of my favorite characters of all time and had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Nimoy twice, has been ruined turning this Spock into a constant punchline and silly situations like switching bodies with T’Pring or turning him into a bratty teenager in another episode, someone who is nearly 40 years old.

And don’t get me started with the sitcom romance with Chapel. It’s like they are on a teen beat show. How they set up the Spock and Christine dynamic in TOS was thoughtful and realistic. Someone who has feelings for someone who chose not to feel. I know that Chapel today would be problematic for many but they made them act like immature children with freshman crushes. And why does everyone talk like they are still in college? They act like they are living in a dormatory and not on a starship.

It’s embarrassing.

I think Ethan Peck actually does a good job playing Spock but the material they given him so far is beneath the character.

I did like Hemmer though…and then they killed him off for another comedic character and no depth either.

I understand SNW’s lighter angle bother some people and I think others wanted it to be a more serious show in the vein (or is it vain??) of TOS/TNG/DS9. I think why it’s more light is probably due to it being an over correction of the reaction fans had to darker/cynical stuff we got in DIS and then Picard earlier seasons.

There was so much complaining these shows were trying to be too edgy and dark for edgy and dark’s sake (I mean in DiS they wouldn’t stop eating people and in PIC they literally tortured Icheb on screen). They just took it to over the top. And I think when people saw how much they loved Pike and his ;aw shucks, I like telling dad jokes very friendly cool dad persona’ won over people so quickly, then that basically became what SNW became as a show when they developed it.

Again, you would never know both DIS and SNW were made by the same people. They are just so night and day of each other, especialy their first seasons. But while DIS kind of wallowed in the muck and darkness where you feel almost depressed when an episode was done, SNW was designed to put a smile on your face and remember that Trek can actually just be fun again.

But believe me, if Bryan Fuller decided to make a Pike show than Discovery back in 2016, it would be much more serious and adult like DIS started out as. I don’t think we would have this version of Pike either but close to The Cage.

And I will agree, they probably took it a little too far in some places, especially in season two. I think season one had a better balance between uplifting and silly episodes with a few edgier stuff but still more tame where people didn’t just question what did they watch? But season 2 it just felt a little too light at times. And yes I also hated the Spock and Chapel thing. It came off a little more mature in season one and then it just turned into 90210 in season two.

Hopefully season 3 will have a better balance and less goofy things although they may go even bigger with it. I guess we won’t know until we know what the episodes are.

Also agree about Hemmer. I actually like Pelia but I still wish Hemmer stayed.

Hemmer was by far the most interesting character on SNW and then they kill him off, why ffs? then they bring in basically Latka’s wife for more comic relief. The series it so disjointed to me, we have a Disney musical followed by a poor gorn episode finale that was just awful, just to show us the series can be dark again and a bit more serious. I was actually looking forward to episodic Star Trek again but SNW was just throwing in gimmick episodes desperately trying to be original in season 2. It needs to drop the soap opera romances and get back to good science fiction original stories, but very doubtful with the awful writers they have. 2 or 3 half decent episodes out of 10 and the fans are waxing lyrical about how great season 2 was and that really doesn’t bode well for season 3. I own every single live action Star Trek series on physical media, SNW season 2 is the first time I decided to give a season a miss and I have season 1 on UHD Blu Ray.

Oh and I tried to watch that musical episode. I turned it off halfway through. And then they turned them into cartoons in that Lower Decks episode??? That episode wasn’t too bad actually but just more unnecessary comedy.

I don’t even want to imagine what silly gimmicks they have for next season. They will probably turn them all into Muppets or something.

Well if Q shows up next season then anything is possible. ;D

So you don’t like any of the new characters on any of the new shows. I think it’s fair to say you just want legacy characters, old nostalgia-enfused characters.

Emily who is YOUR favorite characters??? Because someone who spend so much time telling other people off who has the gall to really like Pike or Riker, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a post of yours actually discuss your favorite new characters at all. Maybe I just miss all those posts but all you mostly do here is just whine about other members and most of the shows. So here is something new for you, spend three lines discussing which new characters you actually like.

Do you just copy and paste your comments? You have posted this same comment several times. So I will repeat my answer again… Yes. A resounding, yes.

You act like plot is more important than character and that characters and plot have no bearing on each other.

I’m in the camp a show will eventually happen, but yes emphasis on ‘eventually’. ;)

In fact, I agree with Michelle Hurd’s thinking they just have to let the new stuff come first like SFA or Section 31. Once those arrive and the studio eventually says ‘OK, what’s next’ then that will be the time for Legacy to happen. Again, I ALWAYS have to stress this, it isn’t a guarantee obviously, but it is the most obvious one to get made the same way SNW was.

That’s why people just have to have patience. Paramount obviously saw the immense reception season 3 got, the problem was there was never any intention to make more once Stewart said he was done and they just moved on to other ideas. Everyone who keeps saying Legacy is just an idea is 100% correct. Guess what, every movie or show is just an idea until someone approves it lol. Hopefully it will happen.

And that’s why Terry was so smart in what he did. He could’ve just let the last episode completely tie up Picard’s story and go no farther with it, ie, what they did with Nemesis. Instead he set something up that got fans excited about the possibilities and here we are all talking about it nearly a year later.

I really want to see this happen because I just want more 25th century stories and I think they can introduce even more new characters while keeping some of the older ones while building on new mythologies for this era and expanding older ones. The possibilities are endless.

I suspect after Section 31, they’ll say “what’s the next paramount plus movie?” and they’ll think about the Legacy talk, how they hype is already there, and how it would make a good 60th anniversary special. Matalas may be there, he may not be there. Depends what he’s up to at the time.

In some ways I think he’s not doing himself any favors by calling it Legacy. Just say you want to do a show that picks up with Seven where you left off and be done with it. Anything fan pleasing that comes along with that is gravy.

Yeah great point. And he said in that interview he would be down to do a movie if they suggested that as the next thing as well.

But that’s why it’s really bizarre (and short sighted) for people to keep saying move on. No one knows what is coming next and I’m pretty sure that includes Paramount themselves. If they said they simply don’t want to do it and/or say they have other projects to keep them going for another decade, that would be one thing. In this case, they are simply in a holding pattern until they have to decide what’s next. And that will probably come in the next 1-2 years, especially if one of their current shows gets cancelled.

Has Paramount released what they plan to do with the franchise after SFA airs? No, well then now you know why it’s important to keep pushing for the show then because maybe that will convince them that should be the next thing to do next, riiiiight? I know, logic works differently online but yeah.

Maybe it will be Legacy or maybe it will be something else but it would probably be on the table at least considering how much fans want it (and keep saying so). It still may come down to money or other issues in the end but I have a feeling they will figure something out if they really want to do it in the end, even if that means getting other streamers involved to help finance, ie, what they partly did with Discovery and Netflix.

So now Matalas wants to bring in legacy character #458 Alexander. Does this guy have any original ideas, ever?

Lol, Great point Emily

I actually rather like Alexander, and I’d be down for an Alexander story. But there are no actual Alexander stories, only “Worf Is A Terrible Father Take #Infinity” stories. That point has been made and driven into the ground, and I don’t have a desire to revisit it.

Alexander is one of the most Trekkian characters there is. Caught between two worlds, trying to find the balance. Raised by an emotionally distant single parent. There’s material to be mined there.

Or… here’s a wacky concept… TELL NEW STORIES WITH NEW CHARACTERS.

Of course not. He has no talent.

I’d actually like to know what happened to Alexander. I know you cannot stand anything that came before beacuse you want some generic characters in a generic sci-fi show… but the fans do want to know what happened to these characters, where they are, what they went through.

“ you want some generic characters ”

No, I want new characters. But thank you for proving my point that that’s what all this nostalgia pandering and fan service has done, turned fans off the idea of new characters.

New characters yes, but they are obsessed with prequal shows Star Trek has to be Kirk era and before for some reason. Since Voyager finished we have had 3 prequel series and 3 prequal reboot movies, it’s getting a bit stale. As much as you dislike Picard at least wasn’t another friggin Star Trek prequal.

Unless they can rehab Alex like DS9 did with Ferengi, this is one of the lousiest ideas ever. I’m not even much of a fan of Klingons to start with, outside of TNG’s MATTER OF HONOR and John Ford’s novel THE FINAL REFLECTION.

This guy will just regurgitate old TNG episodes.

It could be argued SNW is already doing that with regard to TOS episodes. For instance, the inferior remake of Balance of Terror. Interesting, but inferior, imo.

Dude you are just giving A34 more ammo lol. He hates SNW too because it took the spotlight off his precious Discovery. That’s the show people should be loving and praising. Yeah, good luck with that lol.

Same reason he’s so bitter over the Legacy show.

And I liked that episode but yeah agreed. And just more proof all these shows rely on fan service and call backs, SNW being the biggest culprit.

I don’t hate SNW. I just dislike nostalgia fan service. Hate is a strong word Tiger. We have too much hate in the world as it is. Don’t add to it Tiger. Be Better.

I know. Just thought I’d give normal discourse a shot. :)

Yeah, good luck with that lol. Appreciate the effort though.

Picard season 3’s stories didn’t really remind me of TNG episodes though, beyond “Conspiracy.”

That’s probably because TNG episodes were well written. I can barely remember anything of the plot of Picard S3. I just remember Shelby, and Tuvok, and Moriarty, and Ro, and the Borg Queen, and Lore, and the Enterprise-F and the Enterprise-G, etc etc.

Thank you Terry for that amazing season. It’s the only season of modern trek I have watched more than once. I’ve definitely watched it 10+ times….

For me, modern day trek is in the 25th century. I hope live action trek returns to that era someday.

It’s the only show I really care about too in the Kurtzman era. Don’t care about the others much.

I want to see Trek keep going forward. Prequels only make things messy like Discovery and SNW.

Not if the writing is as unoriginal as it was in Picard S3

Bet you love Strange New Worlds 🤭

• The Inventory

Star Trek: Legacy

Wednesday's Best Deals...

Jump to:  Tech | Gaming | Home | Lifestyle | Media

Discover Games

This game spans the history of Star Trek, following the challenges facing the Starfleet as an Admiral of a task force of warships. Gameplay campaigns play out in all of the Star Trek eras (from the founding days of Enterprise to the adventures of classic Star Trek to the bold unknown of The Next Generation, as well as the trials and tribulations facing Deep Space Nine and Voyager), as the Federation faces an entirely new enemy that has the power to travel through time. With full multiplayer support, players can choose from small-scale engagements to all-out war involving multiple star systems in addition to tracking stats and player rankings.

Advertisement

10 Reasons To Greenlight Star Trek: Legacy NOW

The Star Trek show the fans want but the Star Trek show that hasn't been announced.

As part of the Worst Moments of 2023 , the fact that Star Trek: Legacy (as fans are calling it) has received no traction has become increasingly frustrating.

Suggested by fans as a sequel series to The Next Generation and Picard , the thought is that this would feature the crew of the Titan -A/ Enterprise -G boldly going and perhaps dealing with the trial of Humanity.

But as of January 2024 there is still no news. As a note, it is a series that fans want to see after the finale of Picard and the news around it is more about the conjecture of what it could be than solid facts and figures.

That being said, now is the perfect time for this next stage in the story of the Star Trek Universe because there is so, so much set on the board like a galactic TV production three-dimensional chess set.

Previously on Star Trek the demand absolutely made a difference in a Kirk-style, leading to the arrival of Strange New Worlds and in part the saving of Prodigy albeit on Netflix. Yet Paramount remains oddly silent which may be in part to their challenges with their streaming platform and also recent news of discussed merger with Warner Bros. Yet there are a slew of reasons why right here and right now is the time to make Legacy the next Star Trek series.

10. Centre Seat

The journey of Seven of Nine from child of inquisitive scientists to captain of the Federation flagship is nothing if not monumental. It also rivals as one of the largest character arcs in Star Trek history, alongside that of DS9 's Nog and, perhaps, Worf.

The chance to continue her story while the iron is proverbially hot has to be a huge temptation and with good reason. Seven's own personal legacy has been in progress since Voyager 's fourth season premiere, Scorpion, Part II in 1997, and is still in motion some 26 years later. Her reintroduction during Picard' s first season saw the character disillusioned while season two had Seven searching for a purpose before settling into Starfleet aboard the USS Titan -A for season three.

Fast-tracked, the Enterprise -G is her first command and the dynamic on the bridge is certainly one that is well worth exploring. Having your ex as your first officer and the son of one of Starfleet's most revered CO's sitting on your other hand is probably a harder challenge than taking on the whole Borg fleet.

The relationships and lore of the character beg to be pushed that little further. Fans would be eager to see Seven in the centre seat especially where all the parts are pretty much waiting to be taken hold of and utilised.

A Star Trek fan from birth, I love to dive into every aspect of the franchise in front and behind the screen. There's something here that's kept me interested for the best part of four decades! Now I'm getting back into writing and using Star Trek as my first line of literary attack. If I'm not here on WhatCulture then you're more than welcome to come and take a look at my blog, Some Kind of Star Trek at http://SKoST.co.uk or maybe follow me on Twitter as @TheWarpCore. Sometimes I force myself not to talk about Star Trek.

Alex Kurtzman says he'd greenlight Star Trek: Legacy if it was "all on him"

Star Trek: Legacy is not an official series in the franchise, but that's not for lack of trying on part of the fans. Named Legacy by Star Trek: Picard's showrunner, Terry Matalas, the series would follow Captain Seven of Nine, who took command of the new Enterprise, at the end of Picard, and her crew into new adventures...at least, that's what we're hoping for anyway. Well, that, and a few familiar faces from Star Trek: The Next Generation showing up as well. But right now, the series isn't even close to being on Paramount's schedule as far as we know, but the future of the potential series isn't hopeless, either.

According to Alex Kurtzman, in an interview with Den of Geek , he'd give the series a go if he could, but the decision isn't his. In fact, he calls it "beyond my paygrade."

“If I had a magic button, a magic ‘greenlight button,’ for Star Trek: Legacy, and it was all on me, I’d push that button today. Right now, it’s beyond my paygrade.”Alex Kurtzman

Knowing Kurtzman wants the series is a big plus for those of us who want Legacy more than any other Star Trek series at the present. As he's made it clear, though, the decision isn't his. Yes, the fans are being heard, but ultimately, whether or not Legacy moves forward, probably isn't up to anyone we know by name.

Star Trek: Legacy could be a great show. The potential for stories is endless, and, of course, all the characters we love would be aboard, but it looks like it's going to remain a hope for a while longer. But at least we do have that hope. Though Kurtzman doesn't have the control to greenlight the series, he is behind it, and that is definitely one in the win column for the fans!

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as Alex Kurtzman says he'd greenlight Star Trek: Legacy if it was "all on him" .

Community | Events

Share Your Legacy – 5th Year Anniversary Community Event

By gabriel 17 October 2023

Commanders, Some of you may have already noticed the available Legacy Reel that showcases just how far you’ve come in your Star Trek Fleet Command journey. We’ve seen some of you sharing them, talking about key milestones you’ve hit and how you stack up against other Commanders in the galaxy. We enjoyed seeing these so much that we thought it would be great to have everyone share them with us and also have the opportunity to win some amazing prizes. Check out the info below on how to enter the Share Your Legacy community event. How to Enter

• First, head over to https://commanderslegacyreel.idomoo.com/lp/3/index.html
• Second, share your reel on the official Star Trek Fleet Command community and social channels
• On Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Tik-Tok share in a public post with the hashtag #stfclegacy
• On Discord, head to the #Share-your-legacy channel and drop it there!
• Once posted, you’re officially entered into the event!
• Each social/community platform you submit your Legacy Reel on will count as an additional vote!
• The grand prize will win a sit down meeting with the STFC art team and work on a custom avatar that will live inside of Star Trek Fleet Command
• 9 Winners – All Swag Items (VIP Box, 3D printed ship, hoodie, shirt, pin, and sticker)
• 10 Winners – Ship, VIP Box, and Pin
• 10 Winners – Shirt, Hoodie, and Sticker
• Players must have a Scopely Account to be eligible for this contest
• No purchase is required
• For the grand prize, players must be located in the United States
• For all prizes, players can be located in any area where a contest like this is allowed
• Players may submit on multiple social and community platforms if they wish but are not allowed to submit under multiple accounts in an attempt to win multiple prizes
• A player is only able to win one time
• Anyone found to be using multiple accounts in an attempt to win multiple prizes will be disqualified and barred from all future Star Trek Fleet Command community events
• For official rules check them out here

DON’t miss THESE from AROUND THE GALAXY

Update 62 - Patch Notes Enterprise pt.1

Update 58: Lower Decks II Part 1

Update 57: Voyager Pt. 4

Update 56.1 - patch notes, take the conn, download star trek fleet command today.

- AVAILABLE FOR -

STAY INFORMED AND DON’T LOSE YOUR PROGRESS!

Subscribe for exclusive updates on our launches & more! Sync your progress across platforms and devices

Why ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Built Season 5 Around a Classic Episode From a Legacy Series

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

• Why ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Built Season 5 Around a Classic Episode From a Legacy Series 3 days ago
• ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Star Sonequa Martin-Green on the Show’s Unexpected Final Season, the ‘Pressure’ of Representation and Taking the ‘Trek’ Cruise 4 days ago
• Jerrod Carmichael Was Terrified of Being Seen, So He Made a Reality Show: ‘This May Be Unhealthy. It Is a Little Dangerous’ 1 week ago

SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in Season 5, Episode 1 of “ Star Trek : Discovery,” now streaming on Paramount+.

By the end of the episode, however, the mission has pushed Burnham and her crew to their limits, including slamming the USS Discovery into the path of a massive landslide threatening a nearby city. Before they risk their lives any further pursuing this object, Burnham demands that Kovich at least tell her why. (MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.)

Kovich’s explanation evokes the classic “ Star Trek: The Next Generation ” episode “The Chase” from 1993 in which Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) — along with teams of Romulans, Klingons and Cardassians — learn that all humanoid life in the galaxy was created by a single species that existed billions of years earlier, and seeded thousands of planets with the DNA to pass along their legacy. (Along with presenting a profound vision of the origins of life, the episode also provided an imaginative explanation for why almost all the aliens in “Star Trek” basically look like humans with different kinds of forehead ridges.)

Kovich tells Burnham that the Romulan scientist was part of a team sent to discover exactly how these aliens — whom they call the Progenitors — made this happen; the object they’re seeking winds up being one part of a brand new “chase,” this time in the 32nd century, to find the Progenitors’ technology before it can fall into the wrong hands. 

“I remember watching that episode and at the end of it just being blown away that there was this huge idea where we all come from,” Paradise says. “And then they’re going to have another mission the next week. I found myself wondering, ‘Well, then what? What happened? What do we do with this information? What does it mean?’”

Originally, Paradise says the “Discovery” writers’ room discussed evoking the Progenitors in Season 4, when the Discovery meets an alien species, the 10-C, who live outside of the galaxy and are as radically different from humans as one could imagine. “As we dug deeper into the season itself, we realized that it was too much to try and get in,” Paradise says.

Instead, they made the Progenitors the engine for Season 5. “Burnham and some of our other characters are on this quest for personal meaning,” Paradise says. Searching for the origins of life itself, she adds, “feels like a big thematic idea that fits right in with what we’re exploring over the course of the season, and what our characters are going through.”

That meant that Paradise finally got to help come up with the answers to the questions about “The Chase” that had preoccupied her when she was younger. “We had a lot of fun talking about what might’ve happened when [Picard] called back to headquarters and had to say, ‘Here’s what happened today,’” she says. “We just built the story out from there.”

More From Our Brands

2024 cmt music awards: the complete winners list, one of natural wine’s biggest advocates isn’t into natural wine anymore—here’s why, ncaa targets units for women’s basketball tournament in 2024-25, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, those about to die: peacock’s roman epic starring anthony hopkins gets release date — plus, watch a teaser, verify it's you, please log in.

Filed under:

Star Trek: Discovery is cracking open a box Next Gen closed on purpose

The USS Discovery is on a mad chase across the galaxy for one of Star Trek’s biggest secrets

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: Star Trek: Discovery is cracking open a box Next Gen closed on purpose

Calling back to a single 30-year-old episode of television is a time-honored Star Trek tradition , one that’s led the franchise to some of its most fascinating detours. And in its two-episode season premiere, Star Trek: Discovery seems to be kicking off an entire season calling back to one particular episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

And not just any episode! The 1993 installment of Next Gen in question delivered a revelation so seemingly earth-shaking that it should have rewritten galactic politics on a massive scale. But then, as was the way in the 1990s era of episodic TV, nobody ever mentioned it again.

At least until now.

[ Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.]

Writer Michelle Paradise and director Olatunde Osunsanmi lay out the connection at the end of the first of two episodes released this week, “Red Directive.” Discovery’s mission is to follow a series of ancient clues leading to a cache of ancient technology, and to get there before a couple of professional thieves, Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), do.

The technology, as Doctor Kovich (David Cronenberg) explains, belongs to the so-called Progenitors, a barely understood ancient spacefaring species that “created life as we know it […] every humanoid species in the galaxy.” Presumably such tech holds the key to understanding how the Progenitors did that, and how that power could be used again.

The Progenitors are from the Star Trek episode “The Chase”

Kovich also calls up a helpful video presentation of the moment the Progenitors were discovered by an assembled group of Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and Cardassian captains, including Jean-Luc Picard. But you don’t have to be a Star Trek lore nerd to know you’re actually just looking at clips from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Specifically, from the 20th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s sixth season, “The Chase,” in which Picard and crew discover pieces of a computer program hidden inside the DNA of species from dozens of different planets. Questions abound: What does the program do? And what kind of entity could have been so ancient and powerful that it had determined the genetic legacy of most of the known galaxy before sentient life had even evolved here — and then left no trace of its existence except the genetic codes themselves?

In a nutshell, the mysterious death of Captain Picard’s old archeology professor (did you know that if he hadn’t gone into Starfleet, Jean-Luc was studying to be a space archeologist? Well, now you do) sets the captain and the Enterprise on a search for the missing DNA fragments necessary to complete his unfinished work.

The action of the episode becomes a grand chase, as Klingon and Cardassian captains come to believe the program must be a great weapon or dangerous secret. Eventually Picard and his rivals all discover the lonely planet with the final DNA strain — and when they get there, some Romulans who’ve been secretly following all of them show up, too, just to make things even more tense.

In the end, the program isn’t a weapon or a secret, but a message from an ancient race of humanoids that apparently created sentient life in our galaxy as we know it.

Actor Salome Jens appears as a Progenitor hologram, and delivers a speech that’s stirring by any standard of Star Trek monologues, telling the story of a race of sentients that took to the stars and found them empty. They had evolved too early to meet other forms of sentient life, and knew that their time was too limited to ever expect to.

“We knew that one day we would be gone; that nothing of us would survive, so we left you,” Jens’ Progenitor explains. The Progenitors seeded humanoid life across the galaxy in their own image; life that tended to evolve into bipedal, tailless, largely hairless creatures with two eyes and two arms and five fingers on each hand. And they left clues in the genetic signature of their work, broken up among the stars.

Wait, was this really all about lampshading the limits of Star Trek’s alien design?

Kinda, yes! The writers of “The Chase,” Ron Moore and Joe Menosky, were inspired by elements of Carl Sagan’s Contact , but also by Menosky’s pet fascination creating an in-universe explanation for why all the common alien species in Star Trek are basically shaped like humans (albeit with latex on their faces).

In other hands, it would be hokey and trite, but even under heavy makeup, Jens sells the hell out of her single scene on voice and stance alone — it’s no wonder she was asked back to the Trek fold to play a major antagonist role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

“It was our hope that you would have to come together in fellowship and companionship to hear this message, and if you can see and hear me, our hope has been fulfilled,” the Progenitor hologram concludes, with gentle compassion. “You are a monument, not to our greatness, but to our existence. That was our wish: That you, too, would know life. [...] There is something of us in each of you, and so something of you in each other.”

But though “The Chase” carried a sweeping revelation, nothing ever really panned out from it. You’d think that a message of togetherness that fundamentally rewrote the origin of life in the universe would have to have tweaked Star Trek’s galactic politics a bit, right? Seems like this would give the Star Trek setting a radically different understanding of the origins of life than we have in the real world — this is literally intelligent design! At the very least there’d be some other characters talking about how humans and Vulcans, Klingons and Romulans and Ferengi and Cardassians and Trill and Bajorans, all share the same genetic ancestor.

But nope: The Pandora’s box of Progenitor lore remained closed. Gene Roddenberry’s successor and Trek producer Rick Berman seems to have been disenchanted with the episode’s reveal — and you can’t really blame him for not wanting to rock the whole cosmology of Star Trek in an episode that’s mostly about explaining how if you turn the DNA snippets like this they make a cool spiral. Now look at this computer screen with the spiral :

Except now, Star Trek: Discovery is opening the box and rocking the boat. This new mad, puzzle-box chase around the galaxy promises to expand on the Progenitors, an idea so big that not even The Next Generation was willing to touch it. It’s a tall order, but Discovery has never been more free to shake up Star Trek continuity than it is right now — we’ll have to wait for more episodes of the show’s final season to find out how free it intends to be.

Star Trek: Discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants

The 10 horniest episodes of star trek, ranked by cultural impact, the picard legacy collection puts one of the greatest remasters of all time in sprawling context, loading comments....

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Apr 5, 2024

RECAP | Star Trek: Discovery 501 - 'Red Directive'

There's never a dull moment for the U.S.S. Discovery!

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains story details and plot points for Star Trek: Discovery.

StarTrek.com

The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery opens with " Red Directive, " where Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery are sent to retrieve a mysterious artifact hidden inside a 800-year-old Romulan vessel – but find that they’re not the only ones on the hunt. Meanwhile, Saru is offered the position of a lifetime.

• Michael Burnham
• Hugh Culber
• Paul Stamets
• Sylvia Tilly
• Laira Rillak
• Charles Vance
• Christopher
• Joann Owosekun
• Keyla Detmer
• Cleveland "Book" Booker

• Federation Headquarters
• U.S.S. Discovery -A
• U.S.S. Antares

As a vessel traverses the stars at high warp, Captain Michael Burnham experiences exhilaration as she clings to its hull in her environmental suit. The captain quips that there’s "never a dull moment" and proceeds to use her phaser in a bid to knock out the starship's engines. Burnham notes that they need to retrieve an item taken from a vault over the comm channel. As her suit advises her that warp bubble stability is declining rapidly, the captain remarks that this is not what she expected to happen when the night started…

"Red Directive"

Four hours earlier, Burnham joyfully converses with Ensign Adira Tal, Lt. Sylvia Tilly, Commander Paul Stamets, and Dr. Hugh Culber at Federation Headquarters, where Cadet Ross introduces them to Tonic 2161 — the official cocktail of the millennium celebration. Though the Federation was founded in 2161, the Burn prevented any widespread festivities when the holiday actually occurred decades before in 3161. Paired with a blue liquid, the beverage’s "floaty bits" — which taste like Bajoran jumja sticks — honor the Federation flag and its starry features.

The captain offers a smile, stating that it’s good to see that the Federation is back and at peace. Stamets nevertheless comes off as melancholic, and Culber discloses that the astromycologist just found out that Starfleet is shuttering the spore drive program. Paul expresses trepidation over his new title of "Scientific Luminary," adding that the Federation’s new Pathway Drive "won out" as the propulsion system of the future. Adira chimes in, remarking that this means the U.S.S. Discovery -A will always be one-of-a-kind, but Stamets replies with skepticism, believing his legacy was destroyed along with Cleveland "Book" Booker’s ship.

Certain he would have figured out the spore drive's navigator problem one day, the scientist emphasizes the potential for rolling out the technology to the whole fleet. His friends exchange concerned glances, but Captain Burnham then assures him that they will all find a new purpose and raises a glass in a toast to change. An aide informs Burnham that her presence has been requested by Federation President Laira Rillak, leaving Stamets to chastise himself for mentioning Book as the captain departs. While Tilly assures him that Burnham has not even talked about Book in months, Culber applies his psychiatric expertise and highlights the significant difference between locking something away and moving on. Tilly notices a fellow officer and goes to visit him, and the rest of the group disperses to "mingle."

On the dance floor, Captain Saru chats softly with Ni'Var's President T'Rina, who recognizes that the Kelpien has news and playfully wonders if she'll be "forced" to mind meld with him in order to learn what has transpired. President Rillak would like Saru to serve as a Federation Ambassador to a coalition of smaller worlds, ensuring that their needs are addressed as the Federation continues to expand. T'Rina appreciates the government’s effort to avoid repeating its past mistakes and observes that the planets’ locations could leave them open to influences from the Tholian Republic or the Breen Imperium.

Saru cites the Federation's need to remain unified, but the post would require that he resign his Starfleet commission. However, as an ambassador, he would be based at Federation HQ, in close proximity to T'Rina and her own duties. Ni'Var's president interrupts her dance partner, stating that — despite their deep love for one another — it is only logical that their relationship not factor into Saru's decision, an observation which seems to unsettle the Kelpien.

Across the room, Admiral Charles Vance approaches Captain Burnham and hands her an infinity-shaped device. The two retreat to a secure location — a featureless, all-white area known as the Infinity Room — and rendezvous with Dr. Kovich, who acknowledges the facility’s over-the-top theatricality. Turning to Burnham, Vance explains that an 800-year old science vessel was just found at the edge of the Beta Quadrant. Discovery needs to jump there immediately, but Kovich will only say that the ship contains "something vital to the security of the Federation." Burnham begins to object, but Kovich silences any disagreement when he reveals that the mission is a Red Directive.

Saru beams into Discovery 's Bridge and receives status reports from Lt. Christopher, Lt. Linus, Lt. Commander Joann Owosekun, Lt. Naya, Lt. Commander Gen Rhys, and Lt. Commander Keyla Detmer. Burnham and Kovich transport aboard and share that the crew will be going on a Red Directive classified mission. Their target? A 24th Century Romulan science vessel that will most certainly attract the attention of scavengers and other nefarious characters. A second Starfleet ship is already en route, but Discovery will arrive first — or so they believe…

Across the quadrant, two helmeted figures pillage the derelict Romulan starship, ultimately removing their protective gear and taking in the ship’s breathable atmosphere. The female — Moll — comments that the U.S.S. Antares is on its way, and her male cohort L’ak sees a second Starfleet ship on their scanners. L’ak believes this means that the Romulan cargo must be "extra shiny," but he suggests they call it a day and enjoy a holodeck for two. Moll asks if L’ak wants "the pebbles or the mountain," convincing her partner to stay the course.

Discovery enters scanning range, and Owosekun detects two lifeforms on the Romulan ship — at least until their lifesigns suddenly vanish. Burnham gathers Owosekun and Rhys for the away team, but Kovich offers some disturbing insight — setting weapons to stun might not be enough, so they are authorized to use lethal force. Shock covers Burnham's face, and Kovich orders her to successfully complete the mission by any means necessary.

The three Starfleet officers beam over to the Romulan vessel's darkened corridors with phasers drawn and begin searching for the trespassers. Aerosolized water droplets notify them that the intruders had not been gone long, and Burnham advises Rhys and Owosekun to keep their phasers on stun. The trio continue on and locate an 800-year old Romulan corpse and an uncloaked — and empty — vault. Realizing the scavengers must be close, the Starfleet officers spin around and open fire. Moll and L'ak materialize in front of them, managing to capture Rhys and Owosekun in containment fields and making their escape.

Captain Burnham pursues, converting her weapon into a phaser rifle and exchanging volleys with her opponents. Moll and L'ak step forward, holding the prize they acquired from the vault and tossing an explosive charge toward the captain. As the intruders beam away, Burnham is tossed through an opening and into space. Fortunately, her programmable matter EV suit automatically activates, and the captain jets toward the outline of Moll and L'ak's ship. Burnham magnetizes her suit as the craft enters warp.

As Burnham works to sabotage the engines, the U.S.S. Antares follows and grabs the ship with a tractor beam. Captain Rayner signals Burnham, who notices the warp bubble has started to collapse and urges the U.S.S. Antares to release its hold on the fleeing vessel. Operating on Burn-era tech and lacking a state-of-the-art Pathway Drive, Rayner knows the Antares can’t pull the enemy craft out of warp. Having previously encountered Moll and L'ak, Rayner is hesitant to let them elude him

Checking in from Discovery 's center seat, Saru informs Burnham — who doesn’t want to miss her upcoming saxophone lesson — that Owosekun and Rhys are being treated in Sickbay. Detmer pilots the Crossfield -class vessel into position and Lt. Gallo prepares to transport the captain to safety. The ride is bumpy, but Kovich resolves to remain on the Bridge until the mission is completed. Burnham repeats her warning to Rayner, advising that the breakup of Moll's ship would also destroy the Antares . Believing that every mission is personal, Rayner pushes back on Burnham's own record, but he eventually concedes.

The three starships, as well as Captain Burnham, drop out of warp. The intruders' vessel spouts numerous probes, and they all leap to warp on different courses. Burnham is beamed right to Discovery 's Bridge, barely able to catch her breath before Rayner's hologram appears to discuss what he describes as the "cherry that they just dropped on our shit sundae." Appearing with a stern face and pointed ears, Rayner states that the probes left behind 20 warp signatures, meaning it will take days to determine which course Moll and L'ak actually took. Kovich voices his displeasure, but Burnham admits she knows someone who can help them find the thieves.

Discovery jumps to a ringed planet, and its captain nervously strolls into the shuttlebay to greet Cleveland "Book" Booker, who beams in and requests permission to come aboard. The somewhat awkward reunion shifts into Discovery 's corridors, where Burnham announces her suspicion that Moll and L'ak used to be couriers. The Federation is expanding and most of the old networks are closed, but Burnham hopes Book's experience, expertise, and insight can assist them in determining the correct warp signature. The two acknowledge that it has been a while since they spoke, and Burnham commends him for the work he has done with the refugees who were affected by the Dark Matter Anomaly. Book is eager to "make things right" in the wake of stealing the experimental spore drive for his own ship.

Burnham and Book confer with Saru, Kovich, Vance, and Rayner in the Ready Room, where the Antares ' captain briefs them on what is known about Moll — a human — and L'ak, a member of an unknown species. The duo, who showed up in the sector approximately two years ago, procured a tan zhekran — a traditional Romulan puzzle box — from the science ship. Kovich claims he is not at liberty to share details about the item and shifts the conversation to Book's detective skills. Factoring in the need to avoid Federation territory and the few fencers who would have interest in a 24th Century haul, Book determines that Moll and L'ak are headed to meet with a broker named Fred — just "Fred" — on Q’Mau. Vance orders Burnham and Rayner to investigate, insisting that they try working together.

The officers begin to walk out, but Saru stays behind to speak with Captain Burnham in private. Noting that a tan zhekran can contain almost anything, including a weapon or a pathogen, the captain is concerned that Kovich won't even tell her the name of the Romulan scientist who owned it. Saru slyly suggests that someone outside of Discovery 's chain of command with access to different databases might be able to assist. Burnham responds with a joyous smile, her expression turning serious as she remembers Saru could soon be leaving for another post.

Back at Federation HQ, Lt. Tilly enters her quarters in the midst of an energetic chat with Lt. Jax. Lamenting over a cadet who refuses to leave the lab during the Academy's Simulation Week, Tilly outlines collaboration's importance to Starfleet's future and — very briefly — ponders whether she could crash every cadet onto an ice moon in order to teach them that lesson. Tilly attributes her talkativeness to the champagne served at the after party, and the two officers exchange flirtatious gazes.

Tilly and Jax — who both love walking and talking — share a clumsy goodbye that nevertheless elicits a smirk from the Academy instructor. Now alone, Tilly orders up a coffee from the replicator. The respite is short-lived, as an incoming communication from Captain Burnham provides another boost to Tilly's energy reserves. Theorizing that Tilly must have had some Andorian champagne, Burnham adopts her "serious voice" and asks Tilly for her help. Always available for her friends, Tilly gleefully responds, "Whatever it is, I’m in."

Discovery arrives at Q’Mau, where Burnham and Book beam down to a small settlement that is surrounded by a desert landscape and rocky outcroppings. Book remarks that it feels like their old courier days, and Burnham asks about Grudge — the Queen is great, she says, "Hi." They disagree about who should have made more of an effort to contact the other, but Rayner's arrival disperses the mounting tension.

Elsewhere in the marketplace, Moll and L'ak are scanned and welcomed into Fred's establishment. Fred, who has the distinctive appearance of a synthetic lifeform, maintains a friendly demeanor, though his guards supply the room with an air of hostility. Fred notices Moll and L'ak's "togetherness," spiritedly contrasting the bilabial nasal of "Moll" with the voiceless velar plosive of "L'ak." The thieves present Fred with their recent finds — isolinear coprocessors, vintage PADDS and tricorders, self-sealing stem bolts, and the mysterious puzzle box.

Intrigued, Fred mentions that he hasn’t encountered such an item in 622.7 years. He unlocks the box by shifting its features into a new configuration, revealing a handwritten diary. The android skims the text, happily offering Moll and L'ak three bars of latinum for the entire lot. The duo replies with a laugh, unsatisfied with the price. Fred refuses to return their items, prompting the pair to burst into hand-to-hand combat with his guards. Moll is struck by an energy blast from the synth’s weapon, and — though her wound is not fatal — L'ak launches into a violent frenzy that results in Fred’s demise.

Book, Burnham, and Rayner locate Fred's lair soon after and confiscate the synth's body so that Discovery can scan his memory. Rayner hurriedly sets off on his own, but Book and Burnham remain to plot their next move. As they realize that Moll and L'ak must have cloaked their ship outside the settlement, Dr. Culber observes Fred's corpse in Sickbay. The android is an old model — dozens of generations before the tech used for Gray’s body — marked with the serial number "AS0572Y." Stamets deduces that the "AS" was intended to honor Altan Soong*, marveling at the 24th Century scientist’s legacy. The astromycologist needs wires to interface with Fred's memory drive, quipping that — luckily — Culber had married a packrat.

Down on the planet's surface, Moll and L'ak speed by Rayner on sand runners — swift transports used by locals to navigate the terrain. Thanks to their patience and foresight, Burnham and Book had anticipated the chase and already rented three of the vehicles. Rayner isn't impressed by Burnham's "strategic advantages," leaving Discovery 's captain to tell Book that she hasn’t disliked someone this much in 930 years.

Meanwhile, at Federation HQ, two security officers burst into Tilly's quarters as the lieutenant prepares to break the shifting fractal encryption which safeguards a secure Federation database. Vance marches in and intervenes, who astonishingly agrees that Captain Burnham deserves to know why her crew is risking their lives for an 800-year old Romulan ship. The admiral says that it is a "shame" he didn't get to stop Tilly in time and allows her to unlock the file. A shaky holo-recording manifests, depicting Doctor Vellek* — the Romulan whose body they had found. The Romulan scientist warns that his knowledge of an ancient technology beyond all comprehension — hidden in the "shadow of twin moons" — must not be lost or fall into the wrong hands.

On Q’Mau, the Starfleet officers close in on Moll and L'ak, but Rayner ventures ahead once again. Book teases Burnham by claiming that Rayner reminds him of another captain he knows, but the situation intensifies once the thieves reach their starship. Moll and L'ak set course for a nearby mountain's tunnel system so as to avoid detection by Discovery and Antares , and sensors detect an explosive charge in one of the tunnel's entrances. Aware that their foes planned ahead to distract their pursuers with an avalanche. According to Saru, Zora estimates there to be a 30% chance that the disaster would decimate the settlement.

Captain Rayner proposes an unorthodox plan — detonate the charge themselves and block Moll and L'ak's escape route. Burnham disagrees, yet her counterpart insists that she is letting stats get in the way of strategy — though possible, an avalanche is unlikely. As Rayner orders Antares to lock phasers on target, Burnham contends that they are on a non-Federation planet and undertaking a classified mission, but Rayner follows through with his plan. Phaser beams strike down from orbit and seal the tunnel, yet Saru confirms that scans show the mountainside remains stable… at least until Moll and L'ak launch a photon torpedo that sends the rattled cliff into a freefall.

Burnham, Book, and Rayner flee from the rising debris cloud on their sand runners, but Zora announces that the avalanche is reaching speeds of 200 kilometers per hour — there is not enough time to evacuate the local encampment. In Engineering, Stamets and Adira run through several solutions, ultimately landing on the idea of combining Discovery and Antares ' shields to serve as a "brake" for the avalanche. Will it work? Stamets thinks — no, hopes — it will work, finally deciding, "Let’s go with 'hope.'"

Captain Saru starts to organize the maneuver, but Rayner does not want Antares to leave orbit and lose track of Moll and L'ak. Burnham emphasizes that the safety of the civilians in the avalanche's path is now their primary mission, and Rayner relents. Discovery and Antares burst through the atmosphere in a tight formation, fusing their shields together and burying their forward saucers into the planet's desert. The avalanche ripples against the energy barrier, but the starships triumphantly hold the line and inspire cheers from the settlement. The relief is lost on Rayner, who watches as Moll and L'ak escape to warp.

Rayner beams back to the Antares , giving Burnham and Book a moment to enjoy each other's company and confess that they both should have called one another. Still bruised from the ordeal, Burnham takes her admission a step further and reveals that she's not sure how to be around him anymore. Book considers the statement, countering that some things are hard to move past. The heart-to-heart is interrupted by a transmission from Tilly, who tells the captain that she has "wild" answers to her pressing questions.

The Discovery -A employs its spore drive to return to Federation Headquarters, where Captain Saru resolves to have his own private conversation with his partner. T'Rina expresses concern over rumors of Saru's eventful mission. The Kelpien reflects on the danger the civilians had faced and recalls something Tilly had once told him — "life is just a blink." Saru struggles to elaborate, aware that fear had constrained him from embracing love while dealing with the cullings of his youth.***

Had he been endangered by the avalanche, Saru would only have been able to think of T'Rina, therefore their relationship must be factored in as he considers his future. T'Rina is his home, his family, and so much more, and he intends to accept the ambassadorship to be alongside her — always. T’Rina welcomes the news, pleasantly surprising Saru when she proposes they "codify" their bond through marriage.

On Discovery , Captain Burnham enters Sickbay to get an update on Fred from Culber and Stamets. They downloaded the last 15 teraquads of data from his ocular processing unit, giving them an extended look at the pages of Vellek's diary. A handwritten diagram depicting the Vileen system's "twin moons" catches the captain's attention, sending her on a mission to meet Kovich on a holographic representation of a barren planetary surface. Kovich admires her tenacity but claims this Red Directive has been classified for centuries. His threat to pass the assignment to another team doesn't phase Burnham, who knows she holds the key to their target's location.

"The Chase"

Kovich lets out a sheepish grin, aware that Tilly and Vance played key parts in briefing the captain. He discontinues the holo, and — as the two stand in his office — he recounts the details. As one of the greatest scientists of his day, Dr. Vellek, was present when a Starfleet captain — Jean-Luc Picard — found a message left by a race of ancient beings — referred to as the "Progenitors" — who created every humanoid species in the galaxy.** Vellek discovered the technology that the Progenitors used to design life itself, but its location was lost when he disappeared 800 years ago.

Now, either Moll and L'ak know where this powerful find is or the diary is the first piece of the puzzle. Starfleet must track down this technology to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Burnham divulges that Lyrek, a planet situated in an outer sector of the Beta Quadrant within the Vileen system, has three moons — two of which move in perfect sync. Pleased, Kovich proclaims that the greatest treasure in the known galaxy is out there, lightheartedly asking the captain what she’s waiting for. Burnham flashes a smile and replies, "Let’s fly."

* " Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1 " — The dealer in Q'Mau, Fred, is a Soong-inspired synthetic possessed a memory drive that had a serial number with an attribution to Altan Soong. The self-described "mad scientist" is the son of Noonien Soong , the creator of Soong-type androids. Altan Soong would continue his work despite the Federation's ban on synths. His work (and Dr. Maddox's research), known as the Soong Method, on transferring sentience into an artificial golem body was what helped create Gray Tal's new synthetic body's design in "Anomaly."

** " The Chase " — This Star Trek: The Next Generation adventure was where Captain Jean-Luc Picard found himself in a race with the Cardassians, Klingons, and Romulans to solve a four billion year old genetic puzzle. The Romulan Dr. Vellek, one of the greatest scientists of his day, was among those present when Picard discovered a message left by a race of ancient beings known as Progenitors, who created life as we know it — every humanoid species in the galaxy.

*** " An Obol for Charon " — Following Saru's survival of Vahar'ai , he discovered that the maturation process didn't signal death. It was in fact a biological event in the Kelpien's evolution that removed their suppression of fear. Concerned with their own survival, the Ba'ul who lived on Kaminar with Kelpiens exploited their binary nature to oppress the later group.

• Written by Michelle Paradise
• Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi

"Red Directive" features a dedication:

For JP, with love.

Get Updates By Email

Jay Stobie (he/him) is a freelance writer, author, and consultant who has contributed articles to StarTrek.com, Star Trek Explorer, and Star Trek Magazine, as well as to Star Wars Insider and StarWars.com. Learn more about Jay by visiting JayStobie.com or finding him on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms at @StobiesGalaxy.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1 through 4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe. In Canada, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Star Trek: Discovery is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.