Star Trek crossovers

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Several characters within the Star Trek franchise, primary and secondary, often made crossover appearances between one live-action series and another. This included appearances of established characters on premiere episodes of new series, a few long-term transfers from one series to another, and even crossovers between Trek films and television. A few crossover appearances, such as that of Spock on The Next Generation and the time-travel of the crew of Deep Space Nine to the era of The Original Series were especially lauded by both fans and critics.

Appearances in series premieres

After the original series, a character from an earlier series appeared in the premiere episode of each new series. These were the appearances of Leonard McCoy in "Encounter at Farpoint", the first episode of The Next Generation; that of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in "Emissary", the first episode of Deep Space Nine; Quark and Morn in "Caretaker", the premiere of Voyager; and Zefram Cochrane (from the TOS episode "Metamorphosis" and the film Star Trek: First Contact) in "Broken Bow", the premiere of Enterprise.

Long-term transitions

Two long-term transitions were the transfer of Worf and Miles O'Brien from permanent characters on Next Generation to permanent characters on Deep Space Nine. Worf stayed on Next Generation until its conclusion, then transferred from the start of season 4 of DS9. Chief O'Brien had appeared in fifty episodes of Next Generation, but only gained opening credits billing on DS9, in which he appeared in almost every episode of all seven seasons. While not seen as often as Chief O'Brien, his wife Keiko O'Brien also transitioned as a series regular guest star from Next Generation to Deep Space Nine, bringing their daughter Molly. Miles O'Brien reprised his Next Generation role in that series' finale "All Good Things...".

Episodes and films focused on crossovers

An especially significant crossover is Spock's appearance on the two-part Next Generation episode "Unification". Spock meets Data and they exchange opinions on the relative value of logic and emotion, and share mutual impressions of Next Generation's Captain Picard (who for Spock is a model of logical behavior, and for Data is a model of what it means to be human). Critics such as Ina Rae Hark have noted this encounter between two non-human characters summarizes their contrasting attitudes to humanity, Data embodying Spock's ideal of pure logic, while Data aspires to be more human.[1]

Recycled footage from the original series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" is used extensively in Deep Space Nine's time-travel episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". In addition to extensive archival footage of cast from the original series, actor Charlie Brill (portraying Klingon spy Arne Darvin) appears in both new and archival footage. The episode was designed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the original series. Critic Matthew Kappell notes that the new episode simultaneously "parodies and valorizes" the original series, highlighting the discontinuities between two eras of Trek while trying simultaneously to weave them together.[2]

The film Star Trek Generations brought Kirk and Picard, Enterprise captains from different centuries, together to defeat a common enemy. It also marked the passing of the film franchise from the original series cast to that of The Next Generation.

Film to television crossover

In the Voyager episode "Flashback", events from the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country play a pivotal role, and are re-enacted with largely the same actors thus allowing George Takei to reprise his role as Hikaru Sulu. The episode contains the added revelation that the ship Voyager's Tuvok was on Sulu's ship Excelsior at the time. Critic Lincoln Geraghty cites this as an example of the Trek's ongoing propensity for reverential recognition of earlier versions of the series.[3]

An unpopular crossover

William Riker and Deanna Troi from The Next Generation appear in a flash-forward to the future in "These Are the Voyages...", the final episode of Enterprise. This episode was widely criticized by both cast members and fans for playing more like a Next Generation episode to the point of being an inappropriate wrap-up for the series.[4][5]

Characters more prominent on subsequent series

A few occasional recurring characters introduced in one series continued into other series, sometimes attaining more significant roles in their subsequent Trek series than in the one in which they were first introduced:

  • Spock's father Sarek appeared in only one episode of the original series, but became a more developed character in three movies and appeared in the Next Generation episode named after him and the first part of "Unification". Sarek's appearance in the former is described in The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion as "the first major unifying event tying together the old and new Trek eras since McCoy's cameo" in the original series.[6]
  • Recurring character Q, originally introduced in the premiere episode of Next Generation continued to appear in episodes of Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Teleplay writer Robert Wolfe found it difficult to incorporate Q into the DS9 universe as the character had been conceived so much as a foil for Captain Picard. He eventually decided to use Q to show personality differences between Picard and Sisko.[7] It was also difficult to decide how to introduce Q into Voyager, as it was necessary to explain why Q did not return the ship to Federation territory.[8]
  • Although appearing in only five episodes of The Next Generation and six episodes of Voyager, the character of Reginald Barclay became quite pivotal to the story-arc of the final season of Voyager, significantly contributing to the reestablishment of contact between the ship Voyager and the Federation.
  • Three Klingon characters from separate individual episodes of the original series, Kor, Koloth and Kang, all appear in the Deep Space Nine episode "Blood Oath", and Kor further appeared in DS9 episodes "The Sword of Kahless" and "Once More Unto the Breach". Crew members who worked on "Blood Oath" felt that a "special connection" was being made to the original series.[9] Kang made an additional cameo appearance on Voyager, verbally dueling with Captain Sulu in a brief scene of the episode "Flashback".
  • The two Ferengi, Arridor and Kol, were minor characters in the TNG episode "The Price" but were the principal antagonists in the VOY episode "False Profits".
  • The menacing race of the Borg appeared in four out of five of the Trek series The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, the only crossover character was the Borg Queen first introduced in the Next Generation feature film Star Trek: First Contact, then becoming a recurring character on Voyager appearing in two two-part episodes "Dark Frontier" and "Unimatrix Zero" and in the series finale "Endgame". These episodes form a narrative thread in which the Borg Queen is battling with Janeway in attempts to reassimilate Seven of Nine.[10] Only in the final Voyager episode is the Borg Queen played by the same actress who played her in the feature film Star Trek: First Contact, Alice Krige. The magazine Cinefantastique described Krige's appearance as the highlight of this episode.[11]

All crossovers

Character crossovers include:

The Original Series on The Next Generation
The Original Series on Voyager
The Next Generation on Deep Space Nine
The Next Generation on Voyager
The Next Generation on Enterprise
Deep Space Nine on The Next Generation
Voyager on Deep Space Nine
Deep Space Nine on Voyager
Voyager on The Next Generation
The Original Series on Deep Space Nine

There were also many actor crossovers, including:

The Original Series on The Next Generation

The Original Series on The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager:

The Next Generation on The Original Series
The Next Generation on Deep Space Nine
Voyager on Deep Space Nine
Voyager on The Next Generation

Intercompany crossovers

Star Trek has had a few intercompany crossover stories in comic books. These include:

Marvel Comics franchise, X-Men.

  • Star Trek/X-Men - A comic book based on TOS
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation/X-Men - A comic book based on TNG
  • Planet X - A sequel novel to the TNG comic book

DC Comics franchise, Legion of Superheroes.

  • Star Trek - Legion of the Superheroes

IDW Publishing, Doctor Who

  • Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2

Boom! Studios, Planet of the Apes

An upcoming crossover is:

DC Comics franchise, Green Lantern

References

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  11. ↑ Cinefantastique: Volume 36 2004

External links

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