Hello and welcome to Incoming, a new series from the Templin Institute where we talk about
what’s going on in some of our favorite science fiction or fantasy worlds in a more
casual and slightly unscripted manner compared to our regular episodes.
My name is Marc, and while I usually hide behind the scenes doing scripting and editing
work, and after hearing my attempt to narrate this maybe you wish I’d stayed there, but
with Star Trek Discovery only a few weeks away now, I’d like to take this chance to
talk about the era the show takes place in, what the Star Trek galaxy is like at this
point in the timeline and then try and speculate on what we can expect.
So, lets jump right in, now weirdly enough, just figuring out when Star Trek Discovery
takes place is one of the more puzzling questions we need to answer.
The show’s marketing has said that Discovery is set 10 years before Kirk, Spock and the
Enterprise.
So, is that 10 years before Kirk and Spock were born?
10 years before the Enterprise was built?
Or ten years before the events of the original series?
At this point, going off additional comments from some of the cast and crew the 10 years
before the original series answer is most likely right one, this means that Discovery
takes place sometime in the 2250s.
Or 100 years after Star Trek Enterprise and about 110 before Star Trek The Next Generation.
Now that’s suspiciously close to when the rebooted universe under J.J.
Abrams takes place, but the show’s producers and showrunners have repeatedly said that
Discovery takes place in the Prime Universe so we’ll be working off that assumption.
Now, whether you believe them is another question and I’ll be talking a bit more about that
towards the end of the video.
So, what is going on in the Star Trek Galaxy of the 2250s?
Well let’s start by going through the big three, the Federation, the Klingons and the
Romulans.
At this point the Federation has been around for about 90 years.
While it isn’t the superpower we see in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, it’s
likely the equal of any other empire or nation in it’s region of the galaxy and expanding
relatively quickly.
It’s encountered the Romulans, the Klingons, the Tholians and probably has a very good
idea of who its major rivals are.
We can also assume that the Federation has accepted the membership of dozens of new species
and worlds, although humans, Vulcans, Andorians and Tellerites remain the most powerful members
and form the core of Starfleet.
And speaking of Starfleet, it’s a unified service at this point, with standardized ship
designs, aesthetics and iconography.
While its not impossible that we’ll see older Vulcan or Andorian style vessels, they’d
probably be in civilian service or in some other specialized role within Starfleet.
And interestingly enough, the Enterprise and other ships of the Constitution Class are
in service at this point, with the Enterprise in particular having been around for over
5 years.
Will we see the Enterprise in Star Trek Discovery under the command of one of it’s previous
Captains?
It’s certainly possible.
So, to summarize, the Federation is in it’s first golden age, the memories of the Romulan
and Xindi wars have largely faded, Starfleet is exploring the galaxy, encountering new
life and civilizations and living in peace and harmony, with one exception.
Things are not looking good with the Klingons.
While the relationship between the Federation and Klingons has always been rocky, the situation
took a turn for the worse in the 2220s and in the decades leading up to Discovery, the
two powers are locked in a Cold War.
Unlike the Federation, the Klingon Empire is almost ancient, having existed for thousands
of years and been capable of warp travel for at least the past few centuries.
In that time, their aggressive and brutal nature has brought them into conflict with
basically every major power in the quadrant, including the Romulans, the Breen and now
the Federation.
In looking at the recent trailers for Star Trek Discovery it seems that the Klingon Empire
is in a state of chaos during the show, with the various Houses that make up the Klingon
High Council at odds with both the Federation, and each other.
We’ve seen numerous examples in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine of rivalries
between the Great Houses and it looks like at this point in it’s history the Empire
is almost at the breaking point.
The Augment Virus that spread across the Klingon people during the events of Star Trek Enterprise
is still in effect, and a significant percentage of Klingons resemble humans because of it.
Or at least they’re supposed to.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on the dramatically different nature of the Klingons
we’ve seen in Discovery so far.
According to people involved in the show, these Klingons are from an ancient house that
are… more pure or something?
I’ve never really understood their explanation so we’re just gonna have to wait for the
show to air before we get more information.
One thing I do find interesting is that the Klingons we’ve seen in Star Trek up to this
point haven’t been very religious.
Sure, they have a deeply developed mythos surrounding their version of the afterlife,
but by their own admission their gods are dead, killed by Klingon warriors for having
been more trouble than they were worth.
And while various rituals are performed upon death, Klingons didn’t seem to have any
burial arrangements with dead Klingon’s considered “empty shells” and treated
as such.
So, to have this incredibly ornate Klingon “sarcophagus ship” show up in Discovery
is very strange.
My personal theory is that this ship might in actuality, belong to the Hur’q, a species
from the other side of the galaxy that invaded and plundered the Klingon homeworld in the
14th century.
There’s been a lot of theories that the Klingons may have seen this highly advanced
race as gods, and overthrowing them and retaking Kronos led to the formation of the modern
Klingon religion.
If one of the Klingon houses decided to continue their worship for the Hur’q and cruise around
the galaxy in some of their looted starships, it would explain quite a bit, although I really
doubt this is the case.
Would be cool though.
So, of the big three, that just leaves the Romulans.
At this point, the Romulan Star Empire is still bitter over its defeat a century earlier
by an Earth led coalition, and largely retreated into isolationism.
However in 2266, about a decade after Discovery is set, the Romulans begin a series of attacks
on Federation outposts, so its possible the Romulan Empire is right in the middle of gearing
up for a renewed presence across the Alpha Quadrant.
An important thing to note is that at this point, the Federation still has no clue what
Romulans even look like, having never come into direct contact with them over the course
of the war.
There’s been a few Romulan looking ships in Discovery trailers and while I highly doubt
these are actually Romulan ships, an interesting theory I’ve seen is that the Romulans might
be secretly attempting to start a war between the Federation and Klingons so maybe we’ll
see some sort of Romulan presence in Discovery.
Romulan plans always seem to fail so it would be nice for them to get a real win for once.
That just leaves the secondary powers of the Star Trek galaxy.
I always got the sense that the Cardassian Union first encountered the Federation sometime
between the Original Series and the Next Generation, so its hard to say if they’re around during
the Discovery era.
Cardassians are mentioned as having explored what would become Federation space during
Star Trek Enterprise, so I don’t think it would break canon if it was revealed that
the Cardassians were around much earlier than we assumed.
We know during this time that Cardassia is impoverished, and economically crippled with
the rise of a military dictatorship somewhere on the Horizon.
I always thought a cool story arc would be a Fall of Saigon type scenario where the Enterprise
or maybe now the Discovery must evacuate Federation ambassadors and personnel from Cardassia before
nationalist forces win their civil war.
Not something we’re likely to see, but still possible.
The Breen, we know have been in contact with at least the Klingons so it’s possible we’ll
see more of them.
The Tholians have definitely been around for at least a few decades and as one of the coolest
looking alien races in Star Trek, I would absolutely love to see more of them in Discovery.
That just leaves the Gorn, and while official contact with them won’t be made for a decade
after Discovery, its possible they could show up as unidentified ships or whatever.
So that is pretty much the state of the galaxy, I’m sure I’m missing quite a few races
from this era, but I think I’ve covered all the major ones.
Now before I end this video, I think it’s important I cover some of the rumors coming
out of the Discovery production because they directly affect the whole premise of this
video.
I’m not sure if these count as spoilers, but if you want to play it safe just skip
until the background turns blue again.
Alright, if your still here, lets get real.
We know that Star Trek Discovery has been playing it fast and loose with Star Trek canon
so already everything I’ve said could end up being completely wrong if Discovery plans
on ignoring the events previously mentioned in the series.
While people behind the show have repeatedly said that Discovery takes place in the Prime
Universe and is respecting canon, rumor has it that a big trans-dimensional event will
occur in the first episode in much the same way as the JJ movies, effectively placing
Star Trek Discovery in a separate timeline.
This would be very disappointing but would explain a lot of what we’ve already seen
in released images and trailers, so it does seem somewhat likely.
To know for sure though, we’ll just have to wait until the series airs on the 24th.
So thank you very much for watching, I hoped you enjoyed my pedantic ramblings, if you
haven’t already please consider subscribing, and for those of you waiting for our next
proper episode it will be out on Monday.
I’d love to give you a hint as to what it’s about, but I’m in the middle of some calibrations.