Abbreviations

This blog is primarily about the Star Trek TV series. I refer to each series using the standard terminology, as follows:

Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)

Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)

Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)

Star Trek: Discovery (DSC)

I’ll occasionally refer to the movies, though that isn’t my main interest. All abbreviations can be found at Wikipedia.

Generations

I’ll often treat the three later series (TNG, DS9 and VOY) as belonging to a single ‘generation’ of Star Trek.  The events in these shows take place over a period shorter than a single human lifetime, beginning with Encounter at Farpoint in 2364 and ending with Voyager‘s return to the Alpha Quadrant in 2378, spanning just 14 years. If the Prime Universe films are included, this generation of adventures extends to the Shinzon Incident 2379.

The shows beginning in 1987 and ending in 2001 will sometimes be treated as a seamless whole or continuous story arc. Nemesis was released in 2002. As Star Trek was on the air constantly for a period of 14 years and the stories build upon and rely on each other, I think it’s fair to treat them as parts of a greater whole when that helps broad analysis.

I could refer to this as the ‘Long Next Generation’ but I’ll l call it the Second Generation (Gen II).  For the purposes of this blog, Gen II will not include events after 2379 that are shown in the series, such as the future outlined in All Good Things… These events are the outside the remit Gen II.

However, the dating can be fluid or even confusing and I don’t want to create unnecessarily strict definitions. Gen II could easily include the period immediately preceding Encounter at Farpoint. Picard’s command of the Stargazer, or even his birth in 2305, could broadly be considered events in Gen II.

TOS and TAS will fall under the category of Gen I.

Timelines and Canon

The primary focus of this blog will be the so-called Prime Universe, as defined against the Kelvin Universe created by JJ Abrams’ Star Trek (2009). I consider DSC to be in the Prime Universe along with Gen I and Gen II  until it is canonically established that it is not.

I have a strong interest in the Mirror Universe and consider all TV depictions of it so far to be canon.

I will not treat any Beta material as canon i.e. books, graphic novels etc. TAS is canon, as has been long established. The opinions of writers/producers etc. on any show may help to understand a topic but cannot be considered canon. We’re not following JK Rowling down the rabbit hole.

Sources and Images

I will have recourse to cite sources on occasion, primarily Memory Alpha and news sources. This blog is not an attempt to write sincere academic papers, but rather a way to discuss and speculate about a favourite TV series.

I will use images from the series. I do not own the rights to any such images and will limit their use accordingly.

All opinions are my own, based on a long engagement with Star Trek, broad reading on a variety of topics and traditional, obsessive fandom. My claim to be a Star Trek scholar is bound to be true in some parallel reality.