Every Monday at 7:00 PM, a talented crew roleplays their way through the galaxy to fulfill a mission: to boldly go where no one has gone before. Follow the adventures of the USS Sally Ride in Shield of Tomorrow on Twitch.
Star Trek: Discovery aired this past week. This show has been at the center of a lot of discussion leading up to the premiere. Now that it is here, we want it to truly take advantage of its prequel time period setting. Other shows have had crossovers and cameos, but Discovery is poised to reintroduce some fun elements from the original series that fans of later works might not know.
1. Harry Mudd
Harcourt Fenton Mudd, played with charming sleaze by Roger C. Carmel in the original series, has been suggested as a returning character for the Trek reboot films. We’re glad he’s showing up in this series instead, played by The Office’s Rainn Wilson. Mudd was one of the few recurring solo villains in the original series. With Discovery playing into modern serialized storytelling, we look forward to him harassing the crew multiple times and showing us why he’s hiding out from the Federation. Wilson is an excellent choice to play Mudd, being able to shift from menace to comedy smoothly. Every space story should have a scoundrel, after all.
2. The Organians
The Klingons are apparently a big focus of the first season, so anything that ties in with them seems like a strong lead for inclusion. These aliens forced a peace treaty between the Klingon and the Federation in their introductory episode Errand of Mercy. The series could delve into explaining why the Organians chose to enforce a peace or perhaps reveal a crew member that was spying on the ship for the aliens.
3. The Squire of Gothos
Captain Kirk dealt with a lot of god-like alien beings in his day. One of the most famous is Trelane, a creature that toyed with Kirk and his crew in a single episode. Trelane could easily fit into the same enemy/ally role that Q did in the later series. In fact, the novel Q-Squared by Peter David explicitly connected the childish Trelane with the trickster Q.
4. Caitians
Star Trek: Discovery clearly wants to explore the realm of non-human aliens with the redesign of the Klingons. One of the more fun species in this vein are the Catians, which first appeared on Star Trek: The Animated Series as a member of the bridge crew. These cat people have showed up in the background of a few films and the MMORPG, but Discovery would be a great place for them to get their due. At the very least, it seems like a good tie-in opportunity for one of their most unusual books?
5. Time Travel
Every Star Trek show has taken a trip through the temporal frontier. Some went backwards, some went forwards, and for the crew of the Discovery it’s only a matter of…well, you know. There are quite a few elements from the original series that could be used to shuttle the crew around time, like the Guardian of Forever or the mysterious Gary Seven.
If you’re ready to catch Star Trek Adventures in action (albeit in the 24th century), the crew of the USS Sally Ride flies every Wednesday at 9:30 PM PT on Twitch.
Image Credits: CBS
Rob Wieland is an author, game designer and professional nerd. He writes about kaiju, Jedi, gangsters, elves and is a writer for the Star Trek Adventures RPG line. His blog is here, his Twitter is here and his meat body can be found in scenic Milwaukee, WI.