the vulcans star trek

Star Trek: Every Vulcan Ability You Need To Know

Star Trek's iconic emotionless aliens have more powers than you'd think.

The Vulcans are perhaps the most beloved aliens in Star Trek. They were the first alien species created by Gene Roddenberry for The Original Series and instantly became a Trek staple.

Vulcan history is incredibly detailed. Following a long history of violence and war that nearly devastated their species, the Vulcans chose to follow the philosopher, Surak, by suppressing all emotion and embracing logic. The followers of Surak engaged in countless rituals and meditations to completely purge themselves of all emotion, as they saw it as the only way to prevent the extinction of the Vulcan race. Some Vulcans rejected Surak's teachings, though most of these detractors eventually left the planet Vulcan and became the Romulan Star Empire.

However, Vulcans are not only renowned for their strict adherence to logic, but also for their many almost supernatural abilities. Vulcans possess a number of unique physical and mental powers, and this list will be counting down and describing all of them.

As always, live long and prosper.

8. Controlling Emotions

As mentioned earlier, when the philosopher, Surak, introduced the Vulcan society to his belief system of logic and emotional suppression, the species saw it as the only way to save the Vulcan people from themselves.

Naturally, Vulcans have much more intense emotions than most humanoid species. Their violent nature combined with their impressive physical and mental abilities led to a great many wars that devastated the planet for generations. So, although Vulcans may seem completely robotic, this is all just a façade that they maintain to avoid allowing their emotions to control them.

Vulcans work their whole lives to eradicate their emotions, though subtle hints of them remain deep in their minds. Without completing the Vulcan ritual known as Kolinahr, which Spock was never able to do, a Vulcan is still capable of emotional outbursts when dealing with extreme stress.

There have, however, been some Vulcans who've embraced their emotions fully, rejecting the Vulcan way of life, such as Spock's half-brother, Sybok.

Marcia Fry is a writer for WhatCulture and an amateur filmmaker.

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Star Trek ’s Stoics: The Vulcans

Steven umbrello explores parallel philosophical universes..

“Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca “However, I have noted, that the ‘healthy’ release of emotion is frequently very unhealthy for those closest to you.” – Spock

In 1966 Gene Roddenberry, then a relatively unknown TV writer, created what was to become a cultural sensation. From cell phones and tablets, to MRI machines and medical jet injectors, Star Trek has undoubtedly anticipated much of the technology that we take for granted today. Moreover, the disagreements, fights and jokes between Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and Mr Spock (Leonard Nimoy) were expertly crafted for dramatic impact. But I’m not writing this to confess to you my obsessive infatuation with the Star Trek universe. Instead I want to discuss how the beliefs and practices of Vulcans like Spock are similar to those of the Stoic school of philosophy.

In Star Trek , the natives of the planet Vulcan are an extremely advanced humanoid species known throughout the galaxy for their logical minds, as a result of which their civilization has enjoyed millennia of peace and prosperity. This was not always the case. Historically, the Vulcans were an extremely violent race, prone to all sorts of debauchery and war (eerily similar to our own state of civilization). However, when their species was brought to the brink of annihilation, a single individual, Surak, produced a new philosophical practice based on pure logic. Surak believed that the cause of all the conflict on his planet was the people’s inability to control their emotions; thus, Surak and his growing group of followers taught themselves to control and suppress their emotions. Eventually, all the citizens of Vulcan adopted this way of thinking, and it became an integral and necessary part of their culture.

Surak’s philosophy I believe closely resembles Stoicism, a philosophy with its roots in antiquity. Founded by Zeno of Citium, who taught in Athens from about 300 BC, it was made famous by the philosophers Epictetus and Seneca, and by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161-180 AD. The goal of this philosophy is to live as good and happy a life as is naturally feasible. To this end, Stoics advocated the harmonization of one’s being with nature and accepting one’s place in it. They believed that going against the naturally established order of life would result in a great deal of pain for the individual. Stoics also believe in not worrying about external events, which are largely beyond your control. Rather, to maximise your serenity, change your perception of what happens to you to one of placid acceptance. As Epictetus wrote, “Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.” Essentially, Stoicism does not want you to try and overcome all negative situations, nor to avoid bad, uncomfortable or disturbing scenarios; instead, Stoic principles require individuals to change the way they perceive such situations, which will change the way they react to them. Marcus Aurelius was a strong believer in this aspect of Stoicism. In his work Meditations (167 AD), he remarks, “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength” and “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” This was a revolutionary way of thinking for an individual who ruled one of the most imperialistic and warlike empires in history.

Surak’s teachings bear a resemblance to Stoicism in its belief that the individual should not deny or despair of his or her current predicament, but rather accept it as it is. As Epictetus taught, “There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” A Vulcan proverb expresses a similar thought: “In accepting the inevitable, one finds peace.” Both emphasize the necessity of eliminating emotional struggle with anything that cannot be controlled or changed.

Marcus Aurelius also wrote, “Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.” In Star Trek , Vulcan philosophy similarly asks the individual to analyze all situations and choose only the most logical path. (“Logic is the cement of our civilization, with which we ascend from chaos, using reason as our guide” – T’Plana-Hath, Vulcan High Priestess.) Like Stoicism, Vulcan logic requires practice and dedication to learn to look at life in a different light.

Before I conclude let me clarify a misconception suffered by both Vulcans and Stoics. Both are often regarded as cold-hearted or emotionless. In fact, both Vulcans and Stoics are deeply emotional, and although their stern faces and disciplined postures don’t give that impression, they nonetheless feel strongly; however, they control how they react and express themselves.

I think we can agree that there are some striking similarities between Stoicism and Star Trek ’s Vulcan philosophy. Whether or not Gene Roddenberry created the Vulcans with the Stoics in mind will forever remain unknown; but what I do know is that both the Stoic’s and Vulcans will agree with this farewell: “Live long and prosper!”

© Steven Umbrello 2015

Steven Umbrello is an undergraduate student of philosophy of science at the University of Toronto, and has been a practicing Stoic for most of his young adult life.

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Vulcan philosophy

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Surak, founder of modern Vulcan philosophy

Beginning in the 4th century , Vulcan philosophy revolved around the concept of logic . The highest objective of a traditional Vulcan life was to either control or suppress all emotion , thus rendering a purely logical being. This difficult task was attained through meditation and discipline. As Vulcans approached or reached maturity, it was customary to train under the tutelage of a Vulcan master in the Kolinahr ritual, to purge themselves of any remaining lack of emotional control. The father of Vulcan philosophy was Surak , ( TOS : " The Savage Curtain ") who helped lead the Vulcan people out of a time of savagery and violence into their new era of peace. His introduction of logic and emotional discipline ushered in the Time of Awakening . ( TNG : " Gambit, Part II ")

Though committed to the concept of total logic, Vulcan philosophy after the Time of Awakening did not totally abandon its past. Vulcans continued to maintain ceremonies dedicated to ancient religious beliefs and physical training. The Vulcans reasoned that complete dedication to logic could allow for weakness and frailty to arise and endanger them, thus ancient practices such as the kahs-wan were preserved and many Vulcans continued some form of dedication to their ancient gods, including ritual pilgrimages. ( TAS : " Yesteryear ")

These ideals were forgotten by many Vulcans around the 22nd century , leading to a corrupt governmental system. Unknown at the time, their government had been infiltrated at the highest levels by Romulan operatives, misleading the population with a distorted version of Surak's teachings. A small faction called Syrrannites , founding their philosophy on what was believed to be his true works, discovered Surak's original texts, restoring the society he had built. Other works related to this philosophy are Kiri-kin-tha's First Law of Metaphysics (" Nothing unreal exists ") and T'Plana-Hath 's statement that " Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide. " ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ; ENT : " The Forge ")

Vulcans embraced cultural and racial diversity, as again evidenced through the IDIC . Vulcans also embraced a pacifist philosophy, going so far as to follow strict vegan diets to avoid killing even non-sentient animals . Vulcans believed that the needs of a very large group should go before the needs of a very small group or any individual. ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ; VOY : " Endgame "; ENT : " The Council ")

T'Pol gave Captain Archer a book on the subject, The Teachings of Surak , to read during shore leave on Risa . ( ENT : " Two Days and Two Nights ")

Vulcan Philosophy was a topic of study at Starfleet Academy by the 24th century . ( VOY : " In the Flesh ") Because Data was not affected by feelings or emotional considerations, he considered himself closer to being Vulcan than Human; however, he was not attracted to Vulcan philosophy. He felt that although their devotion to logic had a certain appeal in its simple purity, he found overall that this was a somewhat stark philosophy, lacking beauty and joy. ( TNG : " Data's Day ")

Apocrypha [ ]

Vulcan thought has been compared to Asperger syndrome on at least three occasions outside of canon. In the 2005 novel Orion's Hounds , Counselor Troi wonders if Surak had the Vulcan equivalent of Asperger syndrome. In The Hounds of Baskerville , a 2012 episode of Sherlock , Sherlock Holmes (played by Benedict Cumberbatch ) is compared to Spock , and is speculated to have Asperger's syndrome. In the 2017 film Please Stand By , a young woman with Asperger's syndrome attempts to submit her manuscript to a Star Trek writing competition. Her story concerns Spock's quest to understand humor.

See also [ ]

• A Cave Beyond Logic: Vulcan Perspectives on Platonic Thought
• Beyond the Galactic Edge, Humanity's Quest for Infinity
• First Doctrines of Logic
• The Teachings of Surak , Terran edition

External links [ ]

• Logic at Wikipedia
• Stoicism at Wikipedia
• Utilitarianism at Wikipedia
• 2 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)
• 3 Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: How Are Vulcans Different From Humans?

Star Trek has always defined Vulcans by their rigid dedication to logic, but what other traits make them stand out from Humans?

Spock (Leonard Nimoy) was the first of many Vulcans introduced in Star Trek , and it wasn’t just his pointy ears and sharp eyebrows that made him stand out among his human peers. After all, though Vulcans are humanoid, they are very distinct from their round-eared brethren. One of the most memorable moments of the series, for example, came from Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) pointing out that Vulcans' hearts are located in a different section of the body than they are in humans. There’s even the rumor that humans don’t smell pleasant to Vulcans , though that could be more fandom speculation than established canon.

The progression of their two societies is also similar, though Vulcans went down a different path. Humans saw the violence of their past as stemming from hatred, bigotry, and callousness. Upon joining the United Federation of Planets, they dedicated themselves to becoming more science-forward with an emphasis on empathy, understanding, and open-mindedness. Vulcans have a much more violent past that they attribute to an excess of emotion. Their version of moving forward meant dedicating themselves to the pursuit of logic and scientific discovery. Vulcans have evolved as a society over the centuries, but there are some things that even time can’t change. This is where the differences in the "Vulcans versus Humans" conversation become most obvious.

RELATED: Star Trek: Why Most Vulcans Are Vegetarian

Are Vulcans Stronger Than Humans?

Vulcans are notably stronger than humans, as seen throughout Star Trek . In The Original Series, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) was more likely to talk it out in disagreements with others, but he was more than capable of winning a fight if it came down to it. Yet, this didn’t stop him from losing almost every fight he got into with First Officer Spock. In Deep Space Nine , Kasidy Yates (Penny Johnson) explained to Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) that Vulcans have quicker reflexes than humans and are, on average, three times physically stronger. Their strength could be the result of centuries spent fighting each other with such aggression that it shocked even violence-prone Humans. Maybe that’s just how Vulcans are made, like their distant Romulan relatives .

Either way, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) used that strength to his advantage while trying to take back control of the Enterprise from Officer Spock (Zachary Quinto) in Star Trek (2009). Crew members were shocked at his callous references to Spock’s mother dying and his home planet Vulcan being destroyed. But they were more shocked when Spock responded by beating him half to death on the bridge for everyone to see. It would have been kinder to simply knock the captain out with the infamous Vulcan Nerve Pinch, a move less about strength and more about stealth.

What Weaknesses Do Vulcans Have?

The strength of Vulcans also manifests as higher metabolism, resistance to toxins, and greater immunity to sleep deprivation. However, that last claim should be taken with a grain of salt. In Voyager, Officer Tuvok (Tim Russ) made this observation to Officer Neelix (Ethan Phillips) to explain why he, as a Vulcan, needed less sleep than humans — before Tuvok promptly fell asleep in the command chair.

Still, for all their strengths, Vulcans are not without their weaknesses. In Star Trek: The Animated Series , Spock (Nimoy) is exposed to nitrous gas that causes him pain instead of making him laugh like the human officers of the Enterprise. Vulcans get cold more easily than humans since their bodies have adapted to the dry heat of their home planet, a sensitivity that only grows as they get older. Vulcans can also hear better than Hhmans, which can be a strength or a weakness depending on the situation. It puts them at an advantage while exploring new planets and keeping an eye (or a pointed ear) out for danger even in diplomatic situations .

But in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise , that sensitive hearing is really annoying to have. Humans end up making noises so grating they actually manage to annoy the nearest Vulcan, who in this case is the unfortunate Officer T’Pol (Jolene Blalock).

What Is The Lifespan Of A Vulcan?

In the ongoing debate of "Vulcans versus Humans," there’s one area in which Vulcans take the metaphorical cake: their longer lifespan. According to The Next Generation , Vulcans can live for over 200 years. Humans can’t live that long even with the scientific advancements of the Federation and, honestly, most wouldn't want to.

In season 3, episode 23, “Sarek,” Spock’s father Ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard) pays a visit to the USS Enterprise on a diplomatic mission, when he begins to suffer from Bendii Syndrome. It’s a rare neurological disease that impacts Vulcans over the age of 200 years old. Sarek ends up losing control of his emotions and accidentally projecting them onto the unsuspecting Starfleet officers without even using the classic Vulcan Mind Meld . When humans get older, they lose control of their motor functions and their tempers, as shown in one bizarre episode of The Original Series . Captain Kirk (Shatner) became more hostile and impatient, but at least it didn’t send his crew into an angry frenzy.

Still, Vulcans enjoy a long life of scientific pursuits and perfecting their logical understanding of the galaxy at large. To humans, it may sound rather dull. But to Vulcans, it’s the reason they were granted such long life in the first place.

How Humans & Vulcans Relate

While Star Trek presents Vulcans as different from humans, they aren’t incompatible. Spock’s human mother Amanda Grayson (Jane Wyatt) married his Vulcan father Sarek, and the two made a logically loving home for themselves on Vulcan. Sure, Amanda was often driven up the wall by her husband and son's stubborn dedication to logic, even when she thought emotion was more appropriate. But she loved them both and they, in their own way, loved her just as much.

Star Trek: Discovery later introduced Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) as the adopted human sister of Spock. His relationship with Michael gave fans a new insight into his character , while also providing a new perspective on Vulcans as a whole. While Amanda was more driven by emotion than her husband and son, Michael was shaped by the logic of them both into her career as a Starfleet officer. She eventually found her own way to honor Vulcan philosophy, and it led her to the captain’s chair.

Star Trek and its fans will always debate "Vulcans vs Humans." Yet, they both understand that Vulcans and Humans exist in infinite diversity in infinite combinations throughout the galaxy – even in the heat of battle.

MORE: Star Trek: The History Of The Vulcans, Explained

A Complete History of the Romulans in Star Trek

Since The Original Series, the Romulans have been one of Star Trek's most mysterious villains, but who are they and how do they relate to the Vulcans?

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The romulans were created to be star trek 'romans', the timeline of the romulan star empire, the romulan cold war and joining forces against the dominion, the destruction of romulus changed star trek timelines.

Some of the most mysterious villains in Star Trek are the Romulans, whose history with Earth dates back to before the time of Star Trek: The Original Series . The Romulans are depicted as an oppressive group with a militant culture and are arguably even less agreeable than the Klingons. Still, they have united in common cause with the Federation in some instances.

When Star Trek: Discovery advanced the timeline by 900-plus years, the Romulan Star Empire was no more. Their home planet, Romulus, was destroyed. Thanks to Spock's efforts to expose their culture to Vulcan logic, the Romulans found a new home on Ni'var, the renamed Vulcan homeworld. In fact, along with their distant, pointy-eared cousins, the Romulans are part of the Federation in the 32nd Century. Romulans went from unseen enemies in Star Trek 's history to cohabitating with humans' first alien friends, but have plenty of story left to tell.

How Gene Roddenberry Lost Control Over the Star Trek Movies

Before Star Trek returned for its second wave of stories, the creation of the Romulans was a point of contention. In a featurette on The Original Series Blu-ray, writer and franchise legend Dorothy Fontana said freelance writer Paul Schneider invented them by taking inspiration from the ancient Roman Empire. Schneider confirmed this in Captain's Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyagers by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, calling his creation "an extension of the Roman civilization to the point of space travel." This is the impetus for their militaristic society, drive to conquer and fanatical loyalty to the unseen Emperor.

The Romulans appeared twice in Star Trek: The Original Series and weren't fully fleshed out as adversaries until the time of The Next Generation . Originally, they looked just like Vulcans, but makeup supervisor Michael Westmore added forehead ridges and a different hairstyle. The Romulans were considered to be the villains in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , but the production opted for the more popular Klingons. They would have taken the place of the S'ona in Star Trek: Insurrection . However, Patrick Stewart objected to their inclusion thinking fans wanted a fresh villain. Ironically, the opposite was true.

The Romulans also appeared as villains in Star Trek: Nemesis , Star Trek (2009) and in Season 1 of Star Trek: Picard . Because they were originally introduced as an "offshoot" of Vulcans, Leonard Nimoy appeared as Spock on The Next Generation to send the character to make peace with them. His final mission was to reintegrate the Vulcan and Romulan cultures as one society. Star Trek: Discovery revealed he succeeded indirectly by the 32nd Century. While there was an Earth-Romulan war, this story hasn't been told yet, likely because humans never saw their enemies in the flesh.

Star Trek: What's the Story Behind Every Enterprise Design?

In the Star Trek universe, it was discovered that most humanoid life could trace its genetic origins to a single star-faring species billions of years in the past. They traveled the universe colonizing many planets, and both Vulcans and Romulans share traces of this DNA. At some point in Vulcan's history, before the populace adopted the logic-based philosophy of Surak, a group of Vulcans went to the stars and eventually settled on Romulus. These beings became Romulans, and possibly Remans, the pale-skinned, scaled "slave caste" of the Romulan Star Empire, at least through the late 24th Century.

By the 22nd Century, the Romulan Star Empire was known by Vulcans, yet they had no contact with their long-distant cousins. In fact, this connection was lost to history among Vulcans, although Romulans retained that information. On Star Trek: Enterprise the NX-01 encountered a planet surrounded by cloaked mines. They briefly exchanged communications with this unknown race, but never identified them for certain. Later, the Romulans sent spies to Vulcan to attempt reunification, but when Captain Archer and T'Pring discovered Surak's teachings, the plans fell apart.

A long-distance Romulan plot also attempted to foster war in the galaxy via cloaked drones, controlled telepathically. This caused Captain Archer to form an alliance with founding members of the Federation , thereby starting the process of its creation. In 2156, Earth and Romulus went to war. The Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites united again to defeat them in 2160, whereby the neutral zone was established. The treaty was negotiated via long-distance communication. The Romulans were never seen until the USS Enterprise encountered a cloaked vessel attacking Earth colonies near the edge of the neutral zone.

10 Star Trek Time Travel Stories That Changed Canon

Two years after this encounter, Captain Kirk was ordered to violate the Neutral Zone to steal a cloaking device. He succeeded and captured a Romulan commander as well. Later, in Star Trek: The Animated Series , the Romulans tried to steal the Enterprise, but were defeated. By the late 23rd Century, the Romulan Star Empire had an ambassador at Federation headquarters. He was part of the conspiracy to prevent the Klingon Empire and the Federation from signing the Khitomer Peace Treaty. The Romulans remained isolated until the mid-24th Century.

There was a Cold War between the Empire and the Federation with many incidents amounting to 45 appearances in the second-wave series and films. Notable encounters included the attempted defection of Admiral Alidar Jarok. A Romulan spy impersonated the Vulcan ambassador T'Pel. After a test of a new cloaking device failed, the USS Enterprise-D helped the stranded Romulans. The Enterprise conducted two cover missions on Romulus. First, they were sent to retrieve Spock who had decided to preach Surak's teachings to Romulans. They then sent Deanna Troi to help Vice-Proconsul M'Ret defect to the Federation.

The Romulans still engaged in conflict with the Klingons periodically throughout the 24th Century. They also tried to steal an experimental starship, thwarted by the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram and the EMH from the USS Voyager. The Romulans stayed out of the Dominion War, until Captain Sisko aided Garak in framing the Dominion for the death of one of their ambassadors. They remained allies until the war ended.

Star Trek: Discovery's Kenneth Mitchell Was Heroic On and Off Screen

The film Star Trek: Nemesis took place in 2379, when the Remans rose up against the Romulan masters. A clone of Captain Picard named Shinzon became the new praetor. He brought the USS Enterprise-E to Romulus under the ruse of peace talks, but he needed Picard to heal a medical malady. His plan was to launch a war with the aim of destroying Earth. His defeat led to true diplomatic negotiations, aided by Ambassador Spock. In the 2380s, a cosmic accident destroyed Romulus. Spock and a mining vessel captained by Nero were sent to the past and created an alternate timeline, in which Vulcan was destroyed.

Back in the Prime Timeline, Admiral Picard tried to help refugees from the (now so named) Romulan Free State relocate. The Romulan secret order Zhat Vash used synthetic lifeforms to destroy the Utopia Planitia shipyards and the relocation fleet. Years later, the group attacked two synthetic lifeforms -- "children" of Data -- and a retired Picard helped save them and a planet full of their kind from destruction. A group of Romulans also captured a Borg cube, creating the Borg Reclamation project. The Artifact, as it was called, ended up landing on the planet of synthetics, where they presumably took over the effort.

By the 32nd Century, the Romulans and Vulcans successfully reunified. Vulcan was renamed Ni'var, and while there remained cultural tension, the two cultures lived in relative peace. When a cosmic accident caused all the dilithium crystals to explode, which prevented warp travel and killed countless people, Ni'Var retreated from the Federation. With the help of Captains Michael Burnham and Saru, they agreed to rejoin the union. This means the forthcoming series Starfleet Academy could introduce Romulan cadets.

Star Trek series and films are streaming on Paramount+, save for Star Trek: Prodigy on Netflix and the first ten films currently on Max.

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

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Enterprise explained why star trek's vulcans feared humans.

Humans and Vulcans had a rocky relationship in the 22nd century, and a Star Trek: Enterprise episode explained why Vulcans feared Mankind.

The three-part Vulcan saga in Star Trek: Enterprise season 4 explained why the 22nd century era Vulcans feared humans. The Enterprise season 4 episodes "The Forge," "Awakening," and "Kir'Shara," introduced the younger version of Star Trek: The Original Series icon T'Pau (Kara Zediker). With the help of Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), T'Pau was able to restore the teachings of Surak and expose a conspiracy between the Vulcan High Command and the Romulan Star Empire.

In Star Trek's timeline, Enterprise picks up less than a century after the events of Star Trek: First Contact , when Dr. Zephram Cochrane (James Cromwell) achieved Mankind's first successful warp flight, which brought the curious Vulcans to Earth. In Enterpris e's mid-22nd century, however, relations between humans and Vulcans were far from idyllic. United Earth's Starfleet, and Captain Archer in particular, were hostile toward Vulcans, who they felt were restricting human ambition to explore the galaxy. In turn, the Vulcans were arrogant and condescending to humans. Enterprise 's Vulcans behaved differently from how Star Trek fans expected, and there was an undercurrent of racism present from both cultures. This is something T'Pol, Archer, and the NX-01 Enterprise crew overcame over their years serving together.

Related: Picard's New Titan Captain Was In Star Trek Before

Why Vulcans Feared Humans In Star Trek: Enterprise's Era

Star Trek: Enterprise season 4's episode, "The Forge," began by facing how Vulcans really feel about humans head-on. When Admiral Maxwell Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong) met with Ambassador Soval (Gary Graham) at the United Earth Embassy on Vulcan, Soval outright confessed the reasons why Vulcans fear humans: "We don't know what to do about humans. Of all the species we've made contact with, yours is the only one we can't define. You have the arrogance of Andorians, the stubborn pride of Tellarites. One moment you're as driven by your emotions as Klingons, and the next, you confound us by suddenly embracing logic."

Admiral Forrest noted that every culture contains contradictory emotions, but Soval noted that humans possess a "confusing abundance." Finally, Forrest gleaned that the true reason that Vulcans are afraid of humans because they remind the Vulcans of themselves thousands of years ago, when they were an emotional, violent race before Vulcan culture based itself on the logic of Surak. However, this confession was just a part of what made Star Trek: Enterprise 's Vulcans different as Archer, T'Pol, and T'Pau eventually exposed the Vulcan High Command's corruption and alliance with the Romulans to turn Vulcan into a vassal state.

How Enterprise's Retcons Changed & Explained Vulcans

Star Trek: Enterprise owned the fact that their depiction of Vulcans as more xenophobic and even insidious differed from how Vulcans are portrayed in Star Trek: The Original Series and thereafter. Enterprise 's Vulcan three-parter revealed that the Vulcan High Command's leader, Administrator V'Las (Robert Foxworth), was part of a far-reaching conspiracy with Talok (Todd Stashwick), a Romulan deep cover agent posing as a Vulcan. Their ultimate goal was to subjugate Vulcan to the Romulan Empire. It was this same Vulcan High Command who built a secret listening station on P'Jem to spy on Andoria, and who T'Pol rebelled against when she opted to formally join Starfleet.

Overthrowing V'Las allowed T'Pau to reinstate the teachings of Surak, which paved the way for the Vulcan culture as they've been depicted in the rest of Star Trek. Star Trek: Enterprise 's Vulcans are indeed an aberration, and correcting them to set Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) people on the proper path was part of the prequel's game plan. In later Star Trek series, humans and Vulcans would still occasionally irritate each other, as Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForrest Kelley) would show. And even Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) had a rivalry with Vulcans that was settled by a baseball game in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . But the truth of how Vulcans actually felt about human beings was laid bare in Star Trek: Enterprise .

More: Enterprise Introduced The Young Version Of A TOS Vulcan Icon

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

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It’s a truth universally acknowledged that even among the greatest television shows in Star Trek history, most of them take two seasons to stop being kind of bad. Never has that been more true or more excruciating than in the case of Star Trek: Discovery .

Polygon is looking ahead to the movies, shows, and books coming soon in our Spring 2024 entertainment preview package, a weeklong special issue.

Often it felt like what Discovery was really doing in its early seasons was discovering what didn’t work. Strong performances from a great cast? That works. A Klingon design that absolutely nobody liked ? Definitely not. But despite the stumbles, Discovery season 1 had still averaged C’s and B’s with reviewers, and had built an audience and a subscriber base for Paramount Plus. On the strength of Disco ’s first season, Paramount greenlit Star Treks Picard , Lower Decks , and Prodigy , three new shows covering a huge range of ages and nostalgic tastes. And spinning out of Disco ’s second season, which introduced familiar , nostalgic characters and a brighter, more Star Trek-y tone, Paramount produced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , inarguably the best new addition to the franchise since 1996.

Star Trek: Discovery crawled so that the rest of modern Trek could run... and then it started to walk. The show’s third season saw the USS Discovery and crew in the place that should have been their starting blocks: the bleeding future edge of Star Trek’s timeline. Thanks to season 3’s groundwork, season 4 became the first time that Discovery had a status quo worth returning to. In its fifth and final season, Star Trek: Discovery is finally free — free in a way that a Star Trek TV series hasn’t been in 23 years.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is such an elder statesman of the television elite that it’s easy to forget that it was daring. The show’s triumph wasn’t just that it featured a new cast of characters, but also its audaciousness in imagining the future of the future — and making that future unmistakably different . The Original Series showed a racial and national cooperation that seemed fantastical in its time, with an alien crewmember to denote the next frontier of embracing the other . Next Generation saw that bet and raised it, installing a member of the Klingon species, the Federation’s once-feared imperialist rival state, as a respected officer on the bridge of Starfleet’s flagship.

Next Generation ’s time period — one century after Kirk’s Enterprise — wasn’t a nominal choice, but a commitment to moving the story of Star Trek forward. From the show’s foundations, Gene Roddenberry and his collaborators, new and old, set a precedent that the Federation would evolve. Therefore, in accordance with the utopian themes of the franchise, old enemies would in time become friends. Next Generation embraced The Original Series ’ nemeses and the rest of ’90s Trek saw that bet and raised it again, pulling many of Next Gen ’s villains into the heroic fold. Voyager welcomed a Borg crewmember and disincorporated the Borg empire; Deep Space Nine gave the franchise the first Ferengi Starfleet cadet, and brokered a Federation-Klingon-Romulan alliance in the face of an existential threat.

But Discovery — at least until it made its Olympic long-jump leap 900 years into the future — couldn’t move Star Trek forward. So long as it was set “immediately before Kirk’s Enterprise,” hemmed in by the constraints of a previously established era of Star Trek history, it could graft on new elements (like Spock’s secret human foster sister) but it couldn’t create from whole cloth (like a galaxy-wide shortage of starship fuel that nearly destroyed the Federation). Like its predecessor, the ill-fated Star Trek: Enterprise of the ’00s, it was doomed to hang like a remora on the side of the events of The Original Series , or, if you’ll pardon another fish metaphor, doomed like a goldfish that can only grow as large as its half-gallon fishbowl will allow.

Discovery ’s later, free seasons in the 32nd century have shown the Federation at its most vulnerable, a subtler echo of Picard ’s own season 1 swing at fallen institutions . (Fans of Voyager and Deep Space Nine know that this is an extremely rich vein of Trek storytelling.) In its third season, Discovery solved a galaxy-wide fuel crisis that had shattered the community of the Federation. In its fourth it fought for a fragile new Federation alliance and its millennia-old ideals.

And those seasons have also boldly committed to the idea of imagining the future’s future — 900 years of it. The centuries-old rift between Vulcans and Romulans is long healed, Ferengi serve as captains in Starfleet, the work of Doctor Noonien Soong has brought new medical technologies to the fore.

Even still, Discovery hasn’t been truly free in its third and fourth seasons. Star Trek: Picard was out there, forming new past elements of a post- Next Gen / Voy / DS9 era that Discovery had to abide by. And, after all, the show still had to make sure there was something for its own next season to come back to.

But now — with Prodigy and Picard finished, and Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks locked into their settings of Star Trek’s established past, and Starfleet Academy and Section 31 not yet in production at the time that its final season would have been written — Discovery has reached the final final frontier for a Star Trek show. If you’re a Star Trek fan, that should excite you.

Not since Deep Space Nine in 1999 and Voyager in 2001 has a Star Trek series had the freedom to wrap up its run with the Federation in any state it wants to. With franchise flagship Next Generation at an end, and Voyager restricted to the Delta Quadrant only, Deep Space Nine used its last seasons to throw the Federation into all-out war, making sweeping changes to the established ficto-political norms of ’90s Trek. Voyager used its finale to do what Captain Picard never could: defang the Borg (mostly).

We don’t know exactly what Discovery will do with that freedom. Season 4 directors have talked about reaching “ into the past to get further into the future ,” and likened it to Indiana Jones. Official news releases have said the crew will “uncover a mystery that sends them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries.” But speculating on what that means would be beside the point.

Discovery , the show about an intergalactically teleporting starship, can finally, actually, go anywhere. It’s been almost a quarter of a century since a beloved Star Trek series was so free to boldly go. Let’s hope they’re very bold indeed.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 premieres with two episodes on April 4 on Paramount Plus.

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The Future of ‘Star Trek’: From ‘Starfleet Academy’ to New Movies and Michelle Yeoh, How the 58-Year-Old Franchise Is Planning for the Next Generation of Fans

“I can’t believe I get to play the captain of the Enterprise.”

“Strange New Worlds” is the 12th “Star Trek” TV show since the original series debuted on NBC in 1966, introducing Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a hopeful future for humanity. In the 58 years since, the “Star Trek” galaxy has logged 900 television episodes and 13 feature films, amounting to 668 hours — nearly 28 days — of content to date. Even compared with “Star Wars” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Star Trek” stands as the only storytelling venture to deliver a single narrative experience for this long across TV and film.

In other words, “Star Trek” is not just a franchise. As Alex Kurtzman , who oversees all “Star Trek” TV production, puts it, “‘Star Trek’ is an institution.”

Without a steady infusion of new blood, though, institutions have a way of fading into oblivion (see soap operas, MySpace, Blockbuster Video). To keep “Star Trek” thriving has meant charting a precarious course to satisfy the fans who have fueled it for decades while also discovering innovative ways to get new audiences on board.

“Doing ‘Star Trek’ means that you have to deliver something that’s entirely familiar and entirely fresh at the same time,” Kurtzman says.

The franchise has certainly weathered its share of fallow periods, most recently after “Nemesis” bombed in theaters in 2002 and UPN canceled “Enterprise” in 2005. It took 12 years for “Star Trek” to return to television with the premiere of “Discovery” in 2017; since then, however, there has been more “Star Trek” on TV than ever: The adventure series “Strange New Worlds,” the animated comedy “Lower Decks” and the kids series “Prodigy” are all in various stages of production, and the serialized thriller “Picard” concluded last year, when it ranked, along with “Strange New Worlds,” among Nielsen’s 10 most-watched streaming original series for multiple weeks. Nearly one in five Paramount+ subscribers in the U.S. is watching at least one “Star Trek” series, according to the company, and more than 50% of fans watching one of the new “Trek” shows also watch at least two others. The new shows air in 200 international markets and are dubbed into 35 languages. As “Discovery” launches its fifth and final season in April, “Star Trek” is in many ways stronger than it’s ever been.

“’Star Trek’s fans have kept it alive more times than seems possible,” says Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., who executive produces the TV series through Roddenberry Entertainment. “While many shows rightfully thank their fans for supporting them, we literally wouldn’t be here without them.”

But the depth of fan devotion to “Star Trek” also belies a curious paradox about its enduring success: “It’s not the largest fan base,” says Akiva Goldsman, “Strange New Worlds” executive producer and co-showrunner. “It’s not ‘Star Wars.’ It’s certainly not Marvel.”

When J.J. Abrams rebooted “Star Trek” in 2009 — with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldaña playing Kirk, Spock and Uhura — the movie grossed more than any previous “Star Trek” film by a comfortable margin. But neither that film nor its two sequels broke $500 million in global grosses, a hurdle every other top-tier franchise can clear without breaking a sweat.

There’s also the fact that “Star Trek” fans are aging. I ask “The Next Generation” star Jonathan Frakes, who’s acted in or directed more versions of “Star Trek” than any other person alive, how often he meets fans for whom the new “Star Trek” shows are their first. “Of the fans who come to talk to me, I would say very, very few,” he says. “‘Star Trek’ fans, as we know, are very, very, very loyal — and not very young.”

As Stapf puts it: “There’s a tried and true ‘Trek’ fan that is probably going to come to every ‘Star Trek,’ no matter what it is — and we want to expand the universe.”

Every single person I spoke to for this story talked about “Star Trek” with a joyful earnestness as rare in the industry as (nerd alert) a Klingon pacifist.

“When I’m meeting fans, sometimes they’re coming to be confirmed, like I’m kind of a priest,” Ethan Peck says during a break in filming on the “Strange New Worlds” set. He’s in full Spock regalia — pointy ears, severe eyebrows, bowl haircut — and when asked about his earliest memories of “Star Trek,” he stares off into space in what looks like Vulcan contemplation. “I remember being on the playground in second or third grade and doing the Vulcan salute, not really knowing where it came from,” he says. “When I thought of ‘Star Trek,’ I thought of Spock. And now I’m him. It’s crazy.”

To love “Star Trek” is to love abstruse science and cowboy diplomacy, complex moral dilemmas and questions about the meaning of existence. “It’s ultimately a show with the most amazing vision of optimism, I think, ever put on-screen in science fiction,” says Kurtzman, who is 50. “All you need is two minutes on the news to feel hopeless now. ‘Star Trek’ is honestly the best balm you could ever hope for.”

I’m getting a tour of the USS Enterprise from Scotty — or, rather, “Strange New World” production designer Jonathan Lee, who is gushing in his native Scottish burr as we step into the starship’s transporter room. “I got such a buzzer from doing this, I can’t tell you,” he says. “I actually designed four versions of it.”

Lee is especially proud of the walkway he created to run behind the transporter pads — an innovation that allows the production to shoot the characters from a brand-new set of angles as they beam up from a far-flung planet. It’s one of the countless ways that this show has been engineered to be as cinematic as possible, part of Kurtzman’s overall vision to make “Star Trek” on TV feel like “a movie every week.”

Kurtzman’s tenure with “Star Trek” began with co-writing the screenplay for Abrams’ 2009 movie, which was suffused with a fast-paced visual style that was new to the franchise. When CBS Studios approached Kurtzman in the mid-2010s about bringing “Star Trek” back to TV, he knew instinctively that it needed to be just as exciting as that film.

“The scope was so much different than anything we had ever done on ‘Next Gen,’” says Frakes, who’s helmed two feature films with the “Next Generation” cast and directed episodes of almost every live-action “Trek” TV series, including “Discovery” and “Strange New Worlds.” “Every department has the resources to create.”

A new science lab set for Season 3, for example, boasts a transparent floor atop a four-foot pool of water that swirls underneath the central workbench, and the surrounding walls sport a half dozen viewscreens with live schematics custom designed by a six-person team. “I like being able to paint on a really big canvas,” Kurtzman says. “The biggest challenge is always making sure that no matter how big something gets, you’re never losing focus on that tiny little emotional story.”

At this point, is there a genre that “Strange New Worlds” can’t do? “As long as we’re in storytelling that is cogent and sure handed, I’m not sure there is,” Goldsman says with an impish smile. “Could it do Muppets? Sure. Could it do black and white, silent, slapstick? Maybe!”

This approach is also meant to appeal to people who might want to watch “Star Trek” but regard those 668 hours of backstory as an insurmountable burden. “You shouldn’t have to watch a ‘previously on’ to follow our show,” Myers says.

To achieve so many hairpin shifts in tone and setting while maintaining Kurtzman’s cinematic mandate, “Strange New Worlds” has embraced one of the newest innovations in visual effects: virtual production. First popularized on the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” the technology — called the AR wall — involves a towering circular partition of LED screens projecting a highly detailed, computer-generated backdrop. Rather than act against a greenscreen, the actors can see whatever fantastical surroundings their characters are inhabiting, lending a richer level of verisimilitude to the show.

But there is a catch. While the technology is calibrated to maintain a proper sense of three-dimensional perspective through the camera lens, it can be a bit dizzying for anyone standing on the set. “The images on the walls start to move in a way that makes no sense,” says Mount. “You end up having to focus on something that’s right in front of you so you don’t fall down.”

And yet, even as he’s talking about it, Mount can’t help but break into a boyish grin. “Sometimes we call it the holodeck,” he says. In fact, the pathway to the AR wall on the set is dotted with posters of the virtual reality room from “The Next Generation” and the words “Enter Holodeck” in a classic “Trek” font.

“I want to take one of those home with me,” Peck says. Does the AR wall also affect him? “I don’t really get disoriented by it. Spock would not get ill, so I’m Method acting.”

I’m on the set of the “Star Trek” TV movie “Section 31,” seated in an opulent nightclub with a view of a brilliant, swirling nebula, watching Yeoh rehearse with director Olatunde Osunsanmi and her castmates. Originally, the project was announced as a TV series centered on Philippa Georgiou, the semi-reformed tyrant Yeoh originated on “Discovery.” But between COVID delays and the phenomenon of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” there wasn’t room in the veteran actress’s schedule to fit a season of television. Yeoh was undaunted.

“We’d never let go of her,” she says of her character. “I was just blown away by all the different things I could do with her. Honestly, it was like, ‘Let’s just get it done, because I believe in this.’”

If that means nothing to you, don’t worry: The enormity of the revelation that Garrett is being brought back is meant only for fans. If you don’t know who the character is, you’re not missing anything.

“It was always my goal to deliver an entertaining experience that is true to the universe but appeals to newcomers,” says screenwriter Craig Sweeny. “I wanted a low barrier of entry so that anybody could enjoy it.”

Nevertheless, including Garrett on the show is exactly the kind of gasp-worthy detail meant to flood “Star Trek” fans with geeky good feeling.

“You cannot create new fans to the exclusion of old fans,” Kurtzman says. “You must serve your primary fan base first and you must keep them happy. That is one of the most important steps to building new fans.”

On its face, that maxim would make “Section 31” a genuine risk. The titular black-ops organization has been controversial with “Star Trek” fans since it was introduced in the 1990s. “The concept is almost antagonistic to some of the values of ‘Star Trek,’” Sweeny says. But he still saw “Section 31” as an opportunity to broaden what a “Star Trek” project could be while embracing the radical inclusivity at the heart of the franchise’s appeal.

“Famously, there’s a spot for everybody in Roddenberry’s utopia, so I was like, ‘Well, who would be the people who don’t quite fit in?’” he says. “I didn’t want to make the John le Carré version, where you’re in the headquarters and it’s backbiting and shades of gray. I wanted to do the people who were at the edges, out in the field. These are not people who necessarily work together the way you would see on a ‘Star Trek’ bridge.”

For Osunsanmi, who grew up watching “The Next Generation” with his father, it boils down to a simple question: “Is it putting good into the world?” he asks. “Are these characters ultimately putting good into the world? And, taking a step back, are we putting good into the world? Are we inspiring humans watching this to be good? That’s for me what I’ve always admired about ‘Star Trek.’”

Should “Section 31” prove successful, Yeoh says she’s game for a sequel. And Kurtzman is already eyeing more opportunities for TV movies, including a possible follow-up to “Picard.” The franchise’s gung-ho sojourn into streaming movies, however, stands in awkward contrast to the persistent difficulty Paramount Pictures and Abrams’ production company Bad Robot have had making a feature film following 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond” — the longest theaters have gone without a “Star Trek” movie since Paramount started making them.

First, a movie reuniting Pine’s Capt. Kirk with his late father — played in the 2009 “Star Trek” by Chris Hemsworth — fell apart in 2018. Around the same time, Quentin Tarantino publicly flirted with, then walked away from, directing a “Star Trek” movie with a 1930s gangster backdrop. Noah Hawley was well into preproduction on a “Star Trek” movie with a brand-new cast, until then-studio chief Emma Watts abruptly shelved it in 2020. And four months after Abrams announced at Paramount’s 2022 shareholders meeting that his 2009 cast would return for a movie directed by Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”), Shakman left the project to make “The Fantastic Four” for Marvel. (It probably didn’t help that none of the cast had been approached before Abrams made his announcement.)

The studio still intends to make what it’s dubbed the “final chapter” for the Pine-Quinto-Saldaña cast, and Steve Yockey (“The Flight Attendant”) is writing a new draft of the script. Even further along is another prospective “Star Trek” film written by Seth Grahame-Smith (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and to be directed by Toby Haynes (“Andor,” “Black Mirror: USS Callister”) that studio insiders say is on track to start preproduction by the end of the year. That project will serve as an origin story of sorts for the main timeline of the entire franchise. In both cases, the studio is said to be focused on rightsizing the budgets to fit within the clear box office ceiling for “Star Trek” feature films.

Far from complaining, everyone seems to relish the challenge. Visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman says that “working with Alex, the references are always at least $100 million movies, if not more, so we just kind of reverse engineer how do we do that without having to spend the same amount of money and time.”

The workload doesn’t seem to faze him either. “Visual effects people are a big, big ‘Star Trek’ fandom,” he says. “You naturally just get all these people who go a little bit above and beyond, and you can’t trade that for anything.”

In one of Kurtzman’s several production offices in Toronto, he and production designer Matthew Davies are scrutinizing a series of concept drawings for the newest “Star Trek” show, “Starfleet Academy.” A bit earlier, they showed me their plans for the series’ central academic atrium, a sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space. To fit it all, they plan to use every inch of Pinewood Toronto’s 45,900 square foot soundstage, the largest in Canada.

But this is a “Star Trek” show, so there do need to be starships, and Kurtzman is discussing with Davies about how one of them should look. The issue is that “Starfleet Academy” is set in the 32nd century, an era so far into the future Kurtzman and his team need to invent much of its design language.

“For me, this design is almost too Klingon,” Kurtzman says. “I want to see the outline and instinctively, on a blink, recognize it as a Federation ship.”

The time period was first introduced on Season 3 of “Discovery,” when the lead character, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), transported the namesake starship and its crew there from the 23rd century. “It was exciting, because every time we would make a decision, we would say, ‘And now that’s canon,’” says Martin-Green.

“We listened to a lot of it,” Kurtzman says. “I think I’ve been able to separate the toxic fandom from really true fans who love ‘Star Trek’ and want you to hear what they have to say about what they would like to see.”

By Season 2, the “Discovery” writers pivoted from its dour, war-torn first season and sent the show on its trajectory 900-plus years into the future. “We had to be very aware of making sure that Spock was in the right place and that Burnham’s existence was explained properly, because she was never mentioned in the original series,” says executive producer and showrunner Michelle Paradise. “What was fun about jumping into the future is that it was very much fresh snow.”

That freedom affords “Starfleet Academy” far more creative latitude while also dramatically reducing how much the show’s target audience of tweens and teens needs to know about “Star Trek” before watching — which puts them on the same footing as the students depicted in the show. “These are kids who’ve never had a red alert before,” Noga Landau, executive producer and co-showrunner, says. “They never had to operate a transporter or be in a phaser fight.”

In the “Starfleet Academy” writers’ room in Secret Hideout’s Santa Monica offices, Kurtzman tells the staff — a mix of “Star Trek” die-hards, part-time fans and total newbies — that he wants to take a 30,000-foot view for a moment. “I think we need to ground in science more throughout the show,” he says, a giant framed photograph of Spock ears just over his shoulder. “The kids need to use science more to solve problems.”

Immediately, one of the writers brightens. “Are you saying we can amp up the techno-babble?” she says. “I’m just excited I get to use my computer science degree.”

After they break for lunch, Kurtzman is asked how much longer he plans to keep making “Star Trek.” 

“The minute I fall out of love with it is the minute that it’s not for me anymore. I’m not there yet,” he says. “To be able to build in this universe to tell stories that are fundamentally about optimism and a better future at a time when the world seems to be falling apart — it’s a really powerful place to live every day.”

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Published Dec 14, 2018

Why Archer Hated The Vulcans

We examine why Archer isn't too fond of the Vulcans

startrek.com

Star Trek 101 serves two functions: succinctly introduce Star Trek newcomers to the basic foundations and elements of the franchise and refresh the memories of longtime Trek fans. We're pulling our entries from the book Star Trek 101: A Practical Guide to Who, What, Where, And Why , written by Terry J. Erdmann & Paula M. Block and published in 2008 by Pocket Books. An invaluable resource, it encompasses The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise , as well as the first 10 Trek feature films.

Today, we share Star Trek 101 's file examining why Archer hates the Vulcans.

The Vulcans have been hanging out on Earth ever since pioneer Zefram Cochrane made his first trip into space in a warp-powered vessel. Yet, they still haven't shared their advanced technology with us because they say that humans aren't ready. Jonathan Archer believes those delaying tactics prevented his father -- who worked on warp engines for more than 30 years -- from seeing his own engines fly. This, understandably, ticked Archer off. His subsequent friendship with T'Pol, and a "meeting of the minds" with Surak, the father of Vulcan philosophy, helped rid Archer of the chip on his shoulder.

Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann are coauthors of numerous books about the entertainment industry, including Star Trek 101; Star Trek Costumes: Fifty Years of Fashion from the Final Frontier ; Star Trek: The Original Series 365 ; and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion . They currently are writing the latest in their series of Ferengi novellas, which (so far) includes Lust’s Latinum Lost (and Found) ; and Rules of Accusation . Their most recent non- Star Trek book is Labyrinth: The Ultimate Visual History.

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The Next Star Trek Movie Will Be An Origin Story For The Entire Franchise

When a franchise has lasted for upwards of half a century and is still going strong, the decision-makers in charge will inevitably run into one pressing question above all others: Where do we go next? "Star Trek" became a beloved institution among the nerdiest of fans for a pretty good reason, largely because of its wholesale commitment to treading new ground and envisioning a new future. But with the franchise firing on all cylinders these days (on television, at least) and no signs of slowing down anytime soon, writers have become increasingly hard-pressed to boldly go where no others have gone before ... literally speaking, that is, since recent "Star Trek" shows like "Strange New Worlds," "Lower Decks," "Discovery," "Picard," and more have filled in all sorts of gaps in the official canon.

It's no secret that Paramount is eager to get back in the big-screen business for "Trek," however, and one of the more intriguing productions currently in the works seems to have settled on its main focus. We previously knew that "Black Mirror" and "Andor" director Toby Haynes had been tapped to lead an untitled upcoming "Star Trek" movie – one that's not  meant as a continuation of the alternate-universe (aka Kelvin Timeline) movies starring Chris Pine and the rest of those films' cast. The studio is still playing its cards close to the chest on this, but a new report has shed a little more light on what we can expect from this mysterious motion picture.

The key phrase, apparently, is "origin story."

An origin story ... 'of sorts'

Variety has the scoop on the future of "Star Trek," unveiling a flashy new cover story covering practically every corner of the (fictional) universe. One tidbit buried among the rest, however, paints a rather interesting picture of what one of the movies in development could end up focusing on. With names like Toby Haynes and writer Seth Grahame-Smith ("The LEGO Batman Movie," "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter") attached, there's clearly no shortage of creative talent looking to put their stamp on future plans for the franchise. Figuring out what exactly that direction should be, however, is another story altogether.

According to the report, fans can expect the movie to "serve as an origin story of sorts for the main timeline of the entire ['Star Trek'] franchise ." What that means, of course, is anybody's guess. In terms of the timeline, the best guess is that this will take place long before the events of the 2009 J.J. Abrams semi-reboot and that of "The Original Series" as well. Discounting time-travel adventures that placed contemporary "Trek" characters on, say, 20th Century Earth, the earliest era of the canon that we've seen was previously explored in "Star Trek: Enterprise," which is set a full century before the likes of Captain James T. Kirk or Mr. Spock ever stepped foot on the USS Enterprise.

Trekkies already know how events like First Contact between humanity and the Vulcans unfolded or how events like the Eugenics Wars ravaged the Earth and set our civilization on a course for the stars, so could this in-development movie tackle the formation of Starfleet and the Federation as a whole? At this point, your guess is as good as ours. We'll definitely be keeping a close eye on this one.

Star Trek 4 Gets Back on Course With New Screenwriter Revealed

Star Trek 4 might be finally getting out of development hell with a new writer attached to the project.

A planned fourth movie set in Star Trek 's Kelvin Timeline has been planned for several years, but multiple false starts have had fans doubting that the movie might ever get made. However, Paramount hasn't pulled the plug on the project, as it's getting back onto the rails with a new screenwriter on board. Per Variety , It's been revealed that Steve Yockey has signed on as the new screenwriter for Star Trek 4 .

A Complete History of the Pre-Federation Vulcans in Star Trek

Steve Yockey is the co-creator and developer of the acclaimed Max series The Flight Attendant . His work on the show earned him multiple nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards. He is also a co-showrunner and writer of the upcoming Netflix series Dead Boy Detectives , a spinoff of The Sandman . He also worked on Doom Patrol , Supernatural , and the Scream television series.

The Kelvin Timeline was launched with the Star Trek reboot film released in 2009. It introduced a new cast taking on familiar characters from Star Trek: The Original Series , including Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldaña as Nyota Uhura, Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard McCoy, John Cho as Hikaru Sulu, Simon Pegg as Montgomery Scott, and the late Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov.

William Shatner Joins Leonard Nimoy's Family in Remembering the Star Trek Legend

Star Trek was given two sequels. The first, Star Trek Into Darkness , was released in 2013, later followed by Star Trek Beyond in 2016. Plans to make a sequel have been around since that film's release, as Paramount first announced Star Trek 4 would happen in 2016, originally with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay writing the script. Different potential writers and directors have since revolved through the project as the years progressed, with The Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman on board at one point.

Other Star Trek Movies Are Planned

There are big plans at Paramount to expand the world of Star Trek , and that includes developing another feature film separate from Star Trek 4 . Another planned project is currently in the works with writer Seth Grahame-Smith ( Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter ) and director Toby Haynes ( Black Mirror 's "USS Callister"). This will introduce a new cast that's described as more of an origin story for the franchise. Meanwhile, another Star Trek film with Kalinda Vazquez ( Fear the Walking Dead ) attached to write is also in development.

Star Trek 4 does not have a release date at this time.

Source: Variety

Star Trek 4

To save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales.

Director Leonard Nimoy

Release Date November 26, 1986

Cast Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, William Shatner, George Takei, Leonard Nimoy, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan

Writers Harve Bennett, Gene Roddenberry, Leonard Nimoy

Runtime 1 Hour 59 Minutes

Main Genre Science Fiction

Genres Comedy, Action, Science Fiction, Adventure

Production Company Paramount Pictures, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)