September 8th was international Star Trek day and to mark the occasion, StarTrek.com released a fun new video detailing the expansive timeline of the universe (and some of its parallel versions). It begins at the Big Bang, as witnessed by the Voyager crew in the episode “Death Wish” and concludes in the far off future of the 32nd century, teasing Star Trek: Discovery‘s upcoming third season.
A similar timeline was released last year, but since then, we’ve seen some new additions to the canon. The timeline now includes the events of Star Trek: Lower Decks, which take place soon after The Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space Nine in 2380 and the events of Star Trek: Picard in 2399.
In a neat twist, the video also incorporates several trips to the past. We see Kirk, Spock and McCoy’s visit to depression-era USA in “City on the Edge of Forever” and the events of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, in which the Enterprise crew travel to 1986 San Francisco to enlist the help of humpback whales in order to save the future.
We also get a note about the “Eugenics War,” which apparently took place between 1992 and 1996 and saw the Earth devastated by battles against genetically enhanced supermen. This must have passed me by. I was playing a lot of Sonic the Hedgehog and listening to grunge at this time. Sounds pretty rough, though. Respect to those who fought and died against the supermen.
Of course, the Star Trek universe will expand even further soon. The second season of Picard will continue the titular captain’s adventures, Strange New Worlds will expand upon the career of Captain Pike and, as mentioned, season 3 of Discovery promises a peek into a future where the Federation has long since crumbled. We’ll get to see exactly how that plays out next month, as Star Trek: Discovery‘s third season premieres on CBS All Access on October 15th.
