Star Trek Headcanon, 1: So Little Provocation

In 2017, I first crafted my pared down guide to watching Star Trek in a way that I hadn't seen suggested on other websites. It's not chronological by stardate. It's not in the order it was aired on television. It's an attempt to create storylines by thematic conversations between the various television series and movies in the Star Trek franchise.

At the time, that meant The Original Series, The Animated Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Well, it wasn't long before a new show, Discovery first aired, adding an entire new crew and set of storylines to continue. Then Lower Decks began. Then Picard. Then Prodigy. Then Strange New Worlds. And there are still more on the horizon. It's MADNESS.

There were 550 hours of tv shows and movies in the franchise when I began this project. There are currently over 840 hours.

This first season is an introduction to three different crews of the USS Enterprise. The first chronological crew from Enterprise, the first canonical crew from The Original Series, and the first crew from the revival series, Discovery. 

The three interweave pretty easily, as there are races and characters that carry us from one crew to another. In this season, we'll get to know the Klingons (and go to war with them on two different fronts), the Romulans (and try to avoid war with them), the Vulcans, the Andorians, and the Tellarites. We'll also see at least one character show up in multiple series.

There's a large arc near the end of this season about Starfleet's relationship with the Andorians, and the season is bookended by encounters with the Romulans.

I am nearly at the end of a group watchthrough of my original reimagining, and am unlikely to sit down and watch this reimagining soon, but I hope someone else will, and tell me what they think about how this season comes together.

Whatever he's having, I'll have something else.

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Season 1:
So Little Provocation

TOS = Star Trek (The Original Series), 1966-1969          ENT = Star Trek Enterprise, 2001-2005
DIS - Star Trek Discovery, 2017-2024

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Episode 101: The Balance Of Terror (TOS)
(Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Rand, Sulu, Scott, Uhura)

Kirk is one of the worst parts of The Original Series (TOS). He's frequently possessed, crazy, or trapped on a planet while his ship is in peril. He's always off on ill-advised away missions, and if you cut out Shatner's dramatic pauses, the average TOS episode is only four minutes long. But in this episode, we see him at his best. "The Balance Of Terror" introduces us to The Romulans, a species whom The Federation is at war with. Kirk engages in what would be a submarine chase movie, if submarines were starships, and water was...well, you get the idea. This is my favorite episode of TOS, and a decent introduction to its major players.


Episode 102: Dear Doctor (ENT)
(Phlox, Cutler, Sato, T'Pol, Archer, Mayweather, Reed, Trip)

The series Enterprise is a prequel to TOS, but to watch it first, and then follow it with TOS is a disservice to both, as is watching it after the other modern series, so I'm sprinkling Enterprise as backstory during the entire series. In this first glimpse into the days before TOS, we witness The Enterprise through the eyes of the ship's Doctor Phlox, and meet the crew of the original Enterprise, as they grapple with an odd stage of evolution in an alien species.


Episode 103: Galileo Seven (TOS)
(Spock, Scott, Kirk, McCoy, Sulu, Uhura)

While on a research mission, led by Spock, a small crew of Enterprise officers is stranded on a planet. For once, Kirk is not on the away mission, and so he and The Enterprise search for Spock and the shuttlecraft. The focus on the Vulcan logic vs the human crew's emotions is handled much better here than in most episodes. Plus, we rarely get to see Spock and Scotty play off each other as often as they do here.


Episode 104: Shuttlepod One (ENT)
(Reed, Trip, Archer, T'Pol, Phlox, Sato, Mayweather)

While on a research mission, led by Trip, a couple of Enterprise officers are stranded in space. For once, Archer is not on the away mission, so he and The Enterprise search for Reed and Trip on the shuttlecraft. The focus on Reed's dispassion vs Trip's.... This is So Familiar.  But also more fun, despite the lack of giants.


Episode 105: The Man Trap (TOS)
(McCoy, Kirk, Spock, Rand, Sulu, Uhura)

Moving on to the next Doctor on The Enterprise, McCoy ends up running into an old flame on a research station. This being Star Trek, things are not as they seem. This is on some peoples' Worst Episodes list, but I think it's ridiculous sixties sci-fi in a fun way, and it's focus on the often under-used McCoy makes me happy.


Episode 106: Naked Time (TOS)
(Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Riley, McCoy, Scott, Rand, Uhura, Chapel)

A disease that causes its victims to act irrationally ends up on Enterprise, severely affecting the crew, particularly Sulu and Riley.  Mind control is The Most Frequent trope in TOS, but here it's focused more on fun than on allowing Shatner to overact.


Episode 107: Conscience Of The King (TOS)
(Kirk, Riley, McCoy, Spock, Rand, Uhura)

Shakespeare in space! An acting troupe may be hiding a mass murderer, and it's up to Kirk (who's totally in love!) to draw him out. Sadly, this is the last time we'll see Rand and Riley for a very, very long time.


Episode 108: Dagger Of The Mind (TOS)
(Kirk, McCoy, Spock, Uhura)

An escaped mental patient (from a planet-sized asylum, of course) beams onto The Enterprise. When Kirk and one of McCoy's staff go to examine the psych ward, they discover something nefarious, naturally.


Episode 109: Errand Of Mercy (TOS)
(Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Uhura, Leslie, Kor)

The Klingon War begins in the TOS timeline. Kirk and Spock are sent to a strategically important neutral planet to keep it from falling into Klingon hands. There, they meet a Klingon who will become an important figure waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the line in Deep Space Nine, and maybe everyone will learn a lesson about their rush to violence. But probably not.


Episode 110: Context Is For Kings (DIS)
(Burnham, Saru, Stamets, Tilly, Lorca, Landry)

In the very early days of the Klingon War, Starfleet's first mutineer is taken on board a science vessel comprised of some of her former shipmates. This is our very first episode from Discovery, which is a series from the late 2010s/early 2020s that serves as a prequel to TOS but takes place after Enterprise. Got it? This episode is a great balance of sci-fi and horror tropes, and a cool intro to the pre-TOS crew.


Episode 111: Devil In The Dark (TOS)
(Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott)

This little one-shot of a small portion of the crew trying to help out a mining planet was a ton of fun, and it turns out that it's on many of the actors' Favorite Episodes list. You can see how much fun they're having as they run into another new form of alien life. This time there's no mind control, this alien is just going to straight-up kill you. See, FUN!


Episode 112: The Butcher's Knife Cares Not For The Lamb's Cry (DIS)
(Burnham, Saru, Stamets, Lorca, Tilly)

The Discovery's sister ship, The Glen was destroyed by Klingons, but Burnham and the crew found a creature called a Tardigrade on board. It appears to be one of the missing pieces to help The Discovery make faster jumps. But Burnham suspects the creature may be sentient and that using it as fuel may be causing it irreperable harm.


Episode 113: Mudd's Women (TOS)
(Kirk ,Spock, Mudd, McCoy, Scott, Sulu, Uhura)

Ladies, amirite, gents? A sleazy con artist, lonely crystal miners, and three beautiful women combine to make one of the season's most stunning examples of Good Intentions In Writing Women In Twentieth Century Sci-Fi Haven't Aged Well. 


Episode 114:  Choose Your Pain (DIS)
(Burnham, Saru, Lorca, Tyler, Stammets, Tilly, Mudd)

Lorca is kidnapped by Klingons and jailed on one of their ships. The crew believes the only way to save him is to use the Tardigrade to make a massive jump into Klingon space. But Burnham and Stammets both believe this will kill it. Also, one of Lorca's cellmate turns out to be that pesky jerk we just met in the last episode of The Original Series!


Episode 115: The Andorian Incident (ENT)
(Archer, T'Pol, Phlox, Sato, Mayweather, Reed, Trip, Shran)

Back in the time before The Federation Of Planets, The Vulcans were showing we bumbling humans around space. So it makes sense that we would want to know a little more about our tour guides. But while visiting a Vulcan monastery planet, the crew ends up in a showdown with some very crabby (I guess irritable is a better word, as they don't walk sideways or have claw appendages) blue antennaed jerks. Luckily, space is so vast that, once you encounter an alien race,  you never see them ever again.


Episode 116: Journey To Babel (TOS)
(Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Chekov, Uhura, Sarek, Amanda)

It's Meet The Parents, Vulcan style, as Spock's mumsy and dadsy are sent as ambassadors to broker some peace, when a fight breaks out between the Tellarites and the Andori-- (Wait seriously? More blue jerks already? What is this Avatar?). This is a really good episode about diplomacy in both the political and family setting, and gives us an interesting glimpse into Spock. Plus, those blue jerks eventually grow on me. Like antennae.


Episode 117: Shadows Of P'Jem (ENT)
(Archer, T'Pol, Shran, Phlox, Reed, Mayweather, Sato, Tucker)

Falling out from the previous episode, the Vulcans are unhappy with T'Pol's performance on Enterprise and also wish to interrogate Archer about what happened on the monestary planet. But before they can get to them, Archer and T'Pol are kidnapped. 


Episode 118 & 119: Babel One/United (ENT)
(Archer, Shran, Reed, Trip, T'Pol, Phlox, Mayweather, Sato)

Oh, for fuck's sake. An Andorian ship is attacked by some Tellarites, who were attacked by some Andorians, and Klingons are in the mix and--wait, someone is pitting aliens against each other, which is super easy, since they're all such incredible jerks...just like us humans! The villainous species turns out to be another returning threat from "Journey To Babel". Somehow, Reed and Trip end up getting separated from the ship and the crew again (hold it together, guys, how are you always together on the brink of death?), and we learn about another new technology that confuses our simple human brains. This is technically the first 2/3rds of a three story arc, but the last third is irrelevant to our season, so we're going to skip it.


Episode 120: The Enterprise Incident (TOS)
(Spock, Kirk, McCoy, Scott, Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, Chapel)

We started this season with The Enterprise chasing down Romulans, but haven't seen them since. Well, Starfleet has decided that the crew needs to go on board a Romulan vessel and steal a Romulan cloaking device. We've seen Kirk get creepy with the ladies, but this time good old Spock will be the catfish bait for the Romulan captain. He will, of course, me-ow logically.

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