Star Trek Headcanon Reimagined, 8: Disassociation

The first seven seasons of this continuity have been about space travel. We've followed the crews of various Enterprises (and a couple of Birds Of Prey) as they've traveled the galaxy boldly going where plots determined they should go. But now is the time in continuity where we focus on a space station where alien races come and go while the crew mainly stays in orbit over Bajor, guarding a wormhole. While the crew of The Enterprise deals with time related problems, the crew of Deep Space Nine deals with various aspects of the Cardassian/Bajoran conflict. And Voyager joins our continuity as a ship lost in the far-off Delta Quadrant. 

A main theme of this season, though, is breaks with reality. Not that sci-fi trope where the whole world branches off from reality. In this case, it's various Star Trek officers on various ships each experiencing an event where they question whether they're losing their minds. We also get a brief trip back to the mirrorverse!

Art by Rachel Stott, from the cover of the Star Trek 2023 Annual issue put out by IDW comics

Season 8:
Disassociation

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TOS - The Original Series, 1963-1967                TNG - The Next Generation, 1987-94
DS9  - Deep Space Nine, 1993-99                VOY - Voyager, 1995-2001 
LD - Lower Decks, 2020-ongoing

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801 & 802. The Caretaker (VOY)
(Janeway, Kim, Paris, Chakotay, Torres, Tuvok, Neelix, Doctor, Kes, Quark)

The Maquis situation is out of control, and The Federation has called in Voyager to handle it. Our new cast of officers follows our new cast of villains through a wormhole and end up waaaaaaaaaaaaay far away from home, and might even have to work together to survive. Cool concept, right? Well, it will go out the window pretty shortly, so enjoy the tension while it lasts.


803. First Contact (TNG)
(Picard, Riker, Troi, Crusher, Data, Worf)
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Prime Directive episodes are usually tedious interactions where different crew members argue over whether or not to help some world that they probably imperiled in the first place. I've spared you from most of them. In this episode, they've pretty much been caught violating The Prime Directive, despite their best efforts to blend in to an alien populace. This is a damage control episode where the crew tries to work diplomatically to rescue Riker, who was undercover as a Malcorian. There's a lot of American political allegory that is still, sadly, relevant, twenty-six years after this episode aired, but it's not as heavy handed as Star Trek allegory often is.


804. Second Contact / Envoys (LD)
(Boimler, Mariner, Tendi, Rutherford, Freeman, Ransom, T'ana, Barnes)

In this episode, we meet the crew of the Cerritos, whose mission is to visit planets that have had some limited contact with The Federation. Instead of the bridge crew, we spend more time seeing things through the eyes of the less-experienced crew. Then we watch ensign Boimler worry that Mariner is better at everything than he is.


805. Timescape (TNG)
(Picard, Data, Troi, Laforge, Crusher, Riker, Worf)

While several key officers are on an away mission, The Enterprise attempts to rescue some Romulans and everything goes wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey. The away team thinks they've figured out a way to overcome the time problems, but can they fix The Enterprise or the Romulan vessel before either or both of them explode?


806. Crossover (DS9)
(Kira, Bashir, Sisko, Odo, Dax, O'Brien, Quark, Garak)

It's really a Golden Age of Star Trek. Next Gen overlaps with Deep Space Nine, which then overlaps with Voyager. Such good times. So why not have a crossover. But let's have Deep Space Nine crossover with, oh, I don't know, THE MIRRORVERSE DEEP SPACE NINE. Dun dun dun. Any timeline with Smiley O'Brien in it, seems like a fine timeline to me.


807. Learning Curve (VOY)
(Janeway, Tuvok, Torres, Chakotay, Neelix, Doctor, Kes, Paris, Kim)

One of the rare Voyager episodes that spent time dealing with the differences between Starfleet and The Maquis. Also, Neelix accidentally causes some unique chaos.


808. Lower Decks (TNG)
(Picard, Worf, Crusher, Riker, Laforge, Troi, Data, a bunch of people you'll never see again)

Did you know there are other people on the Enterprise besides the usual crew? In this episode we watch a bunch of ensigns vying for promotion on the ship. It's a cool way to explore the relationship between the senior staff, and how they've grown over the duration of the show.


809. Relics (TNG)
(Scott, Laforge, Picard, Riker, Crusher, Worf, Data)
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One of the best episodes of the series, the crew of The Enterprise finds Commander Scott from TOS trapped in a transporter loop. Not only is this the best episode featuring Scott of the series, it's one of the best Laforge episodes, too. That's three "best"s in one paragraph. It seems as though I enjoyed this treatise on how quickly technology makes the old seem obsolete.


810. I Borg (TNG)
(Picard, Crusher, Laforge, Guinan, Data, Riker, Troi, Worf)

The Borg are interesting villains in that they don't care to kill or acknowledge individuals, they are only interested in assimilating entire species at once. So when the crew of The Enterprise rescues a single Borg, against the wishes of Picard, Guinan, and most of the crew, everyone has to reevaluate their position on TNG's biggest bad. This episode gave me one the most positive visceral reactions to a Star Trek episode I've ever had.


811. Changeling (TOS)
(Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Uhura, Sulu, Chapel)

It's the original series cast vs. Wall-E, as a friendly little Starfleet droid threatens to destroy the entire universe if it doesn't get its way.


812. Dreadnought (VOY)
(Torres, Janeway, Chakotay, Doctor)

There isn't enough of the Maquis storyline in Voyager, given its pilot episode. This is a nice glimpse of what might have been as Torres encounters a Cardassian weapon she reprogrammed when she was a part of the Maquis. Can she stop it from destroying a completely innocent planet full of life?


813. Whispers (DS9)
(O'Brien, Keiko, Sisko, Bashir, Odo, Jake, Quark)

Is O'Brien having memory problems? Or is he just fine, and the entire crew of Deep Space Nine, including his wife, has turned evil? This is a fun twist on the alternate universe trope in Star Trek. 


814. Flashback (VOY)
(Tuvok, Janeway, Sulu, Rand, Neelix, Kes, Doctor, Chakotay, Kim, Kang)

On Voyager, Tuvok seems to be having an emotional response to a memory. In order to determine the cause, he mind melds with Janeway and they go back to his most important memory, when he served under Captain Sulu, during the plot of "The Undiscovered Country", way back in season three of this continuity. I think this would have been a solid episode, even if it didn't feature cast members from TOS, but seeing Sulu and Rand again is an absolute blast. Plus, Kang from a terrible TOS epsode, "Day Of The Dove," is back again (and yes, he is the basis for the Treehouse Of Horror alien from The Simpsons).


815. Frame Of Mind (TNG)
(Riker, Picard, Crusher, Worf, Data, Laforge)

Is Riker insane? While practicing a play about losing his mind, Riker wakes up in solitary confinement. Uh-oh.


816. Eye Of The Needle (VOY)
(Janeway, Torres, Tuvok, Paris, Kim, Doctor, Neelix, Kes)

Is the crew of Voyager saved already?  They find a wormhole back to the Alpha Quadrant. Ok, it's too small to fit a ship through, but they can send a message and get rescued, right?


817. Parallels (TNG)
(Worf, Troi, Riker, Data, Crusher, Laforge, Picard, Wesley)

Much of this season has dealt with Starfleet officers having some sort of breaks with reality. And now Worf is having memory issues  Is he married to Troi now? Is this going to end up being an alternate universe episode or is this whole season just a mess of red herrings?


818. Projections (VOY)
(Doctor, Janeway, Tuvok, Torres, Neelix, Barclay)

Going all the way back to the first season of our journey, the doctors on board the various Star Trek vessels really shine when an episode spotlights them. Mccoy's various lovelife problems, Phlox trying to fit in with humans on Enterprise, Crusher watching the entire crew vanish on TNG, Bashir...well, I'm sure Bashir will get interesting eventually. But Doctor on Voyager is just a hologram. How does that make him feel? And, wait, how is Barclay here?


819 & 820. Chain Of Command (TNG)
(Picard, Worf, Crusher, Riker, Troi, Laforge, Data)

There are FOUR lights, and they all point to a war with the Cardassians on the horizon.