Why Doesn’t Star Trek Get Credit as the First Shared Universe?

Опубликовано 25 июня 2023, 13:15

Star Trek has been doing crossovers pretty much from the beginning, long before the MCU or the DCEU or Star Wars or any other modern franchise. And they’re set for another one in Season 2 of Strange New Worlds, which will be a first for the franchise too, as the animated characters from Star Trek: Lower Decks will make their live-action debuts for an adventure with Captain Pike and his crew.

But why doesn’t Star Trek get credit as the OG-shared universe? And how extensive is the world of Trek’s interconnectivity? We spoke to the actors and producers behind Strange New Worlds about the very topic of the Trek Cinematic Universe, so let’s dig into the franchise’s long history of crossovers and how it has deepened and strengthened Star Trek as a whole over the years!

Of course, right off the bat, there will be folks who argue what a cinematic universe even is, and what counts as the quote/unquote first of the kind. Putting aside comics, books, and even radio dramas, and sticking just to movies and TV, there are series like the James Bond films or the Planet of the Apes movies which were early examples of ongoing franchises, even if that term wasn't necessarily used at the time.

Indeed, Strange New Worlds co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman says Star Trek wasn’t the first shared universe. As is the case with a lot of nerdy subjects, the devil is kind of in the details. Going back even further than Bond or Apes or even Trek, you find things like the Universal horror movies and the Godzilla series.

But the fact is, Star Trek: The Original Series led to the Star Trek movies led to Star Trek: The Next Generation led to Deep Space Nine led to... well, you get the idea. And everything was connected to everything else, even right on up to the modern shows like Picard and Strange New Worlds!

So watch the full video as we ponder why Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek doesn't get more credit as the first shared universe...

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