These incredible Star Trek Discovery fan theories might be wrong, but wouldn’t it be awesome if they were right?
ICYMI: Here are our top 10 picks to take the captain’s chair when Star Trek Discovery hits this January.
Most people seemed convinced that Star Trek Discovery will be set around the time of, or just before, Star Trek: The Original Series. The reasoning behind this assumption is that the registry number for the Discovery is NCC-1031.
But not everyone is convinced that Star Trek Discovery is just another prequel, as usual Star Trek fans have come up with some really compelling fan theories.
Check out these four fan theories and then tell us what you think.
Next: THEORY 1: STAR TREK APOCALYPSE
Star Trek Apocalypse
This theory says that perhaps Discovery isn’t a brand new Starfleet vessel at all. Maybe the reason Discovery is coming out of a secret asteroid base while imposing and ominous music plays is that the series is set in a darker time, a time when the galaxy has suffered some sort of great apocalypse.
If Star Trek Discovery were set in the distant future, even by Star Trek standards, hundreds of years after Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek: Voyager. The once mighty Federation is now a shell of its former self and has used the last of its resources to build once last ship. Maybe they don’t even have the ability to create a new ship, perhaps the ship is a mixed vessel made from the wrecks of other vessels. That might explain why Discovery looks like it’s part Klingon Battle Cruiser or Cardassian Galor class. Being built from older ships would also explain that low registry number.
The Discovery’s mission would be to try to reestablish the lines of communication between former Federation worlds and patch together a new Federation.
The Star Trek apocalypse theory would make for some compelling Trek, and would certainly open up the galaxy to some fresh ideas and adventures.
Next: THEORY 2: STAR TREK SECTION 31
Star Trek Section 31
This theory also revolves around Discovery’s NCC-1031 registry number and was shared with us by Andy Corneillie on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook page.
Here’s what Andy had to say about Star Trek Section 31:
"I’m certain someone on the Internet has already thought of this but so far it’s been absent from the AICN comment section. In “Deep Space Nine” we learned of a black ops organization that operates independently of Starfleet Intelligence. We saw it again in UPN’s “Enterprise” and we saw an Abramsverse version of it in “Star Trek Into Darkness.” In each instance this secret organization was referred to as Section 31 (so named because it derives its operating authority from the Starfleet charter – Article 14, Section 31). Section 31 has always been charged with dealing with “extraordinary” threats to the Federation. I suspect this is why the U.S.S. Discovery sports the numerical designation NCC-1031. (The “10” part added of course just to make it more Halloweeny.) If the ship is a component of the secret Section 31, that might also explain why the Discovery appears to make its home hidden in a hollowed-out asteroid."
We’ve always loved the Section 31 story line from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and a show about a Section 31 ship would take Trek in a new and intriguing direction.
Next: THEORY 3: STAR TREK KLINGONS
Star Trek Klingons
This theory is based on the Discovery having some similarities in style to a Klingon Battle Cruiser. We know that the Klingons to eventually join the Federation from the “Azati Prime” episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.
"ARCHER: The Federation? You’ve mentioned them before. DANIELS: Vulcans, Andorians, Ithenites, Klingons, dozens of species, including humans, all unified in a powerful alliance."
Perhaps Star Trek Discovery is set around the time that the Klingons and the Federation first merged. Maybe Discovery is even the first ship built and crewed by both Klingons and the Federation. A mixed Klingon and Federation crew certainly would be the undiscovered country now wouldn’t it? It would also explain that Klingon sounding music in the Star Trek Discovery trailer.
Next: TEHORY 4: THE ROMULAN WAR
Star Trek The Romulan War
Towards the end of the Star Trek Discovery trailer many fans said they thought they heard a cloaking device. The sound of the cloaking device could be coming from the Discovery as it cloaks, which might lend credence to the Klingon and Section 31 theories, or it could be the sound of a Romulan ship cloaking.
We know the Federation and Romulans fought a war from 2156 – 2160 that ended in a treaty that created the Romulan neutral zone. Other conflicts with the Romulans could have happened however, even though the Romulans and Federation didn’t make first contact until Star Trek: The Original Series.
A Romulan war, or Romulan cold war series would again leave plenty of room for intrigue and secret missions from an asteroid base.
Next: Our top 10 picks for Star Trek Discovery's captain
So what do you think? Do you have your own theory about Star Trek Discovery? Let us know on Facebook or in the comments below.