Ah, the crossover! Is there any better way to blend beloved Star Trek series and characters? These episodes, such as Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Unification," where Ambassador Spock holds a major role, are typically lauded by both fans and critics, but what about those crossovers that never were? Season 4 Enterprise writer and producer Garfield Reeves-Stevens had the answer at this year's Trek Talks 5, which celebrated the show with a 25th anniversary panel.
Reeves-Stevens revealed a crossover idea that never panned out, which would have featured three iconic Star Trek captains, by saying via TrekMovie.com: “A story we never pitched, but we thought of, and now we’ve seen it’s quite a common thing … We thought for season 7, an ideal episode would be to have one last battle of the Temporal War, and it involves the Enterprise crew going back to the K-7 space station while Kirk’s crew is there and Sisko’s crew is there.”
While Benjamin Sisko and James T. Kirk did meet in Deep Space Nine's "Trials and Tribble-ations," it's interesting to imagine which of the three (Kirk, Sisko, and Enterprise's Captain Jonathan Archer) would have gotten along and which would have butted heads due to their leadership styles.
Crossover episodes usually cause a buzz in the Trek fandom, whether a legacy actor returns to reprise a role or an episode relies heavily on callbacks to other series. "Trials and Tribble-ations" is a fandom darling because the writers understood and utilized the crossover source material in a way that blended two series (TOS and DS9) into an episode that has since become a classic.
While some fans and critics believe that crossovers provide too much of a crutch for new or struggling series, those who study Star Trek lore usually literally or figuratively giggle and kick their feet when they watch a crossover episode because it only reinforces what they already know and love. It strengthens the timeline and gives it greater credibility to the stories we all know and love.
What do you think about the Kirk, Sisko, Archer crossover that never happend? Share your thoughts and comments with us on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook and X pages.