By Chris Snellgrove
| Revealed
Star Trek and Star Wars have all the time had a weirdly symbiotic relationship. George Lucas has beforehand acknowledged that Star Wars would by no means have grow to be a hit if it hadn’t been in a position to stand on the shoulders of the sooner sci-fi collection. In the meantime, Star Trek by no means would have been in a position to make the leap to the large display (a transfer that made this franchise related once more) with out the success of the primary Star Wars film.
Unsurprisingly, followers have typically wished to see some type of official crossover between the 2 universes, one which might do cool issues like pit the Starship Enterprise in opposition to a Star Destroyer. Whereas we by no means bought any type of big-screen crossover like that, a forgotten episode of Star Trek: The Subsequent Era tried to deliver these fictional worlds collectively. Within the episode “Up the Lengthy Ladder,” a pc display casually mentions that vessels within the twenty second century would undertake diplomatic missions to Alderaan!
A Story Of Two Colonies
“Up the Lengthy Ladder” is a Star Trek: The Subsequent Era episode during which the Enterprise encounters two very totally different area colonies: one which beforehand forsook superior expertise in favor of an agrarian way of life and one which embraced Twenty fourth-century innovation. The second colony embraced it a little bit too onerous, and Dr. Pulaski rapidly surmises that everybody there’s a clone. They want extra viable genetic materials and kidnap Riker and Pulaski to steal their DNA. Nonetheless, Riker later destroys the clones that the colony begins cooking up, and Picard convinces them to merge with the primary colony to create a extra viable gene pool.
As you possibly can inform, the one factor with any actual Star Wars taste right here is the emphasis on clones. Nonetheless, this Star Trek episode’s reference to a galaxy far, far-off didn’t allude to the clone armies made well-known by George Lucas. That is sensible as a result of again when this episode was made, “the Clone Wars” was a throwaway line within the first Star Wars film reasonably than the title of a beloved TV present that helped flesh out the prequels.
Set A Course To Alderaan, Most Warp
As an alternative, the Star Wars reference was snuck into the background. Each of those colonies have been established within the twenty second century, and at one level, Picard is researching the various kinds of missions that ships of that period embarked upon. Within the unique footage of the scene the place Riker visits the captain’s prepared room, you possibly can see that one of many mission classes for these vessels is listed as “Diplomatic Mission to Alderaan,” which was Leia’s cowl story (she was secretly smuggling the Dying Star plans) within the first Star Wars film.
Now, this was by no means meant to significantly hyperlink Star Trek and Star Wars collectively, as a lot as followers from each franchises would like to see that. As an alternative, this was certainly one of numerous in-jokes snuck onto the set by folks like Mike Okuda. For probably the most half, these jokes have been solely meant for the forged and crew, as such advantageous element (a tiny display with even tinier lettering) wouldn’t be simple to discern on the smaller, lower-definition televisions of the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Use The Pressure, Jean-Luc
Nonetheless, Star Trek: The Subsequent Era bought a completely stunning Blu-ray remaster, one which followers now watch (both by means of the discs or by means of streaming) on their big, high-definition televisions. Most of these in-jokes for forged and crew are simple to learn now, together with the Mission To Alderaan in “Up the Lengthy Ladder.” Accordingly, the title was modified for the remaster, and the fictional Alderaan was now changed with the true planet Aldebran.
Simply because the Dying Star utterly destroyed Alderaan, these remastering Star Trek: The Subsequent Era utterly eliminated any references to Princess Leia’s homeworld. Nonetheless, these desirous to relive this tongue-in-cheek try and hyperlink Star Trek and Star Wars collectively can all the time mud off their outdated DVDs. In case you don’t have them readily available, you possibly can all the time give your self a brand new activity: “Diplomatic mission to the thrift retailer!”