10 Crazy Ideas For Seasons 4 & 5 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

6. The USS Kelvin

As Strange New Worlds has morphed over its run from the Captain Pike and friends show to the Captain Kirk featuring Pike and friends show, there is a moment in A Quality Of Mercy that stands out. In a possible 2266 that was created by Pike's interference with the timeline, Captain Kirk reveals that his father, George, served aboard the USS Kelvin.

That ship famously failed to survive the first twenty minutes of Star Trek, with Chris Hemsworth taking a short yet fateful command directly into the Narada. Those events kick-started the so-called Kelvin timeline, yet hearing that the ship is named in the Prime timeline offers the chance for a flashback to bridge even more universes.

Star Trek: Discovery confirmed the existence of the Kelvin timeline as Doctors Kovich and Culber discussed Yor. He was a universe hopping Betelgesuean who suffered a horrific death, but it's his origin that is more important here. He came from that timeline. The USS Kelvin, therefore, existed in both.

George Kirk's story didn't end aboard that ship. Instead, according to Spock, he lived long enough to see his son take command of the Enterprise. To honour the family legacy, might the USS Kelvin itself be pulled out of mothballs, ready to fly alongside the Enterprise, taking part in a guard of honour?

The Kelvin timeline often feels deliberately separated from the main series of events, relegated to teasing and hints, like Discovery's Yor and Prodigy's travelling Wesley.

One appearance by the USS Kelvin, no matter how brief, would bridge universes in a way that hasn't been seen in decades.