Star Trek 2023 Movie: 8 Things We Want To See
6. Pre-Kelvin Starfleet
The formation of the Federation has never been explored in great detail and this is a shared history in both the Kelvin and Prime Universes, with Spock's return and Nero's arrival causing the split between the two.
Up to the moment of the USS Kelvin's destruction, the two timelines were the same - with only the USS Kelvin having their own special uniforms. That's our story and we're sticking to it.
What about the years before Nero though? Star Trek Beyond introduced the USS Franklin, a long-lost remnant from the earliest years of the Federation. The Franklin comes from a time after the NX program. These Are The Voyages depicted Archer delivering the commencement speech at the founding of the Federation, meaning Captain Balthazar Edison served in a time of tenuous peace in the Quadrant.
This time period is largely unexplored in Star Trek. With the time travel idea that we introduced in our previous entry, the film needn't lock the action in any one moment of history.
A buddy film, featuring father and son travelling back to the early days of the Federation, while a beleaguered Commander Spock tries to keep things in order on the Enterprise-A may be the tribute and fun that is needed in the series. After all, Star Trek has a history of making a time travel story with its fourth films!