Star Trek: 10 Terrible Ways To Time Travel

6. The Nexus

Star Trek Generations Enterprise B Nexus
Paramount Pictures

We've already spoken about the truly trippy faux nirvana that is the Nexus in '10 Most Mind-Bending Spatial Anomalies,' but it deserves a second mention here as an especially dire, and notably niche, means for time travel. Sure, once you're in you can create any moment of your past, present, or future, but that's all just smoke and mirrors. As pure time travel method, the Nexus can also drop you off at any point in history in the real world, but none of that is worth the effort of getting to it in the first place.

The energy ribbon that provides access to this phoney heaven only passes through our galaxy every 39.1 years, so you'll have to wait. Even then, you'll still have to track the bloomin' thing down. Flying a ship directly into the Nexus is a very risky proposition, so, if you're anything like a certain Soran, you'll have to make it come to you by destroying a star or two and not being overly concerned by killing countless millions on any inhabited worlds. A mere inconvenience for you on the way to your joy blanket!

The Nexus is then best seen as a metaphor for addiction. The feeling of pure a-temporal euphoria it procures will trap you inside, unless, as for Picard in any case, you have the external help and the will to leave it all behind — something which is far far easier said than done.

In this post: 
Star Trek
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Jack has been a content creator for TrekCulture since 2022, and a Star Trek fan for as long as he can remember. He has authored over 170 articles, including one of TrekCulture's longest, and has appeared several times on the TrekCulture podcast. He holds a first-class honours degree in French from the University of Sussex, a master's with distinction in Language, Culture and History: French and Francophone Studies and a PhD in French from University College London (UCL). He has previously worked in the field of translation. His interests extend to science-fiction television and film more widely. His favourite series is Star Trek: Voyager, followed closely by Stargate SG-1.