10 Greatest Star Trek Callbacks

Star Trek loves to reference it's past, and we love to see it. After over fifty years of boldly going, the lore has gotten so unbelievably expansive, yet still manages to stay mostly consistent (give or take a few small details that we really enjoy making a fuss over).

Here, we're going to look back at ten of the most brilliant callbacks across all of Star Trek, excluding episodes like Trials and Tribble-Ations and False Profits that were basically continuations of past episodes (we've done a list on episodes that revisited other episodes, if you're interested in that topic).

In this list, we're focusing on smaller details that help to make the Trek universe feel truly connected. The best callbacks are the ones that expand on the lore and make it more interesting, though we've also included a few examples that are just fun references to iconic Trek moments.

Star Trek: Enterprise was completely packed with callbacks and references to The Original Series. We got to see many earlier versions of iconic Trek tech like universal translators, phasers, and transporters, but there was one specific device on the show that really shows the attention to detail that the set designers put into Enterprise.

Fans of TOS probably remember the triangular, three-sided monitor used in Captain Kirk's briefing room. It had a really creative design meant to allow everyone around the table to see a screen at once (aside from whoever chose to sit facing directly at the corners for whatever reason).

It's easy to miss, but variations of these three-sided monitors have appeared on several occasions throughout Enterprise. You can spot them at Starfleet Headquarters in the episode Home, on Cold Station 12 in the episodes Cold Station 12 and The Augments, then finally aboard the 23rd century USS Defiant in the episode In A Mirror, Darkly, Part 2. A three-sided monitor also popped up in the Short Treks episode The Trouble With Edward, during the briefing with Edward and the other scientists.