10 Star Trek Events OTOY & The Roddenberry Archive Should Explore Next

A tale as old as Tomed itself, this is a frequently discussed topic on TrekCulture. The Tomed Incident, depicted on the page in Serpent Among The Ruins by David R. George III, is a pivotal moment in Star Trek history, though is also one that seems many miles away from appearing on-screen.

The incident was the catalyst for the Treaty of Algeron, a monumental moment in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Captain John Harriman, formerly of the Enterprise-B, and Starfleet Intelligence engineered a false flag operation that effectively forced the Romulan Star Empire to the negotiating table.

Depicting it as a short film comes with challenges - there's a lot of context to cram into a short space of time. However, so much can be done with a look, a line of text, and some well placed pictograms on a screen. Alan Ruck could easily employ the facial masking technology designed by OTOY to appear closer to the age his character was in Star Trek: Generations, although almost as many years have passed in the real world as had between the Enterprise-B's maiden voyage and the Tomed Incident.

For an event of such galactic import, this seems like a wonderful option to explore.

It feels odd typing this in 2025 but the launch of the original Enterprise has never been depicted on-screen. The closest that the audience has come to seeing it was in Star Trek, though of course that was an alternate reality. As the 60th Anniversary of the franchise approaches, when is there a better time to launch the ship that started it all?

OTOY's short film 765874 shows the Enterprise (as it appeared in The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before) parked in San Francisco, serving as a museum. For this to fit in established canon, then this must occur before the refit the audience sees in The Motion Picture. 

Having already depicting an ending (of sorts) for this ship, depicting its beginning feels like a natural next step. Will we see the keel being laid on Earth, as suggested in Star Trek, or will the entire ship be built in orbit? Will Scott Bakula return for a guest appearance, fulfilling the prophecy, so to speak, teased in In A Mirror, Darkly?

Nostalgia is a powerful force alive and well in the franchise today. Showing us the beginning of it all would be a treat for the ages.

With the recent Section 31 streaming movie, Rachel Garrett has been re-introduced to audiences. She was referenced in Star Trek: Picard's third season, but her last full appearance, which was also her first, came in Yesterday's Enterprise. Tricia O'Neill originated the role of the first female captain on a ship named Enterprise - only to be killed off halfway through the episode.

Little is known about the Enterprise-C's history, save for its ending. While there is a lot of power in only knowing about a heroic sacrifice, we confess ourselves a little unsatisfied with what we've got. The Ambassador-class ship, introduced in the form of the C, is also criminally underused in Star Trek.

Sela's story in Redemption Part 2 confirmed that there were survivors from the ship, including Tasha Yar. A depiction of the Battle Of Narendra III, featuring Denise Crosby returning to the role, would be a gift for Trekkies and Trekkers everywhere. She was notably absent from the Picard reunion in 2023 (though she was not forgotten). Showing us the last cruise of the Enterprise-C, as well as the return of Denise Crosby to the franchise, would be a fitting way to mark The Next Generation's fortieth anniversary, which falls in 2027.

OTOY and The Roddenberry Archive have already teased us with this one. Their gorgeous update of Doug Drexler's design, glimpsed so briefly in Azati Prime, finally revealed the ship's original mission: moving colonies through the galaxy.

The Universe-class Enterprise-J's immense size wasn't a simple evolution of 'every Enterprise (bar the G) gets bigger as we go' but rather it served an updated version of the Enterprise-D's mission. The Galaxy-class vessels were big enough to move colonists for a short period of time, as well as host conferences, dignitaries, and the like. 

The Universe-class was no short term solution. They could move thousands of people across vast distances, effectively serving as a starting point for any new colony. We may have seen a hint of this in 765874: Unification, as the garden in which Kirk walks may well be aboard the J. If this is the case, then we have seen the inside of the ship - let us now see the exterior of this graceful beast flying through across the stars.

While our feelings on the Burn were cool to begin with, there is a wealth of storytelling available thanks to its explosive impact. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will feature at least two characters who may have personally witnessed the Burn, but we the audience have currently only seen things one hundred years on from the event.

We now know the cause of the Burn, but what of the short term impact? OTOY and The Roddenberry Archive, with access to the models of every ship available to them, could easily depict not only the explosions, but the aftermath and domino effect across the surviving fleets. 

What of the Klingons? What of the Ni'var? What of the Breen? How were these empires, alliances, and conglomerations affected by the Burn? We must acknowledge the difficulty of handling this in a short film, but therein lies the challenge. Rather than focussing on the destruction wrought by Sukal's (admittedly accidental) outburst, what of the survivors? What of the planets suddenly cut off from interstellar travel, at least at warp speed?

Seven seems to be an unlucky number when it comes to the fleets of Star Trek. A Time To Stand opened Deep Space Nine's sixth season with the devastating reveal of the Seventh Fleet's fate: after a brutal battle with the Dominion, fourteen ships returned to Federation space - out of one hundred and twelve.

While we will discuss Wolf 359 in a few moments in this article, this single battle in the Dominion War proved more deadly than the cornerstone event in Star Trek history, yet is rarely mentioned. 

For morale, for offensive strength, and for the defence of freedom - the destruction of the Seventh Fleet was a moment in time that should have echoed through the centuries. Perhaps the lack of depiction has played into its fading. While OTOY and the Roddenberry Archive have focused on character beats to date, this early annihilation of Federation and Klingon forces would serve as a reminder of the impact of the Dominion War, and perhaps serve to explain (if not condone) some of the Machiavellian methods of Section 31 as the war raged on.

Wolf 359, despite no longer serving as the most devastating battle in Star Trek's history (in terms of numbers lost) still finds itself at the top of many lists of 'unseen moments' or 'battles we need to see.'

OTOY and the Roddenberry Archive would not be the first to depict it, should they decide to do so. JTVFX has already created a phenomenal rendition of the battle on their YouTube channel, while the Wolf359 Project has created a stellar oral history of the battle, the run-up, and the aftermath.

With a glut of content available, this is a project that, in our opinion, might be best served by a collaboration between these powers. Wolf 359 remains a chilling and crippling moment in Star Trek's history and serves as a turning point in how stories were told in the Trek universe. Though we are closer now than we have ever been to seeing the full scale of the battle, we have still yet to find a definitive, single narrative. 

Perhaps we are being greedy here, but with several versions available, can we not have our cake and eat it, too? 

As the final scene of Endgame aired, the USS Voyager joined a small force of familiar Starfleet vessels, heading towards Earth - and the credits cut to black. It wasn't quite Don't Stop Believin', but it wasn't what we'd call satisfying either. 

Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard have both depicted the original Voyager after its return to the Alpha Quadrant, but those first few minutes after exiting that Borg Sphere remain shrouded in mystery. 

The opening to Endgame offered a swooping flight across San Francisco's bay (any nuclear wessels on show?) but there were no reunions, no landings, no moments of catharsis for the longest away mission in Starfleet history. OTOY and The Roddenberry Archive have already proven their salt at depicting ships coming home, so why not the intrepid crew of the Intrepid-class? 

Imagine the ship coming in to land, in full 4k resolution, parking on the grounds of Starfleet Academy in the evening sun? We know that it will head off again to the Portelo System, but could it not first take a moment to bask in the light of a long-awaited homecoming?

Star Trek: Picard managed to confirm what had previously been teased: Enterprise NX-01 did in fact receive a refit, an additional secondary hull, and continued to serve for several years after Demons and Terra Prime. 

First spotted as a model on a young Jean-Luc's table, the updated design by Doug Drexler managed to bring the militaristic, submarine style of the NX-01 a little closer to smooth style of Matt Jefferies' 1701. However, the best we've managed to see is background glimpses and out of scale models - it's time that the ship got her due.

While season five of Star Trek: Enterprise remains a dream, the refit (in full relief) need not do so. Imagine a re-launch of the ship, The Motion Picture-style, sliding out of Spacedock. We've given plenty of examples of our frankly disturbing attraction to those kinds of scenes, so we're not going to pretend this isn't pure wish fulfilment here. 

Dear OTOY and The Roddenberry Archive, please deliver on ship porn for us, sincerely: The TrekCulture Team (specifically Seán!)

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy's teaser trailer blew our collective minds with the image adorning one of the many computer consoles: SAM seems to be studying up on the fate of Captain Sisko, and now we're all a little sad that he seemingly never did come home to Kassidy.

However.

While Sisko's fate may be shrouded in celestial mystery, OTOY and The Roddenberry Archive have an opportunity here. Their digital masking technology allowed Sam Witwer to revive a Generations-era William Shatner, and Lawrence Selleck to bring Leonard Nimoy's Spock back to us again. Avery Brooks, the time is now.

As the 60th Anniversary of Star Trek approaches, an opportunity for the meet-up to end all meet-ups exists. The Captains' Table is a series of crossover novels, written by several different authors, that features an extra-dimensional bar that is only accessible by Starfleet captains. In 2005, the anthology Tales From The Captains' Table updated the roster of characters to include Jonathan Archer and William T. Riker.

Here is an opportunity to:

1. Bring Sisko back in a way that doesn't alter any timelines.

2. Bring actors back, via digital masking technology, to appear alongside each other as they would have appeared in their series.

3. Offer the fandom a crossover that would be next to impossible to outdo.

Imagine Captain Burnham learning from Captain Sisko. Imagine Captain Freeman swapping stories with Captain Janeway. Imagine Captain Pike getting grooming advice from Captain Gwyn.

Though the how and the how long may be a monumental undertaking, there could be no better gift to the fans than to bring every era together under one roof, delivered by those with the technology, and the energy, to make it happen.