All There In The Manual / Star Trek

• The novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture revealed the following:
  • One of the officers killed in the transporter accident was Lori Ciana, a Starfleet admiral and Kirk's ex-wife.
  • Willard Decker was the son of Commodore Matt Decker from the TOS episode "The Doomsday Machine".
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan:
  • The original script described Saavik as being half-Vulcan, half-Romulan. This doubles as an Aborted Arc in conjunction with Star Trek VI, as Valeris was intended to be Saavik.
  • The Red Shirt who dies when Engineering is attacked is Scotty's nephew, which explains why he reacts so emotionally. A scene explaining their relation was cut. The scene was used in the extended ABC broadcasts in the early 1980s, and subsequently included in the Special Director's Edition DVD.
  • Some people consider the reboot's reveal that Spock created the Kobayashi Maru test to be a distracting change, but subtle hints throughout the movie imply it here. Spock knows the number of times Kirk took it, and the way he finally beat it, but a captain's academy test results aren't usually shared with his junior officers. That Spock never took the test himself is also telling.
• The novelization of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock reveals that Saavik and David became lovers after the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, making his murder doubly tragic and his sacrifice even more meaningful (he gives his life to save the woman he loves when he realizes the Klingon is about to kill her).
• Probably one of the most controversial parts of Star Trek Into Darkness was the Race Lift given to Khan, who was an Indian Sikh in the original series, but was played by a white Englishman in the movie. The comic book mini-series Star Trek: Khan explains this by revealing that Khan still was an Indian Sikh, but received Magic Plastic Surgery that made him appear white in order to hide his identity.
• Star Trek (2009):
  • The motivations of bad guy Nero are only vaguely alluded to in a mind-meld flashback scene. In order to fully understand what happened, and to give the character some actual depth, you have to read the Star Trek: Countdown comic books (although the physics of Romulus being destroyed by the supernova still might have some physicists scratching their heads, even though it's further explained). The comic also covers what the movie doesn't; namely, how Nero's "simple mining vessel" became that humongous juggernaut of a warship.
  • The official movie adaptation comic gives better context to some of the vaguely-referenced aspects of the film, via material that was deleted from the final print, such as Spock explaining that the Alternate Continuity is "self-repairing" and will naturally sort itself out, when questioned by Kirk.
  • The explanation for what the crew of the Narada was doing for the 25-year Time Skip that occurs after Kirk's boyhood joyride is only explained in a deleted scene. Instead of Nero and the crew going about their day (and presumably having colonized/destroyed planets in the interim), the deleted material explained that they were immediately captured by the Klingons after destroying the Kelvin and sent to Rura Penthe, a penal colony they eventually escape from just before Kirk and Spock leave for the Enterprise.
• Star Trek Into Darkness: The reveal that the Enterprise has a Tribble onboard, which ultimately ends up saving Kirk's life due to its blood platelets, is a revelation that seemingly comes out of left field. The IDW comic series actually explains where it comes from, as it was the last remaining Tribble from an infestation onboard the Enterprise, which Bones decided to keep and run experiments on after trying unsuccessfully to extend its lifespan, providing the impetus for the Chekhov's Gun in the film.
• The comic book Star Trek: Picard Countdown explores the Federation's effort to evacuate the Romulans and is most important for showing the circumstances in which Picard met Laris and Zhaban, the Tal Shiar operatives who would become his housekeepers.

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