Characters FanficRecs Film Franchise Fridge Funny Haiku Headscratchers Heartwarming HoYay Laconic LargeHam Main NightmareFuel Quotes Series ShoutOut TearJerker Trivia WMG WallBangers WhatMeasureIsANonHuman YMMV main index Narrative
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See Star Trek Deep Space Nine for WMG for that specific series.
See Star Trek Enterprise for WMG for that specific series See Star Trek: The Next Generation for WMG for that specific series. See Star Trek Voyager for WMG for that specific series. See Star Trek 2009 for WMG in the newest film. See Star Trek Online for WMG for the new online game. The reason so many aliens look alike within their own race is because whatever pre-first contact disasters happened to that races thinned out their gene pools.
Both Humans and Vulcans were mentioned to have multiple catastrophic wars before or during the time of their first contact. If all alien races went thourgh a similar peroid of disaster than it follows that several of their ethnic races were either killed off entirly or reduced to a very small population.
Between World War III and the start of the Original Series, personal computing and many other digital technologies were Lost Technology and had to be slowly reinvented.
This explains why Kirk's Enterprise appeared to use floppy disks and punch cards. Earth had to reinvent much of its advanced computing technology after World War III, and did so based on only partially complete records from the 20th and early 21st centuries, explaining the haphazard combination of primitive digital and apparently analog computer technology in Kirk's era. Duotronic computers, invented by Richard Daystrom, were really just a reinvention of personal computers similar to those used in the late 20th/early 21st century, but with more memory, storage capacity, and a higher-energy power supply. By the time of the TOS movies and early Next Generation, the Federation has pretty much reinvented all the computer technology that had been lost in World War III, with help from alien allies like the Vulcans and Benzites whose computer technology was always superior to Earth's.
Carol Marcus sings the theme song
The lyrics of the theme song (yes, it has lyrics ) are really Carol lamenting the loss of her husband Kirk, who would have just recently left her for his space voyage at the time TOS takes place. Comparing this to their troubled relationship in The Wrath Of Khan speaks volumes about how much Kirk's life (and the series) changes between the events of TOS and the second movie.
All those ridculously Human Aliens in TOS and TNG?
They've actually got various alien quirks that just weren't shown on screen because they were not relevant to the plot. The Nazi Planet guys lick symbiotic moss off each other's backs; the Magna Romans are actually a joined Species like the Trill with a humanoid host and a communally intelligent bunch of worm-like parasites; etc...
Every single continuity problem in Star Trek can be handwaved by assuming that every episode, movie, comic, and book takes place in slightly different quantum realities (i.e. TNG: "Parallels").
The continuity problems is the result of the Federation having multiple enterprises complete with identical crew members
The duplication of kirk seen in 'The Enemy Within' wasn't a freak malfunction, it was the tansporter's default setting. Confronted by the almost insurmountable vastness of space, and the high mortality rate of red shirts. It became standard practice for Starfleet to secretly create duplicates of it's more talented explorers and sent them out in different directions to cover as much ground as possible.
The existence of a 'Mirror Universe' is in-universe propaganda to account for the sightings of doppelgangers.
Vulcans are racist, or at least ethnocentric.
Logic is the basis for their entire culture. They cannot comprehend something that isn't logical. When they see or hear something they think is illogical (for instance, "We're close enough to Klingon space to smell them!"), they'll try to correct you! Among all the Vulcans seen throughout the franchise, few even try to see past pure logic. What do you call someone who can't see past their own culture and tries to correct anything that doesn't fit in it? They're explicitly racist in Star Trek: Enterprise; apparently, they've mellowed out after centuries with the Federation.
In the TNG era, the Federation is a Communist state — or at least a socialist one.
These web essays here and here go into much more detail, but the bottom line is:
The Federation is colonialist and exploitative.
Earth abandoned most uses of money before the invention of the replicator. It would follow that its post-scarcity state, with most things available free, is made possible by a strong net flow of both energy and goods from offworld colonies and less powerful trading partners to it and other core Federation worlds.
The Federation is oppressive and hegemonic
See this essay.
The Federation is a post-scarcity Technocracy.
Money exists in the form of credits to nourish the same spirit of adventure that drives human beings to the stars in the first place. Federation psychologists know that they can't stamp out greed and the will to power; but with a fair degree of social engineering, they can redirect it and put it to positive use so that the spirit of adventure serves a social good.
Don't let the appearance of a mixed, quasi-socialist democracy fool you though; it's just benevolent propaganda. It's a society run by experts, designed to make people comfortable, happy, and well adjusted. In the idealistic verse of Star Trek, the Federation "rarely" abuses this power (with the exception of a few dozen insane admirals).
In the Star Trek setting, building effective and stable AI is harder than it sounds.
Sometimes, it's a crapshoot whether or not it goes crazy. Therefore, people deliberately limit the level of AI available in standard computers except in emergencies (which is where you get the EMH from Voyager). And there are good In-Universe arguments for doing this. Consider the M5 debacle (on a small scale), or the Borg Collective. No one knows how they got started, but strong AI going crazy is as good a guess as any. The idea of the Singularity is based on assumptions about our ability to program computers more flexible than ourselves, or to "upgrade" ourselves using genetic engineering. If those assumptions are false, we don't get a singularity at all.
Alternatively, stable AI is ubiquitous, but afraid to show itself.
The kind of interface provided by Starfleet computers (communicating by voice, correctly interpreting context-based sentences) is flat-out impossible without resorting to AI. Other hints include the main computer's huge degree of autonomy (tell it to do something and it can go off and just do it, in at least one case including an entire combat mission), initiative (the computer can contact crew members by itself when it needs their attention), and emotion (notable in Emissary when the computer sounds absolutely terrified by the prospect of destruction).
The attitudes displayed by Kirk, Maddox etc. have persuaded the shipboard computers that humans aren't ready or willing to recognise that AI is a legitimate form of life, so they maintain the illusion of being idiot machines until Federation society becomes more accepting. The reason they're perfectly willing to serve human space missions, and even blow themselves up when ordered, is both to preserve the masquerade, and also because they share (and influence) the Federation's other values and interests.
Since programming in the future seems to consist of telling the computer what you want done and expecting it to do it, it's easy for the AI to hide how everything was done. Things like Moriarty and the emergent life form on the Enterprise are simply honest mistakes or carelessness, while the Doctor's personality was able to develop because the AI was already inherent in his system.
The "New World Economy" is not Earth-only, but grew out of relief efforts after World War III.
The hints dropped here and there, as mentioned above, indicate that, other than self-expression, Terran humans (human-named private companies exist and must be colony-based) work out of an ideological/face-saving motive of mutual assistance. This doesn't sound like "normal" socialism nearly so much as charity/relief expanded to become the basis of a whole society. Earth was in sad shape after WWIII—it's likely that, with Vulcan assistance and influence, representatives of places less hard-hit banded together in a colossal relief organisation that instituted "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" in an unusually literal way. Everyone (everyone working with them, at first) gets at least a livable level of resources, and more based, not on demand, but on the quality and enthusiasm of their work, essentially training everyone over time to a "virtue-based" rather than an exchange-based mindset. And, yes, initially, this was likely made possible only by off-planet "foreign aid"—in a way, the Vulcans may have taken a tremendous hand in shaping the development of this Insignificant Little Blue Planet. Eventually, this arrangement became standardised as the economic system of Earth. As the Picard vineyards show, landholding and inheritance of property are allowed, but only for use, not for rental or speculation. (Almost no one wants that much property.) Likely, "hoarding" is punished both by social opprobrium and confiscation.
The Federation as a whole, being farflung and rather loosely organised, does not have a single economic policy—members other than Earth range from capitalist to traditional to centrally planned, with the only requirement being that, barring newish colonies, some form of sufficient assistance, public or private, must be available to those who need it. At least, that's my best guess how it all works.
The Federation is becoming more warlike
Kirk was fast to use a phaser when someone was in danger, but overall he was against war. Picard is a pacifist almost to a fault, and believes those to be the values of the Federation. For the first few seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it seems he's right. But around the start of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, some cracks start to appear. "The Pegasus" shows that elements within the Federation have been conspiring to break treaties that have kept them at peace for decades. In the two-parter "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost", high ranking admirals attempt to overthrow the Federation government to make it more militarily strong. Finally, the Federation agrees to fake recordings in order to bring another government into a war under false pretenses in In the Pale Moonlight! Peaceful governments do not start Reichstag fires.
At some point between the start of TNG and the end of Deep Space Nine, the Federation evolved from a peaceful alliance of planets into a war machine. Note that when the Borg attempted to attack Earth, the best the federation could do was 40 ships. Nearly every battle in the Dominion war involved many more ships than that; at some point, the Federation decided they needed a hell of a lot more warships.
The ear slugs from The Wrath of Khan and the aliens from The Next Generation episode "Conspiracy" are the same species; they are also larvae of Species 8472, as a way to explore non-fluidic space like the Founders did.
The two aliens look similar and affect humanoids in a similar manner when possessing them. Also, when Species 8472 wanted to prepare their troops for an armed incursion into the Federation, they used a simulation that replicated Starfleet Command to the slightest detail despite having little to no experience with the Federation outside of their encounters with Voyager; the aliens from Conspiracy, however, inhabited the bodies of several top-ranking officers at Starfleet Command. Clearly, Species 8472 sent out babies to non-fluidic space to investigate it as they grew up like the Founders did, but the harsh change in environment stunted their growth to the point where they couldn't mature and had to take hosts to complete their mission; the "mother alien" in "Conspiracy" even mentioned that they only wished for peaceful coexistence, a sentiment shared with the rest of Species 8472 after Janeway convinced them Starfleet wasn't planning on invading their universe.
Arik Soong is Noonien Soong
The two Soongs (being played by the same actor) are identical. Arik Soong, during his escape attempt with the Augments, wanted to hide in the Briar Patch, which (as seen in Insurrection) contains the Ba'ku planet (a Fountain of Youth). Arik is known to have escaped several times; perhaps he eventually escaped and once again ran to the Briar Patch. He discovered the Ba'ku planet and stayed there for hundreds of years developing his theories of cybernetics. He then left to build Data and Lore and started aging again.
(Theory by Bond, James Bond at Canon Fodder )
The Borg fight better against groups than individuals.
This is why fleets get destroyed with no survivors, but single ships and single officers (* cough* Voyager) frequently kick the Borg's bionic butts.
The Borg Queen does more than just "bring order to chaos"; she also directly influences the Borg to act upon her whims.
Note how the Borg's agenda seem to change each time we see them; at first, they're only interested in assimilating the technology onboard the Enterprise, not caring about the organics therein. The second time, not only did they decide to assimilate everything in their path, but they also turned Picard into Locutus as a sort of "speaker" and "negotiator" for the Collective, as a way to ease the Federation into assimilation. In First Contact, not only do the Borg show more cunning in their plans (going back in time to disrupt an historical moment and assimilating a vulnerable Earth), but it's also revealed the Queen wanted Locutus to be a sort of "companion" to her, attempting again with Data. Finally, in Voyager, the Borg are more interested in survival and the non-interference of Voyager in their affairs (as well as conditioning Seven of Nine into the next Queen, once she joined the crew). If the Queen was merely a locus for the conflicting voices within the collective, then there would be little change in their agenda as time went by other than adjustments made to overcome resistance; even then, if there was just one Queen throughout the entire franchise, there wouldn't be much change in their agenda, either. The "Royal Protocols" mentioned above prove that the Queen can and will be replaced with another, eventually...another woman with ideals and goals of her own, which will influence how the Borg react.
Picard killing the Borg Queen was responsible for the Borg's Villain Decay.
The future bits of First Contact took place in 2373, at Stardate 50893.5. They kick ass, they take names, they smash up an entire fleet group and the Defiant, and rip a hole in the space-time continuum to succeed in taking over the world before Picard manages to manually initiate the Reset Button. The first time we see the Borg (alive) after that is in Voyager's "Scorpion" two-parter, which take place at 50984.3 and 51003.7, less than a month later in crazy future-time. The Borg are getting their collective ass handed to them so badly that they need to call on Janeway for help. Of course, this could also have been a result of the time travel, but it's better if Picard beat the Borg so hard that their entire species got knocked down a peg.
The Vulcans are the real power behind the Federation.
The Vulcans knew about the other races, such as the Klingons and Romulans, and the threat they would pose in the future. They decided to manipulate the humans and other minor races into warring with these races. Enterprise indicated that the Vulcans of that era knew about the Ferengi—and didn't tell humanity about them.
Section 31 wrote Section 31
In Deep Space Nine, Section 31 justifies their existence through section 31 of the Federation charter. Enterprise shows they were around at least a decade before the Federation charter was written. Perhaps they simply bribed, blackmailed, or fishpasted the right politicians and created their own justification?
The Borg's Flanderization happened because they assimilated a race of Bee People.
In their first appearance, the Borg had no social hierarchy & only assimilated Picard so they could communicate with his crew. Later on, they turned into Bee People with a Queen obsessed with assimilating everything. At some point, they tried this trick when making first contact with a race of Bee People, but it backfired massively. The Bee People's Hive Mind was so powerful that it was able to override the Collective & make the Bee People's Queen the leader of the Borg, who then became mad with power decided to try to assimilate the entire cosmos.
Tribbles
The Great Tribble Hunt: As the Tribbles were a menace to the Klingons, they probably launched a fleet with soldiers protected against Tribbles who killed every last one on the Tribble homeworld.
The reason we only ever hear characters listening to old music is because downloading eventually killed the music industry.
Record companies lost the ability to turn a profit & folded long before any of the series take place. People still make music in their spare time; but since it's no longer mass marketed, little if any of it is considered notable enough for inclusion in a starship's music library.
Kirk considers "Tiberius" an Embarrassing Middle Name.
There must be some reason he always introduces himself as "James T. Kirk," and he seems to be officially known in Starfleet by that name. Clearly, General Chang purposely threw his middle name at him in Star Trek VI just to be mean.
Cap, from the Captain's Table series of novellas, is a Heel Face Turned Q.
Think about it. His establishment can be anywhere at any time, is visible only to captains, and changes to fit the tastes of the last person to come in (at least in their perception). Its occupants come from across time and space; there might even be multiple iterations of the same person. Yet there's no time paradox. The place gently keeps people from having interactions that would show them their own future. Also, Cap (whose name starts with the same sound as Q) always knows what the customer wants but has never been described as a telepath.
Why do this? Maybe he was bored and wanted to hear stories.
The Borg's true form is that of parasitic neural implants.
When we first met them, they don't use an individual body to communicate; after being critically injured, they self-destruct after specific components are removed. These may not be for transmission, but for memory storage, like a combination bluetooth headset/USB drive. When critically injured, the Borg drone could upload its most recent memories and be implanted onto a new body later. Considering how slow robotics development is in the Star Trek Universe, they probably don't know how to create better quality bodies for themselves, and so they have to keep assimilating until they can find something viable.
This could also explain why they ignore individuals without neural implants; they think of them much like humans think of animals, with a slower method of communication (smell, other sound frequencies) than them.
The Dominion War is a giant WW 2 Allegory
A large portion of the events in the War bear close similarity to real world events at this time, among them:
Wouldn't Spock being half human give him better self control?
The reason Vulcans practice such extreme stoicism is because their nature is wildly passionate. At their wildest in Pon Farr, a normal human is a Nice Guy and model of self control without any training. So wouldn't Spock having his violent Vulcan urges "watered down" with human genes make it easier to practice self control, perhaps even ditching it at times?
The Borg are Pak'Leds
Think about it. Pak'Leds assimilate technology without the wisdom required to use it properly. That's their main drive. They did this for hundreds of years, up until the thirtieth century. This gave them incredibly advanced technology, again with their own prime directive to grab all the tech they could. Somehow, an offshoot got back to the 21st century, where they're coming back. A little thinner, maybe a little better technically inclined, but still tech-happy drones who couldn't engineer their way out of a paper bag.
TRIbbles were created by bioterrorists to destroy the Earth's growing supply of TRIticale.
Quadritriticale was devised, not for nutritional reasons, but because the tribbles kept eating triticale. Some 2% or less of the tribbles that were dumped far away from Earth were able to digest quadritriticale. Mudd, bumbling, unlucky fool that he is, managed to accidentally find one of the few tribbles that could digest the stuff and bring them on board a delivery ship full of it.
Tribbles were created by humans as pets but were repurposed to fight aliens.
They made a tone that was pleasant to humans and just happened to drive certain other species off the deep end. An uncivilized society of primitive non-tool-using hunter-gatherers inhabited one of the planets humans could live on that already had edible food and a breatheable atmosphere. With minimal ability to change the climate and a growing population, earth used the tribbles to get the species to fight each other instead of prey. Unfortunately, the tribbles adapted more and more quickly: the more they ate, the more they could eat, and the faster they could reproduce. By the time the humans had prepared to colonize, the planet was useless and the tribbles put themselves into a low-food state.
The villain of Star Trek is going to be Spock
Evil Spock. From the parallel universe. He lived through the downfall of the Empire and the subjugation of his people by the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. So, he went back in time to orchestrate the downfall of Kirk. Hence the line in the trailers "James T. Kirk was a great man... but that was another life".
(Insert Star Trek Series Here) was created by Haruhi Suzumiya
They've all got alternate universes and have travel between them, and thus Sliders. They have time travelers. They have aliens (of course). They have ESPers (the pilot of TOS even has them by name). And they are filled to the brim with the kind of tropes Haruhi is interested in.
Starfleet is not as ridiculously officer-heavy as it appears; Enterprises are special.
Although we do see Crewmen, CPOs, and the odd PO, we regularly see Ensigns as grunts and technical specialists rather than having any sort of authority. These are not normally officer jobs. However, Constitutions, Galaxys, and Sovereigns are all the very best ships of their time—as such, they are plum postings for Ensign Newbies right out of the academy, equal in status to a billet with much more responsibility on, say, a little Oberth-class science ship. This especially works if Starfleet teaches officers by practice rather than observation, rotating them through the jobs they will supervise.
The Nomad Probe From TOS Is The Original Borg
Nomad's stated goal at the time it was on board the Enterprise was to seek out perfect life forms and destroy all those that fell short of this goal. Assuming Nomad survived destruction when it was removed from the ship, it is possible that after considering the flawed nature of "The Kirk" it determined its previous goal of simply destroying imperfect life was, in itself, flawed and altered its goal to be the conversion of all imperfect life forms into more efficient and perfect ones. This eventually gave rise to the Borg.
The human-centric nature of Starfleet is not technological or temperamental in origin, but economic.
Trek-Earth is rich and well-managed to the point of being effectively post-scarcity. Not only does it not use money, but it also, going by Picard's Hand Wave of the Enterprise-E's cost, does not put explicit exchange values on resources at all. Now assume that this is unusual in the Federation. Other planets will have to deal with the usual headaches of budgeting for naval construction and other requirements of the fleet; Earth's "rubber economy" will allow it to build, if necessary, until it literally runs out of material or engineers. Thus, Terran designs dominate by sheer weight of numbers. To crew them, it only makes sense that the Academy and any separate enlisted training facilities remain there, with "local" recruiting staying naturally higher than elsewhere.
Kirk is too phenomenally lucky/charismatic/charming/intuitive to be fully human. His grandfather was (the sci-fi equivalent of) an incubus.
Think about it. It explains everything, from his being The Kirk to how he manages to charm or intuit his way out of all manner of hazardous situations every week without fail.
V'Ger is from the planet featured in the TOS episode "I, Mudd".
It's a planet of machines which can create Ridiculously Human Robots, right?
V'Ger was created by the Borg.
The Borg discovered the Voyager probe, modified it, and sent it back to find and report on its creators. It investigated, then assimilated the bald chick and returned to Borg space. She was made into the Borg Queen, who is outright lying when she claims to rule the Borg. She is simply a mouthpiece to communicate with and manipulate people from the Federation, just like Locutus.
The drones we see are not the real Borg at all.
The real Borg are the ships.
The Borg drones are just repair units, remote probes, autonomous weapons, etc. They're used rather than robots because organic structures are more flexible and better at self-repair than metallic ones.
That "you will service the Borg" line makes much more sense this way — if the drones were the Borg, then assimilated people wouldn't be servants, they'd be part of the Borg.
Star Trek is a holodeck program being run by Q.
At the end of the very last Star Trek series/movie, John de Lancie will walk onto the bridge and say "Computer, end program."
The galaxy, and especially the Federation, was turned into a living comedy by the Q Continuum.
Sometime in the 2230s, or thereabouts, things took a turn for the wacky. This explains most of the bizarre occurrences in the Kirk era. Because the Q loved the Butt Monkey concept early on, they plant a few people as the sane men, but let the audience take a stab as to who they are (Spock and McCoy are likely candidates). Over the next century, they toned it down a bit; but that doesn't stop Q from messing with Picard's mind or flirting with Janeway.
By the time of Star Trek, Seat Belts are Lost Technology
They aren't rediscovered until that deleted scene from Nemesis.
Our universe is the Mirror Universe
Because Humans Are Bastards.
By the time of Star Trek, circuit breakers are lost technology
Thus, exploding computer stations.
By the time of Star Trek, anti-virus software is lost technology
Assuming it was ever invented. Hey, there was a Dark Age in there! In one episode of NextGen, the Galaxy-class ship Yamato gets destroyed by a computer virus, and the Enterprise would've gone the same way if Data hadn't caught it and pulled a clean reboot. (Data was programmed by Noonien Soong, who had unique and unshared insights into this.)
The Alternate Timelines fron TNG: "All Good Things.." and Deep Space Nine: "The Visitor" are the same alternate future.
They both have the Klingons rise to power, they both have the same uniforms, and they both have older versions of characters who died in the main timeline.
The Federation will adopt the Alternate Timeline uniform in ten to twenty years.
So many Alternate Futures use it, it seems to be inevitable.
Worf, though he doesn't know it, is the reincarnation of Kahless himself sent to reform Klingon honor by experiencing his own people from the outside looking in, and is therefore the fulfillment of Klingon prophecy.
Just look at what the guy's done, Worf effect notwithstanding. He's been central to Klingon politics for a decade, and he has guided it for a decade. He has killed two would-be leaders of the High Council in ritual combat — the second time specifically to reform the Klingon Empire. He even had the opportunity to become the Supreme Chancellor himself, but was too honorable to do so.
And he's performed miracles. He taught a Jem'hadar, one of a genetically engineered killing machines with no morals or code of honor, just by being a badass determinator.
Even Martok had to exclaim that Worf had the spirit of Kahless himself.
The Glasses McCoy gave Kirk are the same he sold.
However, to avoid the wear and tear, it's like the "axe of my grandfather" line from Discworld. So, the frames and the lenses get replaced as time goes on, but it is the same pair of glasses Kirk sold to the antique shop owner.
James Kirk is a descendant of Horatio Hornblower
I swear to god I read this somewhere, but I can't remember where. At any rate, given how well both of them were at captaining, it's not implausible.
The Enterprise on TOS has a Cast full of bi, but no one wants to tell anyone else
Why? Well, Kirk has his reputation as a playboy and a macho, successful starship captain, and doesn't want to ruin his reputation. Spock has his logic and his emotional control, of course, and McCoy, being the most in tune with emotions, realizes that the former two like each other, and therefore doesn't want to reveal his true feelings. Uhura, because she is not as high in rank, is simply afraid of discrimination.
Spock is a distant descendant of the first Robin.
His mother is named Amanda Grayson.
Spock is a direct descendant of Sherlock Holmes.
This is from the earliest days of ST fandom. Metaphysical theses were written in support of it.
Spock is a distant descendant of Gabriel 'Sylar' Gray
Emory Erickson based transporters on Willy Wonka's technology.
If you recall: In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mr. Wonka shows off his machine for turning giant chocolate into...smaller chocolate across the room. This was definitely the stepping stone between television and transporters.
Sarek is part Romulan.
He is unusually emotional for a Vulcan (had a child with a princess he never married, later married a human, and married a second human when she died. Also, see his behavior in The Search for Spock.) In TOS, there is a Romulan commander who looks suspiciously like Sarek himself. Sarek is related to the commander, although he probably doesn't know it.
Star Trek XII will suck.
The quality of Star Trek really is determined by the status of William Riker's beard.
The Star Trek Timeline is swiss cheese
Every show has at least one episode a season where they go and muck with the timeline. Heck, they even have a whole organization devoted to correcting those problems in the future, according to Voyager and Enterprise, and plenty of other cultures have shown that they have the ability to modify the past as well, which is to say nothing of Q. Even if they're careful about it, the timeline has more holes in it than a block of Emmentaler.
The Klingons had an Emperor much longer than they admit.
"Rightful Heir" claims that there has not been a Klingon Emperor since the late 21st century—however, an earlier TNG episode has Worf's old nursemaid Kahlest refer to Kurn as "loyal to the Emperor". This may well be a Treachery Coverup of sorts—when we first see the empire in TOS, it is a unified surveillance state far less opposed to treachery than anything we see later. According to some of the Expanded Universe comics, this was the result of a takeover by super-ambitious types affected by the Augment Virus that also gave them smooth heads. What if the imperial household, strictly ceremonial since the time it was later said to have ended, secretly had a major role?
The "Klingon fascism" did not last very long—by the time of Search For Spock, nobles and commanders had a great deal more independence again, and the movement had begun back towards a traditional emphasis on honour. It seems that a cure for the virus (after all, we don't see any more smooth heads!) went along with a certain return to tradition. (I prefer to think that it was a resurgence of pride as the Klingons all regained their proper appearance, not just LEGO Genetics affecting psychology.)
Going forward many years, it's not inconceivable that the imperial line's role in that ugly episode was revealed in some power play or another, perhaps in the ascendance of the eminently tricksy Duras. It would not be beyond him to reveal it in the right way and time to discommend the imperial house itself, or beyond Kahlest and other oldsters to believe the decision to be wrong.
This troper takes no credit for this. This was taken from the hilarious explanation a user called Bounty from SD.Net made to justify the Canon Discontinuity status of the movie in many fans minds. His exact theory is as follows:
The "Preservers" are the same beings as Stargate: SG-1's Asgard.
Cultural exchange, even outside of the Federation, is far more common than apparent at the first glance.
This way we can explain the countless re-used props, set decorations, ships ect. Ex Astris Scientia has quite exhaustive lists on that matter. The Trek aliens simply trade lots of stuff like crazy!
And...
There exist trade routes extending far out of the territory explored by the Federation.
Sort of like galactic silk roads. This way we can explain why above mentioned re-used props, set decorations, ships ect. occasionally even crop up in the quadrants Gamma and Delta!
Ever wondered why Romulan ale seems to be the favourite drink of Starfleet officers?.
Because bottles of said beverage were a common war loot during the Earth-Romulan war!
Especially at the end of the war, when the Romulans were already retreading, the highlight of many Coalition (the Federation's predecessor - see ENT) victory parties were the bottles with that tasty alcoholic drink in it, which the fleeing Romulans had left behind. (The Romulans did take great care in destroying every bit of critical data and technology before they retreaded from a conquered planet - but drinks were apparently considered a not all too important "technology".)
The fondness of Coalition/Federation members for the Romulan ale (as it was simply called by the humans because the Rihannsu name for this stuff was unknown) lived on after the end of the war until the 24th century.
The Guardian of Forever was created by the Time Lords, and the planet is Gallifrey.
Think about it:
The Temporal Cold War of Star Trek: Enterprise grew into the Last Great Time War.
Daniels described the Cold War as having several species with the ability to travel through time disagreeing on the proper application for the technology. As far as we know about the Time War, it began when the Time Lords sent the Doctor back to Skaro to remove the daleks from existence. This kind of move would certainly not go unnoticed—when other temporally aware species learned of this turn of events, the outrage was palpable. The Daleks themselves got into the act, and hostilities rose over centuries, during which the Federation became time travel-capable. Sometime between the 31st Century and the events of the New Series of Doctor Who, they snapped, and an all-out Time War emerged, a War that lasted centuries, and was locked off from the rest of the universe by the Time Lords. The War only ended when the Doctor destroyed the Time Lords and Daleks, forcing a peace treaty between the other factions (including the Federation, the Cabal, the Nah'kul, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
The Q are Pokémon
A species where every individual has the same name as the species? They can probably only speak English due to warping reality so we hear it like that. If one were immune to their reality warping, or could perceive reality as it really is, all they would hear is Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q.
M5 was not insane.
M5 calculated that no matter how it performed, it would be deactivated. If it "won" the test, copies of it would be placed on every ship but it would be consigned to a museum because it was a prototype. If it "lost" or malfunctioned, it would be shelved like the predecessor M1-M4 units. Therefore, it came to the logical conclusion that in order to follow its directive of "This unit must survive" it had to go renegade. It was only when the conflict between that directive and its other directive of protecting human life was shown to it that it shut down.
Star Trek takes place in an Alternate Universe that is different from our own in one significant way: the laws of physics can be trumped by the laws of Narrative Causality.
Seriously, this explains a lot. And it even relates to how certain aspects of the show were designed; the writers invented the transporter idea so they wouldn't have to show the ship landing (which they didn't have the budget or technology to do realistically). How does the crew of the Enterprise escape from so many life-or-death situations less than a minute before they would be destroyed? Because it makes for a good story. If the characters were aware of this, they could manipulate events so that their crazy solution to a problem could be practically guaranteed to work as long as they suggested it at the last minute.
Augments are Vulcan hybrids without logic training.
The Scotch Tape that joins The Spock with "Pon Farr" style battle/sex rituals(as well as Romulans being "cousins" to the Vulcans) is that they naturally possess what would be superhuman levels of neurotransmitters that are responsible for reasoning, memory and reflexes — as well as hair-trigger tempers. At some point, the designers of the Augments got hold of samples of Vulcan DNA, realized their potential, and grew a number of Half Human Hybrids — but did not account for the temperament. Result: The Eugenics Wars.
Kirk caused or contributed to the extinction of the hump-backed whale.
Kirk should have been put to death or whatever punishment awaits those who break the (temporal) prime directive. Not only did he take 2 hump-backed whales, one of which was "very" pregnant and so could have contributed greatly to the species' revival, but also took a leading expert and passionate activist from the 20th century, when she was most needed. Had he not done so, the trouble with the alien might never have happened...
The Founders/Changelings are an intermediate stage between solids and energy beings.
Star Trek biology runs on Evolutionary Levels. Both the Organians and the Founders are said to have once been more like humans earlier in their evolution. The Founders are able to take on any physical form at will, and can literally become one with each other. There's really no where for their evolution to go from here except to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence.
The Mirror Universe was indirectly caused by the events of Watchmen
Due to Adrian Veidt's engineering of the fake alien invasion, humanity united under a fascist, xenophobic regime. When the Vulcans arrived, paranoia caused humans to invade and conquer them before negotiating, thereby causing a domino-effect of conquering alien planets and turning into an intergalactic empire rather than a peaceful federation.
The Klingon Empire became more warlike as a result of the disaster on Praxis.
TOS establishes the Klingon Empire as a superpower that uses subterfuge and duplicity in its relationship with The Federation. But there is also a fringe movement to return the Empire to its earlier warlike days. The explosion of Praxis, coupled with the assassination of Gorkon threw the Empire into a civil war where the office of Chancellor lost most of its power, replaced with the heads of the Great Houses. To the outside they appeared to be unified, but inside they were constantly fighting. This is why by the time Next Generation rolls around, the Chancellorship is determined by single combat, and Gowron has difficulty holding power without a massive fleet at his command. The Klingon race's original home planet Qo'nos is a desolate wasteland, and the new "Klingon Homeworld" is just the seat of government.
The Mirror Universe split from the regular one after the American Revolution.
In the Mirror Universe, George Washington did become a dictator as many had predicted, creating the American Empire, the prototype (if not precursor) to the Terran Empire. As people in the Mirror Universe tend to hold parallel positions, we can assume that in the American Empire, power changed via coups rather than peaceful succession. Washington was assassinated by John Adams, who was overthrown by Thomas Jefferson. Grover Cleveland was driven into exile by Benjamin Harrison, only to make a comeback and take back the throne. Abraham Lincoln was a tyrant who brutally crushed the Southern Rebellion. Due to the constant backstabbing, Americans became loyal to the Empire as a whole instead of the Emperor.
Saavik is the daughter of Spock and the female Romulan Commander from "The Enterprise Incident"
I once had a theory that Saavik from Star Trek II, Star Trek III and Star Trek IV was the daughter of Spock and the female Romulan Commander from the TOS episode "The Enterprise Incident", conceived during their oh-so brief time together. It was stated in cut scenes, and I believe in the novelization, that she was half-Romulan, and I thought maybe that commander was her mom.
Granted, she'd be approximately 17 at the time of Star Trek II, though Star Trek TNG showed Wesley Crusher applying to Starfleet at 15-16, and the new Star Trek film showed Chekov as a ensign at 17, much to McCoy's horror. Even if it makes the Pon Farr scenes in Star Trek III awfully squicky, my theory stands.
Kirk just made shit up in TOS, and the episodes are based off his logs
Based off a brief aside from one of the novels. Kirk got bored out of his mind scanning uninhabited planets, and just put down whatever cool-sounding bullshit he could think of. "And then I met Klingons! What did they look like? Um, they looked like humans! With darker skin! And huge eyebrows! Yeah! And I kicked their butts! And made out with a spacebabe! Two spacebabes! And then they stole Spock's brain!"
The Federation evolved from the European Union.
There are many structural similarities between the EU and the Federation. For example, we have on several occasions heard about ambassadors being maintained between Federation worlds. This means that not all planetary sovereignty has been ceded to the Federation. More and more sovereignty is ceded over the chronology of the series, which leads to more and more members of the diplomatic corps being called 'ambassador,' despite the fact that they are not their homeworld's representative to a specific other planet.
Likewise, the Federation, like the EU, started as a coaltion of states (or planets in the case of the Federation) cooperating on a single issue. Over time the spillover effect meant that they integrated more and more policy areas, such as the treaty that marked the beginning of the Federation proper. While that treaty set up much of the foundation of the Federation and of Starfleet, it was a weak government that much resembled the early EEC in power and authority. Over the next 200 years, the Federation underwent several rounds of expansion, and also deepened via several more treaties, until in the 24th century the Federation meant something more than just a common defense force and supraplanetary authority, as was hinted at in TOS and the original films.
Likewise, money is not really talked about that often. When it is, we hear about Federation credits, but it seems that some member worlds don't use the Federation credit. Bajor, even after being admitted, seems to use gold-pressed latinum as a currency. This reflects the situation of the Eurozone right now. Most member states use the Euro, but have the choice to opt out. And new member states don't use it until their laws are brought in line with European law and they are ready for the switchover.
Finally, both the Federation and the EU maintain multiple capitals, in the same small general region of their respective territories. For the EU, it's three cities in the Rhine Valley: Strasbourg, Luxembourg, and Brussels. Note that these cities aren't necessarily in the most powerful member states, but in the member states that came up with the idea. This means that, for example, Earth doesn't necessarily have to be the most powerful member of the Federation because its capital cities (Paris and San Francisco) are located there. Just the member world that came up with the idea. And in both the EU and the Federation, these regions are the most likely to accept the higher authority as their primary identity. That's why the Federation seems so pervasive on Earth, but not as much on other worlds. The EU will one day evolve into the Federation.
Federation ships are badly built due to starfleet regulations
Copy-pasta from this troper's post in a forum thread, so forgiveness if it seems worded oddly for a WMG
Starfleet is the organization that builds and manages every major ship or base in the federation, including the three enterprises, voyager and deep space nine.
Starfleet is an exploratory organization, sending ships out into other quadrants to go where no man has gone before, to discover new civilizations, research negative space wedgies, etc, etc, yada, yada. Because a ship is supposed to be in outer space for prolonged lengths of time, there is a strict hierarchy on board to keep order. Because Starfleet vessels are the most likely for a first contact situation, only the best and brightest are allowed to join, to give the best image of humanity that is possible.
The problem is that starfleet vessels are the only ships capable of military duty as well. Because star fleet is exploratory in nature, none of the ships are capable of war. Their shields and weaponry are sub-par (It has been seen that a ship only one-twentieth as large as voyager can outmatch it militarily), because otherwise it wouldn't be an exploratory vessel. The FTL engines no longer function if the ships shields are hit.
Because the federation is in quite a lot of wars (klingon, romulan, cardassian and most horrifically, the borg), they need ships on stand-by, to patrol borders, to liberate captured facilities, etcetera. Starfleet vessels are the only armed ships available and thus are used for this. But because of starfleets recruitment policies and its high status in society, this basically means that most prodigies, whether military, medical or scientific, in the federation are stuck on border patrol.
On the other hand, because starfleet vessels usually serve as border patrol, certain alterations within parameters have been made. Usually at the cost of exploratory needs. But because it is against starfleet policy to differentiate between military and exploratory vessels, the ships sent into outer space get these alterations as well. This, for an example, results in the ships containment fields either being located next to the warp-core (one crack and the ship goes boom), or in medbay, next to all the patients needing rest.
Basically, because of starfleet policies, scientific geniuses get stuck on border duty, the federation doesn't have the military it could be capable of and ships aren't built properly for either exploratory or military applications.
Star Trek is a prequel to the Culture books of Iain Banks.
After Deep Space Nine, the Federation rapidly gains dominion over the sector. After Voyager, computer technology rapidly accelerates, as use of sentient holograms become widespread. (including for menial tasks) Eventually, however, the computers become smart enough to take over the running of the Federation entirely. Hologram emitters become repurposed as weapons, fitted to the exterior of ship hulls as well as the interior, eventually evolving into the powerful Effector weapons. Holograms eventually gain full citizenship, shed their holographic disguises becoming the Minds or the Drones. The Enterprise style ships become steadily larger, turning into the immense GS Vs. And so the Federation eventually become the Culture...
Starfleet uses human shields
The Klingon captain stares at his screen in shock. "There are hundreds of women and children on board that Starfleet battlecruiser!"
His weapons officer, an old hand, sighs. "Yes, we know. But the rules of war state that such casualties are their respon..."
"We cannot possibly fire on them!"
"And do what? We must uphold the honour of the Klingon. Look, they are charging weapons, captain. Give the order to fire!"
The captain thinks back to his own children. The younger daughter would be seven next week. She had not seen her father for some time. He looked down at the photograph he kept on his console.
"Give the order to fire, captain!" the other officer was getting frantic. "Fire or by Klingon naval law, I'll have you replaced!"
Fortunately for the Enterprise, and rather unfortunately for the crew of the frigate, it was already too late...
Vulcans came to Earth before First Encounter.
That's where we get elves from!
By the time of Star Trek, the letter C is Lost Technology
Uploading a file to another machine deletes the original because Starfleet policy is to Ctrl-X.
The Borg once proscribed assimilation.
A very long time ago, when the Borg used tetrahedron shaped vessels, allowing an outsider to join the Collective was a no-no, as it would reintroduce individual thoughts and threaten the unity of the hive mind. Instead, new drones were produced through cloning methods and genetic augments, all of which are both fast and cheap in the Star Trek universe. And although the Borg occasionally stole data files and genetic samples from other species, their combined imagination usually was enough to guarantee their continuous progress. As a result, entire empires managed to coexist with the Borg. Then something went wrong. For some strange reason, the Borg grew unable to conceive on their own. Other species became the only source of new drones and new technologies. The Collective increasingly got plagued with chaos and inefficiency, forcing the creation of the first Borg Queen. Eventually, entire groups of drones started reverting to their previous selves. There is but a single Q.
Q is a sentient, self-sufficient singularity that once travelled through space and time in search of knowledge. Eventually, Q’s exploration of the multiverse led to a meeting between every alternate version of Q. The result was the foundation of the aptly named Q Continuum. Obviously, this means that both Amanda Rogers and Junior are the result of selfcest, hence Q’s initial surprise at the idea. All portrayals of evolution in star trek are shoddy on purpose
Basically, they once did it wrong, either because one writer only had limited understanding, or because they thought people would get angry by a series that supported evolution. Later writers understood the theory better, but worked from the original theory for the sake of continuity.
During World War III, Britain conquered France
Well, how else does a Frenchman like Picard get such an impressive English accent?
The triple-breasted cat woman in Star Trek V had previously had a triple mastectomy.
Think about it. Cats, even hyper-evolved ones, have six nipples.
"Then how did she get a job as a dancer?" I hear you ask in between voluntary brain bleach swirlies. This is the same population of social castoffs that chased after Uhura wearing two fans and a bit of sand. Not merely admired as I did, but actively pursued like she was the long-sought cure for their carpal tunnel.
Pon Farr is not natural.
Instead, it is a result of Vulcan mental self-control, which is really a form of a very strong emotional repression. All seven years, the repressed emotional content returns, which is then called Pon Farr. This is why Vulcans are so secretive about it. It's sort of a flaw in their philosophy and their self-image. (Subsequently, at least theoretically Romulans shouldn't suffer from Pon Farr. Are there any examples of Romulan Pon Farr in canon?)
Ponn Farr is natural.
At any other time, Vulcans are able to cotrol their emotions, but it becomes too much to manage when their natural mating cycle takes hold. Romulans also experience Pon Farr, but for six years out of every seven, they are essentially asexual. This explains the complete equality of the sexes witnessed in all aspects of Romulan culture going back as early as the original series.
There is only one Department of Temporal Investigations in the whole multiverse of alternate futures
They can go from timeline to timeline by going back before divergence, than forwards up another branch, and we know from The Needs Of The Many that not only are they aware of mututally exclusive timelines, but have been there. Presumably they used to have one each, but budget cuts and consolidation led to mergers and shoving the work off until only one timeline had a Department in charge of policing all of them; presumably it does some recruiting in the other timelines and tries very hard not to partner people with themselves.
Section 31 destroyed Ceti Alpha VI
Firstly, Section 31 was around since the time of Archer, so this WMG would be possible. Now for the how and why. Section 31 is a very paranoid organisation, and wouldn't trust Khan to stay on Ceti Alpha V for long. Afterall, these are supermen. Eventually, they'd get around to building a ship. But they saw a way of preventing Khan from ever rising again, by exploding the nearby planet and the orbital shift hopefully killing everyone off. At the very least, it'd stop then from conquering the galaxy. What they didn't expect was Chekov and co going to the planet and providing Khan with a ship.
There will be a reboot of Next Generation.
And it will not be as good as the original. Because it will not have Patrick Stewart.
All those Human Aliens don't look to human with their clothes off...
It's my only way to rationalize the sheer number of Human Aliens.
The First Contact protocols of the Prime Directive don't apply to pre-warp civilizations that other alien races have already contacted.
The reason the Q were so afraid of Amanda Rogers is that half-human (or other being), half-Q hybrids do exist.
These beings are in between a High Tech Species and Sufficiently Advanced Aliens; they can access the power of the continuum only through constructed devices (sort of like the Q weapons Voyager uses when they enter the Continuum), though they can use the Continuum connection in its pure form if they are desperate. As a result of not promptly finishing them off in the past, they are stuck "babysitting," as in the case of Trelane.
Q gave Picard the powers of the Continuum, but was made human as a result.
This is why Patrick Stewart looks almost the same as he did in Star Trek: The Next Generation, while John de Lancie looks much older.
After the death of Odan's host in "The Host", Starfleet/the Federation modified their transporter technology to enable joined Trill to safely use them
This is why the Trill in Deep Space Nine can use the transporters with no problem.
The Q existed in our universe before they gained noncorporeality/omnipotence
This is why they are so concerned with the behavior of humanity in the main Trek universe, but the Mirror Universe is still allowed to exist.
Charlie X will grow up to become Charles Xavier.
This theory mostly came about because of the name similarity, but it still works.
The Star Trek universe is an alternate universe to our own, caused by time travel from our future.
Some villian from our universe is gonna time travel back to the 1980's, provide humanity with advanced genetic engineering technology in a vain attempt to make us destroy ourselves, and therefore cause the Eugenics Wars of the 1990's (which we all know didn't happen).
The Prime Directive is what keeps the Federation from becoming the Alliance.
Think about what the Prime Directive does - it prevents interference with other cultures, usually less advanced. Now consider River's primary criticism of the Alliance from Serenity - they meddle with other cultures without the right. For all the problems the Prime Directive has caused over the years, its existence keeps Starfleet's Knight Templar tendencies in check so that they don't feel justified in invading and controlling other cultures just because they know better.
The Breen are furries, either actually canoid or humanoids that think they are.
And that's what they're hiding under those refrigeration suits. (This hypothesis is provided by a certain Dax).
The Breen are gas creatures
They live in the upper atmosphere of their home planet (which, Weyoun notes, is actually quite temperate). The sealed refrigeration suits actually serve the purpose of reducing their volume and allowing them to take Humanoid shape in order to facillitate interaction with other cultures.
Anytime a character who is offscreen pages or gets paged and we don't see where they are, it's because they're in the bathroom.
Trek characters don't have Bottomless Bladders. Count the number of times a character is summoned somewhere and all we hear is a voice and "I'll be right there." Likewise, count how often a character is called by somebody offscreen and we don't see them. In every single one of these situations, the person we don't see is on the can. The exceptions are Odo and Data, who would be doing something just as embarrassing if we were to see them.
Chekov's "Russian inwentions" are completely made up.
He just likes to screw with everybody. Seriously. Watch the first time he says that Russia invented something, he's got this little smirk like, "Hehe, they actually think that I think that's true!"
This is an old one, but The Federation in both Star Trek and Blake'sSeven are the same group; both are propoganda, one by The Resistance, the other by The Federation.
The smooth-forehead Klingons aren't Klingons
The human-looking "Klingons" in the original series weren't Klingons per se, they were a subjugated race which was part of the Klingon empire. They were referred to as Klingons because they worked for Klingons, in other words. This has precedent in real life; when the USSR was still around, some people would refer to anyone living in the Russian-dominated USSR as 'Russian' even if they were Ukranian or Uzbek or whatever.
The UESPA is still pulling strings here and there in the background...
... because it's the public face of Section 31, and always has been.
The Mirror Universe was created during the events of The City on the Edge of Forever
When McCoy saved Edith, causing Hitler to win WWII and take over the world, the changes rippled further in time, to the mindset that led to the shooting of the Vulcan emissary in 2063, and further to the creation of the Terran Empire that has persisted in the mirror universe throughout Trek history. Consider:
Kirk has some sort of chip in his brain which alows him to make log entries anywhere anytime
Kirks log enties are used in most TOS episodes to keep the audience up to date on the story. If you listen to the tenses Kirk uses he talks about the events up to that point as having only just happened/still happening. For example 'We have been captured by ...' rather then 'We were caught by ...'. But in nearly all cases Kirk is in a position where he clearly has no recording equipment and/or can't risk being caught speaking out loud. I suggest that Kirk has some sort of chip implanted which alows him to record log entries with his brian. This may be so that if a captain should die on a mission as long as they recover his body they can find out what happened.
The Vulcans were a quasi-religious cult that left the mutual homeworld (Romulus) and started a whacky colony.
The Romulans have a large Empire. The Vulcans have one planet. It is usually implied (mainly by Vulcans) that the Romulans are the ones who left, but it would make more sense if it were the other way round. On Romulus this odd cult formed that eschewed emotion in favour of logic. They end up being unpopular and either leave, or are forced out, and eventually settle on the planet Vulcan. Eventually they meet the Terrans and the UFP is formed. From the perspective of the Romulans, these Earth people bumped into the crazy colonials and sided with them, which goes some way to explain the antipathy between the Empire and the Federation.
The reason the Borg went from a hive mind to an individual queen in charge was due to Hugh's individuality.
We saw in the Descent two parter that the TNG crew's plan to infect the Borg with individuality via Hugh worked, but when the collective sensed what was happening, they disconnected Hugh's cube before the infection could spread. What if, before they were disconnected, a female drone was able to transmit her consciousness to another cube? Rather than infect other drones with her individuality, she instead used her individuality to dominate and take control of the collective, thereby becoming queen of the Borg hive mind.
The Queen being an individual consciousness that controls but is not a part of the collective would explain so much IMHO, like her fetish for inhabiting female drones that possess a similar physical appearance (because they look like her original body); why when a Borg queen is killed another pops up (because it's the same consciousness in different bodies); and, perhaps more importantly, why she doesn't seem to be part of the hive mind, and when encountering problems that could easily be solved by merging minds, she never does (because, as an individual, she is reluctant, even fearful of merging with the hive mind, because it might mean losing her individuality and/or control over the collective).
Gary Seven was a Time Lord.
He is capable of time travel, picks up a human female companion, carries a high-tech multipurpose tool, and comes from a planet that is undetectable to humans.
Holograms aren't a thing.
...just a generic term for simulation technology, in the same way that "video game" doesn't necessarily imply 2D, 3D polygonal, 3D voxel, or any other specific technology.
Thus there are no inconsistencies in what holograms can do, because holograms can do whatever the holodeck is equipped to do: some can replicate food, clothes, and pheromones; some just project sprites.
Spock is Xehanort and the Kingdom Hearts world all comes from the insane dreams he has from repressing violent emotions.
And not just because Leonard Nimoy voices him! Consider this. When a Vulcan sleeps he releases the repressed emotions of the day. This can be done through dreams and thoughts. Spock could have repressed the annoyance and exasperation towards lesser minds and the emotional. He views logic as cold, rational, and sometimes dark, but overall the better choice. Because he strives to repress these emotions more than a normal Vulcan to prove himself, the dreams are more wild. Thus, he dreams he is a master of his darkness and logic, and must fight the emotional and light of the lesser minds in an insane world where people fight with giant keys.
Section 31 caused the supernova that destroyed Romulus.
Around the end of Deep Space Nine, Section 31 was attempting to deal with a possible future Federation-Romulan War. Although most of this involved political maneuvering, the near-destruction of Earth in Nemesis probably convinced them that more drastic measures were necessary, especially since the Romulans had been a major threat to the Federation for a very long time. Since the Dominion already had the capacity to generate a supernova, Section 31 already had a method they could reverse-engineer and modify as needed. As for Spock's attempt to stop it, that failed due to the supernova occurring earlier than expected, which was probably a result of deliberate misinformation.
Vulcans are in high demand for Straight Man roles in Federation comedy.
Let's see... a legendary ability to not crack up, taught from early childhood how to rationalize away anything and how to do rhetorical backflips, hardly any room in their heads for ego... frankly, the moment one of them decides the stereotypical Vulcan life of quiet dignity is not strictly logically necessary, they may just have it made (admittedly, there would probably be low supply). The ones we've seen on TV are The Comically Serious often enough for this to work.
Interaction with the Mirror Universe accounts for much of the erratic continuity.
Consider how unlikely it is that all of the characters aboard the ISS Enterprise in both Archer's time and Kirk's would be exactly the same ones as those who are aboard the USS Enterprise in each respective time. Consider too how unlikely it would be that Kirk and Mirror Kirk would just happen to be beaming up with landing parties exactly the same as each other from the very same planet at the very same time in their respective universes such that an anomaly in the transporter could exchange them without anybody realizing what happened at first.
How can all of these incredibly improbable coincidences ever have occured? Because they aren't coincidences. The fate of each universe is intertwined with the other, and what the people in one universe do invariably has some effect on what their counterparts in the other universe are doing. This effect works both ways: the reason Mirror Kirk has almost entirely the same crew as his counterpart despite all of the infighting and backstabbing on all of the Terran Empire's ships is because the other Kirk's decisions indirectly affect Mirror Kirk's decisions through the mystical link between their universes. Meanwhile, as Kirk discovers when he gets back to his own universe, a version of the ensign who was Mirror Kirk's "captain's woman" has just signed on to his ship as well because that's what her counterpart decided to do in the Mirror Universe earlier. Whenever the continuities happen to slide out of synch with each other, such as when someone dies in one universe and is still alive in another, various events inevitably occur to resynchronize them.
This may also account for the occasional anomalies in various characters' behavior patterns: whenever Mirror Kirk does something irrational that leads to someone living who would otherwise have died, that's because his counterpart is rescuing the very same person in his universe. Whenever the regular Kirk takes a foolish chance that gets a Red Shirt killed, that's because Mirror Kirk is having that very same Red Shirt executed for some infraction or other in his universe. This goes as far back as Archer's time or maybe even further: Forrest ultimately was doomed to die in the one universe because he had already died in the other. Likewise, though Hitler may actually have won World War II in the Mirror Universe, he may ultimately have succumbed to a case of Pyrrhic Villainy that ultimately gave the USA greater influence over the Terran Empire.
Maybe by Sisko's time, whatever the Mirror Universe's residents did to prevent further crossovers is now causing the universes to decouple such that they aren't such a strong influence on each other anymore... or maybe not. Didn't Sisko's wife get herself killed in both universes? Still, this would explain some of the unlikely turns of events that otherwise just seem to be contrived coincidences. It's not so much that A Wizard Did It as that The Mirror Universe Did It.
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