The Fate of TOS characters and do you want to see short films about them like "Unification"?

[trekfan_1]

*Mods feell free to move this to TOS forum but felt General Trek was more appropriate since TOS characters and their fates span into different eras and even universes*


Watching the recent Unification short film has me thinking about the other TOS characters' fates.

As far as I know:

Kirk: dies in Generations

Spock: last known to be on Kelvin 's New Vulcan ( dies there if you consider "Unification" short film cannon) I'm undecided.

Edit: Spock is definitely dead on New Vulcan as per Star Trek Beyond. The only cannon question is if what we saw in Unification short film is what "really" happened.

McCoy: last known to be alive circa 2364 ( TNG S1 ep1). presumably probably dead by PICARD S1. Any non cannon material on his ultimate fate?

Scotty: last seen circa 2369 (TNG's Relics). Ultimate fate unknown. Perhaps even unknown to Starfleet as he went " off grid".

Sulu: Fuzzy on this one. Don't think we have any sign if he's alive in the TNG era. My memory is he is alive at least in Generations' TOS era/ Enterprise B christening. Kirk was talking about him in the present tense IIRC when he met his daughter.

Chekov: Alive as of Picard Season 3 as the Federation President IIRC. May be the only main TOS character still alive in the " current" TNG era timeline.

Edit: Goofed It was Checkov" s son

Uhura: Another Fuzzy one. Don't think we see her or mentioned after Star Trek 6?

Other characters:

Sarek: Dead circa 2369 "Unification " TNG.

Chapel: Don't think we saw her after Star Trek 4?. For some reason ,Jess Bush 's Chapel in SNW doesn't feel like a character that would settle to Earth Spacedock duty? Was that what she was doing? . ofcouse nothing to rule out a more ambitious career path beyond that posting.

CORRECTION, Just as I posted the thread I remembered Chapel is a MD by ST TMP.. Think I got her confused with Rand in ST IV.?

Any corrections, additional insights?

For any of the characters where their fate is not known within canon, anyone have any insights on their fate in non can sources? ( not very well versed in the novels). Considering showrunners often cannonize novel storylines, I may chose to adopt some of the non cannon fates ( if there are any) as my personal head cannon.

And part 2 of this thread, how do you feel if we saw more "Roddenberry Archive " short films ( or even "Short Treks") where we perhaps see the fates ( not necessarily the actual deaths) of the other TOS characters?

 

[FredH]

The Federation President in PC S3 is Chekov’s son, also voiced by Walter Koenig. And there is no reason to doubt Star Trek Beyond’s reportage of Spock’s passing.

 

[trekfan_1]

The Federation President in PC S3 is Chekov’s son, also voiced by Walter Koenig. And there is no reason to doubt Star Trek Beyond’s reportage of Spock’s passing.

You are right I stand corrected.

 

[Tosk]

It's easy to say this now, but no I wouldn't really want any new shorts to show the ultimate fates of the remaining crew.

Sometimes it's best to let them live out their final days away from our gaze. If anything, OTOY-Unification resets Kirk to an unknown future. (Possibly carrying Spock's katra back to Vulcan?! That would be nice.)

 

[JonnyQuest037]

HELL no. No CGI/AI stuff, please. I thought that Unification short was horrible (Technically, morally, creatively, just about any way you'd care to name.)

 

[trekfan_1]

I voted yes for the simple reason as I would be interested in seing what they come with as the technology gets beter. . And since the canon authenticity is up for debate anyway, I can always chose to exclude it from my head cannon if fails to impress or resonate.

But perhaps short films about lesser known legacy characters would be more interesting and a beter way to go. And not necessarily CGI/A.I. Even SNW style recasting would be interesting if executed well. Couple that come to mind is the Farragut disaster and Kirk's witnesseing of the Kodos incident ( both of which we may still see in SNW in flashbacks).

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I think it's fine if people continue making these very professional 'fan film'-style productions, even if I don't have much interest in seeing them myself.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

No. I found Unification underwhelming. I don't need to see what happened to O'Reilly.

 

[kkt]

It's a big galaxy out there and starfleet has hundreds or thousands of ships. We don't need to keep returning to one or two. No to CGI. Recasting is okay, but I'd rather they were telling stories about some of the people we haven't seen before instead of the Enterprise being the only ship in the sector time after time.

 

[Airin]

As far as canon goes in this matter, I think that less is more, and some things are best left to imagination/ambiguous. In fact, I would have found it perfect if they had stopped at STVI for the TOS characters.
Now, if we're talking about non-canon stuff, then I see no problem in expanding as much as one likes. But I prefer other media for this, like novels, comics or games, rather than this kind of shorts.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Uhura: Another Fuzzy one. Don't think we see her or mentioned after Star Trek 6?

Some background art in Picard season 2's Academy scenes (never legible on-screen) gave her a captaincy. Link.

 

[The Wormhole]

McCoy: last known to be alive circa 2364 ( TNG S1 ep1). presumably probably dead by PICARD S1. Any non cannon material on his ultimate fate?

IIRC, the novel Provenance of Shadows has him die shortly after his visit the the Enterprise D in Farpoint, though that wasn't part of the "Litverse" continuity where he was still alive a year after the Dominion War ended. I don't think his fate was ever specifically addressed in the Litverse, though we can safely assume if he were still alive in 2386, he'd have died when that timeline was destroyed.

 

[Dukhat]

I thought Unification was amazing. With that said, no, I don't need anything like that to explain the fates of the other characters. I'm fine leaving that to the imagination.

Some background art in Picard season 2's Academy scenes (never legible on-screen) gave her a captaincy. Link.

While I don't have a problem with Uhura captaining a ship in her later years per se, I definitely think the information on that plaque should be apocryphal, starting with the dumb decision to use a ship design from the Sovereign era to depict a ship commissioned during the TOS films. And a five-year mission to the Lesser Magellanic Cloud 200,000 light years away? Utter nonsense.

 

[Tosk]

I think that plaque should be (and is!) as canonical as something like the signage with Gilligan's Island lyrics.

 

[Dukhat]

I think that plaque should be (and is!) as canonical as something like the signage with Gilligan's Island lyrics.

A hamster wheel running the warp drive is more believable than a ship from the year 2285 flying 200,000 ly to the LMG and 200,000 ly back

 

[FederationHistorian]

McCoy: last known to be alive circa 2364 ( TNG S1 ep1). presumably probably dead by PICARD S1. Any non cannon material on his ultimate fate?

His fate is unknown, though he did have a daughter named Joanna in TAS.

Among the events in non canon sources, he served on the Ent-B as chief medical officer. Promoted to captain in the late 2290s. Became a Starfleet Medical Surgeon General, and later held a special rank called branch admiral. And attended Sarek and Perrin’s wedding.

Non canon sources also suggest that he either died shortly after the events of “Encounter at Farpoint” or is still alive as of 2381.

Scotty: last seen circa 2369 (TNG's Relics). Ultimate fate unknown. Perhaps even unknown to Starfleet as he went " off grid".

Maybe he's still alive in the 32nd century on Ba'ku or some other similar planet and look as he does in SNW.

Sulu: Fuzzy on this one. Don't think we have any sign if he's alive in the TNG era. My memory is he is alive at least in Generations' TOS era/ Enterprise B christening. Kirk was talking about him in the present tense IIRC when he met his daughter.

Sulu was supposed to have a cameo in GEN where he learns of Kirk’s “death”.

According to Star Trek Federation: The First 150 Years, he’s an admiral and C-in-C of Starfleet Command by 2311. But he’s never seen onscreen together with his daughter.

Chekov: Alive as of Picard Season 3 as the Federation President IIRC. May be the only main TOS character still alive in the " current" TNG era timeline.

Edit: Goofed It was Checkov" s son

Correct, that’s Chekov’s son in PIC S3. We don’t know who his mother is, though fan theory believes her to be Irina Galliulin.

Non canon sources have Chekov as first officer of the Excelsior, and later captain of several ships and C-in-C of Starfleet Command.

Though Chekov is still alive in the 2380s, with the rank of admiral and the head of Starfleet Intelligence according to the fan film Renegades.

Uhura: Another Fuzzy one. Don't think we see her or mentioned after Star Trek 6?

Supposedly there plans for Uhura meeting a younger Picard in relation to PIC that were never realized.

But she was supposed to have captained the USS Leondegrance in the early 24th century.

Chapel: Don't think we saw her after Star Trek 4?. For some reason ,Jess Bush 's Chapel in SNW doesn't feel like a character that would settle to Earth Spacedock duty? Was that what she was doing? . ofcouse nothing to rule out a more ambitious career path beyond that posting.

Non canon sources have her being a part of Sarek's diplomatic team in 2289, and serving with Sulu and Janice Rand on the Excelsior before it's destroyed in 2308.

how do you feel if we saw more "Roddenberry Archive " short films ( or even "Short Treks") where we perhaps see the fates ( not necessarily the actual deaths) of the other TOS characters?

The fates of Pike (post-“The Menagerie”) and Number One are obvious ones, but might be addressed by SNW in the future. Though the time between Pike taking command and the events of The Cage are up for debate.

M’Ress and Arex are unknown and only in animation.

Harry Mudd’s fate is unknown. Non canon sources have him continue to be a nuisance to the Enteprise crew right up to TFF, and is so notorius that he's part of a Kobayashi Maru-like training program for cadets involving a Romulan warbird.

Marla McGivers's fate is known, but we never saw those events.

Zefram Cochrane's fate is also known, but the first meeting with the Companion on the Bonaventure has never been shown.

I'm not sure if anyone is interestind in the fates of Ann Mulhall or Miranda Jones, but it's a possble short film.

There is very little info on T’Pring after “Amok Time” in non canon sources. Other than having a daughter with Stonn, brief interactions with Spock prior to TMP and again after GEN, and questioning what her life with Spock might have been.

The fate of the female Romulan Commander - Charvanek - after her capture is up for debate.

It's also worth noting that mirror Kirk's fate in regards to the Tantalas field was going to be explored in ENT as him being sent to the 22nd century. And may still have merit as a short film set during the era of the XCV-330 or early Starfleet.

 

[ananta]

I found Unification beautiful and moving but I don’t really need anymore. I fear if they did too much more they’d spoil its uniqueness and I’m actually quite happy not knowing the fate of each character. In my mind they will live on forever.

 

[carcinoGeneticist]

Sometimes it's best to let them live out their final days away from our gaze.

That's what I'm saying! I don't understand at all the fascination with all the characters' deaths, TBH.

As far as canon goes in this matter, I think that less is more, and some things are best left to imagination/ambiguous. In fact, I would have found it perfect if they had stopped at STVI for the TOS characters.
Now, if we're talking about non-canon stuff, then I see no problem in expanding as much as one likes. But I prefer other media for this, like novels, comics or games, rather than this kind of shorts.

This, too.

 

[Nyotarules]

Trek needs to keep moving forward.

 

[Firebird]

Unification works for what it is - a visual representation of the Roddenberry Archive's mission to preserve and present the history of the Star Trek franchise.

Outside of that, I don't believe we need answers to every question under the sun about what character X, Y, or Z did after their last FADE OUT in the script. The fun is in the imagination.

What means more is to face forward, come up with new characters, new stories, more strange, new worlds and new civilizations. That is what Star Trek is all about. That's why we're aboard her.