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Star Trek is a franchise built on exploration and discovery. Kirk, Picard, and other captains face the unknown ready to learn, equipped with more questions than answers.While that inquisitive spirit deserves admiration, it does sometimes make for frustrating viewing. Over the decades, Star Trek has brought up more than a few questions it never answered, creating dangling plot threads.Unsurprisingly, some of these questions do get answered in comics and novels. But those tend to be non-canon and subject to revision in later movies and television shows. So these are the biggest questions that the shows and movies havent answered, questions that might lead to compelling stories later on.1. Is Trelane a Q?In the season one Original Series episode The Squire of Gothos, Kirk gets teleported to a playful, all-powerful figure called Trelane. Paying no mind to Kirks protestations, Trelane keeps engaging new games, having lots of fun with archaic Earth phrases and a sense of faux adventure. However, things later turn serious when Trelane decides to put Kirk and the crew on trial, judging them according to a standard that only he understands.An all-powerful being? Games that annoy the Captain? A trial?All of those qualities describe Q as much as they do Trelane, leading many fans to wonder if Trelane is a member of the Q continuum. But while Q and aspects of his people do show up throughout various Star Trek projects, the question of whether Trelane of the Q never gets answered. Mariner and Beckett make a passing reference that connects Trelane to the Q in the Strange New Worlds episode Those Old Scientists, and the Peter David novel Q-Squared explicitly names Trelane as a member of the Q Continuum, but thats not canon. Mainline Star Trek has never again checked in on the Squire of Gothos.2. How Many Siblings Does Spock Have Anyway?Like most things in the first season of TOS, Spocks background and family tree are unfurled slowly. But by the time of The Motion Picture, we get the gist: hes the son of a Vulcan father and human mother, who respects Vulcan culture but cannot push himself to purge his human emotions.Then, Star Trek V introduces Spocks half-brother Sybok, the product of Sareks forbidden relationship with a princess, a guy whose embrace of emotion over logic gets him banished from Vulcan. Decades later, Star Trek: Discovery introduces Michael Burnham, Spocks foster sister who is raised by Sarek and Amanda after the death of her parents.So, just what is going on under Sareks roof? Vulcans have long lifespans and their devotion to logic means they dont always feel compelled to mention things like family members. But by this point, Spocks background feels so improbable that its surprising no ones sat down and explained it all, anything to prevent Sybok and Michaels relationship to Spock feel like lazy attempts to give new characters instant significance.3. What Happened with the Mind-Control Parasites From the TNG Season One Finale?Perhaps the most nagging question on this list comes from the end of The Next Generations first season. In the final episode Conspiracy, Picard learns of a group of bad actors within the Federation trying to take control of the organization. Bad admirals are a dime a dozen within Starfleet, but this group involved lower-ranked personnel too, demanding further investigation.Eventually, Picard and Riker discover that parasitic brain worms had taken control of several Federation members, including Lieutenant Commander Remmick of Starfleet, who held the mother parasite in his body. With a shockingly gory effect, Picard and Riker zap Remmick to kill the creature, but not before it sent a call to others to attack.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Apparently, it didnt work, because when season two begins months later, everyones too worried about Trois sudden pregnancy to think about the parasites. It only comes up again during Rikers clip show hallucinations in Shades of Grey and when conspiracy theorists ranted about butt bugs in Lower Decks, because Lower Decks never forgets.4. What happened to the Starfleet Skant?Speaking of Lower Decks, its kind of shocking that the show only mentions the skant once in passing, never treating us to Boimler in a skant. The skant, of course, is the skirt/short combination uniform memorably sported by male officers in TNGs first season.The skant was, of course, an attempt to update the miniskirt look from TOS and to give it a gender neutral function. So even though Troi became the most prominent skant wearer, men in background shots also had their legs exposed. However, the skant went away after a few episodes.As we see in Lower Decks, Boimler does own a skant, but Mariner just says, Nobody wears those anymore. But why? Surely, somebody somewhere in Starfleet made the decision. Was that an order from Jellico, the same guy who finally got Troi in a proper uniform? Or did Garak use his Obsidian Order tailoring skills to finally get that eyesore out of the galaxy? We may never know.5. Where is Thomas Riker?One of TNGs better updates on a TOS concept occurred in the season six episode Second Chances, in which a transporter accident splits Riker into two distinct people. The second person takes the name Thomas Riker, and goes his own way from William. He goes so far, in fact, as to join the Maquis, the anti-Cardassian resistance fighters, a move that eventually gets him locked in prison.Once again, Lower Decks doesnt forget about Thomas Riker, telling us that he left that prison at some point, but thats where the trail goes cold. We have no idea how or why he left, or where he ended up next.As a person with the knowledge of the first officer of Starfleets flagship and also anti-Federation leanings, Thomas Riker is an incredibly interesting character. He shows up regularly in non-canonical worksincluding the Peter David novel Triangle: Imzadi II, in which he hooks up with Yars Romulan daughter Selabut is absent from mainline canon, and were the lesser for it.6. How the heck does Section 31 work?Okay, okay, okay. Weve written a lot about how Section 31 is a limited concept and that Star Trek should really stop telling Section 31 stories. But since the powers that be cannot help but keep using edgy cool Starfleet, weve got to ask: how does this thing operate anyway?The original storylines in Deep Space Nine established Section 31 as something of a vestigial branch authorized by the Federation charter. They have access to Starfleet records but, as Luther Sloan put it, dont exactly ask for permission. That suggests that theyve been operating on their own for so long that they work independently of Starfleet and the Federation, despite having access to resources within those organizations. But in Discovery, Lower Decks, and the Section 31 movie, Section 31 seems to have more direct interactions with Starfleet, which make all the cloak and dagger stuff used to contact Bashir an unnecessary game played by Sloan.Look, we dont want more Section 31. But if its going to keep coming up, can we at least get some idea of how this thing works? That would help Section 31 stories from feeling like excuses to cram rejected Suicide Squad pitches into the Star Trek universe unless, of course, thats exactly what Section 31 stories are.7. What became of the Dominion?As if to prove the argument above, we know that the Founders were terribly weakened by Section 31s genocidal attack. Deep Space Nine ends with the suggestion that the cure Odo takes to the Great Link will stem most of the damage, but the Changeling plot from season three of Picard undermines that a bit.Still, the Dominion wasnt just the Changelings. What about the Vorta or the JemHadar?Its hard not to believe that there arent just piles of Weyouns stacked up in the Gamma Quadrant, waiting for their next higher being to serve with delicious irony. And the JemHadar were engineered to be eternal warriors. They must be steeling for a fight, and its hard to believe that some wouldnt have returned to the Alpha Quadrant to sate that thirst.The demand from producer Rick Berman and co. to keep the Dominion War relegated to Deep Space Nine means that well probably never get an answer, unless Star Trek: Legacy actually happens.8. What Happened to Sisko?Its difficult to explain its not linear, Benjamin Sisko says of his life as the Emissary in the final episode of Deep Space Nine. Called by the Prophets to do even more work after the conclusion of the Dominion War, Sisko accepts his role as Emissary and more or less disappears.Still, it would be nice if someone would try to explain Siskos life after the show. One of the greatest Captains in Trek history closed out the greatest Trek series by disappearing into light, leaving only promises to his family that he would return again. And then never returning again.We know that Siskos performer Avery Brooks didnt have quite the same desire to revisit his character as others in the franchise and, at age 76, thats unlikely to change now. And Sisko does lead the excellent current Star Trek comics published by IDW.However, it would be nice to get some news about Sisko and his whereabouts, at least something other than the truthers peddling conspiracy theories on, you guessed it, Lower Decks.9. What happened to Janeway and Pariss salamander babies?Lets get this straight. Threshold is a weird, corny episode of Voyager. But it isnt a bad episode of Voyager. It deserves respect, at least enough for the franchise to look back and consider what happened to the babies made by the salamander versions of Janeway and Paris.For those who need a reminder, Threshold follows Tom Paris as he exceeds Warp 10. The feat transforms him into some type of salamander monster, driven by the need to mate. He kidnaps Janeway, subjects her to the same transformation process, then takes her to a planet to mate. The two are rescued and restored, but not before making a litter of salamander babies.So what happened to those guys? Do they turn into humans later in life? Do they ever try to find their parents, attacking Pariss daughter with BElanna or the Prodigy kids in a fit of jealous anger?Well, at least well always have the salamander babies that came with the Tom Paris Threshold Mutant action figure. Well just make up our own stories.10. What did Worf do to the Enterprise-E?It was more than a little surprising when the third season of Picard brings Worf back into the fold not as the Captain of the Enterprise but as a ronin who chops off Ferengi heads. After all, non-canon works had pretty much all agreed that Worf would take command of the Enterprise at some point, making the plot point a likely candidate for in-canon inclusion.Finally, with the main cast all reunited and preparing to board the restored Enterprise-D, someone makes a crack about the fate of the Enterprise-E. After a beat of silence, Worf finally speaks up. That was not my fault, he declares.What wasnt your fault Worf? Look, the -E was an ugly ship and were glad to see it gone, replaced by the restored -D and the one-time Titan changed into the Enterprise-G. But the destruction of the -E would at least make for a good story, if only to lend some strength to Worfs character.11. Why do the Disco Klingons look like that?We do not discuss it with outsiders. Worfs answer to his DS9 crewmates questions about the difference between TOS Klingons and TNG Klingons is way better than the Augment Virus plot from Enterprise. Still, we cant help but wonder about the radically redesigned Klingons introduced in Discovery.The Klingons were easily one of the least loved parts of the divisive Discovery, so much so that the creatures grew hair to look closer to the TNG versions in season two. By season three, the Klingons disappeared from the show, never to be seen again. When Strange New Worlds or Lower Decks used Klingons, they always used pre-established versions, never the ones from Disco. Except, of course, for a brief shot in the Lower Decks finale The New Next Generation, when a multiverse field transforms two TNG-style Klingons into the Disco version.This multiversal moment has led some to believe that Disco took place in an alternate reality, but Lower Decks series creator Mike McMahan has been cagey about confirming that theory or debunking it. Honestly, the best way forward is to just ignore the redesigns and move on. But if the Disco Klingons ever come back, we need at least some acknowledgement that Kahless beat them with an ugly stick held back from the other houses.12. Why did Daniels become Kovich?Viewers were filled with questions every time Doctor Kovich hit the screen in Discovery. Granted, the overwhelming majority of those questions were variations of How the heck did they get David Cronenberg on this show? but some of the others related to his apparent knowledge of other timelines and realities.Instead of answering those questions, the Discovery finale closed with another. Kovich reveals that he has also been known as Daniels, and once served on the Enterprise. Daniels, of course, is the mysterious crewman who worked with Captain Archer during the Temporal Cold War on Enterprise.Outside of the fun factoid that Daniels was originally played by Matt Winston, son of special effects master and contemporary to Cronenberg Stan Winston, the connection makes no sense and raises so many questions. Are other people from Star Trek history supposed to be Kovich/Daniels? Why the name change? Is the 32nd century connected to the adventures he had with Archer?As with Section 31, some answers here would be nice, if only to keep the reference from feeling like an empty play at significance by name dropping an otherwise irrelevant character.
