With Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returning for Season 3 on July 17, the marketing is about to heat up for the continuing mission of Captain Pike and the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise. But some Trek fans may be a bit confused by the teaser trailer for the new season, which hints at the inclusion of a holodeck – technology that wasn’t really seen in the world of Trek until Captain Picard’s Next Generation adventures kicked off in 1987.
Since TNG was set about 100 years after The Original Series, which in and of itself is set about a decade after Strange New Worlds, this moment in the teaser trailer seems like a bit of a continuity gaffe. And yet there’s Spock (Ethan Peck) and La’An (Christina Chong) standing on the very familiar grid of the holodeck – La’An even has on period clothing, indicating she’s heading into some holo-adventure.
Watch the teaser here:
Other shots in the trailer seem to be setting up a murder-mystery episode – Clue in space! – with the whole cast getting to play dress-up… no doubt on the holodeck with La’An. But again, you ask, why is there a holodeck on the OG Enterprise at all!?
Well, first of all, let’s put aside all the other possibilities that sci-fi (or even basic storytelling) offer us. This could be a dream, or it could be an alien creation, like a reality created by Q (or a Q-type being like Trelane, the TOS one-and-done character who turned out to basically be a baby Q, and is rumored to be returning for this season of SNW). Or this could be time travel! Or an alternate reality! Or…
Nah, this is a holodeck. But the thing is, the holodeck didn’t originate on Next Generation. Not really. In fact, the concept goes back to this version of the Enterprise (no bloody A, B, C or D…). According to Memory Alpha, the book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story reports that Trek creator Gene Roddenberry wanted to include a holodeck-like area on the ship in the third season of The Original Series, but budget constraints proved prohibitive. He finally did get the idea onscreen, however, on Star Trek: The Animated Series in 1974. In the episode “The Practical Joker,” a version of the holodeck is featured – but it’s called a “recreation room.” Sulu, Dr. McCoy and Uhura use it to go to the beach, and then to a forest, but even back then holodeck malfunctions were a thing. (The ship’s computer becomes the practical joker of the episode title and causes all kinds of mischief for the folks in the rec room.)
But beyond that, Star Trek: Discovery also featured something that was holodeck-adjacent, if not an actual holodeck. This was in Season 1 of that series, which is set even earlier than Strange New Worlds. Captain Lorca (Jason Isaacs) and Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) are undergoing some military training exercises in what amounts to a holographic setting. There’s no grid on the wall, but then again, there’s no malfunction either! Seems like a win?
All of which is to say, yes, holodeck tech did exist in some form back during Captain Pike’s era. Now let’s see if they call it a “rec room” – if they do, then you’ll know the writers are really paying attention to Trek history.
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