Star Trek Online Expansion Goes All Timey-Wimey
Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey
It's Star Trek a-go-go lately, with every dang series hitting Netflix UK last week and a new movie out in a fortnight. Not wanting to be left out, free-to-play MMORPG Star Trek Online [official site] today launched a new expansion which crosses over with The Original Series and Star Trek Beyond and other things in ways that would be baffling if you treated these timelines as a serious history rather than plot devices to tell fun stories. (Please don't explain timelines to me. Any of them. Anyone.) They've even got Walter Koenig to play Chekov again.
Here's the official word on the Agents of Yesterday expansion:
"Agents of Yesterday sends players on a mission to save the future by protecting the past. The expansion allows players to create a brand-new Captain from Star Trek: The Original Series, the quintessential television show that gave way to one of the most popular science-fiction franchises of all time. Captains can explore planets taken directly from the show, while commanding one of several 23rd Century starships, including the classic Enterprise, Constitution-class starship and many other designs inspired by the classic aesthetic. All of the Star Trek timelines and universes collide when enemies threaten to destroy the past, calling for the recruitment of Star Trek Online’s bravest to become Temporal Agents and defend our very existence."
Oh... the Temporal Agent guff from Enterprise again. Good. Good stuff. Not any of the fun Star Trek time travel stuff. Temporal Agents. Fine! STO was already all sorts of janked up from squeezing in fan-favourite characters from everywhere and everywhen, of course.
The point is, the expansion's cast includes Walter Koenig as Chekov, Matt Winston as Temporal Agent Daniels, Joseph Gatt as his cyborg character from the new movies, Chase Masterson as Admiral Leeta (please, explain no timelines), and Scotty is played by James Doohan... 's son. James Doohan's son, Chris Doohan.
Is Star Trek Online worth a go at this point? Cobbo took a new look a few months ago. "It's at least worth a look if you’ve been meaning to already, as an MMO that plays things differently, if not necessarily one you’ll play for months," he concluded. And that was before he knew he might get to meet James Doohan's son.
I've been watching a lot of The Next Generation since it hit Netflix, seeing it in order for the first time in ooh yonks. I'm enjoying seeing it find its feet and discover its values, tolerant of its missteps knowing it'll improve, and delighted by how insistent it is that everyone in space us so damn space-horny all the damn space-time. Wank it out, Will.