Marvel and 'Star Wars' take note. 'Star Trek' is now Hollywood's ultimate shared universe

[Nutso]

https://www.space.com/marvel-and-star-w ... d-universe

It's not quite "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" (sorry, Mr Spock), but "Star Trek"'s guiding principle since "Discovery" brought the franchise back to TV in 2017 has been variety. "Discovery" started out as an "Original Series" prequel, before warping off to the even-more-distant future of the 32nd century. That left a gap in the timeline for the less serialized voyages of a pre-Kirk Enterprise in "Strange New Worlds". "Picard" picked up the story of the ageing Jean-Luc Picard two decades after "The Next Generation" crew's final voyage, while a pair of animated series — kids' show "Prodigy" and all-out comedy "Lower Decks" — were given freedom to take the most daring swings in "Trek" history.

Throw upcoming spy adventure "Section 31" and cadet-themed "Disco" spin-off "Starfleet Academy" into the mix, and it's clear that — beyond the obligatory warp drives, phasers and frequent violations of the Prime Directive — the main element unifying these very different series is their shared universe. Even their settings are far enough apart — geographically and chronologically — that there's little danger of storylines colliding in Spacedock.