By A.J. Black

Polaris

Think you know Star Trek? Think again…

From Kirk replacing Pike for the original five year mission through the troubled first years of The Next Generation and on to Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and prequel series Enterprise, right up to the modern shows Discovery and Strange New Worlds (and not forgetting the various big screen adventures), the story of Star Trek has been repeatedly told.

There is, however, another Star Trek, stretching across nearly 60 years – the stories not told, the voyages never embarked upon. A.J. Black has dug deep into the archives to uncover the story ideas and scripts that fell by the wayside during almost six decades of Star Trek screen history. From the original Star Trek pitch document through unmade stories for The Original Series by acclaimed science fiction authors like A. E. Van Vogt, Robert Sheckley, and Philip José Farmer, Black outlines some of the earliest adventures that were scrapped for a multiplicity of reasons. Even series star William Shatner pitched story ideas, none of which ever reached the screen.

There was a big screen Star Trek outing in the works as far back as 1967 and a spin-off movie based around The Wrath of Khan’s Ricardo Montalban. Everything was grist for the merciless Star Trek ideas mill: Eddie Murphy, Planet of the Titans, even Roddenberry’s non-Star Trek series pilots of the 1970s proved to be a two-way street in story concepts. All roads seemingly lead back to Star Trek.

Black tracks these hidden histories, largely chronologically, but occasionally jumping out of the timeline when the overall arc of the story demands it. Admittedly, if you are not a fan of sometimes dense storylines for adventures you’ll never actually see, Lost Federations might be hard going. However, for almost everyone else Black takes you on a series of journeys that must remain imaginary, that can play out on the screen of your mind’s eye.

Verdict: Ultimately, Lost Federations is an innovative and unusual account of Star Trek’s lost voyages that makes for a fascinating alternate history. 8/10

Brian J. Robb

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