Star Trek Already Has the Perfect Prequel

When this Star Trek book came out, the main thing that excited fans was that Federation told a tie-in story connecting The Original Series and The Next Generation. The way this worked was that the first half of the novel jumped between three different time periods: one focusing on Captain Kirk and crew, one focusing on Captain Picard, and one focusing on Zefram Cochrane and the early days of warp drive research. While the parts of the story focusing on Kirk and Picard are certainly captivating, it’s the story focusing on Cochrane that (with a bit of tweaking) would make for a great prequel film.

You might think that such a Star Trek prequel would be disrupted by the events of First Contact, but aside from Cochrane’s personality being a bit different, the setting of Federation is perfect because the storyline begins shortly after Cochrane completes the first warp voyage to nearby Alpha Centauri and back (in other words, after the successful warp test we saw in First Contact). His technological achievements are threatened, however, by the “Optimum Movement” of Earth, a group comprised of extremists who want to emulate and improve Khan Noonien Sing’s attempts to take over the planet.

Later in this unconventional Star Trek tale, Federation shows how an older Cochrane is pursued by Optimum Movement leader Adrik Thorsen, a man who is convinced that Cochrane’s tech can be used to create a devastating warp bomb. Eventually, Cochrane escapes with the help of an interstellar Companion, setting up his later appearance in The Original Series episode “Metamorphosis.” Later, in plot points that I don’t want to spoil for you, both Cochrane and his enemy survive to encounter two of Starfleet’s most famous captains, and the Federation would never be the same after their meeting.

Not all of this Star Trek story would work well as a movie (particularly the crossover material with Kirk and Picard), but Federation gives us a cool Zefram Cochrane backstory that would work stunningly well as a prequel. Much of the book takes place nearly two decades after Cochrane’s early warp testing; if we shift that time frame up a bit, we could even have James Cromwell reprise his role as Cochrane. Additionally, such a movie has the potential to showcase an important time period in Star Trek history that we hardly know anything about.

From the sound of things, current Star Trek writers and producers have no interest in bringing the plot of Federation to life, but that’s because they are afraid to take any real creative risks. That’s why every franchise prequel has been a “new” way to package some very stale Trek formulas. An adventure about Zefram Cochrane protecting the most important technology in the franchise could give us a revolutionary new type of Star Trek film, so here’s hoping that Paramount, like Cochrane himself, is willing to take a leap of faith into a brand new adventure.