The Wesley Crusher Star Trek: Voyager Crossover You Missed
Wesley Crusher was one of the more divisive characters on The Next Generation, with many early audiences reacting negatively to the precocious know-it-all child who constantly saved the day. The writing for the young man eventually got better, and by the time he made a surprise appearance in Picard, most fans were happy to see him. Weirdly enough, though, Wesley Crusher had another crossover, this time with Star Trek: Voyager, that most fans missed…specifically, the spatial trajector matrix in “Prime Factors” was the same prop used for Wesley’s superconductor magnet in the TNG episode “The Dauphin.”
Prime Factors
For this tale of Wesley Crusher’s kinda-sorta crossover with Star Trek: Voyager to make sense, we need to first recap the episode in question. “Prime Factors” has Voyager encountering a planet of pleasure seekers with exotic technology that can transport them 40,000 lightyears away at a moment’s notice. The crew thinks this might get them home that much quicker, but the tech backfires when they try it because it is tied to the mantle of the planet and can’t be used to transport their ship (the attempt nearly causes a warp core breach).
The Spacial Trajector Matrix
Where does Wesley Crusher’s old prop come into all these Star Trek: Voyager shenanigans? The technology used by these aliens is powered by a spatial trajector matrix. Look closely at the prop and you’ll notice that it’s the exact same prop as Wesley’s superconductor magnet from the TNG episode “Dauphin,” one you get a good look at when the young man has his meetcute with Salia, the future leader of Daled IV.
Originally Had A Much Bigger TOS Connection
While that prop is the only thing tying Wesley Crusher to this Star Trek: Voyager episode, there was almost another big connection. The episode, as originally conceived by David R. George III and Eric A. Stillwell, would have had the aliens in the episode be the same ones who sent Gary Seven to Earth in The Original Series, where he was discovered by a time-traveling Captain Kirk.
The writers thought it would be fun for Captain Janeway to encounter aliens fully capable of transporting the crew back to Earth but who were hesitant to do so because of previous mistakes, essentially forcing Starfleet to deal with someone else’s Prime Directive.
The Picard Tie In
But how would that script change have tied Wesley Crusher to the Star Trek: Voyager episode when the writers just wanted to pay homage to The Original Series? The season 2 Picard episode brought Wesley back, and we find out that he and his fellow god-like Travelers have sent supervisors out to observe and, if necessary, preserve important historical moments. Gary Seven was one such supervisor, the revelation of which tied Wil Wheaton’s character to an Original Series episode that came out before he was even born.
Future Series Can Continue This Trend
While this prop crossover was the only real connective tissue between Wesley Crusher and Star Trek: Voyager, it’s always possible future shows or even films could retroactively add other connections. Star Trek’s first Mary Sue wasn’t connected to the Original Series, for example until a single episode of Picard “made it so.”
Maybe we’ll eventually find out that Wesley secretly dispatched a supervisor to witness the most important historical moment of all: that time Janeway went to warp 10, turned into a lizard, and had reptile babies with her himbo helmsman.
