‘Starfleet Academy’s Vance Cameo Revives ‘Star Trek’s Guest Star Trend

In many ways, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is rebuilding the beloved space opera from the ground up, but it’s also honoring one of Star Trek‘s oldest traditions. Only hardcore Trekkies might be able to spot what said tradition is, and even some of the biggest fans might still miss how Starfleet Academy is paying homage to a trend that began almost four decades ago. The tradition was abandoned in 2001, so after the Starfleet Academy premiere, it will have been almost a quarter-century since Star Trek shed a specific part of its legacy.

As a spinoff/sequel to Star Trek: Discovery, Starfleet Academy is already proving to be a divisive project, even before its premiere. Although Discovery is what brought Star Trek back to TV screens in 2017, twelve years after the Enterprise finale, the project that marked the start of the saga’s modern era received incredibly mixed reviews. Fans criticized how different Discovery felt compared to classic Star Trek shows, both thematically and aesthetically. So, it came as something of a surprise when Starfleet Academy was greenlit as a soft continuation of Discovery. Still, the upcoming show is determined to prove it belongs as part of the franchise.

‘Starfleet Academy’ Revives ‘Star Trek’s Trend of Having an Episode 1 Guest Star From the Show That Preceded It

Paramount+

Starfleet Academy’s 32nd-century setting appears to be pretty much the only thing the show is taking from Discovery, with the latter being the show that introduced the era to the franchise. However, the upcoming spinoff isn’t forgetting to acknowledge how it came into existence. Oded Fehr’s Admiral Charles Vance, who starred in a total of 21 Star Trek: Discovery episodes, is credited with an appearance in the Starfleet Academy premiere. His presence will act as a sort of ceremonial handing off the figurative baton, as Starfleet Academy takes over as Discovery‘s direct successor.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s 1987 premiere, “Encounter at Farpoint,” DeForest Kelly had a cameo as Admiral Leonard “Bones” McCoy, with his character proving to have lived to over 130 years old. Similar to Fehr, Kelly was a key part of the Star Trek: The Original Series cast in the 1960s. When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered in 1993, Patrick Stewart’s Captain Picard guest-starred, while still playing the character as part of the Next Generation cast. When Star Trek: Voyager arrived in 1995, Armin Shimerman’s Quark made the brief jump from Deep Space Nine to the Voyager cast, helping mark the latter show’s premiere. The pattern then ended.

‘Star Trek’s Classic-Era Episode 1 Guest Star Streak
Show	Premiere	Guest Star	Character	Originally From
Star Trek: The Next Generation	1987	DeForest Kelly	Admiral Leonard “Bones” McCoy	Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	1993	Patrick Stewart	Captain Jean-Luc Picard	Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Voyager	1995	Armin Shimerman	Quark	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

So, while Oded Fehr’s guest appearance in the Starfleet Academy premiere may seem like little more than a fun opportunity to tie the show in with Discovery, it’s actually a part of a much broader acknowledgment of Star Trek‘s rich history. From Kelly’s cameo in TNG to Shimerman’s in Voyager, the trend that started 38 years ago lasted for eight years and referenced four shows. With Voyager ending in 2001, Fehr is helping revive a trend that has been untouched for two-and-a-half decades.

Why ‘Star Trek’s Episode 1 Guest Star Streak Ended With ‘Voyager’

From Star Trek: The Original Series, all the way to the end of Star Trek: Voyager, the franchise progressed in a largely linear fashion. Of course, there were several time-travel episodes, but time generally flowed as it traditionally does. TOS was set in the 23rd century, and the three live-action shows that followed it all took place during progressively later stages of the 24th century. Then, after Voyager, Star Trek introduced its first prequel show. Enterprise was set in the 22nd century.

So, the Enterprise writers opted instead to have the show act as a soft reboot of the franchise. Although all the established lore remained intact, it became difficult to acknowledge later points of the timeline in any real way. So, it would have taken some distractingly twisty writing to allow a member of the Voyager cast to show up in the Enterprise premiere, even though it would have kept the guest star streak alive. Similarly, when Discovery premiered in 2017, it took place far closer to the start of The Original Series, roughly a century after the Enterprise finale. So, the guest star trend would also have been tricky for Discovery to re-establish.

‘Strange New Worlds’ Came Close to Reviving This ‘Star Trek’ Trend (But It Doesn’t Count)

Anson Mount as Captain Pike in Star Trek Strange New Worlds

Starfleet Academy is technically the second Discovery successor. Although Strange New Worlds is also a prequel to The Original Series, the former came into existence after the cast and the new-but-same version of the USS Enterprise appeared in Discovery‘s second season. The USS Discovery’s jump to the 32nd century at the end of Season 2 meant the Strange New Worlds premiere couldn’t have a Discovery guest star to help launch the show. That said, Strange New Worlds did have several cast members in its premiere who also featured heavily in Discovery Season 2.

The reason this didn’t revive the long-standing Star Trek guest star trend is that all the members of the USS Enterprise’s crew weren’t only in the Strange New Worlds premiere after Discovery. Instead, they were the main members of the cast throughout SNW Season 1 and beyond. For Strange New Worlds to revive the guest star trend, someone like Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) would have needed a cameo in the first episode. Because this didn’t happen, Martin-Green’s Discovery co-star gets the honor in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy debut.