Star Trek The Original Series - Cast - Characters' Cameo Appearances in Later Series

Characters' Cameo Appearances in Later Series

The sequel to the original series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, which premiered in 1987, was set approximately 100 years after the events of TOS. As that show and its spin-offs progressed, several TOS characters made appearances:

• Leonard "Bones" McCoy, now a 137-year-old admiral, inspects the Enterprise-D during its first mission in "Encounter at Farpoint".
• Scotty, now chronologically 147 years old, but still only physically 72 years old after spending 75 years trapped in a transporter buffer, is rescued by the Enterprise-D crew and resumes his life in "Relics". Working along with Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge, Scotty uses some creative engineering to save the Enterprise. A grateful Captain Picard lends him a shuttlecraft indefinitely.
• Spock, now a Vulcan ambassador, goes underground in the Romulan Empire in hopes of fostering peaceful coexistence with the Federation and reunification with Vulcan society ("Unification, Parts I and II").
• Sarek, Spock's father, continues to be an ambassador for the next century until his final mission during which he evidences signs of Bendii Syndrome. He later dies suffering from this affliction, but not before giving Captain Picard key information for locating his missing son ("Unification").
• James Kirk disappears in 2293 during the maiden voyage of the Enterprise-B but 78 years later Kirk is recovered from The Nexus, an alternate plane of existence, by Enterprise-D Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Kirk's time in the 24th century is short however; he is killed by Dr. Tolian Soran in Star Trek Generations.
• Kang, Koloth, and Kor, the three Klingons featured in "Day of the Dove", "The Trouble With Tribbles" and "Errand of Mercy", continue to serve the Empire well into the 24th century. They appear in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Blood Oath" in which Kang and Koloth are killed. Kor later appears in two more episodes: "The Sword of Kahless" and finally in "Once More Unto the Breach" where he dies fighting in the Dominion War. A younger version of Kang, from the era of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, later appears in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback".
• Sulu, promoted to captain of the USS Excelsior in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, reprises his role from that performance in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback". Janice Rand also appears in that same episode.
• Pavel Chekov returns in the second episode of the fan series Star Trek: New Voyages, "To Serve All My Days", an episode written by D. C. Fontana. Pavel saves Scotty from a plasma eruption in engineering and this affects a dormant virus (contracted in the original series episode "The Deadly Years") which causes him to age considerably faster. Chekov dies in the closing minutes of this episode, as this was intended to be Koenig's "on-screen" death of him portraying the character. However, many fans of the New Voyages series responded negatively to both the death of Chekov and Fontana's dismissive attitude towards the complaints. New Voyages producer James Cawley was nevertheless urged by the sheer number of complaints to add a post-credit scene where it is revealed that the events of To Serve All My Days was merely a nightmare brought on by Chekov having imbibed a bit too much vodka the night before.
• Arne Darvin, the Klingon disguised as a human in "The Trouble With Tribbles", appears in "Trials and Tribble-ations" with the intent to return to Deep Space Station K7 in 2267 and assassinate Kirk, whom Darvin blamed for his disgrace within the Klingon Empire.

Besides the above examples, there have been numerous non-canon novels and comic books published over the years in which The Original Series era crew are depicted in the The Next Generation era, either through time-travel or other means. In addition, many actors who appeared on The Original Series later made guest appearances as different characters in later series, most notably Majel Barrett, who not only provided the voice for most Starfleet computers in episodes of every spin-off series (including a single appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise, where the computers normally did not speak at all), but also had the recurring role of Lwaxana Troi in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Diana Muldaur played Dr. Katherine Pulaski in the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Muldaur was also a guest star in the episodes "Return to Tomorrow" and "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" of the original Star Trek series.