The Deep Space Nine Easter Egg You Likely Missed In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" feels like a show made for the fans. After the discord among long-time Trekkies caused by properties like "Discovery," their enthusiasm for "Strange New Worlds" is downright refreshing. Not only is it a return to the episodic format that fans of "The Original Series," "The Next Generation," and other legacy shows have been missing, it often plays on deep canon respectfully and freshly.
The most obvious examples of this have been opening up the opportunity for Captain Pike (Anson Mount) to dodge his gruesome fate and the added stories of Spock's (Ethan Peck) relationship with his fiancee T'Pring (Gia Sandhu). Both have proven fun and engaging for fans. Then there are the Easter eggs, the winks, nods, and threads that any superfan will surely start to tug at, connecting back to "Star Trek's" past and, perhaps, explaining something long unexplained.
One such Easter egg showed up in Episode 5 of "Strange New Worlds." This was "Spock Amok," a primarily light-hearted episode of the show that saw Spock and T'Pring switch bodies and the usually serious officers Chin-Riley and Noonien-Singh try out some lower deck hijinx. TrekMovie.com's Anthony Pascale called the episode a fun pallet-cleanser following the heaviness of the previous episode, "Memento Mori." It also had a moment that should trigger recognition in any fan of "Deep Space Nine."
The R'ongovians' solar sail ship is very similar to that of the Bajorans'
In "Spock Amok," Captain Pike and Admiral Robert April (Adrian Holmes) attempt to negotiate a treaty with the R'ongovians, a race that displays what Pike identifies as "radical empathy." They also travel in a golden shimmering ceremonial ship powered by solar sails, which, when negotiations are successful, fly the flag of the R'ongovians' new ally. As John Orquiola points out on ScreenRant, there is a striking similarity between the R'ongovians' solar ship and those of the Bajorans, which we see in "Deep Space Nine."
"Deep Space Nine" is set roughly a century after the events of "Strange New Worlds" and takes place on the titular ship, hovering around the recently liberated planet of Bajor. In Season 3, Episode 22 of "Deep Space Nine," Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) tests a theory of ancient Bajoran lore, seeing if the Bajorans could explore far beyond their world with the aid of non-warp-capable ships that harness solar power through sails.
Though the Bajorans are present in "Deep Space Nine" and "The Next Generation," both these series are set a hundred years after "Strange New Worlds," presumably meaning that the Bajorans are unknown to the Federation during Pike's tenure on the Enterprise. Nonetheless, the resemblance between the ship constructed by Sisko and that of the R'ongovians is undeniable. What might this mean for the intricate and ever-growing connections between the worlds of "Star Trek"? Is there a historical link between the R'ongovians and the Bajorans? Might there be an origin story in the offing? Tough to tell. The only thing we can do to figure it out is to keep watching.