Magic: The Gathering’s Star Trek is a love letter to the franchise. The set uses sagas to pay tribute to standout episodes like “The Inner Light” and “In the Pale Moonlight,” and it’s stuffed with cards representing legendary characters and spacecraft along with famous quotes like “Live long and prosper.” But the set also features plenty of deeper cuts, embracing the times that Star Trek was silly, controversial, and downright terrible. These are the five best references to the franchise’s worst and weirdest moments.
5
Adversary by Algorithm
Image: Wizards of the Coast
If you’re wondering why one version of the art for Lieutenant Commander Data shows him dressed like Sherlock Holmes, it’s because of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Elementary, Dear Data.” Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge creates a holodeck program where the android Data can play detective, but finds all of the usual mystery programs are too easy. Geordi asks the computer to create a program with an adversary capable of defeating Data, which turns out to be very dangerous.
The version of Holmes’ nemesis Professor Moriarty portrayed in Adversary by Algorithm becomes aware that he exists inside a simulation and gains access to the ship’s computer. While Data and Captain Picard are able to stop him, Moriarty returns to cause trouble in the episode “Ship in a Bottle” and even makes an appearance in the sequel series Star Trek: Picard.
4
Humpback Whales
Image: Wizards of the Coast
Humpback Whales might seem like a better fit for Magic’s upcoming aquatic-focused set Nauctis than Star Trek, but this creature is a reference to Star Trek’s silliest movie, Leonard Nimoy’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. When an enormous probe begins causing catastrophic storms on Earth, Spock realizes that the spacecraft is playing humpback whale songs. The Enterprise’s former officers travel back to 1986 to save the species from extinction. This involves a lot of antics like Pavel Chekov being mistaken for a Russian spy and Dr. Leonard McCoy using future tech to cure hospital patients. The spacecraft H.M.S. Bounty, Unlikely Timeship represents the stolen Klingon Bird of Prey the crew uses in the film, which is why it lets you search for a whale and Time Walk.
3
Pongify
Image: Wizards of the Coast
The blue removal spell Pongify, which turns a creature into an ape, gets a perfect reprint paying tribute to the TNG episode “Genesis,” where a flu treatment goes awry, causing everyone on the Enterprise to de-evolve. The Klingon Worf turns into an acid-spitting monster, the half-Betazoid Counselor Troi becomes an amphibian, and First Officer Will Riker and most of the other humans regress into cavemen. Thankfully, Data is able to come up with a cure to get everyone back to normal by the end of the episode.
2
De-evolve
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Star Trek: Voyager did a much worse riff on the same idea in “Threshold,” which is considered one of the worst episodes in the entire franchise. The crew of Voyager is stranded 70,000 light-years from Earth, and over the course of the series they try a lot of things to shorten what would be a 75-year trip home. De-evolve is a reference to “Threshold,” where helmsman Tom Paris pushes a shuttlecraft beyond the standard threshold of Warp 10 and his body begins mutating when he returns to the ship. He then kidnaps Captain Janeway, makes her undergo the same process, and takes her to a swamp planet, where the two transform into salamander-like creatures and have amphibian babies. The crew rescued them and returned them to their human forms but left their offspring behind.
1
Impossible Choice
Image: Wizards of the Coast
Dilemmas are a major theme of this set, representing the many ethical quandaries Starfleet officers face. But none is more notorious than the one represented in Impossible Choice. In the Voyager episode “Tuvix,” the Vulcan Lieutenant Tuvok and Talaxian cook Neelix are accidentally fused together by using a transporter while carrying alien orchids. Tuvix embodies the best traits of both characters, with Neelix’s humor making Tuvok an even better advisor and tactical officer. When the Doctor discovers a way to reverse the process, Tuvix refuses since it would effectively kill him. He begs the rest of the crew to let him live, and the Doctor refuses to p the procedure himself because of his oath to do no harm. Janeway decides she wants her old crew members back and handles the separation herself. Star Trek fans have considered her a monster ever since.
