Whether due to alternate universes or strange transporter malfunctions, several Star Trek characters found their doppelgangers. Doppelganger stories have been a trope of Star Trek from one of the first episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – season 1, episode 5, “The Enemy Within”. Almost all Star Trek Since then, the series has featured at least one story in which a character encounters an alternate version of themselves. This trope is not exclusive to Star Trek, of course, as many science fiction and fantasy stories have found creative ways to incorporate multiple versions of the same character.
Just like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with its many variants of classic characters, Star Trek introduced its own kind of multiverse. Star Trek began exploring this idea in the 1960s with the evil-but-modern Mirror Universe Walk greatly expanded the concept. With time travel shenanigans, pesky wormholes, and technical glitches, It’s no surprise that duplicates appear so often. However, partly due to the device’s popularity, some lookalikes Star Trek stories and scenes work better than others.
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Admiral Janeway meets Captain Janeway on Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager Season 7, Episodes 25 and 26 – “Endgame”
In Star Trek: Voyager series finale, Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) travels back in time to visit her former self. The admiral orders Captain Janeway to return to a Borg transwarp center that Voyager passed several days ago. Voyager can use this to return home, saving the ship for over 16 years stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Captain Janeway and her crew, however, want to use Admiral Janeway’s future technology to destroy the transwarp network and weaken the Borg.
Admiral Janeway travels to the Unicomplex, which houses the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), and releases a pathogen that infects the Borg and deals a devastating blow to the collective. Although the admiral dies in the explosion, Captain Janeway manages to guide her Voyager through the transwarp corridor back to the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager is then greeted by a fleet of Starfleet ships who escort the ship back to Earth.
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Commander Will Riker meets Lieutenant Thomas Riker on TNG
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6, Episode 24 – “Second Chances”
In “Second Chances”, the USS Enterprise-D travels to Nervala IV and discovers a duplicate of William Riker (Jonathan Frakes). This Lt. Riker was serving on the USS Potemkin when he was unknowingly left behind a transport accident transported a Riker back to the ship and left one on the planet. Having lived alone on an inhospitable planet for eight years, Thomas Riker has become a different man than his Enterprise counterpart.
When Thomas boards the Enterprise-D, he comes into conflict with Commander Riker, and later wants to rekindle his romance with counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). In the end, Thomas Riker decides to leave the Enterprise for another post in Starfleet. As revealed in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3, episode 9, “Defiant”, Riker later leaves Starfleet to join the rebel group known as the Maquis.
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Lieutenant Beckett Mariner meets Captain Becky Freeman on the lower decks
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 1 – “Dos Cerritos”
Node Star Trek: Lower Decks In the season 5 opener, the USS Cerritos is pulled into a dimensional rift and encounters an alternate universe Cerritos. In a surprising twist, Becky Freeman, Lieutenant Beckett Mariner’s (Tawny Newsome) double, serves as the ship’s captain. Unlike the Prime Universe Mariner, Becky rose through the ranks quickly and established herself as a tough captain, but she is not entirely happy in her position.
At first, the duplicates get along well, but Lieutenant Mariner soon realizes how strict Captain Freeman is with his crew. When Becky tries to switch places with Mariner and returning to being a fun-loving lieutenant, Mariner fights her way back to her home in the Cerritos. Mariner realizes that whether or not she decides to advance her career, she never wants to become like her doppelganger, Becky.
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Lieutenant Brad Boimler meets Lieutenant Brad Boimler on the lower decks
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 1 – “Dos Cerritos”
Node Star Trek: Lower Decks In the Season 5 premiere, Lt. Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) also met his alternate universe self. Boimler’s bearded duplicate has more confidence than the Prime Universe’s Boimler, and he regularly takes command from captain Becky Freeman. Prime Boimler wants to know about every decision his duplicate has ever made, leading him to steal a Padd from his alternate self.
Just like Mariner’s duplicate, Boimler’s doppelganger serves as a reflection of Prime Boimler, highlighting all of his insecurities. Unlike Mariner, however, Boimler wants to be more like his duplicate, and he immediately starts trying to grow a beard. Prime Boimler has come a long way since the beginning of Star Trek: Lower Decks, but he still feels like he hasn’t accomplished enough. The story is a surprisingly insightful character study, revealing a lot about Boimler.
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Ensign Brad Boimler meets Ensign William Boimler on the lower decks
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2, Episode 2 – “Kayshon, His Eyes Open”
In Star Trek: Lower Decks In Season 2, Brad Boimler got a position on the USS Titan serving under the command of Captain Riker. During an away mission involving the Pakleds Boimler accidentally created a duplicate transport just like Captain Riker. As it would be too confusing for two Boimlers to remain on the Titan, the original Boimler decides to return to Cerritos, while William Boimler remains on Riker’s ship.
The following year, William Boimler is recruited by Section 31, Starfleet’s covert operations division, and fakes his own death. William is meaningless”death” sends Brad Boimler into a period of depression as he struggles to process it. William Boimler’s last scene shows him accepting his position in Section 31 and laughing maniacally, but Star Trek: Lower Decks still hasn’t resolved that specific plot thread.
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Captain Christopher Pike Meets Admiral Christopher Pike in Strange New Worlds
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 1, Episode 10 – “A Quality of Mercy”
At the end of season 1 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Admiral Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) visits his past to warn him about the future. In Star Trek: Discovery In Season 2, Pike discovers that within several years he will be involved in an accident that will leave him crippled and confined to a wheelchair. Pike is understandably worried about this future, and he wonders if he could save the cadets who died in the crash.
As Captain Pike thinks about warning these future cadets, Admiral Pike appears in his quarters to warn him against it. Captain Pike then finds himself in an alternate universe where he remains captain of the Enterprise during the events originally described in Star Trek: The Original Series episode, “Balance of Terror”. Pike discovers that if he can avoid his tragic fate, Spock (Ethan Peck) will end up seriously injured, which helps Pike come to terms with his own fate. Star Trek future.
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Lieutenant Sam Rutherford meets Lieutenant Sam Rutherford on the lower decks
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 1 – “Dos Cerritos”
Star Trek: Lower Decks’ “Dos Cerritos” goes in a different direction for Lt. Sam Rutherford’s (Eugene Cordero) doppelganger, but it still reveals something about Rutherford as a character. In this alternate universe, Lieutenant D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) returned to Orion and remained there, embracing her life as a pirate. THE Alternate Universe Rutherford was so distressed by his absencethat he erased all of her memories and added more cybernetic parts to her body.
The duplicate Rutherford is extremely efficient (and even has a miniature third arm), but he no longer feels anything. Although Prime Universe Rutherford thinks his duplicate’s cybernetic enhancements are cool, He doesn’t want to end up like him. While working with his double, Rutherford modifies his alternate self, giving him the ability to form friendships.
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Captain Michael Burnham meets expert Michael Burnham on discovery
Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4 – “Face The Strange”
When the USS Discovery becomes stuck in a time loop due to a timing error, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) jump through different time periods. In one of the jumps, Burnham and Rayner end up on Discovery a few weeks after Burnham joins the crew. While working with Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) to find a way out, Captain Burnham encounters his past.
The younger version of Burnham immediately becomes defensive, refusing to believe Captain Burnham’s claims. Having just gotten out of prison for committing riot, Specialist Burnham can’t imagine a future in which she is captain of the Discovery. The two Burnhams get into a fight, and despite being fairly evenly controlled, Captain Burnham manages to incapacitate his younger self with a Vulcan nerve pinch.
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Commander Spock meets Ambassador Spock in Star Trek (2009)
JJ Abrams introduced a whole new generation of fans to Star Trek franchise with its 2009 film, connecting its story to the original Star Trek timeline in an interesting way. The Abrams Star Trek films take place in an alternate universe which was created when a Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana) traveled back in time. As part of a plan to save Romulus from a devastating supernova, Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) was also pulled into the past of this alternate universe.
As James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his team work to stop Nero, Kirk meets Spock from the Prime Universe. Spock helps point Kirk in the right direction, but the elderly Ambassador only meets his younger, alternate self at the end of the film. When Ambassador Spock finally speaks to Zachary Quinto’s Spock, he encourages him to remain in Starfleet, telling him to “leave logic aside” and “do what feels right.”
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Captain James T. Kirk meets Captain James T. Kirk in TOS
Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 1, Episode 5 – “The Enemy Within”
In one of Star Trek: The Original Series’ most memorable episodes, Captain Kirk is split into two halves in a transport accident. One Kirk is fueled only by anger and other negative emotions, while the other is kind but overly cautious. The “evil” Kirk wreaks havoc on the Enterprise, attacking Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) and trying to leave a landing party for dead.
The two Kirks eventually face off on the ship’s bridge, where the good Kirk convinces his evil counterpart that they need each other to function. Spock, Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and chief engineer Scotty (James Doohan) finally come up with a solution they believe will combine Kirk’s two halves into one. In the end, the solution works and Captain Kirk returns to normal, bringing one of the Star Trek best doppelganger stories until the end.