For All Mankind season 4 has reignited interest in the rift between Star Trek screenwriters and EPs Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga.
Veteran Star Trek figure Ronald D. Moore is a co-creator of For All Mankind, a science fiction series that presents an alternate history of the global space race. The show has aired on Apple TV Plus for four seasons. Moore is renowned for his involvement in Star Trek projects such as The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Although he co-wrote and served as an executive producer for Voyager, he departed shortly after joining due to a fallout with his friend and writing partner Brannon Braga, who was also an executive producer of the series. Some fans have inferred that Moore may have subtly criticized Voyager in a recent episode of For All Mankind.
One Reddit user, Torenza Alduin, pointed out that Star Trek: Voyager seems to be absent from the For All Mankind universe. This observation is intriguing, considering Moore's history with Braga. The user speculated that Moore might have intentionally omitted Voyager from the timeline of his own show. This interpretation stemmed from a scene where Danielle (Krys Marshall), the first African-American woman in space and a Star Trek enthusiast, recorded a video message to her stepson Isaiah to celebrate the impending arrival of his daughter. In the scene, Danielle says:
The setting for the scene is 2003, and in reality, there were already more than three Star Trek series at that time -- The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. In 2021, Moore explained to Inverse that in the For All Mankind timeline, he considered The Wrath of Khan the first Star Trek movie, followed by Star Trek: Phase II. The Wrath of Khan is based on the Star Trek TV series now known as The Original Series. However, this explanation left many puzzled, as they pondered the identity of the third series alluded to by Danielle.
The confusion is understandable, given Moore's turbulent history with Star Trek and his discord with Braga. When he left the franchise, he initially cited the need to move on and stated that everything was amicable. However, in an interview a year later, Moore admitted to feeling hurt and revealed a breakdown of trust between himself and Braga, claiming that he was excluded from certain processes, making him feel like he was freelancing on his own show.
Nevertheless, it's conceivable that Moore's inclusion of Star Trek references in For All Mankind was unrelated to past conflicts or the projects he worked on for the franchise. It's possible that the alternate reality depicted in For All Mankind simply differs from the real-world franchise, and that Moore's choices were purely creative. The For All Mankind timeline does not mirror all real-world events. For example, the reboot of Battlestar Galactica and the 9/11 incident are absent from the show. Moreover, the fallout between Moore and Braga occurred over two decades ago, implying that Moore may have moved on from the conflict.
Star Trek: Voyager is currently available on Paramount Plus, while For All Mankind seasons 1-4 can be streamed on Apple TV Plus.
Source: Torenza Alduin/Reddit, Inverse