Interview: STO’s Agents of Yesterday Sends You On a Time-Travel Romp Though Trek’s Many Eras

I’ll dispense with the “boldly going” jokes and get right to the heart of the matter. Today, July 6, Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios is launching the third expansion for Star Trek Online, Agents of Yesterday. It’s the company’s tribute to half a century of Star Trek and flings players all over the timeline, including an encounter with Trek’s most irrepressible ensign.

I had the chance to talk with Star Trek Online Executive Producer Steven Ricossa about the expansion, which allows players to create a brand-new captain in the year 2270, a year after the end of The Original Series’ run and nearly a century and a half before STO’s main timeline.

“You’re just going to be a regular guy from that era,” Ricossa said. “You’re not going to be a time traveler, that’s just where you’re from. You’re going to be going through some Original Series adventures, and you’re going to start seeing some really weird stuff from – for you – the far-flung future.

In the meantime, you’ll get to participate in several adventures inspired by The Original Series; screenshots show the Guardian of Forever and the Gorn from the episode “Arena.” “We’ve got the tutorial that’s based on ‘The Galileo Seven,’” Ricossa said. “You have the episode ‘Journey to Babel‘ from the Original Series, and we’ve got an episode called ‘Return to Babel,’ where you’re in the episode behind the scenes, trying to prevent the bad guys from ruining how that episode actually happened.” Ricossa drew parallels between that experience and the DS9 episode “Trials and Tribble-ations” – one of the most-loved episodes in all of Star Trek – where Sisko and company had to travel back in time and keep a low profile to prevent James Kirk from being assassinated.

Eventually, your officer will find himself in the 25th century and recruited as a Temporal Agent and embark on a number of time-travel-related adventures. Another Temporal Agent who will accompany you as you play is none other than Pavel Chekov, voiced by original actor Walter Koenig. You’ll meet up with Chekov at various points in his life, both as an Enterprise crew member and later in his career as a captain following the events of Star Trek: Generations. Also joining the cast is Chris Doohan, son of Scotty actor James Doohan, who will be voicing his father’s role. Ricossa assured me that the younger Doohan did “a great impersonation” of his father.