There’s no shortage of references to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. in Star Trek. First appearing in “A Study in Scarlet” in 1887, Holmes is considered a master of forensic deduction and logical reasoning, and clues to his works have since appeared in several of the Star Trek franchise’s series and movies. From Star Trek‘s actors taking on the role of the literary logician to Holmes’ arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty threatening the security of the Starship Enterprise and its crew, Star Trek has a wealth of Sherlock Holmes references.
Spanning the breadth of Star Trek’s multiverse timeline, including J.J. Abrams’ alternative Kelvin universe, references to Sherlock Holmes are long-standing and peppered throughout the franchise’s shows and movies, particularly within the setting of Star Trek: The Original Series and The Next Generation. Across various formats – including television, movies, stageplays, books, and audio series – the overlap between the two works is fascinating and rich. As Star Trek‘s heroes and villains balance First Contacts and exploration of the stars with solving curious mysteries as the violin-playing, magnifying glass-wielding, and deer-stalker-wearing detective, here’s a list of 10 callbacks to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective in Star Trek.
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10 The USS Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 1, Episode 25, “Conspiracy”
In the disturbing Star Trek: The Next Generation season one episode “Conspiracy,” Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) is alerted to a possible insidious conspiracy within the highest levels of Starfleet. Assigned to review Starfleet’s directives over the previous six months, Data (Brent Spiner) looks at a series of ship listings and mission orders – including one for the USS Sherlock Holmes, registry number NCC-221B. It’s a fast, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but it’s a clear nod to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s successful detective and his London, UK home at 221B Baker Street. Later, Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s parasitic alien threat is exposed, and further catastrophe is averted.
9 Christopher Lloyd As Sherlock Holmes On Stage
Lloyd also played the villainous Klingon, Commander Kruge, in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
The versatile Christopher Lloyd appeared in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock in 1984, starring as the nefarious Klingon, Commander Kruge. Responsible for the violent death of Kirk’s son, David Marcus (Merritt Butrick), Kruge later perishes himself in a fight with Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) on the volatile and already-combusting Genesis planet. Christopher Lloyd later starred in an adaptation of William Gillette’s stage play Sherlock Holmes, appearing in the title role as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s logical detective. The play ran for 13 performances and starred Clark Gesner as Dr. John Watson, with several of Lloyd’s family members also appearing in other roles.
Christopher Lloyd Work | Format | Character | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock | Movie | Commander Kruge | 1984 |
Sherlock Holmes | Play | Sherlock Holmes | 1990 |
8 Christopher Plummer in Murder by Decree
The actor also played General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Christopher Plummer successfully straddled Star Trek: The Original Series and the realm of Sherlock Holmes with a significant role in both works. Plummer took on the role of Conan Doyle’s master detective, Sherlock Holmes, in the 1979 mystery thriller movie “Murder by Decree.” Well received, the film earned rave reviews and multiple awards. In 1991, Plummer played the duplicitous Klingon, General Chang, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Several other notable connections to the Star Trek franchise include how General Chang inspired Star Trek: Discovery’s Klingons and his daughter Amanda Plummer in Star Trek: Picard season three, starring as the antagonistic Vadic.
Christopher Plummer Work | Format | Character | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
Murder by Decree | Movie | Sherlock Holmes | 1979 |
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country | Movie | General Chang | 1991 |
7 Star Trek References In Sherlock
Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman star as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson
The acclaimed British television series Sherlock referenced Star Trek across several episodes. In Sherlock season 2, episode 2, “The Hounds of Baskerville,” a frustrated Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman) addresses Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and says, “Yeah, alright, Spock, just… take it easy.” In Sherlock season 2, episode 3, “The Reichenbach Fall,” Watson’s eulogy to Holmes is reminiscent of Admiral James T. Kirk’s (William Shatner) for Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Significantly, Spock and Sherlock are both later returned to life.
You were the best man, the most human… human being that I’ve ever known.
Of my friend, I can only say this: Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most… human.
Additionally, the 2016 Sherlock Special “The Abominable Bride” parallels ideas within Nicholas Meyer’s novel “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution” with themes of heavy drug use and psychology.
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6 The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country’s co-writer and director was a big Sherlock Holmes fan
Director Nicholas Meyer authored the best-selling Sherlock Holmes 1974 novel “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.” Meyer is best known for his films, especially writing and directing Star Trek movies. “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution’s” story references Holmes’ drug addiction and plays with themes of psychology. Meyer later adapted his book into a screenplay for the 1976 movie The Seven-Per-Cent-Solution, and wrote four more Sherlock Holmes novels. Meyer directed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), co-wrote Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), and later co-wrote and directed Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), weaving subtle references to the early detective into the later script.
5 Spock’s Interesting Ancestry
Spock quotes Sherlock Holmes Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country & Star Trek (2009)
An important Sherlock Holmes quote from “The Sign Of Four” is referenced in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered County and Star Trek (2009). In the former, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) investigates the origin of a deployed torpedo, explaining that “An ancestor of mine maintained that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” This comment also suggests an ancestral connection between Spock and either Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Sherlock Holmes himself. In Star Trek (2009), Spock (Zachary Quinto) repeats the same Sherlockian sentiment as the young USS Enterprise crew learns their universe has diverged from its original course.
How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
4 Moriarty Takes Over The USS Enterprise-D
Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 6, Episode 12, “Ship in a Bottle”
“Ship in a Bottle” returns to an earlier Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, continuing the story from TNG season 2’s “Elementary, Dear Data.” When a holodeck inspection inadvertently triggers the previously deactivated Professor James Moriarty (Daniel Davis), the problematic character plots to escape the confinement of the holodeck and seizes control of the ship. Using the holodeck’s technology to create a ruse, a fractal-esque simulation within a simulation, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise crew divert Moriarty and his companion, Countess Regina Barthalomew (Stephanie Beacham), to regain control of the ship. Moriarty and the Countess set out into the stars, believing themselves to have escaped into reality.
3 Leonard Nimoy As Spock And Sherlock Holmes
The Star Trek star played the logical detective on-stage in 1976
Leonard Nimoy boasts a fascinating range of Sherlock Holmes-related projects. Before reprising Spock for Star Trek‘s first six feature films, and again in 2009 and 2013 as (Prime) Ambassador Spock, Leonard Nimoy appeared as Sherlock Holmes in the educational short “The Interior Motive” in 1975. In 1976, Nimoy starred in a production of William Gillette’s “Sherlock Holmes,” and narrated the 1978 documentary, “In Search of… Sherlock Holmes.” Alongside Star Trek: The Next Generation actor John de Lancie, Nimoy set up a project converting science-fiction audiobooks into radio plays, casting Star Trek actors, including Roxann Dawson, Ethan Phillips, and Armin Shimerman in Doyle’s “The Lost World.”
Leonard Nimoy Work | Format | Character | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
Star Trek: The Original Series | Television | Commander Spock | 1966-1969 |
The Interior Motive | Movie (Educational Short) | Sherlock Holmes | 1975 |
Sherlock Holmes | Play | Sherlock Holmes | 1976 |
In Search of … Sherlock Holmes | Documentary | Narrator | 1978 |
Star Trek I-VI | Movie | Captain Spock | 1979-1991 |
Alien Voices (with John de Lancie) – Season 3, Episode 12, “The Lost World” | Audio Series (Episode) | Angus McArdle | 1998 |
Star Trek (2009) & Star Trek Into Darkness | Movie | Ambassador Spock | 2009-2013 |
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2 Benedict Cumberbatch In Sherlock
The star also appeared as Khan Noonien-Singh in Star Trek Into Darkness
Benedict Cumberbatch found great success in BBC’s Sherlock, starring as a modern-day London-based Sherlock Holmes alongside Martin Freeman as Doctor John H. Watson. Sherlock aired between 2010 and 2017. In Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013, Cumberbatch took on the role of the franchise’s most infamous villain. Starring in a role originated by the iconic Ricardo Montalban, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan Noonien Singh schemed for vengeance against Starfleet and Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller). Initially going by the alias John Harrison, Cumberbatch’s Khan found a complex enemy-ally balance with an emotionally wrought Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine).
Benedict Cumberbatch Work | Format | Character | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
Sherlock | Television | Sherlock Holmes | 2010-2017 |
Star Trek Into Darkness | Movie | John Harrison / Khan Noonien Singh | 2013 |
1 Data Is Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 2, Episode 3, “Elementary, Dear Data”
Star Trek: The Next Generation made several Sherlock Holmes references in its first season, with TNG episode 7, “Lonely Among Us,” initiating Lieutenant Commander Data’s interest in Sherlock Holmes. Data’s research into Doyle’s famous fictional detective led to several somewhat paraphrased Holmes quotes, such as “It’s elementary, my dear Riker,” and Data played Sherlock in the holodeck in TNG season 2’s “Elementary, Dear Data.” Data himself is perhaps the greatest symbol of Star Trek‘s overall reverence for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
- Cast
- Patrick Stewart , Marina Sirtis , Brent Spiner , Jonathan Frakes , LeVar Burton , Wil Wheaton
- Release Date
- September 28, 1987
- Seasons
- 7
Star Trek (2009)
- Cast
- Chris Pine , Zoe Saldana , Zachary Quinto , Simon Pegg
- Release Date
- May 7, 2009
Star Trek Into Darkness
- Cast
- Anton Yelchin , Karl Urban , Simon Pegg , Benedict Cumberbatch , Zachary Quinto , Zoe Saldana , John Cho , Chris Pine
- Release Date
- May 16, 2013
- Cast
- Martin Freeman , Benedict Cumberbatch , Rupert Graves
- Release Date
- August 8, 2010
- Seasons
- 4
