Star Trek: Voyager’s Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) revealed that Captain Kirk (William Shatner) broke a promise he made during a season 3 episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. Although Voyager and The Original Series didn’t tend to have much in common, TOS was a source of inspiration for every Star Trek movie and TV show that came after it, being the father of the franchise and the originator of the Star Trek timeline. As such, Voyager had the occasional obscure reference to TOS throughout its run, including in the season 4 episode, “Concerning Flight.”
“Concerning Flight” had an interesting premise that focused on the holographic Leonardo da Vinci (John Rhys-Davies) who had been introduced in the previous two-part episode “Scorpion.” Due to an attack by alien pirates, the da Vinci hologram was stolen from the USS Voyager’s databanks, and with the help of the Doctor’s (Robert Picardo) mobile emitter, had an adventure on an alien planet along with Captain Janeway and Tuvok (Tim Russ). While Janeway and Tuvok were working on reacquiring da Vinci from the aliens, they had a discussion about the real da Vinci that revealed a surprising TOS Easter egg.
Star Trek: Voyager’s “Concerning Flight” References TOS’s “Requiem For Methuselah”
“Concerning Flight” references TOS in the context of Leonardo da Vinci
While talking about da Vinci with Tuvok in “Concerning Flight,” Janeway referenced the fact that Captain Kirk claimed to have met the real da Vinci, although the evidence for the claim was inconclusive. Janeway’s comment was a reference to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Requiem for Methuselah,” during which Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) encountered an immortal being going by the name Flint (James Daly) on an alien planet. During the episode, Flint revealed that he had been many famous historical figures from Earth’s past, including da Vinci.
Voyager’ s creative team clearly did their homework for “Concerning Flight,” making sure that the continuity between Voyager and TOS remained solid with a reference like Janeway’s comment about Kirk.
Janeway referencing Kirk meeting da Vinci in Voyager is certainly an obscure callback, but also underscores just how interconnected the Star Trek franchise is. Voyager’s creative team clearly did their homework for “Concerning Flight,” making sure that the continuity between Voyager and TOS remained solid with a reference like Janeway’s comment about Kirk. This would almost certainly have pleased audiences who were aficionados of TOS and Voyager at the time. However, it also reveals that Kirk may have been in the wrong by telling people about meeting Flint.
Star Trek: Voyager Confirms Captain Kirk Broke His TOS “Requiem For Methuselah” Promise
Janeway knowing about Kirk meeting da Vinci shows that he broke a promise
Janeway being aware that Kirk met Flint at all shows that Kirk broke a promise he made to Flint towards the end of “Requiem For Methuselah” not to reveal the man’s identity. As a trade-off for leaving Flint and his android love interest Rayna (Louise Sorel) alone, despite Kirk being in love with Rayna, Kirk promised that Flint’s secret about being da Vinci and several other important historical figures was safe with him. However, Kirk must have documented his encounter with Flint somewhere for Starfleet, or else Janeway would never have mentioned it.
Given that Captain Kirk is known for being a wild card character, and the fact that he was at odds with Flint over their mutual feelings for Rayna, it’s not completely surprising that he broke his promise about revealing Flint’s identity. While it isn’t clear when or why Kirk discussed Flint, in Star Trek: Voyager, the matter had apparently become part of the historical record. Ultimately, Kirk breaking his promise to Flint likely mattered little, since Flint’s immortality was failing, but it does underscore some of Kirk’s less desirable personality traits.