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In the TNG episode "Where No-One Has Gone Before" the Enterprise-D enters another galaxy.

The Enterprise in a different galaxy

Does she ever go to another galaxy a second time?

Why am I aksing such a absurd question? The spoken opening text of TNG is quite different in the German translation. Translated back to English it goes something like:

Space - infinite vastnesses. We are in a distant future. These are the adventures of the new starship Enterprise, which is many light-years away from earth on its way, to discover new worlds, unknown lifeforms and new civilisations. The Enterprise thereby advances to galaxies, that no man has seen before.

Obviously the guy who did the German translation didn't know much about Star Trek, since travelling to other galaxies is, if at all, only a very minor part of what the series is about. But I grew up with this sentence and it made me wonder: Does the Enterprise D advance into galaxies where no-one (that is: no human) has been before?

I already know of one example, where the Enterprise D entered another galaxy. But that's singular, while the opening text talks about galaxies (plural). Is there another example of the Enterprise D going to another galaxy, or is the German translation of the opening text not only misleading but plainly wrong about that?

For completeness, here is the original opening text:

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

And here is the untranslated German opening text:

Der Weltraum, unendliche Weiten. Wir befinden uns in einer fernen Zukunft. Dies sind die Abenteuer des neuen Raumschiffs Enterprise, das viele Lichtjahre von der Erde entfernt unterwegs ist, um fremde Welten zu entdecken, unbekannte Lebensformen und neue Zivilisationen. Die Enterprise dringt dabei in Galaxien vor, die nie ein Mensch zuvor gesehen hat.

(emphasis added)

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  • P.S. If you know of more than two occasions the Enterprise does this, please don't hesitate to share! It would render this childhood-sentence of mine even more true. But honestly I'd be satisfied (yeah, call me anal!) if there would be a second time.
    – Einer
    Jun 20, 2014 at 17:37
  • @Richard Which answer are you referring to?
    – Einer
    Jun 20, 2014 at 18:04
  • The question linked specifically speaks to intergalactic travel in the TNG universe...
    – Valorum
    Jun 20, 2014 at 18:05
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    @Richard The question itself is about relationships with other galaxies. But as is known: The question doesn't count: It's the answer. And none of the answers contains an answer to the question whether or not the Enterprise D visits other galaxies again.
    – Einer
    Jun 20, 2014 at 18:09
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    From the OP you are referring to "My question is, is there any reference to intergalactic relations in Star Trek in the future". Even mentioning the traveller there is far fetched, since he, who we have relations with, is from this galaxy. I don't care about relations. I care only about visiting/advancing to.
    – Einer
    Jun 20, 2014 at 18:18

1 Answer 1

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Within the context of televised Star Trek, no Federation Starship has successfully traveled to another galaxy, with the sole exception cited of "Where No One Has Gone Before".

There is one occasion upon which the original NCC-1701 Enterprise attempted to leave the galaxy but failed ("Where No Man Has Gone Before") due to the "galactic barrier", and one where they successfully do so, breaking through that barrier ("By Any Other Name"), but they never actually reach Andromeda.

As a result, the closest thing to truly intergalactic relations the Federation could be said to have is that they offered to help the Kelvans ("By Any Other Name") send a robot ship to let their people know that the Federation were willing to help them find a home. The results of that mission are never detailed canonically, although Worf does claim to have fought Kelvans, once, suggesting that at least Rojan's expedition survives into the late 24th Century.

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    Voyager leaves the universe, with a little bit of help from Q.
    – Valorum
    Jun 23, 2014 at 10:38
  • @Richard Even Rose Tyler has crossed the void many times.
    – Satellite of Sin
    Jun 23, 2014 at 10:55
  • It's true that in televised Trek those are the only occasions where Federation ships left the galaxy, but if we're talking about "intergalactic relations" more generally, the Federation has had dealings with a number of other species from outside the galaxy besides the Kelvans, see en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Extra-galactic_species
    – Hypnosifl
    Jun 23, 2014 at 16:11
  • @Hypnosifl Most of the examples on that list are not merely extra-galactic but extra-dimensional/universal. The question was about contact with other galaxies in this space-time continuum :-)
    – Michael Scott Shappe
    Jun 25, 2014 at 19:24
  • @Uncle Mikey - true, the list freely mixes extradimensional beings with ones from other galaxies, but there are a few others besides the Kelvans, namely the Ornithoids (and indirectly, their masters the Old Ones, though the Federation only had a direct encounter with the Ornithoids) and the Nacene. Some were also ambiguous, like the space amoeba and the Duowd--the episodes suggested they weren't native to the galaxy but didn't really say where they were from (but since extradimensional beings tend to be superior intelligences, I think the space ameoba probably wasn't from another dimension).
    – Hypnosifl
    Jun 25, 2014 at 19:37

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