A Popular Sitcom's Series Finale Was A Star Trek: TNG Crossover Some Fans Consider Canon

The crew of the USS Enterprise on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" were used to all manner of strange encounters with friends and foes from other worlds and times, but perhaps none were quite as strange as the one that took place on the series finale of "Webster." This 1980s sitcom is just about the last place you would expect to see the crew of a starship embarking on adventures centuries in the future, yet it happened all the same.

Set in Chicago, "Webster" follows recently orphaned child Webster Long (Emmanuel Lewis) as he goes to live with his godparents, retired football player George Papadopoulos (Alex Karras) and his wife Katherine (Susan Clark). It's a down-to-earth, heartwarming sitcom that delivers important lessons alongside the laughter. However, when "Webster" concluded in 1989, instead of bringing all the cast together for a final farewell, the series finale used an unexpected crossover to look back on its six-season run.

In the "Webster" finale, "Webtrek," Webster finds himself transported to the USS Enterprise-D in the 24th century after a bolt of lightning hits his house while he's playing video games. While there, he tries to teach Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn) the meaning of fun via flashbacks to previous "Webster" episodes. The finale ends with the Enterprise crew repairing Webster's joystick and sending him home, where he dismisses the encounter as a dream — only to discover a repair label from the Enterprise on his joystick.

The crossover with "Webster" was obviously intended as a bit of fun for both shows. It was a departure from the typical format of "Webster" and delivered a more lighthearted tale than was typically featured in episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." However, the finale's ending came with some interesting implications. "Webster" could have easily played off the events of the episode as a dream, but the titular character's discovery that his joystick really had been repaired by the crew of the Enterprise confirms that it actually happened. Does that mean this episode is canon to the Star Trek universe? Some people think so.

Star Trek fans discussing the crossover on Reddit have pointed out that the episode was made by Paramount, the Star Trek rightsholders, and should therefore be considered canon. It clearly takes place within the Star Trek multiverse, and, interestingly, the episode sees Worf manning the Enterprise's ops station, a position he would briefly take on in the 1990 "TNG" episode "The Most Toys." Webster's appearance being deemed canon might seem a bit out-there, but a child from the distant past being inadvertently beamed aboard the Enterprise wouldn't actually be the craziest thing to happen in Star Trek continuity. The episode is a far stranger addition to the "Webster" canon than the Star Trek one.