centuries
Explanation
This comic is a minimalist, text-only joke about Star Trek and creative marketing.
The main panel shows white text on a black background in the style of a dramatic movie trailer: "Two centuries before there was the Starship Enterprise... there was a city."
Below the black panel, the punchline reads: "Marketing Tip: Any show set in real life can technically be marketed as a Star Trek prequel series."
The humor is based on the logical technicality that since Star Trek is set in the future (the 23rd-24th centuries), every story set in the present day or the past technically takes place "before" the events of Star Trek. Therefore, any contemporary drama -- a hospital show, a crime procedural, a cooking competition -- could theoretically market itself as taking place in the Star Trek universe's past.
The comic parodies the entertainment industry's obsession with prequels, shared universes, and franchise tie-ins. In an era where every intellectual property gets expanded into a "cinematic universe," the joke suggests that even the most mundane, unrelated show could cynically market itself as connected to a popular franchise through the thinnest possible logical thread.
The dramatic trailer-style formatting (white text on black, ellipsis for suspense) adds to the parody, mimicking the breathless tone of franchise announcement teasers. The joke is also reminiscent of actual Star Trek prequels like "Enterprise" (set about a century before the original series), suggesting the franchise itself has already been heading in this direction.