The earliest mention I can find is "The Loss," then "Hero Worship" and "Interface." But as I said below, my first recollection of them was from Generations, partly because I read the script before the movie came out. When they guess what happened to the Armagosa Observatory, they suspect the Breen or the Romulans.

It's better than Admiral Janeway simply listing the villains from the previous three movies to Picard as if nothing happened in between the films.

That basically is the Klingon "badge and gun" move isn't it?

Shhh…

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

Are you by any chance related to the Xindi Insectoids?

The first time I actually remember hearing of them was in Generations, but I know they were mentioned earlier than that.

He was not a merry man.

I don't see how Damar could have a problem with that at all.

We should start a campaign. Wikipedia says the following:

There's a string of TNG titles that start with "The" in the third season. It seemed almost as frequent as Seinfeld's "The"s.

Is that Larry Murphy "Teddy" as the narrator?

That's an interesting Eddington-esque interpretation. I wasn't even sure where I was going with the head start thing, but yeah, either way sounds in line with DS9's take on the Federation.

I suppose we'll find out when we find real life outside the solar system. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some things that are more universal we'd think. Maybe DNA is basically the same everywhere.

It was the Delta Quadrant, in "The Price." So naturally the Ferengi there show up in VOY.

And even all three arcs have there episodic moments.

I'm not sure Rom and Leeta were even necessarily interested in having kids anyway. Nog was grown up, and they never really brought it up.

Some species in Trek were more genetically compatible than others, with regard to procreation. Trills and Klingons seemed to have a hard time, and even humans and Vulcans did in ENT, but Phlox was confident that it could happen, as of course it would with Spock.

DS9 is the ideal balance in my book.

The first question will be answered soon. For the second one, I think they did re-mine the wormhole.