Category: Star Trek

Stardate 1027.32: Burnham reveals Spock’s personal log entry – and its coded message – to Captain Pike. Spock not only knew of the signals, but of their locations, before any of them were detected by Starfleet. But Pike has more troubling news: Spock took a leave of absence to check himself into a psychiatric ward due to whatever was troubling him. Discovery is diverted to an unexplored planet in the Beta Quadrant which is the source of the newest signal, necessitating use of the spore drive. But despite an alarming distress signal, the planet is home to a peaceful, pastoral, and most importantly pre-warp human civilization. Pike, Burnham and ops officer Joann Owosekun beam down incognito to find out how a human settlement reached this far into deep space before the invention of warp drive. What they discover is a group of survivors of World War III who have no idea how they got there. A sudden displacement of radioactive particle from the planet’s rings threatens all on the surface – including the landing party – with extinction, but Pike’s absolute adherence to the Prime Directive forces a monumental decision: are Discovery and her new captain here to save a civilization, or witness its destruction without interference?

teleplay by Vaun Wilmott & Sean Cochran
story by Akiva Goldsman & Sean Cochran
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Lt. Commander Saru), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Sheila McCarthy (All-Mother), Andrew Moodie (Jacob), Bahia Watson (May Ahearn), Hannah Chessman (Lt. Commander Airiam), Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. R.A. Bryce), Raven Dauda (Dr. Tracy Pollard), Julianne Grossman (Discovery Computer), Noah Davis (Lieutenant in 2053), Kira Groulx (Rose), Claire Qute (Teen May Hologram)

Notes: The mention of a Third World War in Star Trek’s otherwise hopeful vision of the future first appeared in the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, with Picard’s identification of Q‘s kangaroo court based upon the near-anarchic state of law in the “post-atomic horror” of the 21st century (fortunately, if you’re reading this, you’re only in the pre-atomic horror). Later incarnations of Trek carried this idea forward, particularly the movie Star Trek: First Contact and numerous episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise. Even after Earth rebuilt itself following these events, there wasn’t a universal embracing of a technological lifestyle, as Lt. Owosekun is said to have grown up in “a Luddite collective”. No one in this episode ever refers to the Prime Directive, only Starfleet’s General Order One. The Beta Quadrant has long been known to be where portions of the Romulan and Klingon Empires are located, but the New Eden settlement is much further into the Beta Quadrant – 51,000 light years from Federation territory in the Alpha Quadrant, or, for comparison, roughly 2/3 of the distance that the U.S.S. Voyager would be flung into the Delta Quadrant in the 24th century. (Clearly, events yet unseen rule out further development or use of the spore drive technology by Voyager‘s time, otherwise the rescue of Captain Janeway’s crew would have been a simple matter.) The stardate for this episode is not given in the episode itself, but in the season finale, Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Stardate not given: Captain Pike is visited by his first officer from the Enterprise, who has managed to bring him data on the trajectory of Spock’s shuttlecraft. But moments after Discovery sets off on that heading, it’s yanked out of warp by a dense sphere of pulsing energy. Attempts to hail the sphere are fruitless, and moments later Discovery‘s systems begin failing, beginning with the universal translator and engineering systems. The fungal life form that Stamets extracted from Tilly is no longer contained, and reasserts its hold over Tilly. Saru, who seemed unwell at a briefing prior to the sphere’s appearance, is now seriously weakened, and reveals that he has entered the Vaharai, the stage of the Kelpien life span at which an individual is ready to be harvested by the alien predators that cull the Kelpiens. Since he is no longer on Kaminar, Saru will not be harvested, but can look forward to slowly going mad as the Vaharai advances; still, he insists on aiding Burnham in trying to stabilize the ship’s systems and determine the sphere’s intentions (which Pike is assuming are hostile). Speaking through Tilly, “May” tells Stamets that Discovery‘s travels through the mycelial network are harmful to the network and the life it supports. Saru deduces that the sphere is also a life form – a dying one trying to pass on all of its knowledge and experience before it expires – and urges Pike to drop Discovery‘s shields to allow the ship’s computers to absorb all of that information. But Saru feels that his time has come too, and asks Burnham to end his suffering.

teleplay by Alan McElroy & Andrew Colville
story by Jordon Nardino & Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts
directed by Lee Rose
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Lt. Commander Saru), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Tig Notaro (Commander Jett Reno), Rebecca Romjin (Number One), Rachael Ancheril (Commander Nhan), Bahia Watson (May Ahearn), Hannah Chessman (Lt. Commander Airiam), Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. R.A. Bryce), Julianne Grossman (Discovery Computer), Raven Dauda (Dr. Tracy Pollard), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Linus)

Notes: Gum and duct tape, and burgers and fries, all still exist in the 23rd century. (Especially fries, as both Number One and Jett Reno mention them.) Also, David Bowie and Prince still have fans in the 23rd century, as they likely will long afterward. Many of the elements of Kelpien society mentioned by Saru were previously seen in the Short Treks episode The Brightest Star (2018).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Stardate 1035.86: With his recent exposure to an unusual space phenomenon having accelerated Saru past the stage of life at which Kelpiens are expected to surrender themselves to culling by the Ba’ul, he is free of constant fear for the first time in his life. When the latest detection of one of the mysterious signals sends Discovery racing to Saru’s home planet, he is eager to stand up for his species – perhaps, Captain Pike notes, too eager, as Saru has also undergone a radical shift in thinking regarding the “Great Balance”, the belief system that keeps Kelpiens subservient to the Ba’ul. Should Saru revisit his planet and reveal that the Great Balance is a lie, that would be a clear violation of the prime directive, though Burnham argues that it doesn’t apply to the Kelpiens, since the Ba’ul’s presence has already revealed advanced technology to their prey. Saru introduces Burnham to his sister, Siranna, and learns that his own father was culled shortly after he left the planet. But Saru’s return to Discovery triggers a swift response from the Ba’ul: they want him returned to the planet, and threaten the entire Kelpien race to secure his return. Saru allows himself to be taken aboard a Ba’ul ship. As Burnham, Tilly, and Airiam search records from the data downloaded from the sphere and discover that the balance of power on Kaminar was once quite different, Saru learns that he is far from defenseless against the Ba’ul… and is willing to break every Starfleet rule on the books to help his people achieve the same ability to protect themselves.

written by Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt
directed by Doug Aarniokoski
music by Jeff Russo

Cast: Sonequa Martin-Green (Commander Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Lt. Commander Saru), Anthony Rapp (Lt. Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Javier Botet (The Ba’ul), Hannah Chessman (Lt. Commander Airiam), Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer), Patrick Kwok-Choon (Lt. Gen Rhys), Oyin Oladejo (Lt. Joann Owosekun), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Lt. R.A. Bryce), Hannah Spear (Siranna), Julianne Grossman (Discovery Computer), Mark Pellington (Ba’ul voice-over), Raven Dauda (Dr. Tracy Pollard), David Benjamin Tomlinson (Linus / Kelpien Villager #1), Michael Ayres (Transporter Officer)

Notes: The pre-first-contact state of Kelpien society, and Saru’s departure from Kaminar, were previously seen in the Short Treks episode The Brightest Star (2018). The stardate for this episode is not given in the episode itself, but in the season finale, Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2.

LogBook entry by Earl Green