aunching as a two part story, Discovery’s final season looks to be reinventing itself for the last time by dropping all the background drama for a more uplifting mission this time round. Where last season felt like things were settling down – perhaps a little too quickly – with the Species 10C story bringing together the fractured factions of the Federation past and present, the story veered more into the style of classic slow-burn sci fi.
In just two episodes it feels like they’re ready to do what Discovery’s always done best while doing something it’s largely avoided; following another mystery but this time finding the time to have fun. So far the 32nd century feels very sombre, not helped by a pacing that mirrored films like Contact or even The Motion Picture itself. Within the opening moments it feels like the shows ready to embrace the action and fun we’d seen back in Season 2 as it kick started with a flash of Burnham clinging onto a ship as it races through deep space with a grin on her face despite almost dying.
During the run up to the season premiere both cast and crew used “Indiana Jones” as a comparison. Just watching the opening scene, it was an obvious inspiration and almost homage to Indy racing across the train in Dial of Destiny and in the flashbacks of Indy’s youth in The Last Crusade.
Following the trend, the two episodes lay the groundwork for a mission Henry Jones Jr would instantly sign up for while digging up Star Trek’s own past. Which is actually quite impressive. Not by the premise, but for how up front they are about the mystery this time. While previous seasons would let things linger this one pulls up the file straight away. Once upon a time Captain Picard and other explorers discovered a race they called the Progenitors; an ancient people who spread life throughout the galaxy. This means many species had the same starting point and an ancient genetic marker, giving a link between humans, Klingons, Romulans and more.
In the Next Generation episode’ The Chase’, several factions raced to find the answer to Professor Galen’s (Picards mentor) work. The episodic nature of the show meant that we got to this massive revelation that there was a genetic family that linked half the known galaxy and it never came up again. Until now. That revelation was buried in time and now, centuries later, the mysterious knower of nearly everything Dr Kovich is sending Burnham on a quest to find a Romulan scientists work and recover the technology of the race that started everything.
A mysterious ancient relic? A hung to find it while questionable characters are also looking for the same thing? Yeah. Thats pure Indy Jones. And I kind of love it. What I love more is that for once we’re not teasing the starting point. Bucking the trend of hiding a secret in plain sight, the first two episodes throw out the big answer: What we’re looking for. Who this race is. We even get a skip to the end recap with a picture of Picard as well.
While each episode has it’s own strengths and weaknesses, it’s hard to separate them as they both serve to set up the season. We recap where the characters are – from Stamets feeling irrelevant due to his Spore Drive now being made redundant to Tilly coming on board as a temp with significantly more confident. Even Book getting dragged back works after betraying Burnham. It’s not just her emotional ties to him, but the fact the other group looking for the artifacts are rouges just like him. Insight aplenty.
Also joining the team is Captain Raynor, a bit of a rogue himself who tried to better Burnham and loses everything. Who would seem fascinating as an addition to replace Saru, who’s joining the diplomatic arm of the Federation in order to be closer to T’Rina, but despite the series not having plans to wrap up at the time it was filmed, there is a finality in it all. It might be some post-cancellation editing, but it all feels like one last wild ride while seeding final challenges and happy endings.
Together the episodes deliver a lot of fun showing a lighter direction that Season 4, and just lay the groundwork very clearly to expand on an untouched bit of Star Trek lore. Some stuff feels there for the cool factor – like how to stop a rock slide! – and some stuff feels a little convoluted. Saru made a point about second chances, but Raynor still seems a bit of a dick when where are better options for XO
But overall this merged the best of both worlds. The insanity of overpowered 32nd century world building, while reinjecting Discovery with a sense of joy that seemed to have been sterilised with the jump to the future.
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Resistance Is Optional: Choose Your Adventure!
Our trials of bringing the fleet together have been hit and miss with scheduling and dates being a bit slim. So we're opening the floor to the fleet to pick the next date and theme! You can make your selection below on what works best for you ahead of our next fleet event! The final outcome will be shared at Europa on Facebook and in Fleet Alert in the Officers Hub as soon as we have a comfortable number of notes. For more information or to get direct updates on non-Discord online events, you can the subscribe to Twitch channel, visit twitch.tv/sfcq2. Google Meets events are hosted by our google account - you can add sfcquad2@gmail.com to your whitelist to ensure direct notification. Info and invite confirmations may also come from jt@sfcq2.com directly.
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