DiscoveryIs OpeningStar Trek‘s Biggest Pandora’s Box

This week , Star Trek : Discoverykicked off its final seasonwith a bold adventure — one with intimate ties to a classicStar Trek : The Next Generationstory no other show in the franchise has defy to succeed up on . In doing so , it ’s opening up the kind of opportunity that onlyDiscoveryreally can — but it requires a delicate balancing bit in the process .

It ’s fitting thatDiscovery ’s fifth time of year premiereopened on the week of what is know as First Contact Day to Star Trek fans . Just under four decades from today , during the consequence of , well , Star Trek : First Contact , humankind meetsits first alien civilizationin the Vulcans , and finds itself thrust into a much swelled wandflower than it could have ever imagined after age of devastating atomic fight . What better reveal then , that Discovery ’s last season will ramp up itself around the mystery of the ultimate first contact — a following for the alien civilization that kickstarted humanoid liveliness across the extragalactic nebula in the first place ?

This is the twist Michael Burnham discover at the climax of Discovery time of year five ’s first episode , “ Red Directive . ” The mysterious mission she ’s been kept in the dark about all instalment , rush after cryptic literary pirate and a centuries - old Romulan puzzlebox , involve a species now dub “ The Progenitors , ” an ancient forerunner civilisation that first became know to Starfleet and other galactic bon ton during the Next Generation season six instalment , “ The Chase ” .

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It ’s an sequence with enthralling analogue to the time of year - arching narrative Discovery wants to go out on , though it ’s an adventure in just one hour of TV alternatively of a whole time of year . After crossing paths with his old archaeology professor , Captain Picard finds himself on a treasure hunt across the galaxy , with rival camarilla in the Klingons , Cardassians , and finally the Romulans ( leading to Discovery ’s means in , fictional one C and actual decades later ) , after it ’s discovered that the prof had discovered a secret that could either bind the whole of galactic refinement together — or shatter it to pieces , just as Burnham is monish of her own mission . While his rivals consider they ’re on the Holman Hunt of an almighty artillery , finally what Picard and the other office at play discover on Vilmor II is true statement , and cognition .

A holographic message from a bald , humanoid being — wager beautifully such a short time by Salome Jens , who would go on to dally a similar looking at but all in all more horrifying Star Trek alien in her role as the Female Changeling head the Dominion ’s encroachment of the Alpha Quadrant in Deep Space Nine — reveals that her species , long dead , evolved too soon to meet interchangeable sentient life in the wandflower . So , in the hopes of spreading their legacy across the stars , they seed life in their image — two-footed , humanoid , fluent - skinned , and ( for the most part ) hairless — across the galaxy , and pass on clues so that one day when that liveliness evolve and took to the stars as they had , they could discover their share origin , and do so together .

“ The Chase ” conclude on an affirmative , but non - committal bank note , in malice of the soberness of its reveal that intelligence agency design does n’t just exist in Star Trek , but is both a fun metatextual resolution to why most aliens in the dealership handily look like humans in various colouring material palette and with foreign rubber-base paint bits , and also a slice of worldbuilding that essentially reshape its whole universe . While the Klingons and Cardassians , who ’d bear they were hunting for magnate and technology , are disgusted by the thought of coarse ancestry , Captain Picard and his Romulan counterpart express that the Revelation of Saint John the Divine could one day work peace treaty — not just between their own civilizations , but across the entire Galax urceolata .

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Star Trek pronto never go there again , boldly or otherwise .

There have been Star Trek narrative since that examine the phylogeny of life across its universe — like Voyager ’s gripping “ Distant Origin , ” where a scientist from a Delta quadrant species called the Voth discovers they are descended from Earth ’s dinosaur — but it took three decades for the franchise to find fault up directly where “ The Chase ” left thing off as Discovery did this workweek . It ’s already elaborate upon the episode , giving the exotic species an alternate name in the “ Progenitors , ” as well as the Book of Revelation from Michael ’s quest that they did not just leave behind their knowledge , but chemical element of the actual technology they used to shape life after the declivity of their civilization … technology that yes , now , as the Klingons and Cardassians dreamed of in “ The Chase , ” could be weaponized in certain hand .

It ’s already interesting that Discovery would take what was , well , a discovery of knowledge , and sour it into a more palpable , galaxy - threatening object . But it ’s also interesting in what Star Trek says about itself only just pluck up on the potential of “ The Chase ” now , not just in term of the factual , real decades its been since that TNG episode , but in pick it up in Star Trek : Discovery , a serial now prepare in the furthest point in time of time any series of the show has on a regular basis contract place in , the 32nd century . We already recognize that the Progenitors ’ dream of unity among its myriad descendants has not happened — just four long time after “ The Chase , ” the Alpha Quadrant is tear apart with Salome Jens ’ homecoming as the Female Changeling , and with her the start ofthe Dominion War . We know further still that , by the clip Burnham and her gang have jettison themselves into the 32nd century , the galaxy is no more joined that in was in their original fourth dimension — if anything , it ’s more divided than it had been in centuries , the Federation and Starfleet shattered into disparate pieces by the impact of “ The Burn ” and the diminishment of warp travel explored in Discovery season three .

Image: Paramount

Image: Paramount

Star Trek is forever in the process of progress toward the utopia it ’s always maintained it has come across in the first place — always take exception its idealsto strengthen them , and challenging them through conflict and partition . But it say a lot that 30 year ago the franchise laid out the ultimate nerve pathway to peace , and that utopic aim across the wiz , and then simply … did not touch it again until now .

And yet , perhaps it ’s pure that it isStar Trek : Discoverythat ’s adjudicate to pick up the pieces . metre will differentiate just what happen in Michael and her crowd ’s adventure across the galaxy to find all the puzzle pieces they need , and just what shape this Progenitor engineering will finally take . But Star Trek : Discovery has , across its lifetime , always champion the superpower of connection — on individual and galactic scales — in the face of hard knocks , and get along out on top metre and time again . In season four , Captain Burnham already achieved the seeming impossibility of peaceful first inter-group communication with an extragalactic airstream unlike anything the share - line of descent siblings of Star Trek ’s galaxy had ever really have intercourse before . After that , exploring the untouched bequest of one of The Next Generation ’s most fascinating episodes — and perhaps finding a way to make that power of association really touchable across its universe of discourse — is definitely something that could be on the cards . For a show that has bear on Star Trek ’s continuityfurther and further forwardacross its life history , doing so would be a fitting accomplishment to go out on .

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