7 years ago, the entertainment landscape was very different. The COVID-19 pandemic was 3 years away. Superhero movies likeGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Wonder Woman,andSpider-Man: Homecomingruled the box office, with Marvel Studios' wildly successfulThor: Ragnarokand DC’s disastrousJustice Leaguepremiering just two months afterStar Trek: Discovery.The biggest TV shows in the world wereGame of ThronesandThe Walking Dead,and serialized storytelling was dominant.Star Trek: Discoveryarrived to bringStar Trekinto the serialized age, with visuals equal to the quality seen inStar Trek Beyond, which was the lastStar Trekmovie released in movie theaters the year before, in the summer of 2016.
Discovery’s Premiere Taught Audiences A New Way To See Star Trek
Star Trek TV was now a movie every week
Star Trek: Discovery’s premiere was certainly a shock to the system. Simply put,Star Trekhad never looked so dazzlingly cinematic on television before.Star Trek: Discoveryalso broke establishedStar Trektropes:For the first time, the lead character,Commander Michael Burnham(Sonequa Martin-Green), was not a starship Captain.Discoverywas seen through the eyes of the First Officer, and Burnham was a flawed and conflicted character who believed she was acting on behalf of the greater good but made terrible mistakes in her judgment.
Discovery forged the model for Star Trek going forward.
“The Vulcan Hello” and “The Battle at the Binary Stars” showed a complacent Starfleet confronted with a resurgent and terrifying Klingon Empire.Star Trek: Discoverywas also an action-packed spectaclethat had never been delivered byaStar TrekTV seriesbefore, and it was easily on par with the visual splendor of J.J. Abrams’Star Trekmovies. Meanwhile, the phenomenal performances by Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh as Captain Philppa Georgiou, and Doug Jones as Saru were urgent, emotional, and gripping.Discoveryforged the model forStar Trekgoing forward. AfterDiscovery,there was no going back forStar Trek.
Discovery Is Surprising Because Of What’s NOT In The Premiere
Star Trek: Discovery’s first two episodes were really just a prologue
Star Trek: Discovery’s premiere is unlike any otherStar Trekpilot becauseit’s actually a prologue. “The Vulcan Hello” and “Battle at the Binary Stars” aren’t even set aboard the USS Discovery, which wouldn’t be introduced until the third episode ofStar Trek: Discovery,“Context is King.“Star Trek: Discovery’s premiere is shockingly missing many elements that would become integral to season 1 and the future of the series.
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Star Trek: Discovery season 5
3191 (32nd century)
Absent fromStar Trek: Discovery’s first two episodes is Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs), who would be revealed as season 1’s main villain and joined Michelle Yeoh as Discovery’s marquee stars. TheUSS Discovery’s controversial spore displacement hub drive- the revolutionary technology ofStar Trek: Discovery- doesn’t come into the picture until the third episode. Nor are coreStar Trek: Discoverycharacters like Lieutenant Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) introduced until the third episode.Star Trek: Discoveryisn’t evenStar Trek: Discoveryyetuntil episode 3, “Context is King.”
Star Trek: Discovery’s Early Mistakes Defined The Show
For all of its virtues and innovations,Star Trek: Discoverywas also flawed since its inception, andthe show couldn’t get past its initial mistakes. Series creator Bryan Fuller originally intendedStar Trek: Discoveryto be an anthology, but after that format changed, the show couldn’t overcome the issues inherent in being a prequel set 10 years beforeStar Trek: The Original Series.Discovery’s aesthetics, uniforms, and advanced technology couldn’t be reconciled withTOScanon, and longtime fans couldn’t get past this or the unwelcomeredesign of the Klingons.
I Forgot Star Trek: Discovery’s Detmer Was There Since The Beginning
Lt. Detmer didn’t play a huge role in Star Trek: Discovery’s final season, so it was sadly easy for me to forget she’d been there since the beginning.
Star Trek: Discovery’s solution at the end of season 2 was toshed and outrun its most problematic aspects. By permanently jumping to the 32nd century,Star Trek: Discoveryleft behind its hated Klingons and started anew in an unexplored future era where the USS Discovery was now a relic from the past. Still, the bad tasteDiscoveryleft in many fans' mouths never went away, despite the brilliance of the show’s acting, production design, and the legacyDiscoverywas building as the flagship of a new era ofStar Trek.
Discovery Season 1 Was About Reclaiming Star Trek’s Identity
“We are Starfleet!”
The underlying theme ofStar Trek: Discoveryseason 1was identity, and it worked twofold. The Klingons beganStar Trek: Discoveryin fear of losing their identity as the United Federation of Planets was expanding. The Klingons, a society fractured for generations, sought to unite, and their mantra was"Remain Klingon.“In contrast,Starfleet’s own identity as benevolent explorers was subvertedby a brutal and bloody war with the Klingons. Faced with potential extinction, Starfleet grew desperate and violent, even considering genocide on the Klingon homeworld to end the war.
Commander Michael Burnham’s speech to the Federation at the end ofStar Trek: Discoveryseason 1 was the showreclaimingStar Trek’s virtues. As the firstStar Trekon TV in 12 years,Discoverycouldn’t rest on the past laurels ofStar Trek. Discoveryhad to reassess what Starfleet meant in the present, and what it would represent in the future. By journeying into and through the heart of darkness,Star Trek: Discoveryemerged with a better understanding and appreciation ofGene Roddenberry’s optimistic visionof the future, re-embracing it for a new era.
Star Trek Is Better Because Of Discovery
Discovery led the way for Star Trek’s renaissance.
Thanks toStar Trek: Discovery,Star Trekwas reborn, creating a new legacy thathonors the past while looking ahead to the future.Star Trek: Picardbrought back Patrick Stewart and, eventually, the entirecast ofStar Trek: The Next Generation, withStar Trek: Picardseason 3 fulfilling most fans' wildest hopes.Star Trek: Lower DecksandStar Trek: Prodigybecame the new paragons ofStar Trekanimation, proving comedy and sweeping, epic sagas weren’t limited to live-action.
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Untitled Star Trek live-action comdy
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Star Trek: Strange New Worldswould certainly not exist withoutStar Trek: Discovery.Captain Christopher Pike(Anson Mount), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck), and the Starship Enterprise found new life thanks toDiscovery. Strange New Worlds,and its cast ofStar Treklegacy icons and instantly beloved new characters, brought back whatStar Trekwas missing:The Original Series’episodic style, willingness to boldly experiment, and a new frontier spirit of optimism.
Star Trek remains strong heading into the franchise’s 60th anniversary in 2026.
Even with fewerStar Trekseries on the horizon than at the apex of 2022, when Paramount+ boasted5 simultaneousStar Trekshowsand a new episode ofStar Trekstreaming nearly every Thursday of the year,Star Trekremains strong heading into the franchise’s 60th anniversary in 2026.Star Trekenters a new age of made-for-streaming movies withStar Trek: Section 31, another spinoff ofDiscovery.Meanwhile,Star Trek: Starfleet Academyis in production, weaving Academy Award-caliber actors with the newest generation of youngStar Trekheroes.Star Trek: Discovery’s premiere, flaws and all, made everything possible, and it was a"Vulcan hello"toStar Trek’s continuing renaissance.
