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Evil is a psychological mystery that examines the origins of evil along the dividing line between science and religion. The series focuses on a skeptical female psychologist who joins a priest-in-training and a carpenter as they investigate the Church's backlog of unexplained mysteries, including supposed miracles, demonic possessions, and hauntings. Their job is to assess if there is a logical explanation or if something truly supernatural is at work.

Carrie Preston stars as Elsbeth Tascioni, an astute but unconventional attorney who utilizes her singular point of view to make unique observations and corner brilliant criminals alongside the NYPD. After leaving her successful legal career in Chicago to tackle a new investigative role in New York City, Elsbeth finds herself jockeying with the toast of the NYPD, Captain C.W. Wagner, a charismatic and revered leader. Working alongside Elsbeth is Officer Kaya Blanke, a stoic and ethical officer who quickly develops an appreciation for Elsbeth's insightful and offbeat ways.

Outer Range

Outer Range centers on a rancher fighting for his land and family, who discovers an unfathomable mystery at the edge of Wyoming's wilderness.

Failure is not an option for the Navy SEALs—the world's most elite, special ops forces. In this action-packed new drama, these stealth and fearless warriors conduct high-risk clandestine missions against impossible odds. And when they return to the home front they face stress of a different nature. Keeping secrets, deploying at a moment's notice, and the knowledge that each assignment could be their last takes a toll on them and their families. But their unbreakable oath and patriotism compel them to persevere.

Earth is visited by an alien species that threatens humanity's existence. Events unfold in real time through the eyes of five ordinary people across the globe as they struggle to make sense of the chaos unraveling around them.

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Star Trek Continues: The episode guide, ratings and all 11 full episodes

If you’re binging the Star Trek universe or merely hankering for some Original Series -type science-fiction, Star Trek Guide strongly recommends that you make the episodes of Continues part of your viewing. This truly professional-level fan production is not only 11 quality stories in the ST fan, STC wraps up many plotlines the TOS and its general lack of continuity (hey, it was 1960s network TV), ties in the prequel series Enterprise , bridges TOS nicely into Star Trek: The Motion Picture , and retroactively foreshadows certain elements of the Next Generation era.

1. Pilgrim of Eternity – In a sequel to “ Who Mourns for Adonais ?”, the mighty Apollo returns to the Enterprise and wreaks some serious havoc while taking a little time to philosophize about mortality. ***

2. Lolani – The Orion Slave Girls finally get more flashed out (so to speak) as characters when the title character is inspired to lead her peers to emancipation. ****

3. Fairest of Them All – And speaking of emancipation, check out this continuation of TOS’ “Mirror, Mirror” in which mirror-universe Spock begins the quadrant-wide revolt against the oppressive human overlords. Quite possibly the finest mirror universe episode of them all, really. ****

4. The White Iris – Head trip for Kirk, as he madly hallucinates old flames met on previous missions: Rayna, Miramanee and Joan Collins – i mean, Edith Keeler. (What, only three?) In a guest-starring role, Colin Baker demonstrates the acting chops that helped get Doctor Who taken off the air for 16 years. ***

5. Divided we Stand – Head trip (and time travel of a sort) for Kirk and McCoy: An on-board accident knocks the two buddies into unconsciouness, whereupon they mutually dream their way through an incident in the American Civil War. ***

6. Come Not Between the Dragons – The Enterprise invaded by a mysterious alien on the run from forces powerful enough to be capable of destroying the ship in classic TOS fashion. ***

7. Embracing the Winds – The overriding theme of emancipation continues, as Starfleet inner workings and a mysterious near-conspiracy are merely window dressing to retcon a bit of TOS continuity that doesn’t sit well with modern sensibility. To wit: Why the lack of female starship captains in the supposedly enlightened TOS era? ****

8. Still Treads the Shadow – Ready for some insane time paradox/head trip stuff? In something of a TNG-influenced episode, “Still Treads” has the Enterprise coming across the starship Defiant (!), possibly have journeyed into a parallel universe, whereupon a single occupant – an aged James T. Kirk himself – is cryogenically frozen. ****

9. What Ships are For – Some great character interplay in the cold open leads to a surreal plot involving an isolated, nigh-xenophobic colony inhabiting an asteroid whereupon no color exists – and John de Lancie is a mere mortal community leader. Traditional Star Trek themes, an excellent twist and the arresting black-and-white look make this one episode of STC that the TOS producers certainly wished they’d had the special effects to make an episode like this. ****

10-11. To Boldly Go, parts 1 & 2 – The Enterprise crew revisits the scene of " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", where one crew member must make the proverbial ultimate sadrifice. To Boldly Go tightly wraps us the remaiing plot threads from both TOS and Continues and sets the table nicely for the crew’s reunion in The Motion Picture. What a way for STC to go out – with everyone wanting more... *****

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The STAR TREK CONTINUES webseries boldly completes the original five-year mission. Below, you can find all of our episodes, vignettes, and other content — including behind-the-scenes videos, set walk-throughs, and much more.

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Star Trek Continues

Star Trek Continues is a fan-created science fiction series set in the Star Trek universe produced by Trek Continues Inc., Far From Home, and Dracogen. The series is an unofficial direct continuation of the third and last season of Star Trek: The Original Series , whose visual and storytelling features have been reproduced to recreate the same look-and-feel.

As with all such Star Trek fan productions, use of copyrighted and trademarked properties from the original series was allowed so long as the production is not-for-profit. Part of the funds necessary to produce the episodes were raised through a successful Kickstarter campaign, to which almost three thousand backers contributed.

Star Trek Continues won a Geekie Award for "Best Web Series" in 2014 and has been very positively received by the critics, who praised the quality of the production, stating that the series has set a new standard for Star Trek fan productions.

Official site: www.startrekcontinues.com

8 ( 36 votes)

Previous Episode

To boldly go: part ii, episode 1x11; nov 13, 2017.

The iconic mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise comes to an end, as Kirk and his crew battle the ultimate adversary.

Previous Episodes

Vic Mignogna

Todd Haberkorn

Christopher Doohan

Larry Nemecek

Chuck huber.

Grant Masaru Imahara

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Firstly let me just say WOOHOO , that was great. OK, now to address some of your thoughts. NO, there will be no more episodes as they are no longer allowed to make any videos/episodes longer than 10 min due to the studio kicking up a fuss because fans love this version and kept donating money for many more episodes. And if the studios wasn't making the full length show, then no one was as far as they where concerned. As for Kirk not being promoted after the 5 year mission, well actually he was. But of course in good old Kirk fashion, he did something naughty and was demoted, then promoted, then demoted, then porm.... well, you get the point. But when he died he had the rank of Admiral. Now the ONLY ship to separate the drive section from the saucer section was the Enterprise ship/s from Star Trek The Next Generation series and movies. (Apart from the experimental ship in one of the Voyager episodes) It was good to see it in this final episode and was done in a way to show how experimental it was in the time line. Hopefully there might be a now series from this team with 30 to 40 10 min episodes each year. Now that would be great. Thanks to all the talented folks that made this show possible.

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Vic Mignogna as Captain Kirk

Todd Haberkorn as Mr. Spock

Chuck Huber as Doctor McCoy

Christopher Doohan as Mr. Scott

Grant Imahara as Mr. Sulu

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Web Video / Star Trek Continues

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Star Trek Continues is a Fan Sequel web series set in the Star Trek universe. Its mission: to continue where Star Trek: The Original Series left off, and complete the final two years of the Five Year Mission of the Enterprise .

The cast is comprised of professionals in the film business who all also happen to be huge Star Trek fans. They are aiming to capture the spirit of the original series as accurately as possible while still creating new, high quality stories.

The team's first output were a series of three short vignettes that were released from July 31 to November 30, 2012. A batch of three full-length episodes, partly funded through Kickstarter , were then released from May 26, 2013 to June 15, 2014. Two more episodes per year were released in 2015 and 2016, with the final four episodes released in 2017.

Since the series follows the crew of the original Star Trek: The Original Series , please refer to that page for most character tropes.

Compare Star Trek: The Animated Series , the official continuation to Star Trek: The Original Series , and Star Trek: New Voyages , the other major fanmade webseries.

    Episode List  Descriptions from the official website.

• "Pilgrim of Eternity": Apollo returns to wreak havoc on Kirk and the Enterprise in the first episode of the new series.
• "Lolani": A survivor from a distressed Tellarite vessel pulls Captain Kirk and his crew into a moral quandary over her sovereignty.
• "Fairest of Them All": In the Mirror Universe , Spock faces a choice that determines the future of the Terran Empire.
• "The White Iris": Captain Kirk finds himself haunted by guilt from his past as the fate of an alien world hangs in the balance.
• "Divided We Stand": Kirk and McCoy are trapped in time while an alien infestation threatens the Enterprise .
• "Come Not Between the Dragons": A troubled creature pierces the Enterprise hull, pitting the crew against a pursuer that threatens to tear them apart.
• "Embracing the Winds": While the Enterprise is sent on a seemingly routine mission, Kirk is recalled to starbase where he faces an ethical dilemma that challenges the very core of Starfleet Command.
• "Still Treads the Shadow": The Enterprise discovers a lost starship… with an unlikely passenger.
• "What Ships Are For": A society on an asteroid faces a mysterious affliction, while they cannot see colors at all.
• "To Boldly Go, Part 1": To solve the ultimate mystery, the Enterprise must return to where Kirk's five-year mission began.
• "To Boldly Go, Part 2": The iconic mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise comes to an end, as Kirk and his crew battle the ultimate adversary.

This series provides examples of the following tropes:

• Abusive Parents : Usdi from "Come Not Between the Dragons" took refuge on the Enterprise because, as it turns out, its father is abusive, and it fled in fear . And then, Ensign Taylor reveals her father was this as well , which is why she and Usdi bonded in the first place.
• Actor Allusion : Lou Ferrigno plays a green-skinned Orion in the second episode.
• Addiction Displacement : At the end Apollo discovers that self-sacrifice can provide as much sustenance for him as worship.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot : Tiberius in "Still Treads The Shadow". With only the computer to communicate with, Old Kirk ends up imprinting himself on it. Tiberius obsesses over him, refusing to let him go and even knocked him out by removing life support then cryo-freezing him with a brainwashing message .
• Alien Gender Confusion : Upon a new species making first contact with the Enterprise , one of their ambassadors mistakes Spock for a human female. (The aliens of the week are humanoids themselves, which makes it especially funny.)
• And the Adventure Continues : In a Shout-Out to Star Trek: The Motion Picture , The Stinger of "To Boldly Go, Part 2" tells the audience that "The Human Adventure Continues..."
• An Arm and a Leg : In "Divided We Stand," Kirk and Bones are forced to endure a facsimile of The American Civil War , which winds up with Bones amputating Kirk's leg. Luckily, it's All Just a Dream .
• Alas, Poor Villain : Despite a thorough dose of skepticism, the crew can't help feeling bad for Apollo's fate.
• Ascended Extra : In the Original Series , Lieutenant j.g. (formerly Yeoman) Barbara Smith was just an extra appearing solely in " Where No Man Has Gone Before ". Here she appears as a recurring extra and eventually plays a central role in in the finale.
• The Atoner : What Apollo becomes in the end. In a way.
• Beauty Inversion : Jamie Bamber gets quite bruised and battered in his appearance.
• Big Bad : Lana, the leader of the Espers that have been causing problems for Starfleet and destroying Constitution-class starships like the Hood .
• Bittersweet Ending : The Enterprise completes its five year mission and returns to Earth in triumph, coming off of just having saved the entire galaxy. But the joyous occasion is somewhat tempered by Kirk, Spock, and McCoy all realizing that they are feeling rather worn down and weary from the personal losses they have faced along the way, especially the recent deaths of Yeoman Smith and Dr. McKennah . This respectively leads to Kirk deciding to accept a promotion to admiral, McCoy choosing to resign from Starfleet, and Spock arranging a return to Vulcan to undergo a ritual to purge his emotions.
• The intro to "Lolani" shows Kirk squinting at a book he is trying to read in his quarters, a reference to him wearing reading glasses in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan .
• In "To Boldly Go, Part 1", Lana explains to Kirk that Starfleet has been doing experiments with weaponizing Espers, such as herself. When Kirk responds with skepticism to her claim, telling her that he is pretty sure that the Federation is not in the business of weaponizing its own citizens, she says that if that is what he believes, he had better study " Article 14, Section 31 ".
• At the end of "To Boldly Go, Part 2", Spock has a discussion with Kirk with about emotions, as he blames himself for the death of Dr. McKennah , believing that the whole unfortunate thing happened because he was thinking emotionally and not logically, and that he needs to do something about it. This, of course, ties into Spock's subplot from the Motion Picture , where he was attempting to undergo a ritual to purge all emotion from himself.
• Early versions of the ship's counsellor position, saucer separation and the Holodeck all make appearances in this episode, all being things that are standard in Starfleet by the time of the Enterprise-D are (mostly) fully working.
• Cannon Fodder : When Mirror Sulu says that there might be casualties trying to capture Mirror Spock, Mirror Kirk tells him to "Take Chekov and put him out front."
• Canon Foreigner : The series adds the psychologist, Dr. Elise McKennah note  played by Michele Specht, Vic Mignogna's wife and Chief of Security, Lt. William Drake, as recurring characters. Elise is the Enterprise 's first Ship's Counselor, described as a new and somewhat experimental position. In the mirror universe, she's more like the ship's chief courtesan.
• Mr. Scott is played by Chris Doohan, the son of James Doohan , the original Scotty.
• On a more meta level, the computer voice is provided by Marina Sirtis, who played Counselor Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation . Her mother, Lwaxana Troi, was played by Majel Barrett , who also provided the original voice of the computer. The mirror universe's computer voice is Michael Dorn , who was Lt. Worf.
• Bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno , who played the titular character in The Incredible Hulk (1977) , appears in "Lolani" in the role of an Orion slaver, once again requiring him to put on lots of green bodypaint.
• The female Romulan Commander, returning from "The Enterprise Incident", is played by Amy Rydell , daughter of the original actress Joanne Linville . Just like Doohan, she strongly resembles the original actor - although the makeup job probably helped too.
• The Chains of Commanding : In "To Boldly Go", Kirk has a melancholic moment where he notices that 73 crewmembers have lost their lives under his command during the mission. McCoy tries to reassure him, telling him that during the same time he has also saved countless lives and even a couple of planets as well, but Kirk doesn't find it much consolation, finding each single death still haunts him regardless.
• Book Safe : A copy of The Fall of the Roman Empire , on "Lolani".
• "Embracing the Winds" early on has a discussion about being glad to not be the one to have to tell the Tellarite ambassador that there's going to be a female Constitution -class captain, seeing as a) the Tellarites are responsible for the informal policy that has kept women from commanding larger Federation Starfleet ships and have been making hints about leaving the Federation if not appeased, b) Tellarites are famously argumentative and abrasive . At the end of the episode Kirk has a conversation with the ambassador, who turns out be not only quite amiable and friendly, but also personally opposed to the sexist glass ceiling policy and intending to join the debate against it on his homeworld .
• Chess Motif : The climax of "Fairest of Them All" involves this, with Mirror Kirk viewing his crew as "pawns" and himself as the "king".
• Chroma Key : Used in the prototype holodeck scenes. Of course, the holodeck in question being a somewhat crude prototype and therefore not yet capable of projecting the convincing visuals seen in the Next Generation era means that its actually Justified by an In-Universe explanation.
• Continuity Cavalcade : "To Boldly Go, Part 2" has Kirk meeting with a Starfleet admiral, who has models of various ships from the fleet standing on a shelf in his office. Kirk briefly studies the ships, allowing the audience to see that the admiral's models includes the NX-01 , the USS Kelvin and even the USS Discovery .
• Prototype versions of Next Generation features, including the holodeck and saucer separation note  Saucer separation was canon from the beginning of TOS; it was mentioned in " The Apple ", but we never saw it done. , not to mention the Ship's Counselor, can be found sprinkled throughout the series.
• Marina Sirtis, who played Barrett's daughter in Next Gen , does the computer voice. Barrett died in 2008.
• In "Fairest of Them All", Mirror Kirk addresses the helm officer as "Jones" and she says "It's Smith, sir." Her expression suggests he does this a lot. This goes back to "Where No Man Has Gone Before" where our Kirk made this error with Yeoman Barbara Smith. A precursor to Janice Rand, she was played by Andrea Dromm. It's pretty clear that the helm officer, played by Kipleigh Brown, is meant to be the same character in the mirror universe.
• Mirror Kirk takes a swig from a bottle of booze in exactly the same manner as Evil Kirk did in " The Enemy Within ".
• Checkov briefly mentions decoding something from the Xindi in the Academy before Kirk cuts him off.
• Kirk accepts promotion to the admiralty, while McCoy and Spock announce their intentions to leave Starfleet. Spock's emotional lapses (as he sees them) in the finale are also implied to be his motivation to undergo the Kolinahr ritual that he almost completes in The Motion Picture .
• The Starfleet uniforms featured in TMP are confirmed to be filtering down through the ranks in the near future, having already been adopted by the admiralty in an earlier episode, with Kirk clearly wearing his TMP uniform at the end. The uniforms are also instantly disliked by the crew, which may go some way to explaining their short-lived nature.
• The Enterprise is completely trashed in the battle against the Espers, necessitating the extensive refit seen in the movie era.
• All the remaining Constitution -class starships in the fleet are destroyed - the class is never seen again onscreen following TOS, despite other ship designs of the era persisting for over a century in canon.
• The Canon Foreigner characters Drake and McKennah, along with Ascended Extra Smith, are all killed.
• Starfleet decides to readopt the arrowhead insignia worn by Enterprise crew members throughout all of Starfleet. The not only explains why the arrowhead is used exclusively in post-TOS series, but also patches the Continuity Snarl created by Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek: Discovery .
• Kirk recommends that the experimental ship's counsellor position pioneered by McKennah - not featured in TOS, but prominient in the 24th century Trek era - be rolled out across Starfleet.
• The Dead Have Names : In "To Boldly Go", Kirk reveals that he can remember the name of every crewmember he has lost during the mission and they all weigh heavily on his conscience.
• Dead Star Walking : Between being a Red Shirt and being played by Jamie Bamber , it's obvious Mr. Simone is doomed.
• Deliberately Monochrome : An In-Universe case and even a plot point in "What Ships Are For". Due to special radiation emitted by their sun, the inhabitants of Hyalinus are unable to see color, and as a result see everything in monochrome. For the benefit of the audience, the scenes taking place on Hyalinus are therefore rendered in black-and-white, which also helps to hide the plot twist that Sekara and Thaius and several other Hyalians are actually Abicians .
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? : McKennah shoots Apollo in the back with a phaser when he starts to revert to his A God Am I tendencies. He shrugs off the blast, but the fact that she pulled the trigger snaps him out of it.
• Distracted by the Sexy : Dr. McKennah suffers from this when she walks in on Kirk in his quarters when he's shirtless .
• Despite the Happily Ever After to "Fairest Of Them All," Mirror Spock's later attempts to reform the Terran Empire are doomed not just to fail, but prop up the tyrannical Klingon-Cardassian Alliance into power instead .
• Downer Ending : "Lolani".
• Engineered Public Confession : Mirror Spock gets Mirror Kirk to rant about how the crew are just pawns to be used, broken and sacrificed to service his lust for power. Too bad he didn't see the open communications panel.
• Evilutionary Biologist : Lana and her fellow Espers believe that they are the next step of human evolution, and therefore should be rulers of humanity.
• Existential Horror : "Still Treads the Shadow" sees Kirk meeting a very aged duplicate of himself who was created via the Negative Space Wedgie which shallowed up the Defiant and ended up stranded alone on the other side of the anomaly for a little over two centuries. Kirk is extremely disturbed by the whole thing, not least from seeing how far beyond said duplicate went over the Despair Event Horizon during his entrapment as the isolation caused him to go mad and his hope to slip , noticing how it was just a stroke of sheer luck that kept him from suffering the same fate.
• The Farmer and the Viper : Played with heavily in the plot of "Pilgrim of Eternity", though it is solved in the end.
• Foreshadowing : Someone or something is destroying the Federation's starships. An innocuous hint of this was dropped in Episode 6 when they mention the Lexington has been destroyed. Episode 7 shows that what's going on aren't accidents.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man : Kirk dresses down a crewman in this manner who tries to assist Lolani in stealing a shuttlecraft. Kirk: Get a hold of yourself, Mister! (beat) I may have to tolerate the sovereignty of alien worlds, but what I won't tolerate is insubordination ON MY SHIP !
• A God Am I : In the first episode, the crew meets Apollo ( again! ).
• Gods Need Prayer Badly : Apollo, again.
• Green-Skinned Space Babe : The title character of the second episode "Lolani".
• Grand Finale : By going beyond the rather Anti-Climatic and infamously sexist " Turnabout Intruder " which capped off The Original Series back in the day in what be described as a somewhat lacking fashion at best, the series tries its hand at offering a properly grand send-off to the original show with the "To Boldly Go" two parter, which is set as a Bookend to " Where No Man Has Gone Before " sees the original Enterprise crew facing off against a threat to all known galactic civilisation and finally complete their five year mission, before ending on a couple of more personal low-key moments of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy discussing the future of their careers (thereby setting the stage for Star Trek: The Motion Picture ) and Kirk taking one last stroll on the bridge of the Enterprise .
• Hand Wave : "To Boldly Go, Part 1" does this to Original Series episode " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", chalking up Gary Mitchell's mistake — referring to James T. Kirk as James R. Kirk — to the overwhelming amount of power he'd achieved clouding his memories.
• Heel–Face Turn : Mirror Spock slowly invokes this in the crew of the I.S.S. during "Fairest Of Them All." The only ones still loyal to Mirror Kirk by the end are Mirrors Sulu and McCoy, who join the tyrant in exile .
• Heroic Sacrifice : In "To Boldly Go, Part II", Yeoman Barbara Smith is revealed to be an Esper, but rather than become corrupted, she uses her newfound power to go over to the Kongo and render the ship inoperable. Sadly, her attempt winds up being this trope.
• Hey, That's My Line! : In the Gag Reel , this is Bones' response when a Red Shirt says He's Dead, Jim .
• Sadly, this isn't [ Lolani's ultimate fate. But maybe her death will be an inspiration to others.
• Lana, commander of the Espers, cites this trope when the sub-commander of the Romulans shows his true colours, killing both the Espers and Mc Kennah
• Mirror Spock takes this attitude when he mutinies against Mirror Kirk, believing that the Empire must change its ways. When Moreau shows him the Tantalus device, he refuses to use it. Also, he has the officers loyal to him set their phasers to stun instead of to kill. This surprising act of mercy on his part prompts Mirror Chekov and others to join his side .
• Mirror Kirk invokes this almost word-for-word when Mirror Spock chokes him. It works.
• I'm Having Soul Pains : Throughout “The White Iris”, Kirk experiences physical pain over the loss of four women he loved in the past. According to Bones, this pain is affecting his heart and he’s slowly dying.
• Informed Ability : Zaminhon states that Orion men secrete the same types of seductive pheromones as their female counterparts, but Dr. McKennah seems unaffected. It might be because the entire crew was inoculated, though.
• Is This Thing Still On? : The coup de grace in "Fairest Of Them All", as Mirror Spock listens to Mirror Kirk's shrieking rant about the crew being brainless sheep, then moves aside to reveal that the intercom was on and everyone throughout the entire ship heard that.
• Killed Off for Real : Several of the recurring characters are killed off at the end of the series, including Drake, Smith and Dr. McKennah .
• I Lied : Sentrek readily admits as much when his claims of holding the crew of the Kongo hostage and offering to return them safely in exchange for Dr. McKennah turns out to be a deception. Sentrek: My apologies, Commander. I lied. Spock: ( actually outraged ) Vulcans never lie! Sentrek: We both know that not to be true, Mr. Spock.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall : In "Lolani", the titular character interrupts a not-so-whispered argument between Kirk and McKennah to ask a... slightly awkward question. note  A reminder than Kirk and McKennah's actors were married in Real Life . Lolani: Do you always challenge each other in this manner? McKenna: Uh... no. Not always. Why do you ask? Lolani: Well, I read in some cultures, such challenging between males and females is considered a... mating ritual. Kirk: [glances awkwardly at McKennah] ...No. Not in this culture. McKennah: Yes. I mean, no. No. Yes to the no. No.
• Love Is in the Air / Smells Sexy : Orion females secrete pheromones.
• Mad Doctor : The mirror universe McCoy is willing, even gleeful, to use his "patients" as guinea pigs.
• Mirror Universe : "Fairest Of Them All" provides yet another version of what happened after Kirk and Co. left.
• Mook–Face Turn : Mirror Kirk's own henchmen are the ones who seize him at the end. One even knocks him out when he breaks loose.
• The intro of "Pilgrim of Eternity" has Scotty proudly showing Kirk the new prototype holodeck technology him and a team of other leading Starfleet engineers are working on. It should be great... once they've worked the bugs out .
• At the end of "Embracing the Winds", Commander Diana Garrett says to Kirk, "Maybe someday a Garrett will command an Enterprise " — implying that she's an ancestor of the ill-fated Captain Rachel Garrett of the Enterprise -C.
• Of course, "To Boldly Go, Part II" sees Kirk having to wear a new uniform.
• The same Admiral also mentions Starbase Yorktown .
• The Romulan Commander from " The Enterprise Incident " is referred to as Charvanek in "To Boldly Go", a name that was introduced in the novel Vulcan's Heart .
• At the end of "To Boldly Go, Part II", McCoy announces to Kirk that he is resigning from Starfleet, listing amongst his reasons that he wants to spend some time with his daughter, whom he hasn't seen during the entire Enterprise 's mission. This a nod to the fact McCoy's daughter, Joanna, while part of his backstory in the production notes and despite having been loosely planned to appear in The Original Series at some point, never actually made it all the way to an on-screen appearance or even getting a mentioning during the show's run.
• My God, What Have I Done? : Apollo of all people gets such a moment. Feeling emboldened and empowered by how the crew of the Enterprise enjoys hearing his tales and songs, he slips back into his "tyrannical god" mood and when Kirk tries to talk him down from this, he gets even more angry and punishes him by using his powers to torment him, until McKennah shoots him in the back with a phaser. Shocked by this, Apollo turns around to face her and notices the fear in her eyes, making him very remorseful.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye : "The White Iris" sees Kirk being haunted by resurging memories of several women he loved, but died before he could come to any closure to their relationships or even bid them a proper goodbye, including Rayna Kapec , Edith Keeler , Miramanee , and an unnamed girlfriend from his time aboard the Farragut .
• Not So Stoic : Spock, in "To Boldly Go, Part II", when the Espers fool him and capture Dr. McKennah.
• No MacGuffin, No Winner : The A plot of "Embrace the Winds" centers around the question of whether Spock or Commander Garret is to be promoted to the post of the USS Hood 's new captain. Meanwhile, the B plot ends with the Hood 's reactor going critical and exploding, taking the ship with it, rendering the question ultimately moot .
• Noodle Incident : We don't really know what happened on Nimbus III in "Embracing the Winds," other than that they lost the captain who commanded the mission and Cmdr. Garrett, who's been partially blamed for the tragedy, says "those arthropods came out of nowhere". This obviously takes place before the colonization of Nimbus III by combined elements of Terran, Romulan and Klingon civilizations as portrayed in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier .
• Villainous example in "Fairest Of Them All." Mirror Kirk notices Spock's increasingly erratic ( to him ) behavior and eventually decides to get rid of him with the Tantalus Field. Or he would have, if Marlena hadn't disabled it beforehand .
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• Power Echoes : Apollo's voice gets increasingly boomier and echos as his power returns.
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• Rapid Aging : By phlebotinum, in "Pilgrim of Eternity," to Hand Wave why Apollo underwent Character Aged with the Actor when in the Star Trek universe, only a little under two years has passed.
• Sadist : It is made obvious that Mirror McCoy gets quite a kick out of inflicting pain on others when he interrogates for Mirror Kirk.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! : Kirk in the end of "Lolani". Not that it helps.
• "Pilgrim of Eternity" is a follow-up to " Who Mourns for Adonais? .
• "Fairest of Them All" directly follows the events of " Mirror, Mirror ".
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• Silent Credits : The credits for "To Boldly Go, Part 2" only has the ambient noises from the Enterprise 's bridge playing.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil : The social issue of the week in "Lolani".
• Special Edition Title : Taking a page from " In a Mirror, Darkly ", the titles in "Fairest of Them All", which is set entirely in the Mirror Universe, replace the familiar narrative with "Space, the Final Conquest..." while snare drums are heard in the title theme and the Terran Empire's symbol of a globe with a dagger through it is added to the Star Trek logo. The visuals are also all mirrored compared to the normal series opening. The end credits for this episode are also different, using the series 2 font rather than the normal series 3.
• Theme Song Reveal : "To Boldly Go, Part 2" has a couple of Call Forwards to Star Trek: The Motion Picture and even Star Trek: The Next Generation by way weaving some of the notes from the iconic theme tune into the soundtrack, especially during scenes like the saucer separation.
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• To Be Lawful or Good : The main moral conflict of "Lolani". Kirk ultimately chooses to be good, but it is rendered moot before he has a chance to actually act on it.
• Trap Is the Only Option : Mirror Spock knows that Mirror Kirk's request for parley is just a ruse. But he believes that he should go anyway, to give Mirror Kirk a chance to see reason. But it doesn't mean that he isn't ready for the trap when it's sprung.
• Video Will : The final scene of, and last farewell of the title character of, "Lolani".
• Villain Ball : In "Fairest of Them All", Mirror Kirk orders the Halkans' civilisation destroyed via bombardment to make them an example of what happens to those who dare to resist the Terran Empire. While the pitiless attack wipes out most of the Halkans (we're later told there were survivors who've been safely brought onboard), it also destroys the dilithium crystals on the planet that the Enterprise needed in the first place. The Halkans had installed piezoelectric charges in the crystal structures so they couldn't be used... and Mirror Kirk only realized it after the fact.
• Villain Episode : "Fairest Of Them All" is set in the Mirror Universe directly after " Mirror, Mirror ." Subverted however, as Mirror Spock is not a Villain Protagonist .
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• You Have Failed Me : Don't tell Mirror Kirk something can't be done or hesitate when he demands an answer unless you want a punch in the gut or a jolt from your agonizer.
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• April 4, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Embraces Second Chances In “Under The Twin Moons”

Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Embraces Second Chances In “Under The Twin Moons”

| April 4, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 69 comments so far

“Under the Twin Moons”

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 2 – Debuted Thursday, April 4, 2024 Written by Alan McElroy Directed by Doug Aarniokoski

The new season continues strong with more action and a focus on characters and Trek themes.

Meet the captains.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

“Power of creation, here we come”

Captain Burnham has a moment to consider philosophical questions about the meaning of life as Discovery gets all that sand from Q’Mau removed. The profound stakes of her mission to find the Progenitors’ power have her pondering if she will find new purpose. Her mood could also be due to this being Saru’s last day as first officer. Before they can head off to find the next clue, Michael is summoned to a heated tribunal for Captain Rayner, called to the space carpet for his reckless actions in episode 1. Michael doesn’t want to be a squealer but when pressed, admits she disagreed with Rayner and told him so. His Burn-era cowboy ways aren’t cutting it with Admiral Vance and President Rillak, and once he accuses them of sitting on their “asses” ignoring threats, the Kellerun’s future in Starfleet is not looking good. After Vance checks in with Michael to make sure Book isn’t a distraction, she makes sure her ex (and Grudge) are settling in, keeping it friendly and profesh. He is to work with Hugh and Paul to sort out clues left behind by Dr. Vellek. She also gives him (and Grudge) a cute holo-mouse toy, so they’re going to be fine.

Arriving at Lyrek, Adira and Tilly (on loan from SFA as a “science specialist”) brief Burnham and Saru on how the shadow of twin moons points to an old Promellian necropolis, but an energy field means they will have to hoof (literally for Saru… ha!… sorry) from the beam-in spot. In tactical gear, Michael and Saru take a beat to acknowledge their “last dance” and appreciate the serene beauty of this garden spot before heading to the biggest pyramid. The pair takes this time to joke about Reno giving the Kelpien the nickname “Action Saru” and reminisce about how far they have come together. The former USS Shenzhou shipmates are way past their early sibling rivalry, now seeing the best in each other in this sweet moment that feels like a goodbye. Saru offers advice on his replacement as first officer, suggesting she find someone who stands their ground, not unlike Book… but not actually Book. The stakes rise when they spot a very old skeleton, but it still leaves time for Saru to drop a “grave disappointment” dad joke. A spike in the EM field has Tilly concerned, Michael assures there is nothing to worry about… oh, except the killer drones that just emerged from a giant collapsed four-eyed alien statue head. Run!

Action Saru… complete with Kung-fu Quills!

“We are running out of body parts here ”

On the Disco, Adira and Tilly struggle over how to help the landing party, now hiding under a giant stone foot as the drones fire on them, and then blow up on suicide runs (only to be replaced by more drones). As the flustered nerds run through a series of unworkable options, Rayner holograms himself into the situation—because he’s been secretly watching from HQ, but that’s totally not creepy—and starts guiding them towards a solution that factors in how the ancient Promellians would power an automated security system. The solve is to overload a phaser inside the giant statue head, the source of the drones, which sort of seems obvious, but still, teamwork! Michael wants to take the tough job of target distraction since Saru is about to get hitched, but he reminds her he is stronger and faster and T’Rina would expect him to do his duty. So off he goes like a Kelpien Steve Austin , dodging fire (actually getting hit once) and dispatching drones with his quills. Action Saru, indeed! Michael drops the phaser bomb, buying them time—by now it’s clear why Dr. Vellek chose this ancient graveyard to hide a clue. Sneaky Romulan.

While everyone else is dealing with the danger forest, Book and Culber are building a profile of this season’s adversaries. Moll and L’ak are dangerous but not inherently violent. Moll is human, but L’ak is a mystery. Book sees they are in love, and their actions in episode 1 show him they are “thrillseekers” having a bit of fun as “Sui” couriers who take the most dangerous jobs. This gives him the idea to reach out directly via “dark coms,” using cringy courier slang. They take the bait and have a not-so-friendly chat via hologram. The former couriers have figured out what’s at the end of Vellek’s rainbow, so his diary is no longer for sale. Book tries to scare them with the Starfleet boogeyman, but the cocky duo relishes the challenge. They question if he is a real courier but seem impressed when he reveals his identity as Cleveland Booker before they hang up the (untraceable) call. Yet Book spotted something—and after de-aging Moll’s image (thanks, Zora) he realizes he knows her. Real name Malinne, she is the daughter of Cleveland Booker IV, his mentor and namesake. He never actually met her, but figures she is “the closest thing to family” he has. Wow.

How is it I am answering to all these primitives from 900 years ago?

“You held my hand and I was not afraid.”

Back on the forest planet, Michael and Saru are under a ticking clock before the drones power up again as they arrive at where the clues pointed with no ancient power source to be found. Curiously, the stone pillar they do find has fresh phaser scorching… There must have been more clues but Moll and L’ak beat them to it! Thankfully SaruSuperVision TM  detects iridescent traces of writing in the form of a Romulan “revlav” poem. Michael deploys her old xenoanthropology powers to determine there are only four verses on the pillar, so where is the fifth? It must be hidden because Romulans are sneaky. They find the final verse under the pillar, which Moll and L’ak don’t have. She also finds a hidden object. Score! They beam out at literally the last second (naturally) before the EM defense field restarts. In the science lab, it turns out the thingie they found matches a mysterious symbol from the diary Stamets has been struggling with. Thanks to Zora creating a nice little stand, it’s now clear they have the first of five pieces of a map that will lead them to the Progenitors. And the poem tells them where piece number 2 is. “A world like no other where two souls entwine, joined as one.” Adira nails it: “We’re going to Trill.” Oh and Moll and L’ak only have the first four verses, which point to the wrong planet: Betazed, where hopefully the locals will passive-aggressively mock them telepathically.

Michael visits Saru as he packs up his very moist quarters. They reminsce again, recalling how in this very room she helped him through Vahar’ai . He offers her more parting advice to “trust the journey.” It’s one of those “it’s been an honor” kind of conversations and you can be forgiven for getting choked up, especially as Saru honors his friend, his family, with a Kelpien forehead embrace. Michael checks in with Vance who gives her the thumbs up on the day’s mission. As for Rayner, he has been asked to retire. She defends his actions and has the twinkle of an idea. Burnham finds the grumpy now former captain staring longingly at her ship. “They don’t make ‘em like that anymore,” he notes, which could be said about him. He is not willing to back down from his principles even if they did get him drummed out, but he regrets not anticipating what Moll and L’ak did on Q’Mau, putting all those people at risk. He seems lost, so Burnham offers him a lifeline… as her new XO. She’s impressed with how he helped out on the Lyrek mission even when no one asked him to. And he deserves a second chance like the one she got from Saru. He won’t be her “yes man,” and she’s counting on that. Zip up, it’s time for this mopey Kellerun to get back to work. Cue the music and fade to black.

Is that smell the swamp kelp?

Goodbye and hello

The second episode of this new season comes in just as strong as the first. With the premiere doing the heavy lifting of setting up the new tone, stakes, and plot arc for the season, episode 2 had more time to explore the characters and their arcs. A strong theme of second chances was woven into these character stories told mostly in pairs, with Michael and Saru getting top billing. Doug Jones was a standout on his last day on the job (thankfully not falling into the “ retirony ” trope) as he and Sonequa Martin-Green took a stroll (almost literally) through a memory lane of their series-long arc from rivals to family. Action Saru was a lot of fun and it was nice to see Discovery remember some of his cool Kelpien abilities. For the most part, the pacing kept things flowing between the character beats, although the show still has a thing for literally stopping the action for feelings sidebars. This can easily be forgiven as the production itself was gorgeous, with the second visit to a unique alien location. This season may have a new Indiana Jones tone and style, but this episode reminds us of the core Trek themes with messages like: “I think the world is bigger than our corner in it.”

Episode 2 also showed us what to expect from the new quest-focused season, laying out a map and clues that can form a nice structure that allow for standalone adventures which still fit into the big picture of the search for Progenitor gold. And even with that mystery thankfully revealed in episode 1, this episode presented us with some nice new ones like L’ak’s background and Book’s connection to Moll. This episode had more time to give almost everyone something to do and also clued us into their season arcs, although Stamets still gets the short end. Some of these characters are a bit lost, especially Book and Rayner, but we also see hints of how they will be found. Episode 2 was particularly good in defining Rayner, including his history with Vance, his drive and helpfulness on the mission, and the vulnerability under his gruff exterior. Callum Keith Rennie continues to impress as this great addition to the series. And it might be just a canon nod, but sharing the Grankite Order of Tactics honor with James T. Kirk is a hint at what they are going for with echoes of that legendary captain finding himself out of touch in post-Praxis 23rd century . No one can replace Saru (and he isn’t really leaving, just moving to Starfleet HQ), but the prospect of Rayner as Disco’s first officer opens up a whole new world of fun possibilities.

So do you get dizzy when the saucer spins around?

The visit to the planet and fighting off those drones certainly brought “ The Arsenal of Freedom ” vibes, but the ancient graveyard was actually another deep cut to the Promellans from “ Booby Trap .” These types of things along with using bits of Romulan lore from Picard , like secret doors, shows how Discovery is fully embracing canon without indulging in nostalgia porn. Episode 2 also had more 32 nd- century worldbuilding tidbits, including talk of Breen infighting and Orions (presumably Emerald Chain) regrouping. Hopefully these nods, along with some from episode 1, are part of a longer game of fleshing out this century and building upon the big season arc. Moll and L’ak now know what they are looking for and it’s likely they can start a bidding war with the various factions. That said, the show still ignores offering details on things that seem important, like what exactly is a Red Directive… and how has Rayner already done seven of them? And of course, keeping track of what programmable matter (which is essentially magic at this point) can and can’t do will only drive you crazy. But these are just nitpicks and in no way distracting from the overall enjoyment of the season so far.

Vance is disappointed his FedNet updates are flooded with “Zaddy” comments.

Final thoughts

Season 2 is off to a great start with an episode that is debatably better than the first, especially if you love these characters. The show has successfully pivoted without losing what makes Discovery , Discovery . After getting two in one day, it’s hard to have to wait for more.

Okay, but I am not moving into Saru’s swamp.

• “Under the Twin Moons” was released simultaneously with the first episode of the season ( reviewed separately ).
• Captain Burnham’s personal log was Stardate 866274.3. The last confirmed Stardate was 865783.7 in episode 411 “Rosetta.”
• The mention of the sands from Q’Mau from episode 501 having “unknown radiative properties” feels like something that could pay off later.
• Programable matter bracelets can make multiple phasers, in case you lose one or in this case, use one as a bomb.
• The Starfleet Corps of Engineering got their first shoutout for the 32nd century.
• Jett Reno came up with the nickname “Action Saru,” inspired in part by how he dealt with Zareh when the Discovery first arrived in the 32nd century in “That Hope Is You, Part 2.”
• Book, Moll, and L’ak trade a lot of 32nd-century slang, including “kav’kar,” which sort of means BS.
• Moll says since Vellek was a Romulan, his diary is out of the Federation’s jurisdiction, but the Romulans reunified with Vulcan to form Ni’Var, who have joined the Federation so ipso facto, it is their jurisdiction.
• Vance’s ( previously unnamed ) daughter is named Charlie.
• Saru’s quarters are going to be left as is, a microcosm of his swampy home planet Kaminar .
• It’s unclear why, but do not touch Kelpien swamp kelp when it is in bloom.
• Among the items Saru packs is the Kelpien knife used to cut off his threat ganglia in “An Obol For Charon.”

I hope T’Rina likes things misty.

More to come

Every Friday, the TrekMovie.com All Access Star Trek Podcast  covers the latest news in the Star Trek Universe and discusses the latest episode. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts ,  Spotify ,  Pocket Casts ,  Stitcher and is part of the TrekMovie Podcast Network.

The fifth and final season of  Discovery debuted with two episodes on Thursday, April 4 exclusively on Paramount+  in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia, and Austria.  Discovery  will also premiere on April 4 on Paramount+ in Canada and will be broadcast on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada. The rest of the 10-episode final season will be available to stream weekly on Thursdays. Season 5 debuts on SkyShowtime in select European countries on April 5.

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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Second episode was really good as well and i enjoyed the scenes with Burnham/Saru and Tilly/Adira they were sweet.

I love how the story so far is collecting pieces of a puzzle to find the Progenitor home world and their tech as i really enjoy puzzle stories.

I really like the characters of Moll/L’ak they are very interesting adversary especially Moll who book eventually realizes that she is the daughter of Cleveland Booker the 4th.

I really liked Raynar in this episode and it will be interesting to see him as Burnham’s first officer.

I have to admit I read these mainly for Anthony’s descriptions under the cut-scenes. I always get a chuckle. Thank you, Sir. 😊

The line about the primitives crossed my mind- like what Rayner might feel about having Burnham as a superior, or Tilly’s cadets think about her. I mean, yeah, technically they’re centuries older, but really…

I watched the prologue earlier this morning and after getting over the usual “no alpha hetero” males in command of Discovery, I thought the intro was very good. I also liked the crew hanging out together as friends. The only negative so far is the action scene with Burnham – IMHO something no captain of a Starship should be doing, but the producers or studio probably demanded some form of ridiculous and expensive action sequences. The opening 6 minutes also made me ponder that the spore drive would have been much more accepted if it had somehow been introduced along with other 32nd century tech like the detached warp nacelles and personal transporters. Even the social evolution taking IDIC to the next level, tries to envision what society might look like 1100 plus years from now. Of course, having more mixed race humans and aliens might be more realistic, but that is a whole other issue. At least we have Saru. So far I have seen a couple of spoiler free reviews and they are making me “cautiously” optimistic about S5. We shall see if that feeling is warranted two months from now. For now, I look forward to watching the first two episodes later this evening.

I don’t see the problem with Discovery not having a straight man in command… even though they have had three in previous seasons, if we include Saru.

Why would we not include Saru?

Because I think the OP was mostly talking about human men. And to be fair, we don’t know if Kelpeins have defined sexualities or whether they just go with the flow!

That is more than a fair comment, but viewer perceptions is what I am referring to. Doug Jones is an amazing actor and his portrayal of Saru is a credit to his acting ability – he comes across as truly alien and does so brilliantly. So yes, I perhaps should not have overlooked him. Btw for those who have not yet checked out this week’s Ready Room, you may want to do so. Doug Jones’ interview was great.

That said, by the end of E2 the addition of Raynor as the new Number One addresses what I was saying. Yes, I know he is also alien, but he does come across as someone who is more human. As someone else said earlier, he reminds many of 007! On top of that I really liked Booker’s line in response to Michael’s complaint’s about him – does he remind you of someone?

I am glad the politician didn’t get to fire Raynor (although he did lose his ship). Sniff sniff, it smells like a bureaucrat’s office in here haha.

Also, I did a major eyeroll in that opening scene of E1 with Burnham riding the hull of Lok and Moll’s ship. I was happy to see later in the episode it wasn’t exactly premeditated and her actions were somewhat justified and not the result of some really bad writing.

Nice to see the writers are actually addressing some of the complaints of the series. Cautiously optimistic and looking forward to next week!

Trek just isn’t Trek without a straight white man in charge. Gotcha.

Nope, Voyager and DS9 are great. Sorry if I offended anyone. I also liked seeing the Shenzhou, the Excelsior, and I hope we get to see the proposed Legacy Enterprise. I know what you are trying to say, but considering my world is full of multicultural and gender minorities including my family, you are jumping to the wrong conclusion.

I feel sorry for you, that you have to ‘get over’ the “no alpha hetero” males. The life you must lead. Such struggle.

😭 No “alpha hetro males”. 😭

The spore drive continues to be a pet peeve (of many this show has). I find it stupendously unbelievable that no one followed up on the spore drive tech over the ensuing 900 years. Much less still using dilithium for warp drive. Speaking of tech, I still find just being in the 32nd century problematic because it’s just impossible to even guess what kind of tech would be like that far out. Just look at how far humanity advanced from 1120 to 2020. Now increase that rate. Yeah. Pretty mindboggling. Just the next 100 years is a tough guess.

It felt the technobabble was especially heavy in this episode, almost as if they needed the show to be a bit longer, so threw in an extra science problem followed by an immediate solution whenever they could!

It’s a science fiction show that uses advanced technologies to move the plot along. The characters were problem solving and it didn’t distract from the scene. It certainly wasn’t TNG level of technobabble.

Technobabble is a little awkward in Discovery sometimes. It was often a crutch in Berman era shows, but it came about as just a plausible-sounding way to quickly solve issues to move things along. Discovery simultaneously wants to use it for problem solving and to show the crew working together, but also feels it needs to honor the tradition of technobabble that really took hold with TNG. Because the action and pacing is more in line with the Kelvin films, at times it feels like padding I want to skip over. As when DS9 tamped down on it more and more by the end (to the point where it sticks out in stories like Tears of the Prophets which lean on it), it’s something of an incongruity.

At the same time, I don’t want to see things dumbed down to the same point as where Captain Kirk kicked a complicated engine component until it was fixed.

I thought this was the better of the two episodes, personally, and I’m looking forward to more with Rayner in the future.

Here too. Rayner is currently what is making the show watchable.

Saru is really gone 2 episodes in? Interesting choice

He’s not gone. He’s gone from the ship.

I have a feeling he’ll be back. He’s shown in the promo in scenes not yet seen.

ok – the use of the phrase “Doug Jones last day on set” in the story made it seem like he was actually wrapped

They didn’t say that. It was a plot point, Saru’s ‘last day on the ship’.

The 32nd century world building they’re doing might also set up some stuff for Star Trek: Academy. To some extend – at times – it feels they’re back-door piloting (for the lack of a better word) certain stuff, like the mention of the Breen and some of the the new sets built for season 5. It’s subtle, but I feel it’s there.

I agree but I am glad they are starting to embrace it. We haven’t had much exploration of planets or species since they jumped forward so I like that we are getting brief glimpses of these things.

The writers have also done a better job giving more characters the chance to contribute to a solution this season. It’s not always a huge scene but they are there and I like it. Stamets, may be a character that’s struggling, but I like the idea that he specializes in “ancient” tech. It works given the time period he is from and it gives him a much needed presence in the show.

Burnham and Saru did a great job in their scenes together. This show was a great wrap up for his role as her number one. Vance and Burnham’s mentorship is also moving along quite well. I like that he listens to her and yet guides her when she starts to go down the wrong path. Such as when he reminded her to answer a direct question posed by the Federation President. Burnham is still quite rebellious by nature so his guidance helps to reign her in and remind her of the obligations she has to the rule book. Even if she doesn’t always like it. Glad she is paying her own second chance forward by giving Rayner a second chance.

The revelation, that Book knew Moll, was an interesting addition to the show. This mission is definitely getting very personal for him.

Unfortunately the 32nd century setting really should have been jetisoned. My personal preference would have been post TUC. But any time from there to Picard’s time frame would have been better. Sadly that show, which I was not entirely against the concept of, is not starting out on good footing.

The problem with prequel timelines is that you either walk all over canon or are somewhat restricted by it if you want to bring in big changing events. I was all for the time jump and at the time was greatful that it wasn’t another pre Kirk timeline but they certainly didn’t make the most of it in seasons 3 and 4. Looking forward to watching Discovery season 5 this evening. I have a feeling this will be a good final season.

Agree with this 100%.

Was never into the idea of Discovery being a prequel so was super excited with the time jump.

Unfortunately it mostly felt squandered in the last two seasons. But this season is showing real promise and hopefully will make the 32nd century feel more lived in and interesting.

I am more hopeful about the future now (pun intended ;)).

That’s only a problem if your writers and producers aren’t any good.

I was totally fine with the setting the show was in, but it meant the writers had to have the skill to respect what came before. If that couldn’t be done (and this has been said ad nauseum over the years) then just reboot. It’s not a big deal. Since producers were NEVER going to admit they made a mistake having t hem jumping to the future was the only obvious out. But how far they went was just problematic. There is no way they are going to convince audiences that is 800 years after TNG. Better to have been 100-200 years. Still difficult but at least the future tech would seem a bit more reasonable. And they could have done the exact same stories with the exact same tech.

Anyway, I think the 32md century was a huge mistake and I think the one and only one reason they are setting the SFA show there is to keep Star Trek Discovery alive. If it goes on long enough I guarantee every Star Trek Discovery character will show up there at least once.

I’d argue the pre-pro time for planning a new series is a far better way to flesh out the 32nd century than the shorter time Disco had between seasons. Sure, we’re stuck with the aesthetic, magic tech, and post-Burn storyline, but if they are good writers they’ll find things to make this setting more enticing.

I agree with this and I speak as someone who also doesn’t love the 32nd century setting.

But that’s only because Discovery haven’t done enough with it but it can still be good. Hopefully SFA will just do a better job with it.

Like a lot of people I was really excited to see it go into the far future. I never really cared about the 23rd century and certainly never been excited about it being a prequel to TOS. It was pretty eye rolling to me that was the only time period we were following two straight times after getting it again for JJ verse. Most people were ready to go back to the 24th century (but Post Nemesis) or just a completely new time period. I know a lot of old TOS fans really cared about it but everyone else was ready to move on again including other TOS fans. Just keeping it in this one era really bored me frankly.

Today that’s finally changed once Picard came along but I still wanted a completely new era going forward. But unfortunately it was Discovery that frankly sucked in any time period. Hopefully the new show will make this a more exciting era because Star Trek needs to do new things and new ideas. It can’t just be fighting the Klingons or Borg all the time.

For sire, but even though we seem to be aching for them to do something bolder and keep up this world-building in the 32nd century, it’s been frustrating to not really know anything about what has happened with the other races, including the Borg and the Klingons. We know the Breen are an Imperium now. Woo.

I thought these are two of the most satisfying, hopeful episodes of Discovery in terms of causal fan accessibility and potential rewatchability. This really feels like, “Start here!”

Saw them both with the audience organized by Paramount and NYC Away Team – fun despite complete downpours for the hours approaching the screening. Radiant SMG, Wilson Cruz and one of the season’s directors was there – so hopefully they got the idea that we liked this a whole lot.

In the season trailer it looks to me like they’re inside the sickbay from Pike’s Enterprise.

It is the snw enterprise sickbay set and a snw style constitution class is seen in the trailer inside a greenish colored nebula looks to have the registry number 1701 and the name enterprise on it and lots of hull damage to the saucer edge

Cool. I’m curious to see how it’ll work.

I imagine the episode will tie into Calypso and explain why to Zora it felt as if her crew had abandoned her for a thousand years. Maybe time moves differently in different parts of the nebula.

Could it be that they go back in time to the mirror universe 23rd century, but then have to go through an ion storm to do a shift or something and evacuate the ship, so they wind up back in ‘our’ 23rd century while leaving the ship someplace or somewhen to be CALYPSO’d later? Maybe they wind up in another quadrant so as to not be able to influence anything that happens as we know it in century 23 (not that that stopped TPTB from messing with all that already, given DSC s1/s2.)

OK, I don’t know what’s going on, but where the hell is The Ready Room? It seems to have disappeared from Amazon Prime (which is where I watch my Paramount+ subscription).

And I’m not just talking about no RR for the Disco fifth season season premiere and episode two… I mean that ALL of the Ready Room episodes from all of the other series and seasons have vanished from Amazon Prime.

Is it just me, or has anybody else also noticed this?

They moved it to startrek.com

You can always just find it on YouTube. That’s where I always watch it.

Better. But I think that can be chalked up to Rayner. Which means I can expect something awful to happen to him before the season runs out.

But… As I noticed in the first episode they are still clinging to that ridiculous habit of having conversations at the most inappropriate moments. I guess that’s their schtick so it’s not going to stop.

Debris hits Burnham while she floats in space. Burnham says a funny line….

Yeah…. Thats Star Trek Discovery. Bad Style over substance.

It is a shame, that a show that diverse is written as poorly, generic and infantile as a saturday morning Cartoon.

While I am not usually the person to defend Discovery, I would also like to point out ST TAS was a Saturday Morning Cartoon and these days is as much of canon and the back story of Trek as anything else.

Lol .. TAS at least hast twice the charm and lucien and a giant spock.

I don’t denie Discovery status as canon. I am just schocked how about its quality.

So much to unpack here!

First, loved the first 2 eps. I was totally wrong about what I thought was going to happen but that is nothing new lol. But the Chase has me very excited.

I’m wondering if there will be a vague reference to Spock mentioning the Preservers in TOS’ Paradise ep. I know it’s not canon that the Preservers are the same as the Progenitors (or even exist) but IMO it would be a cool call back.

A device that can create life sounds a lot like Genesis to me except maybe the Progenitors succeeded where Carol and David failed??

watched it first in german version, which is quite awful. rewatched it in the original – far better. the german voice of burnham in particular has an enervating quality that sometimes makes it hard to take the character seriously. quite different in the original. you should always watch it in the original;) rayner is great! great addition to the show.

Hört hört…

I’d say something about my opinion on the 2 episodes but Laurie and Anthony on the last podcast said that we shouldn’t say bad things about Discovery in the comments. Discovery is fragile and needs censorship to protect it. Our opinions are unwanted. Resistance is futile.

They didn’t say that. They were talking about people who just come to rag on the show but never even watches it. They have no problem with people who actually watches it but still think it’s bad.

I hope I’m allowed an opinion after watching the previous 4 seasons. In my view, the show ends with third season. Afterwards, everything just feeling off for me. The fourth whole season could had easily (with many minutes to spare) be contained in a 2-part episode, the story was stretched beyond belief. Same thing seems to be happening with season 5, they just got an arc from TNG and will make a season out of it. 0 (zero) skills on new story generation and new ideas. I’m not a fan of that type of storytelling. I might get to watch this last season, much later, when I’ll stop thinking about the series lost potential and got nothing better to do.

The stone tablet segment really had some fun classic treasure story elements. I liked the National Treasure invisible ink on the back of the Declaration clue reference with Saru reading the residual bacteria traces. And the Romulan poem reveal mimicking the Indiana Jones Raiders Staff of Ra head piece reference with key information broken up into two parts ie “and take back one kadam…” And the bad guys only have the first part…(“They’re digging in the wrong place!”)

I’m a bit surprised by the somewhat muted response to the first two episodes. Not in the enthusiasm for them but in the number of original posts and responses.

Same. Someone else brought it up in the other review thread. You would think after 2 years and the shows final season there would be a lot more interest.

First episode of Picard last season got over 600 posts a year ago. I get Discovery is not Picard but this is very low in general.

It will be interesting to see where it lands when the streaming numbers come in.

It would be nice to see them break into the top 10 like SNW and Picard, but I am not expecting that to happen. Hopefully they can surprise me.

Yeah, I for one actually forgot that the S5 premiere was this week. Sadly, that is a function of my less than enthusiasm for the show overall. That said, I, of course, did watch both episodes by Saturday morning and I was pleasantly surprised and cautiously optimistic for the final season and I am looking forward to next week. Hopefully they can keep up the momentum.

It might be indicative of why the show was cancelled after 5 seasons.

The lack of interest is telling to me. Beyond that, I thought about writing a long comment going through everything but …. I just feel like I would be repeating the same criticisms that I’ve had about the show for a LOOOOOONNNNNGG time. And if people like this, more power to them and I don’t want to step on their excitement for it.

I’ll just say this. I found these episodes incredibly generic. It throws in some references to Trek lore but if you were annoyed by the way Discovery handled its characters and told its story in the first four seasons, nothing has changed. The same character melodrama where everyone is related to somebody or has (inappropriate) personal things going on during a crisis of galactic importance.

I’m thinking the same. Two premiere episodes for a show that’s ending after this season and hardly anyone seems to care.

I’m thinking the viewings have dropped like a stone.

I did like the episodes more than you did but certainly see your point., especially all the melodrama stuff. Sigh

We’ll see if any of the ratings outlets have data on how well it has done. Until then, I don’t want to speculate negatively based on something so circumstantial when it could just be down to interest in TM’s comment section in particular.

Of course you’re right but I been theorizing Discovery has already been losing viewers since season 4. I don’t believe it was just cancelled because it was getting too expensive but that a lot of people were just dropping out as well.

Possible. But then why buy it back from Netflix internationally if it’s not doing well overseas at least? Doesn’t mean season 4 didn’t underperform and they got buyer’s remorse, but weren’t there a lot of markets that little stunt deprived of seeing the show for months because Paramount+’s international rollout was so slow?

They relaxed things a bit to just have some fun, which does a world of good – the dour tone of seasons 3-4 was hard to take.

The melodrama is still awkward. They rarely find a way to discuss character development that doesn’t feel shoehorned and staged. The setup for seeing Gray next week, for instance, and Burnham taking time out of a life or death situation to argue with Saru over whether he was the best person to distract the drones, when clearly he was. You could argue because Burnham clearly likes to do it all, that’s in character, but belaboring it by having her waste time with a clumsy argument isn’t my favorite way they could have gone about that.

Book conveniently knowing Moll I’m not holding out a ton of hope for, but they’ve at least explored his loneliness so there’s a foundation for something there.

The show finally seems to be embracing Star Trek’s legacy instead of attempting to reinterpret it. They figured it out too late.

Not too shabby. Saru and Michael quipping while under attack by a Promellian booby trap with Tilly, Adira and Rayner problem-solving was urgent and fun. Rayner’s inclusion is only a good thing. I am a sucker of a quest story arc, so keep the puzzle pieces coming.

Definitely still a little clunky with how character development is handled. Culber immediately tries to extract Book’s inner feelings, Tilly, Adira and Burnham announce their state of mind in a way that doesn’t quite feel natural. But Rayner’s last scene works nicely.

I hope that with five puzzle pieces, the next four episodes don’t all follow the same formula as the second. This one was pretty good, but let’s not do it every time.

I liked this episode much better than the first one! This one felt as if everything worked together, without having action set pieces shoehorned in just to up the “action” quotient.

A lot of times in the past, it has felt as if Discovery was having people talk about their feelings when they should have been focusing on the mission. I thought it was a brilliant idea in the current episode to have Burnham and Saru need to transport in a considerable distance from their goal, so there would be time for them to talk about their leave-taking without its feeling out of place. We’ve got a long, dull walk, so we might as well use the time to say how much we’ll miss each other. That really worked for me.

Loved Burnham and Saru touching their heads together during their good bye. How DO you show affection to someone who’s a foot and a half taller than you, without it seeming as if you’re a child to a parent?

'Star Trek: Discovery' opens its 5th and final season in unremarkable fashion (Red Directive recap)

Hello smartmatter, my old friend, I've come to watch you once again. Because no item is impossible, it makes the story unbelievable... ♬

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Star Trek: Discovery" season 5, episode 1

Well, here we are. Again. It's the fifth and final time around for "Star Trek: Discovery" and the single biggest question every sci-fan will be asking themselves is, will this season actually be any good. The tragic thing is, no one can really remember what happened in season 4 and that speaks directly to the fact that "Discovery" is not exactly a high-scoring show when it comes to rewatchability.

It's been two years and two weeks, give or take a day, since we last saw the crew of the USS Discovery risk everything to save all life in the universe, again. During that time, we've seen a lot of sci-fi, both awesome and awful, including two seasons of " Picard " and " Strange New Worlds ," the third and final season of " The Orville ," season 1 of " Andor ," "The Book of Boba Fett," "Ahsoka" and the less said about "Obi-Wan Kenobi," the better. If you're wondering where to see all that Trek, check out our Star Trek streaming guide for Paramount Plus and more.

Not to mention, the vastly underrated second season of "Invasion" and "Halo" seasons 1 and 2, plus, the first mind-blowing season of "Silo" the second and sadly last season of " Avenue 5 " and two seasons of " For All Mankind ." The point is that the standard has, for the most part, been refreshingly high. And frankly before we even get into season 5 of "Discovery," it's worth remembering that what executive producers and showrunners Alex Kurtzman  and Michelle Paradise have given us up until now, has not exactly been a consistently high quality of sci-fi writing. In fact, it's been rather disappointing.

Related: 5 things Star Trek: Discovery season 5 needs to fix

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Are we in-store for another cookie-cutter season of what's-in-the-box plot threads that deliver misdirected build ups with unsatisfying pay offs...you know like we have for the past two seasons plus all three seasons of "Picard"..? Even "Andor," despite its peak and trough-style of repetitive set-piece storytelling, was impressive and that was down to how well those set pieces had been fleshed out along with well written character development and dialogue. Less can very easily be so much more. 

Moreover, now we're in the 32nd century and we've seen that transporter technology can be used to replace stairs and even change outfits, so to be perfectly honest, there really isn't a single story idea that cannot be solved by a simple combination of transporter and replicator technology. Not to mention smartmatter. Ah, hello smartmatter, my old friend. Because this is what happens when you throw three seasons of a "Star Trek" series 1,164 years into the future.

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Regardless, it would seem that within the story, between four and six months have passed since the events of last season , where you may remember, the United Federation of Planets was desperately trying to save all life as we know from being accidentally exterminated by species 10-C, all while Ruon Tarka (Shawn Doyle) was still hell bent on using the illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator to destroy the dark matter anomaly. Book (David Ajala) gets killed when his ship explodes then bought back to life before he faces repercussions for siding with Tarka. General Ndoye (Phumzile Sitole) seems to get away scot-free despite sabotaging the Discovery's warp drive and everyone lives happily ever after. 

 —   Watch the bittersweet trailer for 'Star Trek: Discovery's final season (video)

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Coming in at nearly 60 minutes long, the premiere episode is titled "Red Directive" and drops at the same time as the second episode, entitled "Under The Twin Moons." Michelle Paradise wrote the former, which could explain why it's so dull, and Olatunde Osunsanmi directed. The latter was written by Alan B. McElroy and directed by Douglas Aarniokoski, so fingers the second installment might be a bit better. Aarniokoski directed the season 3 premiere episode of "Picard" and while the rest of that was a disappointing, drawn out, nostalgia-fueled, 10-episode long epilogue to another series that ended three decades ago, the premiere installment was actually okay. 

The gang seems mostly all here, including Lt. Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Adira (Blu del Barrio) and there are some characters who don't seem to have made it back, some of whom will be very much missed, like Grudge, while others won't be. No sign of Zora yet either. It's also entirely likely that the amazing talents of Callum Keith Rennie, who plays a Starfleet Captain named Rayner, will be spectacularly underused, much like Todd Stashwick was in season 3 of "Picard."

Credit to the production team though, as they're are really making the most of their Volume-esque video wall soundstage. There are a couple of interesting choices in terms of editing, much like there were in the second season premiere where Alex Kurtzman showed us what he'd learned in the Vince Gilligan School of Cinematography. It's doubtful we'll ever see them again, just like we didn't before. 

To conclude then, the opening episode of the final season "Star Trek: Discovery" is a far, far cry from strong openings that this show has demonstrated it's capable of in the past. And that's a sentence we've had to write far too many times. The TNG throwback right at the end is...well, disappointing, mostly because of the extent that nostalgic fan service has been dialed up since the first episode of Nu-Trek aired in September 2017. However, it could still provide an interesting story thread — we will just have to wait and see.

The fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery" and every episode of every "Star Trek" show — with the exception of "Star Trek: Prodigy" — currently streams exclusively on Paramount Plus in the US while "Prodigy" has found a new home o n Netflix.  

Internationally, the shows are available on Paramount Plus in Australia, Latin America, the UK and South Korea, as well as on Pluto TV in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland on the Pluto TV Sci-Fi channel. They also stream on Paramount Plus in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In Canada, they air on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and stream on Crave.

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When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.

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Published Apr 2, 2024

What to Expect from The Final Season of Star Trek: Discovery

The cast details everything you need to know to get ready for the Season 5 premiere this week!

Getty Images / StarTrek.com

The highly anticipated fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery arrives this week!

This season finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the  U.S.S. Discovery  uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well… dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.

Ahead of the premiere, StarTrek.com had the opportunity to speak with series cast Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), David Ajala (Cleveland "Book" Booker), Blu del Barrio (Adira), along with this season's recurring guest star Eve Harlow (Moll) and executive producer and co-showrunner Michelle Paradise . With their help, here's what you can expect from their characters this season!

In case you need a quick refresher before we dive forward, we've got a handy Where We Left Off guide !

Now let's fly!

Sonequa Martin-Green on Season 5 Stakes and Captain Michael Burnham's Relationship Status

"Red Directive"

StarTrek.com

"This season, we can expect a wild ride," teases Sonequa Martin-Green. "One of the things that they wanted to do was that they wanted to have a tonal shift. They wanted it to be adventurous, they wanted it to be fun, they wanted it to be kind of like the Indiana Jones season. And so we really did that. We really did that. The artistry is on another level."

"In every department, you will see some really incredible things coming to life," continues Martin-Green. "In Season 5, we did some stuff we should not have been able to do; we did some stuff that we've never done before. I'm really proud of every department, of every cast member, of every crew member, every writer, every producer, every post-production coordinator, and supervisor, and worker. We took it to the next level without even knowing that it was our last season. When everyone sees it, I think that they'll see what I'm talking about. It's culminating because of that; it is just on another level. It's a huge, huge season. People have a lot to look forward to."

Addressing where Michael Burnham and Book find themselves at the start of this season, Martin-Green explains, "Book and Burnham, they are the classic, old Facebook status of 'It's complicated.' They've got a lot to work through. That's where we pick up with them, having not been speaking as regularly as they normally do. Of course, we see that he was sent off at the end of Season 4. Now they are back in each other's midst, and they have got a lot to talk about and a lot to wade through. It's very complicated between them. There's obviously still that love, that deep love, that bond, that respect, but they've got a lot to work through."

Doug Jones on Saru's Next Step

"Under the Twin Moons"

Reflecting on Saru's journey across the entire series, Doug Jones reveals, "Saru had been captain of the ship for Season 3. And Season 4, he then kind of took a step to First Officer again, because of his loyalty to Michael Burnham, and the special task we were on throughout the season."

"Well, now he’s [re-evaluating] his purpose there," adds Jones. "Has it run its course? His relationship with President T’Rina, played by the lovely Tara Rosling. She does come into the equation with how he makes his decision."

Anthony Rapp on Paul Stamets' Legacy and Season 5 Baddies

Episode 506

"This season, you can expect a new level of inquiry for Paul about what's next for him in terms of the work that he wants to do," hints Anthony Rapp. "He's an incredibly driven and brilliant human being with this mind, that's some level of genius. You get to see him like stretch himself in new ways."

What does the Discovery crew make of arrival of this season's antagonists — Moll (played by Eve Harlow) and L'ak (played by Elias Toufexis)?

"I really love the description of this kind of Bonnie and Clyde," shares Rapp. "It was fun for us, or for me, I could speak for myself, to have these kind of iconic touchstone archetypes brought into our show. Their energy as people; [Eve Harlow and Elias Toufexis] brought a beautiful energy to the company to being a part of our show and being a part of our story. And then their work was exceptional. To have this, this idea of this kind of like maverick couple that's on the run is a cool one. And there's a reason it's iconic. And I think that the way that our writers threaded it through our story was really well done."

Mary Wiseman on Sylvia Tilly's Career Focus

"Tilly's in a great place," notes Mary Wiseman. "She's found a certain kind of assurance from going off to teach at Starfleet Academy, and coming back feels like coming home. You're a little cooler and a little more adult. And people call you 'Miss.'"

However, that's not without some challenges. "But she kind of also feels stuck with the problem about how to get through to these kids that have grown up in this era where there isn't the sort of interconnectedness, galaxy-wide communication, and transportation possibilities that there were when she was growing up," highlights Wiseman. "And she's kind of noticing it in the kids' behavior, and inability to interact or team build. And so that's something that she kind of wants to work on and figure out how to help them out with that."

Wilson Cruz on Dr. Hugh Culber's New Experiences

Episode 505

"Where we first find Culber in Season 5, he's in a really good place," notes Wilson Cruz. "He's really embodied this new version of himself, and is ready and willing to take on whatever he's confronted with."

Cruz continues, "This season, he is confronted with an experience that forces him to ask even more existential questions that kind of blows his mind. It starts him on knowing about all of the mysteries of the universe. This whole mission really makes him question a lot of things. We see him process a lot of that throughout the season."

David Ajala on Cleveland "Book" Booker's Love for Burnham and Season 5 Action Sequences

Episode 503

Following the events of Season 4, Book must walk away from Burnham. Reflecting on his actions and headspace at the start of this season, David Ajala states, "It's interesting, because, if we're talking about the gift of grace, Book has definitely received grace from Michael Burnham. Even though Book made the decision that he thought was right, it was not even honorable, but he felt duty bound to do what he did. He was still afforded grace by Michael Burnham, to be welcomed back with open arms. The journey of someone like Cleveland Booker, who was very driven by keeping his autonomy, and also serving his purpose on the planet, which was to help endangered species, to be a part of Starfleet, it was never something that was within his remit. But then to come full circle in Season 5, and to see him, organically incorporate himself within that team is a wonderful story."

"Where we left off in Season 4, revisiting and coming back for Season 5, it's a different territory for both of them," explains Ajala. "And yet, they both have to acknowledge that they're in different spaces, but then still show a level of care for one another. This grey area is new territory."

As for the Indiana Jones -level of excitement the series explores this season, Ajala details, "I love action, I love being able to be physical, to express myself. Having said that, I love the way action is used in the right way. And because this is the final season, we could have taken like one to potentially three episodes to kind of warm into it. But with the first episode, we were straight in with high octane, big action sequences, and just a real spectacle to observe."

Blu del Barrio on Adira's Growing Confidence

"Adira starts out in a pretty solid looking place," reveals Blu del Barrio.

"On the outside, they look and seem really good," adds del Barrio. "They have a lot more responsibilities on the ship. And they're taking their work very seriously, and just very happy to be like more integrated. But underneath the surface, they're struggling a little bit more with some emotional stuff and some major personal stuff."

Eve Harlow on the Arrival of Star-Crossed Lovers and Joining the Cast of Discovery

During NYCC 2022 , audiences got to learn about this season's baddies. Moll and L'ak are former couriers turned outlaws. Moll is highly intelligent and dangerous, with an impressive strategic mind and a sharp wit. She goes into every situation with a clear plan and stays focused and clear-headed on her goal, even when things go awry. She’s not easy to intimidate, and will face down anyone who stands in her way in order to get what she wants. Whereas L'ak is tough, impulsive, and fiercely protective of his beloved partner, Moll. So long as he knows she’s safe, he doesn’t care about collateral damage or its consequences — a perspective that makes him very dangerous at times and will put him on the opposite side of Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery when they come into conflict.

Speaking directly to StarTrek.com on Star Trek: The Cruise VII, Eve Harlow divulges, "Moll is badass, and she and L’ak are an interspecies couple. It’s kind of breaking all the rules, which is why they’re on the run. It’s very much like Romeo and Juliet or Bonnie and Clyde because they’re star-crossed lovers."

On her experience of joining this series for its fifth season, Harlow offers tons of praises, "These are some of the kindest, just most welcoming people I've ever met. I feel like I just talk about how much I love Sonequa a lot, but I will keep talking about how much I love her. She is the best leader I've ever experienced on set."

"[When I reflected on] who on-set is most like their character in real life. Without skipping a beat, Elias and I, at the same time, were Sonequa. She is that captain, and she treats everyone like an equal. I've just never been on a set where everyone, the crew is so appreciated. She knows everybody's names. She knows what they do. She knows their family life, what's going on with them. She genuinely cares, and being around that, that spirit is infectious. Every single time I was on set. I was so high energy; I was just so happy to be here. And it's because of the people who were working on that show."

Michelle Paradise on Season 5's New Faces

"Elias [Toufexis] and Eve [Harlow] play L’ak and Moll who are our two new bad guys this season," states Michelle Paradise. "We talked about them as kind of a Bonnie and Clyde unit. We hadn't had a couple before as our antagonist. In turn, they're obviously formidable foes for our heroes. But we also really wanted to make sure that they felt well-rounded, and that they weren't just one note, bad guys. We understood the why of what they were doing the depth of their love for one another. People will be surprised that they may start rooting for these bad guys, actually. But they'll never want them to win more than our heroes, of course. It’s a lot of fun to have them."

L'ak and Moll aren't the only new faces this season. Rayner, also previously announced at NYCC 2022, is a gruff, smart Starfleet captain who holds a clear line between commander and crew — he leads, they follow. Rayner’s all about the mission, whatever it may be, and he doesn’t do niceties along the way; his feeling is, you get the job done and apologize later. He has a storied track record of wartime success, but in times of peace, he struggles. Collaboration is not his strong suit. That said, if it serves the greater good he’s willing to learn... but it won’t be easy.

"And then Callum Keith Rennie plays Captain Rayner," elaborates Paradise. "What's interesting about him is that he is going to be a bit of an antagonist, but not in a bad guy way. He's going to push Burnham, and we'll get to see new sides of Burnham and new growth in Burnham because of her interactions with him. It's a really interesting dynamic there. That's one of the things that we always look at, if we're going to bring in any new guest characters, is how can they impact our regulars? And how can they help our regulars grow over the course of the season or change or help us see new sides of them, and these three do that beautifully."

Get ready for Discovery 's final adventure when Season 5 premieres with the first two episodes later this week!

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Christine Dinh (she/her) is the managing editor for StarTrek.com. She’s traded the Multiverse for helming this Federation Starship.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1 through 4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe. In Canada, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Star Trek: Discovery is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Den of Geek

Star Trek Just Hinted at the Return of Unexpected Original Series Enterprise Lore

A blink-and-you'll miss it shot in a new trailer for Star Trek: Discovery season 5 suggests that we're not done with the Mirror Universe...

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We knew Discovery was different from the start. Pitched as a prequel to The Original Series , the first two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery had a ton of references to the first Trek series, including Michael Burnham as Spock’s adopted sister, which also meant appearances from Sarek and Amanda Grayson (no Sybok, though, sadly), as well as Kirk’s predecessor Captain Pike.

The most audacious connection to The Original Series came with the revelation that Discovery ‘s Captain Gabriel Lorca came from the Mirror Universe, that evil alternate dimension first introduced in the TOS season two episode “Mirror, Mirror.” In that 1967 episode, written by Jerome Bixby and directed by Marc Daniels, an ion storm disrupts Kirk’s attempt to beam back to the Enterprise, causing him to materialize abroad on the alternate-universe ISS Enterprise, part of the Terran Empire.

While Discovery ‘s first season did visit the Mirror Universe, where they found a bloodthirsty version of Tilly and Empress of the Terran Empire Philippa Georgiou, Michael Burnham and her team never encountered the ISS Enterprise. But that might be about to change…

At the end of Discovery ‘s season five premiere “Red Directive,” viewers saw a brief trailer teasing the remaining episodes. Most of the images involved the usual decontextualized quotes, familiar characters shooting or avoiding phaser blasts, and various character shots (including the return of Tig Notaro’s Jett Reno!). But one keen-eyed viewer caught a glimpse of something very interesting among the array of images.

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Constitution-class starship pic.twitter.com/MxChWhLHC1 — Christian Schlieper (@ChrisSchlieper) April 5, 2024

There’s a chance it might be the ISS Enteprise. On the first screenshot you can read « 1701 », and in the trailers there are shots of the Terran Empire emblem in SNW’s sickbay. And S05E05 has a name that adds up to this theory. — JazzyParallax (@Ghhaust) April 5, 2024

After the account The Art of Star Trek posted the playful tweet about “a flash of something intriguing in this trailer,” user Christian Schlieper got more direct: a Constitution-Class starship peering through the mist. User JazzyParallax followed up with a more thorough explanation, noting that “There’s a chance it might be the ISS Enterprise.” As proof, JazzyParallax argues, “On the first screenshot you can read « 1701 », and in the trailers there are shots of the Terran Empire emblem in SNW ’s sickbay. And S05E05 has a name that adds up to this theory.”

As Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green revealed to Den of Geek magazine, she and the producers did not know that season five would be the series’ last when they began work on it. For that reason, the Mirror Universe might be bringing the series full circle, while the ship also explores the Progenitors introduced in the Next Generation episode “The Chase.”

There’s a nice thematic echo as the show closes up its run. Outside of paving the way for the wonderful Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , the first two seasons of Discovery were full of controversial decisions and sudden tonal shifts as the show tried to find its footing. No one would blame current showrunner Michelle Paradise for ignoring those rough patches altogether. But if indeed that’s the ISS Enterprise , then Discovery ‘s wink at TOS and its first season serves as a nice recognition of how far the show has come. Because, to paraphrase another controversial prequel series that changed focus after two seasons, it has been a long road, getting from there to here.

Star Trek: Discovery is now streaming on Paramount+.

Joe George | @jageorgeii

Joe George’s writing has appeared at Slate, Polygon, Tor.com, and elsewhere!

When does the final season of 'Star Trek: Discovery' come out? Release date, cast, where to watch

It's time for U.S.S. Discovery's final mission.

Paramount+'s hit TV series "Star Trek: Discovery" is returning for its fifth and final season this week and there is a lot to look forward to.

"The fifth and final season will find Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries," says Paramount+ about the upcoming season. "But there are others on the hunt as well…dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it."

"Star Trek: Discovery" debuted in 2017 and is the seventh in the Star Trek series. Here's everything you need to know about the final season of the series.

When does 'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 5 premiere?

The finale season of "Star Trek: Discovery" is scheduled to premiere on Paramount+ on Thursday, April 4.

The first two episodes will be available to stream on the premiere date, with new episodes dropping weekly on Thursdays. Paramount+ did not specify what time the episodes will be available on their platform.

'Star Trek: Discovery' on Paramount+: Subscribe

Kenneth Mitchell: 'Star Trek: Discovery' actor, dies after battle with ALS

'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 5 episodes

Season 5 of "Star Trek: Discovery" has 10 episodes in total. The first two will be available to stream on April 4, with the remaining dropping weekly on Thursday on Paramount+.

'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 5 cast

Season 5 of "Star Trek: Discovery" brings back new and old faces along with recurring guest stars. Cast members include:

• Sonequa Martin-Green as Captain Michael Burnham
• Doug Jones as Saru
• Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets
• Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly
• Wilson Cruz as Dr. Hugh Culber
• David Ajala as Cleveland “Book” Booker
• Blu del Barrio as Adira
• Callum Keith Rennie as Rayner.
• Elias Toufexis as L’ak
• Eve Harlow as Moll

'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 5 trailer

Paramount+ dropped the official trailer for Season 5 on Feb. 23.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 5: How Many Episodes & When Do New Episodes Come Out?

By Apoorv Rastogi

Viewers of Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 are wondering how many episodes are in the series and when each new episode comes out. The American science fiction series takes place in the Star Trek universe and is set ten years before the events of the original series. The show focuses on the escapades of the crew of the USS Discovery, led by Commander Michael Burnham. Having disrupted centuries’ worth of peace by igniting a war, Captain Burnham is court-martialed for her actions and ultimately reassigned to the Discovery. With the help of her crew, Burnham strives to explore new worlds and find an appropriate solution to the war.

Here’s how many episodes are in Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 and on what day new episodes come out.

How many episodes are in Star Trek: Discovery Season 5?

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 has ten episodes.

The episode list is as follows:

• Episode 1: Red Directive
• Episode 2: Under the Twin Moons
• Episode 3: Jinaal
• Episode 4: Face the Strange
• Episode 5: Mirrors
• Episode 6: Whistlespeak
• Episode 7: Erigah
• Episode 8: Labyrinths
• Episode 9: Lagrange Point
• Episode 10: Life, Itself

The series has continuously released a lesser number of episodes with each passing season. As a result, season five becomes the installment with the least number of episodes compared to its last two predecessors, which featured 13 episodes apiece. The series’ last season has already released its first two episodes. The remaining episodes are scheduled to come out every week, with the series finale set to air in May 2024.

The cast of Star Trek: Discovery includes Sonequa Martin-Green, who reprises her role as Captain Burnham. Joining her are a hoard of recurring faces, including Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman, Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, David Ajala, and more.

When do new Star Trek: Discovery episodes come out?

New Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 episodes typically come out every Thursday.

The official synopsis for the series reads:

“The fifth and final season finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well … dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.”

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