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D'Arsay Archive

The D'Arsay Archive was a spaceborne data-storage facility launched by the D'Arsay over 87 million years ago. The USS Enterprise-D discovered the facility in the center of a rogue comet in 2370.

The records within the archive contained artifacts and personalities from myths within the D'Arsay culture. The facility scanned the starship and began to use the replicators on board to change parts of the vessel into different mythical settings contained within the records in the archive. These settings were from a drama involving Masaka, a sun goddess, and involved locations such as an aqueduct, a temple, and a swamp.

The archive also altered the programming of Data, giving him personalities of key mythical figures, such as a D'Arsay boy named Ihat, an elderly man who portrayed Masaka's father, a victim of Masaka, and Masaka herself. Furthermore, the program turned the internal mechanism of a Photon Torpedo into snakes and turned engineering into an inferno. Captain Jean-Luc Picard sought to remedy this by playing along in the myth, using the persona of Korgano, another mythical figure, to persuade Masaka, and in turn the archive, to restore Data as well as the Enterprise to their normal states.

Following the incident, the archive was placed under study by a Starfleet archaeological team. (TNG: "Masks")

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I really liked that this episode let us see parts of the ship that we’ve never visited before, including a swamp underneath the hydroponics bay and inside the ship’s main deflector. Lower Decks has never shied away from showing us things on a starship that live action has not yet or likely could not, and so it’s always cool to visit new places.

But the room lottery storyline just did not do it for me — I have just never particularly enjoyed Star Trek episodes that revolve around characters being jerks to each other on purpose, particularly when that is meant to be the main driving source of humor from the plotline. That’s what the room lottery storyline hinges upon: the Delta Shifters are jerks!

There’s some nobility and personal growth in our Lower Deckers deciding they don’t want to be split up and stay together for as long as possible, but there’s no greater depth to their antagonists than that they are jerks.

As a source of character conflict within Starfleet, I just find that really boring; it just feels so inconsequential and petty. There’s nothing wrong with Star Trek exploring pettiness or conflict between characters, but when that’s all that is ultimately driving the story here, it just feels lacking.

This is not to say that I subscribe to Gene Roddenberry’s no-character-conflict rules from The Next Generation — that it never happens between Starfleet characters — but there are interesting ways to do it, and there are easy ways to reach for laughs. Sadly, in the room lottery storyline, “Room For Growth” reaches for the latter.

But what’s strange about this episode is that where the room lottery storyline fails for me, it succeeds in the B-story’s character conflict between Captain Freeman and the Cerritos engineering team aboard the spa vessel. The conflict in this plotline is about Freeman’s desire to do what’s right for her crew by providing them a space to relax, butting up against the engineering staff’s need to relax in their own way.

Both parties have to learn to be flexible to each other’s needs, and that’s ultimately a real message — and demonstrates real growth by everyone. While the storyline isn’t all that consequential, though the idea of a Federation starship entirely devoted to relaxation is an interesting and humorous one, it still feels like the episode ends with a substantial outcome from that story.

That’s the kind of Star Trek story — and the kind of Lower Decks story — that I enjoy watching.

TREK TROPE TRIBUTES

• Freeman accuses the Cerritos engineers of all being “goddamn Geordi La Forges,” referring of course to the Next Gen chief engineer, furthering the Trek trope that Starfleet engineers never know how to take a break. (Any real engineers reading this, let us know in the comments if that’s true for real life too!)  
• Apparently Will Riker isn’t the only Starfleet first officer to de-evolve into a caveman, as the same thing apparently happened to Commander Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) in one of the Cerritos’ previous (unseen) adventures.

CANON CONNECTIONS

• The D’Arsay archive seen transforming the Cerritos in the cold open is a reference to The Next Generation episode “Masks,” where another D’Arsay Archive transforms the USS Enterprise — though the archive the Cerritos encounters (apparently not even the first!) is dedicated to the god Minooki.  
• Taz, the administrator aboard the Dove spa vessel, is the third Edosian seen on Star Trek — and the second in Lower Decks , following the Osler commander seen in Season 1’s “Much Ado About Boimler.” It seems that this species gets to manage Starfleet’s more unique service vessels!

• It looks like the Doopler emissary from “An Embarrassment of Dooplers” left one of his split bodies behind — a Doopler corpse is tucked behind one of the roots in the swamp beneath the hydroponics bay.  
• The mud from the mud bath aboard the Dove comes from the Tellarite homeworld, Tellar Prime.  
• One of the relaxation technicians aboard the Dove is the same avian species as Doctor Migleemo.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

• Boimler’s padd gives us another good look at the detailed  Cerritos cross-section map designed for Season 2.  
• Towel Guy, who we’ve seen in multiple previous episodes, has a name: Federov! And Mariner is right, he really could replicate a bigger towel.  
• Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore) and T’Ana’s (Gillian Vigman) foreplay is to commit crimes together on the holodeck, similar to Dixon Hill, but working for the other side, and with the holodeck safety protocols turned off. And that’s all we need to say about that!  
• One of Shaxs’s complaints to T’Ana is that he died and they “never talked about it” — a reference to the Bajoran’s death at the end of Season 1 and unseen resurrection in Season 2.  
• The color transition work as Tendi, Mariner and Boimler pass between the black-and-white holodeck and the full-color Jefferies tube environment is really well done.

• We do learn that Doctor T’Ana lost her tail when she was serving aboard the USS Algonquin , and now Shaxs is the only other person who knows the full story.  
• Shaxs wants to phaser the incoming asteroids, but Ransom reminds him that’s the deflector dish’s function aboard a starship. The deflector: often mentioned but rarely explained!  
• In the funniest aside in the episode, Boimler, Mariner, and Tendi discuss what they’ll say to let people enter their quarters, referencing Riker’s use of “come!” Tendi’s suggestion of “Enter, friend” is a little more inviting, though.  
• Boimler is still leaning into the Bold Boimler persona from “The Least Dangerous Game.”

Overall, sadly, “Room For Growth” is the least successful Lower Decks outing in some time. The episode’s A-plot just did not come together for me, and the episode as a whole just feels rather inconsequential — and lacking in the explosive laughs that Lower Decks is more than capable of.

It’s not a bad episode, exactly, it just does not live up to the show’s potential.

Star Trek: Lower Decks returns with “Reflections” on Thursday, September 22 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada and on Prime Video in many other regions.

• LOW Season 3
• Room For Growth
• Star Trek: Lower Decks

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Recap / Star Trek: Lower Decks S3E04 "Room for Growth"

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In the teaser, Capt. Freeman is possessed by a D'Arsay mask and transforms the Cerritos into an ancient temple. After the credits, the Engineering team has been working round the clock to un-temple the ship and are stressed beyond belief. Freeman books a shore-leave day for them on a spa ship, the Dove , only to find the engineers preferring to get back to work.

• Answer Cut : Mariner wonders aloud who would board a starship just to tend to plants. The camera then moves up a deck to reveal that Lieutenant Kayshon is busy doing exactly that.
• Bait-and-Switch : The first shortcut is through Shaxs and T'Ana's holoprogram, which is a bank. Mariner mocks it as boring thinking it's just a simulation of banking , before the bullets fly and we see it's a bank robbery sim.
• Bedsheet Ladder : Tendi and Mariner tie their clothes into a line so Tendi can grab Boimler off of the spinning wall of the deflector array and drag him back.
• Boring, but Practical : When a group of asteroids head for the Cerritos , Shaxs wants to obliterate them with phasers , but Ransom just lets out a groan and reminds him that the navigational deflector will deal with it, ordering him to divert power instead. This proves to be unfortunate for the ensigns, who are inside the dish and are subject to the internal mechanisms suddenly spinning up to increase deflector strength.
• Bottomless Magazines : T'Ana fires her revolver dozens of times so clearly the holodeck has infinite ammo cheats turned on.
• Brick Joke : While waiting for a door to open, Delta Shift gossips about how Ransom keeps a "wife" made out of churros that he refreshes every so often, from an incident where he was turned into a caveman. The last scene of the episode is him replicating a new batch.
• Bullet Time : Given a nod when Shaxs orders the holoprogram to freeze moments before a bullet would have gone through Boimler's head. He pushes the bullet up so it will miss him, then recoils because the bullet is still hot.
• Toz stressing out while running a relaxation spa calls to mind Quark and Vic Fontaine discussing how the person throwing a party is the one having the least fun.
• Character Development : Boimler is firmly on Mariner's side when it comes to cheating before Delta Shift can. Bold Boimler from " The Least Dangerous Game " is still a thing, as Mariner lampshades .
• Cigarette of Anxiety : Toz has to light up a smoke just to cope with the "code black" she encounters on the Dove , doubly rare considering how almost nobody ever smokes at all in Star Trek , ever .
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes : Despite running a relaxation center, Toz proves to be rather stressed out and irritated herself.
• Cutting Back to Reality : We see about half of Mariner and Boimler's Mushroom Samba for ourselves before Boimler mentions the "maze", at which point it cuts to a baffled Tendi's perspective. Tendi : We have to get out of here! Mariner : "Oh, we have to get out of here!" (chuckles) Boimler : How?! It's a maze! Tendi : What?! (cuts to her perspective) What... what maze?!
• Deadly Euphemism : After learning of Delta Shift's plans, Mariner angrily suggests that they "go join the Maquis". This is less suggesting the infamous insurgent group is still active and more that she wants them to go die horribly.
• Deliberately Monochrome : The early twentieth century bank robbing holoprogram is monochrome to reflect the old-timey setting, similar to the Captain Proton program from Voyager .
• Didn't Think This Through : After learning that the lottery is actually for a single room on Deck 4, not four on Deck 1, Boimler, Mariner, and Tendi decide to let Delta Shift fight over who gets the room. Cut to Delta Shift celebrating, because they quite sensibly realized that they just had to move all their beds into one room and it'd still be better than living in a communal hallway. Rutherford is annoyed his friends didn't consider that, but they admit they were too tired to think straight and they got caught up in the whole friendship moment.
• Evil Mask : Captain Freeman is possessed by a D'Arsay mask. This is the third time she's been possessed by an ancient mask.
• Fanservice : Mariner and Tendi both end up in their underwear using their clothes as a tether to rescue Boimler from the deflector dish.
• Forced to Watch : T'Ana and Shaxs usually rob the bank, shoot the feds, then have sex on the counter while the hostages are forced to watch them. Mariner, Boimler, and Tendi are also stuck with them until they find the exit.
• Future Imperfect : Boimler correctly identifies the setting of Shaxs and T'Ana's holodeck program as an archaic building where currency used to be stored and exchanged. However, he incorrectly labels it as a "bonk" .
• Fuzz Therapy : One of the stress relaxers are a group of puppies of all shapes, sizes and mobilities (one is shown to be hooked up to a wheelchair). There's even a room full of kittens, treated as a kind of kink. However, Freeman ends up No Selling the puppies and even rabbits due to the high levels of stress she has.
• Given Name Reveal : Shaxs calls Dr. T'Ana "Diane" on the holodeck, but it's ambiguous if that's her real name or her character alias. On one hand, it's a human-sounding name note  (though this is a series with an Andorian named Jennifer) that is thematically appropriate for the program, and we don't even know if Caitians have two names. On the other hand, Shaxs was out of character trying to have a serious conversation with her when he used it. Boimler has his own theory. Boimler: "Diane" is her kinky sex name? Tendi: This is worse than the shootout.
• Guns Do Not Work That Way : The holodeck bullets are shown still attached to their casings after firing . This could be the result of the simulation designer not knowing how ancient guns work, making it an in-universe application of the trope.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum : The Engineering team builds a device out of a turbolift that would completely obliterate all stress levels that would render places like Dove out of business. Toz immediately orders the machine shot out of an airlock after they're out of earshot.
• Billups, exhausted from a sleepless week of repairs, insists he's not weak before pathetically slapping Shaxs and then breaking down in tears. Then he weakly slaps him again mid-breakdown.
• Freeman is so fixated on making sure that the Engineering staff are relaxing that she stresses herself beyond the breaking point while missing the fact that the Engineers are relaxing (in their own way).
• Mushroom Samba : Boimler and Mariner get high on nitrous oxide, resulting in them going into massive hallucinations. Within the hallucination, Boimler's head morphs into something that looks like a rainbow sea urchin, Mariner's arms extend to the degree that she can wrap them around her torso, Tendi turns into a strange butterfly/starfish/fairy thing, and the room distorts into a maze. Tendi, who is immune on account of being an Orion, has to drag/whip them into the Jefferies Tube before they suffocate because Boimler is trying to navigate the nonexistent maze and too delirious to realise that oxygen levels dropping is a bad thing , and Mariner is trapped in an illusory egg and has gotten incredibly comfortable in there.
• Freeman gets possessed by a D'Arsay mask that transforms the ship into an ancient city.
• An Antares style cargo ship and a Daedalus class starship can be seen in orbit near the Dove .
• Ransom apparently got turned into a caveman which was what happened to another first officer in TNG .
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero : The engineering crew is so lost in their engineering quirks that they piss off Freeman to the point where she has to be carted off.
• The Cerritos has apparently been transformed into a temple by a possessed mask on several occasions, with this being the third time that Captain Freeman has been possessed by a mask. It's also implied other ships have frequently encountered the D'Arsay probes, at least occasionally with similar results.
• How T'Ana lost her tail. All we hear, despite Tendi's desire to eavesdrop, is that she was on the Algonquin .
• Please Put Some Clothes On : As they're complaining about their already sub-par living conditions becoming particularly crowded as of late, Mariner complains to the " Towel Guy " ensign that the least he could do is replicate himself a bigger one.
• Sanity Slippage : As Engineering keeps working on their off-time, it pisses off Freeman more and more until she finds out they rigged the stress bands for false positives using cucumber slices, finally causing her to flip out. As it turns out, being possessed one too many times and not taking time to relax will do that.
• Screw the Rules, They Broke Them First! : Tendi overhears Delta Shift planning to rig the room lottery. Refusing to let them cheat without consequence, Mariner decides they should rig the terminal first.
• Seen It All : When the mask-possessed Freeman rampages through the Cerritos, the Four Ensigns are the only crew members who don't run off in terror. Mariner is more annoyed than anything else and Boimler is only disappointed that his recently tuned violin has been turned into a stone idol.
• Sick and Wrong : The ensigns find T'Ana's kinks worse than the shootout Boimler was nearly killed by.
• Slice of Life : Even by the standards of this show very little is at stake. The A story is Mariner, Tendi, and Boimler sneaking around the ship to hack the private room lottery system, while the B story is Captain Freeman trying to force her engineering team to de-stress.
• Status Quo Is God : Discussed but ultimately subverted, at least for now. Mariner complains that they need to do something about "Bold Boimler" because it's unsustainable, but if that is going to happen, it's not in this episode.
• This Way to Certain Death : When Tendi, Mariner, and Boimler arrive under Hydroponics, there's a skeleton bound by the various roots. Closer inspection reveals it's one of the Doopler Ambassador's copies , likely having suffocated mid-nitrous oxide trip.
• Shaxs and T'Ana participate in a bank robbery on the holodeck. Then T'Ana turns the safeties off for an added challenge. This turns out to be foreplay for the couple.
• Also Boimler, who is still 'Bold' to take any challenge.
• The Unreveal : T'Ana was telling Shaxs how she lost her tail, but Tendi is dragged away before she can hear the story. All we get is that it happened aboard the U.S.S. Algonquin .
• When Things Spin, Science Happens : The interior wall of the deflector dish spins as power is diverted to augment the ship's navigational deflector. Unfortunately, this also creates a centrifugal force that pins Boimler to the wall.
• Worthless Yellow Rocks : Mariner mocks the idea of paper money when she, Tendi and Boimler enter Shaxs and T'Ana's holodeck simulation of a Prohibition-era bank robbery.
• Workaholic : The entire Engineering team is run ragged trying to fix everything Freeman warped while possessed, but even then they refuse to quit working. Even when forced to take leave, they try to find work. Freeman in her ranting decries them as a bunch of "Geordi La Forges".

Video Example(s):

Freeman has a breakdown.

Because the engineering crew doesn't try to relax, they piss of Freeman to the point that she flips out and gets overstressed to the point she might have to be sent to Earth for a full medical diagnosis, which will separate her from her crew.

Example of: Nice Job Breaking It, Hero

Shaxs and T'Ana...

De-Stress Machine

They Could've S...

Spinning Deflec...

Puppy Play Pen

Delta Shift Pla...

High on Nitrous...

Kayshon Gardening

Workaholic Engi...

D'Arsay Mask

• Star Trek: Lower Decks S3E03 "Mining the Mind's Mines"
• Recap/Star Trek: Lower Decks
• Star Trek: Lower Decks S3E05 "Reflections"

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Daystrom Station And Starfleet Museum Easter Eggs From The ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Episode “The Bounty”

| March 26, 2023 | By: TrekMovie Editors 114 comments so far

Episode 6 of Star Trek: Picard season 3 included many references and callbacks to the Star Trek franchise, some of which were already discussed in our recap/review and the All Access Star Trek podcast . But there were many more, so we are taking a deep dive analysis to highlight some of these fun details focusing on the two big repositories, Daystrom Station and the Starfleet Museum.

Daystrom Station

After teasing Daystrom Station starting in episode 1, Raffi, Worf, and Riker visited the facility said to house Starfleet’s “most off-the-books” technology, experimental weapons, and alien contraband, including “Section 31’s most nefarious table scraps.”

The goal was to get into the vault and get the manifest to find out what the Changelings stole, and there they found a new version of Data after being confronted by a Professor Moriarty hologram.

On their way to the vault, they passed by cells containing quite a few familiar elements from Star Trek history. Mostly these were identified by displays on the doors, but a few gave us a closer look. Sometimes the displays were clear; for the others, we zoomed in.

James T. Kirk

One of the items they made very clear was a display of James T. Kirk , captain of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Series . It appears Kirk’s body was retrieved from Veridian III, where he died ( Star Trek Generations ). It’s possible they wanted to study the body due to Kirk’s entering and exiting the mysterious Nexus .

Genesis II Device

A big piece of Kirk’s history was also highlighted. Daystrom built a second version of the Genesis Device from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , which can instantly terraform lifeless planetary bodies. The original Genesis Device was detonated and created the Genesis Planet, later found to be unstable due to the use of protomatter. It have the description of “Genesis II” was likely a deep cut reference to the Gene Roddenberry created TV film from the 1973 with the same name .

Picard art director Kit Stølen shared an image on Twitter of the replica they made.

#StarTrekPicard Can you hear the sound just by looking at it? pic.twitter.com/nscNnrNT3d — Kit_Stølen (@KITST7LEN) March 25, 2023

Genetically modified tribble

Tribbles are a constant in Star Trek, first showing up in the TOS episode “The Trouble with Tribbles.” Usually seen as cute, furry pets, their incessant breeding and consumption of food made them pests. The Klingon Empire considered them a grave enemy (TAS: “More Tribbles, More Troubles”) and so it was fitting that Daystrom’s genetically modified tribble (dubbed an “attack tribble” by Riker) startled Worf.

Thalaron generator

The first thing Riker walked by at Daystrom was a Thalaron generator , the same type of device that Shinzon used to wipe out the Romulan Senate in Star Trek: Nemesis .

Borg vinculum

Daystrom also housed a Borg vinculum , which each Borg vessel uses to connect its drones. It was first introduced in the Voyager episode “Infinite Regress.”

Arretan android body

Kirk’s wasn’t the only body spotted during the tour of the station. Daystrom is also holding one of the Arretan androids used to house the minds of the surviving Arretans from the TOS episode “Return to Tomorrow.”

Another hard-to-spot item: the remains of the Borg Queen , presumably the metal skull and spine that were left after she was defeated in Star Trek: First Contact .

D’Arsay archive

The extinct D’Arsay civilization left behind space-based archives that contained their history, and vessels that make contact with them end up transforming to retell D’Arsay mythology, as seen in the TNG episode “Masks” (and again in Lower Decks ).

Probability device

A Probability device alters the laws of probability. In the DS9 episode “Rivals,” an Al-Aurian named Martus Mazur acquired one and created replica gambling spheres for a casino until the devices started causing problems with the laws of physics around the station so they were destroyed—apparently, all except one snagged by Section 31 and housed at Daystrom.

Self-sealing stem bolt

Self-sealing stem bolts were a recurring gag on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , but maybe the one Raffi passed by was unique in some way.

Production designer Dave Blass shared a video featuring the stem bolt display:

Ah, so this makes so much sense. THIS is where that whole supply of Self-Sealing Stem Bolts disappeared to. DAMN SECTION 31!!!! #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/mial9MHL2v — Dave Blass (@DaveBlass) March 25, 2023

More behind-the-scenes reveals

Some items were more identifiable in a behind-the-scenes video about the station released by Paramount+. Here’s a close look at the display for the self-sealing stem bolt.

The same video also showed displays for some other items, although it is unclear if any of these were ever seen on screen. These included a Kataan probe (TNG “The Inner Light”), Pup probe (DS9 “The Forsaken”), and a Sporocystian lifeform ( Voyager “Caretaker”).

Graphic artist Joe Relat revealed on Twitter some of his original models used to create the vault displays and this included another item that was hard to spot, the M-5 Multitronic Unit , the computer from the TOS episode “The Ultimate Computer.” The M5 was designed by Richard Daystrom , namesake of the Daystrom Institute .

Starfleet Museum

While Worf’s team was busy at Daystrom, the USS Titan made a visit to the Starfleet Museum at Athan Prime. The museum itself is a callback as Shaw reveals it is actually the original Earth Spacedock , first seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . The Earth Spacedock seen in Picard episode 301 is a newly constructed facility.

The Spacedock has now become the Fleet Museum, featuring a series of exhibits around the main structure, each housing a ship. A few of these historic ships were highlighted.

USS Enterprise-A

While Daystrom has James T. Kirk, the Museum has his last command, the USS Enterprise-A , the replacement for the original refit USS Enterprise. This ship was first seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and last seen in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

USS New Jersey

The Museum also has an example of an unrefit Constitution-class ship, like the original USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Original Series . The USS New Jersey (NCC-1975) is new to canon, likely named in honor of showrunner Terry Matalas, born in New Jersey in 1975. This is also a deep cut from the TNG episode “Relics,” where Jean-Luc Picard told Montgomery “Scotty” Scott he once saw a Constitution-class ship at the Fleet Museum.

USS Defiant

After the first USS Defiant was destroyed during the Dominion War, it was replaced with the USS Sao Paulo, rechristened as the USS Defiant in the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and now you can visit it at the Museum.

USS Voyager

Seven of Nine got choked up talking about the ship that she called home when pointing out the USS Voyager , the main vessel from the seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager .

Hinted at in the episode title (“The Bounty”), the “ HMS Bounty ” from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (referred to as “the one with the whales”) became a key plot point when Jack and Sidney later stole the cloaking device from the Klingon B’Rel-class Bird of Prey, which was first seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .

The cloaking device used a design by Rick Sternbach from the Klingon Bird of Prey Haynes Manual .

NX-01 Enterprise and Kronos One

The museum also included Captain Jonathan Archer’s NX-01 Enterprise from Star Trek: Enterprise; however, it was a refit, based on an unused design from Doug Drexler . Next to that was a Klingon K’Tinga class ship, presumably Kronos One from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

USS Stargazer

Another piece of Jean-Luc Picard’s history was at the Museum: the original USS Stargazer . You can see the top two nacelles of its distinctive four-nacelle configuration in one of the shots of the bay containing the (cloaked) USS Titan.

USS Excelsior and more

You can also see the Stargazer in one of the wide shots along with another famous ship, the USS Excelsior , first seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . Other ship exhibits seen in the wide shot include another Constitution class along with two Starfleet Akira-class, a Nebula-class, a Miranda-class, and a Saber-class. There is also a Romulan Bird of Prey.

Geordi’s office

A brief shot of Geordi’s office at the Starfleet Museum didn’t show much, but you could a classic United Federation of Planets pennant from the TOS era in the background.

However, a publicity preview image showed his office contained quite a few more items tied to Trek history. These publicity images are generally shot during rehearsals, and as you can see below, LeVar Burton isn’t wearing his contacts.

Preview image

In a behind-the-scenes video feature from The Ready Room , you can see more from Geordi’s office. Next to the pennant in the back is a gold model of an Excelsior-class ship (likely the USS Enterprise-B from Star Trek Generations ) and an Ambassador-class ship (likely the USS Enterprise-C  from TNG’s Yesterday’s Enterprise”).

The shot of Geordi’s desk above also shows the copy of A Tale of Two Cities which Spock gifted Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . The behind-the-scenes video also gives a closer look at a replica of the statue of Zefram Cochrane , the inventor of Earth’s first warp ship, the Phoenix (also seen in Geordi’s office). When he traveled back in time in the film Star Trek: First Contact, Geordi met Cochrane and told him about the statue that would be erected on that site in Bozeman, Montana, later seen in Star Trek: Lower Decks. Captain Jonathan Archer had also had a replica of the statue in Enterprise .

Dave Blass also shared this video of LeVar Burton’s delight over the Cochrane statue; he gave Blass a kiss for his attention to detail. The video of Geordi’s desk included a replica of a long range shuttle like the one Spock used in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. You can also see that Geordi’s office was a redress of the Titan ready room.

The ultimate fanboy moment. Bonus it was on my birthday. To get this kind of reaction from an actor you have admired for decades is such a great treat. @levarburton is a national treasure. I was shook. This and more in this week's "Ready Room". #StarTrekPicard pic.twitter.com/iP21ZaLDRQ — Dave Blass (@DaveBlass) March 25, 2023

What did you see?

Spot anything we missed from the Fleet Museum or Daystrom? Have a favorite? Sound off in the comments below.

The third and final season of  Picard  premiered on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, exclusively on  Paramount+  in the U.S., and Latin America, and on February 17 Paramount+ in Europe and elsewhere, with new episodes of the 10-episode-long season available to stream weekly. It also debuted on Friday, Feb. 17 internationally on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.

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

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Apparently, President Jonathan Archer’s body is on the station too.

I read that people mistook the android body from “Return to Tomorrow” for Archer

I tried editing my comment to reflect this, but I can’t. Anyway, thank you for clarifying! Stand down red alert!

NCC-1701-D (reborn)?

I think that’s Docking Bay 12.

Yeah, I’m sure it’s the D-saucer in Hangar Bay 12

Yeah, I’m guessing we’ll see that the “fat one” is what’s in hangar 12. There may have been a few intact star drives from the Dominion War that they could have attached to the recovered D saucer. Personally, out of all of those, and the threat they are facing, I would go with the Defiant. It’s an actual warship…

If the D is in there, and it has a drive section, don’t be surprised if its a new “cool looking” design to make it stand apart. These producers can’t even get on the same page with the uniforms, they all want to put their own little fingerprints on the crystal.

Just to be clear, the Excelsior made its on-screen debut in ST III as the NX-2000. It was re-designated NCC-2000 in ST VI. (The article states the Excelsior first appeared in ST VI.)

The Cochrane statue was described in First Contact but was previously seen in Lower Decks.

It was first seen as a statuette in Captain Archer’s quarters on Enterprise.

And was in Archer’s Quarters on the NX-01.

Obviously as it was a failed experiment they turned it to NCC

I’m really surprised the reveal of James T. Kirk’s body, dead or possibly alive, being kept in Daystrom is only casually mentioned in the article without even bringing up the possible implications of the biobed sound coming from the vault and the “Project Phoenix” mentioned on the display.

Wow, if they actually managed to bring back the Shat without anyone noticing… my, would I geek out over that…

You and me both! That reveal really distracted me for the rest of the episode. My fingers are crossed that there is more to it.

Reckon he may come back as a changling…

Stand in agreement.

Yeah, maybe. Not so happy about all these bodies being there. Kind of creepy. Even Gary Mitchell said (of Kirk) — “He deserves a decent burial at least” – or something like that.

That might be a seriously veiled reference to the early (and much-maligned, tho I dug them) Bantam Trek novels THE PRICE OF THE PHOENIX and THE FATE OF THE PHOENIX.

I know, I know. .. I reach (as in, am really reaching there)

Robert Meyer Burnett saw it as a shout-out to the first Shatnerverse novel THE RETURN.

Isn’t that the 2nd one, after THE ASHES OF EDEN? I only read four or five of them before I just couldn’t keep going — pretty much gave up on all other Trek novels before that time, except for Andy Robinson’s awesome Garak book.

Yes, this is the 2nd one. I consider Ashes of Eden as Star Trek VI 1/2 and The Return as ST VII 1/2, halfway between Generations and First Contact. The Return was my first Star Trek novel ever because I was so eager to read how the brought back Kirk. Also Ashes of Eden is great. Would have made a great movie. After that I started to collect around 200 pocket books butI never found the time to read them all… Maybe 10-15% of them. Because some of them were not yet (or no more) available in German, I read some in English. Voyager’s Homecoming was also great. I never read English so fast before.

I seem to recall reading that ASHES was Shatner’s intended story for ST VI, if he’ had gotten to direct two in a row like Nimoy, and that RETURN was his pitch for ST VIII after GEN.I almost got the graphic novel of ASHES, because it did read like a movie to me. I thin RETURN is the one with the great Defiant-style ship uncloaking insdie the open space in a Rom Warbrid, which is, along with the FEDERATION novel ramming, two of the best space fights in Trek IMO. Reeves-Stevens really knew their stuff with certain parts of TREK in their early books, I’ll say that, though their strengths did not extend to nonfic journalism or very far into screenwriting.

Wow, haven’t thought of the ‘Phoenix’ books in many years. Most posters here probably wouldn’t know who Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath were, but for a period during the late Seventies and early Eighties they dominated the line of Trek novels at Pocket Books (and also authored the nonfiction STAR TREK LIVES! and a biography of Bill Shatner). They were big fans of Ayn Rand as well as Trek, which showed in their approach to the subject matter as well as their prose which, like Rand’s, tended towards the purple side.

As with Michael Chabon I had really admired the Reeves-Stevens’ work in print, couldn’t wait to see that they could bring to filmed Trek — and, sadly, for the most part was similarly let down. You just never know.

Just about everybody I’ve ever met hated the PHOENIX books, but I thought they were terrific and reread them a lot. Then again, I was also totally clueless for decades that a certain scene was supposed to heavily hint that the villain was forcing Kirk to fellate him, which only got revealed to me on trekbbs earlier this century. I think those two were Bantam titles, while their Pocket work was limited to THE PROMETHEUS DESIGN (which I also liked, though I found TRIANGE to be just godawful bad.)

I think maybe that the Reeves-Stevens’ had just burned through all their brilliant ideas by the time of ENT. There was so much good stuff in PRIME D and FEDERATION and a ton of good ideas in MEMORY PRIME as well, plus those set-piece moments in the early Shatnerverse books.

Please, please no. I mean, I haven’t read those since I was way too young to try, but they are… dank.

New Shatner-starring Trek feature film, anyone?

Or maybe the movie which Generations should have been…

I hope there is a close-up of the NX-01 on Frontier-Day .Otherwise it would be a disappointment if the series were not explicitly acknowledged

Yeah same! Many people still wonder why not show up close with the rest of the ships? Hopefully they are saving it for another episode.

The Remains of Kirk being there is an amazing Easter Egg. It is so cool. Could it possibly be intended for future use, or is it just a fun thing for us to find? My other thought – did I miss something, or by taking the AI did they leave all that dangerous stuff completely unguarded?

Maybe Star Trek Legacy will be about recovering the stolen items…

Warehouse 13

I was thinking of Warehouse 13 throughout the entire visit to Daystrom.

If — If they bring back James T Kirk I will LOSE MY MIND. Imagine keeping THAT a secret for a year???!!!! That would be Incredible. Would love to see Bill in “Picard.”

I would think they’d get Paul Wesley as a resurrected Kirk for a spin-off series.

I dunno. The creators may have just gone overboard with that James T. Kirk easteregg. It’s just too big for us fans to handle. They might really not have intended it to be anything but an Easter egg.

Wonderful call backs. Genesis II was also the title of a Gene Roddenberry TV pilot in the early 1970s.

It’s quite the weapon: it gives everyone two bellybuttons!

The Animation Movie “Titan A.E.” is also about somethink similar like the Genesis Device. It just collect Minerals and other stuff from Asteroids field, do some Magic and Boom. an New fresh born “New Earth” Planet

So, as you can see. How many film this Genesis Device inspired

I’m betting the Enterprise D is in hanger bay 12, at least the saucer, and Kirk is returning for the final episode.

I’m gonna lose my mind over any of those two options…

A friend, and Star Trek fan, who hadn’t seen Picard season three yet asked me what the season was like. I told him that it was ridiculous, but in the most wonderful way.

What a perfect way to describe episode six.

Ensign Kim is still aboard Voyager as a permanent fixture, hopelessly waiting for a box with a promotion insignia to show up on his chair…

Na, he’s a Captain by now… We know that from Endgame…

That future never happened

Different timeline, though.

STO was friendlier with him. There he have the rank of an Captain

LOL, probaby!

He deserves it!

Another Easter egg, unrelated to the museum itself, is when Geordi meets with Picard and says: “That young man, he’s your son?”. This is a callback to a scene in the director’s cut of ST II when Kirk climbs the ladders towards the bridge and tells Spock “That young man, he’s my son!”

No Galaxy class or Sovereign class ships at the museum 🤔?

Head scratcher…

I’m willing to be there’s a Galaxy Class at the museum. We just haven’t seen her…yet. 😉

Properly without the Stardrive. But if some other Ship can Tow it into Warp, it could maintain this Speed on it’s own for some time (Backup function)

Unless of course one of the other lesser-known Galaxy classes lost their saucer at some point, giving Geordi an opportunity to do to a full restoration.

Given how long Starfleet history is, it’s not unreasonable to assume that they either rotate the ships that are on display, or have other museums orbiting the planet. This may just be the main one, who knows.

Well remember in the first episode this season, the 10 forward bartender said “nobody likes the fat ones….” Lol

we also havent seen inside the space dock, so its possible there are a ton in there since it is the space dock from ST3? who knows

Remember that the former Earth space dock that is now the museum can also hold many ships inside of its structure.

That’s probably the food court now :D I mean, if that’s what they have on the OUTSIDE of the museum… what the heck could they have inside?

I can already see a potential plot for the next Star Trek movie: a cybernetic lifeform from the future, evolved of some stored parts in the museum, travels back in time to prevent that evolution which would lead to the destruction of the universe… 😉 hmmm… wait…

I’m thinking that Kirk will be cloned, with Paul Wesley playing him, and he will be one of the stars of the Section 31 show with Michelle Yeoh.

Paul Wesley was a bad Kirk.

I think he was fine, but no matter your feelings on him, he’s the new Kirk (though if they bring Kirk back in the 25th century i’m still pulling for Pine).

well we only saw him play an alternative take on Kirk in SNW, but i for one didn’t care for his “Jim Carey Approach”. It felt more like parody. I do hope the next time we see him (and i’m sure we will) he’s a bit more nuanced.

Possibly but I do remember reading about Shatner allowing a company to deage his likeness and store it somewhere for future use. Maybe they could also use a de-aged Shatner.

I hope so! Last chance ever to bring back Shatner’s Kirk… and to give him a better send-off than in Generations.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Unnamed_Romulan_Birds-of-Prey_(23rd_century) Suggests that the Romulan Bird of Prey could be the one that Lower Decks used?

As a 3D Artist, I immediately thought something was wrong with Voyager. I may be nitpicking here, but it is sad that even for that short scene, they used such a primitive model where all the details, such as the proportions on the main deflector dish, radii, and bevels, were totally wrong. Voyager is my favourite Starfleet ship, so that moment hurt a bit.

Perhaps it is the Version before they got lost.. but when Seven hat warm flashbacks on her Life on this Ship, then it must be the original one. So it has the Anti-Borg Armor Upgrades.. But proberly striped out of it.. I wonder if these Ships Computers are still functional and reconize them “Wellcome back,<insert name> it was a long Time since your Visit!”…. *whistles innocently “Short Treck’s”

I think the model is from Star Trek Online.

And TNG’s Enterprise changed from shot to shot based on which model was used, ditto the CGI Defiant on DS9.

Voyager had to have all its future tech removed. Who knows what it might have gone through during that period.

Where was the Federation cloaking device from the USS Pegasus? That would be exactly the kind of item that would be stored at the Daystrom Station!

Probably in use …

Plot twist: It’s already being used to cloak another station with the NCC-1701D inside it.

don’t they have copies of the specs for the defiant cloaking device given to sisko by the romulans?

Couldn’t they have just replicated the loaned device? It’s small enough to replicate, unless somebody invoked some weird rule of space about not being able to replicate stealth tech w/o tearing a hole in spacetime. (god, I still dream about how much more I would have enjoyed 24th century trek if they had decried replication was bad for space-time fabric and had to be wholly abandoned … limited resources grounds a story and makes it so much more relatabe IMO.)

In fact, s31 or ‘normal SF intel’ would’ve probably replicated it before even installing it on DEFIANT, and since the replacement DEFIANT didn’t have (or at least ever use) a cloak, it is still just a small tough fighting machine, not a stealth craft.

How can you tell easter eggs when the whole series is too dark to make out anything?

Gamma modifying can help a bit… but yes, it has its limits

Also here: https://imgur.com/gallery/Tqp2XbH

Thanks for the link. I think it’s time to start using Retinax V. I love the show, just can’t see some of these small details.

I suspect the authors of this article looked at the screen and saw them.

When they’re UV easter eggs, which probably hatched the lousy big fighter Kirk ‘knees’ in TUC?

I like dark, but not when it isn’t including crisp slivers of bright. The mush we’re getting here (at least as seen on my little 32″ set) is just murk, and I still couldn’t make out Kirk’s name even on a second viewing after I knew to look for it (missed it completely 1st time through.)

Boy, I sure am shocked they didn’t offer a clear shot of Kirks panel.

I was kind of hoping for that as well.

For there to be two Akira class ships suggests the museum is less about preserving each and every class, and more about the legendary voyages of any given ship and its respective captain/crew. Which makes me wonder if the Akiras, the Nova etc all had as many galactic shenanigans (says 7 seasons worth of mad adventures happen to them) as all the other ships we know and love.

I wouldn’t have minded seeing another Crossfield class be renamed to Discovery and added to the museum, but then nobody really knew about the sporedrive, and perhaps the ship didn’t achieve enough to make the criteria (when compared to Kirk, Picard etc). If Discovery had been episodic, they’d have had a better chance at featuring in the museum!

They also just redacted the ship out of Starfleet records so it’s less that and more like they probably just didn’t remember that it existed.

Ah that’s true, yeah, closer to it never having existed in the first place.

I love everything about this season. This, however, this makes me squee more then I ever thought possible.

And then the Enterprise-A showing up… Dear Rao… I’m with Jack Crusher on this one: best ship design EVER.

Are there old school TOS data disks on Geordies desk?

They’re translucent datacards from TNG and DS9

Data’s voice in the computer as the key was inserted

One of the security officers at Daystrom was called Sternbach which I assume is a shout out to Rick.

And the other is Cole, right, named for Lee Cole from TWOK/TMP/P2 design semi-fame?

Couldn’t the Klingon ship be one of the ones left behind by V’Ger at the end of “ST: The Motion Picture”, rather than Kronos 1 from “ST6”? I would think that the latter would be likely to be kept by the Klingons as one of their “Air Force Ones”, while the 3 in “TMP” were already left in near-Earth space.

Also, a “Probability Device” strikes a call to Douglas Addams’ “The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to The Galaxy”.

Dead Spock + Genesis Device = Living Spock

Dead Kirk + Genesis II Device = ??????? (Just Hoping)

Turns Kirk into Dylan Hunt.

Wow, Section 31 has been busy, haven’t they? They seem to spend a lot of time scavenging crazy and dangerous tech from many strange new worlds and civilizations. If the Section 31 show happens, we can see all kinds of crazy things like this being actually used.

The items at Daystrom weren’t solely from Section 31. Just that some of the toys from 31 are stored there. They mentioned that Daystrom is a storage facility for many items from multiple groups within the Federation.

OK, but then I’m a bit confused because isn’t Section 31 suppose to be a secret to the rest of the Federation? Why would they keep their highly classified projects with official Starfleet inventory? But yeah thinking about it, I guess it’s suppose to be an Area 51 kind of place and off the books to the public, but naming it Daystrom is odd too since that’s something everyone in Starfleet knows.

OK, I’m going to stop hurting my brain now lol.

has anyone told shatner about this??!!!?

If they did this via deepfake, all they’d need would be the voice, so he could phone that part of it in.

Deepfake is really making impressive (and alarming) gains. The new DEAD RINGERS uses it on occasion, employing very high quality visuals instead of the more typical ‘grabbed from youtube’ basis.

Captain JTK and the Enterprise-A live!! Awesome! Also Genesis II.. can the Fed now colonize uninhabited planets/solar systems? And how do all the other races react?

The Constitution class ship looks a bit different (more TOS-y) than the new SNW Constitution….wonder what the implications of that are

There was also an Insignia-class (originallly fan-design) as an outline on the computer interface that Seven uses to flip through the camera views.

I don’t think Burton used contact lenses for this, I thought I heard somewhere they CGI’d them instead

Does Shatner know that Kirk’s body has turned up on Daystrom Station? Is it true that there’s something on the display about a “Phoenix Project?”

Heck, they apparently have another Genesis device and we know what that did with Captain Spock’s body.

I dunno. This could just be another Easter Egg, but iti does kind of answer the question of if Picard kept Kirk’s departure from the Nexus a secret. Obviously, the Kirk’s body was either removed from the cairn and removed along with the Enterprise personnel from Veridian III or Section 31 came later and got it after a debrief from Picard, who I don’t think would ever have lied about Kirk’s help in saving the Veridian system. I would think that Picard would want to have Kirk’s body removed for a proper burial by his family and friends on Earth, say in San Francisco or Iowa with his parents or near his brother George. But if Kirk’s body was removed from the Cairn and put in stasis immediately, then, with the weird Genesis technology or Nexus energy or whatever, section 31 could potentially resurrect him.

Of course, Spock was initially a baby in ST III and didn’t have any memories of his original life in ST III, so this whole speculation is probably moot!

Still, it’s a heck of an easter egg there. Of all the things in that station, why indeed would section 31 really want Kirk and Picard’s bodies?

I know why Kirk’s body is there. Point 1, his presence at Veridian III is classified. Point 2, the galaxy believes he died on the Enterprise B, and his funeral has been held long ago. Point 3, he was temporally displaced through the Nexus and may be the only known example of that, so his remains are incredibly valuable to temporal research. Lastly, Point 4, the next planet in the Veridian system has a pre-warp civilization, leaving Kirk’s body there is just as dangerous to that culture as the saucer itself. Kirk was undoubtedly removed during the Federation’s cleanup.

All good points.

Ryan Szimanski is the actual curator of the USS New Jersey battleship museum. Of course, after E6 hit his message box got lit up because of the Constitution Class New Jersey at the Starfleet Museum. The guy got up to speed on the episode and posted a short video, as to why the Starfleet museum is likely a failure. The guys not a fan of the show, but overall, his observations aren’t wrong. It’s worth a look. Google “Why The Star Fleet Museum Would Fail and Other Museum Ships on TV” to take a look.

It’s not from the museum or Daystrom, but I hope you guys caught the reference when Worf talked about “eleven years, four months, five days.”

(For those who didn’t, that’s the amount of time Spock says he served under Pike in “The Menagerie.”)

It was totally illogical to take the Enterprise D for the fight against the Borg. The USS Voyager Seven’s former home is much better suited thanks to the many modifications B’Elanna made thanks to Admiral Janeway from the future. These are the special optional hull armour and the transphasic torpedoes.

• View history

Upgrade your artifacts to unlock powerful effects that will give your fleet an edge. Unlock and unleash the power behind artifacts, and see how they combine together to create your ultimate fleet.

• Unlocking Artifacts is now based on Ops level, not the Artifact Gallery building level.
• All Artifacts available for Commander’s Ops level will be available in the new version Artifact Restoration bundle.
• The original Premium Artifact Restoration bundle will still be available until the end of update 54.
• A Bonus Artifact Restoration has been added until the end of update 54.

More information on Formation Armadas shards come from certain level Formation Armadas . Below is a list of the possible rewards available for each level of the Formation Armadas:

Level 30: Possible Artifacts

• Picard’s Ammonite Fossil
• Orb of Prosperity
• Mudd’s Andorian Helmet

Level 35: Possible Artifacts

• Uhura’s Vokaya Necklace
• Aamaarazan Breathing Mask

Level 40: Possible Artifacts

• USS Discovery Scale Replica
• Kurlan Naiskos
• Mukull Time-piece
• Spock’s Engagement Pendant

Level 45: Possible Artifacts

• Shield of Pericles
• Worf’s d’k tahg
• Stamets’ Original Mycelium Sample
• McCoy’s Hypospray
• Earth Science Institute Scanner
• Quark’s Scanner

Level 50: Possible Artifacts

• Janeway’s Coffee Mug
• Andorian Scanner
• Chapel’s Hypospray
• Crusher’s Hypospray

Level 55: Possible Artifacts

• D’Arsay Archive Scale Replica

Other Artifact Examples:

• Picard’s Ammonite Fossil – increases Protected Cargo on all ships → Players will get this one for free if they complete their missions!
• Orb of Prosperity – Increases Max Cargo on Survey Ships
• Mudd’s Andorian Helmet – Increases Parsteel, Tritanium and Dilithium Cost Efficiency for Buildings
• McCoy’s Hypospray – Increases Hull Health for Battleships
• Chapel’s Hypospray – Increases Shield Health for Explorers
• K’T’Inga Scale Replica – Increases G4 Material Cost Efficiency for all ship components
• Bat’leth of House Martok – Increases Damage against Players for all ships
• Kirk’s Phaser Rifle – Increases Kinetic Weapon Damage

Read more at STFC Official Announcement

See Also: Officers , Artifact Gallery

• 2 The Swarm
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Why ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Built Season 5 Around a Classic Episode From a Legacy Series

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

• Why ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Built Season 5 Around a Classic Episode From a Legacy Series 23 hours ago
• ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Star Sonequa Martin-Green on the Show’s Unexpected Final Season, the ‘Pressure’ of Representation and Taking the ‘Trek’ Cruise 2 days ago
• Jerrod Carmichael Was Terrified of Being Seen, So He Made a Reality Show: ‘This May Be Unhealthy. It Is a Little Dangerous’ 1 week ago

SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in Season 5, Episode 1 of “ Star Trek : Discovery,” now streaming on Paramount+.

By the end of the episode, however, the mission has pushed Burnham and her crew to their limits, including slamming the USS Discovery into the path of a massive landslide threatening a nearby city. Before they risk their lives any further pursuing this object, Burnham demands that Kovich at least tell her why. (MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.)

Kovich’s explanation evokes the classic “ Star Trek: The Next Generation ” episode “The Chase” from 1993 in which Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) — along with teams of Romulans, Klingons and Cardassians — learn that all humanoid life in the galaxy was created by a single species that existed billions of years earlier, and seeded thousands of planets with the DNA to pass along their legacy. (Along with presenting a profound vision of the origins of life, the episode also provided an imaginative explanation for why almost all the aliens in “Star Trek” basically look like humans with different kinds of forehead ridges.)

Kovich tells Burnham that the Romulan scientist was part of a team sent to discover exactly how these aliens — whom they call the Progenitors — made this happen; the object they’re seeking winds up being one part of a brand new “chase,” this time in the 32nd century, to find the Progenitors’ technology before it can fall into the wrong hands. 

“I remember watching that episode and at the end of it just being blown away that there was this huge idea where we all come from,” Paradise says. “And then they’re going to have another mission the next week. I found myself wondering, ‘Well, then what? What happened? What do we do with this information? What does it mean?’”

Originally, Paradise says the “Discovery” writers’ room discussed evoking the Progenitors in Season 4, when the Discovery meets an alien species, the 10-C, who live outside of the galaxy and are as radically different from humans as one could imagine. “As we dug deeper into the season itself, we realized that it was too much to try and get in,” Paradise says.

Instead, they made the Progenitors the engine for Season 5. “Burnham and some of our other characters are on this quest for personal meaning,” Paradise says. Searching for the origins of life itself, she adds, “feels like a big thematic idea that fits right in with what we’re exploring over the course of the season, and what our characters are going through.”

That meant that Paradise finally got to help come up with the answers to the questions about “The Chase” that had preoccupied her when she was younger. “We had a lot of fun talking about what might’ve happened when [Picard] called back to headquarters and had to say, ‘Here’s what happened today,’” she says. “We just built the story out from there.”

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Why 'Star Trek: Discovery' deserves more credit as a barrier-breaking series

Starship Discovery will soon be ending its mission, and what a journey it's been.

“Star Trek: Discovery,” which premiered in 2017, is entering its fifth and final season Thursday on Paramount+. And you’ll need the Captain’s Log to remember all the twists, turns and transformations the show has gone through since it began.

One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the hate the series has received from some Trek fans. (“Discovery” has an overall audience score of 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, a stark difference from the 87% critic rating.)

While the show is far from free of legitimate criticism, many of the complaints seem unfairly — though perhaps tellingly — placed on the show’s focus on a Black woman commander, its LGBTQ+ stars and allies and its inclusive storylines. “Woke agenda” and other dog whistles frequently surface on Reddit and social media posts about the series.

That so much of the negativity is rooted in a backlash against inclusivity raises questions. After all, the "Star Trek" franchise has long emphasized and celebrated culture, diversity and humanity coming together and preserving the integrity of beings they meet across the galaxy.

"It doesn't make any sense, because (these fans) say they love this franchise," series star Sonequa Martin-Green says in an interview. The show “has always been about breaking those boundaries. It's always been about diversity and equality. And our world has changed since the last iteration of 'Trek.' We have a responsibility to push that needle forward and to stay true to that."

More: Issa Rae says Hollywood needs to be accountable. Here's why diverse shows are so important

The series is originally set before the events of NBC's original “Star Trek: The Original Series” (later jumping to the future) and follows Michael Burnham (Martin-Green), who became the starship’s captain, and the rest of the crew of the USS Discovery: first officer Saru (Doug Jones), chief engineer Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), lieutenant and now Starfleet Academy teacher Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), medical officer Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), courier and Burnham’s love interest Cleveland “Book” Booker (David Ajala) and ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio).

Many more characters have stood on the bridge, battled with Burnham or otherwise make up the world of "Discovery." The series had some trouble finding the right footing, but it’s always had heart, especially in its recurring theme of redemption. And it deserves more support for what it has meant for the entire "Star Trek" franchise.

Here’s why “Star Trek: Discovery” deserves more credit.

Prioritizing diversity and inclusivity

A Vulcan philosophy (and one espoused by “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry) is IDIC, or “infinite diversity in infinite combinations,” and many of the related series, movies and books underscore this belief. “Discovery” also has diversity at its core: the show focuses on a Black woman who becomes captain. Stamets and Culber are an openly gay couple, engineer Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) is a lesbian. And the show introduced a few franchise firsts: Adira Tal as the first nonbinary character in "Star Trek ," and their boyfriend, Gray ( Ian Alexander ), is the first transgender character , both introduced in Season 3.

More: 'Star Trek' documentary unveils star Nichelle Nichols' impactful NASA connection

Starting a new age of Star Trek

“Discovery” helped launch the CBS All Access streaming platform, a CBS subscription service that would eventually become Paramount+, as well as a new era of "Star Trek" series including “Lower Decks” and “Picard.” Before “Discovery,” the last Trek series was “Star Trek: Enterprise,” which ended in 2005.

Exploring strange new worlds

The second season of “Discovery” also served as a launching pad for the well-received spinoff, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” which resurfaced popular characters from the original series including Spock (Ethan Peck), Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and Number One (Rebecca Romijn).

Finding time for the simple things

In a few scenes scattered throughout "Discovery," we see characters like Culber and Stamets sharing a meal or talking about their day while brushing their teeth. It’s almost mundane, but there’s also something so lovely about watching LGBTQ characters who rarely are the focus in movies or television simply living their lives, being their whole selves. Burnham rocking braids at the beginning of Season 3 speaks cultural volumes. The subtle amid the big battles and overarching plots do have meaning, especially for those whose voices often go unheard.

Going boldly

The first season of “Discovery” went out of its way to highlight its connections to the original series: Burnham is Spock’s adopted sister, and there's a brief appearance by Spock’s father, Sarek. But it wasn’t always so neatly woven, sometimes seeming more like it was using franchise lore as a crutch. But “Discovery” wasn’t afraid to try new things, turning itself around after an overcomplicated first season and again after a very “TOS”-inspired second, slowly building up its own universe without relying too heavily on the old. 

The first episodes of Season 5 are a little rocky before it settles into a comfortable speed. 

"This time around, we wanted to bring in some levity," Martin-Green says. "But there's a grand sort of epicness to Season 5, even though we didn't know it was our last season when we were shooting it. I think looking back on it, and when we share it with the world, it'll seem that way because the season is so big. So people can expect a lot of fun. They can expect it to go really fast." 

It will be interesting to see if “Discovery” sticks the landing through the remainder of the season.

“The good outweighs the bad,” Burnham says in an upcoming episode about a mission, and that’s also true of “Discovery."

The fifth and final season of "Star Trek: Discovery" (two episodes now streaming, then weekly on Thursdays), streams on, Paramount+.

• The Inventory

Go On a Tour of One of the Greatest Sets in Star Trek History

Grab a jumja stick and let quark himself take you through one of the most important locations in star trek : deep space nine's promenade..

What’s the most important set on a Star Trek show? Depending on the series, it might differ—for the most part, it’s going to be the bridge of a starship . But “the bridge of a starship” isn’t really the answer to that question: it’s the place that feels most like home . And while it’s definitely not a starship, Deep Space Nine ’s promenade is exactly that, perhaps more than any other iconic locale in the franchise.

Today as part of a series of updates to its virtual tour offerings on the Apple Vision Pro, the Roddenberry Archive and OTOY announced a raft of new virtual reality set tours , taking fans inside the world of Star Trek . To celebrate this week’s return of Star Trek: Discovery , the bridge of the legendary vessel is now available for virtual visitation, as are the first virtual tours inside the fleets of the Klingon Empire —specifically the I.K.S. Amar , the K’t’inga battle cruiser from the opening of The Motion Picture . But perhaps the most fascinating addition is a further exploration of Deep Space Nine ’s titular station, and the most important place of all among its rings and pylons : the thoroughfare of the Promenade.

The Promenade was already part of the archive, but now audiences can explore further aspects of the set—one of the biggest ever built for Star Trek , the biggest outright at the time of filming—but the real highlight is a new, accompanying documentary about the design history of the set and its legacy, narrated by the perfect tour guide for such a locale: Armin Shimmerman, the man behind the lobes of the Promenade’s premiere businessman, Quark.

It’s a great little piece, looking at the set’s design process, how its scale was captured on screen, as well as Shimmerman relishing in giving little in-universe guides to everything that the Promenade had to offer. It’s a reminder of not just what an impressive set it was, but how its design language informed the very heart of what Deep Space Nine was doing with Star Trek . In the Promenade, we have a primary set that is unlike anything we’ve ever seen on the show before: this is not Federation design, or Starfleet ship corridors, but the brutalist angles of Cardassian aesthetic clashing with the pops of color from the flags hung by the Bajorans and other alien cultures steadily in the process of reclaiming what was once a grim shadow over the oppressions of Bajor. Few Star Trek sets are exactly comforting, but this heady mix of sharp angles and cool metallics against the vibrancy of shop lights and flags brings the Promenade a sense of homeliness that few other regular Trek sets could match.

But one thing this tour can’t capture about the Promenade that made it so compelling in the first place is the people milling about the place: the life that made it feel like home more than anything else. Sure, every Trek set has had some flavor of walk and talk on it before, the bustle of crew milling about and looking at monitors, but the Promenade was life itself made manifest. The culture clash of the design language was echoed in the people —so many people, more people than we would often see in one place on Trek outside of big crowd sequences or social hubs like canteens and bars. You had Starfleet crew, sticking out in their black and division-colored uniforms, you had the browns and beiges of Odo and his local security officers, you had Bajoran priests, you had civilians of all species and stripes, from visitors passing through to vendors hocking food and trinkets—and, of course, the myriad patrons of myriad scruples flocking in and out of Quark’s bar. The Promenade was defined by background vibrancy, a social and communal space that was far more important to Deep Space Nine than the cramped battle bridge of the Defiant , or the command crew’s home in operations.

That life made the Promenade sing—sometimes literally, in the case of the Klingon restaurateur playing his accordion and roaring traditional Klingon ballads at diners—and it made it the heart of Deep Space Nine , a sacred space for the viewer that the show could then violate at a moment’s notice to amplify any given threat. The Promenade has been home to firefights, assassination attempts, it’s been besieged , it’s been captured by our heroes’ worst enemies, but it’s also a place of love, adventure, and fun, the sight of some of the best moments in the entirety of DS9 . It is, after all, where the show’s heart is—and that is where home resides.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .

Welcome to the Federation Space Wiki

Welcome to Federation Space! A Star Trek RPG set in the same timeframe as Star Trek: Picard (25+ years after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, and Star Trek: Voyager). Players take the role of Star Fleet officers stationed on Federation starships. The game combines Star Trek’s favorite species (both friend and foe) while also exploring new and unique species. If you are interested in joining Federation Space, click here . Under the resources menu to the left, you will find canon information about the Federation Space Universe. Please note, this information may, or may not, follow official Star Trek Canon, but is the definitive source for all things related to Federation Space. If you are looking for specific information, it may be easier to use the Search function on the menu bar in the upper right. Federation Space was founded on March 1, 2000.

Current Edition: FNN Edition 43 , Published 1 January, 2024

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Jean-Luc Picard impersonating Korgano

Korgano was the mythological moon god of the extinct D'Arsay civilization.

He existed in counterpart with Masaka , the D'Arsay sun Goddess . Korgano was considered a more benevolent figure than Masaka; he was her nemesis, the one who controlled Masaka and made her vanish from the sky. The exchange of night and day was referred to as "The Hunt".

In 2370 , the USS Enterprise -D encountered the D'Arsay archive which downloaded information into the Enterprise -D's computer and began reconfiguring the ship, replicating a D'Arsay city . It also affected Lieutenant commander Data who began taking on personalities from D'Arsay mythology including Masaka. The changes threatened to completely take over the ship until Captain Jean-Luc Picard correctly hypothesized the relationship between Korgano and Masaka.

When questioning the personality of Ihat about Korgano, Picard was informed by Ihat that he had no idea where Korgano had gone, only that Korgano had stopped chasing Masaka for some reason.

Picard used his knowledge of similar legends from other cultures to assume the identity of Korgano and attempted to direct the archive to release his ship. In the character of Korgano he confronted Data, as the archive's representation of Masaka, in Masaka's temple and successfully convinced Masaka to rest. This completed the legend that the archive was enacting and shut it down. ( TNG : " Masks ")

• 1 Star Trek: Discovery

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Star Trek: Discovery’s Season 5 Premiere Easter Egg Explained: Who Are the [Spoiler]?

Keisha hatchett, staff editor.

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Star Trek: Discovery co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman previously told TVLine that the sci-fi drama’s fifth and final season was dependent on a “very significant” Star Trek Easter egg , and we finally know what he meant by that.

The season’s first two episodes, which are now streaming on Paramount+, sent the Discovery crew on one last adventure to find the missing clues spread throughout the galaxy that will lead them to the ancient device used by an ancient species, known as the Progenitors, to create life as we know it.

That Easter egg came into play in the premiere , as outlaws Moll ( Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Eve Harlow) and L’ak ( Shadowhunters ’ Elias Toufexis) stole a tan zhekran — a traditional Romulan puzzle box; Narek (Harry Treadaway) used one as a thinking aid in Star Trek: Picard Season 1 — from an 800-year-old Romulan science vessel.

The Federation was also heavily invested in finding this mystery box, and Dr. Kovich and Admiral Vance remained tightlipped while briefing Burnham on a secretive mission to retrieve it. Captain Burnham nearly caught Moll and L’ak aboard the science vessel but they escaped to the Dune -like planet Q’mau.

There, the fugitive duo convinced a Synth dealer named Fred to open the box under the guise of selling it along with other timeless treasures, including a self-sealing stem bolt (frequently mentioned throughout Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , though their specific use is unclear) and an old tricorder (a hand-held sensor issued by Starfleet that can be used for scanning, recording and analyzing data). 

Dr. Vellek found the ancient humanoids’ life-creating device and recorded everything he knew about it in that diary. He then hid the device sometime before disappearing 800 years ago, and the diary contains important clues — such as the drawing of two moons — to find it.

Book and Burnham tracked Moll and L’ak to Q’mau, where they came upon Fred’s lifeless body. As they continued pursuing the outlaws, Culber, Stamets and Saru examined Fred aboard Discover y and realized that he was built from one of Dr. Soong’s designs.

Dr. Noonien Soong (Brent Spiner) created several android prototypes, including Data, Lore and B-4 — all portrayed by Spiner throughout TNG’s seven-season run.

L’ak and Mall again evaded Burnham & Co., but not before starting a catastrophic avalanche that forced the Discovery captain and a frustratingly aggressive Captain Raynor ( The Umbrella Academy’s Callum Keith Rennie) to refocus their efforts on saving a nearby settlement.

When the dust settled, Saru, who’d been thinking over an offer to leave Discovery and become a Federation ambassador, accepted the new position to stay close to President T’Rina. That was met with a surprising proposal from T’Rina, who politely suggested they codify their mutual commitment in a more official capacity.

While the Federation mulled his future, Discovery embarked on a trip to Lyrek in search of another clue. The uninhabited planet was used by the Promellians as a burial ground before the species went extinct. (In the TNG episode “Booby Trap,” we learned that early Federation starships were influenced by their design.)

In their exploration of the forest-heavy planet, Burnham and Saru accidentally tripped a complex security system which launched droids that immediately opened fire. Saru leaped into action, though, drawing the killer bots away and buying Tilly enough time to disarm them. He and Burnham then reached their target location, where they uncovered a Romulan revlav, aka a message in a poem.

While all of that was happening, Book reached out to Moll and L’ak about buying the diary, which he knew would be a hot commodity in the galaxy. But his conversation with the fugitives revealed something else. Studying Moll’s image later on, Book figured out why Moll seemed so familiar. Her real name was Malinne and she was the daughter of his mentor Cleveland Book IV, making her the closest thing to family he has left.

But first, Burnham needed to secure a new Number One. She turned to Raynor, who’d been asked by Vance to retire. In offering him Saru’s old role, she was giving him a second chance — one that had been granted to her back in Season 1.

What did you think of the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery’s final season? Grade them below, and share your thoughts about the overarching mystery in the comments.

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I like Discovery, a lot, but this was a deep cut for anyone not a big fan of the entire Trekverse. Thanks for the recap and the thorough explanation, I know I needed it

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‘Star Trek: Discovery’ S5 Review: Final Season Is Its Best

This season has a brisk pace and the sense of fun that in the past has been crushed under the weight of grave galactic stakes..

Star Trek: Discovery occupies an interesting place in the celebrated franchise. It was the first Trek series of the streaming era, the first to debut behind a paywall, the first produced after J.J. Abrams’ big screen reboot, and the first to put a woman of color in the captain’s chair. Discovery redefined the look and feel of the franchise on television, bringing Trek into the modern world of feature-level photography, effects, and pace of story. It blazed a trail for a new generation of Trek media, like direct spin-off Strange New Worlds and the upcoming Section 31 TV movie. It is also not terribly popular amidst the old guard of Trekkies, nor is it a mainstream hit or a critical darling. Discovery has struggled to find its footing from the very beginning and is still uneven after years of retooling. I do not consider its cancellation after five seasons to be a tragic loss for television. However, Discovery may still have one “first” left to achieve: It may be the first Star Trek series whose final season is its best. 

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(A quick personal note to the handful of Trekkies who just clutched their pearls: Season 4 of Enterprise is not better than Season 3, it merely has more familiar stuff for fans to point at with childlike glee. And you’ve likely already read my thoughts on Picard ’s final season .)

Even as a critic of the show, I have to acknowledge that every season of Discovery has started with a bang. It’s the nature of a serialized, season-long story arc to kick off with something resembling the first act of a feature film, and Season 5 is no different. The opening chapter, “Red Directive,” is a fast-paced space adventure packed with flashy action set pieces. The illustrious Captain Michael Burnham ( Sonequa Martin-Green ) and her crew are on the trail of Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), a spacefaring Bonnie and Clyde who have stumbled across a secret with enormous implications for the future of the galaxy. Just like the previous three seasons, this sets Team Disco off on another cosmic scavenger hunt, jumping to a new world each week to find the next clue to the season’s grander mystery. 

Historically, this is where Discovery has run into trouble. While each chapter tends to have its own contained adventure plot or even a classic Trek “message of the week,” they’re rarely that memorable and they advance the season’s overarching storyline without adding much depth. This season, though, has a brisk pace and a sense of fun that, previously, has been crushed under the weight of grave galactic stakes. Paramount has promoted this season as having an Indiana Jones energy to it , and that’s a fair comparison. The characters are enjoying themselves more, and for the first time since Season 2, the story isn’t built around some unfathomable tragedy. T o my best recollection, none of the episodes provided in advance to critics feature any crying. That’s four consecutive episodes, possibly a new track record.

This is not the only way in which Discovery ’s new season throttles back on the show’s occasionally cloying sentimentality. The season premiere introduces a new character, Captain Rayner ( Callum Keith Rennie ), a gruff pragmatist who serves as a contrast to Burnham’s soft-spoken, personable, firmly feminine command style. At first, Rayner appears to be a straw man representing aggro, entitled white male authority, a trope Discovery goes to often. As the season progresses, Rayner acquires some depth and even some likability. It’s fun to watch this grumpy old guy interact with a cast full of characters who are totally in touch with their feelings. Most importantly, Rayner provides something that the series has needed ever since Burnham took command of Discovery: a professional peer with whom to disagree and occasionally compromise. It’s an essential role that her first officer, Saru ( Doug Jones ), has become too adoring and loyal to play. Burnham has earned the devotion of her crew, but watching her gracefully manage dissent only enhances her aura of strength and leadership.

Even though production was wrapped before Discovery was canceled (with additional shooting after that announcement to tie up loose ends), Season Five feels like a finale from the very beginning. A few characters are moving on with their lives, pursuing new interests and relationships. There are more fun, non-intrusive callbacks to Treks past than in the last two seasons, which makes it feel a bit like a victory lap for the streaming era’s flagship show. Above all, there is a sense of ease, as if the cast and crew have finally got their engine running smoothly and can cruise to the finish line. It’s the energy a series possesses at its peak, a point to which fans will often look back and say “They probably should have stopped there.” Barring a significant misstep in its final six episodes, Star Trek: Discovery will never be past its prime, and that’s a distinction its creators can wear with pride. 

• SEE ALSO : Hank Azaria On What It Takes to Change

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Star Trek: Discovery is cracking open a box Next Gen closed on purpose

The USS Discovery is on a mad chase across the galaxy for one of Star Trek’s biggest secrets

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Calling back to a single 30-year-old episode of television is a time-honored Star Trek tradition , one that’s led the franchise to some of its most fascinating detours. And in its two-episode season premiere, Star Trek: Discovery seems to be kicking off an entire season calling back to one particular episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

And not just any episode! The 1993 installment of Next Gen in question delivered a revelation so seemingly earth-shaking that it should have rewritten galactic politics on a massive scale. But then, as was the way in the 1990s era of episodic TV, nobody ever mentioned it again.

At least until now.

[ Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5.]

Writer Michelle Paradise and director Olatunde Osunsanmi lay out the connection at the end of the first of two episodes released this week, “Red Directive.” Discovery’s mission is to follow a series of ancient clues leading to a cache of ancient technology, and to get there before a couple of professional thieves, Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), do.

The technology, as Doctor Kovich (David Cronenberg) explains, belongs to the so-called Progenitors, a barely understood ancient spacefaring species that “created life as we know it […] every humanoid species in the galaxy.” Presumably such tech holds the key to understanding how the Progenitors did that, and how that power could be used again.

The Progenitors are from the Star Trek episode “The Chase”

Kovich also calls up a helpful video presentation of the moment the Progenitors were discovered by an assembled group of Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and Cardassian captains, including Jean-Luc Picard. But you don’t have to be a Star Trek lore nerd to know you’re actually just looking at clips from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Specifically, from the 20th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s sixth season, “The Chase,” in which Picard and crew discover pieces of a computer program hidden inside the DNA of species from dozens of different planets. Questions abound: What does the program do? And what kind of entity could have been so ancient and powerful that it had determined the genetic legacy of most of the known galaxy before sentient life had even evolved here — and then left no trace of its existence except the genetic codes themselves?

In a nutshell, the mysterious death of Captain Picard’s old archeology professor (did you know that if he hadn’t gone into Starfleet, Jean-Luc was studying to be a space archeologist? Well, now you do) sets the captain and the Enterprise on a search for the missing DNA fragments necessary to complete his unfinished work.

The action of the episode becomes a grand chase, as Klingon and Cardassian captains come to believe the program must be a great weapon or dangerous secret. Eventually Picard and his rivals all discover the lonely planet with the final DNA strain — and when they get there, some Romulans who’ve been secretly following all of them show up, too, just to make things even more tense.

In the end, the program isn’t a weapon or a secret, but a message from an ancient race of humanoids that apparently created sentient life in our galaxy as we know it.

Actor Salome Jens appears as a Progenitor hologram, and delivers a speech that’s stirring by any standard of Star Trek monologues, telling the story of a race of sentients that took to the stars and found them empty. They had evolved too early to meet other forms of sentient life, and knew that their time was too limited to ever expect to.

“We knew that one day we would be gone; that nothing of us would survive, so we left you,” Jens’ Progenitor explains. The Progenitors seeded humanoid life across the galaxy in their own image; life that tended to evolve into bipedal, tailless, largely hairless creatures with two eyes and two arms and five fingers on each hand. And they left clues in the genetic signature of their work, broken up among the stars.

Wait, was this really all about lampshading the limits of Star Trek’s alien design?

Kinda, yes! The writers of “The Chase,” Ron Moore and Joe Menosky, were inspired by elements of Carl Sagan’s Contact , but also by Menosky’s pet fascination creating an in-universe explanation for why all the common alien species in Star Trek are basically shaped like humans (albeit with latex on their faces).

In other hands, it would be hokey and trite, but even under heavy makeup, Jens sells the hell out of her single scene on voice and stance alone — it’s no wonder she was asked back to the Trek fold to play a major antagonist role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

“It was our hope that you would have to come together in fellowship and companionship to hear this message, and if you can see and hear me, our hope has been fulfilled,” the Progenitor hologram concludes, with gentle compassion. “You are a monument, not to our greatness, but to our existence. That was our wish: That you, too, would know life. [...] There is something of us in each of you, and so something of you in each other.”

But though “The Chase” carried a sweeping revelation, nothing ever really panned out from it. You’d think that a message of togetherness that fundamentally rewrote the origin of life in the universe would have to have tweaked Star Trek’s galactic politics a bit, right? Seems like this would give the Star Trek setting a radically different understanding of the origins of life than we have in the real world — this is literally intelligent design! At the very least there’d be some other characters talking about how humans and Vulcans, Klingons and Romulans and Ferengi and Cardassians and Trill and Bajorans, all share the same genetic ancestor.

But nope: The Pandora’s box of Progenitor lore remained closed. Gene Roddenberry’s successor and Trek producer Rick Berman seems to have been disenchanted with the episode’s reveal — and you can’t really blame him for not wanting to rock the whole cosmology of Star Trek in an episode that’s mostly about explaining how if you turn the DNA snippets like this they make a cool spiral. Now look at this computer screen with the spiral :

Except now, Star Trek: Discovery is opening the box and rocking the boat. This new mad, puzzle-box chase around the galaxy promises to expand on the Progenitors, an idea so big that not even The Next Generation was willing to touch it. It’s a tall order, but Discovery has never been more free to shake up Star Trek continuity than it is right now — we’ll have to wait for more episodes of the show’s final season to find out how free it intends to be.

Star Trek: Discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants

The 10 horniest episodes of star trek, ranked by cultural impact, the picard legacy collection puts one of the greatest remasters of all time in sprawling context, loading comments....

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Star trek: discovery season 5, episode 1 ending & tng treasure explained.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5's premiere dropped a bombshell that ties all the way back to Star Trek: The Next Generation. We break it down.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 1 - "Red Directive"

• Star Trek: Discovery season 5 reveals a bombshell treasure hunt that ties back to Star Trek: TNG "The Chase."
• Mysterious villains Moll and L'ak create chaos, leaving behind a trail of destruction on Kumal.
• Captain Saru to become a Federation Ambassador, leading to the first Kelpien-Vulcan wedding in Star Trek history.

The ending of Star Trek: Discovery 's exhilarating season 5 premiere dropped a jaw-dropping bombshell that the treasure Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is hunting for comes from Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6, episode 20, "The Chase." Written by Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, Discovery 's season 5 premiere, "Red Directive," introduces three new major characters, the villains Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis), and Starfleet Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), and sets up Discovery season 5 as a sequel to the classic TNG episode about who created humanoid life in the galaxy - and how .

Moll and L'ak escaped the clutches of Captain Burnham, Captain Rayner, and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) on the desert world of Q'Mau. After a synthetic merchant named Fred (J. Adam Brown) opened a Romulan puzzle box Moll and L'ak stole from an 800-year-old Romulan starship , Fred double-crossed Moll and L'ak and was killed by the renegade lovers. L'ak and Moll then detonated an explosive in the mountains, creating an avalanche. The combined shields of the USS Discovery and the USS Antares protected the people of Kumal, but Moll and L'ak escaped with the Romulans' journal. However, Captain Burnham knows more than the rogues do about the treasure thanks to Discovery's crew. And, as Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) said, the answers are wild.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 - Everything We Know

Star trek: discovery season 5's treasure & progenitors explained, who were the progenitors in star trek: tng's "the chase".

"The greatest treasure in the known galaxy" in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is the technology Ancient Humanoids used to create sentient humanoid life. A hologram of an Ancient Humanoid (Salome Jens) was encountered by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), members of the USS Enterprise-D crew, as well as a group of Romulans, Klingons, and Cardassians in Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "The Chase". The Ancient Humanoid revealed that her long-dead race seeded the galaxy billions of years ago to create humanoid life forms in their image, and that the humanoid species in Star Trek 's galaxy share a common ancestry.

"The Chase" was Star Trek: The Next Generation 's attempt to explain why so many aliens in Star Trek are essentially humans with bumpy foreheads and physical variations.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5's premiere reveals that the United Federation of Planets and Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) dubbed the Ancient Humanoids "The Progenitors". 800 years ago, a Romulan scientist named Dr. Vellek (Michael Copeman) found and hid the Progenitors' technology, which can literally create life and would be catastrophic if it fell into the wrong hands . However, Moll and L'ak (and, logically, whoever hired them) learned about the Progenitors' technology. The ability to create, and possibly destroy, humanoid species is an existential threat to the galaxy, which is why the Federation needs Captain Burnham to find it first.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5's premiere, President T'Rina (Tara Rosling) said the Tholian Republic and the Breen Imperium are rising, and they could be looking for the Progenitors' technology.

Moll & L'ak Keep Escaping, But Who Are They?

Star trek: discovery's new villains are a mystery..

Star Trek: Discovery season 5's version of Bonnie and Clyde, the villainous Moll and L'ak are mysterious former couriers who have had several past encounters with Captain Rayner of the USS Antares. Moll is human but L'ak is an unknown species with no known information in the Federation database. They are also hired guns, so they must have an employer yet to be revealed.

While little is revealed about Moll and L'ak, what is clear is they are lovers with deep affection for each other. Cleveland Booker doesn't know Moll and L'ak from his years as a courier, but he could tell by the way they escaped from the USS Discovery and USS Antares that L'ak and Moll are in love and are having fun together. In a way, Moll and L'ak are an echo of what Book and Michael Burnham were like when they were couriers traveling the galaxy together in the year before the USS Discovery arrived in the 32nd century.

Saru Will Become A Federation Ambassador & Marry T'Rina

Wedding bells are coming to star trek: discovery..

Captain Saru accepts Federation President Laira Rillak's (Chelah Horsdal) offer to become a Federation Ambassador. Saru has been serving as First Officer of the USS Discovery despite his higher rank since Star Trek: Discovery season 4, but being Captain Burnham's Number One is not really a role that utilizes the Kelpien's skills and potential. Saru also chose to leave Discovery and become an Ambassador to be closer to his love, President T'Rina.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 will soon have the first Kelpien-Vulcan wedding and the first wedding between 2 major Star Trek characters in 22 years.

Originally, T'Rina told Saru not to factor her into his decision to take the Ambassador position, but she actually wanted Saru to leave Discovery, which would allow them to spend more time together. And T'rina went a step further and proposed to Saru in a very Vulcan-like fashion, suggesting they "codify our mutual agreement in a more official capacity". Saru seemed to say yes, which means Star Trek: Discovery season 5 will soon have the first Kelpien-Vulcan wedding and the first wedding between 2 major Star Trek characters in 22 years since Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) married Deanna Tro i (Marina Sirtis) in Star Trek: Nemesis.

Burnham & Book Are Still Broken Up

They should have called each other..

Star Trek: Discovery 's top love story, Michael Burnham and Cleveland Booker , didn't quite heat up in season 5's premiere. Burnham and Book have been separated (but with no hard feelings) ever since Book commenced his penance for the Federation after breaking multiple laws to destroy the Dark Matter Anomaly in Star Trek: Discovery season 4. Burnham turned to Book for his courier expertise to help her catch Moll and L'ak , and if she's honest, because she wanted to see Book again.

Michael and Book agreed not to restart their relationship.

Book remains penitent and is committed to righting his wrongs with the Federation and with Michael, but there is now an understandable awkwardness between them. Book has a role to play on the USS Discovery as long as Moll and L'ak are at large , but on Kumal, Michael and Book agreed not to restart their relationship. However, this isn't the end of Burnham and Booker's love story, and it's hard to imagine they won't get back together at some point in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

Captain Rayner Is No Fan Of Burnham

What is rayner's problem.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 introduced Callum Keith Rennie's Captain Rayner of the USS Antares as a new series regular character, and he brings a new dynamic to the show. Gruff, impatient, and no-nonsense, Rayner evokes previous hardliner Star Trek Captains like Captain Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox) in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Rayner is also resentful of Captain Burnham for some reason , and he finds humor in mocking Michael, asserting his command authority, and countermanding her orders.

Rayner seems jealous of the USS Discovery's spore drive, and he mentions his displeasure that he doesn't have a Pathway Drive on the USS Antares.

Although it wasn't mentioned or factored into Star Trek: Discovery season 5's premiere, Captain Rayner is a Kellerun , a species first introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2's "Armageddon Game". Rayner's interest in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is fulfilling his Red Directive mission objective, which is retrieving the treasure, as well as capturing Moll and L'ak, whom he has tangled with before. There is plenty more to learn about Captain Rayner in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

Star Trek: Discovery Now Has Their Own Data

Fred could be good for commander paul stamets..

Star Trek: Discovery season 5's premiere introduced Fred, a Soong-type synthetic who is a merchant and fence on the planet Q'Mau. Fred obviously evokes the most famous Soong android, Data (Brent Spiner), which is another link between Star Trek: Discovery season 5 and Star Trek: The Next Generation , L'ak and Moll killed Fred after he double-crossed them, but after Fred's body was beamed onto the USS Discovery's medical bay, Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) determined from his serial number, AS-7502Y, that Fred was built from the design of Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner) from Star Trek: Picard .

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5's premiere, Stamets lamented the Federation's scuttling the spore drive program in favor of the Pathway Drive . Although Fred was "killed", it's possible Stamets and his husband, Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), can reactivate Fred. The 600-plus-year-old android may contain other secrets and answer many questions about events between Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Discovery 's era. There are intriguing possibilities for Fred in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 , and it would be odd if Fred really is dead after his lone appearance.

The USS Discovery is now "one of a kind" since it has the only working spore drive in existence.

The Next Clue In Discovery's Treasure Hunt

Discovery is going to a planet with twin moons..

The USS Discovery's next stop on the treasure hunt in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 2, "Under the Twin Moons," is Lyrek, a planet in the Vileen system, on the outer sector of the Beta Quadrant, that has 3 moons, 2 of which move in perfect sync. Captain Burnham figured this out after seeing images of Dr. Vellek's Romulan diary pages retrieved from Fred's database. One of the pages had a circular image which could be a literal treasure map, and the clues point to the Vileen system and the planet with twin moons . What Burnham will find on Lyrek remains to be seen in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 2, but the chase is on to answer one of the biggest questions left behind by Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is streaming on Paramount+