Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy watching Star Trek: Discovery, even though I would swear that every episode lately featured a character named Deuce X. Machina. You know, the crew of the Discovery are in the middle of a perilous plot, and suddenly the solution will come from some previously unidentified source. That kind of thing.
But it’s one of those “5:30 A.M.” shows of mine. A “5:30 A.M.” show involves getting up as early as possible, since the show posted on a streaming access service in the middle of the night. You can watch the episode without fear of spoilers or people “filling you in” on what’s going on. You know, like Star Wars: The Mandalorian on Friday mornings.
At this point, I’m about to discuss something called a spoiler. If you are not interested in reading a spoiler, you may want to wait until you see the episode. I’m okay with that.
Remember, spoiler alert.
La la la la la….
Doo doo doo…
So … there’s currently a plotline where Emperor Philippa Georgiou is suffering from some sort of temporal displacement or some sci-fi mumbo-jumbo like that. Last week, she and Commander Michael Burnham beam down to some isolated planet, where they meet a guy named “Carl” (kinda looks like one of the investigators from CSI), who instructs Georgiou to walk through a door. She does. And immediately, she’s teleported back in time, and across the temporal divide to the “Mirror Universe,” a concept that has appeared in several Star Trek episodes over the past 50 years (you know, the one where Spock has a goatee).
Today was the second part of that episode, and after Georgiou solves whatever problem is inherent for a Star Trek episode, she returns from the Mirror Universe to the Prime Universe (where the ST stories currently take place) and meets “Carl” again.
It’s at this point that “Carl” reveals himself to be…
The Guardian of Forever.
Holy Harlan Ellison, Batman.
Yes, THAT Guardian of Forever. The one that appears in two of the greatest stories in ST broadcast history, the TOS episode “The City on the Edge of Forever,” and the TAS episode “Yesteryear.”
I did NOT see that coming.
See, apparently time travel was outlawed at some point in the Star Trek universe, what with people wanting to travel back in time to kill this leader or that historic figure, so the Guardian of Forever had to hide himself on some uncharted planet, just waiting for the plotline where he would be needed again.
Had me fooled. To be totally honest, I thought he was going to say he was a Q. Or at least that was my betting formula.
So yeah, this may be the first time – in three seasons – where I got a complete “holy shit” moment out of watching an episode of Star Trek: Discovery. I didn’t get it with ST: Picard, I didn’t get it with ST: Lower Decks, and I’m not sure if I’m going to get it with the upcoming ST: Section 31 series (Star Trek’s clandestine CIA operatives) or the upcoming ST: Strange New Worlds (the series with Pike and Spock and Number One operating the Enterprise, pre-Kirk and McCoy).
But in this instance, I finally got a decent “holy shit” moment.
That’s what I want from a series like this.
Okay, you could call it “fan service” or “pandering to the fans,” but there’s also this concept that the show actually DID find a way to make a credible plotline from Star Trek canon and integrate it into our current experience. And I’m okay with that.
All right, Star Trek: Discovery. Next time, bring on Gary Seven from the TOS episode Assignment: Earth. I dare you. I double dog dare you.
Or let me put it in the words of the fanbase. Qapla’ yIQaH.
Chuck The Writer 