Story: The Brightest Star
Written By: Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt
Series: Star Trek: Short Treks
Year: 2018
The thing I have found myself enjoying the most about these "Short Treks" is the tone. The first season of Discovery had been grim and filled with war drama. I liked it but that permeated throughout, even in the more classic Treke elements that peaked through. If the tone of Discovery is shifting to a brighter and more hopeful style of storytelling, then the first hint has been in the "Short Treks" mini-episodes.
In this episode we see the origin of Saru. We see his home planet and how his people sacrifice themselves to some kind of being they consider a god. Who knows what that god may actually be, but it seems like it is a more advanced race. The point is not what that race is, but what being in this life means to Saru. He feels less inclined to sacrifice himself when the time comes, he doesn't quite fit in with his people, with his own family, because of that. And when some tech from whatever aliens are beaming them out of there drops down and Saru takes it...he figures out how to use it and begins communicating with someone out in space.
Eventually it comes down to a decision. His communications lead a Starfleet Officer to come meet him in secret. It turns out he had been communicating with Georgiou the whole time, and she tells him that being from a pre-warp civilization makes their whole pen pal relationship tricky, and that if he truly does intend on coming with her, chances are he will never be able to go home and see his family again. It's obviously a difficult decision, stay with everything and everyone he knows, and eventually just get killed by the god that rules over them from a distance...or leave them all behind, never see his own sister or father again, but build a new life out in the stars
But Saru sees hope in the stars, and that propels him to go with Georgiou. To leave it all behind and seek out some new kind of life. And I like that element of the story. He is this guy who is not only a little isolated and strange on the ship, but even amongst his own people he felt out of place. It lead him down a path, and ultimately he abandoned his old life, in the hopes of something better, something brighter.
So far, the theme of these Short Treks has been about loneliness yet finding some kind of hope in those moments of despair. If that is the kind of storytelling Discovery will start telling...I am vastly more on board than any other war drama stuff.
NEXT TIME: Mudd and the Klingons
Written By: Bo Yeon Kim & Erika Lippoldt
Series: Star Trek: Short Treks
Year: 2018
The thing I have found myself enjoying the most about these "Short Treks" is the tone. The first season of Discovery had been grim and filled with war drama. I liked it but that permeated throughout, even in the more classic Treke elements that peaked through. If the tone of Discovery is shifting to a brighter and more hopeful style of storytelling, then the first hint has been in the "Short Treks" mini-episodes.
Eventually it comes down to a decision. His communications lead a Starfleet Officer to come meet him in secret. It turns out he had been communicating with Georgiou the whole time, and she tells him that being from a pre-warp civilization makes their whole pen pal relationship tricky, and that if he truly does intend on coming with her, chances are he will never be able to go home and see his family again. It's obviously a difficult decision, stay with everything and everyone he knows, and eventually just get killed by the god that rules over them from a distance...or leave them all behind, never see his own sister or father again, but build a new life out in the stars
But Saru sees hope in the stars, and that propels him to go with Georgiou. To leave it all behind and seek out some new kind of life. And I like that element of the story. He is this guy who is not only a little isolated and strange on the ship, but even amongst his own people he felt out of place. It lead him down a path, and ultimately he abandoned his old life, in the hopes of something better, something brighter.
So far, the theme of these Short Treks has been about loneliness yet finding some kind of hope in those moments of despair. If that is the kind of storytelling Discovery will start telling...I am vastly more on board than any other war drama stuff.
NEXT TIME: Mudd and the Klingons
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