Screengrab
From the beginning of what is now the Star Trek franchise, the missions of the Federation starships has always been to ‘seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldy go where no man / no one has gone before.’ That didn’t happen much in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery as the season long story arc was more concerned with the Klingon War and the Mirror Universe. By the end of the season when the Enterprise appeared, some fans were skeptical about venturing so far into canon with a show that bore very little resemblance to the classic original — in story and production design. But …
The introduction of Captain Pike — who we truly know very little about from the original series — seems to have given the series new life and a completely new tone that hews closer to the classic Gene Roddenberry series (although with the Season 2 showrunners already having exited the series early into the season’s production, that very well could change … but let’s hope not). The season premiere definitely set a lighter tone (even the bridge of the Discovery seems to be lit differently) by injecting some much needed humor into the show, and now the second episode really felt like a story that Kirk and Company could have been involved with.
The series is obviously setting up a season-long arc with the mysterious red lights in space and the ‘Red Angel’ — and the thorny relationship between Michael and her brother Spock (who we have yet to meet, so points for not dumping him into the story right off the bat) — and this episode, ‘New Eden’, does contain elements of that arc but could very well have worked as a completely stand-alone episode as well.
The Discovery receives another signal from one of the ‘red things’ as Pike calls them, but even at full warp it would take 150 years to reach it. Luckily they still have Stamets on board and the spore drive to allow them to hop across the galaxy — even though the system is off-line at Starfleet’s orders. But this is a special case and they are allowed to fire it up once again … if Tilly can convince Staments to do it. He’s still haunted by Hugh’s death and the ‘encounter’ he had with Hugh while in the matrix and he fears if that happens again, he’ll want to stay there with him. He finally agrees to do it, without any consequences.
But the signal is gone, now replaced by what seems to be a distress call from a very Earth-like planet. Even more shocking is the presence of humans on a planet that seems to have been inhabited 200 years before warp drive was invented. How could these humans have arrived at this place without modern technology? And with a primitive society, even though they are humans from Earth, Pike insists that they follow the Prime Directive and not interfere with their development.
Screengrab
That becomes complicated when one of the humans is pretty certain they are not visitors from the north, and another discovers their advanced technology, even when Pike tries to claim the device is a family heirloom. They learn that the people of this planet, which they call New Eden, came from Earth during World War III — gulp! — and they were brought there almost as if by magic by … a red angel. This really spooks Burnham because she thought what she had seen while trapped on the asteroid in the previous episode was just an hallucination but now it’s become just a bit more real to her and she doesn’t know how to deal with it (hiding the information from Pike at first, but eventually admitting she had seen the same thing the New Edenites had described).
The New Edenites also have one piece of evidence that may support their — and Burnham’s — claim: an old helmet with a videocamera. Pike transports back to the planet but is caught in the act by Jacob, the man who is certain the visitors are not who they say they are. And Pike does come clean to him, explaining the transporter beam and admitting he has a starship. He also appeals to the man of science, telling him he needs that videocamera to learn how the humans arrived on that planet. Jacob gives him the helmet and Pike gives him some tech in exchange, a power supply that should last them a very long time. It will be interesting to see if we revisit New Eden this season to see what, if any impact this device has on the civilization.
Back on Discovery, Pike gets the ancient camera working and is able to see the video of a raging battle and … the Red Angel just before the transmission is cut off. Proof now that the New Edenites and Burnham are not victims of some kind of mass hallucination. But what does it all mean? Well, we have plenty of time this season to find out. In the meantime, I hope Star Trek: Discovery stays its current course of keeping it light and giving the bridge crew more to do. Pike’s interaction with them — and the fact that they’re all getting more dialog — really does make the series feel like classic Trek while still being its own thing.
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery begin streaming Thursdays at 8:30 PM on CBS All Access.
Share this post
