star trek cookbook review

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The Trouble With Trek Food

The best cookbooks help us learn and think about their subjects. The new Star Trek cookbook, sadly, only reaches for the food coloring.

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When I was a kid I used a Fisher Price recorder to tape the opening scenes of Star Trek: The Motion Picture as the VHS played on our big TV, so that alone in my room I could listen back to Kirk and Scotty’s terse exchange and ambient but excessively long shuttle trip to the retrofitted USS Enterprise. Aside from Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic swelling score, I’m not sure that as a child, I really liked this movie, or even that scene. More so it was a distraction, or like hanging out with friends who didn’t demand anything. Looking back now, the gesture of making and listening to a low-quality audio recording of the oft-cited most boring Star Trek film is just completely over-the-top, yet emblematic of the emotional intensity I felt toward Star Trek at the time, and occasionally still muster. This extreme intensity, however, couldn’t get me to want to cook from a Star Trek cookbook.

The food on Star Trek fundamentally looks terrible, from the vaunted live worms that comprise Klingon gagh to the gelatinous cubes wobbling around the original Enterprise mess hall. Slime on a stick on the Deep Space Nine station promenade? Those omelets Will Riker made that everyone thought were awful? No level of fandom could possibly make me want to eat these things, let alone make them.

My aversion, however, may put me in the minority. Because everyone eats, and because eating is a social activity, food is a key component of worldbuilding. This is especially true of stories and franchises set elsewhere: in the past, in the future, in places that don’t actually exist. And as rights holders have expanded their methods for getting fans to spend money, pop culture cookbooks became their own cottage industry . Into this trend comes Chelsea Monroe-Cassel’s Star Trek Cookbook: Culinary Adventures in the Final Frontier , which hit shelves on September 21. Monroe-Cassel, a progenitor of the franchise recipe golden age, began the Inn at the Crossroads blog in 2011 to share recipes for the foods referenced in George R. R. Martin’s book series A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted into the TV show Game of Thrones that year. The blog expanded to cover foods from other fictional properties, spurring numerous cookbook projects from Monroe-Cassel, including those inspired by the video game Overwatch , doomed 2000s Joss Whedon sci-fi show Firefly , and Star Wars .

The Star Trek Cookbook is lightly bound by the conceit that Monroe-Cassel is a “gastrodiplomat” lecturing Starfleet cadets about how to further the Federation’s exploratory and expansionist goals through sharing a meal with representatives of other planets. The dishes themselves are all references I could ID from a lifetime of consuming Star Trek, but each dish’s franchise origin is noted. The book is organized by dish type, and not Star Trek series, era, or culture. In theory this makes it more usable for its intended purpose, that is, making and eating the food. This is (ugh) logical for a cookbook, and some of the recipes in here are good. Cardassian Regova eggs , for example: I boiled them, cracked the shells, and submerged them in dye diluted in water until they emerged a pretty, webby green. Spiked with some frilly bits of lettuce they looked striking; maybe I’d serve them at a Halloween party. They were also okay devilled eggs, and I learned a new trick: that you can slice off the tops and prepare them vertically.

But they’re also just devilled hen eggs, and nothing in the filling (yogurt, red pepper, garlic) makes them anything other than superficially a little weird. Everything about how the food looks — the plating, the reliance on dyes, the lightly modernist approach — broadcasts alienness, in a sci-fi aesthetic way. But making a traditionally structured cookbook with solid recipes for kinda odd-seeming food falls short of this project’s full potential, since nobody is going to a Star Trek cookbook first and foremost because it’s a cookbook.

What the best cookbooks do is help us learn and think about their subjects. For example, what could the shifting presentation of food on Star Trek through 12 series and 13 films, along with comic books, novels, action figures, games, and a Vegas attraction that closed in 2008, tell us about the growth and evolution of the franchise? Or, what can we understand about Klingons, Vulcans, Cardassians, Bajorans, Romulans, or Ferengi by putting their foods into dialogue? Aside from being the nerdiest sentence I personally have ever written, and that’s saying a lot, cookbooks are perfect venues for exploring these kinds of questions. But the Star Trek cookbook is just trying to give fans the opportunity to pretend they’re eating foods seen and mentioned on Star Trek. Aside from nailing the look of the eggs, which Monroe-Cassel does, this is all a polite fiction, because Regovas and their eggs do not exist.

For properties like The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones , which are based on our world, with food references derived from a well-preserved history of English cookery, recreating dishes will be almost literal by default. In contrast, Star Trek at its most infamous and arguably successful offers parables for real life’s moral, ethical, and political dilemmas. Often the basic Trek setup is that the Federation and some alien other must learn to accommodate and understand one another, that both their positions have value. Food and dining have long been tools of real-life diplomacy ; look at elaborate White House state dinners, and so on. The imagined gastrodiplomat premise of Monroe-Cassel’s book is acting out this pantomime — but in the world of Star Trek, where the food on 24th-century starships is replicated and not cooked. It’s impossible to know, exactly, what the human foods of this period will be like, the same way the Victorians can’t have predicted Charms Blue Razz Berry Blow Pops. The technology just wasn’t there, and nor was the inclination.

Also, most of the food in this fictional world is literally alien. It’s grown and manufactured on planets no one alive today will ever reach, produced by cultures with biologies and political, moral, ethical, and economic systems that are shaped by factors we can only guess at — badly, probably, given how unlikely it is they’d resemble our own. The most fictional idea on Star Trek is that “new life and new civilizations” from outer space are incredibly compatible with Earth’s human society, even in how they are different. Just the idea that these alien races have food items and food cultures in the ways that are recognizable to us is a bit of a fancy. Who says aliens would name the things they eat, or prepare them, or have preferences?

All of this would be nothing more than the basic science fictional buy-in, but here the premise of Star Trek ’ s food comes to us as a cookbook, which is a form that reproduces a certain kind of knowledge . The book is bound by those conventions, and Monroe-Cassel is bound by further, practical parameters: what’s available to readers right now, on Earth.

Let’s take gagh, the Klingon dish of live worms. Gagh is textually, in Star Trek, disgusting to the human characters. In its first appearance, the second-season Next Generation episode “A Matter of Honor,” Riker (of the gross omelets) does an exchange program on a Klingon ship, and everyone makes fun of him for having to eat gagh . Even the Klingons he meets are like, “Oooh, human, are you going to eat gagh?” And Riker, having bravado, earns their respect by eating gagh with gusto.

There’s a political reading to be made here. Star Trek depicts a multicultural world that mirrors our own in a lot of ways, and back on our actual Earth, foods from distant places have a long history as tools of cultural diplomacy and exploitation . One of the constant thematic tensions in all eras of Star Trek is the extent to which Starfleet is an exploratory and diplomatic endeavor, and to what degree it is a military outfit. Often the takeaway is that it’s a gray area; Starfleet is either, or both, when it suits them (meaning both in canon and in production). Riker earning respect on the Klingon ship by eating their gross foods feels a little T. E. Lawrence , where the latter’s appreciation for Arabian cultures (and boys ) was a byproduct of and adjunct to establishing an early-20th-century British presence around the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In Star Trek, Klingons are depicted as the ultimate other. Jean-Luc Picard quipping (in Patrick Stewart ’s RP ) as the camera pans over the awful-looking Klingon foods, “We know so little about them. There really is so much to learn,” reinforces the comparison.

While Riker isn’t making a direct effort to colonize the Klingon homeworld or undermine their empire, he is part of a cultural diplomacy to draw allies and member planets further into the Federation. In “A Matter of Honor,” nothing sinister is canonically happening via the crew exchange itself. But to a viewer in 1989, or now, the subtext of Riker being dropped into the Klingon ship’s mess hall is going to evoke a memory of the orientalist trope of a traveler to a distant land becoming enmeshed in the cultural milieu while drawing this place and its people into the visitor’s sphere.

So there’s a lot to unpack around gagh that could actually reveal much about Star Trek, and because Star Trek is a product of our culture, therefore, ourselves. But of course, no cookbook produced in the U.S. is going to share recipes for live worms. Instead, Monroe-Cassel recreates gagh out of udon. These long, thick noodles look, yes, a little wormy, and they can have a slimy texture when dressed correctly. If you’re looking at a still image of a plate of gagh from Star Trek, they passingly resemble long noodles, slickly coated. But gagh isn’t noodles — it’s worms. The project hinges on simply replicating the look of gagh, and something is lost in this translation.

Even as I was dyeing my Regova eggs, the new Star Trek cookbook felt off to me. It does feel weird to be excited to eat Cardassian food at all, in light of their arc as imperialists whose occupation of the planet Bajor led to a system of slave labor camps and, ultimately, genocide — I mean, it’s all pretend, this didn’t happen. But sci-fi generally, and Star Trek perhaps especially, is often firmly allegorical. It would be difficult to cover the breadth of its alien cuisines and not run into ethical questions, even if Monroe-Cassel chose to skirt them. After all, the book’s major selling point is in some ways its posture of authority — so what wasn’t clicking?

I found the answer in the Star Trek Cookbook — another one, from 1999, co-authored by Ethan Phillips and William J. Birnes. This book embodies what struck me nearly two decades ago as an embarrassing variety of camp: There’s a simpering alien with airbrushed spot makeup and orange Nehru collar on the jacket, badly edited against a sculptural tablescape that’s giving late-’90s b’nai mitzvah buffet that’s badly pasted against a starry-sky background. Also, the recipes have always struck me as attempts to “ normalize the absurd .” In my memory, this felt awkward.

The alien on the cover — wearing a costume that looks like it’s made of the moquette they use to upholster the seating on the London Underground — is Neelix, a character portrayed on Voyager (1995-2001) by co-author Phillips. Neelix, the shipboard cook on USS Voyager, is one of the more annoying characters in Star Trek, and maybe the most annoying depending on one’s tolerance for peppy boy geniuses and floppy-vigged cosmonauts, keptin. The book’s premise is that Neelix is writing down his recipes and recollections from serving on Voyager, along with some archival information he dug up about the dining preferences of the crews of the original Enterprise from TOS, The Next Generation ’s Enterprise-D, and Deep Space Nine. A running joke on Voyager is that Neelix is an awful chef and the crew hates his cooking. But, maybe that’s not the point. “As a chef,” he writes, “I could surprise them with a taste of home tucked away inside some alien morsel.” Yet “as morale officer, I now know a little bit more about them, which would help me reach out in a personal way when they needed support and kindness.”

Contained within this frame, Phillips and Birnes’s effort is basically a Star Trek food sourcebook, in-universe and out. Because Phillips is a cast member, he has access to other Trek cast members and crew. So the book contains not just recipes referring to Star Trek shows, but also sections from Voyager props master Alan Sims and Deep Space Nine props master Joe Longo , and recipes from various Trek cast members. For example, Leonard Nimoy provides a “Kasha Varnishkas à la Vulcan.” “My favorite dish,” he writes, “handed down by my mother, who brought it from her village in the Ukraine, which is a small town in Western Vulcan.” Ha ha — but also, Nimoy is one of the most beloved figures in the history of Star Trek, behind arguably the most beloved of its many beloved characters, the one that set the blueprint for Star Trek’s approach to communicating alienness: a mostly human-looking man whose style and tone marked him, for the audience, as different.

Behind the joke about Western Vulcan is Nimoy’s biography as the son of Ukrainian immigrants who were Orthodox Jews. He famously brought aspects of Jewish ritual into his performance as Spock, and the recipe attests to just how inseparable this identity was from the formation of the character: Kasha varnishkes is a totem of Ashkenazi heritage . Likewise, the mannerisms and affect Nimoy brought to Spock, a character who is a minority nearly everywhere he goes, and never allowed to forget it, feel truer for his personal history. The inclusion of a recipe like this — one of many from various cast members, although I can’t say I’m as charmed by James Doohan’s “Scotty’s Lemon Chicken” — shows that Star Trek is more than the sum of its parts. This book is not merely about the foods on Star Trek; it is about the foods of Star Trek, and I now find the earnestness of this moving, whereas I once found it, like, kinda cringe.

Still, this book is weird and unpolished. It looks pretty bad and is functionally useless as a cookbook. It is organized by series, and then subdivided into characters; the recipes in each section loosely relate to that character, sometimes in a drawn-out way. There are no pictures, only fuzzy grayscale stills from various series and a few complementary settings from the props department. It’s almost as if you’re not supposed to make the food at all, and aside from me at my next themed dinner party, it would be unshocking if relatively few people have.

Monroe-Cassel’s book, on the other hand, looks and reads like a contemporary cookbook. It’s clean and white in its overall presentation, with hyper-compartmentalized recipe pages where the formatting does a lot of heavy lifting. The photography is bold, colorful, and a little abstract , focusing on the textures of the foods, with a few top-down shots, such as you’d see in 2010s Bon Appétit or on Instagram . Both volumes are distinctly of their time both in their treatment of Star Trek, and as cookbooks.

The contrast is clearest in a recipe for quadrotriticale salad, a dish Monroe-Cassel teased on Twitter in 2021. It’s a food first referenced in “The Trouble With Tribbles,” one of the most iconic original series episodes. “Tribbles” is a good place to start if you’ve never seen any Star Trek, TOS or otherwise, and if you’re writing a Star Trek cookbook, you can’t not have a quadrotriticale recipe.

In the show, quadrotriticale is a fictional hardy modification of the real-life triticale wheat-rye hybrid grain, and so Phillips and Birnes provide a recipe for quadrotriticale bread, joking that if you can’t find quadrotriticale at your Earth supermarket, blending whole-wheat and rye flour is a fine approximation. Monroe-Cassel’s take is a salad that uses honey and beet juice to transform carrots into wormy tendrils, and butterfly pea flower powder or food coloring to make the quadrotriticale blue. Monroe-Cassel also says you can “add the grain of whatever hue you choose to this recipe,” which must be a whimsical Star Trek way to say you can use something other than the recommended couscous. I used pearled barley and gel food coloring. I did not get the delicate look from the photo, but a garish blue that felt almost violent.

This salad is easy if time-consuming to make, and as Monroe-Cassel writes, its components (carrots, quadrotriticale, dressing, optional decor) can be prepared in advance. With honey in the dressing and the carrots I found it pretty sweet, and went back and added mustard to balance it. Even still I didn’t enjoy it, but that’s personal preference. Either sweet blue food is for you, or it isn’t. Regardless, the dish’s point isn’t how it tastes, but dinner theater. Its plating is pulled from the modernist era of 10 to 15 years ago, with its scientific sheen and laboratory exactitude complemented by a winky playfulness: Looks like this, but it’s really that. Looks like futuristic blue grain from the outskirts of the quadrant, but it’s just dyed couscous.

It is wild, and says very much about fandom’s recent trajectory, that the 1990s book written by a Star Trek cast member with loads of institutional support and input feels somehow precarious and messy with unbridled wonder and enthusiasm, while the one written by a fan in 2022 is an orderly, rational, respectable attempt to make Star Trek feel contained and palatable.

What I don’t think it says much about is Star Trek: Something that’s been with us for decades, in so many iterations, shaped by so many people, can’t be any one thing , and it would be foolish to insist on essentialist readings of what Star Trek is, or does. These are both Star Trek cookbooks, after all — but perhaps the Star Trek cookbooks appropriate for their eras.

Monroe-Cassel’s book will be embraced by some type of fan. It gives Star Trek, forever shorthand for loserdom, a socially acceptable veneer in its clarity, its straightforwardness, and its conventional approach and organization. None of the recipes I made were bad: They weren’t for me, but somebody’s going to like them. (Into grains on a salad; wish they weren’t blue.) But the book from 1999 feels so much weirder, so much fuller of pleasure at the expansiveness of the Star Trek franchise and the specificity of its details. This is what I have always loved about Star Trek, too. Which is probably why I was so embarrassed by that book: its implications. Please don’t let them know I listen to crackly audio of that long-ass nearly pornographic shuttle sequence alone in my bedroom.

And yet both books are parafictions, per art historian Carrie Lambert-Beatty, where “real and/or imaginary personages and stories intersect with the world as it is being lived,” and presented as fact. Parafictions, Lambert-Beatty writes , “prepare us to be better, more critical information consumers.” No Star Trek cookbook requiring the approval of its rights holders would go there. That makes these projects, especially Monroe-Cassel’s, exegetical. They collapse the fiction of the canon and the facts of its artifice for the purpose of knowing the material on some deeper level. This is only one of several ways of being a fan, but it certainly is the most profitable.

Inevitably, when I consider how I feel about fannish tie-ins, and just what being a fan means to me, I think of a particular scene from Star Trek. In the 1994 film Generations , the android Data, who’s spent his series arc on a quest to achieve humanity, has just developed emotions, and goes to the shipboard bar to test out this new ability.

The bartender, Guinan, sets down a tray with decanter, and asks, “Something new from Forcas III ?”

Data gags on the drink and cries, “I hate this! It is revolting.”

Guinan asks him if he wants more, and Data, who seems delighted, sets his glass back on the table: “Please.”

Looking forward to the next Star Trek cookbook.

Dust to Dust

Review: ‘unfrosted’ is a squandered comic opportunity, hundreds of meat pies, trays of kibbeh: how communities are keeping college campus protesters fed.

Book Review: The Star Trek Cookbook – A Culinary Delight

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Star Trek is near and dear to our hearts at The Cosmic Circus , so when we found out about  The Star Trek Cookbook from New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Monroe-Cassel , we quickly opened a new channel and sent a priority one communique to try to review it.

The book is the first official  Star Trek  cookbook since 1999, so it makes sense that the team would get a culinary heavyweight like  Chelsea Monroe-Cassel  to pen it.  Monroe-Cassel  came onto the scene with Inn at the Crossroads , a Game of Thrones food blog.

The same care and attention to detail that made that blog a hit has very clearly gone into crafting this tome. It’s 171 pages that span the history of Star Trek from The Original Series  to  Star Trek: Lower Decks.  Look no further if you’ve ever wondered what exactly Nog ( Aron Eisenberg ) was drooling about in  Star Trek: Deep Space 9 when he mentioned Tube Grubs, this cookbook has a recipe for the kebabs.

Read ahead for our thoughts and find out why we think this book is worth your time.

[Note: While I am reviewing this novel independently and honestly, it should be noted that it has been provided to me by Pocket Books/Star Trek, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, for the purpose of this review.]

Gorgeous food photography in The Star Trek Cookbook

First, let’s discuss the most significant improvement since the last cookbook. The Star Trek Cookbook features beautiful, high-quality, and full-page color photos of the food in question. The photography of things like the Riskian Cheese Pastry, the Quadrotriticale Salad, and the Kava Rolls would be totally at home in the pages of a gourmet cooking magazine.

Organization galore, plus step-by-step recipes

The food is organized by course. It’s pretty straightforward. When you page to one of the course sections of the book, you’re greeted with text and pictures of the recipes included within the section.

Unfortunately, there’s no index to ingredients or specific recipes. You’ll have to browse the pages to find what you want. The pages themselves are thick glossy paper that stands up to dog-earing and even writing in the margins of the recipes, so if you’re the kind of home cook that does that, this may appeal to you.

There is an interesting “Menu Suggestions” appendix at the back of the book. That has ideas for meals from breakfast to dramatic entertaining, and each sample menu includes page numbers for the recipes. The meal-planning suggestions are great and even include themed drinks in most cases.

This one has straightforward step-by-step recipes, a vast improvement from the original Star Trek cookbook . If paragraphs of text make your head spin, don’t worry. The instructions are easy to follow and don’t have complicated culinary jargon.

How difficult are the recipes in the Star Trek Cookbook?

If you’re more comfortable with getting your dinner from a replicator or paying a visit to Neelix in his galley for his latest creation, don’t fret. The Star Trek Cookbook has recipes that are approachable for novice cooks. It also has a few deeply challenging recipes – like Uttaberry Cruffins – that will satisfy the most proficient home cooks.

Each recipe in the book has a difficulty level on a scale of 1 to 4 pips – that’s Ensign to Captain, for those out there keeping rank.

Fandom? …Bueller?

One thing missing from the food photographs are pictures from the various Star Trek series with stills from the episodes where the food was mentioned. The original  Star Trek Cookbook  from 1999 had pictures, but they were black and white.

The images we get are still amazing and put the focus on the food, but I missed seeing the characters. I wanted to see Quark ( Armin Shimmerman ) behind his bar or Neelix ( Ethan Phillips ) in his galley. Star Trek has a huge culinary history, as evidenced by the fact that there was a demand for this book, and I wish there were more pictures from in the universe.

The Star Trek Cookbook is a book geared toward fandom, so the lack of pictures from the various series was slightly disappointing. I suspect it may have been a rights issue trying to navigate 56 years of television history, and that’s ok. The updated Star Trek Cookbook still works as a gorgeous reference book to the cuisine.

And one thing to note about the book – although it includes culinary fare from  Lower Decks  and  Picard , it does not include  Star Trek: Strange New World s  or  Star Trek: Prodigy . This is understandable, considering  Strange New World s is brand new. I’m looking forward to the next edition, where we’ll hopefully learn some of Captain Christopher Pike’s ( Anson Mount ) gourmet breakfast secrets. 

Final thoughts

Chelsea Monroe-Cassel’s   The Star Trek Cookbook  is worth checking out. If you’re only in the market for one cookbook this year, get this one. This book would make a delectable addition to your home library, with recipes sure to please visitors from all four quadrants of space. It would also be an excellent gift for any Star Trek fans in your life.

The recipes are easy to follow, and the pictures elevate them to a mouth-watering level. This is a book you’ll want to browse and rabbit ear – so you’ll want to pick it up in hardcover versus e-reader form. 

My rating for this book: 8/10

The Star Trek Cookbook is available now! Are you going to check the cookbook out or maybe add it to your holiday wishlist? Please share your thoughts with us on Twitter @MyCosmicCircus – especially if you make anything delicious from the book!

And if you’re feeling hungry, check one of our recent Cosmic Circus recipes, try out our Hocus Pocus buns!

Cosmic Cuisine: Hocus Pocus Buns

I am a writer and interviewer based somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant. I love all things nerdy - but Star Trek and Spiderman have special places in my heart. Find me at @TulinWrites on Twitter. And visit my other website for more reviews and interviews: movieswetextedabout.com

Ayla Ruby has 170 posts and counting. See all posts by Ayla Ruby

Book Review: The Star Trek Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel

Sue  •  september 20, 2022.

That’s right, friends – It’s a brand new Star Trek Cookbook!  There are more than 70 new recipes in this updated edition, with inspiration pulled from across the franchise, including Lower Decks (First Contact Day Salmon), Picard (Romulan Flatbread and Bunnicorn Pizza), Discovery (Krada Leg Skewers), and even Star Trek Online (Snaildoodle Cookies) and tie-in novels (Andorian Spice Bread, mentioned in the Stargazer novel, Oblivion ).  And with every recipe comes an absolutely gorgeous photograph of the finished product, snapped by the author.

Each recipe includes a difficulty rating (out of 4 pips), expected preparation time, and yield, as well as suggested pairings with other included dishes and suggested plating.  There are even whole suggested menus in the back, for your next Trek party.  But it’s the introductions written for each dish that really make this book special.  From the in-universe traditional preparation of gagh to the cultural significance of hasperat to the versatility of the humble leola root, you’re in for a treat if you don’t actually make any of the recipes.

But, of course, I couldn’t resist.  And I knew exactly where to start:  Plomeek Soup.

While I may not be entirely sold on this particular recipe, I am sold on this cookbook.  I’ve already marked a few more recipes that I want to try.  I’ve been eyeing the I’danian Spice Pudding…  And as the weather gets chillier, I’ll likely make my way through all of the soups and stews.  As Nurse Chapel says, “Your self-pity’s a terrible first course. Why don’t you try the soup instead?” (TOS:  “Obsession”)

The Star Trek Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel was published by Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster on September 20, 2022 in hardcover and ebook formats.  It is available online or at your local retailer.

*This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.

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  2 comments for “ book review: the star trek cookbook by chelsea monroe-cassel ”.

My favorite ST cookbook is this: https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Trekker_Cookbook

My favorite ST cookbook is this one:

https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Trekker_Cookbook

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Star Trek Cookbook

Ethan phillips , william j. birnes.

317 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2012

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Star Trek Cookbook

We are venturing once more into the farthest reaches of the Milky Way galaxy, where no cookbook has gone before…

About the Book

Well, sort of. It sounds better, but of course, there have been Star Trek cookbooks before this one.

First of all let me just establish that this is in no way meant to replace the original ST cookbook from the 80s, written by Ethan Phillips and William J. Birnes. That collection of recipes is much loved by fans, and rightly so! It was pretty trailblazing when it was put together, and I personally love all the little snippets of behind-the-scenes intel, actors’ favorite recipes, etc.

Further building on the monumental phenomenon that is Star Trek, this new cookbook is entirely in-world, with the occasional overlap of dishes between this and the prior book, but entirely new recipes . I wanted to honor the cookbook that came before, but make sure that this book could stand alone if it were the first Star Trek cookbook a fan added to their shelf.

As a long-time Trek fan, I’ve toyed with the idea of a cookbook like this for years, and I was so excited when I finally got the call! As always, I started with the most canon and most popular dishes from the world, and then grew the recipe collection from there, using in-world ingredients as a guide. It’s presented as a Starfleet-sponsored collection of recipes from across multiple quadrants and cultures, intended to foster better understanding of different species from a human perspective with its Earth-centric ingredients. Above all, I wanted it to embrace the best of Star Trek and its core message of hope, acceptance, and exploration in the spirit of gastrodiplomacy.

Everything in the book is tied to a canon or semi-canon dish, either from the shows, movies, or novels. This collection includes recipes through Lower Decks season 2 and up to Prodigy and Strange New Worlds, which unfortunately aired after the cookbook went to press. Hopefully we can visit the kitchen with Captain Pike at a later date!

The Process

As with all my projects, I am very careful to stay as close as possible to the canon, when possible. So as usual, I started with lists! Thankfully, the Memory Alpha and Beta wikis were there to assist, because without them, there probably wouldn’t be a cookbook! After making exhaustive lists of all the food seen or mentioned, I divided everything into categories and looked at what was lacking, then balanced it accordingly. After that came the fun part- developing the recipes, testing (a lot!), and finally photographing. Where possible, I tried to match the visuals to the source material, as below.

As my usual cabinet of dishes and glassware has a distinctly medieval aesthetic, I needed to update it with a LOT more modern and futuristic pieces. I had a blast shopping around and really expanding my collection. I found some amazing pieces, including some of the cutlery used on the show.

Overall, it was a challenging but immensely rewarding experience. Like so many Star Trek fans, I grew up watching it and loving the characters and all their adventures in space. To now be a part of that universe, and to have contributed just a little to that richness, is a huge honor.

My Favorite Recipes

This is really hard, but I can narrow it down a little to: Fettran Risotto, Bajoran Groatcakes with Squill Syrup, Katterpod Noodle Bowl, Ktarian Pudding with Amber Spice Crumble, and Klingon Bloodwine. AND the Uttaberry Cruffins.

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The Star Trek Cookbook

Paper Over Board

LIST PRICE $35.00

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Table of Contents

About the book, about the author.

Chelsea Monroe-Cassel, as a lifelong artist and fan of fantasy, found an outlet for her multifaceted creativity with the  Game of Thrones  food blog,  Inn at the Crossroads . It was so successful that it quickly spawned an official cookbook, which has received rave reviews from fans and critics alike. Like the literature she loves, Chelsea’s work is a synthesis of imagination and historical research. She is now focused on bringing other fantasy worlds to life through food, photography, art, and digital media. Chelsea is the coauthor of  A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook  and the author of  World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook ,  Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook , Firefly: The Big Damn Cookbook , and  The Elder Scrolls: The Official Cookbook .

Product Details

• Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek (September 20, 2022)
• Length: 192 pages
• ISBN13: 9781982186289

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Star Trek Book Club

The star trek cookbook.

Learn how to make meals that are out of this world with this indispensable guide to the food of the stars! Perfect for every fan, this updated edition of The Star Trek Cookbook from the New York Times bestselling author comes with brand-new and delicious recipes, tantalizing visuals, and easy-to-follow instructions and advice to make the best foods from the future.

With all-new recipes right beside timeless classics, food stylist, and New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Monroe-Cassel’s reimagining of The Star Trek Cookbook presents a visual feast along with complete guides on favorite foods from across Star Trek, adapted for easy use in 21st century kitchens. Themed as a Starfleet-sponsored collection of recipes from across multiple quadrants and cultures, and intended to foster better understanding of different species from a human perspective with its Earth-centric ingredients, this must-have cookbook embraces the best of Star Trek and its core message of hope, acceptance, and exploration in the spirit of gastrodiplomacy.

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The 15 Best Star Trek Books Ever Written

Like all our favorite franchises, "Star Trek" is a multimedia phenomenon. Today's kids grow up in a world full of TV series, movies, comics, games, and, of course, tie-in novels. "Star Trek" novels are notable because they're non-canon by default, and that's allowed their writers to go ham while exploring strange new worlds. Some of these earliest tie-in writers went on to become science fiction titans, and sometimes those titans like to return for more Trekkie fun.

"Trek" books are also a unique part of the fandom experience. "Star Trek: The New Voyages" was a licensed, two-book anthology, printed in the late '70s and curated from fanfiction. Wilder still, in 1985, writer Della Van Hise saw her "Star Trek" novel "Killing Time" published and recalled for an edited reprint as longtime fans realized their beloved slash fiction pairing of Kirk and Spock was no longer hiding in the shadows. It's a goofy testament to how fans helped "Star Trek" thrive in the first place, and today, these tie-in novels are still great comfort food. These are 15 of the best that I've found, read, and loved over the years.

A Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson

Elim Garak isn't special to "Star Trek" fans alone. He's also part of actor  Andrew Robinson in a unique way. The charming-yet-wily Cardassian tailor (and spy) called Deep Space Nine his home, but Garak's too big a personality to be contained by its steel corridors (or with a word from Dr. Bashir, his unlikely best friend.) Robinson grew him that way from the start, creating an in-character diary to guide him through Garak's behavior. Garak's diary, however, took on a life of its own as Robinson made readings from it part of his convention appearances. Eventually, Robinson was coaxed into turning it into a novel.

"A Stitch in Time" is epistolary, presented as a series of letters sent by Garak to Dr. Bashir in the wake of the Dominion War. Contained within are fragments of Garak's childhood, memories of a long-ago love, and preparations for the future. The greatest compliment I can offer is that every word drips with Robinson's genteel drawl. No one else could have written this novel, and it's the perfect love letter from an actor to the character he brought to life.

Imzadi by Peter David

"Imzadi" was rereleased in 2003, packaged with its sequel and listed as "Imzadi Forever." By all accounts, the follow-up is a fine tale, but I haven't read it. My recommendation is for the original 1992 release, which I eagerly bought in hardcover. Like another upcoming Peter David selection, "Imzadi" has a complicated timeline, but the emotional thread and David's clean prose make the plot easy to follow.

The word "imzadi" is first used in "Encounter at Farpoint," telepathically sent to Riker by Troi. However, it's author Peter David who expands on the power of the Betazed term for "beloved." The word refers not to a teen's first love but to something richer and deeper. The novel explores Riker's and Troi's early relationship through the lens of a distant, alternate future in which Troi is dead, and Riker is a bitter old cuss. Obviously, nobody wants a future like this one, but the Guardian of Forever, that magical archway from classic "Star Trek," has our backs. The return of this sentient space rock is always a selling point, but the story also has all the political twists and turns a Trekkie could want.

How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford

John M. Ford was one of the best, most underrated writers of the modern era. Until recently, almost all of his work had fallen out of print with his death in 2006. Most of his catalog is still pretty hard to find and requires trawling used bookstores with an eye for treasure. Unfortunately, that includes 1987's "How Much for Just the Planet?" It's Ford's second "Star Trek" novel, and it's a "Dr. Strangelove" -style artifact of perfect absurdity.

"How Much for Just the Planet?" is a surreal sci-fi mélange: Take the crew of the Enterprise, pit them against opportunistic Klingons, and add a previously undiscovered planet full of untouched dilithium. Then, mix in a troupe of truly incomprehensible, goofball aliens, slap everybody in a hotel (with a golf course — it's a plot point), and make them play in a "Squid Game"-style competition that focuses on heists and ballroom dancing instead of murder. The goal is friendship and having some good laughs along the way.

Spock Must Die! by James Blish

The first original "Star Trek" novel is still a good read and a great place to get some context for the ways "Trek" fiction has evolved. "Spock Must Die!" feels fresher than its 1970 print date in many places, but bear in mind, it plays with some "exotic sexuality" tropes regarding Spock. Yeah, he was definitely the unlikely sex symbol of original "Star Trek," but Blish's prose occasionally takes that to a funky place.

Otherwise, this book does introduce some neat concepts way before later "Star Trek" wore them out. The evil clone plot line is a groaner staple now, but Blish's novel twists it up with some unsettling fridge logic questions about how the transporter room could work with some mad science drive. From there, the science is pretty pulpy, but the high-stakes thrills leading up to the title drop — a Spock does have to die — make for a nice, cozy ride through an earlier science fiction era.

Q-Squared by Peter David

Like most "Star Trek” tie-ins, "Q-Squared" isn't canon, but it's close enough to an assumed truth that fans have kind of adopted it anyway. It's a three-lane timeline pileup, and this time, it is a little confusing. It makes sense for there to be some confusion over what the hell is going on because this book brings in John de Lancie's omnipotent trickster, Q . And it's not a Q story unless everyone (including Picard) asks, "What the hell is going on?" at least once.

In this case, what the hell is going on is a tantrum thrown by a young Q whom "Trek" fans know as Trelane, the Squire of Gothos. A longtime "Star Trek" favorite, Trelane was a quirky, omnipotent brat that futzed around with Kirk and his buddies until his family pulled him in line at the end of the episode . David's novel draws on the fan-inspired retcon that this classic character is actually a Q ( a speculation John de Lancie also shares ) and ties it all together in a messy bow. It doesn't always make sense, especially the semi-metaphorical sword fight finale. Still, it's a great trip through the fringes of the Continuum.

Spock's World by Diane Duane

Author Diane Duane is a modern treasure. Her "Young Wizards" fantasy series remains one of the best ways to hook a kid on the dreams hidden inside books. Still writing and still a part of fandom today, she also wrote 1988's "Spock's World," one of the first and best books to dig into the social intricacies and history of Vulcan.

The framing narrative deals with a fledgling separatist movement working to pull Vulcan out of the Federation, and it provides a chance for Spock and his family to take the spotlight. It's a great political yarn, and it pulls on some threads from classic "Trek" episodes, most notably "Amok Time." However, the real meat here is the intricate world building with lingering glimpses of major moments in Vulcan history. It's a great reminder that what makes "Star Trek" so special are the worlds it explores. Although "Spock's World" is not canon, Duane's graceful creation continues to influence other "Star Trek" creators .

The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack

With the debut of every new "Star Trek" TV series, you can rest assured that a swath of new tie-in novels are in the works. Obviously, the tie-in tradition continued with "Picard." The first novel based on Jean-Luc's solo outing was published within a month of the show's premiere. "The Last Best Hope" is a prequel to " Picard ," and it does a solid job of fleshing out a number of connections that the first season didn't get a chance to work on.

Though a lot of the novel is devoted to Raffi , the troubled intelligence officer we grow to love on the show, it's the glimpses of Romulan culture that stand out. The religious order introduced in the show, the Qowat Milat , are in sharp focus here and help round out the childhood of Elnor , our orphaned Romulan Legolas. "The Last Best Hope" has another trait that may make it attractive to fans of the show: Until "Picard" contradicts it, this book is currently as close to actual canon as a "Star Trek" novel can be.

Star Trek: The Eugenics War by Greg Cox

It's easier to refer to this bulk recommendation as "The Khan Trilogy." The first two novels are formally titled "The Eugenics War: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh" ( volumes one and two , respectively), and the third is "To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh." The trilogy is two parts covert war thriller and one part survivalist nightmare. All together, it pieces together the complete life of one of the mightiest (and bare-chestiest) foes in "Star Trek" history .

"The Eugenics War" is a look inside the doomed effort to prevent that legendary conflict from ever happening. As mentioned in the classic episode "Space Seed," eugenicist science created a social schism the likes of which Marvel's Magneto barely dreamed of. The effort to stop Khan from dominating Earth fails, but infighting eventually drives the tyrant into exile. The events of "Space Seed" happen after the first two books, and the final novel sees Khan struggle to survive on Ceti Alpha V , the sandy death-world we discover in "The Wrath of Khan," surrounded by loyalists and scarce resources. Great stuff.

The Final Reflection by John M. Ford

My prior John M. Ford recommendation may have the spotlight, but don't pass up "The Final Reflection" if you can find it. While not as richly built as Diane Duane's "Spock's World," Ford's book treats Klingons with such detail and complexity that it went on to affect later portrayals of the proud warrior race. It's a book that's occasionally lauded as a "Star Trek" novel that stands on its own as a great work of science fiction, which is a backhanded compliment that ignores the love and passion of "Trek" writers. Nevertheless, that is an accurate assessment here.

The focus of the book is on Klingon Captain Krenn, whose decades-long effort to prevent his own people from destroying the Federation remains a secret until he pens his own chronicle of events. During his career, Krenn flickers in and out of the lives of the characters we know, with special emphasis placed on his encounter with Spock as a child. There's some hefty focus on Klingon stratagems in the early part of the novel, which can be daunting for the reader, but the journey is worth it.

Fallen Heroes by Dafydd ab Hugh

"Fallen Heroes" is a sentimental choice. It's one of my gruesome comfort food books. Pairing the horrific invasion of DS9 with a time-shifted mystery, the novel puts Quark and Odo together as ad hoc detectives trying to stop the massacre of their friends from happening. It's not a perfect tale, and, coming back to it later, it misses some character tone due to how early in the show's airing it was published. Still, it's a good yarn from a time when we were starved for stories that put our best frenemies together.

Author Dafydd ab Hugh has a gift for crunchy, visceral action sequences, and that got him a pretty decent gig writing "Doom" tie-ins in the '90s. It's best to go in with the reminder that, according to the classic "Star Trek” fiction trope, our heroes will be alright by the end, but there's some gnarly road before this book gets there. "Fallen Heroes," like many older tie-in novels, is easily found used.

Q-In-Law by Peter David

Peter David gets on this list three times because, along with his clean prose and keen understanding of the franchise, he also understands what a fan would kill to see. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to great recurring characters, and two fan favorites take the spotlight in "Q-In Law." The omnipotent Q is a guaranteed good time, but adding Deanna Troi's dramatic mother Lwaxana to the mix makes for a salty popcorn festival.

The premise is simple: Noticing that the Enterprise is ready to host a wedding, Q shows up with mischief on his mind. Lwaxana arrives for the diplomatic event, and Q picks up on the Betazed noble's talent for chaos. However, for once in his life, Q gets more than he bargained for when he flirts with Lwaxana. Somewhere in the mayhem, Worf notes the crew might as well sell tickets to watch it all fall apart. I recommend tracking down the audiobook . It's narrated by John de Lancie and Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (Q and Lwaxana themselves), and they happily go all in on the verbal sparring.

Prime Directive by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

The Prime Directive is one of the few immutable tenets of the "Star Trek” universe. However, Starfleet General Order 1 is not without its flaws. To wit, no Starfleet command or crew is to interfere with the development of an alien society. It's a Cold War product that was designed by minds worried about escalation and accidental destruction. Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens' "Prime Directive," published in 1990, digs into what happens when that order is disobeyed.

In both the original series and the movies, Kirk and his crew rarely receive lasting consequences for their actions. This novel sets about dismantling that trope. Kirk, in charge of observing Talin IV, a world on the cusp of first contact, seems to accidentally violate the Prime Directive. Worse, his mistake devastates the developing Talin society. From Kirk to Uhura, the command crew of the Enterprise see their careers ended for their failure. The bulk of the novel is the long process of the crew (who have either resigned, been demoted to ensign, or court-martialed) seeking out what actually went wrong on Talin IV. The answers are complex, and the ethical questions are thought-provoking.

Sarek by A.C. Crispin

Author A.C. Crispin was a key figure in not only helping readers understand that tie-in novels shouldn't be dismissed as "amateur" content but also in protecting other writers from being scammed. Her talents as a writer provided light but intricate stories. "Sarek" (not to be confused with the phenomenal "Next Generation" episode of the same name ) is a rich look at one of "Star Trek's" most complicated figures .

"Sarek" is a political thriller tempered by Sarek's sometimes cold Vulcan discipline. A veiled threat from an unknown alien race aims to unbalance the core of the Federation. Balanced against these high stakes is the famed Vulcan ambassador's wife's illness. Amanda Grayson 's humanity helped both Sarek and Spock bridge their two worlds. However, her impending loss threatens to undo the peace father and son forged years ago. In the book, Amanda's journal provides empathetic glimpses inside Sarek's life. "Sarek" is a novel as crucial as "Spock's World" for fans of the iconic Vulcans.

Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan

Uhura 's popularity was a big deal for television back when "Star Trek" first came on the air. Unfortunately, moments in which she took the lead were all too rare. By 1985, Uhura was still a supporting character on screen, but now, she had a couple of novels that gave her some more in-depth attention. "Uhura's Song" is the best and, frankly, the weirdest slice of fanfic-style glory to make it to the printed page.

Long ago, Uhura made friends with a woman named Sunfall of Ennien, a diplomat from the planet Eaiaou, whose love of dance and song outlived her when a deadly pandemic decimated her world. However, there's a clue in the songs Sunfall taught Uhura that might help end the pandemic before it wipes out the whole planet. This is where I have to warn you that this strange and lovely novel is basically "Warrior Cats” in space. Yes, the people of Eaiaou are cat people — with emphasis on the cat side of that equation. Shut up! It's awesome!

Metamorphosis by Jean Lorrah

This last pick is going to be a divisive one. Jean Lorrah 's "Metamorphosis" is a chunky book that lags in a few places, but it does two things well enough to get a sentimental recommendation: First, though non-canon, the book picks up after "Measure of a Man," the "Next Generation" episode that gave Data legal protection as a sentient lifeform and explores the ethical aftermath in a way that's catnip to me. Second, the novel makes the acerbic Dr. Pulaski somewhat likable and empathetic. Now, that's an achievement!

Although there's a handful of plot threads going on in this large, lumpy novel, the biggest one is Data's temporary tenure as what he's wanted to become all along — a fleshy human (with all that entails). As anyone who rolls out of bed to the symphony of their bones cracking could tell the android, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Still, he persists in a weird kind of hero's journey, and although everything is set back to baseline by the end, the trip is one of a kind.

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Star Trek: Coda – Book III: ‘Oblivion’s gate’ Review: The Star Trek Literary Universe Ends With A Bang, Not a Whimper

Review: Star Trek: Coda – Book III “Oblivion’s Gate”

So… we’ve reached the end.

Taking the baton from James Swallow and Dayton Ward , David Mack , now a 29-time Star Trek novelist, has the enormous task of bringing home the end of the Star Trek literary universe.

If you’re reading this review, you probably know that the Star Trek: Coda trilogy is a way to do just that: bring the post-2005 Star Trek novel universe to a close, an effort that the trilogy’s authors thought necessary considering the ongoing on-screen Star Trek projects like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard along with the upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series.

What we appreciated about Oblivion’s Gate is that it’s clear the stakes are deeply personal, despite the universe-spanning story. The multi-universe threat our heroes face thanks to The Next Generation ‘s one-time enemy, the Devidians, is the overarching plot sure, but Mack certainly doesn’t shy away from digging deeply into intense loss and personal suffering. Taken at face value, we know our heroes need to make the ultimate sacrifice to stop the threat facing them – that is, erasing themselves and their entire universe from existence – and that the road to that solution isn’t an easy one. But having interpersonal risk associated with the threat certainly helps bring the stakes closer to home as the Temporal Apocalypse gets underway.

“Good or bad – it no longer matters, Beverly. This is our last stand. We must hold this ground until our task is done, or else we lose everything. Not just all we’ve had, but all that anyone, anywhere, anywhen , has ever had, or ever will have.” Jean-Luc Picard to Beverly Crusher

Those who have finished the second book in this trilogy know that our heroes had to take shelter in the Mirror Universe to escape Admiral William Riker, who is being influenced by some kind of temporal personality disorder. Oblivion ‘s Gate hits the ground running, and soon enough we are introduced to even more familiar characters, such as the captain of the CSS Enterprise , Jean-Luc Picard, and Director Savvik of Memory Omega, a scientific facility that houses all kinds of advanced technology. While in the Mirror Universe, our heroes learn a fascinating truth about their existence: they are actually not part of the most stable – and therefore most important – timeline, the Prime Timeline, but rather merely a branch of it.

“Prime Timeline” should be a familiar term to fans, who know that it refers to canonical Star Trek — the stuff we’ve seen on the large and small screen. This is a jarring discovery for the book’s heroes, who realize that they must sacrifice their own timeline – what they call the First Splinter timeline – to ensure the Prime Timeline survives the Devidians’ attack. Indeed, the Prime Timeline is the only timeline that can survive the Temporal Apocalypse. Without giving anything away, we were quite pleased with how Mack introduces the First Splinter and Prime Timelines to the lit-verse characters, and as you learn about how the First Splinter timeline was created, you’ll never look at a particular event from a certain Star Trek movie the same way again.

In our experience, this book was incredibly emotionally draining; we imagine that feeling would multiply the more you’ve been invested in the Star Trek lit-verse. This emotional turmoil was mainly due to the enormous existential threat our characters face, and how each person deals with their impending and inevitable erasure from existence. To his credit, Mack manifests existential conversations between a myriad of relationships, such as father and daughter (Data and Lal), husband and wife (Jean-Luc Picard/Beverly Crusher or William Riker/Deanna Troi), star-crossed lovers (Worf and K’Ehleyr), and even extra-natural entities (Wesley and… other versions of Wesley). One can’t help but reflect on humans’ “normal” existential fears while reading this book, and we credit Mack for really digging into this aspect of the human condition to help tell his story.

“Forgive me, Rene. In all of history, there have been few good deaths, but a great many bad ones. I fear are all about to share in the latter.” Picard to his son.

We can only imagine the kind of pressure David Mack was under in writing this entry of the Coda trilogy. How does one end an entire library of Star Trek lore? While this book may not satisfy everybody’s expectations (we’re sure that no book could have), for our money Mack accomplishes his mission with grace. We can’t help but imagine him writing this book as if he were a choreographer for a dance, where the dancers gracefully complete their complex moves around the stage as they head upbeat toward their grand finale.

Importantly, this grand finale is given room to breathe. It may not surprise you that at 422 pages, Oblivion’s Gate is Mack’s longest book, and only rarely do we consider some parts of this novel unnecessary or filler. Rest assured that your favorite Star Trek lit-verse characters are treated with respect in their final moments, and we were largely happy with how Mack chose to bring ends to these characters. And speaking of ends, we want to mention that the grace note at the end of the book – a short chapter that helps frame the lit-verse and future canonical Star Trek as equally notable works of art – will make you crack a smile and marvel at Mack’s creativity.

The only major criticism we want to level against Oblivion’s Gate is Mack’s penchant for overwhelming technobabble. This may seem like a strange critique for a Star Trek production, but in this book, Mack really seems to indulge in the highly technical and fantastical sci-fi explanations for what’s happening to our characters. For even those who are veterans of Star Trek ‘s inherent use of sci-fi silliness, this book leans way too much into it. Sometimes, you might read a few sentences about the temporal things that are happening, and then pause and ask yourself, “what did I just read?” Of course, oftentimes a character will swoop in with a convenient analogy or comparison to help reorient lost readers, but we can’t help all this could have been accomplished less verbosely. It does help a little that Mack has some characters equally perplexed by the temporal jargon, but such self-reflexive writing doesn’t erase our complaint.

One minor criticism against this book is that sometimes it seems that Mack has a hat from which he pulls various character names, and then tries to insert them in this story. For example, Mirror Savvik’s inclusion as director of Memory Omega just seems like fan service. Never is a reason given why it’s her who heads that project. We know the Mirror Universe is not supposed to be exactly like the Prime Timeline, but it seems too convenient to include the aging Vulcan there. The same thing can be said of K’Ehleyr (Prime-Worf’s deceased wife) as the CSS Enterprise ‘s first officer. We get that this trilogy is a celebration of Star Trek ‘s literary efforts over the past couple of decades and you would naturally want to include as many people as possible (on that front Mack does include some cameos and references that long-time fans will enjoy), but just know that sometimes it may not make too much narrative sense when certain characters pop up.

Gripes aside, we want to give kudos to the three authors of this trilogy for having the urge to end Star Trek’ s non-canonical presence in as legitimate a way as possible. Like Dayton Ward explained when his book, Moments Asunder , kicked off the trilogy, he and his fellow novelists wanted to spare Star Trek fans the kind of existential agony that Disney produced for Star Wars fans when that company struck all expanded universe canon from the record. In our opinion, Ward, Swallow, and Mack have earned the thanks of many Star Trek fans.

As you finish this excellent trilogy, here are two pieces of advice: one, read the Acknowledgements! And two, and more importantly, block out time in your day to read through the last 40 or so pages uninterrupted. To return to the choreographed dance analogy from before, you wouldn’t want to get up and walk out of the theater as the last dance number is underway, would you? Mack has delivered a literary effort worthy of such undivided attention, and as you turn the last page of this book, it’s okay to feel exhaustion, sadness, and even grief at having the lit-verse as we know it come to end. But don’t forget to feel happy for the gift that is the Star Trek lit-verse – dozens of books filled with new and familiar characters, countless memorable moments, and lessons and themes that continue the Star Trek spirit. No matter what form Star Trek ‘s novel future entails, we’re sure these elements will be ever-present.

Star Trek: Coda: Moments Asunder , Star Trek: Coda: The Ashes of Tomorrow , and Star Trek: Coda: Oblivion’s Gate are all now available on Amazon.

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the news on Star Trek merchandise releases, along with the latest details on Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Lower Decks , Star Trek: Prodigy , and more.

You can follow us on Twitter , Facebook , and Instagram .

Kyle Hadyniak has been a lifelong Star Trek fan, and isn't ashamed to admit that Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Nemesis are his favorite Star Trek movies. You can follow Kyle on Twitter @khady93 .

November 30, 2021 at 4:42 pm

Thanks for this review.

Just FYI, with regard to your remarks about the Mirror Universe characters and their roles in the story: I didn’t “pull them out of a hat.”

All of their roles in the story were logical continuations of their long-running story arcs from the Mirror Universe novels and short stories that have been published by Pocket Books since 2009, starting with the anthologies GLASS EMPIRES and OBSIDIAN ALLIANCES; continuing in the short-story anthology SHARDS AND SHADOWS; and further expanded upon in my later novels THE SORROWS OF EMPIRE, RISE LIKE LIONS, and Section 31: DISAVOWED.

Those tales fully account for how and why Saavik heads Memory Omega, why K’Ehleyr is the XO of Luc Picard’s jaunt-ship, and everyone else we see in the Mirror Universe parts of OBLIVION’S GATE.

As for your dislike of my technobabble … to each their own. It’s like spice in a recipe; everyone has a level of flavoring they prefer. Some like it hot, others not so much. YMMV.

LLAP, David Mack

Max Fountain

December 10, 2021 at 5:06 pm

I appreciate the in depth review, and indeed the tremendous effort that went into the novels. Yet I can’t see the way ST has gone – starting with Enterprise, through the gun-wielding time-wrecking absurdities of the PineKirk movies, to the radically incoherent plotting of Picard, and always subtly drifting to starboard – as anything but a sad, chaotic cash grab in phases of increasing artistic and philosophical bankruptcy. Prodigy – wtf? The novels were the caretakers of GRs vision. Now we lose that too. Okay, but don’t expect me to buy the things.

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Friday, May 3, 2024

Positively trek book club: they sure like writing for garak.

Positively Trek Podcast:

Star Trek Explorer Presents: "The Mission" and Other Stories Part 2 of 2

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Wednesday, May 1, 2024

New comic day sons of star trek #2.

Sons of Star Trek  #2

The miniseries spin-off from IDW's flagship Star Trek  and Star Trek: Defiant  comic series continues with today's release of the second issue of Sons of Star Trek !

As always, check out the various covers below, along with links to purchase the digital edition from Amazon and the publisher's synopsis.

Jake, Nog, and Alexander find themselves stuck in a never-ending loop of being blown to smithereens aboard the U.S.S. Avery and then revived by Q Jr.-who insists he's helping them learn some lesson unbeknownst to them. Amid the attack from the Breen, the Avery crew and their strong-willed, bureaucratic captain, Skrain Dukat, refuse to listen to the trio's musings about an alternate universe. Left with no other choice, they are forced to begrudgingly work together and attempt to step into their Starfleet roles in hopes of helping the Federation ship survive the attack and return home...or be stuck in this alternate reality forever!

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

New comic day: defiant #14.

Star Trek: Defiant  #14

New Comic Day is here once again, and we have the latest entry in the Star Trek: Defiant  series hitting newsstands today: Issue #14 of the continuing missions of Worf and his crew aboard the U.S.S. Defiant !

Resistance is futile! Cornered by their own parasitically possessed crewmate, Worf and the Defiant crew scramble for a way to safely save her before it's too late. But the hive is eager to grow its numbers, seeking total dominance over a galactic level of organic species after already claiming Starbase 99's crew as hosts. Trapped and unable to call Starfleet for assistance, Hugh suggests taking drastic measures – assimilate B'Elanna to Borg tech!

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

New comic day: star trek #19 - new story arc.

Star Trek  #19 Pleroma  Part 1

Wednesday is always new comic day, and this week we have a new addition to IDW's flagship Star Trek  comic series, and the beginning of a new story arc!

Star Trek  #19 is out today, and in the Pleroma  arc, Captain Sisko must deal with an issue that hits very close to home when T'Lir returns to the Theseus .

Check out the various covers below, along with links to purchase the digital edition from Amazon and the publisher's synopsis.

Acclaimed writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly along with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds comics artist Megan Levens ( Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Starsigns ) welcome you to the thrilling brand-new chapter of the Eisner-nominated Star Trek flagship series!

Benjamin Sisko has begun imagining an end to his journey and is looking forward to establishing a normal, human life. But unfortunately for Captain Sisko, his next test has been a member of his crew this whole time…

T’Lir, the crew’s former science officer, has returned to the U.S.S. Theseus bridge with a shocking revelation and a plea. Kahless’ attempted war with the gods has altered the very fabric of spacetime, threatening the destruction of several godlike species. Already, anomalies are beginning to form across the galaxy. Their only hope: the Emissary of the Prophets, Benjamin Sisko, and his valiant crew of Starfleet’s finest.

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Positively trek book club: morn's little partner in crime.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine The Dog of War

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

New comic day defiant #13.

Star Trek: Defiant  #13

Wednesday has rolled around again, which gives us another new Star Trek comic issue! This week is issue #13 of Star Trek: Defiant , continuing the voyages of Worf and his renegade crew aboard the USS Defiant .

Starbase 99 has been compromised. Worf and the Defiant crew are quarantined within, desperately trying to evade the infected as their parasitic counterparts flood the floors of the base. To make matters worse, one of the crew's bounties is dead, another missing. Can the crew survive this raging parasitic invasion on the desolate starbase?

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Release day star trek: the motion picture - echoes.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Echoes

by Marc Guggenheim Art by Oleg Chudakov

Join Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise in this never-before-seen adventure spinning out of the Original Series!

When a space anomaly thrusts a bounty hunter and her target – a criminal mastermind – into their universe, it's up to Kirk and his crew to stop them from unintentionally starting a war with the Romulans and unleashing a superweapon of foreign tech onto the system. But the strangers from another universe are more familiar than they assume... for underneath their helmets are their doppelgängers – from an alternate reality!

From critically acclaimed screenwriter, producer, and comics writer Marc Guggenheim ( Arrow ; DC's Legends of Tomorrow ; Star Wars: Han Solo and Chewbacca ) and artist Oleg Chudakov comes this brand new mini-series!

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery season 5 episode 6 ending explained.

Captain Burnham must break the Prime Directive to save Tilly and find the Progenitors' next clue in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 6.

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery, season 5, episode 6, "Whistlespeak".

• Burnham's decision to break the Prime Directive saved Tilly and the Halem'nites from certain death.
• Tilly's struggles with Starfleet Academy students hint at a future storyline for Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
• Culber's spiritual awakening challenges Star Trek's rationalism, leading to a deeper exploration of his character.

By the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 6, "Whistlespeak", Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew are one step closer to the Progenitors' technology, following a mission to a pre-warp society that risked the life of Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman). After last week's big revelations about the Mirror Universe, Moll (Eve Harlow), L'ak (Elias Toufexis), and the Breen Imperium, "Whistlespeak", written by Kenneth Lin and Brandon Schultz, and directed by Chris Byrne, is a more traditional Star Trek adventure. Seeking the next clue on the planet Halem'no, Burnham and Tilly join the Journey of the Mother Compeer.

This religious pilgrimage takes the form of a race to prove devotion to Halem'no's gods, in the hope of making it rain again. However, this religious pilgrimage has life-threatening consequences for Tilly , providing Burnham with a dilemma over whether she breaks Star Trek 's Prime Directive to save her friend. Elsewhere, on the USS Discovery, Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) is struggling to settle into their new role as science officer on the bridge, while Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) gets closer to coming to terms with his spiritual awakening, courtesy of some wise words from Cleveland Booker (David Ajala).

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Captain burnham broke the prime directive to save tilly, the halem'nites and tilly would have died without burnham..

Believing that the next clue to the Progenitors' treasure was hidden in the High Summit, a weather tower disguised as a mountain, Burnham and Tilly joined the pilgrimage in the hope of making it inside. However, it quickly transpired that once inside the tower, there was no way out. Designed by Denobulan scientist Hitoroshi Kreel , the towers were designed to protect the Halem'nites from the punishing dust storms that take place on their planet. Tilly and young initiate Ravah (June Laporte) became trapped inside the vacuum chamber, meaning that they would suffocate to death unless they were rescued.

The Denobulans were introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise via the Enterprise NX-01's Denobulan Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley).

Discovery was unable to beam Tilly and Ravah out of the weather tower due to the walls being made of tritanium, making it impossible to get a transporter lock . Which is why Burnham made the difficult decision break the Prime Directive by beaming into the weather tower's control room to reveal the truth to Ohvaz (Alfredo Narciso). Burnham was right to break the Prime Directive , because the Denobulan weather towers were failing, and in drastic need of repair. Without Burnham's intervention, Tilly and Ravah would have died for no reason, and the Halem'nites would have eventually been driven to extinction .

While it's definitely a breach of the Prime Directive, Burnham is still very careful not to destroy Ohvaz's beliefs , telling him that " Nothing we have shown you means gods don't exist ". Indeed, Burnham's quest for life itself is proof of some higher power in the Star Trek universe . While Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), Tilly, and Burnham all lament the inevitable ramifications, it seems likely that Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) will brush off this breach of the Prime Directive in favor of Discovery's Red Directive mission .

There is a Prime Directive exception to allow repairs to existing "contamination" as long as it doesn't interfere with the natural growth of the populace, which is effectively what Burnham did on Halem'no.

Tilly's Away Mission Sets Up Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Starfleet academy is failing its new students..

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 6, "Whistlespeak" appears to set up Star Trek: Starfleet Academy by revealing more about Tilly's struggles to get through to her students . Discussing her new career with Burnham, Tilly reveals that one of her students wants to quit the Academy to take a position aboard a cargo freighter. Later, when they meet Ravah, Tilly notes the similarities between the young woman keen to prove herself to her gods and the Starfleet Academy cadet who wants to get out into the stars as soon as possible.

Star Trek: Discovery Proves Starfleet Academy Show Doesn’t Make Sense Without Tilly

Tilly and Ravah's instant connection is a welcome reminder of why Tilly's such a good fit for Starfleet Academy . Tilly's empathy for Ravah, and the gut-wrenching guilt when she realizes that she's signed her death warrant demonstrates the huge responsibility involved in training new Starfleet officers. Confiding in Michael, Tilly reveals that she thinks Starfleet Academy is failing their students, perhaps focusing more on the theoretical than the practical. Tilly's final mission on the USS Discovery, and interactions with characters like Ravah could help her to reform the institution when she returns to Starfleet Academy.

The Meaning of Denobulan's Progenitors Clue Explained

"...we need to be so careful.".

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5 , "Mirrors", Burnham and Book realized that each of the clues to the Progenitors' treasure contained important lessons. For example, the clue hidden on Trill, in the heart of an Itronok nest, was designed to test whether Book and Burnham valued life-forms different from their own. As with all the previous clues, the one left behind by Denobulan scientist Kreel contains a message, which is discussed by Burnham and Tilly, after they secure it from the dormant fifth weather tower.

It transpires that the cultural impact of the technology installed on Halem'no by the Denobulans was the lesson . When the towers began failing, the Halem'nites began sacrificing themselves to make it rain, something that the Denobulans could never have predicted. It's a reminder to Burnham and Tilly that when they eventually find the Progenitors' technology they have to be very careful with how they use it. The fifth and final clue, located in the fifth weather tower, is written in Betazoid text, left behind by the fifth and final scientist, Marina Derex.

Dr. Culber Is Coming To Terms With His Experience On Trill

Culber's had a "thrilling" spiritual awakening..

Dr. Culber's spiritual awakening has been one of the most interesting storylines in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, as it challenges the franchise's stance on religion . The clash between Star Trek 's rationalism and Culber's spiritualism is exemplified by his discussions with a hologram of his Abuela (Maria del Mar), a spiritual woman who raised Hugh to be a man of science. However, after spending the episode trying to find a scientific explanation, Culber instead realizes that there isn't one , and that his mind is instead opened up to new possibilities and something larger than himself.

At the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 6, Dr. Culber discusses his new awakening with Book, who acknowledges that it " sounds kind of wonderful ". Book advises Culber not to be so concerned that his husband, Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) doesn't quite understand Hugh's new perspective . Reflecting on Culber's situation as a Kwejian, Book helps Hugh come to terms with it by sharing an observation of human relationships, and the obsession with sharing a personal passion with a partner:

"It's an odd quirk, really, this human tendency to consider something less meaningful if it's just for yourself."

Wilson Cruz Killed It Playing Star Trek: Discovery's Trill

Will book and michael get back together in star trek: discovery season 5, "one answer at a time, doc".

To return the favor, Dr. Culber tries to get Book to open up about his break-up with Michael at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 4 . It's been clear throughout Discovery season 5 that Book and Burnham still have feelings for one another, but they're yet to act upon them . Michael got a reminder of how happy they were in "Face the Strange" when she time traveled back to an earlier point in their relationship. In "Mirrors", their relationship was a reflection of that between Moll and L'ak, and there was a strong sense of Burnham and Book still being a great team.

Dr. Culber quizzes Book about Burnham at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 6, seeing through Booker's front. Asked whether he thinks he can get back what he once had with Michael, Book simply replied " One question at a time, Doc ", proving that affairs of the heart can be even more complex than the search for the Progenitors' treasure. As Book is still determined to get through to Moll after the events of "Mirrors", his "sister" could still provide a major stumbling block for a romantic reunion between Burnham and Booker in Discovery season 5.

Discovery Is Taking A Detour To Deal With Moll And L'ak

The uss locherer just found moll and l'ak..

At the start of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 6, "Whistlespeak", Burnham is ordered by Dr. Kovich to forget about Moll and L'ak and focus on the next clue. By the end of the episode, Federation Headquarters informs the USS Discovery that Moll and L'ak have been located by the USS Locherer . This feels suspicious given Kovich's insistence that Burnham focus on her Red Directive mission and forget all about tracking Moll and L'ak. It remains to be seen if the USS Discovery is about to enter a trap or instead engage in another desperate attempt to bring Moll and L'ak on side.

T he title of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 7, "Erigah", is a reference to the Breen blood bounty placed on Moll and L'ak by Primarch Ruhn (Tony Nappo) . It's likely, therefore, that the translation of the Betazoid clue will be taking a backseat in the next episode, as Burnham and the crew reckon with the ramifications of a Breen blood bounty. As the Discovery crew is so close to the finish line with the Progenitors' treasure there could be no worse time to engage the Breen as Star Trek: Discovery season 5 continues.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

*Availability in US

Not available

Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

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Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Reflects On Its Choices In “Mirrors”

| April 25, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 119 comments so far

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 5 – Debuted Thursday, April 25, 2024 Written by Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco Directed by Jen McGowan

A solid episode with plenty of lore and character development gets weighed down with a bit too much exposition.

No, I didn’t kiss you in the past last week, what makes you say that?

WARNING: Spoilers below!

“Maybe we’re not so different.”

As the crew regroups following the time bug incident that lost them 6 hours, they try to trace the trail of their main rivals in the search for the Progenitor tech. Book takes this time to reflect on the choices he has made in life and how it isn’t too late for Moll; perhaps he can redeem the daughter of his mentor and namesake Cleveland Booker. Stamets and Tilly figure out the trail didn’t disappear into nowhere: Moll and L’ak went through a wormhole. The aperture isn’t big enough for the Disco, so the captain assigns herself to shuttle duty—over the objections of her new XO, who is still struggling a bit. After a little bonding over old Kellerun poetry, she leaves him with “I know you can lead this crew” and heads off with her ex. Returning to their old banter, including some teasing about what happened during her time tour last episode, Book and Michael head through the wormhole. Things get really choppy as they fly through exotic matter “deaf and blind,” losing comms with the Disco, and dodging debris. Skilled piloting and good ol’ Starfleet engineering saves them, but things aren’t so hot for Moll and L’ak, whose ship is spotted cut in half. Their only hope for survival is another relatively intact ship that looks familiar. A 24 th -century scientist hiding a clue in this pocket dimension on a shipwreck from another universe makes as much sense as anything.  It’s the ISS Enterprise—and that’s no typo. If the “Mirrors” title wasn’t clue enough, the ISS does it: Things are about to get Terran, again.

After docking, Michael and Book make their way through the mess of a ship to the bridge with more playful banter. The warp drive has been bricked and all shuttles and escape pods are gone, very out of character for ruthless Terrans. They track three quantum signatures in sickbay, but start with a trace in the transporter room, which looks more like a makeshift refugee camp. A chronicle reveals the crew mutinied after the Terran High Chancellor (aka Mirror Spock) was killed for making reforms. A certain Kelpien rebel leader (aka Mirror Action Saru) led refugees to the Prime Universe, where they abandoned ship. While Book expositions, Michael puts a piece of her badge (and its important Prime Universe quantum signature) in a locket she finds. Pay attention BTW, or you will be confused later. In sickbay, they find Moll and L’ak, Moll and L’ak, and Moll and L’ak—until they take out the holo-emitters so the four former couriers can face off for real. Book tries the “I knew your father” gambit and is immediately rebuffed by Moll’s serious daddy issues. The baddies figure they have the clue so they have all the leverage, but Michael uses that locket as a bluff, claiming she has the real clue. Still, no deal with the Federation is good enough because they need the Progenitor tech to get rid of an Erigah… a Breen blood bounty. That’s right, L’ak is Breen. Holy refrigeration helmet , Batman.

Mirror McCoy was a bit of an evil pack rat.

“You both still have choices .”

Cut to a series of Burn-era flashbacks when Moll was delivering dilithium to the Breen Imperium. The “bucket heads”  are not amused by the wisecracking courier who gets into a fight with one of them, but she turns the tables, revealing she knows he’s a disgraced member of the royal family—and she even knows his name. It’s L’ak, of course. He is intrigued by her plan to skim more latinum, getting payback for being humiliated for this cargo duty demotion. Soon enough, this unlikely pair is hooking up between cargo containers and he even takes off his helmet to show her his face, as well as his “other face.” It turns out the Breen have two: the one we have been seeing with L’ak and a glowing eyed translucent one.  Later, the star-crossed romance is threatened when Moll is drawn to the lure of even more latinum by delivering to the Emerald Chain. Before they can sort out if he should join her, Uncle A-hole shows up, not happy about his nephew’s little interspecies exchange program. He’s also not cool with L’ak using that old face and not the “evolved” glowy face. L’ak is given one chance at redemption: Kill Moll. He picks door number 2, killing some guards but sparing Primarch Ruhn, who declares the Erigah. L’ak knows this means they will never stop hunting him, but Moll is all-in on being a fugitive, so they escape together. Ah, true love.

Back on Mirror Enterprise, the standoff devolves into another quick firefight as the Breen/Human duo chooses not to take the offered off-ramp before going too far down the bad guy road. Moll and Book end up outside force fields that pop up around sickbay, so she reluctantly agrees to a ceasefire. The current Cleveland Booker tries again to connect, but Moll only has bad memories of a brutal childhood of abandonment after her Cleveland left her on her own at age 14. L’ak is all she has. L’ak feels the same about Moll, telling Michael that he would die before being separated, but seems open to the idea of them sharing a cell in the Federation pen. On the bridge, Book pivots to use his relationship with Michael to connect, but Moll’s need to get back to L’ak means no waiting for computer hacking, so she starts yanking out wires. The resulting short does lower the forcefield, but now the ship is out of control. Their shuttle is flung off with the jolt and there’s only eight minutes until the Big E is squished in the little wormhole. Book takes his final shot, handing over his phaser and telling Moll she is the only family he has left. She finally relents and they head to sickbay, where Michael and L’ak have resumed fighting. The captain gets the upper hand and ends up with the clue L’ak was holding and the Breen is left with a knife in his side, but impressed by the locket bluff. Moll arrives and is super pissed, so the Disco duo makes a quick exit before things escalate into yet another phaser fight. This former courier couple’s double date is over.

Uh, can you go back to the other face now?

“Maybe we can shape our own futures too.”

As Moll tries to patch up her boyfriend, Michael and Book work through the problem on the bridge, deciding that the tractor beam as their only hope. Over on the Disco, they detect an oscillating pattern, 3-4-1-4, which means something to Rayner. He now wants the nerds to figure out how to open the wormhole aperture big enough for a ship, offering kegs of Kellerun booze for the best idea. Adira sparks a team effort and Rayner rallies around the crowdsourced solution involving a hexagon of photon torpedoes. “We are only going to get one shot at this. I trust you will all make it count, red alert.” That’s the stuff. With what may be the last seconds of her life, Michael lets Book know she shared a “happy” moment with his past self during the whole time bug incident. Discovery fires the torpedoes and the crew is surprised to see the ISS Enterprise emerge at the last minute from the permanently collapsing wormhole. Everyone releases their tension as the captain informs her crew they saved her… but why is the Enterprise about to fire? A warp pod is launched! It’s Moll and L’ak. Before you can say “plot armor,” they escape to another episode. The captain returns to the Disco to tell Rayner she’s impressed with how he handled the crew during her time away, and he tells her how impressed he was with her subtle “3-4-1-4” message using the Kellerun “Ballad of Krull.” Alien poetry FTW!

In the background of the episode, Tilly has been noticing that Dr. Culber seems out of sorts. Everyone else leans on him, so she offers to be a friendly ear. As things wrap, Hugh takes her up on her offer over drinks at Red’s, admitting that ever since he was possessed by a Trill a few episodes back, he has been feeling a bit off, and he’s beening having some trouble coming to grips with the quest they are on with questions “so big and impossible to grasp.” He is not sure his matter-of-fact husband will understand what Tilly points out is a sort of spiritual awakening. This thread is left unresolved, unlike Adira’s mini-crisis of confidence: They were losing their science mojo due to guilt over the time bug, but got it back through Rayner’s tough love and being the one to come up with the hexagon of torpedoes solution. Things wrap up with Michael and Book looking over their prize, the latest piece of the map and a mysterious vial of liquid hidden inside, ready to set up the next episode once Stamets unlocks its secret. Burnham is starting to see a pattern with these clues and how the scientists who left them were trying to teach lessons along the way to the successful questers. The clue hidden in the ISS Enterprise came from Dr. Cho, a former Terran junior officer who later became a Starfleet Admiral. This happy ending for her and the others from Saru’s band of Mirror refugees fills them with hope as they can’t wait to find out what they will learn when they put the map together. There are just 2 more map pieces and 5 more episodes to go.

I think I have a thing for being possessed—no judgment.

Love stories

This halfway point episode is a bit of a mixed bag. Strong performances were a highlight, bringing extra life to welcome character development for both heroes and villains. But valiant attempts to expand upon franchise lore got weighed down in overly complicated exposition. And for an episode with a strong (and yes, often repeated) theme about choices, some of the directorial choices just didn’t work, potentially leaving some audience members confused or requiring a second viewing to follow the narrative. On the other hand, the episode carried on the season’s reflection on Discovery’s own lore and the evolution of its characters. David Ajala stands out as the episode MVP as he shows Book’s struggle to navigate the emotional complexities of his own choices and those of Moll while desperately trying to forge a new family connection. While some of the action scenes in this episode felt a bit perfunctory, the show is still getting better (for the most part) in finding moments for those character sidebars to talk about their emotional journeys and relationships. That was especially important in this episode, which took a closer look at how the events of the season are impacting some of the key romantic pairings of Book and Michael, Paul and Hugh, and Moll and L’ak.

Eve Harlow—and especially Elias Toufexis—stepped up to add layers and nuance to Moll and L’ak, with Discovery finally embracing how fleshing out adversaries and their motivations goes a long way towards making your plot hold together. The nicely drawn-out reflection of their love story with the rekindling one between Michael and Book adds another layer to the more obvious meaning behind the episode title “Mirrors.” Moll’s single-minded anger and L’ak’s desire for safety now all make sense, as does their unshakable bond. The episode also did a good job weaving in a handful of substories, including Rayner’s growing connection with the crew, with a nice sprinkling of Kellerun lore-building — adding some color to his character. Callum Keith Rennie continues to be a stand-out addition for the season, although Doug Jones is sorely missed, presumably not appearing in two episodes in a row for some scheduling reasons. Culber’s spiritual journey also gets just enough time, as it and these other substories all feel like they are heading somewhere without distracting or spinning their wheels, something that often weighed down mid-season Discovery episodes in past seasons.

Okay, let’s just agree we both have daddy issues.

Under the mask

The reveal that L’ak is a Breen was a surprise, but also nicely teased through the previous episodes. Fans of Deep Space Nine should relish finally getting some answers about this enigmatic race and finally having a first look under those helmets. “Mirrors” picked up on many elements from DS9, including the Breen language, refrigeration suits, neural truncheons, and the position of Thot , while adding lots to the lore, including some worldbuilding behind this new Breen Imperium and its “faction wars.”

Setting the Breen up as what appears to be the real big bads for the season involved a lot of data dump exposition here, surely keeping the editors of Memory Alpha busy for the next week. The notion that Breen have two forms with their signature suits and helmets allowing them to hold the more “evolved” form and face makes sense. If one were to get nitpicky, the Breen aren’t supposed to bleed, but perhaps that was a function of his suit; fill in your own headcanon. L’ak’s desire to hold the other, less evolved form making him a pariah in Breen society has echoes of allegorical episodes such as TNG’s “The Outcast.” That being said, the nuances are still not entirely clear, and fans who like the lore shouldn’t have to rewatch scenes to pick up the details. It feels like some details were cut, perhaps because this episode was already trying to cram in too much exposition with the Breen, Kelleruns (they boil cakes?), and the Mirror Universe.

Like the previous time travel adventure, this was a mid-season bottle show, this time using the conveniently located Strange New Worlds sets. Bringing back the ISS Enterprise was clever and fun, with the twist of how this time the Mirror Universe came to us. If you follow closely, “Mirrors” did a nice job of filling in some lore gaps and tying together the MU storylines from the first visit in “Mirror, Mirror” to follow-ups in Deep Space Nine , Enterprise , and Discovery . There is now a nice throughline from Emperor Georgiou saving Mirror Saru through to Mirror Spock, killed for the reforms he instituted after being inspired by Kirk. However, the redress of the Enterprise sets was not very inspired, with only a smattering of Terran wall sconces and some repainting, instead of demonstrating the brutality of the Empire with elements like agony booths. But what was even more missed was the promise of any character crossovers. There was a lot of talk about Mirror characters like Spock, Saru, Dr. Cho, and others, but we don’t get to see any, one of the many examples of how this episode broke the golden rule to show not tell. There were plenty of opportunities for a flashback or holo recording. Burnham longingly gazing at her brother’s science station is no substitute for Ethan Peck with a goatee.

We’re back!

Final thoughts

“Mirrors” is a decent episode, but it could have been much better with a few tweaks here and there. While not falling into the pointless plate-spinning trap of past mid-season Disco outings, it still dragged a bit for something so jam-packed with lore and revelations. Still, it provided a nice hour of entertainment, and possibly more with rewatches to catch up on the little details. The episode also continues the season’s welcome trend of weaving in the show’s own past, which makes it work better as a final season, even if they didn’t know that when they crafted it. Season 5 hits the halfway mark, and it’s still the best season yet, and hopefully the second half of the season will nail the landing.

Wait, we’re in this episode too? Anyone remember their lines?

• Like the previous episode, “Mirrors” began with a warning for flashing images.
• The episode is dedicated “to the loving memory of our friend Allan ‘Red’ Marceta ,” the lead set dresser who died in a motorcycle accident in 2022.  Presumably the USS Discovery bar “Red’s” was named in his honor.
• This is the first episode where Book’s personal log starts it off.
• Stardate: 866280.9
• Booker examined wanted notices for Moll from the Federation, Orion/Emerald Chain (who have a new logo), and the Andorian Empire.
• Tilly was able to reveal the wormhole by compensating for the “Lorentzian Coefficient,” referencing the real Lorentz Factor used in special relativity equations.
• A new ensign on the Discovery keeps a Cardassian vole as a pet.
• The ISS Enterprise was built at Tartarus Base, possibly referencing Tartarus Prime , from the TOS novel The Rings of Time .
• Moll refers to Breens as “bucketheads” (just as Reno did to Emerald Chain Regulators last episode). This could be a nod to the use of “ bucketheads ” in Star Wars as a derogatory term for stormtroopers.
• Moll’s mother died on Callor V in a mine for Rubindium , a substance first mentioned in TOS “Patterns of Force.”
• Linus can play the piano.
• Breen Primarchs may be a nod to the genetically engineered Primarchs from Warhammer 40,000 .
• How does Book know that Pike’s catchphrase is “Hit it”?
• This is the third (of five) season 5 episodes in which Oyin Oladejo and Emily Coutts do not appear, but their characters, Detmer and Owosekun, are mentioned when they get the honor of escorting the ISS Enterprise back to Starfleet HQ.
• Even though we didn’t see it warp away, presumably the missing intermix chamber was replaced, otherwise Owo and Detmer’s trip is going to take a very long time.
• Tilly says her long day makes her feel like she has been through a Gormangander’s digestive tract.

Remember when Mudd hid inside a Gormagander? Gross.

More to come

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

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

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

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waste of ISS Enterprise

While I enjoyed the episode overall, the ISS Enterprise was a huge letdown and not even worth being an easter egg with what little they did with it. They should have just made it a generic constitution class ship from the mirror universe.

It felt like it was nothing more than a budget saver. Use existing sets from the other show. Which is weird because one of the arguments in favor of mini seasons is it allows more money to be spent.

That’s exactly what it felt like. Along with the missing, yet again, Detmer and Owosekun.

There must have been some deep budget cuts for the season.

Detmer and Owosekun were replaced by other characters so I don’t think they are missing for budget reasons. It’s more likely that the actresses were unavailable.

I get the budget issues considering what’s going on with the studio. But the end result was it showed that there isn’t much difference at all in the 900 years between the SNW Enterprise and the aesthetic of Star Trek Discovery. They both look as if they were set in the exact same era.

And there really shouldn’t be much. Discovery is from the same era, as the Enterprise. While the ship gets a technological upgrade, why would it get an interior design makeover?

Since it was deemed important (Stamets certainly makes since) that the crew stay on the Discovery, I would certainly think that psychologically having its design aesthetics stay similar to what it was would help give the crew a little bit of their past to hold on to, versus having all physical interactions be with a timeline that they aren’t native to.

Now where we should see it is in native places in this time. And we have seen some differences in design from standard Starfleet settings, versus Starfleet settings on this time (I actually wish we got more).

I did wish for a little more of self reflection from Burnham’s point of view as the ISS Enterprise should of course remind her of Spock (the Enterprise tie in), but also Georgiou (the ISS tie in). We get a small brief nod to Spock, but nothing to Georgiou (and while I still question the use of the character, there is no question that Burnham did have a connection with her, even if its primarily transference from her former Captain, not the mirror Universe Empress.

It’s not just the ship. It’s everything. Everything else looks like it matches the ship’s aesthetic. As if 900 year old retro is the current fad in design.

That’s always been my issue with Discovery.

To me that is part of the downfall of going so very far into the future. What aesthetic you make should be radically different. Not just shinier.

This is a VERY common trope in Trek, historically. Using redressed older sets, even ones from distant eras, to save money. It’s just downright foolish to think that a big budget series with fewer episodes to get better production value would simply have no limits at all. Discovery is one of the most expensive-looking sci-fi shows out there for a reason: a lot of money is being spent. On sets, effects, and even the cast. Oded Feherer, Callum Kieth Rennie, Michelle Yeoh, Jason Isaacs, Sonequa, David Cronenberg, Tig Notaro, and plenty of others during its run — its cast is broad and extremely strong, with well-known, talented actors, not to mention some of the best TV directors, set decorators, costumers, etc in the business.

Now, sure I think it’s fair to be let down by a budget-saving measure, particularly because of how much money IS being spent, so I get the logic here, but it’s sorely misplaced. The fact is, Trek has done this for decades, and often not nearly as well. Let it go — just try to enjoy the show and not worry about that kind of thing. But that’s the thing I struggle with, with you on this board: you seem to be looking for reasons NOT to like this show because you find more enjoyment in watching and hating it than anything else. Go watch a show you actually like, it’s been five years and it’s ending now. It’s time to let it go, my good friend.

Agreed. The last two episodes just felt very budgeted and basically bottle episodes. And this just felt like a twofer, a way to use an existing set and add a little fan service but that’s all it was. I thought the Enterprise itself was going to be a viral part of not just the episode but the story overall.

Instead it was just a backdrop. And yeah it’s obvious they cut the budget for this season but all the live action shows have felt this way starting with Picard season 3 and SNW season 2. That all felt pretty bare a lot of the times. I guess this was all during Paramount+ belt tightening and probably not a shock why the show was cancelled.

And maybe the I.S.S. Enterprise should have been the refit or maybe the Phase II Enterprise? That would have been a lot of fun but combine a lack of vision with a reduced budget and this is what you get.

Looking back on “In a Mirror: Darkly”, season 4 of Enterprise was dealing with a reduced budget but managed to recreate sets from TOS, introduced a few new set pieces and did a lot of great effects work.

This was a missed opportunity.

Which was added by stretching that story over two episodes, so that they had the budget to recreate the sets they used. Having half the episode count, doesn’t really help avail yourself to planning out a two parter for a way to save costs.

If Picard could pull off recreating the bridge of the Enterprise D for three days of shooting with barely half the budget of Discovery season 5, they could have done something equally as fun for Discovery on the cheap without actually having to building anything new and using the Enterprise as a crutch. They could have come across Deep Space Station K-7, where the exterior would have been immediately familiar and with interiors served by redressed sets from virtually anything available from Discovery or SNW.

I thought Discovery is basically the PII Enterprise?

The Phase II Enterprise looks like a slickly modified version of the Enterprise from TOS, falling squarely between the Enterprise from TOS and the refit. The “Star Trek: Phase II” fan series did a great job bringing it to screen.

No, Discovery resembles the Enterprise concept for the Planet of the Titans movie.

I don’t get that. I never assumed that the Enterprise (or its mIrror Universe history) was going to feature in significant manner (certainly the producers and promotional department didn’t make a significant deal about it). Perhaps it’s the time difference. But I literally assumed it would be as significant as the Defiant going in and out of phase like TOS “Tholian Web” the time difference. And that was primarily set dressing. That’s not a bad thing. I mean Tholian Web is considered one of the better third season episodes.

And the only reason I assumed it was the Enterprise versus another Connie, is simple to give Burnham a moment to reflect on Spock. Now I do freely admit that I wish this was a slightly larger moment. But I never expected it to be anything but a small moment. Roughly my preconceived notion would be something like Spock’s Mind Meld scene with La’an in SNW where she is able to get a peak into Spock thinking about his sister and the emotion that comes with it. It’s a very brief scene, but I thought SNW did a good job in conveying the emotional aspect, especially from a half Vulcan/ Half Human.

Ok fair enough. This is probably more my hang up and to be fair since they never really promoted the the Enterprise being back then clearly they weren’t trying to make it that big of a deal.

But same time a lot of people do feel there could’ve been more done. The main problem is it just feels like a ridiculous stretch this ship itself is even there. It’s a ship from 900 years ago from a DIFFERENT UNIVERSE that conveniently happens to be the ship that gives them their next clue. I know it’s Star Trek so whatever lol. But when you go through the effort to present it I think it would’ve nice to build a bigger story around it. It could’ve just been any ship.

Exactly! The ship could have been any ship. The fact that with such an enormous universe(s) they would happen to find the next clue on a Mirror Universe ship and the ISS Enterprise no less–it’s such “Small Universe Syndrome”.

When you feel like the Mirror Universe has been nothing but a let down after the initial TOS episode, It’s really not a surprise. There’s really nowhere to go with it, but I did find that the fulfilling of the promise that Prime Kirk spoke to Mirror Spock about from the original TOS episode quite satisfying. The ship’s inhabitants embraced the benevolence of the prime universe, and I thought that was great.

I felt the idea that the MU people just easily adapted was pretty ridiculous. But then, they admitted SNW was an alternate timeline. It’s not a stretch that alternate extends to all the Secret Hideout productions.

I’m not sure I would feel the same about Picard given it depicts the Prime events of ST:2009. The others tho yeah I think of it that way too. Although The Chase does make that harder to swallow about DISCO

I liked the MU in DS9. It was fun to revisit and a great reminder of the Prime Directive. But… after that it got tiresome.

It was pretty benign there, but the problem with it, is finding it plausible. It was a fun idea in the 1960’s, and it had a good message. After that, it an indulgence. The notion that that the same people would even exist in the same fundamental places, and that the same ships would exist with virtually the same crew just seems like too much of a stretch even for modern Star Trek.

That’s my only complaint about this episode. Seeing the tantalus field show up would have been really cool. When Michael talked about how she was sure that Mirror Spock was a savage just like the other Terrans, I was sure that we would see a recording or something of Ethan Peck in a goatee to prove her wrong. Or flashbacks with Ethan Peck and Paul Wesley as their mirror counterparts would have also been cool.

All the stuff with the Breen and Mol and Lak was really cool though.

“ waste of ISS Enterprise” should be the official episode description.

waste of series

They ate Mirror Saru in season one…

Was that Saru or another Kelpian? It’s been a while since I watched Season 1, but I recall Mirror Saru saving Burnham from Tyler just as Voq’s personality re-emerged. I know Mirror Georgiou served Burnham some Kelpian, I just didn’t remember it being Mirror Saru.

Mirror Saru saved Michael from Tyler in The Wolf Inside, which was the episode that preceded the one in which they ate the food made from a Kelpien (Vaulting Ambition).

Looking at Memory Alpha now, it says that the chosen Kelpien ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVQSipQlJR8 ) was played by someone other than Doug Jones, but they look so much alike that I thought for sure she had chosen Mirror Saru.

As per Memory Alpha, we never saw him again after The Wolf Inside until season three, but that was in the alternate timeline Carl sent Georgiu to, so it wasn’t the same Mirror Saru.

Nope, that was another Kelpien.

“They ate Mirror Saru in season one…”

They didn’t.

Wasn’t Mirror Saru established as having survived in Season 3 (can’t remember the episode name).

A s per Memory Alpha, we never saw Mirror Saru again after The Wolf Inside until season three, but that was in the alternate timeline Carl sent Georgiu to, so it wasn’t the same Mirror Saru.

Loved this episode. I liked seeing the I.S.S Enterprise though i would of loved to of seen maybe a video log of Mirror Spock.

As a big fan of DS9 I’m glad we finally get to see what a breen looks like and the 32nd century breen outfits look great.

I enjoyed seeing Book/Burnham trying to get through to Moll/L’ak and i hope they can eventually get through to them. With this season about connections and 2nd chances i can see Book and Burnham talking both of them down before they do something that they can’t come back from.

The shot of the I.S.S Enterprise coming out of the ‘wormhole’ is probably one of my favorite CGI scene in all of Trek.

I’m glad they didn’t. I think the conceit of using the I.S.S. Enterprise was not much more than a budgetary decision to be able to use the sets. Could have made it a different constitution class, but then they don’t get to tell the story of the crew’s transformation into our society. Just don’t think about it too much.. because that universe is just pushing out its own doppelgängers into our universe.. which seems problematic. lol.

As a big fan of DS9 I’m glad we finally get to see what a breen looks like and the 32nd century breen outfits look great.

Any kind of big reveal was bound to be disappointing, I suppose. Still, the idea that they were just another latex alien was a letdown. I had always hoped that the Breen were gaseous or plasma creatures.

Ethan Peck with a goatee would have been EPIC

“This is the way.” 😉

But seriously that was a pretty good episode. I’d like to see a 31st century restored Terran empire that never went through “the burn.”

“ The reveal that L’ak is a Breen was a surprise ”

It really wasn’t, though. That was many viewers’ guess since the beginning of the season, and it’s been a common discussion on many websites. The surprise would have been if he HADN’T been a Breen.

I am on a lot of other sites and I haven’t heard anyone thinking he was Breen. And I don’t believe anyone voiced that in Trekmovie either.

LOL. It’s been a common theory.

Obviously not THAT common. LOL

I’ve seen the theory mentioned in the comments here on TrekMovie.

Yes, quite common from what I’ve been reading. I just commented on this very site a couple weeks back that I liked the idea, when somebody else theorized it (forget who it was)!

I guess it’s just where you go for these discussions but yeah the first YouTube review of episode one I saw theorized Lak was a Breen in the first scene he was in when he took off his helmet. And this was obviously before the species was mentioned on the show.

So yeah some people caught on the first episode the way others theorized Tyler was Voq the first time he showed up. Others needed more convincing.

I never saw it but I certainly don’t read the majority of comments. And almost never watch video reviews. Now Voq, was something I remember seeing in many places. Though in fairness, the amount of conjecture done about any Trek series for its Pilot and early couple episodes has been in my experience far more than what you see for most regular episodes. So that shouldn’t;t surprise me.

It was a surprise to me.

The Breen being so ordinary looking was a bit of a surprise.

Well, one of their forms are. It explains the frozen wasteland/tropical paradise. Their “evovled” form needs cryo suits, their “normal form” doesn’t

Was a surprise to me. Then again, I don’t run around the internet and over analyze the show.

This season started out so well. What happened? It’s falling apart.

I hate to a agree. But its once again a long slow burn (pardon the bun) that I fear is going to lead to another whimper of a conclusion. I feel like the season could have been a movie instead. Where is Chapel?!

Wrong show. Chapel is on SNW. The ending was rewritten and new scenes were shot to make it a series finale. They had already started shooting when they got the word that it was ending after season 5.

presumably on Her show, SNW?

“pardon the bun” …🍔⁉️

What’d that poor bun do for it to be in need of a pardon? 😋

This is what happens in every single season of Discovery. Two lovers who want to destroy the galaxy so they can get to paradise was the plot of season four, and now they are recycling the exact same plot for this season.

Did you watch the show. In no seasons has two lovers wanted to destroy the galaxy….Period. L’ak and Moll want to pay off their bounty. Nothing about what they are doing is about wanting to destroy the galaxy.

Outside of the destruction caused by the aliens referred to as 10-C, did any character want to destroy the galaxy let alone a couple. The only couple we had, was one person wanting peaceful means of communication to prevent destruction, while the other wanted to use force to ensure the destruction doesn’t occur. In no case does that equal people wanting to destroy a galaxy.

I can understand not liking the show, but to have such a misconstrued concept of the plot of the seasons shows a shocking lack of basic understanding of what the plot and motivations of the characters are.

I mean the show has plenty that one can find legitimate issues with. Thats not one of them.

They want to pay their bounty by giving a weapon of potential mass destruction to the Breen, thus destroying the galaxy, as seen in the time jumps last episode. They want to do that so they can escape to the Gamma Quadrant while the Breen take apart the Alpha Quadrant.

Last season the scientist wanted to let the 10-C species bulldoze the Alpha Quadrant so he could get across the galactic barrier to meet his lover in paradise, without caring what happened to trillions of other lives.

It is the same basic plot point. Your analysis is incorrect, Wood.

I think you’re overreacting a little. As always.

This episode was disappointing and fell flat. The return of the ISS Enterprise from the mirror universe was of no interest. I had hoped to possibility see a video log from Kirk, Spock, or another familiar character. Why not explore other Constitution Class Starships like the ISS Lexington, Hood, or Potemkin? Enterprise, Enterprise, Enterprise. (Sigh)

Maybe cause the enterprise is the trek ship pretty much everyone knows even if they are a new trek fan or a casual trek fan or not even a trek fan it is so engrained and intertwined with the name Star Trek that is why they chose to make it the iss enterprise instead of one of the others you mentioned

Because exploring a random ship isn’t the plot of the episode. It’s basically set dressing. Having it be the Enterprise versus a different Connie, gives it a tie to the lead character and part of her family she left behind. That it sorry wise. Another ship wouldn’t have any emotion aspect to the characters. Now production wise its to save a ton of money, as creating a random ship with multiple settings to take use of takes money (if your trying to give it the same level of production that you see for the primary ship). Now of course they could have just created a redress of an existing set to be random alien ship of the week. Those usually aren’t done to the same level of using the existing bridge set of another show. So it serves a small story purpose (ie a setting), it serves a small character purpose *reflection for Burnham, and it serves a production purpose (having high quality set pieces without having to build or do a serious redress and thus saving some money).

Seems rather obvious, to me.

I’m annoyed by what they seem to be doing with Owosekun and Detmer this season. I assume that the actors are absent because Paramount wanted to pay them less, and that’s poor treatment for characters who have been around since practically the beginning of the series.

“ I’m annoyed by what they seem to be doing with Owosekun and Detmer this season. ”

…as opposed to the previous four seasons, when all they did was sit in chairs and look meaningfully at each other?

Which is all Sulu and Chekov do in the average TOS episode. So yes, it’s aggravating for them to be replaced by other actors who are doing the same thing.

I doubt they are paid exorbitantly as recurring guests. It could be similar to what happened in season 4 and Bryce Ronnie Rowe Jr’s absences – he had another gig.

I have a theory that before it was decided that Disco would be cancelled, they were going to replace some of the characters. I think Owosekun and Detmer were going to be replaced, and also that Rayner would become captain and Burnham would go away to do something else. But then that didn’t work out, and so to us it just makes no sense why those two main characters are suddenly missing.

You might be right — I hadn’t considered that revamps due to cancellation might be involved.

Well… It is what it is . This was easily the worst episode of the 5. Tropes galore and really bad plot contrivances.

It feels like the reshoots for when they got the cancelation news are getting dropped in throughout the season. A lot of scenes appear grossly out of place. It feels like they just aren’t even trying anymore to be honest. As flawed as the show has been one thing that never came across among the other problems was a lack of trying.

I am loving the addition of Rayner and the professional Starfleet officer energy he is bringing to the ship. I also liked when he told Burnham the mission was too dangerous for the captain to go on. He is turning out to be a nice counterbalance to the unusual way Discovery has been run as a Starfleet ship after season 2.

I hope he doesn’t get killed off.

Sorry but this was another big fat ‘meh’ for me. This was very very disappointing. Nothing of consequence happened. We learn Mol and Lak backstory basically and it is cool we learn that Lak is a Breen which has been the leading theory since he showed up but it just felt sooo bare overall. Like another Discovery infamous spinning wheel episode where they do the bare minimum to move the plot along but just through a lot of action scenes and inconsequential dialogue to feel like we were getting any real development.

And the biggest elephant in the room (or dimensional wormhole) was the ISS Enterprise. Such a let down. It almost felt like a gimmick or just shoehorned fan service. There was no real reason it needed to be there other than HEY THE ENTERPRISE IS BACK!

Again one of the problems with this show, no real development just there for another connection. Think about what they did with In a Mirror Darkly on Enterprise. They brought in the Defiant as obvious fan service from TOS but the ship had a very vital part to the story. It helped changed the dynamics of the MU. It wasn’t there just for show like this was. And Anthony made a great point the redress felt like a joke. It just felt like an excuse to use the set but little else.

Here it was nothing more than just a backdrop and a really forced one at that. And the whole Saru thing just felt very contrived.

I did like all the Breen stuff though and hopefully they will be the big bad the rest of the season. I still think they should’ve used the Breen as the main villain for SNW instead of the Gorn but I digress.

But yeah this is probably the weakest one for me which is disappointing since last week is my favorite so far. I’m getting a little nervous now. It’s usually the second half of the season this show begins to falls apart but still open minded. Still enjoying it overall but please don’t end up a tedious bore like last season felt once it got to its mid season.

You have one last chance Discovery, make it count!

I never considered the Breen in SNW before, but that’s a cool idea. Yeah, I would’ve liked that much more than the Gorn.

For me it was literally the first Gorn episode I thought the Breen would’ve been a better idea. You get the same type of stories and it doesn’t feel like it’s breaking any canon like the Gorn obviously does. I ranted enough about it but nothing about their appearance on SNW feels remotely canon anymore.

But the Breen could’ve been a great substitute if they wanted a known species not named Klingons and zero canon issues.

Agreed. I always enjoyed the mysterious quality of the Breen. Seems ripe for exploration.

This season is largely working for me. Not as good as last week, but the chase is enjoyable. I have a little trouble buying that Mol and L’ak fell in love so fast. I would have liked to have seen that handled better.. but the slow burn of the plot works because of what they do to sustain individual episodes. Only episode I thought was kind of wasteful was the one on Trill.

That is a big part of the problem, yes. The characters have little chemistry.

The flashbacks took [place over an extended period of time, it wasnt THAT fast

They both felt like outcasts in their family/society, fusing them together like lightning. I had no problem with that as it gave me a Bonnie & Clyde-vibe which is historical.

It’s fine, but the romance piece just isn’t clicking for me.

Tarka was a similar situation last season with the reveal of his motivation not really moving me, but I’m also not the biggest fan of waiting several episodes to fill in a lot of backstory in a flashback. It’s not easy to pull off, and Discovery hasn’t really perfected it.

It’s a wonder I stuck with Lost as long as I did, now that I think about it.

“ it’s still the best season yet ”

Well, it was for the first two episodes, but the three since then have been a downward spiral. Seasons one and two were much better than this week’s episode and last week’s.

I’ve enjoyed it all except for the Trill episode. I think it’s been fun with a faster pace.. which has helped with a lot of issues that haven’t gone away. Raynor has been a very welcome addition to the cast.

Overall, very entertaining!

For complaints: any other constitution ship would be cool – but I also feel like we don’t know what happens next – there could be some Prime Mirror Universe people out there. & the “hit it!” joke felt like Dad was in the writer’s room.

Otherwise, I the pairings felt very TOS. Rayner is a little bit Serious Scotty when performing a captain’s role. And he took pride in rescuing her – which is feels good.

For me, this season has been 5/5.

Personal Log. Stardate: Today.

Week 4 of not-watching Discovery continues without incident. Opinions gleaned from critics on the latest episode seem to confirm that ‘mid-season malaise’ has been reached right on schedule.

Based on the collective opinion of commentators, there have been a grand total of one episode out of five that qualifies as “actually good”.

In conclusion, it appears the decision to not-watch until the penultimate episode has been vindicated. The plot points I am privy to following the one episode I watched are:

– There is a chase (or ‘The Chase 2.0’) for the Holy Grail / the technological marvel Salmone Jens left behind.

– The Cylon is now the First Officer.

– The Trill and the Robot are no longer together.

All in all, I remain confident that the recap at the beginning of the penultimate episode should be sufficient to fill in all the key points required.

Again, my thanks go out to the resolute souls who manage to endure what I could not.

these threads are for people to talk about the episodes they have seen. CLOSED.

Am I wrong or did the DS9 episode Through the Looking Glass make a reference to the Mirror Spock being on Romulus? Also given all the DS9 cross overs with the Mirror Universe you would think Burnham would have known something more about her brother’s counterpart.

Spock was not mentioned in Through the Looking Glass. We know between Crossover and the new dedication plaque of the ISS Enterprise that he reformed the Terran Empire and was killed for it. Burnham has clearly boned up on a lot of info since coming to this century, but easy to assume the future history of the mirror universe wasn’t part of that. Also, that info could have been lost or been classified.

Wow! The Breen. From CGI to burn victim.

Does anybody think the Commander Rainer is gonna become the Commandant of Starfleet Academy?

Everything involving Book is incredibly tedious. They brought back the ISS Enterprise as a way to resurrect the OG Enterprise in continuity. Perhaps it ends up as the Enterprise Q or whatever, if Saru is in command then ok. Burnham insisting on going on the away mission is diametrically opposed to how TNG dealt with this – e.g., when Riker as captain insisted on boarding the Borg cube in Best of Both Worlds, and his senior officers reminded him his place was on the bridge. I guess everyone got much dumber in the 32nd century, but “dumber” is Discovery’s whole concept.

This post missed an important Easter egg towards the end: Morn was at the bar “Red’s” just like he did on Quark’s on DS9.

We don’t call out or find every little egg, but when the bar was introduced last season we noted the Lurian (Morn’s species), who has been there ever since. We don’t usually do repeated easter egg bits for each episode

Yay! Good seeing the Breen again and their evolved design in the 32nd Century is great.

Boo! Pretty much everything else except Rayner who is the best character in the show.

Imagine they used the Star Trek: Tour set in Trekonderoga for the ISS Enterprise? What a cool surprise that would have been. But nope, we got the generic canon-breaking Discoprise. Not surprised.

I swear if they make the new Enterprise in the 3190s a refitted Constitution, I will facepalm. Just a stupid idea, when you have far superior tech and designs in the future time period. Please don’t, Disco-writers. Bad enough they did it with the Ent-G (one of my few criticisms of the great PIC S3).

here are 6 points for a reply to each of your issues with snw and dsc as a whole and this episode in particular

1.there is already a constitution class in the 32nd century it’s design was also used pre burn in the late 31st century so i dought they would refit iss enterprise like they did with the discovery plus they did say the ship was being taken to a federation storage facility

2.as for why they used the snw sets and cg assets well two reasons for one location/budget convenience as snw is shot in toronto at the same studio as dsc is and two they have said from the start they visually updated the 23rd century to fit visually better between ent era and tmp era mainly star trek 5/6

3.and there is nothing canon breaking about any of the new shows as they give explanations that tie back to enteprise and first contact since enterprise tied into that movie for the reasons of in unverse changes to the prime timeline universe and that is time travel to fix the past either on it’s own or part of the temporal cold war

4.and the temporal Cold War which later turned into the temporal wars is the reason the discovery was refited and givin the -A at the end of the registry is to hide the fact the ship and crew time traveled and broke the law agaisnt any form of time travel that was put into place after the temporal wars and a smaller part to protect starfleets butt

5.and if you have to don’t look at seasons 1 and 2 of dsc and snw as prequels to tos but as sequels to ent and then veiw ent as a sequal to first contact as i hear it makes it easier for some tos fans to enjoy these trek shows

6.or use the in universe reasons for the changes mentioned above in point 3 to be able to enjoy watching new trek shows mentioned above in point 5

Would it have been too much if Dr. Cho was instead Marlena Moreau? Just saying. Kind of like Dax in Jinaal… I feel like they are making all of these deep cuts, why not make them count a bit more to the overall lore, instead of just throwing the ISS Enterprise in with no good reason. Making these deep cuts actually count towards the overall lore might make the obvious (potential) budget cuts, set reuses, etc. be a bit more forgiving. Giving loved characters some finality that affect the course of this in our face galactic scale quest… might make it hit harder? Maybe I’m wrong, I’m sure someone here will think so lol

Overall the episode was okay. I do understand using the ISS Enterprise since this is supposed to be the final season of Discovery it was a nostalgia play and kind of wrap up the history of that ship in regards to the series. But overall it just seems kind of mashed together. Have to see how it ties in with the rest of the season.

I would say this episode along with the one before it were definitely the weakest of the season. They started out with a bang on the first few, and while I know that they tend to slow down in the middle of the season before ramping up the action for the final few, this episode dragged. There were also a few things with the Breen and the Enterprise that seemed a bit confusing:

– The Breen have 2 faces…great! Awesome twist to the species and fantastic to finally be able to see them after all the mystery around them in DS9. If the second face is supposed to be the more evolved one though, why do they need the masks and the suits? Can the more evolved face not breathe in a standard atmosphere? When L’ak and his uncle opened up their masks, they seemed fine, so there’s still quite a bit we don’t know about why they use that whole setup, especially when they’re around their own people

– Does the more evolved form extend past the face?

ISS Enterprise

– The stardate on the commemorative plaque is 32336.6. Popping that number into a couple of online stardate calculators puts that around mid-2355, which would be a few years before the prime universe Enterprise-D was commissioned in 2363. They mentioned that Dr. Cho came back to the Enterprise to hide the clue, so the assumption is that she also placed the plaque there at the same time. The timing doesn’t quite add up though because The Chase took place in 2369. Nobody would have known about The Progenitors or their technology before that, so they were at least 14 years off with the plaque

– If this Enterprise has been caught in extradimensional space since at least 2355, that means it’s been there for over 800 years by the time it’s discovered. How does it still have power?

– It’s been discussed by the Disco production team that the Discovery-era Enterprise was designed so that it could eventually be refit into the TOS Enterprise. The ISS Enterprise was contemporary with Kirk’s version and was seen on screen in TOS in that configuration. Why is the version in this episode the Discovery one? I know the real-world explanation is that it was easier to just re-use that model to align with the sets, but we saw a TOS-era Constitution class USS New Jersey at the Fleet Museum in Picard, so they had that model available to use. Just a bit sloppy

– How did Stamets immediately know that the ship exiting the wormhole was the ISS Enterprise and not a different prime Constitution class ship?

Photon Torpedo

– The solution to hold the wormhole open for the Enterprise to escape was to remove the payload from the torpedoes and replace them with antimatter. Photon torpedoes are matter/antimatter weapons, so this is a little confusing. Are they taking out the matter and just loading them with more antimatter?

I don’t know that it’s been there for 855 years.. not sure if it’s kind of like the Nexus or the black hole in Trek 09, where time does things differently. My guess is, that’s how the people on board were able to integrate into society. Their doppelgängers were long deceased.

Here’s the other thing… if the idea of revolution started with Mirror Spock, and the crew of the Enterprise more or less went along with him.. this is a way of explaining how they didn’t spread the idea to teh rest of the Empire.. they were lost in space and didn’t have much, if any, influence off of their own ship.

But they did spread the idea enough to weaken the empire to the point where it could be conquered.

Yeah I was wondering that also. It’s possible since it was extradimensional space that it didn’t put them in exactly the same time that they left. Also odd that they said Dr. Cho went BACK to the Enterprise to hide the clue. That’s a pretty risky trip unless the wormhole was more stable back in the 24th century.

It is strongly implied, if not explicitly stated, that the wormhole’s instability was caused by the Burn. So, it had to be more stable in the 24th century.

they never said that the ship would be refited into the tos version as they said those 60’s sets and ship model design would not look good or belivable as from our future with modern filming cameras they said from the start they visually updated the mid 23rd century to fit better visually between ent era designs and tmp era designs mainly using Star Trek 5/6 as the basis for the tmp era side of the designs

as for the new jersey that was just a pandering memberberry easter egg for the fans that hate the visual updates and even blass has said he objected to using the 60’s design for the ship and pointed out that it should have used the snw model for it and that it was all on terry who was more interested in filling episodes with those easter eggs and memberberries like all the stuff on daystrom station and for having data come back instead of having a brand new soong type android that was exactly as alton soong designed it to be a amalgamation of data lore lal and himself

I feel like I’m seeing the same episode over and over, what a waste this series is became.

Great episode! This season has really been fantastic so far. The writing has been consistent, the acting of the principals is fantastic, and the pacing has been great.

I really loved the scenes with Rayner in command. That worked so well!

Loved getting the backstory about Moll and L’ak – it really did add layers to their characters and their story. And the reveal that L’ak was a Breen! I never saw that coming! Was great to know more about the most underdeveloped and mysterious alien race in Trek history.

Seeing the ISS Entreprise was a treat! I am guessing it was lost quite some time after mirror Spock took over from mirror Kirk. Nice Easter Egg… better than having some unknown ship in there.

Looking forward to the remaining episodes.

Did anyone else see “Morn” (or one of his species) sitting at the bar in Red’s?

Yes, I did catch that. It was a fun detail.

Seriously, an episode doesn’t go by without at least one eye roll over the touchy feely huggy share my feeling vibe that is shoe-horned into worst places. I wonder what this series would be like if Bryan Fuller had stayed on…

It would had been .. a Star Trek show, not this happy sad feeling sharing at all costs every single time somebody speaks.

I have a question because I’m really confused:

So discovery originally was set less than a decade before ToS. (And then they ended up far in the future)

The ISS enterprise is a reference to the ToS episode about the mirror universe. So that means the ISS enterprise is a contemporary with ToS and the USS enterprise, which means Dr Cho (who was expressly stated to be Terran) was about back in Kirk’s day.

However the progenitor technology and science in general was only discovered in TNG under Picard and i think it was expressly stated that the scientists that hid this research were originally asked to research it after the discovery by Picard in the first place.

TNG is set in the 24th century but ToS is set in the 23rd century – theirs about a hundred years between them.

So I’m trying to understand the timeline here because at the moment, from what I understand, it’s a human from the 23rd century somehow became a scientist on a study in the late 24th century and then stole the research and helped hide it with her 4 pals.

No the iss enterprise entered that anomaly in the mid 24th century sometime after 2355 going by the stardate on that plaque and the ship got unstuck in time via the anomaly and the refugees and survivors of mirror Saru’s revolt ended up in the late 31st century prime verse timeline sometime prior to the burn happening and then doctor Cho who was one of those survivors returned later to the ship to hide the clue there before leaving again and never returning and wiping all references to the ship from records so that it would not easily be found

I thought for sure the Real Captain Lorca would be found in the transporters.

What a waste of an episode… filler and feelings…. Rinse and repeat

What an empty, disappointing episode. Discovery feels smaller and smaller every season.

the basic idea of the episode was already good. and it would have been really great to connect the MU and the 32nd century. in the end, however, the solution and especially the writing was weak. there could have been so much more …

what really annoys me is how owo and bryce are said goodbye with a side sentence, “so long …” and so on. the way DISCO treats secondary characters is really sad at times. there should have been much more space for a bridge member like owo … sad. again and again we are given hints of interesting background stories, but then nothing else happens. that’s really lousy. compare that to the way supporting characters in earlier series were built up into really multi-faceted carriers of stories …!!

This episode was the perfect opportunity for the series to bring back Prime Universe Lorca.

Instead of having Mirror Saru be the one that brings the ISS Enterprise from the Mirror Universe to the Prime Universe, it should have been Lorca that does it.

Additionally, they could have revealed that Lorca was STILL onboard the ship, trapped in the transporter buffer like Scotty was in Relics.

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Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) isn’t thrilled by this prospect, pointing out before she leaves that it’s too dangerous a mission for a captain to undertake. But Burnham disagrees that this is enough of a reason to stop her; it’s a nice reminder that this is a show and a character that originated in the time of James T. Kirk, a time when captains didn’t stay behind in the face of danger.

But it’s not only that, there’s something else going on. Burnham gives Rayner permission to be blunt, quoting a classic work on Rayner’s native Kellerun , The Ballad of Krull , asking him to “serve it without a crumb of ossekat .” (As far as made-up Star Trek idioms go, that’s a pretty good one.)

It’s also the beginning of a sudden and relentless onslaught of references to Rayner’s culture, but more on that later. What’s Rayner’s problem? He’s uncomfortable with the prospect of being left in command of a ship and crew that aren’t “his.” Welcome to being second in command, buddy.

Book and Burnham take off, heading into the wormhole and finding it to be an inhospitable place. They quickly drop out of communication range with Discovery , there’s ship debris everywhere, including the wreckage of Moll and L’ak’s ship…. and what’s that, the  ISS Enterprise ?!

(A side note before we get too excited about that: what is the deal with all the empty space in the new shuttlecraft set, introduced in last season’s “All Is Possible”? The two pilot seats looked like they were crammed into the corner of a huge unfurnished room.)

Okay, Enterprise time. Burnham and Book rightly surmise that this is where Moll and L’ak must have escaped to and beam to the ship, which of course turns out to be a redress of the Strange New Worlds  standing sets. A quick scan identifies that no one else is aboard — though the clue, which Moll and L’ak have found, does also have a lifesign, hmm — and that Moll and L’ak are holed up in sickbay. Burnham takes a few moments to ponder her visit to the Mirror Universe back in Season 1 and wonder what the alternate version of her half-brother Spock might have been like (bearded, for one).

And aside from some brief storytelling about Mirror Saru’s role as a rebel leader, that’s about it for the Terran Empire of it all. Star Trek: Discovery has spent plenty of time in and around the Mirror Universe already, and I personally don’t think they need to revisit it again. But introducing the  ISS Enterprise — the ship that started it all with The Original Series ’ “Mirror, Mirror” — and then not doing anything momentous with it? Strange decision, and one that makes it ultimately feel more like this was a way for the show to get to reuse a set on the cheap than it does a materially significant addition to the episode.

In fact, in some ways it’s actually a detriment to the episode. If the action had been set on any other ship it would have been fine, but being on the ISS Enterprise I kept expecting something — like seeing Paul Wesley as Mirror Kirk slinking around, or finding Anson Mount camping it up as Mirror Pike in a personal log. If they’d set the action on a generic derelict ship, what we got wouldn’t have seemed like a let down. As it is though, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop… and it simply never did.

Maybe in a subsequent episode, it’ll turn out that there’s an advantage in having an entire functional starship composed of atoms from another universe at Starfleet’s disposal — or to have a convenient collection of Constitution -class sets available for that Starfleet Academy show to borrow once in a while — but until that happens (if it even does) the use of the ISS Enterprise just seems like a name drop and a “We have to set the action somewhere , why not here?” instead of a significant use of the setting and the huge amount of lore and history that comes with it.

It’s like setting something aboard the Titanic without ever mentioning any icebergs.

As Burnham and Book make their way down to sickbay they do find evidence that the ship was being used in a way that seemed unusually gentle for a Terran Empire vessel: signs that children and families were aboard at one time, and that they were the kind of people sentimental enough to have keepsakes and favorite stuffed animals. But again, nothing about this seems like it needs the Mirror Universe connection. Ships of people trying to escape adversity are already a Star Trek staple.

Burnham and Book find Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) in sickbay, and after a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at getting them to surrender, everyone starts shooting. Moll and L’ak have a Breen blood bounty — an erigah — on their heads and surrender is simply not an option. During the firefight a lockdown is triggered, forcefields coming down that split the group into pairs: Burnham and L’ak stuck in sickbay, while Book and Moll able to go back to the bridge to try and reset sickbay.

Pairing off also gives Book the opportunity to continue his efforts to connect with Moll, and I have to say, I don’t think I’m a fan. Setting aside the portion of this that’s purely a strategic attempt to forge a connection with someone who is very to keen to kill him, my first reaction to the way Book talks to Moll about her father (and his mentor) was distaste.

I don’t think Book meant it this way, but the way he’s written in these scenes feels unpleasantly close to the “Well, he was a great guy to me , I never saw him do anything bad” response that’s sometimes made to accusations of misconduct. A person can be wonderful to some people in their life and terrible to others; both experiences are true for the people who received them, but they’re not mutually exclusive.

Book is preternaturally empathetic, and yet he doesn’t seem to see how continually assuring Moll that her father loved her is an act that’s both unwanted and actively painful for Moll to hear. I understand that Book is just trying to bring a sliver of comfort to Moll – but in the process he’s dismissing her own experiences of her father and his place in her life. Unless Moll asks him for this, it’s really none of Book’s business.

I suspect they’re setting up Moll’s character for a nice, cathartic arc where she comes to terms with her life, forgives her father, releases her past, whatever. And when that happens in real life that’s great — but it doesn’t always, and that’s okay too. If Moll never sees in her father the man Book saw in his mentor, it’s not a character failing. Discovery is really hammering home the theme of confronting one’s past in order to take control of one’s present and future, and I think it would be valuable if they included an example of a character learning to do the latter… without having to be okay with the former.

And to return to a question I posed in my review of “Under the Twin Moons,” I know Book is isolated and excruciatingly lonely after the destruction of Kweijan and his split with Michael, but the weight he’s placed on his relationship with Moll as “the closest thing he has to family” seems like he’s setting himself up for disappointment. Maybe I’m just a cynic, but this does not feel like a hopeful storyline to me. Not everyone wants to be family, and right now it doesn’t seem like Moll’s been given much of a choice in the matter — despite her frequent and very powerful explanations of why she’s not interested.

Clearly frustrated with Book’s topic of conversation and desperate to return to L’ak, Moll makes a reckless decision to brute-force a solution and overload some circuits. It works, and the forcefields in sickbay come down, but it also sends the Enterprise onto an unstoppable collision course with the too-small-to-pass-through and also going-to-be-closing-forever-soon wormhole. They’ve got eight minutes to figure this out.

Meanwhile aboard Discovery , we see Rayner’s struggles to interact with the crew. This thread could have gone so many different ways, Rayner seeming “too good” for a temporary command, him seeing this as his chance to do things “better” than Burnham or show how it’s “really done,” but instead the show takes the much more subtle and satisfying route: Rayner is deeply respectful of the captaincy, as a rank and a role, and really doesn’t want to step on Burnham’s authority.

He’s more than willing to disagree with her on command decisions , but he doesn’t question her command . And more personally, he doesn’t want his gruffness and lack of experience with this crew to cause problems. He’s trying, in his own Rayner way, and more importantly he’s succeeding — and, as we see as he shepherds the crew through figuring out how to communicate with and then rescue Book and Burnham, the crew does their part and meets him halfway.

Rayner is learning that he needs to tone down his temperament just enough that he doesn’t come across as an actual asshole to this crew, and the crew is learning that his gruffness isn’t a sign of disrespect but simply a desire to cut to the chase and get to direct, actionable information with a minimum of fluff. There are shades of Nimoy’s Spock or Voyager -era Seven of Nine here, but couched within a distinctly different temperament, and it’s fascinating to watch. I’d love to have seen him interacting with the crew of the Antares , where he presumably felt more comfortable.

The interpersonal stuff with Rayner and the crew is great; where Rayner’s thread feels distractingly like a box being checked is the explosion of “Rayner is a Kellerun!” being shouted from the bulkheads. I could practically hear the writers yelping out a panicked “Oh crap, we forgot to say what kind of alien Rayner is!”

Again, Discovery is back to its old self with the clunky, heavy-handed, and oddly paced character work. Rayner goes from having zero cultural touchstones to having about five in the span of the 15-20 minutes of screentime that his story gets this week. They’re good touchstones, don’t get me wrong — I’m skeptical of Kellerun citrus mash, I have to be honest, but I’d give it a try; not so sure about boiling a cake though — they’re just very present .

As with Rayner’s alienness, the frequent flashbacks throughout the episode to Moll and L’ak’s meeting and courtship feel like a “We forgot to explain this and now we’re trying to reference it!” correction. The content of the flashbacks is fine, there’s a lot of interesting Breen worldbuilding for a species that’s been mysterious from the start — and watching Moll and L’ak’s relationship grow from one of mutual convenience to one of true love is genuinely moving. But the way it’s woven into an episode that, again, feels like it’s composed of bits and pieces of storyline, makes it hard to shake the sense that I was watching a To Do list get checked off.

By the time the season is over it might be clear that there was simply no extra room to give a full episode over to Moll and L’ak’s meeting, or maybe an episode without any of the main cast wasn’t something they were willing or contractually able to do, but I would have loved if these flashbacks were pulled out and expanded into a full-length episode of their own. Some of the worldbuilding felt hasty to the point of hindering the emotional beats — at times I wondered if I’d forgotten a whole bunch of Breen lore and at others I was just trying to keep up with what was going on.

For example, my confusion about L’ak’s comment about having two faces, which Moll seemed to completely understand — “Duh, everyone knows the Breen have two faces” — was a distraction in the middle of an otherwise nice and significant moment. This is later clarified as the translucent face and the solid face, but again I was distracted from fully appreciating an interesting bit of Breen culture because I was busy applying what I’d just learned back to the previous scene.

The quickly (and maybe not totally clearly articulated notion) that Breen deliberately restrict themselves to their translucent form for reasons that are entirely to do with avoiding any perception of weakness is a potent if hasty bit of social commentary, and as I said I nearly didn’t catch it.

Whether holding the translucent form requires the armor for protection or the armor necessitates the translucent form — it seems like it would be more comfortable wearing that helmet all the time if you were the texture and consistency of lime jello — this is surely a metaphor for the increasingly rigid, isolating, and emotionally and sometimes physically unhealthy things men in certain circles feel they must do to be appropriately masculine. Seeing L’ak free himself from that rigidity is powerful.

With the forcefields in sickbay down, Burnham and L’ak immediately spring into action:  Burnham trying to get the artifact from L’ak and L’ak simply trying to get away. They fight, and Burnham impressively proves she can hold her own against a Breen. When L’ak accidentally falls on his own blade, Burnham grabs the clue and speeds to the bridge where she manages to get a message to Rayner through some tractor beam trickery. The message? Another reference to that classic of Kellerun literature that gives Rayner the info he needs. Hey, did you know Rayner was a Kellerun?

The ISS Enterprise makes it through the wormhole, Moll and L’ak zip away in an escape pod, and it’s time to wrap things up. We head to Red’s for a quick but significant moment between Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Culber (Wilson Cruz), as Tilly offers advice and an ear to a Culber who’s going through a quiet existential – maybe also spiritual? – crisis.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• In addition to the dedication plaques on the bridge, the ISS Enterprise has an additional plaque in its transporter room — one which, despite recounting the heroism of rebel action hero Mirror Saru, still states “Long Live the Empire.”
• The transporter room plaque is marked with “Stardate 32336.6,” which is about 9 years before the events of “Encounter at Farpoint.”
• The plaque describes the fate of Mirror Spock, who was killed after instituting the reforms which later led to the fall of the Terran Empire (as described in DS9’s “Crossover”).

The full text of the ISS Enterprise transporter room plaque:

The new High Chancellor presented hope and justice as if they were natural to our world. His words, “The light of hope shines through even the darkest of nights” became our rallying cry. He spoke of reform, and changed many of us. But some saw this as weakness. They killed him, and we sought help from an unlikely ally: A Kelpien slave turned rebel leader.   He spoke of visitors from another world… a near perfect mirror cast our darkness into light. With his aid we secured the Enterprise and stayed behind to continue his work. We bear scars from our escape, but our hope remains. May it carry us into a pristine, peaceful, and just future.

• Not counting L’ak’s previous appearances this season, this episode marks the first time we have seen the Breen in live action since their involvement in the Dominion War in Deep Space Nine.  (The species has appeared in  Star Trek: Lower Decks three times.)
• The 32nd century Breen wear updated encounter suits clearly based on the designs introduced in  Deep Space Nine ; their digital speech is extremely faithful to the incomprehensible noises Breen soldiers have spoken in past appearances.
• Given the fact that Moll appears to be just fine in the environment of the Breen ship, I guess Weyoun was right when he said the Breen homeworld was “quite comfortable” in “The Changing Face of Evil.”
• When L’ak is stabbed he gently oozes some green goo — but as we learned in “In Purgatory’s Shadow,” Breen do not have traditional humanoid blood.

• During his time in command of Discovery , Rayner never sits in the captain’s chair.
• This episode closes with a dedication plaque that reads “In loving memory of our friend, Allan ‘Red’ Marceta”. Marceta was, I presume, the namesake for Discovery’s bar.
• Someone aboard Discovery keeps a Cardassian vole as a pet. Going by Tilly’s reaction, and what we know from  Deep Space Nine , this is not a good thing.
• Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson) plays a mean piano.
• Owosekun and Detmer get the off-screen cherry assignment of flying the ISS Enterprise back to Federation Headquarters, alone. I’m thinking that’s going to inspire some fanfic…

We don’t learn what this week’s clue is, though we know there’s a blue vial tucked away inside it, but we do learn that the crew of the ISS Enterprise did indeed make it to our universe. The scientist responsible for hiding this particular clue there was one of them, a Dr. Cho, who eventually made it all the way to branch admiral.

They strove for something positive and succeeded against all odds. Hopefully Discovery will be able to do the same as they continue their pursuit of Moll, L’ak, and the Progenitors.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 returns with “Whistlespeak” on Thursday, May 2.

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Star Trek Cookbook: Simple Recipes Make In 30 Minutes Or Less Star Trek Home Style Cookery Kindle Edition

Are you a true fan of Star Trek which is one of the most underrated shows of all time ?

Are you a real foodie who is into cooking and craving unique and creative recipes?

If your answer is yes, this Star Trek Cookbook is definitely what you have been looking for.

What you can find in this book:

- 20 quick and easy recipes inspired by this series , which are well-designed for you to adopt and keep track of.

- Tips and tricks: inside this cookbook, we will provide you the relevant cooking techniques that help you spend less time in the kitchen and improve your culinary skills.

- Appetizing pictures or illustrations of the dishes that helps you have an overview about what you are cooking.

From this cookbook, you can make the tasty, flavorful dishes while following the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise and its crew.

This cookbook would definitely be an ideal friend that helps you relax after stressful days and hopefully inspire you to pursue the passion for cooking!!

• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publication date May 26, 2021
• File size 10467 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Not Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

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Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B095YNKR9D
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 26, 2021
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 10467 KB
• Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• #408,452 in Science Fiction & Fantasy (Books)
• #863,524 in Nonfiction (Kindle Store)

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Den of Geek

HBO and Max New Releases: May 2024

Here's everything coming to HBO and Max in May including Hacks season 3 and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

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With its list of new releases for May 2024, HBO streamer Max is bringing back one of the best comedies on television.

Hacks season 3 premieres on May 2 and will continue the tortured (platonic-ish) love affair between comedy superstar Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her former joke writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder). That will be followed up by Pretty Little Liars: Summer School on May 9.

Movie-lovers have more than enough to keep them occupied in May 2024 as well. The latest John Green adaptation, Turtles All the Way Down , will premiere on May 3. That will be followed by intriguing original documentary MoviePass, MovieCrash on May 30. Max is also putting its Warner Bros. origins to good use with a bunch of excellent library movies like The Iron Claw on May 10 and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice on May 26.

Here’s everything coming to HBO and Max in May.

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New on HBO and Max – May 2024

May 1 All About My Mother (1999) Black Christmas (2019) Crank (2006) Crank: High Voltage (2009) The Dead Don’t Die (2019) Don Jon (2013) Eddie the Eagle (2016) The Edge (1997) The Florida Project (2017) Genius (2016) Guy’s Grocery Games, Season 35 (Food Network) Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) Jersey Boys (2014) The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) The Lighthouse (2019) Mad Max (1979) Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) My 600-lb Life: Where Are They Now? (TLC) Poltergeist (2015) Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) Poltergeist III (1988) Silver Linings Playbook (2012) Sisters (2015) The Upside of Anger (2005) Wild Mountain Thyme (2020) Wonderland (2003)

May 2 Hacks, Season 3 (Max Original) Selena + Restaurant, Season 1 (Food Network) Six Is Not A Crowd (Felices Los 6), Season 1 (Max Original) Turtles All the Way Down (Max Original)

May 3 Batwheels, Season 2B (Cartoon Network) Stop Making Sense (A24 2023 Re-Release) Teen Titans Go!, Season 8 (Cartoon Network) Zillow Gone Wild, Season 1 (HGTV)

May 4 America’s Backyard Gold, Season 1 (Discovery Channel)

May 5 People Magazine Killer Investigates, Season 1 (ID)

May 6 Mini Beat Power Rockers, S4B Next Baking Master: Paris, Season 1 (Food Network) Yellowstone Wardens, Season 4 (Animal Planet)

May 7 Mecum Full Throttle: Houston TX 2024 (Motor Trend) Outdaughtered, Season 10 (TLC)

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May 8 In Pursuit with John Walsh, Season 5 (ID) Stupid Pet Tricks, Season 1 (TBS)

May 9 Pretty Little Liars: Summer School (Max Original)

May 10 The Iron Claw (2023) (A24)

May 11 Nikki Glaser: Someday You’ll Die (HBO Original)

May 12 Expedition From Hell: The Lost Tapes (Discovery Channel) Naked and Afraid XL, Season 10 (Discovery Channel)

May 13 SMILING FRIENDS, Season 2 (Adult Swim) Summer Baking Championship, Season 2 (Food Network)

May 14 Doubling Down with the Derricos, Season 5 (TLC)

May 15 Botched Bariatrics, Season 1 (TLC) Ghost Adventures, Season 28 (Discovery Channel) Home Sweet Rome (2023) (Max Original) Sleepless (2017)

May 16 Murder in the Heartland (ID)

May 17 My Lottery Dream Home, Season 15 (Discovery Channel)

May 18 Design Down Under, Season 2 (Magnolia Network)

May 19 Ciao House, Season 2 (Food Network)

May 20 Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight, Limited Series (CNN Original Series) STAX: Soulsville U.S.A (HBO Original)

May 21 Elephants vs. Man with Nick Paton Walsh (CNN Original) Hell on Earth: The Verónica Case (La Mano En El Fuego) (Max Original)

May 22 Moonshiners: Master Distiller (Discovery Channel)

May 23 Last Chance Garage, Season 1 (Motor Trend) Romário: The Guy (Romário: O Cara), Season 1 (Max Original) Texas Metal’s Loud and Lifted, Season 2 (Motor Trend) Thirst with Shay Mitchell (Max Original)

May 24 Caught: Wild and Weird America (Discovery Channel) Diary of an Old Home, Season 4 (Magnolia Network)

Latest TV reviews

Star trek: discovery season 5 episode 6 review – whistlespeak, shardlake review: sinister and satisfying tudor-set murder mystery, star trek: discovery season 5 episode 5 review – mirrors.

May 25 Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America (Discovery Channel)

May 26 Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

May 27 90 Day Fiancé: UK, Season 3 Two Guys Garage, Season 23 (Motor Trend)

May 29 Homicide Hunter: American Detective, Season 4 (ID) MoviePass, MovieCrash (HBO Original) Traces of Love (Evidências Do Amor) (Max Original)

May 30 Outchef’d, Season 3 (Food Network)

May 31 Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail, Season 3 (Discovery Channel)

Alec Bojalad | @alecbojalad

TV Editor at Den of Geek and Television Critics Association member. Based in Cleveland, Ohio. Very upset about various sporting events.