star trek tos bridge crew

Star Trek: Bridge Crew Puts You and Your Friends in the Heart of a Starship

As officers of the Federation, every action and decision you make together will determine the fate of your ship and crew. Available for play with VR headsets and without, the Virtual Reality mode developed for Star Trek: Bridge Crew offers a true-to-life level of immersion in the Star Trek universe.

The Next Generation DLC

The voyage continues! Tackle missions aboard the USS Aegis or the original bridge of the USS Enterprise!

Game Overview

A new playable ship: the enterprise d.

The Enterprise D can be used in any of the existing Ongoing Voyages modes, plus the two new modes. Players appear in authentic TNG uniforms when on this bridge, and experience the full audiovisual treatment to make everything look and sound like the TNG show.

New Avatar Option: Android

You can choose and customize any of several Android avatars.

New Enemies: The Romulans and The Borg

The Romulans are deadly and devious, making heavy use of surprise attacks. And the infamous Borg Cube poses a nearly unstoppable threat.

A New Player Role: Operations

On the Enterprise D, instead of Chief Engineer, you play as Operations. The signature feature of Operations is assigning NPC crew members to jobs throughout the ship. How Ops assigns crews at any given moment modifies the ship’s capabilities.

New Ongoing Voyages Mode: Patrol

Investigate activity throughout the Trench, flying to your choice of star systems and encountering random events and challenges along the way. Can be played with any of the three playable ships.

New Ongoing Voyages Mode: Resistance

A Borg Cube is tracking your ship, and you must locate a series of prototype defenses in order to survive your final encounter with it. At every step, the Borg are tracking you and trying to disrupt your efforts. Resistance is a tough challenge mode for dedicated players! Can be played with any of the three playable ships.

New Ship Capabilities

To counter Romulan stealth tactics, the Enterprise D can deploy Proximity Torpedoes; a well-coordinated Bridge Crew can use them like depth charges to neutralize a cloaked enemy. And to hold out against deadly singular threats like the Borg, the Enterprise D also features Shield Modulation and Precision-Fire Phasers.

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Select your platform, select your version, select your edition, star trek: bridge crew.

Star Trek™: Bridge Crew puts you and your friends in the heart of a starship. As officers of the Federation, every action and decision you make together will determine the fate of your ship and crew. Available for play with VR headsets and without, the Virtual Reality mode developed for Star Trek: Bridge Crew offers a true-to-life level of immersion in the Star Trek universe.

Release Date:

May 30 , 2017

VR / Simulation / Strategy

Red Storm Entertainment

Star Trek Bridge Crew is Available on:

VR / PC / PlayStation 4

Star Trek Bridge Crew is rated:

TM & © 2016 CBS Studios Inc. © 2016 Paramount Pictures Corp. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. Game Software © 2016 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.

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‘Star Trek: Bridge Crew’ Review

Arm the torpedoes, align the ship's fun vector and engage!

Ubisoft’s long-awaited  Star Trek: Bridge Crew, the co-op space sim that puts you at the bridge of your very own Federation vessel, is nearly here (coming out May 30th), but we’ve had our mitts all over a pre-release copy for a few days now. Wherever you may fall on the spectrum of Trek fandom, Bridge Crew  promises more than just a genuine Trek experience with its exciting gameplay and social component that is sure to immerse.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew  Details:

Official Site

Developer: Red Storm Entertainment Publisher: Ubisoft Available On:   Home (Oculus Touch), Steam (HTC Vive, Oculus Touch),  PlayStation VR  Reviewed On:  Oculus Touch, HTC Vive Release Date:  May 30, 2017

Stepping back a bit from my affection of the many iterations of  Star Trek  universes—explored in the recent re-boot films and older TV series spanning back to Star Trek (1966),  aka “The Original Series” (ToS) — what I experienced in the last few days with Bridge Crew  was a profound realization that I am not a Federation captain, not yet anyway.

Piloting the fictional vessel, dubbed the U.S.S. Aegis, on an exploratory mission to the uncharted sector ‘The Trench’ in efforts to find a new planet for the Vulcan race after the Romulans destroyed their home-world, I quickly found out that when the Klingon Empire is breathing down your neck and real people are counting on you to make the right decision, that I still need a lot more time with Bridge Crew  before I can put on the well-deserved swagger of a Kirk, Picard, or Janeway. That’s not to say you can’t have your ‘captain-y moments’ in the beginning campaign with your friends though, but when the goings get tough, role-playing that Starfleet swagger quickly deflates in front of the very real barrier of 2 Klingon warships and 4 scouts coming in for the kill.

And even though the game promises only 5 ‘episodes’ that range from 20-30 minutes of gameplay a piece, the difficulty level spikes significantly around the last two missions, so be prepared for the likelihood of an entire play session getting scrapped because you didn’t get a critical instrument back on-line while taking heavy fire. Despite some hypothetically quick mission times, you can easily invest several hours alone trying to beat the last two campaign missions.

I found the campaign mode, which can be completed with or without a fully-manned, live crew (AI can fill in the gaps), to be much more difficult as a lone player. Because AI can’t really take on detailed orders like, “avoid that gravitic mine while running away from that anomaly while shooting at the upcoming Bird-of-Prey,” you sometimes have to jump into the AI’s position to get what you want out it. You can also issue crew-wide orders to the AI from your captain’s chair that make some things a bit quicker, like aligning warp vectors and repairing critical ship functions, but that’s not really what Star Trek: Bridge Crew  is all about.

When playing alone, I found that micromanaging a ship’s AI effectively photon-torpedoes the fun right out of the sky. Instead, the soul of the game is more about becoming an effective communicator with like-minded players and having those deeply surreal moments when your ego jumps into the shoes of a bridge officer commanding, responding, and caring about the world around you. Those are the deeply satisfying moments of the game, when you can cheer for victory and bond—even with perfect strangers.

Without going too deep into each station’s duties (you can a video of the full explanation here ), the intensity of the enemy and the various objectives flying your way can quickly overwhelm any station. Besides requiring effective communication between players, the game hinges on your ability to keep systems repaired, and correctly balanced for the task at hand.

As a captain in the co-op mode, you keep an eye on mission objectives, and also the game’s three maps; a local map, an impulse map for farther objects of interest, and a warp map displaying far-flung locations. Only mission-relevant locations can be accessed during the campaign mode, so exploring is a bit ‘on rails’ as it were. Here it’s your job to efficiently order the crew according to their roles and keep an eye on everyone as they go about their individual jobs.

At engineering, you can overcharge engines, phasers, shields at the expense of all other systems, or lower your output entirely to maintain a low profile radar signature for moments of stealth, a requirement for some missions. Engineers can repair everything except your hull, meaning once your shields go down, you’ll be accruing permanent damage.

Tactical can fire torpedoes in limited supply, phasers that need charging, and subsystem intrusions that let you knock out the enemy’s engines, phasers, etc. Helm’s job is to maneuver the ship from point A-B, keep targets in sight, and be on point when it comes to aligning impulse and warp vectors for quick getaways.

Outside of campaign mode, Bridge Crew also offers ‘ongoing missions’, which serves up a selection of procedurally generated challenges available in both solo and co-op mode. These entail rescue, defend, attack, and exploratory missions. To add another level of difficulty, you can also fly the original Enterprise (NCC 1701) during ‘ongoing missions’, which is more powerful but less stealthy. To my surprise, the old Enterprise is fairly dead-on with screen accuracy, replete with a charming array of unlabeled flashing lights and buttons (you can toggle labels on if you need help).

In the end, Bridge Crew  is more about ‘pew pew pew’ and less about peaceful exploration than I personally care for, but that’s probably better for everyone’s enjoyment in the long run.

Cross-play between Vive, Rift and PSVR was switched off in the pre-release version, but Ubisoft says it will be ready at launch.

The look and feel of the game is nothing short of amazing, and fans are sure to appreciate the attention to detail. The ship’s interior, although taking after the J.J. Abrams re-boot films (love it or hate it), thankfully lacks the director’s penchant for lens flares and dramatic camera angles, instead putting you in a very real, very well-crafted ship’s bridge. As the ship accumulates damage, consoles predictably start exploding, sparks fly everywhere, the walls catch fire, and NPC redshirts even fall to the ground after they’re electrocuted to death. It all brings a sense of danger into the forefront as your immaculate ship is torn to pieces.

Space exteriors are graphically less involved however, and seem a little too cartoonish to be believed. Science buffs will undoubtedly shake their heads in anguish when they see the game’s lumpy-looking stars with equally lumpy-looking planets far too close to each other. That’s not a big concern, but it does detract a bit from the game’s wow-factor personally.

As for the interior, controls are logically represented and well-labeled for each station. Some buttons become unresponsive during and a bit after impulse and warp travel is concluded though, which isn’t exactly helpful when you’re trying to get a jump on your respective duty. This leaves you effectively tapping a button until the game decides you’re allowed to use it; a small annoyance, but you get used to it.

Avatar creation falls slightly flat because its done via a collection of very rough presets, letting you choose between man or woman, Human or Vulcan, and a number of ethnicities via a slider so you try to create something unique. You can also make them stockier, older, and cycle through a few hairstyles and colors. I never really found an avatar that fit me though.

While playing, the avatars didn’t really much matter though since you’re either looking at the backs of heads or directly at a console. In any case, your companions’ gestures and their voices, placed in 3D space thanks to positional audio, rounds out any misgivings the avatar creator might have.

Thankfully the game lets you play either with gamepad or hand controllers, which means anyone with a high-quality VR headset can join in. Players with hand controllers will notice that console screens actually act as barriers to your virtual hands, which is helpful when it comes to accurately hitting a button. While this technically screws with your body’s proprioception, or the ability to innately understand where your body parts are without looking, it didn’t really bother me after hours of play time.

As a seated game, Star Trek: Bridge Crew  is an exceedingly comfortable experience. With the bridge and consoles acting as physical anchors, and the ship’s slower turning radius and speed, you’re likely to have minimal problems if you’re usually averse to artificial locomotion-induced nausea.

The developers at Red Storm Entertainment are well-studied when it comes to VR game design, and offer plenty of near-field space debris and particles to give you the sense that you’re moving in space without the discomfort inherent to artificial locomotion.

The big question remains whether Star Trek: Bridge Crew  will be a flash in the pan with an initial period of hype, or a long-lived success with a steady player-base. I can see myself logging on and playing through the campaign with buddies and maybe even making the procedural missions a weekly addition to my routine amongst friends (as long as everyone is having fun). Even playing with random people was a blast, but the fact remains that fresh content like new campaign missions, ship types, and greater multiplayer-driven game modes, are all needed to keep users interested and coming back to have what I would consider one of the most fun social gaming experiences I’ve had to date.

A special thanks goes out to social VR industry pro  Shawn Whiting ,  Road to VR  exec. editor Ben Lang, and a random English guy by the moniker ‘the_weird’ for helping with the review of this game.

Not having the Enterprise D bridge is a HUGE mistake imo. The Next Generation is easily the most popular of the Star Trek series, and the Enterprise D bridge is by far the one I think most people would genuinely want to spend more than a few minutes in (it’s actually a pleasurable environment to be in, rather than looking like some kind of sterile and soulless hospital operating room), so I absolutely would have included it in this game if that was even remotely an option.

Its such a precious storyline that every one feels so wonderfully captivated by it, people expressing such concerns and feeling of distress is truly a credit.

Don’t worry Inceptional, you got to know that as much as you like the Enterprise D bridge you got fokes that are going to be involved with making this and future VR experiences, THAT LOVE to make you feel a part of the Star Trex experience.

I don’t post here often but ill go ahead and say for my generation of 40 to 45 year olds, you guys are going to make us all melt inside and swell up giving us our dream of all time of being on the ships of star trex.

Lets just support these guys as much as possible, I didn’t catch if this is a free to play or store game but what ever the cost ill support. up to £49.99.

Thanks the team and people behind this, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOVE STAR TREK!!!!!

I love Star Trek but have never heard of this “Trex” of which you speax.

Is it related to the Borx?

edited, now go get a girl friend. :-)

Prime DLC territory, let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Seriously, just assign the entire company to make the brain crushing VR game we want already! Go for it! VR is so awesome

As long as it has some great DLC to keep us playing well beyond realese day.

I was fortunate enough to be a beta tester for this game. Although i had fun during the 2 day test. I might have a hard time purchasing the game. The social/teamwork aspect of the game was excellent. The 2 available missions were okay. Out of the 4 available positions on the ship, the Capitain was the most boring. The only fun part was pressing the alarm button. Otherwise. It’s a useless job in this simulator. You get to choose between the original 70s starship which is very aweful or a modern ship which is much easier to manage. The gameplay was fun as long as you’re paired up with a decent team. This game will definitely please the typical Star Trek fan but for people like me.. It was an experience that will be quickly forgoten.

Have to imagine they are going to work on it as a labour of love for the foreseeable future and build up a massive following, why kill the goose that lays the golden egg with a half arse effort at a potentially huge following gaming base.

did you hear about the VR game http://flagshipgame.com/ look it up on you tube, it would have been the perfect game, it never reached its kick starter which is a shame of the decade.

Sadly, I have seen many games with serious potential fall by the wayside as developers move on to other projects, and never round-out a product or add to it. I hope this is not the case here, I think ST:BC could be a break out game for VR easily if they put the effort into it.

Exactly, still feels like either they are seeing if people buy it and there’s worth it $ return and/or they just haven’t figured it out yet or had the time to create the depth of a game we expect from regular AAAs

I forgot to mention that you are required to install the horrible Uplay bloatware from Ubisoft to play this game. Another turnoff for me.

Aren’t you tired of everything we have to register for nowadays? At this point I don’t care anymore, just retina scan me or use my finger print. Too many passwords and sloware

“one of the funnest”

One of the MOST FUN.

Saying “funnest” makes you sound inbred, even if it’s (now) technically ‘allowed’.

Totally acceptable nowadays. Especially for a video game forum. Just sayin’. :)

http://grammarist.com/usage/funner-more-fun/

Star Trek: Bridge Crew!

The game may be the most beautiful thing imaginable. The treatment of customers by UBI is a disgrace but only because the customers keep telling them it’s ok to abuse them as long as they get to play a game. It’s like an abusive marriage where the customer is being promised the world one minute and beat to a pulp the next.

Ubisoft charged $80 CAD for pre-orders. Then dropped the price to $60 CAD and left it up the customers to figure out what they did and request they’re refund of the balance. They deliver nothing to pre-order customers that normal customers won’t get. They make the game available to the entire US market Only for Oculus users. Brand new customers in the US where able to buy the game and play it 2 days before release, all by accident of course. Anxious international players used VPN connections to get around the US only release til it was eventually shut down. They promised users a 12am release May 30th on their own forums and one hour before release notified them, whoops we meant only for PS4, Oculus which we accidentally released on the 28th can be released until 12 noon on the 30th. Somehow it doesn’t strike me as all that managed

I worked for international software companies. Sure things slip, they always have and probably always will. UBI is offering a whole new spin. Abusing customers and taking the position that it’s all somehow someone else’s fault. Failed planning, mismanagement it’s all someone else’s fault. It’s too hard to give retroactive refunds to customers after a price drop and if they ask for the partial refund stall them for an entire day, escalating the request. And why in the world would you ever treat a preorder customer any better then everyone else. Oh and releasing to the US only first.

But the customer love this treatment. It’s what they want and I’m betting there are more then a few UBI employees bent over laughing at how much abuse they can lay on their customers and watch them give thanks for it and come back for more.

I think most game companies are managed by opportunistic low life’s… you always hear about tactics like this more so from some than others, but almost all of them seem a bit sketch.

So like most VR games as of late I can’t help but think…

“Damn I wish developers had 4-5 years of mastered work behind this concept or game.”

It’s very apparent to me that big names studio devs just haven’t had the 4-5 years needed for comparable non VR AAA titles to fall into our hands. They are still figuring out what it is people like, how they are going to operate, how to create min 120fps quality graphics.

That being said, STBC is a great example of improvement in VR games… they are slowly getting better.

I would love to see these guys just recreate a couple seasons of STNG as playable missions for a VR game. That would let us explore and perhaps run into the various episodes randomly through space, mixed in with some dev created missions.

Even adding planetary exploration and beaming down with a team, where you can decide who to bring based on their skills i.e. Data, Ward, Dr. Crusher (for instance if it was a rescue mission and people were hurt)

I can’t help think of the potential for VR and STBC is yet another game that gets closer, but is still just so far away from being the game changer people seek for this technology.

I hope I live to see it… thers so much $ in VR now someone’s just gotta bite the bullet and go for broke here.

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Review: Star Trek: Bridge Crew

Job Simulator: Starfleet Edition

If there’s any quintessential Star Trek fantasy, it’s probably of being on the bridge of one of the series’ iconic starships. Be it the Enterprise , Defiant , or  Voyager , Star Trek  has long defined itself through command decks and the people sitting on them. 

Star Trek: Bridge Crew  promised to use VR tech to put players in that fantasy, but after repeated delays, can Ubisoft and Red Storm bring that 23rd-century Federation experience to life?

Star Trek: Bridge Crew  (PlayStation VR [Reviewed], Oculus Rift, HTC Vive) Developer: Red Storm Entertainment Publisher: Ubisoft Released: May 30, 2017 MSRP: $49.99

I’m not going to bury the lede here: Star Trek: Bridge Crew accomplishes this feat rather brilliantly. At this point, it might be my favorite VR experience to date.

That said, I am compelled to qualify my statement, in that that brilliance comes more despite the limitations of the game than because of it. Indeed, while what Red Storm has developed can be solid platform for some choice Trek interactions, the content in the software itself come across as a bit thin.

If nothing else, the game does exactly what it says on the box: It places up to four players in the position of being members of a Star Trek starship’s bridge crew. Each player, wearing one of the three major VR headsets (I played on a PSVR), takes one of the stations aboard the bridge of a ship, and uses either a pair of motion controllers or a gamepad to manipulate the controls for that station. Together, the players will cooperate to accomplish the missions and run the ship.

Each bridge station has a distinct function and unique capabilities. Helm officers pilot the starship, plotting courses to different navigation points, aligning the vessel on impulse or warp vectors, and managing the throttle. Tactical officers can scan objects in the local vicinity, locating life signs, ferreting out navigational hazards, and isolating enemies’ subsystems. They can raise and lower the ship’s shields, as well as use phasers and photon torpedoes to destroy or disable enemy ships. Engineers allocate power to ship systems, increasing or decreasing their effectiveness. They can temporarily reroute power to different systems for a quick boost, as well as direct repair teams to contain damage sustained in combat.

Shared between these three stations are controls for the ship’s transporter, as well as a “System Intrusion” hacking mechanic that allows the crew to get a leg up on enemy ships in combat. The fourth station, the Captain’s coordinates the other three stations’ efforts, by alerting the crew to mission objectives, answering incoming communications, and manipulating the main viewscreen. Captains are also the only players who can take control of AI crew stations, in case the session is short a station or two.

These interactions, in and of themselves, are fairly simple ones. Ultimately, they boil down to three different ways to interact with a control panel, after all.  But it’s more than that, though. The genius of Star Trek: Bridge Crew – lies in the fact that no one person on the crew has everything they need to do their job.

The Captain knows the objective and how to complete the mission, but needs the other three stations working in order to actually get anything done. A helmsman can maneuver the ship and set course to the objective, but needs the Engineer to allocate power to his systems and prime the warp engines for travel. The Tactical officer can engage targets and destroy threats, but will need both the Helm and Engineer to keep the ship in effective range and ensure there’s enough power. The Engineer can greatly increase the effectiveness of the other stations, but needs to balance their demands as well as keep the ship in good working order. 

Staying on top of all of this under pressure to accomplish mission objectives like rescuing castaways while under fire, or scanning crucial anomalies and escaping before a star explodes, requires communication. Bridge Crew  isn’t a game for the shy, and everyone on a crew will need to speak up to get the job done.

But the best part is that the nature of this required cooperation tends to prompt people to, for lack of a batter word, act professionally. Rather than trash-talk or racial epithets or insults (the usual language of pick-up game voice chat) the vast majority of random crewmates I played did their jobs, and in doing so ended up sounding just like one might imagine an actual Star Trek  bridge crew might, issuing reports on their status, making (polite) requests, and even cracking up a bit during the more stressful missions. Even little things, like the way it’s easier to say “Helm”, or “Captain” or “Tactical” than it is to read someone’s absurd nickname tends to have people address each other like they might if they were actual crew members on a ship. This natural “role-playing” feels profound and frankly magical when combined with the sense of presence one gets from using VR headsets and motion controllers.

Of course, I might be a somewhat biased observer, being a hardcore Trek  nerd who’s been dreaming of this sort of experience since childhood. I’d wager that many of the people I interacted with were in the same boat. I also can’t imagine what it might be like trying to get over a language barrier (the Asia-region servers weren’t especially populated at the time of review). And yet, I can still recognize that while Bridge Crew is the closest I’ve come yet to realizing that longtime Trekker fantasy, it’s not quite all there yet.

The campaign is something of a disappointment, for one. Lasting between 3 and 5 hours, the handful of story missions available tell the tale of the U.S.S. Aegis , a new starship from the rebooted continuity (AKA “The Kelvin Timeline”) sent to explore a region of space in search of a new homeworld for the Vulcans. Unfortunately, most of the drama just doesn’t land, and the actual missions merely function as an in-depth tutorial for the different stations. 

This puts the onus for the game’s longevity on its “Ongoing Missions” mode, a procedurally generated set of challenges and randomized missions designed to test a crew’s coordination. These work, but it’s clear that something is missing without the benefit of a bespoke, scripted campaign. 

Further, Bridge Crew ‘s (natural) emphasis on limiting action to the bridge and ship itself expose a somewhat uncomfortable truth, that contradicts the opening statement of my review: As it turns out,  Star Trek  is a lot more than the bridges of its famous starships. 

The crew can’t get together in a conference room to figure out that the mysterious signal that’s giving them horrible visions of atrocities is, in fact, a psychic memorial planted by a long-dead alien race. They can’t get the engineer can’t modify the navigational deflector to mimic cosmic string vibrations and draw off a dangerous herd of two-dimensional space beasts. They can’t infiltrate a malfunctioning holodeck game program and seduce its boss character to end its feud with a race of holographic aliens.

By the way, all of the above are actual plot points from Star Trek episodes. Suffice it to say that much the drama, adventure, and hijinks of the last fifty years feels absent when people are confined to their seats and left to simply do their jobs. In a way, playing Star Trek: Bridge Crew  feels sort of like being part of a crew that is not  starring in its own Star Trek  show, they’re just there, doing their jobs while other , more photogenic officers, go and get themselves into trouble.

One could, of course, try to do this in a more single-player setting. Bridge Crew  supports the use of AI crewmates, with the player using the captain’s chair and issuing orders with a radial menu, but the resulting game is oddly silent and quite difficult, as the AI is a bit dim and will require babysitting. It’s like trying to play Overcooked  alone: You can do it, but it’s clear that it’s not the best or most enjoyable way to play.

Of course, this assessment is somewhat unfair. The game is Star Trek: Bridge Crew , not Star Trek: Story Simulator. And yet even 2001’s Star Trek Bridge Commander  had a more substantial and diverse story campaign, one with a classic Next Generation  plotline. I guess I’m trying to say I wish the campaign was stronger and more fitting of how lovely the game feels to play, especially with other people. That’s why I referred to Bridge Crew  as a “platform” for Star Trek , since its actual content doesn’t quite live up to its design.

But what a platform, though!  Star Trek: Bridge Crew  is a brilliant VR experience, and pushes the technology to emphasize social interaction and cooperation in a way only a handful of other titles have been able to realize. Beyond that, it’s fine slice of Star Trek  fan service, as well. There’s plenty more new life and new civilization to find in  Star Trek: Bridge Crew , and I’m hoping that it’ll be able to boldly go and realize the rest of its potential.

[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]

Hands-On With Star Trek: Bridge Crew and the Original Starship Enterprise

Before setting out to work on a VR project it’s important to hone in and focus on something specific as a core mission. Do you want to create something that’s simple and fun? Do you want to make people think, or feel something? Or maybe your goal is to recreate something specific with an authentic representation.

That last point — authenticity — is the goal behind Star Trek: Bridge Crew from Ubisoft and Red Storm and from everything I’ve seen thus far, they’ve absolutely succeeded. In the two videos below you might notice a slight echo — that’s just from us recording both in-game voice chat and spoken voices from the room. The actual game doesn’t have any echo problems.

The first time I played Star Trek: Bridge Crew at E3 last year I was blown away (it was named our favorite multiplayer game at the show) and it continued to impress us when we tried again at Gamescom later last year . Last week at a visit to Ubisoft’s San Francisco office we got the chance to play it once again, but this time with 3 of the 4 chairs filled by the Upload team and we flew both the new Aegis and the original Starship Enterprise.

Th great thing about Star Trek: Bridge Crew is that even though it’s an incredibly faithful adaptation of what it means to be on the bridge with your team, it doesn’t actually require any prior knowledge of the show. During the opening Starfleet Academy training I sat in the Tactical Officer’s chair, in charge of combat systems, defenses, and scanning operations, our Editor-in-Chief Tal Blevins was in the captain’s chair, and Upload’s Video Producer, Azad Balabanian steered the ship as the Helmsman. The fourth slot — Engineer – was filled by a member of the Red Storm development team.

My training covered all of the basics that any good Tactical Officer needs to know: how to arm and fire torpedoes, shooting phasers, activating shields, scanning ships, and other related tasks. The UI is much improved from the last time I saw the game with a more intuitive layout and clearly defined tasks for each area of the panel.

All of the crew on the Aegis has a large display in front of them that has various touchscreen sections. Our first mission was to visit a system and scan escape pods looking for signs of life then beam those survivors onto our ship. Just like the game itself it was simple in concept but became immediately more complicated and intense once things started rolling.

In other cooperative games there are strictly defined systems in place that govern how and when players can interact and affect the game world. In the case of Star Trek: Bridge Crew though, it’s a much more flexible environment. When the Captain issues an order to open fire on the Klingons you don’t “lose points” for ignoring him, but may earn the disdain of your comrades when your ship explodes from losing a battle. Every member has to operate in unison to achieve victory and it’s insanely rewarding to successfully complete a mission together.

For example, in the heat of battle the Engineer may need to make sure the shields have power during a fight and the Tactical Officer has to make sure the shields are on to boost our defenses, as well as maintaining fire on enemy vessels. The Helmsman will maneuver the battlefield while the Captain keeps an eye on the objectives and keeps us on track. Even though there was no strict system in place that forced me to wait for my Captain’s orders I found myself inclined to wait and act only when instructed.

While the main focus of Star Trek: Bridge Crew is the new Aegis ship, during our demonstration we also got the chance to go hands-on with the classic original U.S.S. Enterprise from the very first Star Trek show. The game’s campaign mode can only be played with the Aegis, but the randomized mission mode can be played using the newer ship or the Enterprise. For our second mission we fired up the original and took her for a spin.

At first you’d think changing ships wouldn’t result in a major difference in terms of actual gameplay, but it actually ended up feeling like a completely separate game for all intents and purposes. As the Tactical Officer my futuristic AR-esque panel was replaced by a slab with brightly colored buttons that looked more like pieces of candy than tools for deep space exploration. This is of course intentional as the Enterprise in Star Trek: Bridge Crew is designed to look exactly like it did in the original show — 60s cheesiness and all.

Using my Oculus Touch controllers I could press a button to display hovering text over each option to show potential choices, which is a necessity given how complex the new interface is. Instead of sliders and diagrams to arm and fire torpedoes I’ve got individual buttons. Instead of monitoring how long is left to arm and charge weapon systems I just mash them repeatedly until they do what I want. It felt like I was sitting in a cardboard spaceship as a little kid, pretending to be an astronaut. The screens on my right show exaggerated lines and colors, as if it’s a fantastical pretend version of the future.

As a crew, we fond ourselves communicating far more in the original Enterprise than we did in the Aegis and everything just felt more frantic, chaotic, and fun. Information was much more scattered and difficult to decipher with fewer displayed systems and screens. Between myself and the Helmsman, for example, was a single large shared radar panel that the Captain also used.

The difference between flying the new, streamlined Aegis and the clunky, obtuse Enterprise is like the difference between driving a smooth, electric automatic car and an old, stubborn manual transmission pickup truck. They’re both vehicles that are designed to do the same general thing but feel completely different with unique quirks once you get behind the wheel. The Aegis was much easier to learn quickly, but with a good crew of friends, I could see the Enterprise becoming a favorite for repeated voyages. It just feels more authentic .

It might be sporting a simple premise, but Star Trek: Bridge Crew is an absolutely dense and complex game . Between the four different positions, single player and cooperative multiplayer, full campaign mode, and randomized voyages with two totally different ships and multiple mission types, the game has a lot to offer.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew is set to release on May 30th for Oculus Rift with Touch, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR (PSVR) with full cross-platform multiplayer. If you’re itching to see more, check back at UploadVR because we’ll have a full gameplay video of our complete mission aboard the Starship Enterprise later this week.

What do you think of this voyage into the final frontier? Let us know in the comments below!

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• April 28, 2024 | Interview: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Writer Carlos Cisco On Unmasking The Breen And Revisiting The ISS Enterprise
• April 26, 2024 | Michael Dorn Wanted Armin Shimerman To Play The Ferengi That Worf Killed In Star Trek Picard
• April 26, 2024 | Podcast: All Access Gets To Know The Breen In ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ 505, “Mirrors”
• April 25, 2024 | Prep Begins For ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 3 Finale; Cast And Directors Share BTS Images
• April 25, 2024 | Jonathan Frakes Sees Opportunities With Streaming Star Trek Movies, Weighs In On “Filler Episodes”

Interview: Titan Bridge Crew Cast Talks Character Backstories And On-Set Fun With Jonathan Frakes

| February 22, 2023 | By: Anthony Pascale 45 comments so far

Among the new faces in season 3 of Star Trek: Picard are the bridge crew of the USS Titan, including Joseph Lee (Bajoran tactical officer Lt. Matthew Arliss Mura), Stephanie Czajkowski (Vulcan science officer Lt. T’Veen), and Jin Maley (Haliian communications officer Ensign Kova Rin Esmar). TrekMovie had a chance to chat with the trio on the purple carpet (with a surprise drop-by from Terry Matalas) about their characters, hopes for the future, and how much fun it is when Jonathan Frakes is directing.

Even before the season debuted, fans are already talking about your characters, even the little details. Like for Stephanie, there is even some debate about your ears, with some speculating your T’Veen isn’t 100% Vulcan…

Stephanie: You know, the jury seems to be out on that, at least in the fan community. I have some theories about my background. You guys will get to find them out, I will not confirm nor deny without [showrunner] Terry [Matalas] expressly deciding what and how and when to tell you guys.

How much research did you all do? Jin, you are playing a Haliian, which is fairly obscure Star Trek race.

Jin: Well, in some ways it was easy for me, because there aren’t a ton of Haliians in the Star Trek universe. So with the telepathy and the empathy, I kind of took that and ran with it. So it was pretty simple, actually. I just went with that as part of my interpretation.

Joseph, you’re playing a Bajoran, so there was a lot more to work with; did you do a deep dive on Deep Space Nine ?

Joseph: I definitely had to look up things on YouTube and Wikipedia. But in terms of sort of some of the historical influences that I read about and learned about from the show, for the creators being influenced by the Palestinian resistance, and just all these other movements that have happened, and basing the Bajoran movement on that. That was really fascinating for me. I learned a lot.

Stephanie Czajkowski as Lt. T’Veen

This season has so many heavyweights, so does that leave much time to get to know you guys, your personalities, your favorite colors, that sort of thing?

Stephanie: I don’t think you’re going to get to know our favorite colors, although I will say that mine is blue, because science blue. But I think you get a really, really good sense of who we are specifically as crewmates on this ship. I think you definitely get a sense of our characters and also our loyalty to one another.

Jin: They really welcomed us into the fold. On set, it was very a friendly family environment. And I think it comes through in the shooting. I’m sure it’ll come through in the end.

Joseph: Agreed. I think she nailed it, yeah. I think more so than us diving into each other.

[Terry Matalas drops by to interject]

Terry Matalas: I want to jump in and say this is the best bridge crew you have ever seen in Star Trek. I love them. And when you’re done watching them, you’re going to demand to see more. I’ll be right back. So glad to see you guys.

Terry Matalas pops in with Stephanie Czajkowski, Joseph Lee, and Jin Maley

Picking up on that, are you guys ready for Terry’s next show, to be his “Next Next Generation ”?

Stephanie: I think that would be amazing if that were to happen. But this season is very much just about finishing up the story that we’ve told.

Joseph: Yeah, I think there’s so much to unwrap with this current season that’s about to come up. So we’ll just try to stay present with it and leave everything else.

Jin Maley as Ensign Kova Rin Esmar

What’s the coolest thing about the bridge of the USS Titan?

Stephanie: Oh my god, my chair. My chair zips back and forth in a swively kind of way. I mean, not on camera because T’Veen would never do that. But I, Stephanie, got to ride that chair back and forth like in a spinny spinny motion. It was like riding a ride.

Jin: Yeah, I would say the chairs too. We were both on the sides. So we got to do a lot of rolling back and forth and just using the whole console.

Stephanie: Joseph was right up front. He was all in command. He was just like “boom.”

Joseph: Yeah, I agree. I would have to say the seats, but I also really loved your screens. Those were sweet.

Stephanie: Our screens were pretty awesome.

Jin: Yeah, very nicely done.

Joseph Lee as Lt. Matthew Arliss Mura

What’s it like being on the bridge with Captain Riker and getting directed by Jonathan Frakes? Did he get to use his trademark “red alert,” and did he sing?

Stephanie: Yes, he definitely sang. He did all those things.

Joseph: Jonathan was really cool. He was actually like the first person on set that really like reached out to us. We were kind of all like the new kids at school and I just remember him extending a hand and just introducing himself and just really make us feel welcome.

Jin: The first thing that happened to me when I was on the bridge was I was standing there and Jonathan introduced himself to me and he just sidled up to me and was like, “You like Star Wars?” And I was like, “What? This is Star Trek?” I was so gullible. But yeah, he was cracking us up all the way. He was really sweet. Such a nice guy.

Stephanie: And as a director, I remember just being in the prosthetics trailer because we all obviously had prosthetics and he had his makeup done on the little ledge upstairs and they get done and he’d be like, “See you on the ice!” And he’d go. You know, your set day, even if it’s long, is always dictated by who’s ever leading it. And when Jonathan’s doing it, it’s just fun. It’s just so much fun.

Joseph: He really sets the tone.

More exclusive Picard coverage

There are more interviews from the Hollywood premiere event coming. Check out previously released Picard purple carpet interviews plus a post-premiere chat with Terry Matalas:

• Michele Hurd 
• Gates McFadden
• Terry Matalas
• Jonathan Frakes
• Todd Stashwick
• Patrick Stewart
• Terry Matalas post-season premiere breakdown 

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

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

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Excited to see these characters. I’ll be watching at 12:01 am tonight! I’m loving the new direction of this season after the dumpster of season 2.

Terry isn’t missing a single beat with this stuff. He clearly hopes this is the start of something bigger for the franchise and isn’t afraid to show it, haha.

I don’t like how modern trek series are ignoring the importance of the Chief Engineer. Neither DIS or SNW have invested in a permanent Chief Engineer, and it appears that the Titan focuses just on the Bridge crew.

I don’t get why anyone cares, but TNG didn’t have an set chief engineer character until Season 2 itself.

Fans of Scotty care! And there are more than a few of us.

Can you explain why you feel it’s critical to have a lead character who is the engineer, other than some nebulous reason about another completely unrelated character?

BO is also wrong, because SNW has a chief engineer (Hemmer, and now Carol Kane), Discovery has Jett Reno (and even before her it wasn’t like they didn’t spend a lot of time in engineering), Lower Decks has Billups (with lower decker Rutherford an engineer) and Prodigy has Jankom.

Danpaine nails it on the head. This story doesn’t need one.

Those characters are mostly irrelevant and easily replaceable, they are not true main characters.

The role of the Chief Engineer is to give us an insight into the running of the ship and many technological issues that are faced. That is essential to the Star Trek formula.

No, it’s essential to your enjoyment perhaps, but it is hardly essential to the Star Trek formula. Your moving of the goal posts isn’t helping your case either.

The fact that your reason is technical is also not convincing me. If you like Trek because of scientific technical specs and lore, that’s all fine, but that’s not necessarily what other people enjoy about it.

This sounds very much like your personal preference. That’s OK. But there is nothing inherently wrong about it.

Not every Trek series shows all officers as series regulars. TNG never showed us the chief communications officer or chief science officer, for example; I recall there was an offhand reference to the science officer in “Skin of Evil,” and Nella Darren was referred to as a “department head.” Jadzia was nominally science officer on DS9, but acted more like head of operations.

VOY never showed a ship’s counselor. (Neither did TOS or ENT, but the position may not have existed back in the day.)

TOS didn’t show a chief of security.

I always assumed Data was the science officer on TNG.

And I think Starfleet adopted a chief of security to manage them better after all the red shirts killed on TOS. ;)

That’s been done before so many times in Trek that it’s boring now. Most people don’t care how the imaginary space ship works.

The Chief Engineer is the ship’s physician, and in Star Trek, the ship is itself a character.

In the case of the Titan and this season, the captain is himself an engineer and there needs to be a pretext to get Geordi and his second daughter, an engineer aboard.

I suspect we’ll have an engineering focus by not necessarily through the character of the Chief Engineer.

The ship’s physician, interesting. I can see that to some extent, that makes a lot more sense than “he’s a window into technical specs.”

I still don’t necessarily agree that every Star Trek needs a chief engineer though. I don’t subscribe to the notion that there is a Star Trek “formula” that must be adhered to.

I mean, plenty of episodes and stories never went to engineering. Some of the most beloved episodes didn’t feature Scotty, Geordi, O’Brien, or B’ellanna. That doesn’t mean they weren’t great Trek stories.

I mean, if they made a great series set off of a ship, perhaps on Earth, at Starfleet Academy — does it need a chief engineer? and if it doesn’t have one, does that mean it’s not proper Star Trek?

The answer is no, because the question is obviously rhetorical :)

If you look throughout the history of Trek, all the series, all the films, so much of the dialogue, plot devices, obstacles and resolutions involve ship systems/technobabble. “The warp core is gonna blow” “Transporters are down!” “Re-route power through shields” “No power for phasers” If we go to warp 8 the ship canna handle it!” “Shields are failing!” Dilithium crystals, tachyon beams, mushroom power, whatever… For better or worse it has always been a major part of the franchise, so it’s not unreasonable to have an engineer character to deal with this, in my opinion. Though if you insist, I suppose one could just have the helmsman or security chief do it… but in this franchise characters have mostly had specific jobs, and for the most part have been written as department heads… Chief Science Officer, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Security Officer. Why not a Chief Engineer? I mean, it’s a not crazy notion to bring up on a chat board.

That’s your justification? I’m not buying it.

After all, what if 25th century Trek wanted to show tech progression, and said all new starships had no engineering deck? Or didn’t need a chief engineer, just a couple of low level techs to press buttons, because ship engines are all automated, or could be operated and maintained from the bridge.

Does that make it “not Star Trek”? I’d argue it makes it even more Star Trek, showing sci-fi technical progression that is mirroring our own modern day world.

One of the very few things that TNG did well in its first season, but less so later on, was minimizing technobabble. That probably was due to the fact that Geordi was helmsman in that first season. I’m not convinced the chief engineer is essential to the drama, although I appreciate that real-life engineering buffs may disagree.

I get why it’s necessary to have an established Chief in an episodic format, to make the crew feel ‘whole,’ but this season of PIC has been described as a story-driven, 10-episode “film.” I don’t see where a Chief Engineer would be necessary unless the character was organic to this particular story. Looks like the bridge crew of the Titan are going to be in it a lot, so here they are.

Well that makes sense for Picard, but not the other series.

Yep, that’s why those other shows that need engineers have them. You can discount them because you don’t like them, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

DISCO hasn’t invested in a chief-much-of-anything. We still don’t know with certainty who is the chief medical officer, chief security officer, etc. They originally envisioned DISCO as “middle decks,” a mistake from which they’ve never really escaped.

Considering it’s on its 5th season, has it really been a mistake? You and I may not like it, but it clearly has a following, and is at least modestly successful. Let it be what it is, even if we don’t like it.

You haven’t been paying attention. The chef Doctor on Disco has been in tons of episodes.

I agree with Q. I couldn’t care less about the “Little People”.

Terry Matalas and Mike McMahan should jointly run the franchise from here on out. Kurtzman would still get paid as his company will be involved, but as creatives and planners of the franchise, these guys should do it. So glad the 24th/25th century is the main focus at the moment (Picard, Lower Decks and Prodigy).

I hope we get a Titan spin off and to check up on other characters of this time period (O’Brien, Bashir, Paris, Tuvok… hell, even Harry Kim!). It finally feels Star Trek is back and I think it’s apparent, going beyond Nemesis into this new century, is the best way to go. Could even plant breadcrumbs for the 32nd century and DIS to pick up on.

Sadly, as I predicted, SNW feels the odd one out. People were clambering for “Enterprise! Pike! Spock!” but it’s going backwards again, which Discovery rightly corrected. Though I feel SNW has been mostly good, it kinda feels stale and a retread (after ENT/Kelvin Timeline and DIS). I’d give it one or two more seasons then wrap it up.

Time to leave prequels in the (future’s) past.

I don’t want McMahan within 1000 feet of live action Star Trek, and one Trek sitcom is enough for all time in my book. McMahan should complete his series, cash his final paycheck, and move on — and the fans who liked that series can thank him and then see him at future conventions.

Kurtzman is doing a fantastic job at the franchise manager — he is totally nailing the most important thing that great managers do — surrounding himself with great people to deliver these series, like Matalas, Myers and the Hagemen brothers. NO CHANGE SHOULD BE MADE — the franchise is kicking ass on all cylinders now.

Great job, Alex Kurtzman — thank you!!!

Yeah, people shouldn’t discount Kurtzman. When he’s been too closely involved, the results haven’t been great, but he’s still responsible for getting SNW made, for getting Matalas involved, and for anything good that’s been done.

I agree, as a franchise architect and top-level producer, he seems to do a good job: he puts the right people where they need to be and gives them the freedom to do what they need to do.

When he’s actively contributing scripts, that’s when there’s problems. A lot like Roddenberry on TNG in fact.

I agree Alpha Predator.

My sense is that Kurtzman is good at the strategic level, and has grown as a senior executive.

It’s important to keep in mind that he only became directly involved in Discovery because there were labour relations issues in the writers room.

I respect his willingness to let strong showrunners with a vision champion their shows and deliver them.

More, that he’s now saying that he’s learned that this is what works best for the franchise – to the point that when he’s asked about what should come next, he’s said that this is more important than filling a particular niche or era.

I also want to add that we shouldn’t leave out Henry Alonso Meyers, who has done an absolutely STELLAR job showrunning Strange New Worlds. He’s largely satisfied a large group of fans who hated Discovery, while still making a show that feels like it belongs alongside DSC S1-2.

I’ve always defended and generally liked Kurtzman. After all, he was the one to approve of Lower Decks in the first place lol. I also think because he has listened to fans and hired stronger show runners like McMahan, the shows have gotten better and more in line with Star Trek as they went. He’s not perfect but the guy is trying, that’s all you can do in any job, especially one as broad and big as this one.

It does bother me that he got so directlty involved with Picard, and i’m forced to wonder why that is. I don’t think it was ego, and I don’t think it was a love for the character (ala Matalas).

My suspicion is that he was the one to recruit Stewart, they developed a rapport, and Stewart, Kurtzman, or both mutually decided he should be more directly involved to ensure that the actor was happy.

I don’t want McMahan within 1000 feet of live action Star Trek

It’s 3000 feet at least.

McMahan was responsible for my favorite Short Trek, The Escape Artist and the second highest rated episode after Calypso on IMDB. I have no issues with him doing live action Trek if he has a great idea. Michelle Paradise is the one that needs to be gone after 2 and a half seasons with her horrible decisions on Discovery.

I see a huge swath of DSC fans on Twitter who LOVE the show and everything it does. It’s not really fair for the fans who don’t like the show to decide who stays and who goes.

If you don’t like it, do what I do, and don’t watch it. It’s on its 5th season now, I have no expectation (or desire really) for the show to become something entirely different just because it’s not what I want.

I mean, I also hate That ’90s Show. Should we fire the writers and bring in Terry Matalas, and reimagine the show as a Star Trek series, something I would like?

(yes, that’s an obvious exaggeration, which is intentional, to illustrate my point)

This is true 👍

Sadly, as I predicted, SNW feels the odd one out

Huh? I don’t even know what this means — what’s with this bogus claim that you have been proven right on some SNW prediction you made here? LOL, what total BS, no offense, my friend.

Yeah, SNW has been critically acclaimed and widely loved by fans. I am hopeful for 5-6 seasons, frankly. I wouldn’t even mind them transitioning to Kirk as captain and going 5-6 more.

Personally, it feels fresh and inventive. I love the time period, I love the look, the writing, the cast, everything. Until this season of PIC I haven’t been that in love with a Trek show since DS9.

It feels stale to me. It just nostalgia p*** to old school fans. I watch it, but I’m not in love with it.

But i think a little help of the Star Trek idea Hive can not hurt them. In the end it can benefits the Writer Room with new ideas. But yes, find the balance will be no easy play

I adore LDS and Prodigy, but if I had to choose which team I was putting at the helm of a new live action series, it would be the brothers Hageman.

Give them an episode of SNW first. We know they can do good kids programming, but I have no idea if i’d trust them with a longer form live action adult-skewing series.

I just hope these three don’t end up being cardboard cutouts who never emerge as anything more than faces, like the entire bridge crew of Discovery still is after four seasons.

Given that this season has been promoted as a farewell for the TNG crew I don’t expect that we will get episodes focusing on any of the secondary bridge crew. The writers could still try to give them more than just the standard “firing phasers” or “setting a course” phrases. I could imagine that the bridge crew get more attention if they go for spinoff.

Welcome to the family crew of USS Titan!

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Star Trek Adventures - Print at Home - Miniatures TOS Bridge Crew Set

Description, bring the crew of the original series to your tabletop  .

Whether you are a Star Trek Adventures player, collector, or a life-long Star Trek fan, you will not want to miss this print at home miniatures set.

This 3D print product lets you print 8 highly detailed, 32mm scale multipart miniatures of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701. This set includes Captain James T. Kirk, Commander Spock, Dr. Leonard H. McCoy, Lieutenant Uhura, Lieutenant Sulu, Ensign Chekov, Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott, and Nurse Christine Chapel. Each of which are also available separately.

Files have been pre-hollowed where possible, and all files include supported versions for easier printing.

• Captain James T. Kirk
• Commander Spock
• Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
• Lieutenant Nyota Uhura
• Lieutenant Hiraku Sulu
• Ensign Pavel Chekov
• Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott
• Nurse Christine Chapel

Please note: this is an STL ONLY for 3D printing and not the physical product. Requires a 3D printer and knowledge of 3D printing to use.

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• We suggest a printer such as the Photon 4K or Elegoo Mars as being compatible with the files.

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USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel

• View history

The first Constitution -class and later Constitution II -class starship USS Enterprise was commissioned in 2245 , and spent forty years in service until it was scuttled in 2285 . Many different crews manned the ship of that time.

• 1.1 Personnel under Captain Robert April's command
• 1.2 Personnel under Captain Christopher Pike's command
• 1.3 Personnel under Captain James T. Kirk's command
• 1.4 Personnel under Captain Will Decker's command
• 1.5 Footnotes
• 2 Unnamed crewmembers
• 3 External link

Crew manifest [ ]

Personnel under captain robert april's command [ ], personnel under captain christopher pike's command [ ], personnel under captain james t. kirk's command [ ], personnel under captain will decker's command [ ], footnotes [ ].

• ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 This officer was not seen either at all or in uniform, and their division is inferred by their position.
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 This officer was shown wearing a sciences division uniform while their position indicated they should be in the operations division.
• ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 This officer was shown wearing a command division uniform while their position indicated they should be in the operations division.
• ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 This officer was identified as a lieutenant, but did not wear any rank stripe.
• ↑ This officer was identified as a lieutenant, but was wearing the uniform of a lieutenant commander.
• ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 This officer was shown wearing an operations division uniform while their position indicated they should be in the sciences division.
• ↑ 7.0 7.1 This officer was identified as a lieutenant commander, but was wearing the uniform of a commander.
• ↑ This officer was shown wearing a command division uniform while their position indicated they should be in the sciences division.
• ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 This officer was shown wearing an operations division uniform while his position indicated he should be in the command division.

Unnamed crewmembers [ ]

• Unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) command personnel
• Unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) operations personnel
• Unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) sciences personnel

External link [ ]

• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel roster at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 3 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

TOS Holographic Bridge Officers

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The TOS Holographic Bridge Officers are bridge officers which are holographic recreations of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise . They have been given out as a set as special rewards, mainly as a convention reward.

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5 ways star trek: discovery’s mirror enterprise is different from uss enterprise.

The ISS Enterprise made a surprising return in Star Trek: Discovery, but what makes the Mirror Universe's starship different from the USS Enterprise?

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery, season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors"

• ISS Enterprise from Mirror Universe makes a surprising return in Star Trek: Discovery, revealing its history and role as a refugee ship.
• Star Trek: Discovery used sets from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to recreate the ISS Enterprise, showcasing its damaged state.
• The ISS Enterprise survived until the 32nd century, becoming a beacon of hope like the USS Enterprise in both the Prime and Mirror Universes.

The Mirror Universe ISS Enterprise made a surprising return in Star Trek: Discovery , and the starship differs from the USS Enterprise of Star Trek 's Prime Timeline in several ways. Previously, the ISS Enterprise made its first and only appearance in the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode, "Mirror, Mirror," which saw Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and some of his crew members travel to the Mirror Universe. The ISS Enterprise was the Mirror Universe's doppelganger of the Constitution Class USS Enterprise, and Star Trek: The Original Series simply redressed the Enterprise's sets to evoke the darker alternate reality.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5 , "Mirrors," Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery continue their search for the powerful technology of the Progenitors. Their next clue leads them into a strange wormhole, where they encounter the ISS Enterprise in a pocket of interdimensional space. As Burnham and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) face off against determined couriers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis), they uncover more about the history of the ISS Enterprise. Directed by Jen McGowan and written by Johanna Lee and Carlos Cisco, "Mirrors" reveals several differences between the USS Enterprise and her Mirror Universe counterpart.

Kirk’s Starship Enterprise Returns In Star Trek: Discovery - With A Big Twist

5 the iss enterprise used star trek: strange new worlds' sets, captain pike's enterprise sets were redressed to be its mirror universe counterpart..

To bring the ISS Enterprise to life, Star Trek: Discovery made use of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' USS Enterprise sets. With different lighting, significant damage, and some logos for the Terran Empire, Captain Christopher Pike's (Anson Mount) Enterprise became the ISS Enterprise first seen in Star Trek: The Original Series' "Mirror, Mirror." Discovery season 5 was filmed in late 2022 during the gap between filming for Strange New Worlds seasons 2 and 3, and they made great use of the bridge, sickbay, transporter room, and hallway sets.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has also filmed on Star Trek: Discovery sets, such as turning Federatiion headquarters into the chambers for Number One's (Rebecca Romijn) trial in Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 2, "Ad Astra Per Aspera."

Throughout Star Trek's long history , the franchise has found different ways to depict old ships and other settings. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Trials and Tribble-ations," for example, used footage from the classic TOS episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" combined with new footage of DS9's cast. While parts of the original Enterprise bridge set were recreated for "Trials and Tribble-ations," a full bridge set of a Constitution Class starship was not recreated until the two-part Mirror Universe episode of Star Trek: Enterprise , "In a Mirror, Darkly."

Star Trek: Picard season 3 also completely rebuilt a starship bridge set, this time the bridge of the USS Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

4 The Plaque On The ISS Enterprise Differs From The USS Enterprise

The passengers on the iss enterprise left a plaque telling their story..

As Captain Burnham and Booker explore the ISS Enterprise, they find a plaque on the wall that details some of the derelict starship's history. While almost every version of the Enterprise has had a plaque of some kind, they have never given a description of the ship's history in this way. Star Trek 's starship plaques are often in the background and thus hard to decipher. They typically give the name of the ship, the date and location where the ship was built, and sometimes a list of names of real-life production people who built the sets.

The plaque on the ISS Enterprise reveals that Mirror Universe Spock made significant reforms in the Terran Empire, but was killed by those who disagreed with him. However, those who believed in his ideals stole the ISS Enterprise and found a way to the Prime Universe, with help from Mirror Universe Saru (Doug Jones) - turns out he's "Action Saru in any universe." The crew and refugees aboard this ship likely left the plaque as a way to share the ship's story with whoever happened to find her.

3 Refugees Used The ISS Enterprise To Flee The Mirror Universe

The iss enterprise became a lifeboat for refugees seeking a better life..

After Spock's reforms changed the way the Terran Empire was run, the Empire was not as well equipped to defend itself from the Klingon/Cardassian Alliance. This Alliance eventually conquered the Empire, forcing the Terrans and Vulcans into slavery, and violently quashing any attempts at rebellion. Some rebels, however, managed to successfully stand against the Empire, at least long enough to gather a ship full of refugees and escape to the Prime Universe.

The Mirror Universe's Spock (Leonard Nimoy) became the High Chancellor who reformed the Terran Empire but was later assasinated.

While the crew of the original USS Enterprise often helped refugees and others in need, this was not the ship's main purpose. The ISS Enterprise was originally a warship used by the Terran Empire, before its crew mutinied and fled the brutal Mirror Universe. For this undoubtedly dangerous journey, the ISS Enterprise became a refugee ship, giving those who had believed in Spock's reforms the chance for a new life in a brighter universe.

What Happened To Mirror Universe Captain Kirk In Star Trek?

2 the iss enterprise survived until the 32nd century, no other enterprise has survived as long as the iss enterprise..

After the ISS Enterprise traveled to the Prime Universe, it ended up inside interdimensional space, where it remained undetected for centuries. Although the ship had sustained significant damage, it was salvageable and able to be sent back to Starfleet after Captain Burnham and Book used it to escape through the wormhole. While the technology on the ISS Enterprise is very outdated, the Federation will likely be interested in a 23rd-century starship from the Mirror Universe, particularly one as important as the Enterprise.

By the 32nd century, travel between the Mirror Universe and the Prime Universe had already "been impossible for centuries," according to Captain Burnham.

As Star Trek has a habit of destroying the Starship Enterprise , the ISS Enterprise is likely the longest-surviving ship of that name . The original USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), as commanded by Captain Pike and Captain Kirk, was destroyed in 2285 when Kirk was forced to initiate self-destruct to thwart a Klingon boarding party in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock . Several different ships have taken the name Enterprise over the years, but none have survived for as long as the ISS Enterprise.

1 One Surprising Thing The Mirror Universe Ship & USS Enterprise Have In Common

The starship enterprise is a beacon of hope in every universe..

The Mirror Universe's ISS Enterprise may have several noticeable differences from its Prime Universe counterpart, but both ships became a beacon of hope for the people aboard. Throughout the journeys of Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , the USS Enterprise has come to represent hope for numerous peoples and civilizations all over the galaxy. Countless lives would have been lost (and the galaxy destroyed multiple times over) if not for ships named Enterprise . While the ISS Enterprise caused a lot of harm during its time as a Terran warship, in the end, it became a lifeboat for the people who wanted to leave the Mirror Universe.

Star Trek: Discovery has proven that, no matter the universe, the Starship Enterprise remains a beacon of hope and a spark of light in the darkness.

Wanting to escape the violence and darkness of their own universe, the refugees risked their lives for a chance at peace and freedom. When Captain Kirk and his crew first visited the ISS Enterprise, most of its crew members were just as ruthless as every other Terran. But Kirk took a chance on Mirror Universe Spock, and while Spock's reforms ultimately failed, he inspired some Terrans to seek out a better life. If nothing else, Star Trek: Discovery has proven that, no matter the universe, the Starship Enterprise remains a beacon of hope and a spark of light in the darkness.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery stream Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery's Commander Rayner Is The New Riker

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors "

• Rayner in Star Trek: Discovery shows reluctance to lead, akin to Riker in The Next Generation, emphasizing the importance of strong leadership dynamics.
• Similar to Riker on the USS Enterprise-D, Rayner's style proves valuable in solving critical issues in "Mirrors" episode.
• Burnham's mission and leadership choices parallel Picard and Riker dynamics, showcasing a balance of risk-taking and bold decision-making in Star Trek lore.

Star Trek: Discovery 's new Number One, Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) has a lot in common with Commander William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) from Star Trek: The Next Generation . In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors", written by Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco and directed by Jen McGowan , Rayner has to reluctantly take the center seat while Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is on an away mission. Rayner's reluctance to take the conn, and his insistence that he lead the away mission in Burnham's stead, draws similarities between him and Will Riker.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5 , "Mirrors" reveals that Rayner, formerly the captain of the USS Antares, is unsure that his style will gel with his new crew. However, by bringing the Discovery's bridge crew together, Rayner is able to solve the problem of how to drag the ISS Enterprise out of interdimensional space . With Burnham back on board, Rayner is back to being the USS Discovery's Number One, but satisfied that he can lead from the center seat, much like Riker at the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation season 4, episode 1, "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"

Jonathan Frakes Is In Star Trek: Discovery Even If You Dont See Riker

Star trek: discovery's commander rayner is reluctant to be captain - like riker in tng.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation , Riker turned down several opportunities to become captain, preferring to stay aboard the USS Enterprise-D as second-in-command to Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). However, Riker was often placed in charge of the starship Enterprise , most notably when Picard was assimilated by the Borg Collective. After rescuing Captain Picard from the Borg, and saving the Federation from the Collective, he was happy to step down from Captain to Commander Riker, satisfied that he'd proved his worth as a captain. For Riker, serving as Number One on the Federation flagship was just as huge an achievement as his own command .

Riker finally accepted a promotion to captain of the USS Titan in Star Trek: Nemesis .

Rayner in Star Trek: Discovery was demoted from Captain to Commander in season 5, episode 2, "Under the Twin Moons". The USS Discovery is Rayner's last chance, which is presumably why, like Riker in TNG , he's keen not to chase promotion. His reasoning is different to Riker's because Rayner had already been a captain for years before becoming Burnham's Number One . Rayner is reluctant to take charge in "Mirrors" because it's not his crew, and his command style is very different to Burnham's.

Commander Rayner Is The Riker To Burnham's Picard In Star Trek: Discovery

One of the reasons that Rayner gives for not wanting to take the conn is that Burnham's away mission is " too risky " for the captain of the USS Discovery . Riker leading the away missions in Star Trek: The Next Generation became such a trope that Picard jokes about it in his Star Trek: Nemesis wedding toast . Burnham explains why she and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) are the best crew members to take on the mission, forcing Rayner to concede that she's right. Picard would do the same in later seasons of TNG as he took a more active role in away missions.

Discussing Riker's replacement aboard the Enterprise, Commander Data (Brent Spiner), Picard jokes: " I will be training my new first officer. You all know him. He's a tyrannical martinet who'll never, ever allow me to go on away missions! "

When Burnham offered Rayner the role of second-in-command in Star Trek: Discovery she made it clear that she didn't want a " yes man ". Picard didn't want Riker to be one either, which is why he was so impressed by his fierce opposition to Captain Robert DeSoto (Michael Cavanaugh) leading an away mission on Altair III. Riker risked court martial to convince DeSoto that his away mission was " too risky " for the captain of the USS Hood, something that ultimately led to him becoming the second-in-command of the USS Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+

All episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation are streaming now on Paramount+

Star Trek: Discovery

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.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.

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Published Apr 22, 2024

The 10 Plagues of Star Trek: The Original Series

As Passover brought 10 plagues to test Pharaoh, so too did The Original Series test the crew of the Enterprise!

StarTrek.com

Considering Gene Roddenberry stated that there would be no religion in the future when he conceived of Star Trek , a lot of Judaism sure did manage to creep it's way in!

From Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner bonding on the set of The Original Series over their shared Jewish background, and Nimoy being inspired by his Orthodox upbringing when creating Vulcan culture , to later series with Jewish actors and parallels such as Worf's diasporic experience, and Marina Sirtis drawing on inspiration from an Israeli friend as she created Deanna Troi. It makes sense, then, to spend some time during Passover reflecting on the many aspects of Jewish influence seen on Star Trek .

So, of course, I’ve decided to give you the 10 Plagues of Passover as episodes from The Original Series . Let’s get into it.

1. Rivers of Blood, " Amok Time "

"Amok Time"

When Aaron turned the Nile into a river of blood, it shook the Pharaoh to his core, much like how the blood fever of Pon Farr shook up Spock's usual calm and logic. Hormonal imbalances are no joke, and this quickly descended from throwing soup and nearly ended with Captain Kirk's death on Vulcan!

Much as I hate to parallel the Pharaoh, the villain of the Passover story, with Spock, a hero and a pacifist, they are both powerful men brought low (and emotional) by blood.

2. Frogs, " And the Children Shall Lead "

"All the Children Shall Lead"

There is a debate in Judaism over whether the second plague was a swarm of frogs, or one giant frog that covered the land of Egypt. But if we go with the more traditional interpretation of a swarm, then the Star Trek equivalent swarm would be the children from "And The Children Shall Lead" who take over the Enterprise .

Not only are they a hive mind (very swarm-like behavior) controlled by an evil embodiment called Gorgon, but they also bring the majority of the bridge crew under their sway. Whichever frog interpretation you go with, Kirk was as deeply unhappy with this plague-parallel as the Egyptians were with their own froggy problem — and he was pretty hostile to the kids too!

3. Lice, " Operation — Annihilate! "

"Operation — Annihilate!"

Whilst it may not be as scary or strange as the other plagues, the plague of lice always makes me wince and want to scratch my scalp in sympathy.

The episode "Operation — Annihilate!" also makes me wince, as a meeting with behavior-altering parasites is not how I imagine Kirk wanted his family reunion to go. But while lice do alter behavior, making people far more irritable, I wonder if they could cause the collapse of civilizations as this Star Trek parasite did before the crew of the Enterprise stopped it?

4. Flies or Deadly Animals, "Wink of an Eye"

"Wink of an Eye"

Here we find ourselves with another heavily debated plague. Some scholars believe it was the buzzing of flies that punished the Egyptians, while others believe it was a hoard of deadly animals destroying everything in their path. Luckily, "Wink of an Eye" covers both!

It begins when a landing party on Scalos and Kirk hears a mysterious buzzing noise like a swarm of insects before one of their party goes missing. Kirk continues to hear this insect buzzing on the Enterprise . However, it turns out to be a group of people living at hyper-accelerated speed, causing mischief all over the ship as they try to put the Enterprise into a deep freeze. Moreover, when they try to hyper-accelerate the humans, they end up causing them to age and decay rapidly. Deadly creatures destroying everything in their path indeed!

5. Pestilence, " The Trouble with Tribbles "

"The Trouble with Tribbles"

The fifth plague was a pestilence that killed all the Egyptians livestock, and what better episode to compare this with than "The Trouble with Tribbles."

The tribbles not only eat all of the grain supplies, they also end up dying en masse because the grain has been poisoned by saboteurs. This makes them not only the pestilence, but also the dead livestock in the Passover parallels! It's said the Egyptians grieved when they looked upon the dead animals they worshipped like gods, and whilst I doubt the tribbles were worshipped, I'm sure the Klingon vessel they were eventually beamed onto did indeed grieve having this fluffy plague.

6. Boils, " Miri "

"Miri"

When painful boils appear on the people of Egypt, it was meant to have caused horror and agony. Well, the episode "Miri" caused so much horror, it was banned by the BBC in the 1970s and 1980s!

In this episode, the landing party, except for Spock, begin developing purple lesions on their bodies and are told by the children of the planet they will die horribly in a week. Even Spock can't return to the Enterprise , because they don’t know whether or not he'll infect the rest of the crew. The boils end up being painful physically and emotionally, as the crew seek to save themselves and the children who have trapped them.

7. Hail, " Mirror, Mirror "

"Mirror, Mirror"

The seventh plague was a hail-storm of unprecedented strength that damaged every living thing in its path — much like the wrath of the Mirrorverse that Kirk and company discover in the episode "Mirror, Mirror"!

When negotiating with the Halkan's for dilithium, the council says there is no guarantee the Federation will always be peaceful. A violent and unpredictable ion-storm proves they may have a point when it causes the transporter malfunction that takes our Enterprise crew to a parallel universe of unprecedented violence!

8. Locusts, " The Conscience of the King "

"The Conscience of the King"

On Moses' eighth attempt to sway the Pharaoh, a devastating plague of locusts is summoned. The bugs devour everything green that has escaped the hail and previous plagues. This brings to mind one of Kirk's most famous pieces of backstory — the Tarsus IV massacre.

In "The Conscience of the King," we discover that as a teenager, Kirk lived in the Tarsus IV colony when a food crisis allowed Governor Kodos to take control and order the deaths of half the population. While it might not have been locusts that destroyed the grain on Tarsus IV, this event certainly caused untold devastation.

9. Darkness, " The Tholian Web "

"The Tholian Web"

Space, the final frontier. In the context of Star Trek , it's hard to think of darkness as a plague when it is the mission and adventure of our voyagers to explore it. But darkness in the Passover story was terrifying, as for several days all of Egypt was enveloped in a thick and impenetrable veil of darkness which extinguished all lights kindled. Remind you of "The Tholian Web"?

On a rescue mission for their sister ship, the U.S.S. Defiant , the Enterprise enters a sector of unknown space and finds the Defiant adrift, its crew dead, and slowly phasing out of existence, before vanishing entirely and taking Kirk with it. This episode focuses on the more terrifying aspects of space and the unknown, and how the hardest thing to do can be just having to wait for the darkness to pass.

10. Death of the First Born, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

First-born children don't have the best track record for surviving in Star Trek ; we've already covered Sam Kirk's death in "Operation — Annihilate!" and Kodos' daughter Lenore Karidian meets a grim fate in "The Conscience of the King."

Moving on to the movies, we see Spock's older brother, Sybok, die in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier . But for this plague I had to go with Captain Kirk's own son David Marcus, who is killed by Klingons in The Search for Spock . As the Pharoah's own infant son's death broke his resolve to finally allow the Israelites to be free, David's death so soon after they met causes Kirk to become embittered and colors his own attitude towards Klingons as a species.

Yes, the plagues make up a significant part of the Passover story, the main theme of the holiday is triumph over adversity and freedom —a fundamental tenet of Star Trek . For all of the dangers and threats the Enterprise crew face, from physical to emotional, they always overcome them together. And much like the Israelites finally leaving Egypt to wander the desert in search of the Holy Land, it tells us that perseverance is key and the journey and exploration it entails can be as important as the final destination.

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This article was originally published on March 29, 2021.

Emily Zinkin (she/her) is a writer based in London, UK, who also runs Moishe House Clapham. She once cosplayed as Captain Kirk but realised she was the mirror version when she met another one. You can find her on Twitter at @EmilyZinkin

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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.

• DSC Season 5
• Star Trek: Discovery

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