By jumping 900 years into the future, the third season of Star Trek Discovery finally brought back the spirit that made this notorious sci-fi IP so popular. The first three episodes are a great example of high-quality TV writing and we should all pay attention here. 

When we talk about sci-fi, we have to remember that it’s merely a setting. Sci-Fi is not a plot. If you are a nerd you might spend time obsessing over the model names of starships, their engine specifications, why an alien race developed purple skin and so on. That’s not storytelling. You must focus on the stories. In fact, no TV show nor no film is ever just there to showcase nerdy facts. That would be a documentary. And heck, even documentaries, to be good docs, must have a story. I make this clarification because I want to focus on the narrative arc and not discuss the geeky side of Trek, which is certainly fascinating but outside the scope of this blog.

As we know, story development comes in two shapes: vertical and horizontal. The rise of streaming video brought along the absolute dominion of horizontal story arcs. Star Trek Discovery is a show with one long horizontal arc. So far, so good.

The third season of Discovery tells the story of Burnham and the USS Discovery stranded 900 years in the future. Their first objective is to find each other. Then, it is to find the remnants of the Federation of Planets. 

The engine of this horizontal arc is based on the positive and optimistic idea behind the Federation, which, in this universe, represents all the encouraging ideals that made Star Trek so imaginative and distinctive. The writers have decided to explore a future that doesn’t look great at all. And it’s up to our heroes to fix it. They can’t do otherwise, because their identity is based on those ideals and they can’t live in a universe where those ideals are seemingly lost forever. 

“True believers”.

The whole essence of Star Trek is there and commentators who fail to realise it are focusing too much on the setting.

I also find it particularly pleasurable seeing such a diverse cast taking time on screen. Sonequa Martin-Green is crazy good. I graduated from drama school and kept training for years after that. I can assure you that parts of her acting (particularly in episode 3×01) are obscenely hard to do and she does it all in such a natural way one can only stand up and applaud her. Haters gonna hate. What a surprise. The white nerd masses complain. Their fragility is now as banal as using a loan shark as a plot engine. 

But I digress. Back to the writing of Discovery. Two key moments got to me so far from season 3. The first is the passage of duty from the old, lonely Federation liaison stuck in his little station, to Burnham. It’s a symbolic passage, made even more powerful by the delicate interaction between the two characters.

The second moment is the modern-day Netflix equivalent of the old diplomatic missions we have seen Picard leading so many times on TNG. It’s short, fast, to the point, but essentially the same thing just with a pace apt to today’s tastes (I rewatched all old series this year and.. damn if they were slow!). The production team knew what they were doing. The little Star Trek theme reprise on the background is the signature that lets us know that yeah, that’s what made the Trek heroes so great. They care about lifting everyone up and not letting anyone behind. 

The original Kirk series, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Picard did not tell the story of how the Federation came to be, and I am not talking about a historical perspective, but rather about an idealistic one. Star Trek Enterprise tried, but massively failed to convey that sense of optimism and positivity.

Discovery uses a tone that’s darker than before, even darker than Ds9. And I believe it’s the right call. For Star Trek to be inspirational AND visionary in 2020, a year that seems out of a catastrophe script, in a COVID rode world, with authoritarian regimes cropping up everywhere, worsening global inequality and on the brink of ecological collapse, they had to acknowledge the hardships we are all facing. That’s why it makes sense to bring the characters into a bleak future. Because we need to see them facing hard choices while keeping their ideals strong. We need that.

I publish this blog post today, on US 2020 Election Day. The world feels an unsafe, scary place. And there is a sense of impending doom coming down on us, today in particular. I have been waiting for Star Trek to be the beacon of hope for decades. It’s finally back. 

Kudos to Michelle Paradise, Jenny Lumet, Alex Kurtzman, Bo Yeon Kim, and Erika Lippoldt, the writers behind the first 3 episodes of the third season of Star Trek Discovery. They managed to create something sophisticated, engaging and essential. Can’t wait to see how the story will evolve!