Star Trek: Discovery‘s season 3 reboot in the future shows what Star Trek: Voyager should have been all along. Voyager had a chance to follow in the footsteps of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with a more serialized approach to Star Trek, as the ongoing saga of a Starfleet vessel stranded in the Delta Quadrant with limited supplies and no contact with the United Federation of Planets. Voyager also promised the conflict of two ideologically opposed crews trying to survive while grappling with the reality of a 70-year ETA back to the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager‘s initial promises faded quickly in favor of a comfortable episodic format, but Discovery delivered on them, decades later.
Instead of being flung across the galaxy, Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) led the USS Discovery 930 years into the future of the Star Trek timeline, in a soft reboot that redefined Star Trek: Discovery more sharply as a bright contrast against its backdrop, while also recognizing that huge leaps of either space or time are bound to have a profound effect on people, with lasting consequences. Discovery‘s ideological opposition comes from the broken Federation, struggling to survive after the mysterious Burn ignited dilithium across the galaxy and sowed distrust among its member worlds. Both Voyager and Discovery find themselves in unknown territory, but Star Trek: Discovery handles change with more realism and greater care.
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Star Trek: Discovery Shows What Never Going Home Really Means
Discovery’s more realistic approach highlights the trauma of being so far from home.
Star Trek: Discovery‘s characters elected to follow Michael Burnham on a one-way trip into the future to prevent Section 31’s Control from eliminating all sentient life in the galaxy, and know they’re never going home. By contrast, Star Trek: Voyager begins with Captain Kathryn Janeway’s (Kate Mulgrew) USS Voyager and Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran)’s starship Val Jean being forcibly taken to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker. Voyager’s crew never signed up for this, and as far as they know, won’t return home in their lifetimes, but instead of processing the tragedy of losing everything they’ve ever known, they begin an exploratory mission of the Delta Quadrant like they intended to be there.
Star Trek: Discovery shows the Starfleet method of getting right back to work after a huge upheaval is actively harmful and exacerbates stress, leading to disconnection and burnout. Lt. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) masks psychological and physical pain by continuing to work, which makes it worse. Lt. Kayla Detmer (Emily Coutts) buries the trauma sustained from piloting Discovery’s difficult arrival in the future, letting it fester until snapping. Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) and Captain Saru (Doug Jones) recognize that no one is really okay, despite choosing to be there, and provide healthy models for processing trauma, which leads to connection and ultimately growth.
Federation Ideals Matter More in Star Trek: Discovery
Discovery embraces their new normal with a mission to make the future better.
Both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Voyager emphasize the importance of maintaining Federation ideals in a brand-new and unfamiliar environment, when Starfleet support isn’t just one subspace call away. Janeway uses Federation ideals like a security blanket, and wears Starfleet’s moral code like a badge of identity, to ensure Voyager’s crew won’t lose what they stand for when it comes down to the wire. Federation values become Voyager’s tether back to the Alpha Quadrant, but rarely a message for new allies. In Discovery‘s post-Burn landscape, Burnham and Saru are in the unique position of leading the USS Discovery to reintroduce forgotten values to a fragmented Federation, reminding former member worlds what they once prioritized.
Star Trek: Discovery shows how Federation ideals can unite people who are jaded by disconnection. Burnham’s blend of logic and compassion, Culber’s gentle guidance, Stamets’ mentorship, and Saru’s diplomacy have lasting effects in the 32nd century, and realign the future’s twisted core values that inhibited growth instead of encouraging it. Star Trek: Voyager could have had stronger connective tissue and ties back to Star Trek‘s ethos if the USS Voyager’s crew had acknowledged and processed their trauma and embraced a new normal to light the Delta Quadrant with hope, like Star Trek: Discovery does in its updated story of a Starfleet crew far from what they know.
Star Trek: Discovery
- Release Date
- September 24, 2017
- Cast
- Sonequa Martin-Green , Rekha Sharma , Rainn Wilson , Maulik Pancholy , Doug Jones , James Frain , Anthony Rapp , Michelle Yeoh , Chris Obi , Jason Isaacs , Shazad Latif
- Seasons
- 5
- Story By
- Bryan Fuller, Alex Kurtzman
- Writers
- Alex Kurtzman , Bryan Fuller
- Streaming Service(s)
- Paramount+
- Franchise(s)
- Star Trek
- Directors
- Olatunde Osunsanmi , Jonathan Frakes
- Showrunner
- Alex Kurtzman
- Cast
- Kate Mulgrew , Robert Beltran , Roxann Dawson , Jennifer Lien , Robert Duncan McNeill , Ethan Phillips , Robert Picardo , Tim Russ , Garrett Wang , Jeri Ryan
- Seasons
- 7
- Streaming Service(s)
- Paramount+
- Franchise(s)
- Star Trek
