Star Trek Discovery Retrospective: Short Treks

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Short Treks


In 2018 a series of Star Trek shorts "Short Treks" were produced as both an experiment in Trek storytelling and as filler material to release during the hiatus between seasons. The first set of four short treks are all set on Discovery sets and during the series. “Runaway’ features Tilly and the character Me Hani Ika Hali Ka Po, a Xahean who will come back in the season 2 finale "Such Sweet Sorrow parts 1 and 2". “Calypso” finds USS Discovery abandoned in space for 1000 years and run by an AI named Zora, something that would be revisited in the series finale "Life, Itself". “The Brightest Star”, set almost 20 years earlier than the series is sort of an origin story for Saru and how he came to be in Starfleet. “The Escape Artist” features Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd (seen in 2 first season episodes, the character was originally portrayed in 2 TOS episodes by Roger C. Carmel). A second series of Short Treks was produced in 2019 Following the conclusion of season 2. “Q&A”, which sees Spock’s first day aboard the Enterprise, “The Trouble with Edward” which features Tribbles, and “Ask Not”, a Captain Pike story were all intended to trial the waters for Strange New Worlds. “Ephraim and Dot” is an animated short following Ephraim a tardigrade from season 1 and Dot a repair drone through USS Enterprise history, spanning a number of TOS episodes as well as Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III The Search for Spock. “The Girl Who Made the Stars” features a young child Michael Burnham being told a story to comfort her by her father. This short is the first Trek production to feature CGI animation, the like of which would later be used on Star Trek Prodigy.

Next week: we take a look at the fan criticism

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