Chad Taylor

Mirror, Mirror, Mirror


Director Nicolas Meyer wrote Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) by combining ideas from at least five screenplays, a whatever-works approach that broke a production impasse to create a fan and critic favourite. It feels like the writers of Star Trek: Discovery have been using the same method, grabbing ideas from Trek universes and beyond and seeing what sticks.

A lot hasn't. The Dune-style spore drive made the universe too small. The Spock storyline undermines Michael (can't it just be about her?). The Klingons' game-of-thrones grinds. The Matrix squid ships, Tilly as Radar, Pike as Draper are cute riffs but not game changers. The neuroses of Stamets and Culber became so pronounced Michelle Yeoh's Georgiou (or is she, I've lost track) had to make a scolding meta-intervention to remind us some characters still fuck. The promise of a sexier Trek teased by Enterprise way back in 2001 has never materialised. Again this series shows how much 2004's Battlestar Galactica did it better. Ronald Moore's remake eclipsed Roddenberry's vision as completely as Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass's Bourne lapped Bond.

But Discovery's Borg storyline is the origin story we never knew we wanted. The Next Generation villains were Trek's best: cold colonisers, the Federation turned up to 11 – the good guys' mirror self. The plot development suggests the augmentation of Discovery crew members like Keyla and Nhan is more than just eye candy. And thus after two seasons of false starts the new Trek has found its shape. The final eps of series two are queued up to watch now. Engaged.