Short Treks - Season 1 Review

As the second season of Star Trek: Discovery is right around the corner, we fans have been treated to something new in the form of what is being called “Star Trek: Short Treks”, a series of four stand-alone short episodes that gives us little snippets of the characters we have come to love since Discovery began. The episodes are around the 15-minute mark and give us a quick tale that (so far) has had no impact on what is happening in Discovery. Season 1 has given us four tales, each one focusing on a specific character from the show. I thought I would take a little look at these mini-episodes and give some thoughts on them.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about these mini-episodes. Discovery has a flaw for me, and that is I miss having episodes that can stand by themselves without having to be a big part of an over-arching story. This is something that I have come to accept as how television in general has evolved over the last couple decades, but it is something I miss in Trek. Short Treks remedies that to an extent. You don’t miss out on the overall story of Discovery if you don’t see these, and they are a bit more reminiscent of some of my favorite Trek episodes. The production quality is quite good, the stories have interesting premises, and each one gives us a bit of a surprise by the end. Each has a different flavor to it, which should appeal to a wide variety of fans. Where it doesn’t quite work for me is that these are so short that developing a character or telling a very compelling story fully fleshed out is difficult to achieve. Don’t get me wrong, they are good stories, and since we know something about most of the central characters it doesn’t leave us confused, but at the end of each story I was left with the feeling of “That’s it?”. In some cases, it felt rushed and thereby left the story unnecessary for me. In others, I wanted to know more, which could be a good thing. Let’s look at each one and I can give more specifics on them.

Episode 1 – Runaway

It seems fitting that the first episode revolves around who many have labeled the heart of Star Trek: Discovery. Ensign Tilly has just had a frustrating conversation with her mother over her life choices, and she heads to the mess hall to unwind and lower her stress levels. There she meets and befriends a strange teenaged alien named Po. The two bond and learn some valuable life lessons before Tilly learns that Po is destined to become the queen of her people. It’s a quaint little story, but as I mentioned earlier, it is so short that when it is finished, I couldn’t help but think “So what?” The story is not very original, doesn’t make you think about things much, and it’s over before you can really invest emotionally in it. Again, it wasn’t a bad story, the acting was great, and the character of Po is fascinating in her look and background, but the tale is done so quickly that I just felt a bit underwhelmed.

Episode 2 – Calypso

This story is the first new Trek since Star Trek: Nemesis to occur in the future. It is a distant future, and the character we have come to know is the Discovery herself. We are introduced to a new character, Craft, a human soldier that has been adrift in space for a long time and is picked up by the Discovery. Discovery is run by its AI unit, named Zora, and she develops feelings for Craft. As the two bond, we learn that Discovery has been abandoned for centuries, making us wonder what happened to the ship. Unlike “Runaway”, we are given this unanswered question as something we can think about, speculate on, and therefore it stays with you longer. Again, it was over quicker than I would have liked, and again I felt that the story could have been stretched out more to leave me feeling more satisfied, but at least here there is more meat for us to chew on. There are a lot of questions that this gives us, such as what happened to the Federation, what is the status of humanity, and why is Discovery by itself for so long. I would say that I am a bit concerned for the future of humanity given this little snippet, and hopefully we are not all doomed as science-fiction trends seem to be showing us, but “Calypso” does tell a charming tale of two characters brought together for a period of time. I liked the Betty Boop and Fred Astaire footage that were used, and overall enjoyed this episode a lot.

Episode 3 – The Brightest Star

Here is the episode I was most excited about. We are given the origin story, as it were, of Saru. We see his home world of Kaminar and meet his sister and father. We are given insight into the Kelpian people, and learn that their prey-status has more to do with ritual than ecology. Saru finds himself at odds with his father and society when he chooses to not be a part of the ritual and works on some recently discovered technology. He uses it and contacts an alien culture, whereupon he meets Lieutenant Phillipa Georgiou of the USS Shenzhou. That was a nice connection to Discovery. I enjoyed this episode a lot, but again felt that a few added minutes to further investigate the Kelpian culture would have been nice. I am a big fan of Saru’s character, and was pleased to see where he came from. What I truly appreciate in this episode is that it gives a good explanation as to why Saru is the only Kelpian we have seen in a Trek series. It makes sense that such a race would be constrained to their home planet, so those who are sticklers for canon adherence should be satisfied with that little bit of information. This episode left me wanting more, but in a good way. I want to see more of Kaminar and what befell Saru’s family. Maybe we will get some of that in future Discovery episodes.

Episode 4 – The Escape Artist

Ah, Harcourt Fenton Mudd. I have really enjoyed Rain Wilson’s take on this classic character and the many hat-tips to Mudd’s roots in the Original Series are greatly appreciated. As Mudd is handed over to a Tellarite bounty hunter, we are given a recap of many of Mudd’s misadventures. Issues with Klingons and Orions are shown, and Mudd is trying his best to fast-talk his way out of all of them. The big reveal at the end, that the Harry Mudd we have seen in this episode is actually one of many Mudd androids that the real Mudd is giving to bounty hunters, is such a classic move by this scoundrel that leaves him even more endeared to us fans. This is the perfect story for Mudd, and Rain Wilson does a great job as both the star and the director. 

Overall, Short Treks biggest failing for me is that the episodes are what they say they are: short. I think each episode could have benefited from having them stretched out more. I like feasting on good story-telling, and Star trek rarely disappoints in that regard. With these episodes, I feel more like I am given a light snack with little to really chew on or grow with. I do not think that was the intent of this mini-episode anthology series, so I cannot hold a grudge against them for being exactly what they say they are. The episodes are fun, quirky, and each has its own unique feel to them, so that works. It’s nice seeing the stories that we do. Some, like “Runaway”, add very little, while others, like “the Brightest Star”, give us some depth to significant characters. Overall, I am happy with the offering for what it was, and if anything, it left me hungry for more Discovery.

Here's to a (hopefully) successful second season.