Star Trek

• Burnham records the stardate as 866274.3 in her personal log.

• Burnham has the recording of the projection of the Progenitor from “The Chase” displayed in her quarters.

• As with season four, it appears that aliens serving Starfleet, specifically the ones whom you would except to have hands notably different from a human’s based on their facial features, wear gloves. Apparently this mandate extends to the admiralty, as we see the Deakohn admiral here covering the shameful monstrosities we can only assume his digits to be.

• In addition to the USS Discovery A and the USS Antares, congregating around Federation Headquarters at various points we see:

    • Three Eisenberg-class starships

    • Two Courage-class starships

    • Two Constitution-class starships

    • Two Merian-class starship

    • Three Friendship-class starship

    • A Saturn-class starship

    • A Mars-class starship

• It’s grudge! From Star Trek!

• We learn that Lyrek is a burial world that was used by the Promellians prior to their extinction. Promellians first appeared in “Booby Trap”.

• ”The last recorded exploration was over a century before Doctor Vellek was even born.” That does potentially raise the question of how Burnham would have been so familiar with Lyrek in the previous episode, though of course she and most of the rest of the Discovery crew might have been alive before Doctor Vellek’s birth.

• Saru reveals that it was Jett Reno who gave him the nickname ”Action Saru,” which only makes the fact that we’ve yet to see Reno this season all the more galling.

• ”I remember the day you came aboard Discovery. A mutineer. A prisoner. You seemed exactly the wrong choice.” Saru seems to be overlooking the fact that he knew Burnham prior to her mutiny and imprisonment, as seen in the series premiere, “The Vulcan Hello”.

• Saru implies to Burnham that she should consider making Book the new first officer on Discovery. Book is not a part of Starfleet or any other similar hierarchical organization. Presumably Saru makes the suggestion so that his own choice of ensign Tilly as his first officer in “Unification III” is no longer the wildest choice of in the history of Starfleet.

    • Presumably Book could be given field commission, as Chakotay was in “The Caretaker”.

• Adira laments being separated from their boyfriend, Gray who almost immediately booked it off Discovery in “But to Connect…” after his consciousness was transferred out of the Tal symbiont and into a synth gollum in “Choose to Live”.

• On Lyrek, Burnham and Saru encounter parts of statues, including heads that have features similar to the Promellian captain whose log was seen in “Booby Trap”, but the statues have four eyes whereas Promellians only have two.

• The Promellian statues launch flying drones that set to attacking Burnham and Saru. The crew of the USS Enterprise D were also attacked in a jungle by the flying drones of a dead civilization in “The Arsenal of Freedom”.

• ”Tilly, we’re losing our foot!” Burnham is referring to a bit of shelter she and Saru have taken cover under. Nog lost an actual food in “The Siege of AR-558”.

• Lang-cycle fusion engines were established as being a feature of Promellian battle cruisers in “Booby Trap”.

• It was established in “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum” that Kelpiens are stronger, and faster than humans.

• We’ve previously seen Saru’s quills stab into a wall, or incapacitate a human, but this is the first time we’ve seem them projected with enough force to obliterate a machine.

• The fact that Kelpien visual acuity allows them to see things outside the range available to humans was seen in “Brother”.

• Burnham and Saru both recognise a type of Romulan poem called a revlav. Burnham and Saru also both come from a time in Starfleet’s history when the Romulans were known to the Federation only as a mysterious enemy.

• ”Diary’s Romulan; Federation’s got no claim to it.” it was established in “Unification III” that the Romulans had reunified with the Vulcans at some point during the in the past, and in “All Is Possible” Ni’Var rejoined the Federation.

• Romulan homes having a false front door was established in “The End is the Beginning”.

• Zora uses programmable matter to create a physical copy the symbol from Doctor Vellek’s diary. This physical version is the one seen in the opening sequence this season.

• Book explained that he got his name from his mentor, the previous Cleveland Booker, in “Species Ten-C”, who was also apparently Moll’s father.

    • ”Which, I suppose, makes her the closest thing to family I’ve got left.” Book’s Kwejian family was killed in “Kobayashi Maru”.

• Saru’s pruning knife was a gift from his sister in “The Brightest Star”.

• Saru recounts his experience going through Keplein puberty, vahar’ai, in “An Obal for Charon”.

• Saru told Tilly to avoid touching the swampkelp while it was in bloom in “Choose to Live”.

For a higher quality downloadable version: https://archive.org/details/st-ds-9-rootbeer-analogy-2160p

Happy First Contact Day!

LLAP

[Image source] ( < not my blog and no affiliation)

Unless I'm mistaken, the Discovery bridge has been added only recently as well.

For those who don't know the Roddenberry Archive: have fun exploring. On some ships you can even leave the bridge and go to different areas of the ship (for example the shuttle bay or main engineering on the Enterprise D). Also, sometimes you can move or activate objects like consoles.

It is Stardate 866274.3, which places it, by TNG reckoning, in 3189. However, as I’ve noted before, this is an impossibility, since Burnham arrived in the 32nd Century in 3188, then spent a year before reuniting with Discovery (3189), then months passed between Seasons 3 and 4, and also between Seasons 4 and 5 so at a minimum it should be 3190. So stardates have to be working differently now.

The image Burnham is looking at is of the Progenitor hologram from TNG: “The Chase”, played by Salome Jens, who also played the recurring role of the Female Changeling in DS9.

The unwritten Starfleet code of conduct is apparently “Don’t snitch.” Rayner has been in Starfleet for 30 years, during which time the Federation was apparently at war (but no longer), and he’s fought side-by-side with Vance. The Breen are infighting over a new leader (they are now an imperium instead of a confederacy), and the Orions are regrouping, presumably after the splintering of the Emerald Chain at the end of Season 3 (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”).

Book imitates Saru’s threat ganglia, which started as a response to sensing danger, but following his vahar’ai (DIS: “An Obol for Charon”), were replaced organs which could shoot spines.

The Promellians fought a long war against the Menthars which ended in the extinction of both species in the 14th Century. The Enterprise-D encountered a Promellian battle cruiser caught by a Menthar booby trap and nearly fell victim to the same trap in TNG: “Booby Trap” (2366). A necropolis is basically a very large graveyard or tomb, hence Burnham’s concerns about it being a sacred space.

Zareh was a courier who encountered Saru and Discovery when they first arrived in the 32nd Century (DIS: “Far From Home”), attempting to extort dilithium from them. He allied himself with Osyraa during her commandeering of Discovery and eventually died in the ship’s turbolift systems while fighting Book (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”).

The Promellians’ use of Lang-cycle fusion engines was first mentioned in TNG: “Booby Trap”. I do wonder, however, what the statue was supposed to represent, since Promellians as seen in TNG only had two eyes, not four.

Being able to generate new phasers with just a metaphorical flick of the wrist is really handy.

Booker says that Moll and L’ak are Sui, couriers who take the most dangerous jobs fpr the action and latinum (from suicide, perhaps?).

The inscription starts with “Jolan tru, zarbalgon…" which Burnham translates as “Hello, wanderer”. Jolan tru is a traditional Romulan greeting which was used as both “hello” and “goodbye” (TNG: “Unification I”). Where Burnham learned Romulan is unexplained, but likely from her mother, a member of the Qowat Milat or on Ni’Var (DIS: “Unification III”). At the time she left the 23rd Century, the Romulans were still safely ensconced behind the Neutral Zone.

Burnham identifies the inscription as a Romulan revlav, which from context must be a poetic form, consisting of five verses or lines. “Hello, wanderer. Many worlds have you traveled. Opaline waters call to you. Thoughts are shared.” Saru says that seems to point to Betazed, but the fifth verse is missing.

Saru and Burnham have really been boning up on Romulans. The shaiqouin, the false front door of Romulan houses, was first mentioned in PIC: “The End is the Beginning”, but there was called a shaipouin. The last verse reads, “A world like no other, where two souls entwine, joined as one.” Adira deduces that the whole poem in context points to Trill.

Booker reminds us that his name is an alias, passed down from courier to courier (DIS: “That Hope is You, Part 2”, “Species Ten-C”).

Saru packs his knife, a gardening tool given to him by his sister on the night he left Kaminar to join Starfleet (ST: “The Brightest Star”).

Saru talks about giving oneself over “to the journey”, which reminds me of the toast that Barclay gave in the alternate future’s tenth anniversary of Voyager’s return (VOY: “Endgame”). Saru first warned Tilly about not touching the swamp kelp in bloom in DIS: “Choose to Live”.

Vance’s daughter previously appeared in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”, but this is the first time we learn her name is Charlie (named after him, presumably).

Other receipients of the Grankite Order of Tactics (first mentioned in TOS: “Court Martial”) include James Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard (PIC: “Remembrance”) and Liam Shaw (PIC: “The Next Generation”). The latter three also received its Class of Excellence.

Direct YouTube link

The Star Trek Universe bumper features Discovery jumping in with her spore drive then flying off at warp. 

If anybody’s questioning whether one can actually survive on the outside of a ship traveling at warp, the answer is yes, as long as they are within the starship’s warp bubble (ENT: “Divergence”, where Trip moved between Enterprise and Columbia while the two ships shared a merged warp bubble. See also PRO: “Mindwalk”). There is a mistake in the closed captioning which says “warp level” instead of “warp bubble”. 

Tonic 2161 is named after the year the Federation was founded. Although it’s for the Millenium Celebration, the current year is actually around 3188-3190 (stardates have been a bit wonky ever since DIS went to the 32nd Century), hence the “give or take a few decades” remark. The stars in the cocktail taste like jumja sticks, a sweet Bajoran delicacy made from the sap of the jumja tree (DS9: “In the Hands of the Prophets”). 

The holographic nametag for Stamets is not a screen overlay, but comes out of his tricom badge (DIS: “Die Trying”), a 32nd century combined tricorder, comm badge, holographic PADD and personal transporter. The pathway drive was first mentioned back in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”, where a prototype was installed on the Voyager-J and Burnham was under consideration for being her captain. There were no details on how it worked, however.

Tilly says it’s been “months” since Burnham has talked about Book, which means some time has elapsed since the end of Season 4. There is a brief shot of a Lurian speaking to another alien I’m unable to identify.

T’Rina mentions the Tholian Republic and Breen Imperium. There have been political changes since the TNG era, since back then they were the Tholian Assembly (TOS; “The Tholian Web”) and the Breen Confederacy (DS9: “Strange Bedfellows”). Her relationship with Saru has grown more serious, as evidenced by her use of the word “love”. 

800 years - if exact - puts it at 2388, after the Mars Attack (2385), Picard’s resignation from Starfleet (2386) and the Romulan Supernova (2387). This is the first mention of a “Red Directive”.

The dessicated Romulan corpse has the forehead ridges that mark them as a Northerner (PIC: “The End is the Beginning”). 

Burnham’s phaser pistol can transform into a rifle configuration, presumbly by the same method that allows it to be stowed as a device on the sleeve (first seen in DIS: “Terra Firma, Part 1”). 

Burnham’s EVA suit must have inertial dampeners because the moment she exits the warp bubble she’s going to decelerate to sublight. Without them, inertial forces would turn her into a red smear inside of her suit.

Captain Rayner is a Kellerun (DS9: “Armageddon Game”). We see a tribble in the corridor, perhaps the same one from DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”.

Moll and L’ak stole a tan zhekran, a Romulan puzzle box. We saw an example of it in PIC: “The Impossible Box”, where it was used as a booby trap. 

Tilly is of course speaking of her ice moon escapade with a group of cadets on Kokytos in DIS: “All is Possible”. This is the first mention of Andorian champagne (or should that be Andorian sparkling wine?) - previously the only Andorian alcoholic beverage we were aware of is Andorian ale. 

Fred is a synth (PIC: “Maps and Legends”), with the same golden skin and eyes as Soong-type androids like Data, and has lived for at least 622.7 years (c. 2565), the last time he saw a Romulan puzzle box. Among the items L’ak and Moll offer is an infamous self-sealing stem bolt (DS9: “Progress”). 

The book inside the puzzle box appears to be filled with Romulan writing. Booklice, or Psocoptera, are real in case there was any doubt. 

Fred’s internal memory drive has the serial number AS-0572Y. Stamets connects that to Altan Soong, which might mean Fred is from Coppelius (PIC: “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2”). Altan was last seen in a holographic recording in PIC: “The Bounty”, having died between 2399 and 2401. 

Burnham says she hasn’t hated anyone this much in 930 years, which if taking from 3188 dates back to 2258, the year Discovery jumped to the 32nd Century. 

Tilly says the database is using 256 qubit (captioned as “Q-bit”) shifting fractal encryption. Breaking into it is a violation of Security Protocol Six Alpha.

Discovery jumps back in at Archer Spacedock, installed around Federation HQ and first unveiled in DIS: “Kobayashi Maru”. 

Let’s hope that Saru and T’Rina’s wedding isn’t as violent as Spock’s (TOS; “Amok Time”). Stamets says that they were about to download 15 teraquads of data from Fred’s eye. A quad is a fictional unit of data invented for TNG, deliberately kept vague to avoid comparisons to today’s bytes. 15 teraquads sounds impressive, but in VOY: “Drone” the advanced Borg drone One was said to have assimilated 47 billion teraquads. 

Kovich shows Burnham that Dr Vellek was there on Vilmor II at the climax of TNG: “The Chase” (2369), where Picard discovered that many species of humanoid life in the Galaxy had been seeded by a precusor race, the Progenitors. It’s interesting that Kovich says that the Progenitors created all humanoid life. In “The Chase”, it didn’t reach as far as that - in fact, there were species which didn’t have the DNA pieces necessary to solve the puzzle and the Progenitor hologram only said they seeded “many worlds”.

"Red Directive"

Written by: Michelle Paradise

Directed by: Olatunde Osunsanmi

"Under the Twin Moons"

Written by: Alan McElroy

Directed by: Doug Aarniokoski

S04E15 "First Contact"

Direct link to the original Tweet with some pictures a very impressive collection and sad story.