Season 5 of Discovery<\/i> has all the hallmarks of a final season<\/a>: a sense of elegy, characters contemplating their future outside the ship, self-referential plotting and couples ready to tie the knot and retire from Starfleet. It also continues the show\u2019s backward slide into pandering fan service. The season works, in essence, as a sequel to a Star Trek: The Next Generation<\/i> episode…though we won’t say which here.<\/p>\n Trek<\/i> has never hesitated to beam back to its roots\u2014several Next Gen<\/i><\/a> episodes essentially remake those of the original series, while legacy characters (Sulu, Riker, Q) pop up in spin-offs. Still, doing a direct sequel to an episode from another series\u2014one that amounts to a retread more than anything else\u2014will suit fans who feel the show needs to somehow affirm their fandom. It does nothing, however, to distinguish Discovery<\/i> as its own story, or to move the milieu of Trek<\/i> forward. A rotating group of showrunners in early seasons made Discovery<\/i> feel a bit schizophrenic in tone, but at least those first couple of seasons dealt with philosophical conundrums\u2014the heart of Star Trek<\/i> from the very beginning.<\/p>\n The third season of Discovery<\/i> came the closest to recapturing that Gene Roddenberry spirit, thrusting Discovery <\/i>1000 years into the future (thus eliminating those continuity problems) and focusing on rebuilding the Federation after a disaster. Even if that story collapsed in the season finale, the lead-up raised an interesting question: how can Utopia sustain itself?<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the fourth season of the show more or less photon torpedoed this quandary in favor of a lot of effects-driven action (not to mention a story that bore an uncomfortable resemblance to Star Trek: The Motion Picture<\/em>). This final season does the same, and features plenty of flash and action, but very little that will engage viewer emotions or intellect.<\/p>\n That does not, however, mean Season 5 isn\u2019t fun. Rennie, an actor who specializes in playing cocky douchebags, brings his trademark gruffness here. His clashes with Burnham and the rest of the Discovery<\/i> crew generate some real friction, and always entertain. The special effects look sleek as ever, and the opening episodes (four were made available to critics), feature some wild chase sequences and shootouts in the halls of the ship.<\/p>\n It all looks great, and the actors do the most they can with the material (Anthony Rapp and Green shine in Episode 4), but it doesn\u2019t amount to much beyond a run-of-the-mill space opera. Indeed, the MacGuffin of a superweapon seems lifted from Star Wars<\/i> rather than the best Trek<\/i> outings. As villains, L’ak and Moll lack the personality and cunning of the best Trek<\/em> baddies.<\/p>\n Star Trek: Discovery<\/i> marked the first return of the Trek<\/i> franchise to television following the disaster of Enterprise<\/i> some 10 years earlier. That show, which recycled the Next Gen<\/i> formula used throughout all the 80s and 90s Star Trek<\/i> stories, became synonymous with franchise fatigue. Discovery<\/i><\/a> also followed the \u201cKelvin Timeline\u201d movies of the 2010s, produced and written by Alex Kurtzman, who now oversees the franchise for Paramount.<\/p>\n The 2009 movie, which netted a sizable box office haul, essentially remade Star Wars<\/i> in Star Trek<\/i> drag. While popular in the moment, the impact of that film proved fleeting. The subsequent sequel, Into Darkness\u2014<\/i>a laughably bad exercise in fan service\u2014stalled any momentum the franchise had regained. The rushed-into-production Star Trek<\/i> Beyond<\/i><\/a> outright flopped at the box office. Paramount continues to insist that it has a fourth Kelvin reboot movie coming down the pipeline.<\/p>\n Wise Trek<\/i> fans shouldn\u2019t count their Tribbles before they\u2019ve spawned. A general ambivalence among the audience, as well as the cast & crew, coupled with the studio\u2019s financial woes, indicate that the new movie probably will never leave space dock.<\/p>\n All of this warrants mention because Kurtzman\u2019s involvement in the Paramount+ series\u2014including Discovery, Picard,<\/em> and Strange New Worlds<\/em>\u2014seems the culprit for small-screen Trek\u2019s<\/em> devolution into a generic sci-fi action romp. For Star Trek<\/i> to catch fire again, for it to boldly go where Trek<\/i> has never gone before, requires a creative mind unafraid to take risks or challenge an audience. Yes, sometimes that means adopting a cavalier fans-be-damned attitude, but as the best episodes of Next Gen <\/i>(the Klingon succession arc), Deep Space Nine<\/i> (the Dominion War), and Voyager <\/i>(exploration of the Borg) proved, creativity will win fans over, even if it takes time for that to happen.<\/p>\n Discovery<\/i> had (and has) all the right elements: a charismatic cast, interesting characters, a healthy budget, and a fandom thirsting for great Trek<\/i>. The show may yet find the vector to warp to a magnificent finish, but for all the action and fan service, Discovery<\/i> seems poised to become a show that never lived up to its potential. Perhaps one day a Legacy series will reunite Burnham, Saru, Staments, Tilly, etc. for an outing both thoughtful and<\/em> flashy.<\/p>\n Season 5 of Discovery<\/i> arrives on the heels of Netflix\u2019s 3 Body Problem<\/i> and Warner Bros.’ Dune Part Two<\/i><\/a>, two projects that realize great science fiction entertainment needs to pair breathtaking visuals with deeper moral and philosophical issues to resonate. Latter-day Trek<\/i>, much like Disney\u2019s Star Wars <\/i>(The Last Jedi<\/i><\/a> notwithstanding), looks like a stale voyage into self-reference by comparison.<\/p>\n Staleness seldom quenches appetite. For now, Star Trek: Discovery<\/i> Season 5 <\/i>offers a fun, if forgettable, conclusion to Star Trek<\/i>\u2019s return to television. Here\u2019s hoping Paramount+ next opts for a Star Trek <\/i>series willing to investigate some new frontiers.<\/p>\n RATING: 7\/10 SPECS.<\/strong><\/p>\n Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 arrives on Paramount+ Thursday, April 4.<\/em><\/p>\nAnother Chase<\/h2>\n
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The Jar Jar in the Room<\/h2>\n
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