Summary
Star Trek: Short Treksmay not have been priority viewing for manyStar Trekfans, butthese mini-episodes tie into the modernStar Trekshows in essential ways.Initially conceived as a companion toStar Trek: Discovery,the first season ofShort Treksconsists of four live-action episodes that tie into the adventures of Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery. The second season ofShort Treksincludes four live-action episodes and two animated episodes, incorporating more characters from otherStar Trekseries.
Star Trek: Discovery,Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard,andStar Trek: Prodigyall feature vital elements first introduced inStar Trek:Short Treks,and the mini-episodes have now become even more important.Not only are theShort Treksepisodes fast, fun, and entertaining, but they also offer fascinating insights into both new and established characters.Whether they tie directly into major plot points or simply reveal more about a particular character,Star Trek: Short Trekshas become required viewing if one wants to fully understand the evolvingStar Trektimeline.
How To Watch All Star Trek TV Shows In Timeline Order
The Star Trek TV franchise has existed for 57 years and consists of 12 shows (and counting). Here’s how to watch them all in timeline order.
6Tilly’s Short Trek Is Needed To Understand Star Trek: Discovery Season 2’s Ending
Star Trek: Short Treks Season 1, Episode 1 - “Runaway”
In the first episode ofStar Trek: Short Treks, Ensign Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) encounters an alien lifeform that snuck onto the USS Discovery. Tilly communicates with the alien, learning that she is a young woman named Po (Yadira Guevara-Prip) from the planet Xahea.Tilly and Po share a love of science, and Po shares that she created a dilithium incubator that could recrystallize dilithium.This discovery made Xahea one of the most politically important planets in the galaxy, which Po found overwhelming.
Even before Po reveals that she is the new queen of her people, Tilly inspires Po to be a good leader, encouraging her to go back to her planet. Tilly’s friendship with Po proves incredibly helpful later, in the final episodes ofStar Trek: Discoveryseason 2.Tilly realizes that Po’s dilithium incubator could be used to charge the time crystal needed for Michael Burnham’s time-traveling Red Angel suit.Po also led the final charge against Control, giving the USS Discovery time to complete their mission and providing important intel to Starfleet.
Star Trek: Discovery
Cast
Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.
5Saru’s Star Trek: Short Trek Is Vital To Understand Discovery’s Kelpien Hero
Star Trek: Short Treks Season 1, Episode 3 - “The Brightest Star”
ThroughoutStar Trek: Discovery’sfive seasons, Saru (Doug Jones) underwent quite a transformation.Star Trek: Short Treks' “The Brightest Star” not only offers more insight into Saru as a character, but also provides a glimpse of his family and his life on Kaminar.Unlike the Kelpians around him, Saru was not content to live in constant fear of the Ba’ul.When a piece of advanced technology falls off of one of the Ba’ul’s ships, Saru uses it to send out a message to the stars.
Star Trek: Discovery’s Ending Beautifully Showed Saru Changed For The Better
Star Trek: Discovery’s final episode beautifully proved that Doug Jones' Saru had undergone a major change for the better since season 1.
Lt. Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) answers Saru’s message, offering the curious Kelpien the chance at a new life among the stars. Saru leaves his home planet, believing he will likely never return.Saru’s curiosity not only gives him a chance to see the universe, but also ends up saving his people from the Ba’ul.As the first and only Kelpian in Starfleet, Saru became one ofStar Trek: Discovery’sbest characters, and his story is incomplete withoutShort Treks'“The Brightest Star.”
4Spock’s Star Trek: Short Trek Reveals Why Number One Loves Gilbert & Sullivan
Star Trek: Short Treks Season 2, Episode 1 - “Q&A”
The first episode ofStar Trek:Short Treksseason 2 features the return of Ethan Peck’s Spock and Rebecca Romijn’s Number One after their debut inStar Trek: Discoveryseason 2. During Spock’s first day as an Ensign on the USS Enterprise, he and Number One get trapped in a turbolift. To pass the time, Spock rattles off questions which Una answers.TheStar Trekmini-episode not only offers insight into Spock’s personality and emotional conflict, but also reveals Una’s love of Gilbert and Sullivan.
In a 2019 New Yorker article, “Q&A” writer Michael Chabon revealed that he conceived the episode as a way to explain the change in Spock’s personality fromStar Trek’soriginal pilot, “The Cage,” to the rest ofStar Trek: The Original Series.
ThroughoutStar Trek: Strange New Worlds, Spock continues to struggle with his emotions and the conflict between his human and Vulcan sides. Number One’s love of Victorian comedic opera would come up again inStrange New Worldsseason 2, episode 2, “Ad Astra Per Aspera.” During Number One’s trial, the judge asks the Enterprise crew members if they ever suspected that Una was hiding something.Spock reveals that Una was indeed hiding"an affinity for Gilbert and Sullivan musicals."
3Star Trek: Discovery’s Real Ending Is 2018’s Short Trek
Star Trek: Short Treks Season 1, Episode 2 - “Calypso”
Star Trek: Discovery’sfinal season finally connected the show back to theStar Trek: Short Treksseason 1 episode, “Calypso” which takes place on the USS Discovery in the distant future.“Calypso” originally aired betweenDiscovery’sfirst and second seasons, well before the USS Discovery traveled to the 32nd century.Discovery’s jump to the far future complicated the timeline a bit, but the show still managed to tie everything together in the end, canonically establishing “Calypso” as the finalStar Trek: Discoverytale.
In “Calypso,” a soldier named Craft (Aldis Hodge) encounters the derelic USS Discovery, and becomes friends with the ship’s sentient computer system, Zora (Annabelle Wallis).Zora and Craft begin to develop feelings for one another, but Zora eventually encourages Craft to attempt the journey home to his family.Star Trek: Discovery’sseries finaleshows the titular ship being returned to its original configuration and sent out on a Red Directive mission to encounter Craft.
Star Trek: Discovery’s “Calypso” Short Trek & Finale Epilogue Reveal Explained
Star Trek: Discovery’s series finale epilogue puts the pieces in place for Star Trek: Short Treks “Calypso” to happen in the future.
2Star Trek: Prodigy Fixes Short Treks’ Biggest Tribble Mistake
Star Trek: Short Treks Season 2, Episode 2 - “The Trouble With Edward”
InStar Trek: Short Treks'“The Trouble with Edward,” Lt. Edward Larkin (H. Jon Benjamin) decides that Tribbles would make a good food source if he could figure out a way to make them reproduce more quickly.The new commander of the USS Cabot, Captain Lynne Lucero (Rosa Salazar), orders Larkin to abandon his Tribble project, troubled by the ethical problems with eating a species of unknown intelligence. Larkin, however, disobeys this order and continues his experiments anyway, with disastrous consequences.
Larkin’s Tribbles begin multiplying rapidly, eventually taking over the entire ship. Captain Lucero orders an evacuation and every crew member except Larkin manages to escape. In theStar Trek: Prodigyseason 2 premiere,Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui) reveals that she figured out a way to keep Tribbles from reproducing so rapidly,much to the amazement of many more experienced Starfleet officers. By the far future ofStar Trek: Discovery, neuteredTribbles can even safely be keptas pets.
Star Trek: Prodigy
Star Trek: Prodigy is the first TV series in the Star Trek franchise marketed toward children, and one of the few animated series in the franchise. The story follows a group of young aliens who find a stolen Starfleet ship and use it to escape from the Tars Lamora prison colony where they are all held captive. Working together with the help of a holographic Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the new crew of the USS Protostar must find their way back to the Alpha Quadrant to warn the Federation of the deadly threat that is pursuing them.
1Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2’s Ending Ties Into Star Trek: Picard’s Tragic Mars Backstory
Star Trek: Short Treks Season 2, Episode 6 - “Children of Mars”
A prequel toStar Trek: Picard,Star Trek: Short Treks' “Children of Mars” introduces Kima (Ilamaria Ebrahim) and Lil (Sadie Munroe), two elementary school girls who both have parents working on Mars. The rival girls get into a fight, but before their Vulcan principal can discipline them, an alert announces rogue synthetics have attacked Mars.All the screens in the building begin broadcasting news footage of the attack, as rogue synths turn Mars' own defensive weapons against itself.
In the wake of the Mars attack, Starfleet Command suspends their Romulan evacuation mission, a decision with which neither Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) nor Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) agrees.
After the events ofStar Trek: Prodigyseason 2, Dal R’El (Brett Gray) and his friends are finally accepted into Starfleet Academy. In theStar Trek: Prodigyseason 2 finale,the young cadets learn about the attack on Mars, as the news is broadcast across the Academy.Starfleet Command says that missions of exploration will be put on hold as Starfleet rebuilds, but Admiral Janeway secures the newly constructed Protostar class ship, the USS Prodigy, so her cadets can continueStar Trek’sultimate mission to explore strange new worlds.
Star Trek: Picard
Star Trek: Picard follows retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart, twenty years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis. The series delves into Picard’s life post-Starfleet, as he navigates a new chapter filled with unresolved past events and new challenges.
