Redshirts Always Die
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Discovery: Who sits in the captain’s chair?

By Carl Buck

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As we near Star Trek: Discovery’s premiere, we wonder who will be the new show’s primary captain, and how he or she will stack up against the others.

Many times, late at night I have found myself looking over a poll or survey about which Starfleet captain was THE best captain in Star Trek. Apparently, it’s a long running debate that can occasionally involve seriously coarse language, threats of violence, and families being torn apart, never to be the same again. Fortunately this entry is not about that.

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Star Trek: Discovery has been touted as focusing more on the First Officer, which, as we know from Star Trek: The Next Generation can be a Commander, but as we later learned, can also be a Lieutenant Commander, as on the Equinox in Voyager. We have also been given wonderful teases about the two captains we will be seeing; Captain Philippa Georgiou of the USS Shenzhou, and Captain Gabriel Lorca of the USS Discovery.

One of the clips we’ve seen has Captain Georgiou suggesting that First Officer Michael Burnham is ready for her own ship, and with the show being called “Discovery”, I’d be willing to assume that a probable promotion is in the cards (maybe long-term) for Burnham. This does mean that Captain Lorca’s fate is in serious jeopardy, if my assessment is right, that is. And we’ve seen this kind of promotion before, with Sisko at the end of the third season of Deep Space Nine.

Why should any of this be relevant? Well, simply put, it doesn’t seem like you can focus on the first officer if or when you give her a ship, does it? Because, obviously, you’re then focusing on the captain, again. Kinda ruins the teasers.

Now, it has crossed my mind that some of the interaction with the Klingons causes Burnham a bit of trouble with Starfleet brass, and this could definitely keep her from getting promoted, but it would also most assuredly keep her from getting her own ship, as Georgiou hints at her being ready for.

So, what does any of this mean? It means you can’t have a ship without a captain. You can have a show without one (hint: DS9), but not a ship. Burnham can either get her own ship and will then no longer be a first officer, or she remains a “number one” and the trailer was just meant to get your hopes up.

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I’m look forward to how they iron all these details out, and explain the relevancy of the trailers throughout the first season. But I’m also just really excited to see how this series will tie into TOS. Being so close in time should make it interesting watch indeed.

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