Short Treks: Calypso – Craft the Future

Another month gone in the wait for season 2 of Star Trek Discovery, another episode of Short Treks in to talk about.

I’ll do so without spoilers as best possible.

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Winter is Coming

Last month we looked at Short Treks Runaway, a great episode showcasing the beautifully crafted character of Ensign Tilly, this month we went in a completely different direction while maintaining the same setting, The USS Discovery and two never before seen characters known as Zara, and Craft.

While last months episode was more akin to a typical b-plot from a regular season episode of the show Calypso played out much more like a condensed version of an episode, or even the first acts of a larger story while still managing to feel like a complete piece of that story. Much like Runaway it leaves you wanting more.

Great characters…

While there have been other artificial intelligence characters in the past Zara is unlike any character I can recall in Star Trek, she is in many ways reminiscent of Rommie from Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, except that she lacks a conveniently build body and appears to be the sum of everything Data would strive to become, a feeling, self evolved person, with her own likes and dislikes.

Craft on the other hand is portrayed to perfection as a believable soldier, forced into a war he doesn’t necessarily believe in, you understand quickly that he has a deep love for his people, his planet and his family but are left with clues that he may have either barely escaped a decisive battle with his life, or that he could be a deserter.

Unique setting…

Unique setting…
Without getting too deep into the story, as I know many are waiting to see the episode, the story being set in a different time teases a potentially dark fate for the current crew of the Discovery without actually telling us how far from the events of the Klingon war this fate will occur, or if it was even the crew we know it happened to.

At eighteen minutes in change it’s a feat for the writers to have managed to create and draw two characters we knew nothing about, set in a time we know nothing about, and leave us wanting their entire life histories and to know what will eventually become of them in the future. Much like Craft we sit at the window and stare out wanting more.

Wanting more…

With two episodes in the can Short Treks is shaping up to be a great series, I just hope we’ll get to see more of the storylines they’re introducing us to.