Star Trek: Short Treks: The Brightest Star
December 6 is finally here and with it the third episode of Star Trek: Short Treks, entitles The Brightest Star, returning to prominently featuring a member of the crew of the USS Discovery, first officer Saru.
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As always I will attempt to keep this article Spoiler free for those who have not yet seen the episode.
"Before he was the first Kelpien to join Starfleet, Saru (Doug Jones) lived a simple life on his home planet of Kaminar with his father and sister. Young Saru, full of ingenuity and a level of curiosity uncommon among his people, yearns to find out what lies beyond his village, leading him on an unexpected path.”– Official Synopsys – CBS"
With this episode we’re going into the past and exploring how Mr. Saru became the man we know aboard the Discovery, as well answering several other questions about his people, the Kelpiens.
As with the two earlier episodes this is a deep character study, despite its short run time, and much like the other two it’s successful at what it’s trying to do in that it both answers the big questions (Where are the other Kelpiens? Why are they not in future series?) and raises new questions about the character that will make Saru feel more complex than we have seen him so far.
In watching this episode I wonder what a similar story for a character like Worf might look like with his first decision to join Starfleet, what must it take for one of these characters to drop everything and join another species or society? Sure we see it as incredible, of course you or I would run off and join Starfleet or perhaps the Vulcan Science Directorate, but could you imagine waking up tomorrow and enrolling in the Russian, Cuban, North Korean or Swiss army? (Pick any one that’s not your nationality).
The incredible thing is that in such a short format they were able to create a narrative that showed us a believable series of events to aid the character along in his decision-making process, if not with some slightly glossed over and less believable technical skills.
light. Related Story. Star Trek: Short Treks: Calypso
Overall Ieft with a more positive view of Saru and a far better understanding of his place in the universe. While not as mentally exciting as the previous episode it is none the less another successful outing for the Short Treks brand.
Star Trek: Short Treks continues January 3, 2019 with The Escape Artist starring Rainn Wilson reprising his role as Harry Mudd.