While “Discovery” was the most futuristic adventure in the entire canon, the 32nd century setting technically it wasn’t the farthest we’ve ever been on “Trek.” That honor goes to “Calypso.” Back when the first season of “Discovery” had first aired and fans were patiently waiting for the second season, Paramount decided to whet the appetite of Trekkies everywhere by releasing a series of short films, winkingly entitled “Short Treks”, to fill various gaps in the series and tell self-contained stories that further enrich the world. A particularly touching film stars actor Aldis Hodge (“Black Mirror”, “One Night in Miami”, “Black Adam”) as a “shipwrecked” survivor named Craft who finds himself on a now abandoned USS Discovery years in the future. . Alone, with only a sentient artificial intelligence to keep them company, the two get closer over time and even end up on the precipice of falling in love. The AI is called Zora (voiced by Annabelle Wallis) and, of course, was eventually incorporated into the action in the third season of the main series. Talk about calling your own shot.
But, according to Michelle Paradise, the next season would have come full circle with the events of “Calypso.” As she explained:
“We always knew we wanted to somehow tie this back together. We never wanted ‘Calypso’ to be the dangling Chad… [season 6] The story, however nascent, would eventually tie that thread together and reconnect ‘Discovery’ with ‘Calypso.'”
The ending hints at this by having an older Burnham tell Zora that they are taking Discovery into deep space and will leave her there indefinitely. It is a bittersweet and ambiguous ending, but one that has invested the Trekkies who can always continue in their imagination.
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