Paramount / Photo illustration by Heavy Will Michael Burnham encounter V’Ger this season?
It was just a few weeks ago that the on-screen team from “Star Trek: Discovery” took to the stage at the New York Comic Con to discuss the new season of their show. Included in the group of DISCO stars was Sonequa Martin-Green (Burnham), Anthony Rapp (Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Culber), David Ajala (Book), and Blu de Bario (Adira). Showrunner and Executive Producer Michelle Paradise was there as well.
As the actors spoke about their characters’ growth and change throughout the series, a few exciting tidbits leaked. Heavy’s Robin Zabiegalski was there in New York on October 9 to report how Ajala and Rapp argued over which character would pilot the spore drive in Season 4.
She also filed a story on Cruz’s “Inspiration for Season 4” and how the doctor would also serve as the ships’ counselor. In a way, this is a throwback to the original Trek story, “The Cage.” That show’s doctor, Phil Boyce (John Hoyt), counseled Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) when he wasn’t caring for the crew’s well-being.
New DISCO Trailer Released
Zabiegalski was there when Paradise shared the new Season 4 trailer with the audience — which was then shared everywhere by Paramount and CBS’s social media feeds.
The trailer showed a new threat for the galaxy, which the Discovery and crew must combat. Fans will have to wait to learn more about what these characters will face in Season 4 — which begins streaming on Paramount+ on November 18.
In the trailer, Captain Burnham says this anomaly is unlike anything the galaxy has ever faced. There were scenes of the ship flying through unknown regions and parts of space that appeared strange, while others looked very familiar.
Fan Theory: V’Ger Returns
Major V’ger vibes in season 4 trailer! Could Discovery be seeing V’ger’s “next step in its evolution?” @StarTrekOnPPlus @StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery
Thanks to a fan post on Twitter, many speculate just what precisely the Discovery was flying through. Danny Epperson created a series of photos in his Tweet, which compared scenes from “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” to scenes from the new Discovery trailer.
To refresh your memory, “The Motion Picture” was about the Enterprise crew encountering an ancient NASA probe (Voyager 6) launched in the 1970s. Voyager 6 drifted for 300 years, was found and rebuilt by a robot race far from Earth. Voyager’s mission was to collect data and transmit it back to the “creator” — humanity. When it returned in a hulking ship, surrounded by a galactic storm of electrical interference.
All ships which approached the Voyager… or V’Ger cloud were annihilated. Only the U.S.S. Enterprise was able to meet this threat. Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and the rest of the crew were able to help two of their own crew merge with V’Ger, which allowed both to transcend “into another dimension,” according to the script.
Epperson points out the similarities between the V’Ger memory sequences and the footage from the trailer. The sequences from the film featured Spock floating through a massive archive until finally meeting a representation of the V’Ger probe. Spock touched the probe and was blasted back through the archive to the Enterprise.
Discovery Saves the Galaxy Each Season
The return of V’Ger as a threat posed against all life in the galaxy would be gripping and certainly on par with how “Star Trek: Discovery” has rambled through storylines. The first season saw Burnham and Saru (Doug Jones) navigate through the Federation / Klingon War crisis and a villain from the Mirror Universe. In Season 2, Burnham and Pike (Anson Mount) joined forces against an evil AI named Control. Last season the crew found themselves in the 31st Century, where they solved the mystery of “the Burn.”
Revealing the mysterious “anomaly” as V’Ger could be the twist that Discovery producers have been known to include in each season.
Epperson Has Been Right Before
As noted by Heavy, Mr. Epperson has a keen sense of what direction “Star Trek” stories take and for casting decisions. Recently, Epperson correctly predicted that Uhura would return to “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.” She will be played by actress Celia Rose Gooding.
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