Star Trek Discovery: 10 Hidden Details You Missed In Season 2

The world of Star Trek never stops expanding. Even after countless hours of shows and three separate feature film series, the franchise continues to create new and exciting adventures for crews willing to boldly go on them. The most recent example of this is the brand new series Picard, but before it came the still running prequel series Star Trek: Discovery.

Discoveryhas finished two seasons already with season three on the way, and while it is one of the aforementioned original ideas, it does what all newer Treks do, and builds on the intricate world that's already laid out for it. Due to this, there are bound to be Easter eggs and references aplenty, just as there were in season one of the show. Here are ten subtle details you may have missed during season two.

10 A Game Of Wits

In episode one, we see a brief look at Spock's room on the planet Vulcan, then later on in the episode, we see his chambers aboard the Enterprise. In both scenes, off to the side, is a set of three-dimensional chess. The set is the same as the one featured in the original series, which was seen when Spock plays against Kirk and McCoy, easily besting them due to his unbelievably tactical mind. A small detail, yes, but a logical one.

9 Ditch The Newer Tech

Discovery being a prequel to the original series allows it to meddle just a bit in the show's canon. sometimes in an effort to fix continuity instead of breaking it. One example is the holographic communication systems the show features. The impressive digital effect clearly wasn't available when the original series was made, so the current show does its best to justify why the original crew wouldn't have had the same advanced technology.

After a slight error with the comm systems, captain Pike gives the command to rip the whole system out, then saying the ship will just communicate via a screen for now on. It's a laughable excuse, but the show deserves respect for trying to keep the timeline intact.

8 Communicator Badge

In episode three, the character Tyler baffles Captain Pike by using his Starfleet badge as a communicator. Pike's reaction implies that the technology is clearly more advanced than what he is working with, and we later learn that Tyler's group Section 31 is using all sorts of advanced tech.

The communicator badge, however, has been seen before, as the primary form of communication for the crew of the enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Even though Next Generation is set nearly a hundred years after Discovery, the technology must have existed in some small quantity already.

7 Spock's Brain

Episode nine features a quick and comical Easter egg in reference to the original series. When he is undergoing a scan, a screen briefly displays Spock's brain, including the words. This is a reference to the widely hated episode of the original series that is aptly titled "Spock's Brain."

The episode features an alien cutting out and stealing Spock's brain. Worry not, though, the crew goes after the alien and gets the brain back, even bringing Spock's body along via remote control. It's a laughable episode of an otherwise pretty sound show, but the homage shows that this blunderous episode hasn't been forgotten.

6 Number One

In episode four we meet Number One, played by Rebecca Romjin. While her nickname is obviously reminiscent of many characters from throughout the franchise, the real detail here is her character's first appearance. The character is actually a crew member alongside Captain Pike in the pilot episode for the original series.

Unfortunately, with the pilot being rejected at first, and the crew being retooled into the one we know from the original series, her character never played a large role before Discovery. It will be interesting to see the story added to her canon.

5 A Powerful Quote

In episode seven, Burnham quotes Sarek saying he would "weigh the needs of many..." This is a direct reference to the quote that Spock pulls out in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. When sacrificing his own life to defeat Khan and save the crew, Spock says "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one."

The line has become famous for being such a huge moment for the original Enterprise crew. Then, of course, Kirk uses an inverted form of the quote in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home after reviving his comrade and friend. It is interesting to see that Spock's father clearly gave him his line of thinking, and maybe even his coolest line. Credit goes to dad, I guess.

4 A Dangerous Maneuver

Also in episode seven, Pike and Tyler are backed into a corner and have to pull off a daring plan to save the day. The move is venting and igniting their shuttlecraft's plasma to create an explosion. The move seems like a random cool distraction, but it is actually a direct reference to an event that won't happen for another hundred years.

In an episode of The Next Generation Wesley Crusher and his team are shaken up after a fellow crew-member is killed. Upon further investigation, Picard learns the death was caused by the team of rookies attempting the exact maneuver that Pike succeeds in doing. Maybe the future cadets heard about this epic move and got carried away.

3 Others Like Me

In episode nine, Spock states that even though he is half-human and half-Vulcan, there are others like him. We know this to be true as it is a semi-major plot point in Star Trek: Enterprise. In the series, there are multiple episodes that feature half-Vulcans, and there is controversy surrounding them. Seeing as Discovery is set a few decades after Enterprise, it could be assumed that the whole idea has been at least partially normalized. Way to go, Enterprise. 

2 Queen Of Star Trek

With her cameo appearance in the quick "previously on Star Trek" intro of episode nine, Majel Barett-Roddenberry has now appeared in every Star Trek series. She was Number One in the original pilot, then nurse Chapel in the original series, then she was Troi on The Next Generation. 

Her voice was also used as the computer voice for the ships in every other series.  Now it is only a matter of time until she is somehow included in the new Picard series.

1 Future Pain

In episode twelve, Pike sees a grime vision of his own future, where he is scarred, paralyzed, and mute. This is setting up the episode of season two of the original series "The Menagerie," in which the injured Pike is taken to an alien planet to be healed. The injury is from saving cadets and becomes the canon reason for Pike's ship and role going to Kirk in the original series when the real reason was a recasting choice after the pilot.

This moment in Discovery makes the later events much more powerful, as we now know that Pike knew his fate and made the choice to help anyway, not knowing he would then be healed. Adding layers to these small parts of the Trek canon is one the best aspects of Discovery and here's hoping the show builds all the way to Pike's relief from his position as captain.

Source: screenrant.com