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Star Trek: Discovery recently featured a harrowing journey into the galaxy’s dark side. Here’s how it mirrors an adventure taken by the Enterprise.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, Episode 6, “Stormy Weather,” streaming now on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 has placed the entire galaxy at risk of a dark matter anomaly erratically moving through the cosmos, consuming all matter in its path. Investigating the sector ravaged by the anomaly, the USS Discovery moves into a subspace rift left in its wake to gather more data about the destructive force. And as the Discovery endures a harrowing voyage within the rift, barely escaping intact and enduring severe damage to the starship, this particular adventure mirrors one of the Enterprise’s darkest expeditions in a classic episode from Star Trek: The Original Series.
Within the subspace rift, the Discovery learns that the anomaly affected the nature of the surrounding itself, resulting in the rift’s environment steadily consuming the starship as it eats through its deflector screens and hull. Given that the rift lacks any sense of light and the sensors running haywire from its effects, any illuminative probes that the Discovery launches to regain its bearings are quickly snuffed out the deeper the starship ventures into the rift. The Discovery manages to escape, but parts of the hull have completely been ruptured, resulting in a crew member’s death, and requiring the starship to endure extensive repairs as the crew reflect on what they just endured.
While the Enterprise never explored a subspace rift during the TOS era, it did venture into a darkened entity that steadily consumed it in the Season 2 episode “The Immunity Syndrome.” After investigating the sudden destruction of the Vulcan-manned science vessel the USS Intrepid, the Enterprise was shocked to discover an entire populated solar system was consumed by an enormous, protoplasmic organism resembling an amoeba. Drawn inside of the organism, the Enterprise found that it rapidly drained energy from the ship as it consumed it, also feeding off the crew’s life force. With only the organism’s psychedelic nucleus providing light, the Enterprise destroys the creature by transporting an antimatter bomb into the nucleus, escaping on its emergency power reserves.
It’s important to note the similarities between “The Immunity Syndrome” and Discovery Season 4 are more of a thematic homage than the two plots likely being related. The Discovery’s ordeal was an extension of its season-long crisis involving the anomaly, teasing what could become of the galaxy should the singularity proceed unabated. “The Immunity Syndrome,” by all accounts, was a living, self-replicating organism that consumed matter to fuel its reproductive process, foiled by the Enterprise before it could spawn more deadly entities into the universe. The only real similarity is that both completely consumed light itself and any vessel that ventured within it.
Even in the 32nd century, Discovery Season 4 has appeared to homage the TOS era more with its stories and themes than its predecessors; especially impressive, considering Season 2 featured the inclusion of Spock and Captain Christopher Pike. From referencing “The Galileo Seven” to “The Immunity Syndrome,” Discovery is definitely wearing its classic influences on its sleeve as the fan-favorite crew tries to save the reborn Starfleet from the anomaly.
The mystery surrounding the anomaly and its origins is only getting more sinister as the Discovery gathers more data behind the destructive force, potentially setting up more classic influences to make their way over the course of Season 4.
Developed for television by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.
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