Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 2 has some more subtle connections to Star Trek: The Next Generation that you may have missed.
WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery, season 5, episode 2, “Under the Twin Moons”
Summary
- Discovery hunts for Progenitor tech on Lyrek, linking TNG’s Promellians & Minosians in a treasure hunt.
- Burnham & Saru evade ancient automated weapons on Lyrek akin to Picard’s encounter on Minos.
- Discovery’s season 5 references TNG big & small, with connections to past episodes & extinct civilizations.
Lyrek, the new planet in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 2, “Under the Twin Moons,” has connections to two different episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery are hunting for clues to the Progenitors’ technology that can create life itself. Racing to catch up to couriers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), Discovery’s hunt in “Under the Twin Moons” leads to a planet in the Vileen system where 24th century Romulan scientist Dr. Vellek (Michael Copeman) hid the next clue.
In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 2, “Under The Twin Moons,” Captain Burnham and her crew travel to the planet Lyrek, following a clue referencing twin moons. Located at the edge of the Beta Quadrant in the Vileen System, Lyrek is an uninhabited planet home to a large necropolis built by the Promellians, a species first mentioned in TNG. When Michael and Saru (Doug Jones) beam down to the planet, they find signs that Moll and L’ak have already been there. As they investigate the ruins, they are fired upon by an automated security system much like the one encountered by the USS Enterprise-D in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 episode “The Arsenal of Freedom.”
Discovery Name Drops The Promellians From Star Trek: TNG’s “Booby Trap”
The Promellians were first mentioned in TNG season 3, episode 6, “Booby Trap.”
In Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Booby Trap,” Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the USS Enterprise-D come across a Promellian battlecruiser surrounded by debris from a battle that took place centuries ago. Although little is known about the Promellians, they were extremely advanced for their time. The Promellians had been in a war with the Menthars for years, and the two species eventually destroyed one another in the 14th century at the Battle of Orelious IX. As Picard and his crew investigate the battlecruiser, they find dead Promellian crewmembers and realize that the ship was caught in a Menthar trap.
Despite their extinction, the Promellians’ presence continues to be felt even in the 32nd century. When the USS Discovery investigates Lyrek, they discover that the planet was used as a burial site for the Promellians. On the surface, Captain Burnham and Saru navigate the crumbled statues and ruins, and soon find themselves at the mercy of an ancient automated weapons system. Aboard Discovery, Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) and Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman) search for a way to disable the weapons system, when Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) pops in to remind them to think like ancient Promellians.
Picard’s Enterprise Fought Automated Weapons Like Burnham & Saru
Picard and his crew encounter a similar weapons system in TNG season 1, episode 21, “The Arsenal of Freedom.”
The automated weapons system on Lyrek is similar to the one encountered by Captain Picard and the USS Enterprise-D crew in Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “The Arsenal of Freedom.” As they investigated a planet called Minos, the away team was attacked by drone devices that tracked and fired at them. Like the Promellians, the Minosians were an advanced humanoid race who were extinct by the 24th century of TNG. Eventually, the away team realized that they had inadvertently triggered a demonstration of the weapons system meant to entice buyers. Picard got the system to shut down by convincing the automated salesman that he would purchase the system.
As its first line of defense, the weapons system on Minos traps Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) in some kind of personal containment field. In Discovery season 5, episode 1, “Red Directive,” Moll and La’k use a similar weapon to trap Lt. Commanders Joann Owosekun (Oyin Oladejo) and Gen Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon).
After Captain Burnham and Saru trigger the weapons system on Lyrek, they struggle to hide from the drones long enough for Tilly and Adira to find a way to shut down the system. After Tilly realizes the electromagnetic field on the planet powers the weapons, Saru draws the drones away so that Michael can trigger an electromagnetic pulse using their phasers. This temporarily disrupts the system, allowing Michael and Saru to find the next clue to the treasure they are hunting. Based on its first two episodes, Star Trek: Discovery season 5 has references to Star Trek: The Next Generation big and small.
