Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise reveals why season 5’s treasure hunt mission is a direct sequel to a classic TNG episode.
Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 5
Summary
- Showrunner Michelle Paradise shares how season 5 of Star Trek: Discovery delves into the aftermath of the classic episode Star Trek: TNG episode “The Chase”.
- The focus on the origins of life in Discovery season 5 ties into the characters’ quest for personal meaning and growth.
- The story for season 5 was originally considered for season 4, but was saved to fully explore the ramifications of “The Chase.”
Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise reveals why season 5’s epic treasure hunt mission is a direct sequel to the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6 episode, “The Chase”. In Discovery season 5’s premiere, “Red Directive,” which was written by Paradise and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) learns that an ancient artifact she is ordered to recover leads to a missing technology created by ancient humanoids called the Progenitors. What Burnham seeks is the power to create life itself that Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) first learned about in TNG season 6.
In an interview with Variety, Michelle Paradise reveals how Star Trek: Discovery season 5’s story, which was originally considered for season 4, was saved to be fully developed as the focus of the fifth and final season. Paradise discusses how Star Trek: Discovery will answer questions about Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “The Chase” which she wondered about for 31 years. Read her quotes below:
“I remember watching that episode and at the end of it just being blown away that there was this huge idea where we all come from. And then they’re going to have another mission the next week. I found myself wondering, ‘Well, then what? What happened? What do we do with this information? What does it mean?'”
“Burnham and some of our other characters are on this quest for personal meaning… [Searching for the origins of life itself] feels like a big thematic idea that fits right in with what we’re exploring over the course of the season, and what our characters are going through.”
“We had a lot of fun talking about what might’ve happened when [Picard] called back to headquarters and had to say, ‘Here’s what happened today.’ We just built the story out from there.”
What TNG’s “The Chase” Means For Star Trek: Discovery Season 5
Discovery is seeking the answers to life itself
Star Trek: Discovery season 5 premiere’s bombshell connection to Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “The Chase” aims to address a question TNG left dangling for over 30 years. In “The Chase,” Captain Picard and his USS Enterprise-D crew, along with Romulans, Klingons, and Cardassians, find a message left behind by an Ancient Humanoid (Salome Jens), who the 32nd century Starfleet has dubbed ‘the Progenitors.’ Billions of years ago, the Progenitors seeded life across the galaxy in their image, and “The Chase” reveals that many species in Star Trek‘s universe share a common ancestry.
“The Chase” was Star Trek: The Next Generation ‘s attempt to explain why so many Star Trek aliens are humanoid with variations of bumpy foreheads.
Michelle Paradise points out that the revelation of the Progenitors as the originators of sentient life in the galaxy should have been a game-changer for Star Trek, but it was never followed up – until Star Trek: Discovery season 5. The Progenitors’ technology is now the most powerful and universe-altering prize in the 32nd century, and it’s understandable why the United Federation of Planets as well as other galactic forces want it. Star Trek: Discovery season 5 launches into its own chase that will tie up one of the biggest loose ends Star Trek: The Next Generation left behind.
