Star Trek: Discovery - Calypso

This was the best episode of Discovery so far. It wasn't a unique or original story - I'm fairly certain I've read and/or watched multiple versions of it before - but it was well-executed and enjoyable. My only criticism would be that it ties into the main series in an odd way that I don't think is going to be paid off well, but that's a bit transtextual. Taken on its own, this is a fully self-contained story and you could watch and enjoying it without knowing the first thing about Discovery or even any of Star Trek.

It's lonely out in space ...

We start with a dude on an escape pod, which is rescued by the Discovery, an empty space ship that has been waiting a thousand years for the return of its crew. Or rather, by the Discovery's computer, which is the only other "person" in this episode. He's not far from his home planet, relatively speaking, but the Discovery can't leave this spot since its last order was to wait there, and a shuttle might not make it.

... on such a timeless flight.

So he remains on the ship, with only the computer, a hologram and a creature that evolved from a cat for company. The computer shows him its favourite movie, Funny Face, and he learns the dance from the film as a sort of gift to it. Then the computer decides he's better off trying to get home than living the rest of his life alone in space and sends him off in the shuttle. It's much nicer than I made it sound though.

I miss the earth so much. I miss my wife.

And that's it. Except that this is part of Discovery. The implication is that the crew of the Discovery are, at some point, going to abandon ship and never return. It seems like that can't happen this season, because the show's called Discovery. The Discovery is kind of essential. Also, is the computer sentient? If so, that A) has some pretty troubling implications given how it's been treated and B) makes Data way less special. But ignoring that, this was a really good sci-fi short film.

And I think it's going to be a long, long time.

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