The crew of the Discovery race to save civilisation from a dangerous anomaly…

Anomalies – as those involved with the aborted space mission in the UK recently are very aware – can be perilous (and don’t get Nick Cutter started!), and given their nature, they make for an interesting “opponent” for an SF show. Opinions differ quite considerably over whether this season of Discovery feels overly drawn out; I suspect had the writers and producers been given 10 rather than 13 episodes to fill, we’d have had a tauter, more engaging season losing very little from the plotlines that we eventually got. However, there’s a lot of enjoyable material across the episodes and the move to the far future has definitely given the show its own USP rather than trying to fit around established “history”.

The extras focus, perhaps understandably, on the effect that the COVID pandemic had on filming. It’s a fine line – in a few years time all that anyone is likely to really care about is the quality of the final product (we don’t care how the sausage is made, just so long as it’s good) and too much material has been released with the excuse of COVID restrictions for its substandard quality. That’s not the case here and the documentary The Toll It Took is not easy watching, and gives a context for the season and the extra obstacles that had to be overcome. The Voyage of Season 4 teases out some of the themes across the year, while Sonequa Martin-Green’s own feature provides her very personal take on Michael Burnham. In terms of the technicalities, the Creating Space feature is fascinating – not just in what it says and shows, but the incredible potential of some of the technology now being used.

We get some very short deleted scenes – and in an era where episode lengths are far more fluid than they used to be, there’s usually a damn good reason scenes get cut. These are of the watch-once variety – as is the gag reel, although given production issues it’s perhaps not surprising that things were tighter than usual.

Finally, there’s a commentary on the finale, and I’d strongly suggest (re)watching the episode without it before listening to the discussion.

Verdict: It’s not the strongest season of “new” Star Trek but there’s plenty to enjoy here, both within the episodes and the extras. 7/10

Paul Simpson