Ensign Spock beams aboard the Enterprise for his first day…

Effectively a two-hander for Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijn (with a lovely cameo by Anson Mount as Pike in the final scene), this reinforces my view that the next live action series (after Section 31) needs to be set aboard Pike’s Enterprise. There’s even a very clever variant of the original Trek theme used for this – and I hope all the Enterprise-based Short Treks going forward – and enough of an influence of the Michael Giacchino score for the Kelvin-verse movies that I wasn’t surprised to see his name listed in the end credits.

Michael Chabon’s script takes the words ‘elevator pitch’ to a new level, with Spock and Number One stuck inside a turbolift on the way to the bridge. We see parts of the Enterprise we’ve not seen in previous TV versions, and encounter new sides to both characters – on at least two occasions, there was a broad grin on my face at the way in which things were playing out.

For the moment, the Short Treks are flying the flag for the 23rd century-based Star Trek, but I do wonder how many hints we might get about the 24th (and the upcoming Picard), let alone the far future in which Discovery’s third season is set.

Verdict: A lovely character piece that emphasises how much the new Enterprise crew has become established. 9/10

Paul Simpson