10 Biggest Star Trek Moments Of 2021
4. Archer Spacedock
The reveal of Archer Spacedock in the Star Trek: Discovery fourth season opener Kobayashi Maru was a tear-jerking moment that came completely out of the blue. Star Trek: Enterprise has often been considered the bastard step-child of the franchise, arriving at a time when franchise fatigue had truly set-in, struggling to capture its audience of the day.
Twenty years later, however, the show is going through something of a reappraisal. There have already been references scattered throughout Discovery and Lower Decks, with holodeck programs and computer read-outs naming the main players. However, this moment in Discovery has been the most overt reference to the series as a whole.
President Laira Rillick addresses a new class of Starfleet cadets, before revealing the structure behind her. While the ship in dock is the Voyager-J, there is a rousing rendition of Archer's Theme, the rejected opening credit music from Enterprise, that rains down over the scene. Coming out of left-field as it did, no viewer was quite prepared for this callback to Star Trek's earliest crew. While Archer had been name-dropped before, it was fleeting.
This was truly a moment to honour the twentieth anniversary of the final show before JJ Abrams rebooted the franchise in 2009.