10 Reasons To Stop Hating Star Trek: Discovery

BRYCE: Hail's from Captain Pike, Sir.

BURNHAM: It's the USS Enterprise.

I mean, come on, people! The very last scene of Star Trek: Discovery's first season was pretty jaw-dropping: a priority one distress call from the pre-Kirk Captain of the ship that began it all. And the Enterprise looked gooood! Resituate this within the context of the time of first broadcast (upload?) of Will You Take My Hand? Kelvin timeline notwithstanding, we'd not heard so much as a peep from Pike in canon since The Menagerie, so to hear his name alone was thrilling. This was yet another example of Discovery honouring Star Trek history (really as far back as you can go) whilst moving the franchise forward.

In the episode, there is also a knowing stare between Michael Burnham and adoptive father Sarek on the bridge, undoubtedly meant to match that between viewers. Season one had begun with the 'Vulcan Hello' (method for Klingon diplomacy), but season two was sure to be greeting a certain (half-)Vulcan.

"Millions of Trekkies, both young and old, have absolutely loved Anson Mount's (Pike) and Ethan Peck's (Spock) portrayal of these iconic Star Trek characters. […] we know it's coming to an end… and we want more!" read part of the Change.org petition launched on 4 April 2019, eventually gathering 30,067 signatures. So popular was season two, it essentially got its own show. As Alex Kurtzman said in a statement upon the announcement of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, "When we said we heard the fan's outpouring of love for Pike, Number One and Spock […] last season, we meant it".