10 Reasons To Stop Hating Star Trek: Discovery

4. Rad Dad And Lovely To Know

Star Trek Discovery Kobayashi Maru Admiral Vance
CBS Media Ventures

Who doesn't love a good Dadmiral? Well, maybe Tom Paris, but he and his father both found a path to healing eventually ("Tell him I miss him and I'm proud of him"). Bucking the Badmiral trend — or at least our perception of it, as our own Seán Ferrick pointed out on the TikTok — season three of Star Trek: Discovery gave us Fleet Admiral Charles Vance, Starfleet C-in-C, and loveliest, most delightfully bearded Dad of them all.

This writer must admit that he fell into the 'assume-all-admirals-are-pure-evil-until proven-otherwise' trap at first with Vance. Beards can work both ways, after all! Vance was a little… stand-offish at the start, but then wouldn't you be a bit suspicious if a 930-year-old, supposedly destroyed starship that was technically breaking the law against time travel and using an unknown piece of propulsion technology suddenly rocked up at your door?

The Admiral was a good and decent man, however, in the bad situation of having to head Starfleet through one of the Federation's worst periods post-Burn. The dangers he faced had also separated him from the wife and daughter he loved dearly. Thanks in the largest of parts to the USS Discovery, Vance was back with his family by the season four opener Kobayashi Maru, and all our hearts were better off for it. That's not to forget that touching toast with Tilly as the world was ending in Coming Home.

Vance is not the only Dad the show has to offer. For more on Culber and Stamets, see here.

Contributor
Contributor

Jack has been a content creator for TrekCulture since 2022, and a Star Trek fan for as long as he can remember. He has authored over 170 articles, including one of TrekCulture's longest, and has appeared several times on the TrekCulture podcast. He holds a first-class honours degree in French from the University of Sussex, a master's with distinction in Language, Culture and History: French and Francophone Studies and a PhD in French from University College London (UCL). He has previously worked in the field of translation. His interests extend to science-fiction television and film more widely. His favourite series is Star Trek: Voyager, followed closely by Stargate SG-1.