10 Best Battles In Star Trek's History

Season 2, Episode 14 - Such Sweet Sorrow Part 2

Quite possibly the most realistic depiction of spacefaring combat ever seen in Star Trek, as several enormous capital ships remain largely stationary while hundreds of smaller fighter craft swarm around providing the action.

I mean, as much as we love to see an Enterprise or Voyager swinging around in a dogfight, in reality, these battles would have a lot more in common with the naval warfare of today. Lumbering starships holding their positions, while also serving as a launching pad for far more nimble vessels to sweep in and cause the damage.

Why Star Trek has always eschewed this approach is something of a production mystery (clue, it's the cost of animating 200 ships rather than just 1), Discovery's Season 2 finale nailed it on the franchise's first-ever go. Focusing the fighting on a much smaller scale, meant that the size and power of Enterprise, Discovery, and the scores of Section 31 ships felt daunting by comparison.

Discovery is still a show that divides the fanbase, but its greatest strength remains its refusal to be constrained by something simply because Star Trek "usually does it". Uniting every major plot point from the season in one very un-Trek battle scene is one of its major crowning achievements.