Star Trek: Ranking The Short Treks From Worst To Best

"The Brightest Star" is a bit of a cheat – it was clearly shot as part of Discovery's second season episode "The Sound of Thunder", that episode even uses portions of this Short Trek as flashbacks. Still, "The Brightest Star" is another Short Trek that maximizes the potential of the format, giving us an isolated story in the Trek Universe that also fleshes out an existing character.

Set entirely on Commander Saru's home planet of Kaminar, "The Brightest Star" tells the story of how Discovery's future first officer (Doug Jones) made his way from prey species to Starfleet officer.

The short quickly and naturally establishes a believable relationship between Saru and his sister Siranna (Hannah Spear) and sets up the unseen threat of the predator species, the Ba'ul, before racing through a traditionally techno-babbly story that has Saru make contact with Starfleet and leave his home and his family behind.

Lots of location photography, suitably dressed by Discovery's production design team to be distinctively alien, "The Brightest Star" sells the world of Kaminar as a real place. The interplay between Saru and his family is emotionally rich and the character's humble beginning here is distinct enough to make this 15 minutes vital to Star Trek: Discovery's overall narrative.