#h jon benjamin

Peter Griffin:ARCHERS?!

Movie store clerk:yeah?

Peter: oh right he’s that guy too.

Ah, fall has returned, and with it, a bevy of new programming to take a look at.  This season is really going to be heating up in the streaming world with the entry of Disney+, but CBS All Access isn’t just waiting idly by either.  Wisely, they put off the premiere of ‘Star Trek: Picard’ so as to not directly go against the premieres of several new Marvel series and ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian’ on Disney+, but to tide us over in the meantime we’ve got a new set of ‘Star Trek: Short Treks’.

‘Short Treks’ were introduced last season as a way to deepen the story of ‘Star Trek: Discovery.’  Most of the episodes would figure into the plotline of season 2 of ‘Discovery’ though it may not have been readily apparent at the time.  One outing, ‘Calypso,’ would appear to tie into the upcoming third season of the show, so ‘Short Treks’ episodes would appear to have some reach.

That is what makes the first two episodes of the new batch so intriguing.  Last season on ‘Discovery’ we were introduced not only to a younger Spock, but also some of his shipmates from his very early days aboard the Enterprise.  While Captain Pike (Anson Mount) got plenty of screen time in the regular season, Number One (Rebecca Romijn) was effectively missing in action all season.  ‘Q&A’ finally gives her a bit more to do as we travel backward in time to Spock’s first arrival on the Enterprise. We are given some insight into his path from the expressive and loud science officer we see in ‘The Cage’ to the logical and collected Vulcan we all know and love. Bonus knowledge - we also learn that Number One’s first name is Una.

'The Trouble With Edward’ tells the tale of the introduction of the Tribbles to the Klingon Empire. There are a few continuity issues with this episode, which some fans will find hard to overlook. I noticed said canon error but decided to overlook (mostly because I never really watched 'Enterprise’) and enjoy the episode. This episode could have benefited from a bit more time to work out the dynamic between Captain Lynne Lucero (Rosa Salazar) and Edward Larkin (H. Jon Benjamin). Granted, Larkin does come across a little creepy immediately, but Lucero’s move to transfer him off-ship strikes me as somewhat premature. Imagine if Picard had transferred Barclay off the Enterprise after his first unfortunate run-in.

What both of these episodes deliver is hope that we’ll be spending some more time in this era of 'Star Trek’ history. Especially with the crew of the Enterprise, pre-Kirk days. Captain Pike and his bridge crew deserve more screen time that we’ve been allowed, and these 'Short Trek’ moments only serve to prove that point. Hopefully, by the end of the run of the upcoming 'Star Trek: Picard’, CBS All Access will finally give Pike and company a chance.