The first four Star Trek: Discovery episode titles have been revealed
But what could they mean?
We’re mere days away from the arrival of the first Star Trek TV series in a decade, with the eagerly-anticipated Discovery set to beam up to Netflix UK on Monday 25th September (after airing in the US the night before).
And while the contents of the new series (which has been kept secret from reviewers) is still under wraps, the official Star Trek: Discovery Twitter account has now revealed the titles of the first four episodes – and they’re pretty intriguing.
If you can’t play the video, the titles are as follows:
- Episode 1: The Vulcan Hello
- Episode 2: Battle at the Binary Stars
- Episode 3: Context is for Kings
- Episode 4: The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry
And there are already a few things we can glean from the limited information here. The Battle at the Binary Stars almost certainly refers to an early clash between the Federation and the Klingon Empire in the new series, which is glimpsed in the series trailers (both the battle and the two-star system).
Meanwhile, The Vulcan Hello seems to refer to the background of lead character Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), an orphaned human who was raised by the Vulcan family of original series character Spock. The wording itself may be a play on the emotionless nature of the Vulcan species, with a “Vulcan Hello” probably less affectionate than a human one (it could also be a reference to the passionate ‘Oklahoma Hello’ kiss portrayed in the musical Oklahoma!, though this might be a bit of a stretch).
Episode three’s title Context is for Kings is a little more curious, perhaps referring to the upper echelons of the Klingon Empire (which is a feudal monarchy) but also possibly riffing on a classic Star Trek episode, 1966’s The Conscience of the King. That story was itself based on a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and dealt with a former mass-murderer hiding out as a Shakespearean actor, which seems like an odd storyline to revisit, but hey – you never know.
The final episode title, though, is the most mysterious of all, presenting itself as an old maxim despite not actually existing in real life. Perhaps, given their war-like nature, it’s another reference to the Klingon threat, with the longstanding series foes (and sometimes allies) said to have at least one episode focused on them in the new series.
Hopefully at least some of these mysteries will be solved when the first two episodes drop on Netflix next Monday – as if we needed more reasons to be excited.
Originally published on September 20th 2017
Star Trek: Discovery will stream on Netflix UK from Monday 25th September
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
