Last night’s Star Trek Discovery episode was not just a reunion for Michael and Spock, but it also directly connects to two episodes of the original Star Trek series including the 1965 pilot episode.

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(WARNING!! SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE EPISODE)

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The Star Trek Discovery episode “Light and Shadows” features our first look at Ethan Peck as Mr. Spock. Michael Burnham leaves Discovery to return to Vulcan in an attempt to get her adopted mother Amanda to reveal what she knows about Spock’s location. Michael wants to help her brother and Amanda relents. We discover that Spock has been in hiding on Vulcan in a crypt that blocks Sarek from reaching him with his mind. Sarek discovers them (there’s a lot of discovering in this episode of Discovery) and insists that Michael take Spock to Section 31 to get help.

After Georgiou tells Michael that Section 31 wants to extract the knowledge of the Red Angel from his mind with no intention of helping him, she aids Michael in rescuing Spock and escaping from Section 31. When Michael discovers that the series of numbers Spock has been carving into the walls are reversed coordinates (due to a learning disability Spock struggles with), she and Spock take their shuttle at maximum warp to the location the computer plots; Talos IV.

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Taking all of the Pike and the Discovery dealing with a rip in space/time and the mission to get Pike’s shuttle back, the real surprise in this episode is the return of the Talosians.

What is the significance of Talos IV and who are the Talosians?

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Before Kirk and Spock commanded the Enterprise, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry wrote the first episode of his new series Star Trek with another crew in mind. That pilot, titled “The Cage” featured Captain Christopher Pike in command of the Enterprise with Spock being the ship’s Science Officer. Their mission in that pilot episode took them to the planet Talos IV to investigate a distress call. When the ship arrives, an away team discovers survivors of a crashed ship. Captain Pike is captured by the Talosians and housed with a young Earth woman named Vina in an attempt to get the two to mate and create breeding stock for a race of slaves.

The Enterprise crew and Pike manage to find a way to stop the Talosians and Pike is allowed to leave along with the rest of his crew.

So why would Spock want to travel back to Talos IV?

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The Talosians have the ability to read the minds of others and use that information to create physical illusions based on that information. Spock needs someone to repair his mind and the Talosians would be the ideal species to help him. This also means that this episode of Discovery and the series itself happens after the events of Roddenberry’s original pilot.

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Spock’s presence on Talos IV could also explain why he takes the extreme actions that almost cost him his career in the original series episode “The Menagerie”.

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In the 1966 season one episode of the original series, Christopher Pike suffers a near fatal accident that leaves him paralyzed and unable to communicate. Spock highjacks the Enterprise to transport Pike to the one place where he can live out his remaining days free of pain, Talos IV.

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Connecting this current episode of Discovery to those classic episodes of the original series and unaired pilot means that the next episode of Discovery is going to be interesting when it airs next week. Will Pike return to Talos IV? Will Spock’s time on the planet culminate in the Vulcan making his pact with the aliens about Pike? Will Vina make an appearance on the episode?

We’ll just have to wait for the next episode to find out.

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