54: Living Their Faith

The Brightest Star.

Saru played a critical role in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. Doug Jones’s brilliant portrayal of an alien who must suppress fear to achieve Starfleet’s mission of exploration added new layers to the franchise. But his species, the Kelpiens, are new to Star Trek and Discovery’s freshman season gave us limited information about them. Short Treks remedies this with “The Brightest Star,” in which we get to see Saru’s culture, religion, and family.

In this episode of The Edge, hosts Amy Nelson and Patrick Devlin discuss the beautiful themes of compassion, hope, and curiosity found in “The Brightest Star.” We see an inquisitive Saru question the harvest and defy his father, leading to a very different first contact situation for Starfleet. While we do not see a hunter in a traditional sense, we do learn that religion plays a major role in the lives of Kelpiens. When Saru questions these traditions, his father orders him not to upset the Great Balance. This pushes Saru to ask more questions about the universe and forces him to choose between the stars or staying with his race.

Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Initial Thoughts (00:03:13)
Questioning Your Traditions (00:08:25)
Ba’ul (00:13:38)
Lieutenant Georgiou (00:20:29)
The Prime Directive (00:24:04)
Siranna (00:29:32)
Making Contact (00:35:15)
Compassion (00:35:55)
Final Thoughts (00:43:45)
Closing (00:46:38)

Hosts
Amy Nelson and Patrick Devlin

Production
Amy Nelson (Editor) Patrick Devlin (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Associate Producer) Lisa Slack (Associate Producer) Tom Puleo (Associate Producer) Shoaib Mirza (Associate Producer) Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer) James Muldrow (Associate Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer) Ryan Maillet (Associate Producer) Chris Tribuzio (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)