Discovery

If you know me at all, then you know that I'm really fired up about something these days. Ive been trying to take a "wait and see" approach, but recent events have demonstrated that even though I had low expectations, things are going to be worse than I had thought.

Of course, I am talking about the new Star Trek series from CBS.

I am what one might call a Star Trek nerd. I love the show. I've seen every episode of TOS enough times that I can almost recite them verbatim.

I watched Star Trek The Animated Series every Saturday morning when it came on.

When Star Trek The Next Generation came on I made sure I had the VCR set to record it faithfully. It was a disappointment at first, but I could live with it. And it developed into a damn fine show.

So when they announced the spin off Star Trek Deep Space 9 I had a great deal of faith in the series. It did not disappoint. DS9 is my favorite of the Trek incarnations.

Then came Star Trek Voyager. This one I had high hopes for, but it became too difficult to watch. I stopped in the middle of the 1st season because it was awful. A few years ago I made myself watch the entire series, and it actually got pretty good around the 3rd season.

The last one that aired was Enterprise. This was a prequel series, going back to humanity's first steps into interstellar exploration. I really enjoyed this one for the most part. However, there was too much emphasis on some storylines that took up entire season arcs and weren't executed very well. I did have one beef with the show as relates to canon. They gave the Andorians ears, and renamed their homeworld Andoria. I was irritated every time I saw an Andorian.

And of course, we had several movies involving the original cast, and a couple of TNG movies. One of these is germain to my problem. I'll get back to this in a minute.

There are also the new Star Trek Movies from JJ Abrams. They are TINO (Trek In Name Only), and we will not speak of them any more than is necessary Don't get me wrong. They were loads of fun, but they completely missed the point of Star Trek.

Now we have this new drivel from CBS. The name of the series is Discovery, and it features a female as the main character.  This is actually pretty cool.

It's supposed to be set in the years between Enterprise and TOS (The Original Series). This is also cool.

The producers have been saying all along that they will be adhering to established canon. This would be very cool if it were true. However, it's not, and that is extremely uncool.

Here's one reason why.

Contrary to what most folks think, this symbol on the right is not the Starfleet insignia. At least, it wasn't originally.

This symbol is the patch of the USS Enterprise. The star inside it signifies that the wearer is part of the command and control structure.

When they released the first Star Trek movie, somehow the emblem for the Enterprise was being worn by everyone. It was explained that because the Enterprise had been so successful in her 5 year mission, Starfleet adopted their insignia for all.

I think that's kind of weak, but since there is historical precedent for it, I'll accept it. After all, it's definitely the coolest one.

There are numerous examples of different patches for different ships.

Below is a still photo from the TOS episode The Doomday Machine of Matt Decker, the commander of the USS Constellation. Can you see the emblem on his chest?

There's also this one of Ronald Tracy from the episode The Omega Glory. He's the captain of the USS Exeter.

Also this one on the dead crew of the USS Defiant in the episode The Tholian Web. It's hard to make out, so I put one next to it you can see

4 different starships, each with a unique insignia.

If there was any badge that could have been considered a generic Starfleet one it would have been the starburst seen on these folks who were starbase personnel.

(Please note the diversity there. A black man and a latino man both holding higher ranks than Kirk. The woman is the chief prosecutor for the JAG. This was in the late '60's)

So what's the point here?

Well, CBS and the producers of Discovery claim they will be adhering to canon.

And yet...

This is Michael Burnham, the XO of the USS Shenzhou. Apparently she'll be known as "Number 1" and while we know she's the XO, we don't know her rank. Since the show hasn't aired yet, I don't know whether she's on the USS Shenzhou or another ship.

I do know that she's not on the Enterprise.

And yet that is clearly the insignia of the Enterprise on her left breast.

I await an explanation.

~Easy