No matter how someone feels about Discovery, everyone has to admit they do a great job of including subtle—but not overbearing,—references to their other series. Sure, Pike and Spock were great additions to the season two cast, but the tiny details were really impressive, too. Where else would you catch old schematics for famed ships or hilarious in-jokes for older fans?
Discovery really loves giving its hardcore Trekkies those fun “gotcha” moments. So, in celebration of Picard’s fantastic run so far, let’s look at some of the best ones to date.
Chateau Picard
In Captain Georgieu’s office, she has her own bottle of Chateau Picard wine. Before Jean-Luc or his brother Robert were anywhere near running it, their family vineyard was clearly still famous galaxy-wide. Phillipa was probably saving it for a special moment. Unfortunately for her and that bottle, that won’t happen. But at least it was an awesome, easy to miss Easter Egg about one of everyone’s favorite captains. Hopefully, somebody enjoyed it.
Sarek’s Beard
In the Mirror Universe, Michael meets her adoptive father, Sarek, and finds out that he’s a revolutionary with one wicked beard. This is a callback to Spock’s infamous Mirror Universe beard. When Kirk’s Enterprise team ended up in the wrong dimension, they ran into other versions of themselves, including Spock. He looked the same, excluding the beard. That definitely showed he was a more edgy, eviller guy, right?
Sure, Mirror Spock still ended up helping the crew, but it was an iconic, semi-absurd story nonetheless. Plus, giving Sarek the exact same beard is a fabulous visual callback to that famous episode.
USS Defiant
When the Discovery gets trapped in the Mirror Universe, they try to get information about another ship that passed between worlds, called the USS Defiant. There have been many USS Defiants (trapped in the Tholian Web or leading the war against the Dominion). However, this one refers to the USS Defiant that Captain Archer and his crew found in the Mirror Universe. The Defiant crossed over in a pocket of space, and it caused a lot of distress in the Terran multi-verse.
That odd event, with the not-Archer Captain Forrest, was important in helping to get the Discovery home.
Klingon Funeral Scream
Discovery played really hard and loose with Klingon culture and design. Understandably, fans weren’t too jazzed about that. That’s all the way from their forehead ridges to the way they bury their bodies. However, one thing they did not get rid of was the Klingon funeral scream. When a member of their race is buried, they give a battle cry to welcome the new warrior into Stovokor.
T’Kuvma and his followers did that for their lost brethren before they placed him on the ship, and L’Rell did the same when Voq was exorcised from Ash Tyler’s body, leaving only his memories. They still care very much about the honor of their fallen and it’s a great detail.
Boreth and Time Science
Boreth became a big deal in season two, it being a place where Klingons kept their monks and their time crystals. However, this is hardly the first time Trekkies have heard of Boreth or time-traveling Klingons. Boreth was first visited in TNG’s “The Rightful Heir” when Worf was seeking Kahless. The Kahless that he eventually found out was actually just a clone (and possibly a false one). Beyond that, time-traveling Klingons were planned to be the conflict of one of the early Star Trek films, before Rodenberry and crew changed their story.
Spock’s Brain
In the original series, a famously silly episode was called “Spock’s Brain.” During it, some enemies literally steal Spock’s brain, and McCoy has to remote control Spock’s body to get it back. No joke.
To reference such a great (and absurd) episode, Discovery added a visual Easter egg scan of Spock’s brain to their computers. It’s nice to know that’s what it looks like, right? Normal, just like everyone else’s (despite the fact his body can survive without it). Yeah, it’s best not to think about the logic of that one for too long.
Kadis-kot
Tilly is a great joy in the series, and she also talks about some of the best Easter eggs, from referencing Captain Archer all the time to the weird ways the doors work. A favorite is the fact that she is a top-level Kadis-kot champion.
For seasoned fans, that’s an awesome reference. After all, that was Seven of Nine and Natalie Wildman’s favorite game to play together. It became a serious Voyager recreational staple. The futuristic checkers is played by many of the characters by the end of the series. So, it’s pretty neat to know how old the game really is and how there have been multiple red-headed starship captain hopefuls in love with the game.
Kolvoord Starburst
They didn’t reference the maneuver, but, when in a pinch, Michael and her friends did ignite their plasma trails to help boost their ship and save them from danger. This trick has a lot of similarities with the Kolvoord Starburst, a synchronized starship flying skill where five flyers move into a star position, ignite each other’s plasma trails, and create a firework effect.
It was greatly dangerous because, if one person maneuvered incorrectly, they all could lose their lives. In TNG, Wesley and other flight students did this, and one of them did crash and burn. So, it makes that far more intense.
Cestus III
Very quickly, fans learned that Leland and Pike were good buddies once, but it’s their banter that holds a great Easter egg. Pike tells Leland that, last he heard, he was dealing with “some alligators on Cestus III.” Now, that seems innocent enough, there are a lot of weird space creatures in the galaxy.
However, a seasoned fan would remember that Cestus III was the setting for the famous Star Trek: TOS episode, “Arena.” Here, Kirk fought the strong and formidable lizard species, Gorn. So, those alligators Pike was talking about aren’t actually normal animals—he means a violent alien species.
Ceti Eel
While dealing with the Orion Syndicate, Burnham and the others ran into quite a few Klingons. Known for their unique taste in cuisine, it’s no surprise that some of them were eating some bizarre creatures. But, one amazing Easter egg was hidden on a Klingon’s plate. Fans may be used to Gagh and Racht, this guy was eating Ceti Eel.
This creature is infamous for being a pain in Kirk’s side during The Wrath of Khan. Khan used the creature to mind control Chekov into doing his bidding. Yeah, and the Klingons wanted to eat that. Yuck.
