Introduction

“Battle at the Binary Stars” is the second episode of the American television series Star Trek: Discovery, which is set roughly a decade before the events of the original Star Trek series and shows the beginnings of the Federation–Klingon cold war.

The episode was written by showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts, from a story by series co-creator Bryan Fuller, and was directed by Adam Kane.

Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, the First Officer of the USS Shenzhou. Series regular Doug Jones also appears in the episode, which serves as the second in the series’ two-part premiere that act as a prologue to the rest of the series, setting up a season-long story arc for Burnham. Guest starring for the two-part premiere are Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou, captain of the Shenzhou, and Chris Obi as the Klingon leader T’Kuvma.

“Battle at the Binary Stars” was released on CBS All Access on 24 September 2017, along with the previous episode. The two-part premiere was believed to have caused record subscriptions for All Access, and received mostly positive reviews from critics, particularly for Martin-Green’s performance.

Outline

After being raised as a Vulcan by Sarek, and becoming the first human to attend and graduate the Vulcan Learning Centre and the Vulcan Science Academy, Michael Burnham is entrusted to Philippa Georgiou, captain of the USS Shenzhou, by Sarek. Seven years later, Burnham is the first officer of the Shenzhou, and has just disobeyed and attacked Georgiou in an attempt to fire, unprovoked, on a Klingon vessel, hoping to avoid an inevitable war. The Klingon outcast Voq, on behalf of his leader T’Kuvma, has just started a beacon that attracts 24 new Klingon vessels to the system, as Georgiou has Burnham imprisoned for mutiny.

The leaders of the 24 great houses question T’Kuvma’s use of the beacon, which was prophesied to be used to unite the Klingon Empire once again. T’Kuvma is of a disgraced house, and the House of Kor leader Kol refuses to listen to him, especially given his acceptance of outcasts like Voq. T’Kuvma pleads with the other leaders to join him in fighting the United Federation of Planets, who he says intends to destroy their species’ individuality. He predicts that reinforcements for the Shenzhou will soon arrive, and that they will announce that they “come in peace”, and when these come to pass, the other leaders agree to fight.

The Starfleet ships take heavy fire, and the Shenzhou is almost destroyed, but is saved by the arrival of Admiral Brett Anderson and the USS Europa. T’Kuvma agrees to a ceasefire with Anderson, but then sends a large vessel, hidden with a cloaking device, to ram and destroy the Europa. The latter self-destructs, taking the large vessel with it. T’Kuvma proclaims himself Kahless, the ancient uniter, reborn, and allows the rest of Starfleet to escape as messengers of this. He sends the other Klingon leaders back to Qo’nos while he tends to their dead. In the damaged Shenzhou, Burnham escapes the brig after telepathic encouragement from Sarek, and convinces Georgiou to take T’Kuvma hostage.

Using an explosive sent to T’Kuvma’s ship with a Klingon corpse as a distraction, Burnham and Georgiou board the ship and attack. Burnham fights off Voq, but Georgiou is killed by T’Kuvma. Burnham fatally shoots T’Kuvma, before being transported back to the Shenzhou. Voq promises the dying T’Kuvma that he will be remembered. Burnham is later court-martialed and sentenced to life in prison by Starfleet for her mutiny.

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Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): Adam Kane.
• Writer(s): Bryan Fuller.
• Release Date: 24 September 2017.
• Running Time: 39 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.