Spoilers My main suspects for the anomaly.

[valkyrie013]

Ornithoid life forms From Tos Catspaw. They were extragalactic, and reporting to the "Old Ones" which may be a combo of the Android Aliance, Doomsday machine, etc.?

Parts of me wants it to be new, most of me, but a part of me sadly wants it to be an already mentioned species..

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

My working theory (given small-Universe trek) is that it is the alien robots/AI from Picard, which happens to be related to Control from season 2.

Agreed on the first part. NOT on the second.

Linking the anomaly to the PIC entities...I can see that making sense. I do NOT want Control to be involved. Far as I'm concerned they should shut the fuck up about Control.

 

[cooleddie74]

Control was one of the dumbest things to happen to Star Trek since it returned to television for the first time in 1987.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Control was one of the dumbest things to happen to Star Trek since it returned to television for the first time in 1987.

Sorry about that, Chief.

 

[DarKush]

My working theory (given small-Universe trek) is that it is the alien robots/AI from Picard, which happens to be related to Control from season 2. This concidencially puts Discovery at the center of the response, with a computer having evolved this season AND a Soong-style android on board

I don't mind them creating more links between DISCO and PIC. I can understand how/why that doesn't work for some, but I like my connections and nods and it would be something to see CBS/Paramount/Kurtzman Trek take up its own little corner of the Trek galaxy (throwing in Prodigy, Lower Decks, and Strange New Worlds as well). The only downer is that what DISCO takes from PIC could spoil what happens in PIC (I don't care much about that because PIC is my worst live-action Trek series, actually the worst Trek series period for me; but with PIC ending after the third season then perhaps they've already worked out what they can use or not).

 

[adv1701]

When they said galactic barrier, I went automatically to Gary Mitchell. Wasn't thinking God from STV

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Ornithoid life forms From Tos Catspaw. They were extragalactic, and reporting to the "Old Ones" which may be a combo of the Android Aliance, Doomsday machine, etc.?

Parts of me wants it to be new, most of me, but a part of me sadly wants it to be an already mentioned species..

Yeah, would really like to see those creepy birds again.

By the way, due to the suspicious absence of the Klingons so far, could it be that the anomaly has something to do with Kahless and he will finally return?

 

[fireproof78]

When they said galactic barrier, I went automatically to Gary Mitchell. Wasn't thinking God from STV

Wasn't it called the "Great Barrier" in ST V?

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, the Great Barrier is the area of gas clouds and energy that surrounds the galactic core, completely separate from the negative energy field that rims the galaxy at its edge.

 

[SimiOne]

Agreed on the first part. NOT on the second.

Linking the anomaly to the PIC entities...I can see that making sense. I do NOT want Control to be involved. Far as I'm concerned they should shut the fuck up about Control.

There is still the open question about, who upgraded the probe in Light And Shadows with future technology.

 

[dupersuper]

Yeah, the Great Barrier is the area of gas clouds and energy that surrounds the galactic core, completely separate from the negative energy field that rims the galaxy at its edge.

I like the Star Trek Continues take that it envelopes the galaxy.

 

[UssGlenn]

I like the Star Trek Continues take that it envelopes the galaxy.

That does allow Kirk to get to the barrier by flying "straight up" which is much shorter trip.

 

[Sci]

When they said galactic barrier, I went automatically to Gary Mitchell. Wasn't thinking God from STV

Gary Mitchell might be an interesting possibility, except that he has no real thematic or emotional connection to the DIS characters. From their perspective, he'd just be some guy who's being an asshole for no reason. I don't see any emotional resonance there if he's not paired up against Captain Kirk.

 

[Commander Troi]

My new hypothesis:

The galactic barrier actually exists in part to keep out what lurks between the galaxies. The DMA is related to this - an artifact or ship of a dark-matter based life. That doesn't mean it's hostile by design, but it's so alien it doesn't even understand that stars and planets exist - let alone life on them.

This is my fave hypothesis. It fits what we know (so far) and fits the season's themes.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Or could it be the Solanae from "Schisms"? Maybe the anomaly serves as a conduit to the part of subspace, where they live.

Maybe there was a catastrophic event that made their domain uninhabitable and they now want to evacuate into our universe. And if time works differently where they live, it could be that the events of that TNG episode happened only a short time before Disco Season 4 for them...

 

[Finn]

Zora's behavior suggested to me that she recognized the species. If they were an unknown race, Zora shouldn't know how dangerous them are, unless the sphere had been outside of this galaxy but nothing has been said to suggest that.

It may be a race known at least some of the races known to Starfleet. Maybe the Dominion or the Talaxians knows them.

 

[DaveyNY]

Zora's behavior suggested to me that she recognized the species. If they were an unknown race, Zora shouldn't know how dangerous them are, unless the sphere had been outside of this galaxy but nothing has been said to suggest that.

It may be a race known at least some of the races known to Starfleet. Maybe the Dominion or the Talaxians knows them.

It's possible that the Sphere itself came from the other side of the Galactic Barrier.
We really have no clue as to its origins.
Perhaps she knows because the same beings who created her are responsible.

 

[Dukhat]

Or could it be the Solanae from "Schisms"? Maybe the anomaly serves as a conduit to the part of subspace, where they live.

Maybe there was a catastrophic event that made their domain uninhabitable and they now want to evacuate into our universe. And if time works differently where they live, it could be that the events of that TNG episode happened only a short time before Disco Season 4 for them...

Again, where is the payoff for the audience if the reason for the DMA are some forgettable aliens from a forgettable TNG episode? How does that affect the crew of the Discovery, whom those aliens have nothing to do with? Neither the viewing audience, nor the characters in the show, will care about the solanagen based lifeforms. They were barely even developed in the episode they were featured in.

The culprit for the DMA is not going to be anything from TNG.

 

[Seven of Five]

It's either Lazurus or Brian Brophy.

 

[cooleddie74]

Brophy can destroy entire galaxies just by farting.