(From my site) Welcome back to another entry in our "Guide to Discovery" Series! This week we'll be discussing last weeks homework assignment, "The Way of The Warrior" and what insights it could possibly give us into Star Trek Discovery. Star Trek is frequently thought provoking, often insightful, and occasionally downright moving in its discussion of ethics, morals, and challenging of preconceptions. Sometimes though, Star Trek is simply epic! The Way of The Warrior is possibly the most purely epic two hours of Star Trek television ever produced. Little to no time is wasted on philosophy or morality, instead we get a story that is entirely grounded in human action and plot. And oh boy, It's Glorious!!! The Way of The Warrior is one of my favourite episodes of Star Trek. Full stop. The episode starts off at highway speeds and barrels along without slowing down for its entire run-time. The conflict with the Klingons is exciting and engaging, and the personal conflict within Worf is wonderfully executed and entirely believable. When he emerges from the turbolift (in a snazzy red uniform too) at the end of the episode you truly get the sense that he has changed and developed as a character. Worf gets a lot of screen time in the seven seasons of The Next Generation but his debut on Deep Space 9 matches the best Worf episodes in my books in terms of what it does for his character. The point of this article isn't (only) to praise The Way of The Warriorthough, it's to dig in and see if there's anything about it that can hopefully apply to Star Trek Discovery. Personally, I think there is a lot, and that's not even including the fact both stories are about Klingons! The writers of Discovery have assured us time and time that the real shining gem of their show will be the characters and the journeys that they take over the course of each episode and the season as a whole. Star Trek has a history of keeping many of its characters pretty static. While there are some notable examples to the contrary (Spock, Worf, Data, The Doctor, and almost everyone from DS9) many of the characters in Star Trek are more or less the same the last time we see them as they were when we first met them. As much as his character is praised, even Captain Picard didn't undergo much of a change over 7 seasons and four movies. (I know, I know... "The Inner Light" blah blah blah. While it's my favourite Trek episode ever, the actual events of it are referenced verbally precisely once after the credits roll) I'm excited to see a Star Trek show that begins with arcs from the very first frame ever shot. I don't just mean story arcs, in fact I primarily mean strong character arcs. My speculation based on the trailers of Discovery is that Michael Burnham begins the series serving on one ship and tragically loses that ship which results on her having to serve aboard the USS Discovery. If that's the case the first steps of that arc closely mirror what Worf is dealing with in The Way of The Warrior.Sudden dislocation from your comfort zone is one of the best ways to stimulate character growth, both in fiction and in real life. I'm eager to see what character developments grow out of the plot of Discoveryand how my opinions of the characters shift over the course of the series. Lastly, Discovery looks to dish out for us Star Trek action unlike has ever before been shown on television. The trailers have shown almost nothing but action and destruction, which I don't think is necessarily an accurate reflection of the series as a whole. Many promotions for Star Trek series feature primarily action scenes because that is what sells. However, if you took all the action we've seen so far and spread it across the entire season you would still have one of the most action packed seasons of Star Trek ever. Again, I don't think that's a bad thing. While many (myself included) feel Star Trek is about more than action and explosions, it is impossible to deny that those have always played a part in the franchise's various iterations. The Way of The Warrior was above and beyond any action scene ever done before in Star Trek. Was it done simply because the plot couldn't support the episode alone? Not at all. It was done because the finances of the series and the technology available finally allowed them to create stunning space battles with dozens of ships. As it's gone through its 50 years of history Star Trek has always gotten more action packed as technology levels increased and the studios budgets increased. To reject Discovery for following that trend would be tantamount to dismissing The Wrath of Khan for being "too actiony", which is of course absurd. The Way of The Warrior proves that Star Trek can create an action heavy story that still satisfies from a character and narrative standpoint. I can't wait to see what those behind Discovery (hopefully) do with the television budgets of 2017. -------------------------------------------------------- What do you guys think? Could Discovery be something epic along the lines of "The Way of The Warrior"?