Needless to say, the idea that space mushrooms are going to play an important role in the new Star Trek is one of the oddest things I heard at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, and while I can't even conceive of how the fungus will be important, at a basic level it makes some sort of sense. Any new technology that Star Trek: Discovery creates for itself needs to also create a justifiable reason while we never see it again in any of the other Star Trek series or films that were made previously, but are all set afterward chronologically. If there is some particularly rare strain of space mushroom that has a finite supply or is difficult to properly cultivate, that might end up being the reason the tech doesn't survive this particular series. Perhaps the crew of the Discovery use up all the mushrooms. Insert psychedelic joke here.