Star Trek Discovery may be putting the science back into science fiction. At first glance, the science vessel’s researching of mysterious space spores, may seem magical and fantastical, but it holds the key to answering one of the most mysterious questions of all time. Not even strictly Star Trek based.

Panspermia is the name of the theory that organic life is spread throughout the universe by asteroids, meteorites or comets and that the building blocks of life are extraterrestrial in nature but nonetheless one and the same.

These magical spores are one of the coolest new ideas in science fiction that I’ve ever seen and it’s also based on real science too! I remember, back when the midichlorians were first mentioned in Star Wars The Phantom Menace people hated the idea. I didn’t like it because it seemed underdeveloped and just thrown in there (one of the only problems I have with the prequels). Star Trek is taking that concept a step further and actually makes it less magical then it first seems to appear.

Discovery is researching what we can do with these things and how we can use it for transport and unlike Star Wars, people are not just randomly born with the stuff in their system. This could be connected to many a Star Trek alien races that have perfected other types of propulsion systems way more advanced than Warp Speed.

Come to think of it, just about any mystical alien race ever encountered in any of the Trek Series, Alternative timelines, and universes could be connected to the spores, because, well we are all supposed to be made of the stuff. However, focusing in on the propulsion systems that Discovery is researching, could answer some questions about the more magical methods of transportation used in previous Star Trek TV shows.

This stuff could be connected to any or all aliens in each era that used wormholes, quantum tunneling, or space corridors and passageways to travel. From the Caretakers in Voyager to the Temporal Cold War in Enterprise. Discovery’s mission connects to other races that used fantastical methods of propulsion as well- The Iconians and the Borg in the Next Generation as well as the Bajoran Wormhole in DS9. Yet the most interesting space spores happen to be those other magic space spores in TOS episode This Side of Paradise and being that Discovery likes to and has already put in many Trek Easter Eggs, I suspect that we will once again visit This Side of Paradise.

This is a really cool, interesting and complex plot that they have put together. I am genuinely surprised I am liking it as much as I am. The characters and their roles are fresh and three dimensional. Other stations are getting their time in the spotlight. “Starfleet doesn’t secure their Engineering Sections!” Indeed Micheal, Indeed. Very intriguing and apparently too intriguing for our little mutineer to stay away for too long.

I’m also predicting something bad and dangerous happens with the technology, because of it’s lack of mention in other eras, and why the future ships still use warp cores and why other methods of propulsion seem magical to future eras despite Discovery’s top secret research on the stuff. Nobody knows about it, likely because Discovery could be a Section 31 black ops ship, on top of being a scientific research vessel.

If Discovery was successful in it’s mission, no doubt it would be one of the most famous ships in Starfleet. This isn’t the case.