Star Trek: Discovery: Why is death such a big part of the show?

The Roddenberry rule has been a tried and trusted facet of many a Star Trek series. So why is Discovery throwing it out the window for dramatic effect?

When it comes to Star Trek, it is clear that one thing will always happen: the red shirts will always die. Or at least that was the case in the original series and through many of the other variations on the world. So why is Star Trek: Discovery willingly killing off characters?

First of all, I don’t think that Culber and Paul are going to stay dead. Another staple (thanks to Spock in The Wrath of Khan and Kirk in Star Trek: Into Darkness) is that some characters can come back to life under incredible circumstances.

But more importantly: why? Look, the thing about Star Trek is that it didn’t need the drama of killing off characters just to make a point. So why then does Discovery think it is a cool plot device? I like the show and I like the characters, so just let them explore space and have fun.

The best moments of this show are when they harken back to the methods that the original series used. Case in point: the time loop episode. It was fun, it was very much Trek feeling, and it still had the dramatic elements that Discovery tends to cling to.

So I hope that Discovery goes more down that path rather than continually using conflict between characters and death to bring drama to this show. Remember when Captain Kirk did an entire monologue using the Constitution to convince an alien race that they were not the enemy? That’s what Trek is like. Not this death and fighting.

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Check back here on Culturess for more Star Trek: Discovery news and reviews as the show airs.