Header WDIM Star Trek Discovery Kobayashi Maru Breakdown

WDIM? – Star Trek: Discovery “Kobayashi Maru” – Breakdown

Hey Everyone and Welcome back to What Did I Miss, where today I will be breaking down all the easter eggs, references and things that you may have missed while watching the first episode of the fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery, titled “Kobayashi Maru“. 

The title is a reference to the infamous combat test given to Starfleet Officers, and I will go into the history and meaning behind the test, as well as many other things from this very busy first entry of the season. 

As I mentioned, the title of the episode is taken from the “Kobayashi Maru” training exercise that we have seen on screen a couple of times.  Once at the beginning of Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan and then again during the 2009 Star Trek reboot. 

The Archer Space Dock Star trek discovery Season 4 Kobayashi Maru
(Paramount+) The Archer Space Dock

The purpose of the test is to observe the crew in a no-win scenario to see how they will react.  The setting of the test has the crew respond to a distress call near the Neutral Zone and then be attacked by a group of cloaked Klingon vessels.

At first, the cadet and crew must decide to enter the Neutral Zone to respond to the hail, which violates the current treaty with the Klingons and could lead to an all-out war, or not help the vessel.  James Kirk was the first and only known cadet to beat the Kobayashi Maru test, which he did so by cheating, an event depicted in the 2009 movie. 

Both times the test was shown on screen the crew responded to the distress call, but what has not been shown on screen is what occurs when the cadet decides to uphold the treaty and not respond to the distress call. 

The Kobayashi Maru - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
(Paramount) The Kobayashi Maru – Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

This scenario is depicted in various novels as well as in the Star Trek Online game and includes the crew staging a mutiny in order to rescue the Kobayashi Maru, or the cadets being forced to listen to the crew of the ship while they are killed by the Klingons.

The event that created this test was one of the planned but dropped episode ideas for the series Enterprise

Before I get into it though I wanted to welcome you to WDIM and ask that you please help support the channel by hitting the like button on the video, and if you have not yet subscribed yet please think about doing that as well. 

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