Star Trek Short Treks: Children of Mars

By nature I love brevity: A well told story about two lonely little girls lashing out in the search for connection, until something brings them together.

If you are looking forward to Star Trek: Picard, watch this. I'll just start with that. If you are excited for the show, go and watch this right now, because it will get you a-theorizin' about its tantalizing clues.

Star Trek Short Treks: The Girl Who Made the Stars

"I wonder if you hate the idea of being scared more than you actually are scared."
"Dad, I'm too little to know what that means."

By nature I love brevity: Great in theory and concept, but throttled in its effectiveness by the execution.

Star Trek Short Treks: Ephraim and Dot

"Live long and prosper."

By nature I love brevity: A ton of fun, and I love the idea of Star Trek for all ages. Keep it up!

Star Trek Short Treks: Ask Not

"Tactical force should always be a last resort, and vengeance should never be a factor."

By nature I love brevity: A nice, straightforward, solidly directed short film. There really isn't all that much more to say.

Star Trek Short Treks: The Trouble with Edward

"Pretty darn cute."
"Yeah. But if you take all the fur off, underneath, it's all meat. Like a scallop. Blood red."

By nature I love brevity: A solid meh. This episode is funny in many places, but not laugh-out-loud funny, and it thinks it's much funnier than it actually is at many junctures. I hate to judge it by its humor, but that's pretty much all there is to judge it by.

Star Trek Short Treks: Q&A

"Fascinating."

By nature I love brevity: A fun little piece with some good, solid character bits. Just makes me want to see a series with Mount, Peck, and Romijn more.

Star Trek Short Treks: The Escape Artist

"If I had any money, I'd be sipping jippers on a beach somewhere."

By nature I love brevity: Solid. I got a kick out of this one. 'Calypso' remains the best of the Short Treks, but this is probably the most satisfying.

Star Trek Short Treks: The Brightest Star

Siranna: "Look down every now and then. There's beauty there as well."

By nature I love brevity: Meh. It was fine. The filmmakers made some decisions that are all too common and completely understandable, but that made this story less than, well, stellar. It's a shame; Saru deserved better.

Star Trek Short Treks: Calypso

Zora: "Craft? On your world, if we were lovers, would you tell me your name? Your true name?"
Craft: "If we were lovers on my world, you would give me my true name."
Zora: "Oh. Well, then, I already did."

By nature I love brevity: A thought-provoking, engrossing story that has a lot going for it. It also raises some very intriguing questions that may have serious repercussions for the entire Star Trek franchise.

Star Trek Short Treks: Runaway

Tilly: "I will remember to expect nothing. Even from this espresso. Espresso, I release you."

By nature I love brevity: A cute little story. It's cool to see Tilly as a mentor figure, and it's funny when it wants to be. Hits all the right beats, but there isn't much more to it. I was lightly amused for this Short Trek's brief runtime.

Star Trek Short Treks

Season 1 | Season 2 |
Related Links |

Star Trek: Short Treks (2018-2020) is a series of short films set in the Star Trek universe, almost all connected in some way to Star Trek: Discovery. Short Treks represented an opportunity to bring back breakout characters, to dive deeper into backstories that would never be explored on a full-length series, and to provide young directors, actors, and even composers who are starting their careers a chance to break in with a higher-profile project. The Short Treks project opens a wealth of dynamic styles and ideas to the Star Trek universe, from children's cartoons to tense thrillers to wacky comedies.

Season One

1.1 Runaway
1.2 Calypso
1.3 The Brightest Star
1.4 The Escape Artist

Season Two

2.1 Q&A
2.2 The Trouble with Edward
2.3 Ask Not
2.4 Ephraim and Dot
2.5 The Girl Who Made the Stars
2.6 Children of Mars

Related Links

All Things Star Trek: a complete list of everything Star Trek at Doux Reviews