Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 4, Episode 1 - "Kobayashi Maru."
The Star Trek: Discovery season 4 premiere ends with a catastrophe that repeats J.J. Abrams' worst storytelling device. Now led by Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), the USS Discovery comes across a new threat to the galaxy in the form of a massive gravimetric anomaly. The Discovery encounters the anomaly during a space station rescue mission, but it's Cleveland "Book" Booker (David Ajala) who suffers the most devastating personal loss from the cosmic calamity in the Star Trek: Discovery season 4 episode.
Star Trek: Discovery's epic, cinematic scope, and fast-paced, action-packed storytelling is derived from the success of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies, which were co-written by Alex Kurtzman, who now oversees all of Star Trek on Paramount+. However, Star Wars is a profound influence on J.J. Abrams as a filmmaker and the director brought the visceral feel and state-of-the-art special effects of George Lucas' films to his 2009 Star Trek reboot. But Abrams also borrowed one of the most shocking moments of Star Wars: A New Hope when Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) was forced to watch the Death Star destroy the planet Alderaan. In Star Trek 2009, Abrams repeats that tragedy with Spock (Zachary Quinto), who is helpless to stop Nero (Eric Bana) from destroying his home planet of Vulcan.
In Star Trek: Discovery season 4's premiere, J.J. Abrams' storytelling device of destroying a planet returns when the gravimetric anomaly tears apart the planet Kwejian. Like Leia and Spock before him, Book can do nothing to stop his homeworld from being destroyed, and he's also grieving the deaths of his brother and nephew. The destruction of Kwejian is certainly a powerful way to establish the epic stakes of Star Trek: Discovery season 4 because the mysterious gravimetric anomaly is a threat unlike any the United Federation of Planets has faced before. But Star Trek annihilating entire planets is becoming an overused plot device, especially since, after Star Trek 2009, Control tried to do the same in Star Trek: Discovery season 2 while a synthetic race from outside the galaxy also intended to tear planets apart to wipe out all organic life in Star Trek: Picard season 1.
Planets have been destroyed in Star Trek before, going back to the planet-killer weapon in the classic Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Doomsday Machine." However, Star Trek didn't actually show entire worlds brutally snuffed out until J.J. Abrams came along, although a big reason is that Star Trek used to operate on a smaller budget compared to Star Wars movies. It's possible Star Trek would have shown such epic sights as planets being torn asunder much sooner if Star Trek movies and TV shows had the financial resources and special effects of Star Wars. But ultimately, it's J.J. Abrams who brought Star Wars-style visuals and storytelling to Star Trek. In addition, when Abrams became the director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he outdid himself by showing Starkiller Base destroying multiple planets in the Hosnian system on-screen.
Since Star Trek's core mission is to seek out new life and visit strange new worlds, it's always an uncomfortable fit when the franchise depicts the violent destruction of planets. Star Trek: Discovery, in particular, escalates the threat to the galaxy every season, and the gravimetric anomaly is the direst one yet. More than any of the other Star Trek series on Paramount+, Star Trek: Discovery derives the most influence from J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie trilogy, including the risk-taking, Captain Kirk-like leadership style of Captain Michael Burnham. Hopefully, destroying entire planets won't become a regular event on Star Trek: Discovery because even though it's a jaw-dropping plot device, the impact of such a catastrophe can easily be diluted if it's overused the way J.J. Abrams did in his Star Trek and Star Wars movies.
Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+.