WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery’s finale, “Life, Itself”.
Summary
TheStar Trek: Discoveryfinale reveals that the office of Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) includes severalStar TrekEaster eggs.Star Trek: Discovery’s series finale, “Life Itself”, written by Kyle Jarrow & Michelle Paradise, and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, sees Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) make her decision on what to do with the Progenitors' treasure. Deciding that the Progenitors' treasure is better left undiscovered, Burnham sends it into a black hole. Returning to Federation Headquarters, Burnham finds Dr. Kovich’s office is festooned with trinkets from various eras along theStar Trektimeline.
Dr. Kovich has always been a mysterious figure, but theStar Trek: Discoveryfinalefinally confirms his identity. Confirming Burnham’s suspicion that Kovich is a codename,the Federation scientist goes on to reveal that he’s an older version of Temporal Agent Daniels (Matt Winston) fromStar Trek: Enterprise. While Kovich’s identity bombshell explains how he procured a 20th century legal pad, it also reveals how he’s acquired such a vast array of trinkets fromStar Trekhistory.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide
As Burnham seeks the universe’s greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she’ll need help from a host of new and returning characters.
5A Bottle of Chateau Picard Wine
Kovich has a vintage bottle of the official wine of the Star Trek universe.
Dr. Kovich has a vintage bottle of Chateau Picard on one of his shelves, a nod to the family business of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). As a young man, Jean-Luc Picard turned his back on the family business to pursue a career in Starfleet, which caused a rift between him, his father Maurice, and brother Robert.Star Trek: Picardrevealed that, after he retired from Starfleet, Jean-Luc took over the family business, shipping vast quantities of Chateau Picard and handing out bottles as unwanted gifts to the likes of Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick).
Star Trek: Picard
Star Trek: Picard follows retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart, twenty years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis. The series delves into Picard’s life post-Starfleet, as he navigates a new chapter filled with unresolved past events and new challenges.
ThePicard family winehails from La Barre, France, and has been widely distributed across theStar Trekuniverse since at least the 23rd century. Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) had a bottle of Chateau Picard on display in her ready room aboard the USS Shenzhou inStar Trek: Discovery’s season 1 premiere, “The Vulcan Hello”. There’s some neat symmetry, therefore, in the wine featuring once again inDiscovery’s finale.Interestingly, the vintage on Kovich’s bottle of Chateau Picard is 2249, the year that Georgiou and Burnham first met.
4Geordi’s VISOR From Star Trek: TNG
Dr. Kovich is clearly a fan of antique eyewear.
Geordi’s VISOR fromStar Trek: The Next Generationis another of the artifacts in Dr. Kovich’s office. As a spectacle wearer in the 32nd century, it’s been clear sinceStar Trek: Discoveryseason 3 that Dr. Kovich is a fan of vintage eyewear. So it’s no surprise that Kovich has acquired Geordi’s VISOR for his collection, it’s no different from 21st century collectors who specialize in antique optometry equipment or vintage spectacles.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation follows Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise NCC-1701D as they embark on interstellar explorations, seeking out new worlds and civilizations.
Quite how Dr. Kovich acquired Geordi’s VISOR is another matter, of course. Perhaps, as the most notable VISOR wearer in theStar Trekuniverse, Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) was told that it held some cultural value. If so, it’s likely that Geordi donated his VISOR to a Federation museum after gaining his optical implants betweenStar Trek GenerationsandStar Trek: First Contact. Or perhaps he gave it to a time-travelling super fan like Dr. Kovich.
10 Cool Things About Geordi’s VISOR & Robot Eyes In Star Trek
Geordi La Forge’s VISOR and later ocular implants are iconic pieces of Star Trek technology, with many cool and useful features.
3Captain Sisko’s Baseball
Kovich must have given it a new home after Star Trek: Picard.
Star Trek: Discovery’s finale also revealed thatDr. Kovich is the latest character to come into possession of the baseball owned by Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). The ball was given tobaseball superfan Siskoby an alien who impersonated one of his idols, Buck Bokai inDS9season 1, episode 16, “If Wishes Were Horses”. After that, it became a permanent fixture on Sisko’s desk, left behind as a warning to Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) that he would come back and repel the Dominion and Cardassians from DS9.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.
While it was never confirmed to be Sisko’s, the Ferengi gangster Sneed (Aaron Stanford) also possessed a 2024-2026 league baseball inStar Trek: Picardseason 3. It seems unlikely that Colonel Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) would have let Sisko’s baseball fall into the wrong hands, so maybe Quark (Armin Shimerman) scammed Sneed by selling him a knock-off. Given the resources that Dr. Kovich has at his disposal, it’s guaranteed that it’s the genuine Captain Sisko baseball that’s sitting on his shelf in theStar Trek: Discoveryfinale.
2A Terran Empire Dagger
Sourced from the recovered ISS Enterprise perhaps?
Star Trek: Discoveryseason 3 revealed thatDr. Kovich had been fascinated with the Mirror Universe since he was a boy, which explains why he has a Terran dagger on one of his shelves. It’s unclear where Kovich acquired this item, given that it’s from a parallel reality, but the recoveredMirror Universe Enterpriseprobably has something to do with it. Given his level of access, it would be very easy for Kovich to organize himself a private tour of the ISS Enterprise after the events ofDiscoveryseason 5, episode 5, “Mirrors”.
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek follows the U.S.S. Enterprise on its five-year mission to explore the galaxy, led by Captain James T. Kirk and First Officer Mr. Spock. The crew confronts a variety of challenges, including Klingons, Romulans, and genetic supermen, as they search for new life and civilizations.
Once he was aboard, it would also be very easy for Kovich to take a few souvenirs from the ISS Enterprise. In many ways, it’s disappointing that there wasn’t a scene of the inscrutable Dr. Kovich nerding out over the ISS Enterprise, as it may have revealed the character’s softer side. Instead,Star Trek: Discoveryhas to make do with handing Kovich a dagger, the very symbol of the Terran Empire inStar Trek’s Mirror Universe. It’s no surprise that Kovich, the Terran Empire scholar, would place such an item in pride of place in his office.
Star Trek: Discovery’s Mirror Universe Enterprise Was Cool, But Also Missed 3 Opportunities
The appearance of the ISS Enterprise was a nice surprise, but Star Trek: Discovery could have done more with the Mirror Universe ship.
1A Star Trek: TNG Season 1 “Dustbuster” Phaser
Kovich appreciates TNG’s chunky phasers.
The most obscure item in Dr. Kovich’s collection in theStar Trek: Discoveryfinale is the chunkier 2364 version of the Type 2 Phaser. Affectionately dubbed the “Dustbuster” phaser by fans, this chunky firearm was only seen duringStar Trek: The Next Generation’s early days. InTNGseason 1, there were two models of phaser, a smaller, discrete model, referred to as the Type 1, and the larger version seen on Kovich’s shelf, known as the Type 2.
InStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 1, the larger Type 2 phaser was generally used on away missions, as seen in “The Last Outpost”, but Picard also used one to kill the possessed Admirals in thebannedTNGepisode, “Conspiracy”. Discussing the reasoning behind the look of the phasers inStar Trek: The Next Generationseason 1, Rick Sternbach, the senior production illustrator and designer toldStarlogthat:
“We’ve gotten away from the pistol look of the handheld phasers. We have based the new design on the fact that there are many ways for the Human hand to grip one.”
Sternbach’s design was later replaced with a sleeker, more angular phaser which looked a bit more like a pistol. Judging by his collection, Kovich clearly has a soft spot for the 24th century, and it’s clear he prefers the “Dustbuster” version of the Type 2 phaser. In a way, Dr. Kovich’s love for theStar Trek: The Next Generationera, and his grim fascination with the Mirror Universe reflects the past five seasons ofStar Trek: Discovery. It’s fitting, therefore, that his final scene brings together the entire history of the franchise.
All episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 are streaming now on Paramount+.
Star Trek: Discovery
Cast
Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.
