The spore drive is one of the coolest gadgets in Star Trek history, but it has often put the USS Discovery crew up against a unique set of moral and ethical dilemmas. Star Trek: Discovery first introduced the spore drive in season 1, episode 3, “Context is for Kings.” At first, little hints pointed to something strange. There were a lot of little things Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) started noticing after the USS Discovery rescued her and other prisoners from their transport ship’s destruction.
Armed guards wearing black Starfleet insignias patrolled the ship, despite the USS Discovery being a science vessel. Gabriel Lorca’s (Jason Isaacs) insisted on integrating Burnham into the crew, despite her reputation as “The Mutineer.” The ship often went into ‘black alert,’ something that had never been seen in the franchise prior. Liquid condensed into little balls of water above Burnham’s bed in the room she shared with Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman). And the glass containment in engineering was clearly retrofitted to contain a very large yet unidentified something.
The biggest clue of all, though, was the strange dust that Burnham noticed Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) brushing from his shoulder as he described her new role in engineering. All signs pointed to the spore drive, but she just didn’t know it yet.
Displacement-Activated Spore Hub Drive
Usually, a ride on a mushroom network leaves people seeing bunny rabbits and talking to inanimate objects. In Star Trek’s case, it was an innovative new method of traveling the galaxy at mind-blowingly high speeds. The displacement-activated spore hub drive, aka the spore drive, was the brainchild of Stamets and Straal (Saad Siddiqui) conceived in 2244. Lorca described it as:
“[...] A microscopic web that spans the entire cosmos. An intergalactic ecosystem. An infinite number of roads leading everywhere.”
The idea was that they could use a type of space fungus known as mycelium spore to propel a ship forward. It was a purely theoretical pursuit until Starfleet appropriated this research after the United Federation of Planets went to war with the Klingon Empire in Discovery. Initial attempts to use the spore drive were met with disaster more often than not. By the time Burnham was accidentally scaring her way through the halls of the USS Discovery, the project had all but been put at a standstill until Stamets and his team of engineers could figure out how to make the spore drive work in their favor.
Spore Drive Vs. Warp Drive
When Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) first took the Enterprise into warp drive in The Original Series, it was – as Spock would describe it – “fascinating.” The concept of such a huge ship being able to travel across the vastness of space at a moment’s notice captivated viewers. Back then, it was the pinnacle of technological advancement in a sci-fi TV series. At first, the spore drive was just a different way of getting around space, a way that was specific to Discovery. Then Stamets and Lorca realized the organic element of how to power the spore drive: a tardigrade named Ripper.
This creature was a larger version of its Earth cousin with a unique ability to jump large distances in mere seconds. Stamets and Lorca eventually found that they could utilize this for the ship by connecting the tardigrade to the spore drive. It took years of testing and research, but the USS Discovery eventually adopted this same ability. As a scientific development, it left the crew members privileged enough to witness such feats in awe. As a military development, it turned the USS Discovery into a formidable opponent once they figure out how to navigate the spore drive with precision.
The Gabriel Lorca Incident
Getting the spore drive up and running was a successful first step toward helping Starfleet in its war with the Klingons. Unfortunately, all was not as it seemed and the culprit at the center of the deception was Lorca. Discovery eventually revealed that the captain had been replaced with the mirror version of himself. At the time of developing the spore drive, however, this knowledge wasn’t on anyone’s radar. All they knew was that Lorca had a knack for stealthily crossing personal boundaries, putting work over mental health, and ignoring protocol. He expected a great deal from the crew and, in turn, they pushed themselves even if it meant resorting to unethical means of technological advancement.
It all came to a head in season 1, episode 4, “The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry.” Burnham and Stamets realized the strain that each jump was putting on Ripper. The tardigrade was being callously used for its abilities with no regard to its safety or needs, other than feeding it more mycelium spores. So, they freed the tardigrade in season 1, episode 5, “Choose Your Pain,” with Stamets taking Ripper’s place.
Paul Stamets Saves the Day
Describing Stamets as "good at his job" would be like describing the spore drive as "handy." His work as an astromycologist on the USS Discovery didn’t just save lives. It was a complete game changer, and put Stamets up in the ranks with Star Trek engineers like Geordi La Farge (LaVar Burton), Miles O’Brien (Colm Meaney), and Montgomery Scott (James Doohan). After freeing Ripper, Stamets made the daring choice to inject himself with tardigrade DNA so that he could power the spore drive himself.
It worked, and he would go on to put his body on the line for the greater good in this way. Unfortunately, though, replacing Stamets with Ripper didn’t take away the questionable ethics of using a living being to power the spore drive. It simply meant that he was able to voice his discomfort and get his needs met in a way that Ripper couldn’t.
Whether good or bad, all things come to an end. Star Trek has always been intentional in showing the limitations of technology. It counteracts the advancements shown throughout the franchise. But it also reminds viewers that progress is about success and failure, not simply getting everything right on the first try (or even the second, third, or 100th). The spore drive was a vital part of Star Trek: Discovery until it burned out in season 4, episode 13, “Coming Home.”
The series as a precursor to Star Trek: The Original Series only makes sense with the loss of the spore drive. Otherwise, the Enterprise could have used it to get out of every problem it encountered. The spore drive had some great moments, and it had some terrible ones, too. Let’s hope the next great piece of Star Trek tech has fewer ethical implications.