A key part of the plot for the series is a species that was named the tardigrade (after the real-life microscopic counterpart). it was a key part of the plot due to its link with the spore drive device as this enabled vessels to instantly travel anywhere in the galaxy. The Tardigrade was to act as a navigator for the machinery as it itself travels in the same fashion.
But during a PaleyFest panel in the middle of the year, co-creator Alex Kurtzman explained the plot that the series wanted to take with the tardigrade.
So we have this tardigrade and for those that don’t know it is a microscopic creature that lives in water and it is part of an ecosystem, and like all Trek allegories, what you see is not always what you get, so what may look like a monster may not be that, even though the creature has been introduced as such. In the original conception, the tardigrade was one of the bridge crew members. It was going to be like you come in and there was Mary and there was Shazad and then there is Ephraim [named for the first zoologist to observe tardigrades]. It would have been really cool because he would have just been there.
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WRITTEN BY KIRK 142
EDITED BY INFINITY - lewis.holt@ufplanets.com
