Star Trek: Discovery Has Holodecks Now

The USS Discovery finally made contact with Starfleet of the 32nd century. One of the first things Starfleet did after reuniting with the ship was retrofit it with updated technology. The Discovery, rechristened the USS Discovery 1031-A, is now decked out with programmable matter, detached nacelles, and an iconic piece of Star Trek: The Next Generation tech, holodecks. This information comes from Commander Jet Reno’s log, released on the Star Trek: Discovery logs Instagram page. In the recording, Reno complains about maintaining all the fancy new tech but seems okay with the idea of vacationing on the holodeck’s virtual Risa.

It isn’t the first time that holodecks — or at least holodeck-like technology — appeared on Star Trek: Discovery. In the season one episode “Lethe,” Captain Gabriel Lorca and Ash Tyler went through a training simulation in a training room aboard the ship. The training room functioned like a holodeck but is likely a more limited version of the technology, similar to the difference between The Original Series‘ food synthesizers and The Next Generation‘s replicators.

Starfleet’s decision to turn the Discovery into the Discovery-A somewhat unusual based on preexisting patterns. New letter designations are typically applied to brand new ships that bear the same name and registry numbers as their predecessors rather than vessels receiving a refit. Starfleet may have considered the extensive upgrades to Discovery thorough enough to warrant treating it like a new ship. Also, there’s the matter of hiding Discovery’s trip through time from others who would see it as a violation of the Temporal Accords. Adding new technology and a letter to the registry number helps with that.

With all the upgrades making Discovery more like a 32nd-century starship, it still has one vital piece of technology that no other ship has: the spore drive. That, too, receive an upgrade courtesy of Adira, who presented Stamets with a new interface that no longer makes him plug his body into the device. Discovery’s value as a rapid responder was on full display when Admiral Vance had them at the ready during a conflict with the Emerald Chain.

What do you think of Discovery‘s upgrades? Are you excited for new holodecks? Let us know how you feel about it all in the comments section. New Star Trek: Discovery episodes stream Thursdays on CBS All Access.