Saru.

The first Kelpien in Starfleet, Saru served admirably aboard the USS Shenzhou and the USS Discovery, ultimately earning the Starfleet Medal of Honor. Although his rank was lieutenant when we first saw him in “The Vulcan Hello,” he was promoted to commander and first officer by the time of “Context Is for Kings.” He also served as acting captain multiple times when Captain Gabriel Lorca was away.

In this episode of The Edge, hosts Patrick Devlin and Amy Nelson are joined by John Krikorian of Trek Profiles on The Tricorder Transmissions Network to discuss this new Star Trek species. Kelpiens are known to sense the coming of death through their threat ganglia, but what else do we learn about Saru’s species? We deep-dive into his relationship with Michael Burnham, how he lives in continual fear, and his competency to be captain.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) A New Species (00:04:35) Brother–Sister Dynamic (00:06:00) One-Dimensional? (00:09:20) His Station in Starfleet (00:14:25) Fight or Flight (00:18:25) Pahvo (00:28:36) Mirror Universe (00:50:49) Captain Saru (01:09:26) Final Thoughts (01:17:06) Closing (01:26:13)

Hosts Patrick Devlin and Amy Nelson

Guest John Krikorian

Production Patrick Devlin (Editor) Amy Nelson (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Tony Robinson (Associate Producer) Lisa Slack (Associate Producer) Tom Puleo (Associate Producer) Shoaib Mirza (Associate Producer) Richard Rutledge (Associate Producer) James Muldrow (Associate Producer) Cornelia Reutner (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Tony Robinson (Show Art) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)