Star Trek: DiscoveryThe spore drive may be a work of science fiction, but the name of Anthony Rapp’s character reveals that more thought has gone into the bizarre form of propulsion than it seems. Rapp’s presence in Star Trek: Discovery Season 5’s casting could very well have resulted in him playing Paul Stamets for the last time, although the franchise has a long history of bringing characters back through time travel and other sci-fi tropes used on TV. That being said, your Star Trek return may not be necessary, Discovery ended quite satisfactorily for the main cast.
Rapp played Commander Paul Stamets for all five seasons of Star Trek: Discoverywith her unique arc becoming one of the most compelling parts of the show from day one. The story behind Paul Stamets’ name reveals a lot about the direction his journey was taking even before the first episode aired. The figure on which Rapp’s character was loosely based heavily influenced the direction of the show and what happened to the crew, allies, and enemies of the USS Discovery.
Anthony Rapp’s Star Trek: Discovery Character Shares a Name with a Real Mycologist
The Real Paul Stamets is also a mushroom expert
Mushrooms have an unusually intense presence in Star Trek: Discoverywhich may take some getting used to. Anthony Rapp’s character’s role aboard the USS Discovery is that of the ship’s mycologist. His experience and research not only help him maintain Discovery’s spore drive – he also helped design the technology that allows the ship to instantly jump from one location to another, sometimes covering great distances in the process. The whole process seems very bizarre, but Star Trek: Discovery substantiated the invention by giving Rapp’s character exactly the same name as a real-world mycologist: Paul Stamets.
The real Stamets is respected in his field, well versed in various types of mushrooms and a strong advocate of their medicinal use.
The real Stamets is an amateur mycologist, so his fictional story Star Trek: Discovery counterparty is much more qualified. That said, the real Stamets is respected in his field, well versed in various types of mushrooms and a great advocate of their medicinal use. His entrepreneurial spirit combined with his love of mycology led Stamets to found a company called Fungi Perfecti in 1980 – which is still active today. According to the Perfect Fungi website, Stamets was, “teaching mushroom seminars for over 30 years.”
Star Trek: Discovery’s Mycelial Network and Spore Drive are based on real science
The USS Discovery’s Mushroom-Based Propulsion System Isn’t Entirely Fictional
Although not everyone interacts in exactly the same way as in Star Trek: Discoveryall the buzzwords like “spores“,” “tardigrade,” and “mycelial network,” are not fictional. Spores act practically the same way in the real world as they do in the Discoverybut the concept of an alien tardigrade is where Star Trek starts to stray from the path. Tardigrades exist, but they have not yet been proven to exist anywhere other than Earth.
Star Trek: DiscoveryThe mycelial network also greatly distorts the truth of its real-life counterpart.. This system is how mushrooms connect and communicate underground. It has the same general idea in Discoverybut it doesn’t exist in space and therefore can’t be navigated like in the show. However, Star Trek: Discoverythe company’s attention to detail and use of real scientific concepts is still impressive.
Source: Perfect Fungi