Doctor Kovich’s 5 Star Trek Easter Eggs In Discovery’s Finale

The Star Trek: Discovery finale reveals that the office of Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg) includes several Star Trek Easter eggs. Star Trek: Discovery's series finale, "Life Itself", written by Kyle Jarrow & Michelle Paradise, and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, sees Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) make her decision on what to do with the Progenitors' treasure. Deciding that the Progenitors' treasure is better left undiscovered, Burnham sends it into a black hole. Returning to Federation Headquarters, Burnham finds Dr. Kovich's office is festooned with trinkets from various eras along the Star Trek timeline.

Dr. Kovich has always been a mysterious figure, but the Star Trek: Discovery finale finally confirms his identity. Confirming Burnham's suspicion that Kovich is a codename, the Federation scientist goes on to reveal that he's an older version of Temporal Agent Daniels (Matt Winston) from Star Trek: Enterprise. While Kovich's identity bombshell explains how he procured a 20th century legal pad, it also reveals how he's acquired such a vast array of trinkets from Star Trek history.

5 A Bottle of Chateau Picard Wine

Kovich has a vintage bottle of the official wine of the Star Trek universe.

Dr. Kovich has a vintage bottle of Chateau Picard on one of his shelves, a nod to the family business of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). As a young man, Jean-Luc Picard turned his back on the family business to pursue a career in Starfleet, which caused a rift between him, his father Maurice, and brother Robert. Star Trek: Picard revealed that, after he retired from Starfleet, Jean-Luc took over the family business, shipping vast quantities of Chateau Picard and handing out bottles as unwanted gifts to the likes of Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick).

The Picard family wine hails from La Barre, France, and has been widely distributed across the Star Trek universe since at least the 23rd century. Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) had a bottle of Chateau Picard on display in her ready room aboard the USS Shenzhou in Star Trek: Discovery's season 1 premiere, "The Vulcan Hello". There's some neat symmetry, therefore, in the wine featuring once again in Discovery's finale. Interestingly, the vintage on Kovich's bottle of Chateau Picard is 2249, the year that Georgiou and Burnham first met.

4 Geordi's VISOR From Star Trek: TNG

Dr. Kovich is clearly a fan of antique eyewear.

Geordi's VISOR from Star Trek: The Next Generation is another of the artifacts in Dr. Kovich's office. As a spectacle wearer in the 32nd century, it's been clear since Star Trek: Discovery season 3 that Dr. Kovich is a fan of vintage eyewear. So it's no surprise that Kovich has acquired Geordi's VISOR for his collection, it's no different from 21st century collectors who specialize in antique optometry equipment or vintage spectacles.

Quite how Dr. Kovich acquired Geordi's VISOR is another matter, of course. Perhaps, as the most notable VISOR wearer in the Star Trek universe, Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) was told that it held some cultural value. If so, it's likely that Geordi donated his VISOR to a Federation museum after gaining his optical implants between Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. Or perhaps he gave it to a time-travelling super fan like Dr. Kovich.

3 Captain Sisko's Baseball

Kovich must have given it a new home after Star Trek: Picard.

Star Trek: Discovery's finale also revealed that Dr. Kovich is the latest character to come into possession of the baseball owned by Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). The ball was given to baseball superfan Sisko by an alien who impersonated one of his idols, Buck Bokai in DS9 season 1, episode 16, "If Wishes Were Horses". After that, it became a permanent fixture on Sisko's desk, left behind as a warning to Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) that he would come back and repel the Dominion and Cardassians from DS9.

While it was never confirmed to be Sisko's, the Ferengi gangster Sneed (Aaron Stanford) also possessed a 2024-2026 league baseball in Star Trek: Picard season 3. It seems unlikely that Colonel Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) would have let Sisko's baseball fall into the wrong hands, so maybe Quark (Armin Shimerman) scammed Sneed by selling him a knock-off. Given the resources that Dr. Kovich has at his disposal, it's guaranteed that it's the genuine Captain Sisko baseball that's sitting on his shelf in the Star Trek: Discovery finale.

2 A Terran Empire Dagger

Sourced from the recovered ISS Enterprise perhaps?

Star Trek: Discovery season 3 revealed that Dr. Kovich had been fascinated with the Mirror Universe since he was a boy, which explains why he has a Terran dagger on one of his shelves. It's unclear where Kovich acquired this item, given that it's from a parallel reality, but the recovered Mirror Universe Enterprise probably has something to do with it. Given his level of access, it would be very easy for Kovich to organize himself a private tour of the ISS Enterprise after the events of Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors".

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew - Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) - with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas.

Once he was aboard, it would also be very easy for Kovich to take a few souvenirs from the ISS Enterprise. In many ways, it's disappointing that there wasn't a scene of the inscrutable Dr. Kovich nerding out over the ISS Enterprise, as it may have revealed the character's softer side. Instead, Star Trek: Discovery has to make do with handing Kovich a dagger, the very symbol of the Terran Empire in Star Trek's Mirror Universe. It's no surprise that Kovich, the Terran Empire scholar, would place such an item in pride of place in his office.

1 A Star Trek: TNG Season 1 "Dustbuster" Phaser

Kovich appreciates TNG's chunky phasers.

The most obscure item in Dr. Kovich's collection in the Star Trek: Discovery finale is the chunkier 2364 version of the Type 2 Phaser. Affectionately dubbed the "Dustbuster" phaser by fans, this chunky firearm was only seen during Star Trek: The Next Generation's early days. In TNG season 1, there were two models of phaser, a smaller, discrete model, referred to as the Type 1, and the larger version seen on Kovich's shelf, known as the Type 2.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, the larger Type 2 phaser was generally used on away missions, as seen in "The Last Outpost", but Picard also used one to kill the possessed Admirals in the banned TNG episode, "Conspiracy". Discussing the reasoning behind the look of the phasers in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, Rick Sternbach, the senior production illustrator and designer told Starlog that:

"We've gotten away from the pistol look of the handheld phasers. We have based the new design on the fact that there are many ways for the Human hand to grip one."

Sternbach's design was later replaced with a sleeker, more angular phaser which looked a bit more like a pistol. Judging by his collection, Kovich clearly has a soft spot for the 24th century, and it's clear he prefers the "Dustbuster" version of the Type 2 phaser. In a way, Dr. Kovich's love for the Star Trek: The Next Generation era, and his grim fascination with the Mirror Universe reflects the past five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery. It's fitting, therefore, that his final scene brings together the entire history of the franchise.