Star Trek: 10 Burnham Memes That Only Fans Understand

The Star Trek franchise is one of the most popular and viewed movie and television show franchises in the world. Among the best and worst in the Star Trek series, Star Trek: Discovery has only helped increase the franchise’s fandom in recent years, breathing fresh life into it. While there are some interesting characters that Star Trek: Discovery has created, the character of Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green has received some flak owing to poor screenwriting and the tendency of the show to deal with clichés while portraying Burnham.

Whether it be her obnoxious habit of making everything seem about her or the incessant display of emotions on the part of Burnham; she has successfully inspired memers to create some hilarious memes about the show. However, it would only take a true fan and ardent follower of the series to understand and enjoy these memes, which will even make the most humorless of Vulcans chuckle.

10 “Soap” Trek

Star Trek has always connected with fans, through the adventures through the mysterious boundaries of space and sometimes even time. However, with Star Trek: Discovery, it has become more of a journey through the emotional upheavals and personal challenges that each of the characters are going through. While it is commendable for a show to address the humanity of its characters, their flaws, trials, and tribulations, it gets quite sappy after a while. What makes this meme funny, is the ironic comparison with Day Of Our Lives, that implies Star Trek: Discovery to be just like its all-traversing mycelial network, which rather than discovering new challenges in the final frontier, actually focuses on the discovery of its character’s lives like a daily soap-drama, prime amongst which is Burnham.

9 The “Perfect” Mary Sue

Created by Paula Smith in 1973 as part of a Star Trek fan-fiction, Mary Sue has since then become the term for characters that seem too perfect to be true. Having achieved commendable feats and received prestigious accolades, Mary Sue is a character who has all the qualities necessary in a hero, including leadership, intellect, and compassion; such that even Captain Kirk and Spock cannot help but admire her.

However, for fans of Star Trek: Discovery that seems to be too familiar a character; one that goes by the name of Michael Burnham. Despite being a human, she is in simple words, ‘quite extraordinary’, a fact that is further elaborated in the next meme and makes for a hilarious individual meme in itself.

8 The Daughter Of Chuck Norris

Michael Burnham is someone who has done it all. A human raised by Vulcans, she has successfully graduated from the Vulcan Science Academy, become a Starfleet officer, mastered quantum mechanics and xenoanthropology, been the first officer on a Starfleet vessel, has been considered for the position of captain, brokered peace between Klingons and the Federation, saved Spock, saved the world, jumped through time and done almost everything else that is practically possible.

It is only natural that someone with her superhuman abilities is compared to the sole real-life human-superhuman that people can think of. The one and only Chuck Norris.

7 Fragile

There are characters on Star Trek: Discovery who are loved by fans, and there are some that fans love to hate. Michael Burnham is a character that falls in the latter category and a major reason for fans not liking her is her tendency to dive headfirst into an emotional turmoil and frenzy of tears every time she is faced with a trying situation.

Despite her great feats and abilities, she seems almost too fragile at times, reminding fans of Elijah Price from the Unbreakable trilogy. While Elijah Price was literally fragile, suffering from brittle bone disease, Michael Burnham seems to have a syndrome of emotional fragility.

6 Cry Me A River

Although it is understandable that the character of Michael Burnham has gone through a lot since childhood, it is expected of her to show restraint and emotional control, especially because of the fact that she was raised as a Vulcan. Granted, she hates the emotionally suppressed upbringing she has had to endure as a child, she seems to be always crying. There’s nothing wrong with expression emotion, of course, but Michael’s outbursts seem to be an overpowering element of the show, making an appearance in almost every episode.

5 Fact-Check Please

The Star Trek franchise has always been known for diversity, encouraging an inclusive and progressive atmosphere. Characters like Geordi La Forge, Hikaru Sulu, and Lt. Nyota Uhura, are notable for being early examples of major TV characters played by Asian and Black actors.

Similarly, Sonequa Martin-Green’s casting as the lead of Star Trek: Discovery, although a commendable feat in itself, is not the first time a Black individual has been handed a lead role in a Star Trek production. The fact that makes this meme hilarious is the obviously baffled look from Benjamin Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, the first Black actor to have a lead role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

4 The “Michael Burnham” Show

While there are many facets that make Star Trek: Discovery a good show to watch, there are many more that hurt its overall appeal. One such factor is the fact that the show seems to focus tiringly on Michael Burnham and depend on her incessantly. She seems to be the nucleus around which everything unfolds.

However, this provides very little scope for other characters to shine, making the dependency on Michael seem like a drag at times. In fact, the show makes Michael so pivotal and central at times that it seems it should be renamed “Star Trek: Michael Burnham” and not “Discovery”.

3 It’s All About Michael

Although taking responsibility is a commendable virtue to have in a hero, it gets tiring when Michael Burnham seems to be doing that at every opportunity she gets. With every problem arising; be it the disappearance of Spock, the existential crisis faced by Ash Tyler/Voq, or the fact that her mother had abandoned her during childhood and gone to the future; Michael Burnham always seems to make it about herself.

It is her issues that always take center stage, while completely neglecting the fact that the other characters also deserve a chance to narrate their sides of the story. They deserve to have their problems be considered important as well; away from the all-encompassing shadow of Michael Burnham.

2 Haters Can Hate… Or Can They?

Star Trek: Discovery has a divided fan-following with some Trekkies loving the fact that the Star Trek franchise has been revamped using exemplary visuals and a fresh attempt at exploring the “final frontiers”. However, there are many who hate it because it goes against their sensibilities and preferences of what a Star Trek television show should be like.

Regardless, it cannot be denied that Discovery has helped create some delightful characters, an interesting timeline, and even the prospect of heading out on some classic Captain Pike adventures with the recently announced spin-off Strange New Worlds. But many still oppose Star Trek: Discovery making this Burnham meme with a typical Michael Burnham expression especially funny because hardcore Discovery fans will never let their favorite Star Trek show be dissed without putting up a fight; albeit a biased one, most of the times.

1 Classic Philippa Georgiou

For fans who have watched Star Trek: Discovery this meme compiling Michael’s suggestion to Georgiou during their first encounter with the influential Klingon T’Kuvma’s ship is extremely hilarious in the sense that in order to protect herself, attacking first is exactly what Burnham did.

Despite giving the Vulcan Hello to the Klingon scout, it did not seem to deter the war-hungry and proud alien species in the least. In a classic told-you-so fashion this meme hilariously highlights Georgiou’s directness and the logical fallacy committed during this first episode of Star Trek: Discovery.

About The Author

Arnab Rakshit
(79 Articles Published)

Arnab Rakshit is an avid reader, writer, movie-buff, and comics fanatic residing in Kolkata, India. He is a graduate of Asutosh College, Calcutta University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. Having worked in the field of content development for myriad clients since 2016, he is confident about creating meticulous and informative content for ScreenRant readers. He also enjoys a competitive game of Table Tennis once in a while.

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