Risa

It could have been solved if they just decided that the mycelium network got destroyed. They could have had Control release a weapon that destroyed it or something. I agree, "never talk about this" doesn't make sense when science progresses and someone else could have easily discovered it. And I'm guessing there were plenty of spies from Romulus and other such places that became aware of at least the basics of the spore drive.

I like Discovery a lot, but it was handled badly.

A bunch of people create the most OP way of travelling and barely use it, and don’t tell me that the ship is unique and Stamets is the only person in the universe in the following centuries to be able to use it, because that just doesn’t make any sense, it’s a cheap trick to justify why such an incredible technology has never been mentioned after, not even by a super villain that gives no crap about genetic augmentation.

That wasn’t really the reason, the reason wasn’t nobody else could figure it out or that nobody wanted to do it because it required genetic modification, the reason was that jumping on the mycelial network was actively killing it unless I am misremembering things which is in line with the rest of star trek’s ethos (how about the DS9 episode where they help the dominion destroy a trans warp gate for example? There are other technologies that are abandoned and hidden for the greater safety of the universe all over Star Trek, it can be really silly I agree but I don’t think discovery is unique here.

it didn’t seem to have an answer for why the Federation didn’t use it later.

Well, you need to either find and enslave an exotic space tardigrade in order to navigate the network, or illegally splice said tardigrade's DNA into your own.

And even then, navigation is pretty challenging, and can result in accidental time and/or interdimensional travel.

And a malfunction has the potential to destroy all life in the multiverse.

And both ships that had the prototypes installed were lost within about a year.

Take your pick, really.

It requires incredibly specific tech, a ship that has been designed for it, and generic engineering which is outlawed by starfleet. It is also insanely classified and had black badges posted on board.

Whether it's a prequel or not is kinda irrelevant. Secrets are secrets.

Depends on the episode.

When Quark is abducted from Deep Space 9 in "House of Quark" he's taken clear across the entire Federation and into the Klingon Empire in about a day. And then D'Ghor sends someone to the station to grab Rom and get him back to Qo'noS the next day.

Trek moves at the speed of plot.

The travel time is a huge part of what makes a Star Trek episode.

It is almost never what makes part of a Star Trek episode. Not beyond "We're far away from people for reasons". Besides, a single ship having it and being able to be handicapped isn't exactly something that suddenly shattered everything in Star Trek.

It's a perfectly cromulent sentence.

Q did it? Seems fine

I think the big difference is that this is Federation science, not super-being using their superpowers. I like Discovery, as you know, but I think they could have done a lot to handle the idea that no one else has ever used the mycelial network again, not even 900 years in the future, better. I think they could, at the very least, have come up with an explanation for why no other non-Federation empire- not the Klingons or the Romulans or the Cardassians or the Borg or anyone else- ever made the same discovery despite being at basically the same technological level or, in the case of the Borg, at an even higher level. They didn't, but I think they should have. Maybe they will in the new season, but I have a feeling they won't. It by no means ruins Discovery for me, but it could have been handled better.

Discovery, in a way, seems to take place in its own universe. All the other new series seem to ignore the Discovery Klingon look, for instance. In Picard, Worf looked like Worf. In SNW, Klingons in the musical episode looked like TNG Klingons.

I realize it would create continuity problems, especially with Pike, but it wouldn't kill me if they decided by the end of the show that it took place in an alternate universe like the Kelvin movies did.

I wouldn't say they're exactly logical....