Star Trek: Discovery

[Zelph]

Well, I didn't see any other threads on this, so I figured I'd start off the discussion after the announcement this afternoon.

The new series is now officially titled: Star Trek: Discovery

The non-flagship yet flagship of the show is the USS Discovery, NCC-1031. From the looks of the trailer, we're working with pre-TOS/TOS era. Bryan Fuller has again announced that the show will take place in the Prime Universe, and not in the JJ-Narada Universe.

I like the ship (screenshots in the spoilers section below). It's a definite improvement on the original McQuarrie design, which I liked, but also had some issues with. The Trekyards episode on it is pretty good as well.

Spoiler: Screenshots - Courtesy of Starship Dynamics Facebook Page

Well! Thoughts? I'm enthused about it right now, more than I have been before. I was hoping for The Lost Era, but I'll take another perspective on pre-TOS/TOS.

 

[kjc733]

And the video is already down. Here's another:

Well I see some definite influences from the Franklin there - but I'll confess that I'm not impressed, either by the design (which is obviously based on a rejected Planet of the Titans design) or by the quality of the footage (test I know, but still, you think it'd be more polished for a public release).

But come on, this has to be misinformation - even the asteroid base looks the same as the original Titans sketch!

http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sit...ublic/2016/03/star_trek_03.jpeg?itok=8QRvLete

http://cdn-static.denofgeek.com/sit...steroid_spacedock_concept_0.jpg?itok=W3xyyq1s

 

[SciFiFan]

I will reserve full judgement for when more is released. I agree it is a huge improvement on the original design but, to me this ship looks like a love child between a Constitution and D7.

 

[Jetfreak]

Pleasantly surprised with this one, but I agree the CGI seems a bit rough overall.

 

[marsneedswomen2008]

I believe its test footage, hence the low quality CGI. I like it, but some seem to really hate it.

 

[Majestic]

I am withholding judgement until I see more but at this point it doesn't tick any boxes for me.

 

[Hellkite]

Why are they looking back and not forward ... It's about going were no one has gone before ... I'm so tried of prequels and reboots, is there no originality left ???

I'll end my rant here and I will give it a chance...

 

[Majestic]

I can't agree more HK. I would like to see some more futuristic stuff for a series set after Nemesis.

 

[CABAL]

I can't agree more HK. I would like to see some more futuristic stuff for a series set after Nemesis.

Post-Nemesis would be pretty cool. There are probably issues with STO, though, since that's supposed to be part of the official timeline.

TLE would also be great since it's never been on-screen before. Besides, it's a great excuse to use the snazzy red uniforms from the movies.

 

[Hellkite]

STO Cannon Cabal wash you're mouth out with bleach then go scourge yourself to atone for you blasphemy

Startrek.com

The Star Trek canon is generally defined as all live-action television series and feature films released by Paramount Pictures.

A large body of licensed Star Trek works exists that, while approved for publication by Paramount, are not considered part of Star Trek canon. This includes novels, comics, games, and older reference books such as the Star Fleet Technical Manual.​

​

 

[SciFiFan]

Startrek.com
The Star Trek canon is generally defined as all live-action television series and feature films released by Paramount Pictures.

A large body of licensed Star Trek works exists that, while approved for publication by Paramount, are not considered part of Star Trek canon. This includes novels, comics, games, and older reference books such as the Star Fleet Technical Manual.

Don't hate me @Hellkite but there is one small tidbit of a problem with this. STO is not licensed by Paramount. CBS holds the license for STO. This whole mess with Paramount AND CBS owning Star Trek is horrid. I truly wish they could reunite ownership again. Need to look up what CBS sees as canon as well.

 

[Hellkite]

Good news STO is not cannon . I wrote CBS and got a response it is a licensed product

 

[LordChicken]

I will try to hold judgement until more information is released, but I feel like Paramount/CBS has no idea what to do with the franchise.

I am not a huge fan of the Planet of the Titans designs. They don't feel like Starfleet to me, they feel like a 1970's era budget sci fi.

This video is ok, definitely looks like test footage. The redesign of the Ralph McQuarrie concept just doesn't do it for me. The nacelles are too far apart for my tastes and from what I can tell they lack 50% or greater line of sight to one another.

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/design.htm

 

[Jetfreak]

Apparently, the ship is just a placeholder/test or whatever so there may be more changes down the line. It seems there's some legal ruckus in using a Ralph McQuarrie design...

The series is also set to be abbreviated into DSC, to counter the "STD" jokes haha!

 

[CABAL]

The series is also set to be abbreviated into DSC, to counter the "STD" jokes haha!

Probably a good idea. I imagine the D is for Discovery, but what are the S and C?

 

[Terra_Inc]

Probably a good idea. I imagine the D is for Discovery, but what are the S and C?

I would assume it stands for DiSCovery. A bit awkward, but I have seen worse.

 

[Majestic]

Apparently, the ship is just a placeholder/test or whatever so there may be more changes down the line. It seems there's some legal ruckus in using a Ralph McQuarrie design...

The series is also set to be abbreviated into DSC, to counter the "STD" jokes haha!

Lets hope they use a different designs, I'd like to see something original and more modern looking for whatever era they have set this new series in.

 

[Elrond]

Why are they looking back and not forward ... It's about going were no one has gone before ... I'm so tried of prequels and reboots, is there no originality left ???

I'll end my rant here and I will give it a chance...

^This.

While I'll say that about every creation out there draws inspiration from something that came before it, STD (lol) does appear to be yet another "let's go back to the 'glory days' of the early Federation" series, instead of being about embracing the future.

I'll reserve judgement for the show, overall, for when I do get to see the show itself; although right off the bat, that ship design's gonna make my head explode if they actually use it, as it is, unchanged. There's a reason for why the ship it's based off of was a rejected design. Although this is a huge improvement upon that original design, for those who have seen the original rejected design for 'Phase II', that isn't saying much. That's like taking a pile of dog crap and sprinkling gold dust on it. The ship design appears to be preliminary, so I'll give the ship a chance to improve as well. Maybe it will, maybe it won't.

All that aside, the important thing, ultimately, will be whether or not this show can pull me in, and be convincing enough for me to care about the characters.

So I'm giving it a chance, and won't judge the book based on its (likely preliminary) cover (although I've clearly already criticized the ship's design). But first impressions are kind of a thing too. Who knows? Maybe part of the reason they released this trailer, with that ship design, was to get people talking about it, which in turn would get a lot of people curious about what they might see when the show first airs. That could be a part of the mentality here. If that drives more people to see the show itself, then mission accomplished. I don't know, just speculating.

 

[CABAL]

Apparently there was some sort of teaser/interview where Fuller talks about the series, but the article I read about it didn't actually link to the video. It's like the world will end if we have good reporting on anything. Anyway, some of the interesting things mentioned are:

• The first season of the show will consist of thirteen episodes.
• The main character (of season one, at least) will not be the captain. Instead, she will be a lieutenant commander serving on the Discovery.
• There will be a gay character, which will be the first time Star Trek has portrayed such a character on TV, despite several false starts. JJ!Sulu still beat them to the punch, though (George Takei's personal feelings on the matter notwithstanding).
• Set roughly ten years before TOS and will be about an event that's been referenced, but never shown, which is not the Earth-Romulan War (wrong timeframe anyway).
• There will likely be more swearing since they're not bound by broadcast regulations. Specifically, Fuller said, "It will probably be slightly more graphic content," then specifically talked about swearing. Other than the swearing, I'd say the exact meaning of the quote is open to speculation.
• My personal favorite </sarcasm> is that despite needing to pay for CBS All Access to watch the show, it will still have commercial interruptions.

Original article here. If someone could dig up the actual video, that would be great.

 

[Zelph]

There will likely be more swearing since they're not bound by broadcast regulations. Specifically, Fuller said, "It will probably be slightly more graphic content," then specifically talked about swearing. Other than the swearing, I'd say the exact meaning of the quote is open to speculation

This, more than anything, annoys me. Crudity for the sake of crudity alone is deleterious, and it will impact the quality of the programming.

 

[CABAL]

This, more than anything, annoys me. Crudity for the sake of crudity alone is deleterious, and it will impact the quality of the programming.

I don't think it'll be too bad. Fuller made Hannibal before, and, despite the subject matter, it was almost devoid of swearing. Given his previous work, I'm actually more concerned about unnecessary gore.

 

[Zelph]

I've never actually seen Hannibal, I'll admit that.

I just worry about Trek becoming a show that - while covering deeper themes, including important political, social, and religious concerns - no longer can be viewed by the entire family owing to excessive violence etc.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of watching TNG with my mom and dad. I'd be saddened if I'm not able to do so with the new Trek one day with my own.

 

[CABAL]

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of watching TNG with my mom and dad. I'd be saddened if I'm not able to do so with the new Trek one day with my own.

Ditto. Though, now that I'm older, I realize that there was a lot more sex in TNG than I remembered. I'm not sure if there was some sort of parental screening going on or if it was just going over my head, but some of it was extremely blatant. And most of it involved Riker.

 

[Jetfreak]

Female lead? Retro nearly-TOS setting? Star Trek "Disco"? That premise would actually work well for an anime.

Speaking of which, I'm actually more interested about the intro music and series composer. They should definitely go full disco and hire Blake Neely, Christopher Lennetz or something and do a full big brass treatment.

The OST should have that groovy sound. Links provided:
Example 1
Example 2

---

All joking aside, I've always preferred that Star Trek should always have a sense of levity. While the general direction towards darker themes is preferable, it shouldn't be the main identity of the series you know. It's gonna be a long five months this one...

 

[Archonon]

Ugh, STD...

I'm not over enthusiastic about this series quite yet. I'll likely see the pilot but I'm not gonna pay for some streaming service to see just this series, so I'll likely have to wait for the Blu Ray.

I'm concerned over the "protagonist" because Star Trek series are supposed to be ensembles. While I understand that usually the series tend to focus more on the Captain and his immediate higher ranking officers, the series usually strike a balance as to focusing on multiple characters throughout a season. If this just focuses on Lt. Sheila McGee and no one else, I'll be disappointed.

And the design of the ship...yeah. It looks like a pizza cutter. It's like they took Starfleet's insignia and attached some warp nacelles in the bottom and a saucer on the top.

If this is 10 years before TOS, couldn't they just accept the offer from those folks from Axanar and make this ship an Ares Class? That ship looks way better imo. Just my two cents.

 

[CABAL]

Ugh, STD...

I'm not over enthusiastic about this series quite yet. I'll likely see the pilot but I'm not gonna pay for some streaming service to see just this series, so I'll likely have to wait for the Blu Ray.

Same here. I really think that one Star Trek show isn't going to be able to carry All Access like CBS expects. I suspect DSC will move to TV for the second season, maybe the third.

I'm concerned over the "protagonist" because Star Trek series are supposed to be ensembles. While I understand that usually the series tend to focus more on the Captain and his immediate higher ranking officers, the series usually strike a balance as to focusing on multiple characters throughout a season. If this just focuses on Lt. Sheila McGee and no one else, I'll be disappointed.

It sounds like they want to do short, standalone seasons with a tight plot and a different cast each time, like True Detective or American Horror Story. I think they think that thirteen episodes isn't enough time to develop an ensemble. I'm not sure that I agree with them there.

And the design of the ship...yeah. It looks like a pizza cutter. It's like they took Starfleet's insignia and attached some warp nacelles in the bottom and a saucer on the top.

If this is 10 years before TOS, couldn't they just accept the offer from those folks from Axanar and make this ship an Ares Class? That ship looks way better imo. Just my two cents.

I wouldn't say it looks like a pizza cutter, but it certainly isn't a design I like. It has all the minimalism of the Constitution, but without any of the grace. And the backside looks like it came off of a D7.

The Ares is sexy, though. They should have taken them up on that offer.

 

[Archonon]

I think that I read that the season's initial run would be on CBS access and perhaps, after some time, it might air on CBS proper. I could be wrong though. I completely agree, this show itself is not likely to carry a paid subscription streaming service like that, especially when most of their shows are also found on much popular services like Netflix or Amazon, and cable TV for many other folks.

I read about the season-long story arc and that's an ok approach, I have found that other series have been able to carry a serialized narrative instead of the story of the week approach. I am a fan of serialized arcs, when done right. I do think they can pull this off with an ensemble, it does not need to be solely focused on one crew member's perspective. I also would not agree that this is the best approach.

One of the strengths of Star Trek as a series has always been getting us to connect with the crew, as individuals as much as a crew. I do not believe that this will be very successful with a single 10-13 episode arc, especially if it only focuses on a single person and every one else is just reactive to the protagonist's observations. Much less if they decide to change the whole crew and protagonist in the following season.

I think the Constitution, all of them, definitely have a design that just makes sense. This ship doesn't. I understand the D-7 comparison. If you look at it from that bottom shot, it looks like the Starfleet arrowhead emblem a bit. But yeah, I don't like the design at all. The Ares would have been a terrific design.
If you turn the ship on its side, I still think it looks like a pizza cutter.

 

[marsneedswomen2008]

Reading an interview on Trekcore, it Bryan Fuller stated the production team have taken to heart some of the comments on the new ship and indicated some changes to the design. The ship may look radically different when the show starts.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Reading an interview on Trekcore, it Bryan Fuller stated the production team have taken to heart some of the comments on the new ship and indicated some changes to the design. The ship may look radically different when the show starts.

That's good to hear. I don't think this design would be very popular. As anachronistic as the Akiraprise was, it was at least aesthetically appealing.

 

[Archonon]

It's good to hear that they might take some new designs into consideration. I wonder if they could find a way to make the ship look like a midpoint between the technology and design of the NX-01 and the TOS Constitution Class.

Then again, if this only takes 10 years before TOS, the general outline should resemble TOS style ships, perhaps a precursor to the Connie? Depending on how old they decide to make the Discovery at the time the show begins. She could be going on her maiden voyage, having already served 50 years in Starfleet or anywhere in between. Hmmm.

I look forward to finding out more.