I had heard that it may be set between Stat Trek VI and TNG, which I think would be great, but that ship footage seems to imply something earlier. I'm happy that they seem to want to be really progressive with the stories. I like it when Star Trek shows its liberal heritage proudly.
I don't know anything about Ralph McQuarries designs from the 70's but the first thing that went thru my head as i saw that clip was the ship looks like a cross between a Federation ship and a Klingon vessel. I think there is a story there.
Executive Producer Heather Kadin says ship's design is not final. Star Trek Discovery ship design not final »
May not be final, but the article says "...what we saw in the Star Trek Discovery trailer isn’t the final ship, though it probably is a very good representation of what the final ship will look like". So it sounds like they may end up putting on some lipstick on that pig! But meh, it's not a deal breaker for me - the series just has to be be good!
As for the ship design? Well to me it just looks like some hurriedly put together semi-pro CGI work done (probably by someone who isn't a real Trek fanatic) as a favour for some pitch meetings very early on.
Just came across an interesting article which notes that Duncan Jones, director of Moon (loved that film), Source Code and Warcraft, has been chatting with Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Bryan Fuller on Twitter: I hope this new Star Trek tv series goes brainy rather than just action. Miss STNG so! — Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) July 24, 2016 WE GOT YOU COVERED, MR. JONES. #StarTrekDisco #StarTrekDiscovery Duncan Jones on Twitter » — Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) July 25, 2016 @ManMadeMoon DON'T YOU THREATEN ME WITH A GOOD TIME — Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) July 26, 2016 Wow, I gave voice to the exact same thing as Jones tweeted (in the ST Beyond thread). The replies are encouraging! The other article info was that: "...well-versed pilot director David Semel (Heroes, Person Of Interest, Goliath and The Man In The High Castle) is set to helm the opening episode of the show".
STAR TREK: Discovery is already profitable, even before it begins production! CBS CEO Les Moonves spoke to the current status of their CBS All Access streaming platform: "Our CBS All Access and Showtime OTT streaming services have surpassed two million subscribers, about evenly split, well ahead of where we’d thought we’d be this early in the game. We’ve licensed our Star Trek franchise in the international marketplace, guaranteeing our new series will be profitable even before it launches and begins driving [subscriptions] here in the US on CBS All Access". Discovery will be distributed via Netflix to 188 countries – not counting either the USA or Canada. Joe Ianniello, CBS’s Chief Operating Officer, spoke to the choice to license Discovery to one international outlet – Netflix – rather than dozens of local distributors in different countries: "The reason the Netflix buy was so healthy [is because Netflix] has already seen what Star Trek is doing on their service. From day one, it performed extraordinarily well". So, I want to know when will Netflix finally decide to do a serious scifi original production (I don't count Sense8)? Given their resources and access to talent, a serious, space based serialized drama would be awesome.
So more info out today. First, regarding the US delivery system, CBS All Access: There will be ads. about 12 minutes per hour Head of CBS All Access: "It’s the lightest ad load you can get. We’re toying with the idea of a commercial free option." Insert four letter words here. Are there ads on Netflix? NO. Are there adds on Amazon Prime? NO. Are there ads on Hulu (if you're paying)? NO. (do correct me if I'm wrong, I only have Netflix ) I guess it will be automatically profitable like they've been saying if they're charging $6.99 a month for ADS. TrekCore posted this interesting fact for comparison purposes: For anyone from outside the USA, this is what we complain about here in the States. No words. New post about the show on TrekCore is: Bryan Fuller Finally Reveals STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Details | TrekCore Blog » Now onto info about the show: Spoiler: Spoiler Trek incoming! Will be set in the Prime Universe. 10 years before Kirk's 5-year mission. Prequel Confirmed. Fuller says Star Trek: Discovery takes events mentioned in previous iterations of Trek but "never full explored" Incident at the center of Star Trek: Discovery is not the Romulan War, Fuller says Star Trek: Discovery to have Female lead Female lead will be human, but not captain Lead will be a Lt. Commander "with caveats" The first season will be 13 episodes Fuller: “We’ll probably have a few more aliens than you normally do in a Star Trek cast” "Absolutely we're having a gay character." - Bryan Fuller will be serialized but each weekly chapter will also feature closed-end stories "Discovery is set so close to the Kirk era that we can play with all the iconography of those ships and those uniforms.” Fuller: "We are not subject to broadcast standards & practices. Neither was Hannibal and we got away with murder." Spock's mother Amanda Grayson "maybe" will be featured in Discovery but will not be central. Bryan Fuller on the lead not being a captain: "We’ve seen 6 series from a captain’s point of view" Series will center around an event referenced in TOS One of the alien characters is named Saru There will be robots in Star Trek Discovery. You can also bend space and timeSources tell THR the rest of the cast will also feature an openly gay actor to play one one of the male leads (which Fuller confirmed), a female admiral, a male Klingon captain, a male admiral, a male adviser and a British male doctor. (bullet points come from this reddit post: New information about Star Trek: Discovery • /r/startrek » ) In summary? BRING IT ON. Need more Trek, man!
Yeah that sucks, however, they're already profitable as of now, and not because of how much they will charge. The profitability is due to the worldwide distribution deals that they made. Streaming profits will just be icing on the cake. What's the bet that they'll also have an ad free tier for extra cost?
I have to say I'm pretty disappointed that they're doing another TOS prequel (set 10 years before Kirk's five year mission). Is this really going boldly...? I hope they can avoid Enterprise-like canon/narrative traps. And how will the tech look? By rights it should look no better than in TOS, but how are you going to sell that in today's UHD world with audience high-tech expectations? This sounds like an unnecessary straitjacket. Fans have been crying out for a new Trek series (post 1960s!), not another TOS era retread.
I think you could do it - create a world 10 years before Kirk's time but make it palatable to contemporary audiences - but it'll require some serious creativity...
Yeah, I'm not writing it off, it's just that I don't see the TPTB's obsession with the TOS timeline. I think they could do something interesting with Section 31 - I've always enjoyed those eps in DS9 as they have darker overtones, which would make it more realistically gritty. And the focus not being on the Captain could also be an interesting take.
mmmm interesting 10 years before Kirk's time. I'm going to presume that the ships are going to look very similar in flavor to TOS USS Enterprise, even though they're going to use a completely different model and shape, but something that resembles the ships of that era "pre constellation class". It's going to be interesting to explore space in that time frame.
Well they also mentioned how they're going to remodel some of the aliens. I think they are going to feel comfortably free to make things look however they want, using the original look as a design guide. Which really is the only thing that makes sense. As for the timeline, I also don't see an alternative, other than setting it WAY past what's been portrayed so far, like 100 years at least after Voyager or something. But even then you'd have to somehow contend with the alternate timeline nonsense of the films. The promise of the show Enterprise was that they'd be able to alternate between stand-alone stories and tie into legacy canon as they liked. It just failed because the show was terribly done, but that is a matter of execution, the idea I think still has merit.
Can't say I'm super excited for another "prequel" show to the original series. What about something in the original move timeline? I think the powers-that-be missed a trick in the 90s by not doing a mini-series with Captain Sulu and George Takei. There was that one Voyager episode that hinted at it, and it could have been cool for a 10-part show of some sort, set in the aftermath of "The Undiscovered Country".
Putting the new movies aside, since the new show follows the timeline from TOS, would that mean that Klingons would not have ridges on their heads? If so, die hard star trek fans will have a hard time explaining the inconsistencies.
Enterprise had a two-part episode that explained the ridge situation. Neat story, with some minor ties to other Trek canon. Spoiler: RIDGESSSSSSS Basically the ridgeless Klingons were attempts at genetic engineering using Augment (supersoldiers modelled after Khan's genetic engineering from the 1990s, a topic also explored on ENT in some episodes with Brent Spiner as Arik Soong, an apparent ancestor of Data's creator Noonien Soong) DNA that went wrong, but the Klingons took advantage of it anyway. Affliction (episode) » Divergence (episode) »