I am really excited about this. I've been wanting this show ever since seeing the last scene of Discovery's season two final episode. The Enterprise bridge set designed for Discovery is the best looking Enterprise bridge, ever, I think.
...aaand, around the world, tens of thousands of older fans who never even got past Wesley, begin campaigning: "WHERE'S KIRK-?!"
Anson Mount, Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijn played oustanding and likables Captain Pike, Spock and Number One, so for me makes a lot of sense to make a new series with these characters and actors if script are good, which I'm sure they'll be.
It was a little too reflective, I thought, but that's an easy adjustment with some carpet. Other than that, it was a stunning piece of work. There's even a more explicit nod to the original series bridge: @startrektour on Twitter How The USS Enterprise Bridge Was Brought To Life For ‘Star Trek: Discovery’
Nice, I like the idea of having all these series in small bites like this, that way there is always something new coming along.
And it's easier keep up the quality of episodes with shorter seasons as well. I'm looking more forward to this series than any since Next Gen.
New ‘Star Trek’ Series Featuring Spock and Pike Will Be ‘Optimistic and More Episodic,’ Creators Say By Daniel Holloway • Variety “Star Trek” is boldly going back to its roots. CBS revealed Friday that it had given a series order to “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” a new show that will take place on the starship Enterprise in the years prior to James T. Kirk coming aboard as captain. The new show is set, like other recent “Star Trek” spinoffs, to stream on CBS All Access. But it will, according to co-creator and executive producer Akiva Goldsman, hew more closely to the original Kirk-era “Star Trek” in structure and tone than those other recent additions to the franchise have. “We’re going to try to harken back to some classical ‘Trek’ values, to be optimistic, and to be more episodic,” Goldsman tell Variety. “Obviously, we will take advantage of the serialized nature of character and story building. But I think our plots will be more closed-ended than you’ve seen in either ‘Discovery’ or ‘Picard.'” “Discovery,” the first of the All Access series, broke with past “Star Trek” iterations by being the first to tell a highly serialized story. “Picard,” which premiered this year, followed suit, and presented a more skeptical view of the future than its humanist predecessors did. The original “Star Trek,” in keeping with TV conventions of the late ’60s, told stories so self-contained that events that seemed to traumatize characters in one episode would never be mentioned again in subsequent ones. By the ’90s and early 2000s, a new wave of shows including “The Next Generation,” “Voyager” and especially “Deep Space Nine” introduced elements of serialized storytelling to a structure that was still essentially episodic. Popular on Variety “I imagine it to be closer to the original series than even ‘DS9,'” Goldsman says of “Strange New Worlds.” “We can really tell closed-ended stories. We can find ourselves in episodes that are tonally of a piece.” Of the type of episode that “Strange New Worlds” might attempt that “Discovery” or “Picard” might not, Goldsman says, “It’s hard to do a shore-leave episode in the middle of a long, serialized arc.” But episodes won’t be quite so contained as, say, “The City on the Edge of Forever,” the classic original-series installment in which William Shatner’s Kirk and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock meet Edith Keeler, a brilliant social worker played by Joan Collins whom history has fated to die young. “I think one thing that we always struggled with [as fans] was that Kirk is heartbroken at the loss of Edith Keeler in ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ and has to be just fine the next week,” Goldsman says. “I think what we would want to do is keep the characters having moved through and recognizing the experiences they’ve had in previous episodes, but to be able to tell contained, episodic stories. “Strange New Worlds” spins off from Season 2 of “Discovery,” which saw the titular starship roll up on the Enterprise and its pre-Kirk crew. For the new series, Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck will reprise their performances as Capt. Pike, Number One and Mister Spock — played in the original series by Jeffrey Hunter, Majel Barrett and Nimoy, respectively. When he first landed the part of Spock for “Discovery” Season 2, Peck met with the family of the late Nimoy, who originated the role. But the Spock he played on “Discovery” was different from the logic-driven half-alien Nimoy made iconic. Peck played a younger Spock at a time in the character’s life when he had come to question himself and his identity. Peck anticipates that the Spock of “Strange New Worlds” will have matured since his “Discovery” days. “It’ll be a whole new challenge for me as an actor portraying Spock because you’ve had this transformation,” Peck tells Variety. “I can’t wait to see what we explore.” A new show about Pike, Spock and Number One had been rumored almost since the new incarnations of the characters first appeared on “Discovery.” Peck, since the end of “Discovery,” has become a regular at “Star Trek” conventions, where he’s sought to stoke fan support for the idea. “Last year, I basically told myself I was gonna do as many conventions as possible to connect to the fan base and campaign for a spinoff show for Anson and Rebecca and I,” he says. “We all got along so well, and we all loved the content so much and the message of ‘Star Trek.'” He notes that on Thursday night, prior to the announcement, he and Mount “had a Zoom drink” to celebrate — Mount a whiskey, Peck a Peroni. Romijn wasn’t available to join for the first round, so the three plan to get together virtually this weekend. Both Goldsman and Peck are mum on story details. (When asked if “Strange New World” viewers will get to see Spock during pon farr, Peck — without needing it explained to him that pon farr is a period of extreme sexual desire that Vulcans experience once every seven years — laughs and says, “I really have no idea, but I would think it’s a strong possibility.”) And Goldsman says he has “no idea” when production might begin, thanks to the industry-wide shutdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic. But Peck is excited to bring a new version of the franchise’s progressive, inclusive ethos to television. “I believe so much in what we’re doing,” he says. “I don’t think that there’s ever been a better time for ‘Star Trek,’ because of its ideology. It’s all about coming together and using the ways that we’re different from one another for the advantage of people as a whole.” As for the future of the “Star Trek,” CBS continues to move ahead with multiple new series under the guidance of franchise godfather Alex Kurtzman, also an exec producer on “Strange New Worlds.” Paramount has struggled in recent years to mount new “Star Trek” features — though “Fargo” and “Legion” creator Noah Hawley is still reported to be at work on a new film. Asked whether, now that Paramount and CBS have been reunited via merger under the ViacomCBS umbrella, the TV and film sides of “Star Trek” might be similarly reconciled, Goldsman says, “It’s deeply above my pay grade. But boy, you know, I think it would be extraordinary.”
Sounds good on paper to a degree, but with Kurtzman and Goldsman involved I am not expecting anything close to classic Star Trek, even if they say so. I think it will have the feel of Discovery and Picard but the only difference will be the episodic storytelling. I hope to be proven wrong, but I don't count on it. Not if these guys are involved.
Yes, I'm hoping on the new show that Anson Mount (Captain Pike) won't punch any directors in the face... Meanwhile, with production on Season 2 of Discovery now wrapped in Toronto, Mount was involved in an on-set physical altercation in August last year with a director while filming an episode. The incident reportedly stemmed from a discussion of a scene, and Mount gesticulating and pointing, which was the action of the scene in question. In acting out that scene before the cameras were turned on, the actor’s hands made physical contact with the director. Quickly after the incident occurred, it was reported by the production to CBS HR, which reviewed the matter. The department spoke to all parties involved, including Mount and the director, to determine what happened. Based on those discussions and the inquiry, the incident did not result in any disciplinary action against the actor. ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Has Two Major Exits Coming By The End Of This Season – Deadline (3/18/19)
"punch any directors in the face" Vs "the actor’s hands made physical contact with the director" Nice framing there, you should work for the MSM .....
I have some inside information not related in the story. Mr. Mount was a tad difficult during the show. He's not the first or the last actor to have problems like this.
Very pleased they are doing this. One thing I was thinking of is when did Montgomery Scott join the Enterprise crew? Whilst it never explicitly states anything (that I remember) in the TOS one gets the feeling he had been onboard for quite some time and had a familiarity with the ship which suggests he had been a long time serving member of the crew. Also, whatever the writers might do, DON'T blow up the Enterprise...
Scott and Sulu are the two Enterprise crew members from the second TOS pilot (and eventual third episode) "Where No Man Has Gone Before", but there's not a canon indication of how long the crew's been on their five-year mission in that episode, as far as I know.
It would be fun to see them join the series either from the start or later as new transfers to the crew and work their way up in rank and importance through the seasons.