It isn't just Scotty and Sulu, it's also Kirk. I just checked Memory Alpha. While we know a lot about Lieutenant James Kirk's early Starfleet service postings, including stints on the USS Republic, USS Farragut and as an instructor at Starfleet Academy, there is nothing in canon about his service history for the 8 years prior to taking command of the Enterprise. He could well be onboard the USS Enterprise during Strange New Worlds, maybe even in charge of the phasers, his area of expertise. He'd probably need to transfer to another starship to get command experience with both Spock and Number One blocking his way to becoming captain. Still, Kirk could be part of the current crew.
Here is the bridge crew that the Enterprise had on the discovery episodes. I'd be alright losing everyone in a blue uniform from this picture. Especially they guy with the plastic head squeezers , or keep the actor but lose the stupid looking head gear!
Wouldn't you know it, the only reason they slipped the Enterprise in the first place was for the "wow" factor in another series, and you could probably set your chronometer by how quickly somebody upstairs started yelling for them to drop everything else they were working on, and divert all available resources towards re-making the "old one". Yeah, I'm excited for the series too...but just not at the expense of actually going boldly where something new and original can occur! It reminds me of just how many times one can do a new "Superman" project, without having to waste a third of the script reminding people of how he got bitten by a radioactive spider before Lex Luthor shows up...
Once the fan base saw how spectacular Anson Mount was as Pike. Millions of us started to apply as much pressure as we could to get this done. Also, this doesn't feel like the "Old One" as much as the original idea presented as a series for the first time. The original "Cage" pilot didn't sell, so we got the revised version as the series. I've always been much more excited to visit Pike's Eterprise with the enigmatic No. 1 and proto Spock, than to revisit TOS yet again.
My point is, all the attempts to re-visit the 23rd Century with each incarnation, but accidentally bump into the old TOS magic, and the crowd goes wild. Just shows me, it's not about science fiction, or respecting the continuity or even telling fresh stories...it's just about giving the grass roots the same fertilizer they can recognise by the smell.
Can't agree with you, but get your point. I like Discovery and Picard more than most other Star Trek, and I like Discovery's second season with Pike more than anything since TOS season 1. I'm looking forward to the new Pike series more than anything Trek since the announcement of Next Gen in the mid 1980s.
I don't mean to kvetch, but I can just imagine the litany of "oooh, I wonder what the Klingons are gonna look like...oh, and there's a tribble...wow, the 'Red Alert' siren is in Adobe Atmos now...!"
I'll take all that in stride if the scripts are up to par, because that is really all that matters as I know the three leads can act! The only kitschy thing I would love is an opening narration over the theme song by Mount or by the three leads trading lines in sequence. They wouldn't need to be these lines, but they would work. Anson: Space the final frontier Ethan: These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise Rebecca: It's ongoing mission Anson: To seek out new life Ethan: and new civilizations Rebecca: to boldly go Anson: Where no one has gone before.
Very hard to watch Picard and Discovery. Maybe new show will have promise. The exposition in Picard was particularly painful so maybe the episodic feel may offer an improvement. I think this will also help develop its science fiction themes, not just syfy.
It can't be any worse than "Attack of the Synthetic Flower Children". Actually ViacomCBS stock was dropping long before Covid 19. They merged to "create new efficiencies" and yet they're still losing money and desperate for a hit.
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Returning To Planet-Of-The-Week Stories & TOS Optimism, Says Alex Kurtzman - Link to complete article | AUGUST 16, 2020 | BY: TREKMOVIE.COM STAFF 113 COMMENTS SO FAR Alex Kurtzman has given a couple of brief updates on the upcoming series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and the future of Short Treks as well. Kurtzman on bringing back TOS style for SNW I think Strange New Worlds, under the guidance of Henry Myers and Akiva Goldsman, it’s going to be a return in a way to TOS [Star Trek: The Original Series]. We are going to do stand-alone episodes. There will be emotional serialization. There will be two-parters. There will be larger plot arcs. But it really is back to the model of alien-of-the-week, planet-of-the-week, challenge-on-the-ship-of-the-week. With these characters pre-Kirk’s Enterprise. I think what people responded so much to in all three characters is this kind of relentless optimism that they have. And that they are at the young phase of their careers.
In the case of Pike though that IS fresh ground because because we only got “The Cage”/“The Menagerie” as our exposure to Pike aside from his brief appearances in Abrams ST. We’ve never heard of the other adventures of Pike at least on screen.
That's not exactly "fresh ground" there. We're already assuming people want it, because it's the closest thing to KirkandSpockandMcCoy without actually getting more of it. It is also not "fresh ground", because Better Call Saul has been giving us that trope for the past five years.
Slightly off topic, but as far as the original Captain Pike goes, I've got to say I never realized how serious Jeffrey Hunter was in that role until recently re-watching The Searchers and Sergeant Rutledge. In Trek, he's much more bad-ass all around, like grabbing the Talosian by the neck, and threatening to blow a hole in his head. He's a very serious guy. Re: the new series, I just can not warm up to the new #1 character; don't care for her at all. Maybe they can change her hair color and make her a nurse or something...
I will say Number One is the most tabula rasa of the three main characters. Even worse than that, most of the very little personality that we saw in the Cage pilot needed to be excised because they gave the computer like brain to the Spock character from the second pilot on. Can't really have two computer like people. Now, having said that, it would have been interesting to have her played as computer like and Spock more emotional as he was in The Cage. They could have portrayed Number One as Spock's mentor and have him over the course of the series adopt her computer like way of communicating. The problem is that the writers over time gave the emotionless logic computer like brain tendencies to all Vulcans, so it was probably best to change Number One into the fast food loving commanding woman that she is. I guess what they kept was her strong leadership capabilities, confidence, and loyalty. They added a sense of humor and whimsy as well as a unique familiarity with Pike and Spock to form a new triad of the three leads ala Kirk, Spock, and Bones on TOS.
Good comment. I just thought it was funny that the "let's remove the woman" comment matched up pretty much with the NBC of the 60s. I hoped it was a joke, but then I thought again so I hedged lol. So much of the ST criticism from the people that criticize "new trek' seems to be rooted in misogyny so it's hard to tell these days.
Naw, it was too spot on and had to be a joke. I'm just so beyond delighted that Gene finally got his first pilot approved for a series! It only took over half a century to get the green light! I love Number One, but never understood her moniker until it was explained and given to Riker in the Next Generation.
Yes, I am looking forward to this also. And for the record, I think the casting for the three leads is excellent.
Star Trek Fact Check: Fact Check: CBS Watch! Magazine (Star Trek Special Issue) The NBC execs weren't stupid; they were well aware of the then-married Roddenberry's dalliances with the young actress. Gene even had a back door to his office. You can imagine how handy that was.
Of course, but Gene didn't exactly go out of his way to put another woman in the role, and NBC didn't force the issue either. While Solow is a great source of info (and I've read his book many times), sometimes I get the feeling that he fudges his remembrances a bit at times (although not to the extant of Roddenberry).
