Watch: New Videos Reveal Details On Michael Burnham And ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Production

This will all make sense

CBS has posted to new video this morning, they include new interviews with Sonequa Martin-Green, and showrunner Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg. 

The first video shows various aspects of making Discovery and includes new footage.

The second video discusses the character of Michael Burnham and her raised as a Vulcan versus being a Human turmoil, and has quite bit of new footage of Burnham.

 

Images

Burnham stands up in the brig

 

Yes we know the videos are region locked to the USA. Please don’t spam our comments about it.

 


 

Star Trek: Discovery premieres on September 24th on CBS with all subsequent episodes on CBS All Access in the US.  In Canada Star Trek: Discovery will premiere  on Bell Media’s CTV and the Space Channel on the same night. Netflix will launch Star Trek: Discovery on Monday, September 25 to countries outside of the U.S. and Canada.

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.

128 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Interesting… so they ARE going to make hay about her being semi-emotionless initially. Also very interesting that she has apparently known Captain Georgiou since perhaps even before attending Starfleet Academy.

This is soooo exciting. I’m geeked to learn more about Burnham’s back story which is featured in this behind the scenes footage. Its gonna be great!

I am SO ready for this. I don’t think I’ve looked forward to something so much since I was a kid waiting for Christmas. I love everything I’m seeing, I wish I could sleep this entire week away so I can wake up and watch it immediately!!

I’m starting to feel that way. I feel exactly the same I felt before TNG premiered, 30 years ago…

I especially love the remark by Trekmovie at the bottom of the screen caps. lol

I think its been established that Georgiou is a friend of Sarek’s so has known them for awhile…

NOOOO! Not a Tribble! FOR F*CK’S SAKE!

@JAGT — I’m a little concerned about that myself. The Entire crew of the ENT seemed completely unaware of tribbles in TTWT. Hard to explain how they were known to a Starfleet officer, just 10 years earlier, and not have a whole entry in McCoy’s zoological database.

Phlox already had one during Enterprise and said that generally they are outlawed because they reproduce so quickly. So they aren’t a common pet or sth.

To be honest, I don’t even care that much about the “canonicity” of Tribbles – it’s more about them just being such a hackneyed cliché by now!

What???? Dude you sound like a Klingon. Tribbles are adorable. They are not a cliche. They are sweet.

Who are you to say I sound like a Klingon, petaQ! Whoops… botched it again…

An occasional hackneyed cliche isn’t such a bad thing, though I’d argue that’s not really what it is. It’s a known element of Star Trek, I doubt it will factor into the plot, it’s more “window dressing.” Just like you see the same alien races in the background of Star Wars movies.

@kennelly — right, but he wasn’t in starfleet, and he seemed to keep it relatively low profile, such that nobody even really knew he had it. DISC would suggest a wider familiarity with the species, than canon really allows for …

Well, if they really provide some in-universe explanation for why nobody has ever heard of Discovery before (as was suggested in an interview a few days ago), that explanation may also take care of the tribble.

Just remember, Lorca has a menagerie or as I took it, a man-cave of cool secret stuff. I’m sure that tribble will be shown as something rare and exotic.

There is NOTHING in “The Trouble With Tribbles” to support your notion that “The Entire crew of the ENT seemed completely unaware of tribbles.”

@Arg — fair point. However, when the captain, science office, chief medical officer, and communications officer all convey they have no idea what a tribble is, and nobody else steps up to clue them in, then it’s a fair bet, nobody else had heard of them either.

Hey – no using logic to justify canon is being rewritten when canon is being rewritten.

There at War, no time to explore aliens or strange new worlds- they have to stage Game of Thrones style bloody killings to earn their rating.

I like it. Looks like Lorca’s version of a stress reliever. ;-) I think that Lorca having one doesn’t necessarily mean everyone knows about them. There are a lot of planets out there with a lot of creatures.

It could also be because Lorca, Tyler and Mudd were in a Klignon prison together. Mudd was a trader so maybe he gave it to him? I could definitely see Lorca using Mudd’s “services” to get him things to put in his menagerie.m

Exactly. Not to mention all the adventures and discoveries made by hundreds of ships in the fleet across the vastness of space on a daily basis. The idea that because one ship encountered something then everyone in Starfleet knows about it is silly. There would be no time in the day if all you’re doing is reviewing the daily logs of other ships. The important, big discoveries are probably prioritized in the news pipeline, not tribbles.

@Pookie — yet, if Tribbles are known to starfleet — i.e. discovered somewhere by any ship on patrol — while not necessarily big news, it’s going to get entered into a database. McCoy did not know about the Cloud creature in “Obsession”, but everything he needed to know about the Farragut’s encounter with it was in the database. When McCoy took a tribble to examine, there apparently was nothing in the database about it, as McCoy seemed to be doing entirely original research. So either Tribbles were kept secret, or nobody in starfleet ever examined an alien species that was allowed on board a starfleet ship before. Flox can be excused, because ENT pre-dated the Federation, but it’s hard to believe 100 years later there wouldn’t be protocols addressing such things, much less no research for McCoy to find in his database.

To all those region locked whiners, can you say VPN?

I count them lucky in the end, they’re all -mostly- getting the show on Netflix, not having to jump into All Access.

I’m in Europe, if you want us to support std then at least extend the courtesy of unlocking content. Imagine your state didn’t have access. Show a bit of empathy

That’s not even necessary. Can you say streamable dot com…

Exaaaactly :-D

Ohhh, so those three circular “pits” we’ve always seen in the trailers are Vulcan “learning pits”. Now I get it.

One of the very, very few things I really liked about Trek 2009. Totally down with it.

Yeah me too. Although I have to admit that the triangular steps leading to the bottom part seem overly “gimmicky”. I wouldn’t point this out if it didn’t strike me as a tendency concerning the production design. Just like the delta shield emblem being plastered over every Starfleet prop – just imagine a real-life military or scientific institution adorning all of their equipment with their respective emblems… I DO like the prop design, I like it a whole lot, but the aforementioned issue kinda takes away from the sense of functionality that Star Trek props used to suggest (and kinda smells of studio interference – “nice design, but what about brand recognition?”)

The costume of Burnham and Sarek could be straight out of the TOS. Different lighting of course. I like it!

If you didn’t feel at least a little twinge of joy at hearing that old, familiar bridge background sound effect, you’re either not a fan of TOS or you’ve gotten entirely too jaded to appreciate any new Trek series, good or bad.

Well, I am not a fan of TOS. I can appreciate some episodes but I think that many are not very good at all. But the sound is fine even though I don’t care about reusing old things just for the sake of reusing them.

Interesting that Sarek and Burnham appear to be in the Shenzhou’s transporter room, but Burnham still has her Vulcan hairstyle. Wonder if this is a flashback to when Burnham first left for Starfleet Academy.

I’ve seen some people speculate that maybe the Shenzhou bites the dust but we re-visit through flashbacks all season.

I have that feeling too. There’s simply no way ( that I can see ) for Captain Georgiou to survive the bridge and viewscreen exploding in front of her, as seen very quickly in one of the trailers. I imagine she may feature strongly in flashbacks however, like some other characters.

What if the whole season is an effort by Michael to get her captain back?

That would be great too. Anything that can keep Michelle Yeoh around.

I wonder how long before the Discovery scenes the Schenzhou’s scenes take place? Discovery scenes 10 years before TOS, Schenzhou scenes…? 15 years? Closer?

Really??? Is that a tribble? They went there? I’m guessing the best case scenario for this is Cyrano Jones is showing up on Discovery too.

Was Cyrano Jones in STID?

No.

Data disks like in TOS! :) The officer in Image 10 seems to have been caught in a compromising position.

Didnt even notice that at first glance. Nice catch!

Love that little touch.

Wow that video of Burnham makes me more excited to learn more about her. People keep commenting on how ‘flat’ she sounds but now it makes sense, she’s basically Vulcan in her mind. But its also clear we will see her being emotional like that clip when she smiled.

Also loved seeing that tribble lol. Yeah its probably goes against canon from TOS but stuff like that is so minor who cares? Most of us just want to see a triblle. I’m still surprised considering how popular they are we only see them turn up on DS9, STID and TOS. Discovery now makes four.

There’s also a tribble on ENT. Phlox feeds it to one of his caged critters in sickbay in “The Breach.” (I think that’s the episode.)

You’re not wrong. Just watched that clip on youtube. Wasn’t really expecting that lol

OMG you are so right. Like PEB, I went to youtube and found the Enterprise clip. How could I not remember that lol. The scene was pretty funny too. Its very Phlox like. ;)

Watching her evolution will be interesting. What worries me is that she may not be all that likeable or relatable. Discovery will be a pretty short season. They have to get her into the viewers’ heads and hearts fast. If they make her an outcast (like Spock) and this season the story of her redemption, they may have something.

I wonder if Sarek’s mentorship of Burnham ( in a sense becoming his own favourite Vulcan ), will explain the rift between Sarek and Spock?

Makes sense that young Spock might feel hurt at the prospect of Sarek’s attention being on Burnham and the rebellious Sybok, over and above his youngest son.

Makes me view the Sarek/ Spock scenes in “Journey to Babel” in a different light.

I can’t imagine Sybok ever being mentioned. :)

I chuckled at seeing the conference table in Captain Georgiou’s ready room, thinking about numerous TNG style sessions.

That Klingon set is *gigantic*!

@Mawazi,

The Klingon set cost over $3 million.

Yes, its pretty big. That ship must be around most of the season to invest in something like that.

Here’s an unlocked version via NacionTrek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUbPZ0d0d2U

Why are rescued children in Trek always taken in/kidnapped by aliens? Michael is adopted by Vulcans; Worf adopted by humans; that Cardasian lad adopted by Bajorians in DS9; the Talarians that took in the human boy in TNG’s Suddenly Human.
Any others?

Because when you’re in a universe with thousands of alien races, the odds of being rescued by your own race is rare.

Steps off transporter pad.

“I am Sarek…and she who is my…uh, adopted daughter we don’t talk about much because she’s a human and a wannabe Vulcan and it’s kind of embarrassing and we wish she’d gone to law school instead of joining the space navy. But I still like her better than either son. Don’t get me started on Sybok.”

This was great, except the part about law school. Lawyers were officially banished to the Le-matya-invested portions of Vulcan’s Forge thousands of years ago–Surak specifically made an exception for them in his credo of non-violence–and the last one disappeared for all time shortly thereafter. Sarek, like any good Vulcan, would sooner Burnham make her way working on a garbage scow, performing as a mime, or writing romance novels–anything, really, rather than being a lawyer.

Haha, very good. I bow to your superior knowledge of Vulcan culture, sir.

Thanks! (You know I meant “infested,” not “invested,” right?)

Thats kind of funny considering lawyers spend a great deal of their time arguing logic for a living.

Ha, good point.

That’s what they want you to think. “Logically, the position of my client is the correct one, a happenstance that is most fortuitous.”

Yeah, no thanks. After being a fan for 40 years, this isn’t Star Trek. It’s leftist virtue-signalling propaganda.

What?

I love that you’re virtue-signalling that you won’t watch something because it’s virtue-signalling. Well done, sir.

He probably picked up the phrase from Fox or Limbaugh or Breitbart, and has been itching to use it ever since. I’d lay good odds he doesn’t even know what it means.

Trump reference.

I can’t even get upset about this anymore, it’s so ridiculous. To see everything–everything!–through the lens of our current political dysfunction, even the previews for a bloody space opera. How truly sad for you!

Getting more and more difficult to figure out satire from reality, isn’t it? Is His Eminence for real or a parody? I can’t tell anymore.

Nah, he skipped over parody and settled into farce.

Star Trek has alwasy been ‘leftist’. I mean does this sound like a conservative to you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui6g23ygov8

You take away from Picards voice, you would almost think he was talking to a hippie.

Why don’t you wait until Sean Hannity tells you what to think about it before totally jumping the gu?

Star Trek is progressive leftist content. Always has been. That’s why it rocks. Suck it up :)

No it isn’t. It is not leftist it is utopianist, at least TNG was to a certain extent. TOS was still a product of it’s time and gender role confirmation was normal. Even TNG had women in caring roles (aside from the first season when the security chief was a woman). The word ‘leftist’ doesn’t mean anything seeing that it was created in a society where there is no ‘left’ ; just right and far right.

While I share your concerns, I have a suspicion the show itself will be a lot less VS than all of the promos we’ve seen over recent months would lead us to believe.
I’ve just been rewatching all of DS9 again, and there’s multiple scenes where the Ferengi slaps a woman’s arse or puts a hand on a thigh or hip, he then gets chastised and it’s all good fun. When watching that I think to myself “That wouldn’t be allowed on TV these days” which is a horrible sterile world to live in.

That simply means that you live in a society where certain things cannot be shown but still happen on a daily basis. It means that visualized content is sterile on such subjects but not on the glorification of murder and death. Luckily we don’t all live in such circumstances nor do we all live in a place where visual content has been neutered.

Oh look, another American whining My Little Pony. There is no ‘left’ in the USA. There is only right (democrats) and far right (republicans). You are all ultra-capitalist individualists living in an harsh society where the Church runs primary care and your government is run by corrupt politicians.

All those ultra-leftist ideas that seem to intrude the Western world recently (like unisex bathrooms, same-sex marriage, safe spaces, thousand-and-one different genders, militant feminism, BLMs, or the concept of cultural appropriation) came from the USA. How would that be possible if there were no left in the USA?

Of course, it is entirely possible those ruthless imperialist ultra-capitalists are deliberately exporting it in order to make us easier to conquer in the long run. But that doesn’t explain why they allow it to flourish in their own country as well. :-P

Letting two people form a contract is an ultra-leftist idea? Gender equality is an ultra-leftist idea? Objecting that unarmed people of color seem to keep getting shot by police is an ultra-leftist idea? Funny–I subscribe to all of those notions, have my entire life, and have always considered myself to be pretty moderate, even non-ideological. I guess the view all depends on where you’re standing. If you’re of a mind to approve of what that cretinous cowturd said before the U.N., for example, even the mildest notions relating to charity and compassion must seem like Karl Marx.

As for “safe spaces”–well, I’d broadly agree the concept sucks, though I’ll also note that few can compete for the role of professional victim with members of the political right. And broad-based movements in favor of unisex bathrooms or a thousand genders (or none at all)? They don’t exist. You’re lying, which is no way to have a conversation.

Yeah, Trek was never the same when they decided the captain couldn’t just f**k any subordinate female that caught his eye…

He hasn’t seen a single ep.

Saru…be one with the horse feet.

I see those and I just have to wonder how long Doug Jones will put up with that. I mean, I’m not saying this will happen, but what if this thing runs for 5 or more years? Can he act on those things full time for that long?? Or will they stop showing his feet?

Michael Dorn did two Trek series as Worf.
Its doable.

First, big difference between some makeup on you’re forehead and special shoes that require you to walk funny.

Second, a big deal was made when he joined DS9 that they’d shortened his makeup time, as this was a requirement of him joining the series.

@Etymologicool: Doug Jones had played a lot of fantasy creatures and such in his career. So I guess he has experience with moving uncomfortably. Also as mentioned by Bert, he will probably only wear those shoes when you can see them on screen.

Generally in these cases they will hide his legs and use something he can stand on. In shots where he needs to walk, they will use the special shoes and effects. It’s common.

If anyone does a bit of sleuthing you will find it on youtube. Both youtube channels Nación Trek and Star Trek Argentina combined have all the videos, trailers, and TV spots.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1pxM8VbCX5qAlZJn4ht89w

https://www.youtube.com/user/StarTrekArgentina

The Brig looks silly. WAAAAAYY over the top like it’s from a JJ film

When you have a bigger budgets, sets look much bigger and nicer (i.e.: what you call silly). This is the same difference between TOS and TNG.

The similarities you’re seeing by the way, as I’ve noted elsewhere, have just as much to do with current visual trends in sci-fi as anything else. That said, some sets, like the Shenzou transporter room, look new and interesting and unique.

Some people just want to nitpick and complain for the sake of complaining.

Yeah, and those people are called Star Trek fans. We are the worst of the worst when it comes to nitpicking. LOL

I’m picking up some TRON Legacy vibes from the brig.

Tron Legacy, Oblivion, Elysium, Prometheus, Ender’s Game, Valerian & The City of 1000 Planets– you’ll see a lot of the same design styles, aesthetics and hallmarks.

Mass Effect I think has had a huge affect on sci-fi design the last 10 years or so.

A show is a product of its time, just like TOS and TNG were.

It all looks great and I Hope they keep it people focused and not shiny explosion (AKA JJVerse) focused. One thing, that they have not done since TOS and I wish they would is to have each ship have its’ own insignia. The Delta shield was limited to the NCC-1701 during TOS, and perhaps TMP. I get that it is iconic with Trek, but they could at least have each ship use a different mark. Give Discovery the delta shield (no reason they can’t reuse them). Small issue, but I think it was important at that time and could help bridge that 10 year gap. At least they did figure out that God still exists.

God doesn’t exist anymore than Santa or the tooth fairy exist.

I’m actually kind of surprised they didn’t create a unique shield for the Discovery. I seem to recall reading somewhere that after the Enterprise completed its historic 5 year mission the Delta shield was adopted fleetwide.

And to absolutely nobodies surprise whatsoever;

“This video is not available…”

From the article:

“Yes we know the videos are region locked to the USA. Please don’t spam our comments about it.”

Why shouldn’t people comment? Disgraceful how little this has been promoted outside of North America

Is Netflix not promoting it?

If you want to complain about geoblocked CBS content then complain to CBS. Trekmovie is neither responsible for it nor can they do anything about it. And if you think the show isn’t promoted enough outside of North America you should complain to Netflix who have the international distribution rights.

I wish I could look at this & not see sooo many thinks that look like the train wreck fans have been predicting.
& I see that all the people who don’t like it are being moderated off of here. Surprised I’m still here.

Moderated off? You think the site is removing negativity? Nope.

I’m surprised you’re still here too. Only because I see no reason for you to post here if you hate this so much.

pretty sure all the ‘fans’ haven’t been predicting a trainwreck at all. This whole drag down discovery before it’s even aired is pathetic. It’s almost like an army of bots is trying to sway public perception..

Captain Whino, the ‘fans’ have been predicting a train wreck for every damn iteration of Trek. The ‘fans’ have been trying to sabotage every iteration of Trek because of *reasons*. So pretty please, instead of whining here do that in a mirror. You might even get a response.

Well it sounds like trekmovie likes it:

Quick Spolier free review of #StarTrekDiscovery 2part premiere : Truly cinematic and steeped in Trek lore. Lots of action and backstory…

..surprisingly light at times w/ Saru/Burnham dynamic a standout. Klingons truly alien. Effects, costumes, production impressive …

In fact the twitter reviews are seemingly universally positive. Not just positive. Overwhelmingly so.

The most used words seem to be “cinematic”. And “epic”

Getting excited!

Ciematic?
COOL!

Cinematic?
COOL!
Obviously, I am very excited right now.

INDEED

That it is much more cinematic than Treks past has been apparent for awhile now. That it is epic is obvious. It should be, for the money they’re spending.

But what about the writing, and story? What kind of feedback has there been on that?

Since they are not able to discuss story, there has been very little. But the general concensus has been that the show is great so I would assume that encompasses the story as well.

Some tidbits were tons of “Trek Lore”, lots of shocking twists and surprises and that Trek fans would love it. To be fair also a warning that there were some things that some people would complain about but that it “fits”.

Thanks for the response. I checked the Twitter feed, and it did seem overwhelmingly positive. There was a dissenter or two, and that’s fine–opinions will vary, and there are no “right” or “wrong” opinions regarding the quality of a TV show. (That’s my opinion, anyway.)

I think what we can safely take away from the reaction to last night’s premiere is this: however we ultimately feel about the show after Sunday night, and in the months to come, Discovery, at the very least, has turned out to be nothing like the clusterf**k that some, often with some pretty self-aggrandizing or even political motives, were insisting it would be. Perhaps there’s a lesson in that, somewhere.

Glad that they liked it.
I was getting a bit worried.
That is over.
Back to Happy Anticipation!

I’m always skeptical of these premiere twitter reactions for a variety of reasons, but it’s certainly better than hearing it sucked. So far hearing from members of staff at Nerdist, The Wrap, and Gamasutra all with positive mentions.

Sounds like a good start in terms of positive reactions.
I am relieved.

Glad to see crappy civilian clothing is back!!! That vulcan outfit shes wearing screams TNG cheese. love it!

@Mee — so that’s the standard for excellence here?

Humor… It is a difficult concept.

After all these clips and BTS videos I am really hyped and looking forward to it. I think it will be great and satisfy most peoples longing for a new Trek series. Yes there are things I don’t agree with for the time period its set it, but there are not that big a deal and I can look past them,.

They *DARE* to have a Tribble on here, when clearly TOS establishes nobody in the Federation had ever heard of such a thing?! THIS RUINS EVERYTHING! I KNEW IT, DISCOVERY WILL BE FLAMING GARBAGE! Flounce, flounce, flounce, flounce! Grumble, grumble, grumble. grumble!

Trekkies, man. We sure are a nitpicky and contentious people. Chill out and reserve criticism for post-premiere. Approach this as a Starfleet officer would: keep an open mind, y’all.