The Empire Awards took place today in London and Jason Isaacs won for Best Actor in a TV Series for his role as Captain Gabriel Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery. He beat out competition from Alexander Skarsgård (Big Little Lies), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series), Matt Smith (The Crown), and Dan Stevens (Legion). Isaacs’ win is Discovery’s first award trophy for 2018, although there are still more opportunities at the upcoming at the GLAAD and Saturn Awards.
Isaacs talks Trek fans
Jason Isaacs wasn’t in London to pick up his Empire Award, but the actor has been in the US over recent weeks promoting the release of his new film The Death of Stalin (with happened to win Best Comedy at the Empire Awards today). In an interview with Chicago’s ThirdCoastReview, the actor also talked a bit of Trek:
You’re involved in the “Star Trek” universe now. How special is that for you?
It’s amazing. Obviously I’ve been in the Harry Potter films, so I know what fandom is like. I’ve met some of the fabulous, passionate fans, but they’ve only been fans since the year 2000. There are many people I’ve met now who have been obsessed with “Star Trek” for 50 years. It’s overwhelming, but it’s a new and wonderful thing. Jonathan Frakes, who played Riker [on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”] and directed some of our episodes, has been my guide and mentor though the madness of it all, and he persuaded me to sign up for some of the truly extraordinary “Star Trek” experiences like going on a “Star Trek” cruise with fans. I said to him, “I can’t imagine anything worse.” He said, “I did it, and it’s great, and you’re coming.” It’s a very eclectic bunch of people, as you would imagine, who have in common only that they love “Star Trek” for different reasons—some of them because they like the ships and uniforms, some of them like the philosophy—but they are drawn from a very, very interesting pool, that’s for sure.
Latif: Discovery Season 2 starts production in May
Discovery’s Klingon-turned-human, Ash Tyler – Shazad Latif (who has already been confirmed for season two) was on hand at the Empire Awards and speaking to Empire on the red carpet the actor gave an update on the second season of Discovery saying “We start again in May. We get scripts late, probably the night before we start filming.”
Last month Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman said production on the second season was set to start in April. It’s unclear if Latif’s comment about May means this has changed or if he isn’t personally needed until May.
Harberts tweets about set consturction
On Friday, Discovery showrunner Aaron Harberts gave a sort of update on pre-production for the second season, with a tweet about how set construction “continues apace.”
Construction continues apace on S2 @startrekcbs. Thanks to our incredible TO crew. Wish I could show our amazing fans more. #StarTrekDiscovery pic.twitter.com/4woZmpqAGM
— Aaron Harberts (@AaronHarberts) March 17, 2018
Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else.
Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.
Interesting at least as confirmation that Latif will be back. Voq/Tyler, like so much of Discovery, turned out to be a half-baked hot mess, but also like much of the show the character was rarely dull and the performance was always engaging even when the writing wasn’t. So on balance I suppose this is good news.
I’m reluctant to see him back if it means more of the crappy Klingon arc. I rather he just came back to the ship and the whole VOQ BS was forgotten about. Give him something else to do.
I want this crew out there doing what Trek does best, not the soap opera action of the week we’ve had so far.
Couldn’t agree more on your crappy Klingon comment,lol! I REALLY hope there’s less of them in the next season,hopefully none,but that’s probably wishing for too much.
Loved the rest of the show though,and really cool ending. I MIGHT even be back for season 2,IF they talk me into it at Comic-Con again,lol!!
I wouldn’t have minded the Klingon arc so much if it was in ENGLISH! Save the Klingon talk for its proper execution in “Into the Forrest I Go.” But the bulk of it was indeed a hot mess but I overlooked it… would’ve been improved if we would’ve gotten more English from the Klingons and have actual Klingonese when appropriate like when there’s a human in the room. Not for 90% of the whole damned thing…
But you got subtitles,right? Something I actually hate having to read……so I didn’t. LOL!
LOL yeah that reading thing is so annoying. Man it is such an effort – SPEAK ENGLISH!! Btw – forget that most people in places like western Europe can speak four or five languages including English.
LOL! Not really an effort,just really annoying as I feel I miss stuff happening when I have to read some crap at the bottom of the screen. Really? Four or five? I can only do two,used to be three but it disappeared once I moved from that particular country,lol!
Agree as well El Chup. I like to see Tyler again, but the ridiculous Voq/Klingon part can be torpedoed out of a photon shaft as far as I care about it. I really wish they didn’t go that direction but it is what it is.
Have you watched TNG s1 lately ?
Pretty stiff competition to beat out. Good on him!
Since Isaacs was obliged to mislead fans and the press for months on end about the nature of the character he played (I don’t fault him for this), he was essentially performing two roles during that time. I hope he was compensated accordingly.
Dig the Season 2 Riker beard. :-D
” “I can’t imagine anything worse.” ”
STD haters will have a field day with that quote.
I like hockey but I can’t imagine anything worse than spending the day with a bunch of Montreal Canadiens fans…
Well, at least since they explicitly said Voq was grafted into Tyler, there won’t be an ‘original’ Tyler turning up.
So Jason Isaacs won the Empire Award… Does this make Emperor Georgiou sad? Hahahahah! ;D
Empress.
Kyle MacLachlan had a more demanding role and did a much better job. So not fair to Kyle MacLachlan.
Isaacs? Sadly he isn’t acting he’s just being- a douch.
Doesn’t deserve an award. Paid for by Netflix obviously.
That photo looks like A Moonbase Alpha Stun gun.
Seeing the set construction materials gives me a little knot of anxiety over what we’ll see on Pike’s Enterprise. But then it will be finally plain that even if this is Prime timeline storywise, it is incontrovertibly a visual reboot. The producers have been coy on that point, but we know what Pike’s Enterprise looks like. Taken together with the new Klingons, a redesigned Enterprise, with the shiny 3D-printed catsuit uniforms, and we’ll finally know the score despite all the dissembling.
There’s an editorial up on Ex Astris that, while not disguising some irritation, nevertheless makes a fairly convincing argument that this is a separate visual canon that cannot be reasonably reconciled with the previous series.
It’s not news that it’s a visual reboot. No need for an editorial to tell you the obvious.
It has been widely observed and speculated upon, but not confirmed by the producers. Indeed, as I said, they’ve been coy about it. Just because it’s obvious does not mean we shouldn’t decently want a forthright “This is a visual reboot” from CBS.
I agree with you Praetor. It makes me wonder if there is more to the story. Given the multiverse aspects of the first season will it eventually be revealed that Discovery is in actuality a different universe than the original Prime universe?
They said over and over again the show takes place in the prime universe. Its just a visual reboot. I wouldn’t mind if it took place in a different universe to get rid of some of the confusion but my guess is they don’t want yet another universe to keep up with now that we have three with Prime, Kelvin and Mirror.
The buddy I watch this with and I have agreed that we’re in an alternate universe on this show, just so we can go ahead and not be bothered by the jarring visual changes.
I think it would be great if TPTB went ahead and announced it’s an alternate universe after all. Personally, about 75% of my problems with the show would immediately disappear.
Danpaine,
Re: jarring visual changes.
Z. Cochrane’s visual changes in the movie, STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, must have ruined your entire theater experience. He certainly looks nothing like a, de-aged by The Companion, J. Cromwell, his clothing is horribly discordant from its appearance in the first series, and I have, as yet, to find anything congruous between his personal tech and abode aesthetics, what little appears in the episode, and that which appears in the movie.
….a character alteration like that, based on a single rather-obscure TOS episode – one episode – no, did not take me out of the film too terribly (I loved FC). And later on, Enterprise even used Cromwell briefly in the Pilot episode to maintain continuity. Not a good comparison, Disinvited, on a number of levels.
Danpaine,
Re: Not a good comparison
Actually, by your redefining canon as not what 1st appears on screen but what lasts appears, i.e. Cromwell in ENTERPRISE maintaining continuity, you’ve thrown your whole argument out the window as “maintaining continuity” changes as was done in ENTERPRISE, which you approve, is exactly how one could describe what DISCOVERY is doing.
Ok, I’ll play along for the moment, Disinvited. As far as the prime timeline is concerned, Cromwell appeared first in FC, then again in Enterprise, which is later in the timeline. Then the third time he appears is even later in the timeline on TOS, when character actor Glenn Corbett appeared as Cochrane. Who knows, by the time Kirk & Co. caught up with Cochrane he could have been a changed man, quit drinking, gained some weight and straightened his act out. He was admittedly weary of fame and crowds, and up until then, immortal due to his contact with The Companion. Not likely, but not out of the realm of possibility. The two actors simply don’t look at all alike.
But you’re missing the point. You’re talking about ONE character. This conversation is about visual rebooting of an entire show/franchise.
Danpaine,
Re: I’ll play along
You haven’t been doing anything of the kind. You have been focusing solely on the character when I included the look of his tech, abode, and original episode choice of clothing fashion.
You’ve introduced irrelevant observations:
“obscure episode” – so was SPACE SEED
played by a different actor than episode following 1st film appearance – so was Khan
You are missing the point, I’m talking about the entire visual continuity that was established for the character in his 1st appearance not just the actor’s looks. That whole visual continuity was thrown out the window when that production put him in FIRST CONTACT.
But you approve of ENTERPRISE “maintaining continuity”. And you should well know that show updated the tech look to one incongruous with the entire first series and its pilots.
So we can now give DISCOVERY a pass as merely “maintaining continuity” introduced in ENTERPRISE, STAR TREK BEYOND, and subtly legitimizing elements of Bad Robot’s Trek aesthetic in general.
Disinvited, well actually since DSC has been shoehorned into this awkward time period right before TOS, it looks completely out of place, imo – anyway, it’s been nice disagreeing with you this afternoon. Khan? You mean the steaming pile that was STID/Cumberbatch as Khan? To me that film barely exists.
Again, my opinion, if they would just do an about-face and say Discovery is set in an alternate universe, I’d enjoy the show a heck of a lot more.
Peace. Fun jousting with you. I’m off to drive in the snow.
” And you should well know that show updated the tech look to one incongruous with the entire first series and its pilots. ”
I would disagree somewhat. Enterprise was set over 100 years before TOS. That show was modernized for 00’s television but still looked like it could evolve into what we saw on TOS. The problem with STD is it is set in an era that is amazingly close to TOS. And one that we have actually already seen in an episode of TOS. (The Menagerie). It is understood that there must be modernization. But it also kinda needs to have SOMETHING to tie it into what we have already seen. Even the KU had the TOS style shirts on the crew. STD has literally nothing but name drops.
And I too, could lose a good number of issues I have if they would just say this was in the KU or some other kind of reboot instead of insisting that it is taking place just ahead of what we saw in TOS.
Praetor Tal,
I’m fairly certain CBS clearly conveyed that the visual aesthetics of any past TREK production wasn’t important enough to them to maintain a sacrosanct static continuity when they decided to reboot the original’s look to goose HD viewing syndicating reruns/blu-ray sales by blatantly changing it with those goals in mind. And then did it again for TNG.
In other words, looooong before DISCOVERY’S production started monkeying around with THE CAGE’s look, CBS had already been there; done that; and sold us the HD DVDs and blu-rays. It’s a little late to start complaining about their lack of commitment to archival restoration of past series’ visual aesthetics’ continuity in an ongoing production when changes began being introduced to it in the DS9 production with TRIALS AND TRIBBLE-ATIONS decades ago.
That’s a fair point, Disinvited. However, the updated visuals look like the original model, just with a bit more detail than they could get with the original SFX shots. It’s a close fidelity. Where they took liberties were with the minor space ships that originally were shown as a pulsating light. But it added detail, not contradiction. After 50 years at an ongoing commitment to visual continuity, it’s fair to ask that any contradictions be explained. And for me, it’s just five small words from the producers–“This is a visual reboot.” Then we’ll all go, “Oh, finally, thank you,” and move on. Or some of us will, at any rate.
One of the things I kept thinking while binge watching Star Trek Discovery (for the 10th time!) recently, was what how Gene Roddenberry would have enjoyed seeing what they did with his universe. In terms of the updated technology that is available to us now for special effects and artistic shots and so on. And especially, the technology on Discovery itself — the way the ship looks, its equipment, etc.
The reality is this “less than subtle visual reboot” makes perfect sense for a new generation of fans who — quite frankly — would consider the visuals of the TOS very hokey. I think if Roddenberry had the toys to play with back then that we have today, TOS would look exactly like (or maybe even better than) the way Discovery looks today. The science has evolved; the technology has evolved; let the show’s aesthetics evolve too.
Another important thing to remember is that Discovery is a top secret science ship. They would probably be creating / beta testing much of what eventually becomes standard technological fare later on. I am looking forward to seeing whether this element is found in Season 2.
And what about those black badges? Guarding the super super secret labs that no one is supposed to talk about? Are we going see some Section 31 mentions or reveals this season?
Also, a little Mudd and Mirror won’t go amiss either. After all, they need to sort out the Emperor at large; and Rainn Wilson is just brilliant! Any excuse to return him must be found, even if only for half an episode.
So many different directions in which to go!
Think I will head off now for binge watching round #11…
Dunno. He’s been dead 25 years, and really he was best in collaboration with others–TOS was only a success because of people like Gene Coon, Dorothy Fontana, Joseph Pevney, Leonard Nimoy, Matt Jeffries, Wah Chang, etc., etc. He had a shot at a big-budget, modern SFX movie, TMP, and blew it. They never let him touch a Trek movie again. He created TNG, but the show was stymied from the start and only improved as ill health forced him to take a back seat.
But if we’re going to invoke TGBG, I think his vision was a bright shiny future, and his humanism a sort of high-minded, even sanctimonious idealism. Discovery plays in the same sandbox, but I think it’s more a creature of our post-9/11, declinist, jaded present, which runs at opposing angles to Roddenberry’s vision. Those of us who are old enough to remember the last several decades of the 20th century still believed in progress, and thought we’d have hovercars and fusion power and jet packs and robot pals and colonies in space, before or right after the Millennium. That’s the mindset Gene was operating in.
Now you have couple generations that have sprung up since the future failed to arrive, and they don’t believe in it. They assume they’re always being lied to, that progress is not a given, and they’re not sold on brightly-colored, brightly-lit sets with high-minded proclamations about humans evolving away from war and greed. Discovery leans into that in a grab for not just ratings, but relevance (a term you hear bandied about, in a panicked sort of way, in declining mainline churches). However, I think Star Trek does its best, is most relevant, when it is countercultural, when it pushes us to look at our present from the perspective of a better tomorrow.
Our civilization, particularly in America, is in a mood to brood. Discovery and its darkness and grit and toying with genocide is just a self-indulgence. And that is what I think is most un-Gene about it. It pushes nothing. It lets us wallow.
Hey Praetor Tal,
I love your analysis and I agree with much of your response.
But I’ve been thinking… Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that there is a bit of darkness around Discovery. Perhaps this realism is a good thing for Star Trek. We get to see how they fight their way to the idealism of TOS despite the impact of the Klingon War. If the writers and show-runners can show us that journey, I think it would be worth it.
Perhaps it may send a powerful message to the current generation that “utopia” has to be earned and worked at, despite the current darkness. That it is possible. It is built via one shed tear, one wounded war survivor, one slowly rebuilt team or reconstructed planet at a time. Wouldn’t that be great to watch? All while going out boldly and seeking new life and new civilizations?
I know the Federation was alive and well before the Klingon War. It would have been great to see how it was built, you know?
But now we have a chance, perhaps if they go that way, to show how it recovers from the Klingon War and the prime universe becomes the one we know and love from TOS and TNG.
I hear you, Fan, but it seems like this “development” is too close to Kirk’s era. Like, he’s already out there as an officer on the Farragut. My hunch is this is the sort of change that should have occurred in George Kirk’s day or earlier, to allow those ideas to mature and diffuse throughout the Federation and the Starfleet officer corps. Change appears to happen more between generations, not in the middle. Indeed, much of this was already covered in ENT, in the last couple seasons, with the Xindi War and leading up the founding of the Federation. (Sadly, we didn’t get to see how the Romulan War affected the ideology of the Federation.) The ethics of Star Trek seem baked in by 2161. Why this is a lesson they’d have to relearn in 2257, I don’t know. But I don’t think the producers spend as much gray matter on this as the fans. Get a life, me.
Me too, I guess *wry chuckle*
Lots of negative comments about the Klingons speaking their own language. Personally I thought it added to the show!
Nothing wrong with Klingons speaking Klingon. But when they speak with the cadence of an old man reading a menu out loud, it does make the show drag a bit.
“..speak with the cadence of an old man reading a menu out loud…” That was hilarious.
That, and the subtitles are HUGE. Smaller and more subtle would go a long way towards enjoying the Klingons’ screen time more.
Fritz,
Re: cadence
And you know this cadence to be inauthentic because of, what?
Klingonese is a totally fictitious language later fleshed out by Hartmut Scharfe, James Doohan and Jon Povill with encouragement by Roddenberry for the first motion picture. There exists no actual native speakers of it, old or otherwise, for you to make this cadence linguistic assessment, i.e. you haven’t the faintest idea how old Klingon males speaking cadences should sound. It isn’t supposed to sound like English but strange. You know, alien?
Authenticity? What the what? No, it’s the speed at which it’s delivered. You know, speed, so it doesn’t drag down the pace of a television show? Was never an issue in Trek before.
Fritz,
Re: No, it’s the speed at which it’s delivered.
I’ll have to ponder what this lack of speed is that you find unusual? As I recall, after Roddenberry introduced it on screen, Klingonese has always featured longer syllable holds and pauses between them than the English spoken by these alien humanoids in the first series.
You seem to believe you aren’t advocating a fundamental change to how it will sound on screen and, besides, you believe it will improve the dramatic pace to speed it up making it sound more like Japanese, I suppose? What concerns me here, is you seem to be advocating something with wider ramifications that ultimately will call for banning all languages, even real human ones, on US dramatic screens that can’t match or better the cadence of spoken English?
The cadences of Darmok and Yoda’s languages must have really harshed your need for dramatic speed?
Yes, because criticizing the change from quick and guttural to a more halted, tedious manner of speaking in this fictional language obviously means we should ban all languages that are different from English. Good grief… please don’t make absurd assumptions to try to make a point, and do try to stay on topic without strawmen to help you.
Look around, this has been a fairly common criticism about the Klingon scenes in Discovery, especially early in the season. They drag.
Then again, it’s not just the Klingon language. It’s also a matter of editing. The pacing in Discovery has been a mess in a lot of episodes–not all of them but quite a few. Scenes that should be short are too long, and vice versa.
Fritz,
Re: try to stay on topic without strawmen
Try to practice what you advocate. Exaggerating my point to banning all non-English languages after I clearly indicated Japanese cadences are of acceptable meter is doing precisely the strawmanning that you claim I’m doing and disingenuously pretending that you aren’t.
Re: It’s also a matter of editing.
Finally, something from you that makes sense to me and upon which we can both agree.
I am a huge Latif fan, and am very happy he will be back in season two, I hope he will do like a max of 3 episodes with L’rell before finding his way back to discovery and being re-integrated into the crew. i don’t know how they will do it, at this point i don’t care. i just hope he remains on the show
It would be nice to see 3 or 4 more seasons of Discovery