The official confirmation has finally arrived: Captain Pike is getting his own TV show.
By popular demand, the USS Enterprise returning to CBS All Access
It has been officially confirmed that CBS All Access has ordered a new series titled Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. According to CBS the show will be “based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise,” which sets the series before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series. Strange New Worlds will feature Anson Mount as Captain Pike, Ethan Peck as Mr. Spock and Rebeca Romijn as Number One, all reprising their roles from the second season of Star Trek: Discovery.
The official release has this summary of the show:
The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the decade before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.
According to CBS the new series “will take the trio of Spock, Pike and Number One and the U.S.S. Enterprise almost right up to the reign of that certain James T. Kirk, almost.”
A show featuring the return of Pike, Spock, and Number One on the USS Enterprise has been asked for by many fans, and since last spring producers have said the fans have been heard. There have been multiple hints and rumors about the show in the last year, leaving this official announcement the final step to the return to the 23rd century.
Mount promises “classic” Star Trek
This morning Anson Mount, Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijn made their own announcement for Strange New Worlds via YouTube. They speak about their excitement about doing the show and appreciation for all the fan enthusiasm. Anson Mount – who is a self-avowed Trek fan – had this to say about the show:
It means even more for us to announce to be able to announce this show right now at a time when so much of the planet is hurting…And we are going to get to work on a classic Star Trek show that deals with optimism and the future.
Watch the video below.
The Magicians EP joins Star Trek team for Strange New Worlds
The series premiere was written by Akiva Goldsman with the story by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet. Goldsman, Kurtzman and Lumet will serve as executive producers in addition to Henry Alonso Myers (The Magicians), Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth. Aaron Baiers, Akela Cooper and Davy Perez will serve as co-executive producers. Akiva Goldsman will remain an executive producer and a key part of the creative team on Star Trek: Picard as well. Strange New Worlds will be produced by CBS Television Studios, Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.
In a statement executive producer Alex Kurtzman spoke about listening to the fans:
When we said we heard the fans’ outpouring of love for Pike, Number One and Spock when they boarded Star Trek: Discovery last season, we meant it. These iconic characters have a deep history in ‘Star Trek’ canon, yet so much of their stories have yet to be told. With Akiva and Henry at the helm, the Enterprise, its crew and its fans are in for an extraordinary journey to new frontiers in the ‘Star Trek’ universe.
Goldsman also spoke about the show, saying:
This is a dream come true, literally. I have imagined myself on the bridge of the Enterprise since the early 1970s. I’m honored to be a part of this continuing journey along with Alex, Henry and the fine folks at CBS.
There is no news yet on when the show will premiere or international distribution. This is a developing story so keep an eye out for updates.
Anson Mount as Captain Pike and Ethan Peck as Spock in Star Trek: Short Treks “Q&A”
Keep up with all upcoming Star Trek television projects at TrekMovie.com.
Best news in Quarantine! This was likely finalized months ago, and planned to announce at SDCC.
Yeah… I feel like they would have announced it there but since it likely will not happen… We have it now.
Likely? It was cancelled.
I have not received word of that. Just ComiCon’s cancleation.
“Comic Con” is the colloquial term for “SDCC” (San Diego Comic Con). I have a feeling most major cons will be cancelled this calendar year. I know October is a far ways away at this point, but seeing as the Javitz is currently a covid hospital, I don’t foresee NYCC going on as planned.
I heard somewhere they want to do a virtual Comic Con just like what they are doing with the Star Trek conventions. It will obviously be more limited but they still want to sell tickets, bring in stars, etc.
Who knows how much this is true but I suspect they are going to do it because Hollywood is hurting more than ever like most industries right now and probably want to start promoting stuff again to entice people back in the theaters whenever they do open again.
OMG!!!!!!! YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Y E S !!!
OMG finally! The first person to hate on this series has to meet me in a dark alley… and I wont be wearing my virus mask! :)
What if they hate it after watching it? Just askin’. It’s a show I’ve been wanting too. Just worried about who is running it.
We will have to wait and see!! But the concept sounds great. I personally hope it is episodic so even if an epispde sucks, we can wait to see what comes up the following week. No matter what good to hear CBSAA seems to be listening to feedback.
Same concern ML31. Although it sounds as though Anson Mount will have some influence, if not an EP role like Patrick Stewart’s.
well that took about ten seconds
My thoughts exactly, ML.
You can GUARANTEE that Midnight’s Edge, Do*mcock, Dave Cullan, Nerdrotic and all that filth are already pre-hating it and proclaiming it as “woke”.
The only way any sapient hominid can hate this show is if Burnham shows up as the Red Angel returning from the future. In that case I will be Googling: Voluntary Euthanasia.
This cast has enough charisma they could pull it off.
Knowing Secret Hideout I wouldn’t put it past them. I can see them doing something like sending a time traveling android from the MU who takes Pike to the far future and replaces him with a shape shifting perfect copy… Or something goofy like that.
We never learned the final fate (death) of Chris Pike on Talos IV. Maybe he’s still alive in the DISCOVERY future, between his Federation bio-mechanical parts and his Talosian caretakers… That would be a fascinating story to explore…
I’ve heard them called a lot of things but filth is a new one. So they call out the appalling unwatchable mess that is now Trek. Boohoo for you if you can’t handle some basic truths. For the record most of them were rooting for Picard to be good before it started.
Thank you, Soren! People can have differing opinions, but here, if you say something bad, you’re automatically affiliated w/ Doomcock or one of the others. I, personally, am not holding out hope for this series, simply because the last two were such shite.
Opinion =/= Truth
Opinion = self indulgent idealism
Disagree with me all anyone wants… it still won’t change my mind. Anson Mount is giving Emmy worthy performances bringing to life what is by far the best, most positive, most sincere, most courageous, and most inspiring character of any scripted series I have watched in a decade. Anson’s Pike is the kind of Captain that I would volunteer to serve even if I had to be on sewage reclamation duty on the 1701. He embodies everything that is greatest and purest in humanity. He is unique in the barrage of dystopian dreck which is now called entertainment. Bravo Anson, I salute you as a great actor and a wonderful human being!
Agreed Pike was amazing. Sisko, Kirk, Pike, My top captains in Star Trek
I prefer “clickbait bottom-feeders who drive traffic through peddling absurd rumors and outright lies while stirring fake controversy and wallowing in negativity.” But “filth” has the advantage of brevity. “Truths” are not these folks forte.
Pure perfection, Mike2!
If dim witted nonsense is your idea of perfection, don’t let me be the one to stop you
Agree with Mike2, 100%. It boggles my mind that anyone still follows those sites.
Yep!
And I defy ANYONE to click on any random Midnight Edge video with their nutty predictions and point to me one, just ONE that has come true yet?? And yet they are still seen as ‘credible’ to their fanbase although they been wrong over and over again and clearly just making up lies. But then they move on to the next big thing or accusation to rile up the masses to get them spewing about something else for awhile. Rinse and repeat.
This is basically the same playbook Trump does to keep his base following him.
Took the words right out of my mouth, Tiger2!
The Midnight Edge team is a welcome breath of fresh air. All power to them and their ilk.
Amen to that Aus Trekker.
@Soren
Midnight Edge are a bunch of guys spouting nonsense, like third graders trying to get a teacher’s attention. If you call that a breath of fresh air, don’t let me be the one to stop you!
Sad but true Spock Jenkins! People thought once this thing called the internet came around it would make people more knowledgeable, reasonable and well informed. Sadly it proves the opposite on a daily basis with these kinds of people.
You must be watching different star trek to me, discovery and Picard are fine shows. You want bad star trek? Homegenous and dull, actors that disliked their roles, a genuinely insipid cast with a few great exceptions? Try Voyager.
And several members of this community as well!
But Discovery is woke garbage. Star Trek is dead. Picard is garbage.
I will never understand “woke” as a derogatory term. What makes DSC woke? That it has a black female captain? An Asian female villain? A gay couple? Yeah, welcome to Earth!
Yes, that’s “woke” to these toxic naysayers.
They’re not toxic. If you actually watched enough of their output you’d see what they are mostly calling for is good characterisation to come first and then whether it an man or woman who plays that part to flow naturally from that. In the last two series it’s been the other way around and they’re right to highlight that fact.
Agreed Soren.
You guys love to stick together. Maybe a better forum for you two is the conspiracy laden, filth peddling Midnight’s Edge channel.
Yes, Soren. This ^
Roddenberry was woke before there was a term for it.
That is literally the premise of Star Trek, the Russian, the Scot, the second in command (woman or alien, the network made him choose, and he picked the alien) the African woman, and the Japanese pilot.
Anyone who doesn’t know that, isn’t a true Trek fan.
Characterisation or woke isn’t the damn the problem, bad writing is. Ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc… has ALWAYS been broad because Infinite Diversity comes with exploring new worlds.
Man, right wingers invading Trek is the weirdest trend these days.
Trek is for everyone. IDIC baby. IDIC.
I have to say that discovery Was advertised as the wokest Show on Television. So there is something to that. In my Mind it failed its own self proclaimed wokeness. Because it actually isnt very woke, from a Story point of view.
For example… Tilly being suprised that burnhams Name is Michael and she thought she was a guy because it is unusual… Conztadicts this wokeness.
In this Star trek World it should be no suprise at All. It should be normal.
So they Took the wokeness and directed it towards the audience. Tilly Was talkingvto the viewers telling them how woke it is, compared to Our Times. And they Do this all the time. They basicly let the characters directly talk to the audience and teach them instead telling conpelling morality Tales.
And this is why i dislike discovery and parts of picard.
But there is one Thing i dislike even more.
Midnights edge, doomcock, nerdrotic…. Pathetic liars
Agreed!
I trust that the regulars on the show will include Dr. Phillip Boyce, Lt. José Tyler, and Yeoman J.M. Colt.
Time to start dream casting! I vote Peter Capaldi as Doctor Boyce!
Oh PLEASE let that happen!!!!!
Good idea! Capaldi would be great for that role!!!
Oh. My. God. That would be insanely great. I will now spend the next year imagining his speech from the Zygon Inversion, weekly.
I’ve read the role of Dr. Boyce has already been cast. I can’t remember who they said it was as I had never heard of him before.
Cant find anything on this, do you remember where you saw this?
It was on The Digital Fix a couple of days ago. But I misremembered it. They haven’t cast him yet, but they actively casting for him.
They also mentioned they were casting for Kirk and Uhura. I dismissed it all as mere rumor once I saw that. But since they got the name “Strange New Worlds” right, there may just be truth to it.
I hope you are wrong about casting Kirk. We should not see him until the show’s final season if we see him at all. Uhura could be some lowly ensign I guess…
I agree. But if true, and they are casting Kirk this early, I wouldn’t be surprised if this ultimately becomes some sort of parallel storytelling. A show focusing on Pike but also slowing showing the process of how Kirk became captain of the Enterprise.
After all this is the first live action Star Trek spin-off not to be named after one ship or one person.
Nothing to say he can’t show up as the Lt. on the Farragut in an episode or two.
That is true… They could have a run in with the Farragut and we could see Lt. Kirk interact with some of the crew but NOT Pike. Although I’d really rather they do that in a later season than early. It would show desperation on the creators part.
Yeah I actually said this months ago in another thread they can have Kirk show up just not with any scenes with Pike. But it doesn’t stop him from being there or with him and Spock interacting together (which we all want to see ;)). In fact could be their first official meeting on this show. It’s Star Trek, they’ll find a way if they have to and I won’t be complaining. ;)
As much as I would love to see this meeting, if it feels like fan service I will not be happy. Also, this is Pike’s show. Not Kirk and Spock’s. So I’d really rather they wait with Kirk.
Well technically Pike shouldn’t meet him until he’s made fleet Captain but there’s nothing to stop Spock running into him. That being said I just think it would be a waste casting Kirk so early for what would likely be a small role. I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again… hold Kirk back for the movies. If the show is successful you could transition this crew into a feature film a few years down the line depicting Kirk’s first mission in command of the Enterprise and cast somebody for the role that might have some box office appeal.
I have a feeling Kirk is definitely showing up at some point, but I’m guessing not first season. They will probably do it like Discovery did and held Spock back until the second season or maybe longer (man look us, all back in the geeky speculation chair lol. I love this rush of excitement and all the possibilities when a new show is announced!)
There is a chasm between Lt. Kirk on the Farragut and Captain Kirk on the Enterprise that hasn’t been seen/mentioned in canon. Plenty of room for Pike’s Enterprise to meet Kirk (even if Pike and Kirk don’t actually meet) on another starship, shuttle, or starbase.
I could see them having Kirk in the premiere in sort of flash-forward flashback where Pike is in his ambulatory wheelchair system and Kirk is about to assume command…then we don’t see Kirk again until the final season.
I’m forced to admit that is actually not an entirely terrible idea.
Good idea for context and fan service teaser for the series. They could even have Shatner appear in some sort of flash forward flashback via CGI.
Or recast?
Agreed
Thanks. I will try to be more civil here.
I think the idea to show a screwed-up Pike at the start of a Pike show is a bad idea. Not for us trekkers. But for the rest of the eyeballs we hope will be over this.
Loving this idea, Methusalah! I know The Shat has wanted to be part of this new Star Trek resurgence. This would be as natural a fit for him as it was to include Leonard Nimoy in the JJ movie. I’d love to see him in the premiere, then run into him on the Farragut, then meet Mr. Shatner again in the series finale. Dang! This is so cool!
Thanks. You know, a CGI Shat could work — in the past he’s suggested he would be open to it. Hopefully now that he’s nearly 90 he’s past asking for a huge bag of cash to do something like this?
I’ve got it – shat could be in an episode where 90-year-old ret. admiral kirk assembles a rag-tag crew and travels to talos IV to visit eternally young Cpt Pike, (kirk is haunted by guilt about Pike’s accident you see) but Pike just wants him to unplug the simulation, er I mean persuade the talosians to take a nap, so he can finally die. Kirk grants his wish, Pike evaporates, and we fade out with a new spoken-word recording of “rocket man” by Ethan Peck
LOL — awesome!
I think Pike was still in good health when Kirk took command. He was promoted and sometime later was injured in the training accident. He shouldn’t be in the beepy-beepy wheelchair that early.
pikes accident was in 2266 kirks second year in command and it happen just before the events of the menagerie
Sounds like We Got This Covered-level B.$. unfortunately.
Fascinating!
Here is my input.
I want to see Scotty as a lower level engineering tech. Someone who is a recurring character. Not a main one.
It seems like they already built up Cadet Thira Sidhu from the ‘Ask Not’ short trek to take over engineering. Yet there was that female scottish or indian voice over the comm in the ‘Q&A’ short trek elevator ?? I’d like to see Scotty as well…or Uhuru or Sulu??
In Discovery they did mention Chief Engineer Louvier or something like that.
Boyce will be black, Tyler will be Mexican, and Colt will be trans. :P
And will that be a problem for you?
So? It’s not just straight white guys here or in space. Stop trolling. No one cares.
SHAME ON YOU!
I guarantee you Boyce will not be black. But we will see plenty of diversity on the Enterprise and it will drive people like Boze nuts!
Tyler was supposed to be “Jose Ortega” as originally envisioned, and the character was still ultimately described as Brazilian.
Forgot that little nugget of behind the scenes Trek lore. Tasha Yar was originally envisioned as “Macha Hernandez”
Tyler originally was Brazilian. That’s what I’m hoping for. As a Brazilian. :-)
Careful; your racism and transphobia are showing.
Tyler is supposed to be Brazilian.
The joke is not everybody is a straight white man. hur hur hur.
Colt was shown in the 2-part episode that ended DSC season 2. She was an alien.
As for Tyler, his first name is Jose, so it seems only fair that Tyler be Latinx.
colt was seen in the final two episodes of season 2 she was a alien with spiky skin in a blue uniform
and tyler was off with a command of his own before the klingon federation war in season 1 of discovery
I would suggest for Lt. José Tyler – Jesse Plemons. What do other thinks of it?
Frankie Muniz! Tyler was intended to be half Hispanic, so Muniz would be perfect! And they have similar blue eyes!
Jesse Plemons has always been my choice as well for Tyler as well.
Moshe, it’s been a while since Pike’s first visit to Talos V.
It would be unrealistic for all those characters to still be there in the same ranks and roles.
Crews rotate out in any real life military far more often than we’ve seen in Trek. Promotions happen.
I expect changes.
I also hope they take the opportunity to fix Number One’s rank. As first officer behind a full captain on a capital ship she should be a full commander, not lieutenant-commander. Her lower rank in the original pilot has a whiff of sexism, but given the resistance from the network, it might have been the most Roddenberry could do even for a pilot.
Agreed, TG-47. I remember that Spock was a LCDR for the first year of TOS [after THIRTEEN YEARS on the ship]!… so perhaps Number One gets a promotion during the series, we’ll see.
Oh, I hope so. I really do. Those other characters from The Cage rarely get enough love. I especially enjoyed the dynamic between Pike and Boyce.
tyler was promoted to captian by 2256 and had a command of his own colt was reconed into a spiky skined alean she was in the final two episodes of season 2 of discovery in a blue unifom on the bridge of the ship and boyce retired in 2255
WOW. Great move and simply thrilled!
GREAT NEWS FOR TODAY!! Sorry for caps but this is Awesome!
Please excuse me while I change my pants.
Best news: the title and mission!
Bummer: Akiva ;)
Akiva and Kurtzman….can’t they leave their paws off ONE of the 5 shows they have going lol
They very well may by that time. I am going to be taking my vitamins and stay in quarantine as I want to make sure I live long enough to watch this. Guarantee it wont premiere before 2022 and my money is on 2023.
Akiva has been announced recently developing a couple of non-Trek shows, so I doubt he will be available for this one much following the premeire.
Yes. I forgot to mention. Good omen is the title is pretty darn good.
And yes, not just Akiva but a lot of the names listed.
This is the classic good news / bad news scenario, where they buried the lead, that the b-t-s creatives remain the same, pretty much guaranteeing stupidity, occasionally alleviated by mediocrity. They could have approached somebody good to run this show, just based on what Mount has shown, and done something genuinely worth watching. Now I’m stuck having to watch the show to see what he again does in spite of the material.
Yep. That is the point I have made. The bulk of the listed producers are the same group that have given us MU captains, time suits and androids replacing legacy characters. (sigh)
The only hope I can find is that each season they have done has gotten SLIGHTLY better. So maybe that trend will continue? Hope is all we have…
“The only hope I can find is that each season they have done has gotten SLIGHTLY better. So maybe that trend will continue? Hope is all we have…”.
So fear not! By season 4 of Series 7 (Era of Kurtz), we will finally have SLIGHTLY watchable Trek! ;)
Maybe Season 7 of series 9…..my snarky side says
….my optimistic side hopes for season 1 episode 1 throughout
Well no one can be surprised though. I always said no matter what if there is a sow its going to be the exact same people making all the others. I’m not as hard on Kutzman as so many others here but yes I have been more cynical about it since Picard ended. And I have no idea why Goldsman has so much influence on these shows since he seems to have the worst ideas. I know they do all love the franchise and wants what’s best for it but I wish they brought in some new blood for this show.
But I remain optimistic.
They did bring in this guy from the Magicians. I’ve never seen the show so no idea if it’s any good. At least the episodes that he has written seem to be rated quite high on IMDB.
Yeah true. And I never seen that show either but heard good things, so who knows?
I’m excited they brought in the creator of 12 Monkeys to be the show runner of Picard next season too.
Like Fuller (and maybe Meyer), they squeeze the new or outside blood dry of ideas, then do them their own way.
Inevitable it was happening, good to see! But please make this the final show Pre-original series
Come on we all wanna see a Romulan War
I wonder will they slowly bring in Uhura, Scotty, Bones and Sulu?
And Kirk
Handing her off in the finale episode
Slowly refurbishing the Discoprise into a Conny styled Enterprise by changing the pylons attaching the nacelles, trimming down the back shuttle bay, getting rid of the front bridge window, then smoothing out hull surfaces….Or having a big battle where they salvage parts from the Discoprise and scale down by 2/3 to a simple conny style Enterprise….ahhh forget this ‘Ubergeek fanboy canon worship’ lets just call it a new alternate reality and keep the Discoprise and uniforms (says CBS powers that be) ;-)
that won’t happen they vissually retconed the mid 23rd century and we have seen what the enterprise looks like under kirks command in the short treks episode ephriam and dot it is the same as it looks in season 2 of discovery just with a much lightr grey hull color and we see it agian in the second episode of picard maps and legends as a hologram in the atrium of starfleet command and it looks the same
I hope so and give us 1 young Kirk meets old Kirk fan service time travel episode if we meet young Kirk
Yes, we all want to see a 90 year old William Shatner! PLEASE!
No, we most certainly do not all want that! Please let the Shat’s trekkin’ days be over…
@tt2
That was sarcasm. His days of playing Kirk are over.
Agreed. That ship has sailed. He’ll be 90 in 10 months.
My head canon was that Scotty was already on the Enterprise when Kirk took over and became Chief Engineer when Kirk took over. Kirk brought his friend McCoy over with him. Sulu and Uhura may or may not have been on the ship already. If they do show up they HAVE to be ensigns. Perhaps we see Ensign Sulu in life sciences or something…
Dr. Piper was Kirk’s first chief medical officer on the show. (McCoy didn’t show up till the second episode, though I gather the books might have retconned Piper as a fill-in.)
Be that as it may… My head canon has Kirk bringing his friend McCoy from wherever he was before. Maybe he came a bit later but that is how I’ve always liked to believe it. To be honest I really hope that only ONE TOS character shows up. And to me it makes sense it be Scotty.
It’s funny how people are perfectly willing gloss over continuity issues in their “head canon” for the sake of a personal preference, but if the producers do it for the sake of a story, they’re vilified.
Too true T’Pol’s Beard.
My head canon in this case was due to the fact that there is no background information on it. So I filled in the blanks.
In regards to producers doing it… The reaction of fans is based on how good the final product is. If the result is good, fans will be forgiving and even work with it. If the result is garbage, (like Discovery) fans are unforgiving.
In TOS Scotty was in the Merchies before he joined Starfleet. Could be an interesting story there about how he comes into Starfleet ….
They did the same thing in the German dubbing of Where No Man Has Gone Before. Someone over radio announces McCoy is on shore leave and Piper is his fill-in.
Sulu is likely in his original specialty at this point.
I believe there was a reference in ToS to some biological sciences field, and folks here have speculated that he may have been Stamets contact on the Enterprise (referenced on Discovery).
It would be cool to see the character progress from a science officer to navigation over the series.
In TOS Sulu was fascinated with Botany.
Fantastic!!! If any of the Star Trek creatives are listening…with a title like Strange New Worlds…can it PLEASE be more of an episodic show?
Agreed. Maybe a compromise is something like DS9, where each episode has a self contained story, with elements that run through al of them, culminating in a season finale that ties it al up.
DS9 didn’t start that until a couple of years into its run. I saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer do that. They would have stand alone episodes that elements of the greater story littered in each of them for over half the episodes. Then the final 4 or 5 would be devoted to that story arc. I think if they want a season long arc that is how it should be done. But are the SH writers up to that? I have my doubts.
Sigh. C’mon now. You know what I meant.
There’s no reason for a “compromise” on anything here. They need a format that appeals to modern television audiences. And by its final seasons, DS9 wasn’t a self-contained story. The opening of season six was a six-parter, and the finale of season seven was a ten-parter. And frankly, both seasons were pretty close to being serialized in all but name anyway, particularly if you disregard the “filler” episodes.
Now, I will say that what worked well was the Manny Coto approach of *trilogies* that were semi-serialized as a whole. The format was long enough to develop a sophisticated story and complex plotlines, not the trite A-story/B-story format of the worst TNG episodes.
I agree, I would want to see a season 4 ENT approach to storytelling, was rewatching the Affliction/Divergence episodes last night and love how they tied it to the Augments crisis earlier in the year
It would be nice but I wouldn’t hold my breath. My guess is it will be done like the others. MAYBE they will surprise us but this is the streaming model.
But yes I think if they do it like DS9 did or even Enterprise in season 3 where they had a main story and some true standalones that would work best. But if its only going to be a 10 episode run every season like Picard, I would hold my breath even less.
When I heard Anson Mount describe it as “a classic Star Trek show,” I immediately thought “episodic.” I also note that Kurtzman has previously said that each show should have its own style, feel, etc. That all makes me think that a purely episodic, or hybrid approach might be a possibility here.
That’s possible but I don’t think Kurtzman himself is making those decisions but more like a mandate from CBS. But yes it could be a hybrid of some kind too.
It is funny though how we went full circle on this thing. When Voyager came on the air people wanted it to be more serialized because it would just fit that show better, including some of its producers but UPN wasn’t having it. Now 20 years later people are begging for episodic formats again and the networks and streaming sites piratically frown on the idea today. Crazy how these models have changed.
Tiger, my thought exactly ;)
I find myself wishing that if there are arcs, they are 3 or fewer episodes, with perhaps one season-long continuity that viewers don’t need to feel tied to.
I think shorter arcs are better, with characters growing [not going right back to where they were at the beginning of the episode as in the ol’ days of TOS].
These days I find myself reluctant to begin watching new series [serieses?] because I know I’m going to have to follow a storyline that will grow more and more complex, then labyrinthine, and sometimes I just sigh and say, “Ah, the hell with it.”
Not Star Trek! But, just sayin’.
I hope for the same thing! Let’s enjoy exploring the galaxy again!
Yes, Yes, Yes! Please let it be episodic. At least as much as DS9. You guys said you listen to the fans, listen now!
I’ve seen the phrase “mixed serialization” here and absolutely support this idea. That’s like early to mid-DS9. Flexibility, but with character growth.
“can it PLEASE be more of an episodic show?” <– Disagreed. I don't want to see more "foreheads of the week," Wacky Ferengi Episodes, annual "Lwaxana Troi Visits the Enterprise" affairs, etc. And modern television audiences don't, either.
40 minutes isn't enough time to tell a sophisticated story. Even the likes of "The Inner Light" could have done with an extra 20 minutes or so.
Seriously, why would you want Hawaii Five-0 or New MacGyver when you could have the Sopranos?
Because frankly the writing team doesn’t seem to be anywhere near Sopranos level of writing as both Discovery and Picard has proven. And honestly the MOST successful episodes (at least by fans) seem to be the more standalone ones like The Sanest Man, New Eden, Nepenthe, etc. It’s really the more individual stories they seem to get right vs the longer arcs which either felt half baked or a convoluted mess by the end.
Thats why while I’m truly excited for the show I have a feeling its going disappoint more fans at the end if they go the ten hour movie route. These guys just haven’t shown they can make it compelling enough, even when they have all the right elements in place.
I’m like to see more of a mix of serialization as was the form in the early 00s.
Enterprise S3&4, Farscape and others hold up better for rewatching than I’d expected, and the mixed serialization is key. Even a weak series finale is not a problem.
Yes the market has recently gone for absolute serialization, but there’s a lot of trends disrupted by Covid, and this one may have run its course in any case.
Frankly, I still think that the serialization is more about power/control and managing the psychology of writers rooms. The (still) operative WGA agreement requires that a certain number of spec scripts be accepted per season for a series that is episodic. Only totally serialized dramas are exempt.
Personally, I deeply believe that taking spec scripts (and blinding the names of the writers) would be a fantastic way for Secret Hideout to bring in new ideas. It would help walk the talk of inclusion, and commitment to counter unconscious bias.
Frankly, I still think that the serialization is more about power/control and managing the psychology of writers rooms. The (still) operative WGA agreement requires that a certain number of spec scripts be accepted per season for a series that is episodic. Only totally serialized dramas are exempt.
TG47, I had no idea! My gosh it would be great if they had to accept spec scripts, and I agree with your reasons. Insularity is not great for creativity.
When I hear “spec script” I always think about Ronald D. Moore and what a huge asset he became to Trek.
“can it PLEASE be more of an episodic show?”
Can’t overemphasize how relieved and vindicated I am after SO MANY YEARS hearing much of fandom cheering the “party line”, joining the “Kurtzwagon” and touting the somehow “natural superiority” of serialization in the “evolution of tv”, that finally, FINALLY, the pendulum is swinging the other way after we have all seen how bad serialization is for Trek when done in an excessive monoculture-sort of way by bad writers who don’t have a handle on writing consistent, engaging arcs from start to finish!
I actually was a very strong proponent of serialization, but now I think I would prefer semi-serialized storytelling. Like, this big thing is in the background and and we’re going to touch on it every week, but we’ll have plenty of stand-alone or 2-3-part episodes in the meantime.
In the last two years of Netflix and Amazon I have grown weary of all the “lore” a viewer has to absorb just to follow a show’s plot week to week, or ep to ep. It gets to be heavy lifting after awhile ….
I will make one exception: The Expanse :^D
Didn’t Anson Mount mention that in the announcement? Maybe I was too bedazzled.
Very Cool And will be Fun! Thank You!
YES. And YES. And YES.
Can’t wait
I’m crying!
Will they be saving the galaxy every season from the big baddie?
Or will it be weekly exploration and actual seeking new life?
This could be the best of both worlds, have DS9 style serialisation (because we know in these times they won’t go completely standalone) but HOPEFULLY, with a name like Strange New Worlds, they are actually exploring!
This is going to drive the Canon purists crazy now with all the stuff they are going to fill in before TOS and about Spock.
I hope it’s episodic this time. They claim it will be “optimistic future” this time, well, I’m very cautiously optimistic about that promise :|
“A Classic Star Trek show that deals with Optimism and The Future”, because frankly, it’s been a while!
To me a “Classic Star Trek” might have been referring to stand alone episodes.
They are kinda talking fan talk back to the fans. “You spoke, we listened,” &c. I hope it will be good and that people will enjoy it. I plan to!
This is awesome news.
Hope they don’t have any F-bombs and have more standalone plots, to set it apart more from the other shows. I like the other shows, but this has the potential to have a more classic Trek feel which would be nice. The title certainly evokes that type of show, but we’ll see.
Couldn’t agree more! Avoid the F-bombs so I can watch and share it with my kids (and parents!).
If your kids are so delicate that they cannot even hear the word “fuck”, perhaps TV isn’t for them. This is so absurd.
Agreed. The word “fuck” is not something dangerous. What is dangerous is perpetuating silly “moral” attacks on a word because it’s just another illogical thing passed down to you from your parents. There is nothing wrong with the word. I wish people wouldn’t bother and harass their children with such waste of time issues.
Totally agree! I raised my (now adult) son and never shielded him from strong language. The things I did shield him from were exploitative sex and violence. But we taught him about sex, violence, and gender issues as young as five. He turned out just fine! Has a good career, and a wonderful wife and everything!
I grew up in a black neighborhood where we all talk very bluntly. All I heard were F bombs, hearing about sex and everything else from the age of four lol. My grandparents cursed like sailors around me the entire time. Somehow I manage to be well adjusted just the same.
I get we don’t want kids to grow up too fast but they DO grow up and they will be exposed to everything anyway, especially that the internet is in everyone’s pockets by the age of seven. No one is suggesting five year olds watch R rated movies but being exposed to some curse words or sex isn’t going to make them prone to prison either. It’s just about balance.
I’ll just add that Mrs ML31 and I were more concerned about violence than language and sex. We did try to limit our sons exposure to violence until we figured his brain could comprehend it. Which we determined he could a little earlier than we thought! And he turned out just fine, thank you. Too bad he’s missing out on all his senior year things.
This got a little out of hand. To be clear, my comment about not having f-bombs was not trying to pass judgement on anyone or their parenting. My wife and I try not to swear around our kid, but it still happens sometimes. I read/watch/listen to plenty of things that swear.
In Star Trek IV, Kirk and Spock are obviously unfamiliar with the word “dumbass” or how to properly use it. They refer to words like that as colorful metaphors common in the literature of the time period.
So…
1) I like it when world building is consistent
2) I think there is value to using media like Star Trek to envision a brighter future, where people might talk differently than us, more refined, respectful, however you want to put it.
Star Trek IV might not be the best example to use here for either of those things since it drops the R word which to me is worse than an F-bomb (at least it is said by someone in the past), and the movies were often really inconsistent with established canon, but anyways that is were I am coming from on this.
The R word … Rice? Rubles? Rump? Rap? Rob? [I truly am at a loss. The worst thing I can think of that starts with R is rape. Which is more terrible than fck in my mind.]
And you know McCoy was really saying “Dammit” when he was saying “Blast it” in TOS, right Andy?
Obviously I’m not referring to Rice or Rap. Just google it.
@ML that’s a very good way to raise your kids. Kudos to you both for being rational, mature parents who respected your children’s intelligence! Kids tend to grow up a lot more mature and respectful when they are respected themselves, even as young children. Constantly being told “you’re not old enough” gives the kid the impression that they’re not respected. Now, if they really aren’t, parents should have a discussion with them if they ask, and tell them exactly why they’re not ready. Usually, they’ll understand.
It’s best when kids have parents or other growns they can talk with and learn about what all that stuff means. Love and compassion do a LOT more to raise up a child right than limitation and condemnation.
Its interesting the word has quite a respectable origin in that is an a acronym from The British Military Reprimand meaning Found Using Carnal Knowledge … and headed the report just as other reprimands like AWOL . Also Shit has a wonderful Naval meaning in that crates of Manure where stamped Ship High In Transport S.H.I.T so as not to gas up and ignite and blow the lower hold of the ship. Would be fun to see that stamped on Cargo crates in the Enterprise hold.
Great story about Carnal Knowledge, but the cuss word has been around for hundreds of years. See the trusty Wikipedia: a profane English-language word[1] which often refers to the act of sexual intercourse but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to denote disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to around 1475. In modern usage, the term fck and its derivatives (such as fcker and fcking) can be used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, an interjection or an adverb. There are many common phrases that employ the word as well as compounds that incorporate it
That S word has been traced back to Old English and Middle English ….
But those are *great* stories to tell a kid with an absolutely straight face!
JFT your agression is typical of the people who use F bombs in the name of liberal language use, when secretly their vocabulary is embarrassingly limited.
Sully, you’re judging his entire language skillset based on one internet comment, and blanket labeling anyone who uses curse words as having low-level intellects because of it. Who REALLY looks the fool here?
Oh come on T’Pol’s Beard. Anyone so facetious as to say that TV isn’t for someone’s child for voicing an opinion surely doesn’t demonstrate much in the way of evidence to suggest they can offer a well-structured argument. Also, your own deliciously ironic final sentence entirely sabotages your attempt to claim the moral high ground; serving only to add further weight to my ‘F-bomb/low intellect’ premise.
I blame Kurtzman for bringing this sort of demographic to these pages, what with JJverse/DIS’s dumbed-down ‘space magic’, where once we had speculative concepts that were grounded in real world physics. The Alcubiere drives of old have been replaced by magic blood, mushroom realms and spore drives. F-bombs are but a symptom of this wider problem and the elephant in the room; the choice to target a less intellectual audience for ratings. I just think it’s a shame and robs Star Trek of its greatest appeal.
It’s not everybody’s problem that 1. Someone didn’t use a condom or get an abortion, and 2. Has an absurd attachment to a silly taboo about a simple word that they want to force on their kids and the rest of society. You don’t get to censor reality just because it makes you uncomfortable. Kids hearing and saying the F-word is ZERO problem. It harms nothing but some small-minded sense of social norms that are as outdated as they are absurd. And you lost this one, just like in the real world, people on Star Trek use the F-word. So get your box of tissue to cry into. It’s 2020. Get used to it. :)
“If your kids are so delicate that they cannot even hear the word “fuck”, perhaps TV isn’t for them. This is so absurd.” <– +1. And ACpilot's friends are hearing it on the school playground.
I’m from Australia and we swear 10 times as much as Americans, we regularly use the C word in casual conversation. However, with little kids it is very different. If our kids are at school or in public and use those kinds of words we still get judged and even possibly fined for our children’s offensive behaviour. Also in the workplace you would not use that kind of language in a professional context. So it makes perfect sense to want to remove such language from what use to be family show.
I don’t think anyone is saying that the desire for a “profanity-free” series doesn’t make sense, just that the idea that we can’t let our kids hear profanity is a bit much in 2020.
The key (as I see it) is not to hide our kids from it, but to teach them when is and isn’t an appropriate place to use it.
I made sure my son knew he couldn’t use it at school or in proper company, and as long as he abided by that, he was free to use it around the house. In the end, he rarely swore at all (and still doesn’t as an adult) and I think I owe a lot of that to the fact that I didn’t make swearing out to be some kind of cardinal sin. It’s a thing that exists, and has it’s place.
We may disagree whether it has a place in Star Trek, and I understand some parents disappointment in seeing it in the show because they feel they can’t let their kids watch it then… but frankly, if you’re not letting your 10 year old watch Star Trek because of some curse words, you’re doing your kids a MASSIVE disservice.
We’re humans. It’s okay. I get a real kick out of all the Amazon reviews that start out with “I couldn’t watch because of all the F-bombs” … then you missed a good show, bud, sorry.
I was about to say, “FFS …!” Brits are simply amazed at the big deal we Americans make over this word.
LOL thank you for saying it your way JFT, Luke, and T’Pol’s Beard.
Also the children of the parents in the upright citizens’ brigade are gonna get a big feckin shock if they join the military, heheheheheheh
The F-bombs are great and 100% harmless. Your silly attachment to an arbitrary taboo passed down to you for zero logical reason is not.
It’s called considerate behaviour and social awareness. Empathy too often.
No rational reason to perpetuate an arbitrary taboo about a simple word and waste everyone’s time with an absurd ban on a word that is used to express everything from joy to anger. Empathy is empathy. Being upset by the F-word is mental fragility and intellectual deficit. Get out of your culture, norms and time you were born in and think for yourself. Small.
Hear hear!
As a parent who would have had to deal with a late afternoon phone call from a principal when one of our kids used that in school, I get a bit annoyed with the ‘don’t be absurd’ rants that happen every time a parent says that this is a consideration.
Using the f-bomb may be your real life, but it’s completely outside of norms for school aged kids.
Kids where we are get heavy social sanctions for using those words. That’s their real life. Time wasted languishing outside the principal’s office, expulsion from shops or public transit, warnings and expulsions from sports for abusive language. So let’s not pretend that it’s not something that we need to manage, and perhaps there are other issues we’d rather take on as parents.
Vulgar language also is not tolerated in many professional workplaces. It definitely will lead to formal reprimands in my workplace.
So as parents, we needed to judge when our kids were ready to see characters they admire and emulate use language the cannot use, and have the self-regulation to adjust their behaviour and language to the environment they are in.
For some kids, that may be at 7 or 8, but for ours, it’s just something they can consistently handle as they head into their teens. I’m really glad that there is a lot of older Trek content where it’s not an issue.
Your point is taken, but not every show is made to your taste, or my grandma’s. You have a choice to watch, or not. You could explain to your children that the word is used on the show but they are not allowed to use it themselves. If you believe McCoy was sullied forever the first time he said “dammit” instead of “blast it,” that Data was forever sullied by saying “oh,,,, sh—–” and so on, well, I guess it merits some discussion in your family. Perhaps about societal values and how producers are trying to appeal to a wide swath of audiences by using certain expressions. Is this necessary? Why or why not?
That is a silly argument. The whole reason the F-bomb was in Disco and Picard was clearly because the writers wanted the shock value of using that specific taboo word. And in the context of the world within the show, its very clearly still a taboo word. Its not like they’re making a statement that this should be an everyday word.
I disagree, I think the “F” words were used for emphasis, and were not haphazardly thrown in. One was used to emphasize Tilly’s youthful exhuberance and passion for what she was doing. The two spoken by the Admiral were to really hammer home what Starfleet proper really thinks of Picard, and how far he has fallen from his previous prestigious role.
Then why in hell do you say F-bomb instead of FUCK?
To say “The fucks are great” could be misunderstood. F-bombs makes it clear you are talking about the word being spoken.
Ah, that makes sense
[Plugging ears]
Oh, mah stahs …
Sorry but I agree with OP here. I know I am a relic and that it’s the norm these days to let the expletives fly. But I just find swear words to be ugly. Particularly the F-word.
I don’t say it, my wife doesn’t say it, and my kids don’t either. And I have no intention on teaching it to them. I am sure when they get older they will learn it from their friends and will probably let the F-bombs fly. If so, it is what it is. But they won’t learn it from me.
I love it that my children are children. And few things seem less childlike to me than a 7-year-old throwing out F-bombs.
Each person has a level of tolerance regarding language and therefore I don’t expect my values to be shared by everyone. When TOS came out nearly 60 years ago, the term “damn it Jim” was pretty brutal and considered obscene by many – some may still feel that way. I am not sure when this happened but the word sh*t seems to be totally acceptable on Star Trek although I rarely hear it being used in everyday language. I understand why parents might not want their kids to use the F word – but do they really want their kids running around and saying damn it and sh*t all the time? Unlikely. IMO opinion, either way is fine with me. in the end, if the producers decide they are making a “family g-rated” show, then I expect they will tone down the swearing.
For me it just sounds anachronistic in the context of Star Trek. Just like someone would say Holy Moly, Jinkies,nuff said, Scheibenkleister or Hey Nonny Nonny.
That is cracking me up odradek! “Jinkies, LOL!
But anachronisms are eternal in entertainment. Listen to a guy mutter about “walking freezer unit” in regard to Sally Kellerman’s character in TOS “Where No Man Has Gone Before” or the patriarchal language in TOS in general.
And check out that hairdo Miss Kitty wears in “Gunsmoke.” Very 1960s but trying to look old-timey.
Sure, we look forward in Trek, but we are filming it in this modern world for a modern audience. And someday, someone will look upon it and find it quaint, just as I find it quaint when Myrna Loy and William Powell drink and “get tight” or “well-oiled” in “The Thin Man” movies.
100% with you. I’d consider myself a failure as a father if my children dropped F bombs every other sentence and consequently sounded ill-mannered and uneducated.
I definitely would not feel like a failure as a father if my son cursed a lot. I’d feel much more a failure if he was bigoted, disdainful of LGBTQ, or hated a show because there weren’t enough white male heroes.
Great news! I’m so happy to hear this.
Cautiously optimistic, but I wish the franchise could branch out with a live action series that doesn’t need to be a prequel or lean on established characters.
I understand and even agree here. But… I saw Mount’s Pike and loved it. And it made me want to see a Pike show. Yes, I want to see a completely new show, too. Technically SH hasn’t done that yet as even Discovery started with that silly Spock connection.
It looks like Lower Decks may be the first to do that.
I agree as well Ian. But its clear they are planning 23 shows in the next decade so I have a feeling we are going to get an original show set in a new timeline. I was completely fine to have new characters in a post-Nemesis show but of course we got Picard instead and that of course is a more exciting prospect to see so many TNG era characters back.
What I do love is how much they are expanding the Trek universe and we are getting a mix of both new and old characters in multiple time periods.
So it will come. I think Discovery wasn’t the huge hit they were originally hoping for and CBS wants to appease old fans more than ever. Picard was the obvious no-brainer but they sort of had to go this way with Pike because of the huge fanfare behind it and I can’t remotely blame them.
Season 3 of Discovery should be that. Well, mostly.
Finally. Yeah!
Finally some good news from 2020. I’d love it to be more episodic and live up to its title – it is a five year mission of exploration. And use the TOS theme!
Finally, after fifty plus years we’re getting the Pike show. I can’t wait! (Is this the longest span between pilot – The Cage – and going to series?)
Yeah, that is pretty well for sure: 1966 to 2022-23!
Sorry, but I’m just so excited: I’ve been wanting a Pike show since if first saw The Menagerie and The Cage. I’d love it if they phase in some of the TOS characters as the series progresses, especially the older ones.
Let’s see a young Scotty in engineering, Bones come on as a junior doctor under Boyce and then Piper, maybe a young Sulu in science.
But not Kirk. Am I right in recalling that Kirk only met Pike once before the Menagerie, at the handover?
They met when pike was promoted to fleet capt.
Don’t worry, that is definitely going to happen lol. That’s why this is just more exciting for people because this can be a TRUE TOS prequel in a way Discovery couldn’t. Now they can bring in a young Uhura, Scotty, whoever they want frankly As you said Boyce will be there but it still possible to have Bones too. And it doesn’t feel forced. No one has to be anyone’s sibling to show up on this show in time. Even Kirk can show up, just not in the same scenes with Pike basically. So they can easily get over that creatively and have a Kirk and Spock meet up (which is what we all really want to see anyway).
It’s sort of the best of both of worlds! :)
BRING IT ON!
The same people who complained that Discovery was a prequel to Kirk’s Star Trek will say NOTHING about Strange New Worlds also being a prequel to Kirk’s Star Trek.
And when Klingons show up still looking like they did in Discovery they will also say nothing…
…ideally CBS All Access won’t resort to racist casting practices from the 1960’s to pander to DIS’ detractors by hiring white actors in blackface to portray Klingons like it was done 60 years ago.
Honestly I’m not sure if you’re being edgy or not but this is fantastic
I’m being factual. Most Klingons in TOS were white people in black makeup. So were several of them in Enterprise when they were stricken with the Augment virus.
Compare images of the human-looking Klingons from either TOS or ENT against Voq in season two of Discovery and they look the same. All it took to be a Klingon back then was black-colored skin and facial hair. It’s atrocious, but since it’s canonical that is what DIS’ detractors want.
Anyone who says they want TMP/TNG/DS9/VOY/pre-Augment virus ENT Klingons on Discovery is being a hypocrite since those would not be canonical.
I feel that they were mostly upset that a black woman was the lead – and that the kiddy booster chair that straight white men are extended to help raise them up was not present. They complained about the “writing.” I didn’t buy it. The show was great. It’s just upsetting to them to actually see other people in the hero role that look like the rest of humanity and not their little group artificially propped up with freely handed out advantage and privilege. It’s not the 1960’s anymore kids. Women, people of color and LGBT people are no longer ignored so your little minority group of straight white guys gets special privileges just because. I know you were used to it being that way. You were used to seeing your sub-genre of human advanced over others as the centre of the story. But sorry fan boys, that’s ending. Deal with it. :)
Sisko was black and Janeway was a woman. Anyone who didn’t like Discovery because the lead is a black woman is not a fan of Star Trek. They’re i-m-b-e-c-i-l-e-s with an Internet connection.
And no one had any real issues with DS9 or VOY. What, did Trek fans suddenly become racist and sexist in the last 25 years? Get real. There are legitimate complaints about Discovery (and Picard) but the race and gender of the lead has NEVER been one of them. Not among the bulk of the fans, at least.
While I largely agree that many complaints have valid logic to them, even if I disagree with them, there IS a large contingent of the fandom that is racist and misogynistic and did not like a black female lead.
Did they suddenly become bigoted years later? Yes and no. First, many were probably too young to have been outraged in the mid 90s, and are probably the fans that disliked VOY and DS9. So this is the first time they can air their grievances about “SJW Trek” in first run.
Second, social media just did not exist in the 90s and most people kept their bigotry to themselves because outright racism was just not tolerated. Sadly, today, it seems it’s perfectly OK for someone to come out and hate anyone who isn’t a white man. Look at Boze’s comments above, and the vitriol he clearly has for minorities, and the LGBTQ community.
Again, ML, to repeat, a lot of the criticism of DSC and PIC is perfectly valid, even among those who hate it outright. I like it, you don’t, and that’s perfectly fine. But I think you’re doing a bit of disservice to those who defend it by saying that there is NOBODY who hates it out of racism or bigotry.
A LOT of people are VERY bothered by having a black woman in charge. A LOT of cringey criticism has been levied at DSC and PIC for supposedly pushing a “white man is evil” narrative, which it simply is not.
I never said NOBODY had those objections. My point was that those who feel that way are monumentally small in numbers and, I think at least, in thinking. I, personally, have hardly run into any outright racist or misogynist comments at all here. But then, I haven’t gone out of my way to look for any. I scrolled back up to see Boze’s comment and I would not classify it as a racist comment. In fact, it appeared he was mocking the producers for being racist themselves more than anything. There was no vitrol at all for the groups you mentioned. In my experience it does not seem to be OK to spout out actual racist hatred. In fact, I think such attitudes have been shrinking in society in general.
> In fact, I think such attitudes have been shrinking in society in general.
Sadly, it’s on the rise, and I see it every day. When I lived in the south in the 80s, it was present but largely unspoken. But you could see it. Today, living in central/northeast area, i’ve been shocked to hear people openly spout bigotry that was previously unheard of… and not coincidentally a lot more since 2016.
I had someone tell me (a jewish person) that “I can finally tell you what I think of you people now that I have a President who agrees with me!”
Anecdotal. I’ve traveled quite a bit for work and have only encountered it perhaps twice? And it was not as overt as you seem to see it. This is also anecdotal. But I think looking at society overall that such attitudes are most certainly NOT on the rise.
And BTW… That Jewish person you referenced… What that person said was moronic. But not for the reason I suspect you think.
Your lack of those experiences is also anectodal, but i suspect you won’t accept that. Also you misunderstand: I was the jewish person in that scenario, and the racist was telling me how with Trump as president, he finally felt comfortable openly voicing his antisemtism. Marches on Charlottesville, Covid protestors with sw*stika flags, this is happening. This is real.
Dude… Did you not read my post? I actually said my experience was ALSO anecdotal.
The way you wrote your story it made it sound like the person who said it was a Jewish person. It was actually you, the listener who was Jewish. Gotcha.
Well, that person is an idiot. It is so outrageous it borders on unbelievability. I have yet to find anyone spouting off racist comments claim to be doing so because they foolishly think the President gives them authority to. Only his detractors have been accusing him of that. This is real.
I’m glad you qualified that last statement with “not among the bulk of the fans”, because I was about to call out the powerful inaccuracy of it, otherwise. I have seen a disturbing amount of hatred for Burnham JUST BECAUSE she was African-American and a woman. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit…it’s been digusting to see. IT doesn’t matter that people didn’t seem bothered about it back when Sisko was in command of DS9 and Janeway was in command of Voyager; it’s happening now, and it’s as disgraceful now as it would have been back then. So, yeah…it’s not a widespread situation, but it does exist, and anyone who claims otherwise is being willfully ignorant and completely dishonest.
I do not like to deal with absolutes. Obviously such antiquated feelings still exist. But from my perspective those viewpoints are getting a tiny bit smaller and smaller every day. I would argue that things on that front are much better now than they were even a decade ago. For sure multiple decades. Maybe I don’t peruse the places you do but I have not seen ONE post anywhere that was annoyed with the STD lead being the gender and race she is. In fact, most of gone out of their way to praise her previous work. Probably in an attempt to avoid someone claiming they were just being racist. Which, quite frankly, is the sad part of all this.
Exactly Shatter, and then there’s an amusing sub-group who hate to have homosexuals “shoved down their throat” [I kid you not, that was the expression they used, LOL!]
There really aren’t. At least not the ones detractors have made, i.e. setting (prequel), Klingons (the only other option than portraying them as they were was to use white actors in blackface as no other version of Klingon would be canonical to the era), or tone (people’s idea of Trek on TV is mainly colored by what was allowed to be done on network or syndicated TV in the 60’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s, a medium well-known for being under the constrained of censorship. Streaming is entirely different and doesn’t have to abide by those same rules, a fact many people still have a hard time grasping).
“What, did Trek fans suddenly become racist and sexist in the last 25 years? Get real. There are legitimate complaints about Discovery (and Picard) but the race and gender of the lead has NEVER been one of them.”
It’s just the usual suspects trying to shut down a diversity (teehee!) of viewpoints, as they always do, by using the ugly R-word as a weapon.
MSG is a baaad actress playing a baaad character, a Mary Sue who is overemoting at very instance and not backing up her super hero magic with some believable personality traits. And that’s that!
Take everything you just said, flip it opposite, and maybe you’d get something close to the truth.
I’m force to agree with you VS. It is quite common for certain thinking people to just pull out the R word to describe someone who said or did something they don’t like. And often what is said or the action taken has ZERO racist elements in it. It’s just the knee jerk go to comment.
You seem to say you are “forced” a lot. Who is forcing you?
Logic does.
It’s not that she is a woman, it’s that she is a Mary Sue. None of the old shows made their female characters so beyond reproach or near perfect.
Wesley Crusher was literally accused of being a Mary Sue in TNG. And Scotty may have been called a “miracle worker”, but come on. He always had the perfect solve for any given situation, so he was sort of a Mary Sue in a supporting background role.
“Mary Sue” type characters are a staple of sci-fi/fantasy films, tv shows, books, and comics. It’s only become a problem when it’s a woman though. Wonder why…
Fantastic news. Can we please have John Slattery as Dr Boyce?
That’s a brilliant piece of casting but I think they went with someone else.
I prefer Peter Capaldi or Bob Odenkirk.
Capaldi playing the doctor? Too funny to be true :)
If he can fake an American accent, I think he has the right amount of wit, gruff, and gravitas to play Boyce. Though it should be noted that we only ever saw ONE episode with these characters, so I hope producers don’t feel too restrained: they should feel free to make these characters their own.
While I have no problem with overall seasonal arcs, I hope this one is much less serialized, with new, unique adventures each week. Also please bring back Captain’s logs and establishing shots of the old E in orbit around the planet.
Hallelujah!
Just avoid the SJW crap and you’ll have an excellent series!
I am forced to agree. But they also need to get more competent writers than they have had in the previous 3 seasons of nu-Trek.
God forbid Star Trek push a social justice agenda. You know, as it’s done for 50+ years. And before people say that classic stories “brought up issues and let the viewer decide” i’ll say that’s dead wrong! Trek in the 60s, 80s, and 90’s ALWAYS made their statement known loud and clear, and it was amost ALWAYS progressive and left-leaning– sometimes bordering on communism!
Trek stories brought up contemporary issues and told the audience what was right and what was wrong. If you remember it any other way, you were probably just too young to realize it.
Bring on the SJW! I wear the label “Social Justice Warrior” with pride. I mean, if we’re not fighting for social justice, we’re not good people!
Well said!
Hear, hear!
Star Trek has been intentionally progressive for more than 50 years. During the 60’s, it was a big deal to have a Black woman in a professional role on the bridge — just ask Whoopi Goldberg how much of an impression this made on her. It was progressive to have a Russian during the height of the Cold War. It was progressive to have Sulu.
Star Trek has been progressive since its inception, and anyone who doesn’t like that doesn’t really GET Trek. I’ve heard that some stations in the South didn’t show “Plato’s Stepchildren” because of the Kirk/Uhura kiss; it was THAT controversial.
Everyone brings up ‘Last Battlefield’ and it’s a perfect example because the clear message in that episode is how wrong racism is. It wasn’t left up to the viewer. You can’t walk away from that episode thinking anything other than that the writers were telling the audience that judging people by the color of their skin was both wrong and backwards.
Some later episodes of TNG and DS9 did pull back slightly, but they were still making judgements. I just think, by the 80s, it was harder to get social issues past studio execs even when disguised, and producers were probably terrified of alienating any segment of the audience.
Thank heavens today producers of Trek do not care if they alienate bigots.
People only bring up “Last Battlefield” as an example of a terrible way to present your “message” episode. It’s a message that pretty much everyone can get behind but it was done in an over the top in your face way that really left a very bad taste in the viewer’s mouth. Typically those kind of in your face with an obvious message episodes were among the worst of the show. Even though no one could argue with the message being presented. The better Trek’s were the more gray or murky ones. The ones where there was no good option. Where arguments for any action contained both god and bad elements. That was when Trek was at its best. Showing a situation fairly from multiple sides. The favorite example here is A Private Little War.
The original Star Trek was indeed political – but never partisan. That’s the difference!
It was ALWAYS partisan. 100%. To think otherwise is abject denial of reality, full stop.
“The original Star Trek was indeed political – but never partisan.”
William Shatner (R) agrees ;)
@T’Pol’s Beard, Right on!
Star Trek is social justice warrior “crap” in space. That’s why it’s great. Have you ever watched the show? Oh, you thought it was about ray guns and space battles. You thought the “optimism” people always talked about the future representing was what exactly? Hmmmm… straight white guy fanboys upset that the future is not like 1950s TV where a little minority subgenera of humans was always the centre of every story. MAGA snowflakes.
I think many folks have always known Star Trek as progressive, but for some of them there is only one kind of progressive that they could tolerate. One where so-called minorities can have a seat at the table, but it’s a straight white man’s dinner.
Any attempt Star Trek has made to show humanity as it really is and not just a white man’s world (I mean Androian’s calling humans “Pink Skins”, come on!) is decried. But instead of using obviously bigoted terms (racist, homophobic, etc…) they try to cover it up back implying SJW.
Maybe the most accurate observation I have read here. Much kudos, jobryant.
Yes, there is a lot of truth in the analysis jobryant.
But it happened in the 90s too.
There was a lot of disrespect for Sisko as commander of the station, not just the DS9 format, voiced on 1990s discussion boards. The hate voiced in the 90s against Janeway is almost legendary.
So, having representation in the starring role was an issue then as now. I’d just expected the audience would be further along by now.
jobryant, great point about “only one kind of progresssive they could tolerate”. As for the Andorian pejorative for humans, yeah, they need to think of a new one ….
“Star Trek is social justice warrior “crap” in space.”
Setting aside the Trumpish nature of ACPilot’s post, perhaps we can talk about whether this is true. I would argue it is not.
The modern identity politics movement (and I’ll say that “SJW” is shorthand for “identity politics”) is “essentialist” — it posits that factors such as race, sex, sexual orientation, and culture make you what you are. (In Star Trek terms, I would call this the “infinite diversity” point.)
But the identity politics movement is adamantly opposed to the sharing of cultures, which it condemns as “cultural appropriation.” (In Star Trek terms, I’d call this the “infinite combination” point.) Thus the outrage from the identity politics crowd about white restauranteurs preparing tacos. It opposes the idea of a melting pot, or probably even a salad bowl, or of a common American national identity that transcends race. In this sense, it is very different from the civil rights movement of the 1950s-early 80s.
If IDIC is condemned as racist, just like white people preparing tacos, then I would indeed say Star Trek is ad odds with modern identity politics.
Interesting points. But when I’ve seen people use the terms SJW as a pejorative, either directed and modern Trek or generally, I don’t think they are suing it in as targeted and specific way as you suggest. Rather, they are using either as a label for progressivism in general, or they are using it as a thinly veiled mask for racist, sexist, or homophobic complaints that there are just too many characters who are not straight white males. If folks want to have a healthy debate about the idea of “cultural appropriation” and how that should be addressed in Trek, wonderful. But that’s not what I’m typically seeing.
“cultural appropriation” seems to be a main topic in Star Trek. Isn’t that what the prime directive is about. Not mixing cultures.
Not mixing *pre-warp* cultures. The Federation is all about mixing cultures.
Think the Federation has racist structures. There is that episode in which Picard says to an alien he doesn’t look scottish. We would consider a person that idenifies a person with asian or african background as non american or non european as racist.
odradek, this is an example of a contemporary reference that has aged VERY badly.
That is an interesting topic. But as a Non-American I don´t even know where to start. Most people in Europe would assume that white people invented tacos. Is that racist?
I don’t know, but it’s certainly ignorant! I am not offended when people call me an SJW. As I said elsewhere, if we’re not fighting for social justice, we’re not good people. EVERYONE should be fighting for social justice. Everyone should be treated equally.
Considering how much things have changed since the 1960s, I don’t expect they are going to tell stories with antiquated themes that we watched 55 years ago! I may be wrong, but I would anticipate the cast will be 50/50 women/men with minorities making up 55 percent plus of the cast. No matter what, I hope it is more episodic so that we can have more standalone stories!
I wish you hadn’t agreed with my comment above about the cursing because this right here is the worst.
Pray tell us, what is the “SJW crap”?
Are you not familiar with Star Trek, like, AT ALL? Star Trek has been openly tackling “social justice” issues for the 50+ years of its existence, and not even subtly; the allegories are right there in everyone’s faces for all to see. People complaining about “SJW agendas” in Star Trek are either ignorant to the franchise they claim to be a fan of, or just being hostile and contrarian because [fill in idiotic reason here].
The best Trek news in a very long time! YES!
I agree, YES!
I wonder, might we get the classic trek intro– “Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Her mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no human has gone before!”
They MUST.
Unless they say “Where no man has gone before” then best to not use it at all.
Boy you are nitpicky! That’s pretty sad. I think “where no human” works just fine!
But there are non-humans on the Enterprise, aren’t there? Besides, I’m not the one being nit picky. It was someone else who decided to change man (has in all human kind) to one. Why is that not nit picky?
See my comment below.
Your comment where you claim as long as there is no “man” in it you are good with it?
I like “no one” . Human is humanocentric, and it’s supposed to be the Federation’s flagship.
How about, “where no one has gone before”
“where no biped has gone before”
The possibilities are endless
Are there no women on the ship? This “man” stuff was dropped in the 80s. Have you seen TNG?
So you have never heard of the term “mankind”? Man has often been used to refer to all humans. Not just one gender. It’s quite common. Should we start banning terms like huMANity too?
By that rationale, huMAN is out too… 😉
Don’t forget woMAN.
I’ve always taken the use of “man” here to mean mankind.
Mark, you are treating that word the way the bulk of English speakers do. It is proper that you do that.
There’s a reason language has been evolving.
You may not have felt left out by ‘mankind’, but if you check in with women, they may not have really shared your reaction.
Not one woman I know has ever felt slighted by it. They all understood the definition of that use of the word. Wait… I take it back… My friend’s brother’s wife had an issue with it. But she has an issue with everything it seems. She’s pretty hard to talk to because she gets offended at nearly anything one says.
How about humankind.
I like the idea of humans being kind.
It’s not a ship of humans. Seen the show? There are lots of humans but maybe you’ve heard of a character called Spock? And seen other non-humans on the bridge?
Oh you’re right! My apologies. As long as it’s not “man” i’m fine with it.
Where no man has gone before.
Nothing wrong with that line.
Man: A human being of either sex; a person
Nope. And Gene changed it to “no one”… hence the change from the sexist language. You are making a false and silly argument. Must be hard living in our modern world with equality and all.
Gene being the genesis behind the change doesn’t make your point. Gene made a ton of bad decisions. There is nothing “sexist” about using the term “man” when referencing all of “mankind”. It’s part of the official definition and the only people who have a real issue with it seem to me to be people are just looking for problems and can’t find any real ones.
> the only people who have a real issue with it seem to me to be people are just looking for problems and can’t find any real ones
Yeah, whatever helps you feel better, chief.
You are wrong. It’s not about “feeling better”. I’d “feel better” if this was not the case.
They did away with that in 1987. I don’t understand why you seek to adhere to “man”, and only “man.” You are far too nitpicky, i’ll say again. Your stance amounts to “if it’s not EXACTLY what I want, down to one specific word, it’s not worth doing.” C’mon, take a step back and realize how silly that is!
Change is inevitable. Sure. But there is also nothing wrong with a little tradition particularly when that tradition is harmless. The line is “Where no man has gone before.” Changing it was done just to placate someone who may have had some sort of perceived issue with the word. It really made no sense. According to those who see man as not referring to all human kind, then I guess the Declaration of Independence didn’t apply to women when it claimed that “all men are created equal”.
It didn’t. In effect, at the time of the Declaration, a woman belonged to her husband, or to her father if she was not married. Women were definitely not considered equal to men in those days.
But the definition of the word was the same. And legal interpretations have cemented that definition.
Where no ONE has gone before.
Simple. No mention of species or gender, so Spock and Number One are both included. :-)
Except that it is claiming that no being whatsoever has been there. So there is no new life or civilizations to find.
“Where no member of the Federation, in an officially-sanctioned mission, has gone before”
Sure. Let’s go with that. LOL!
Love it. Or, more practically, I suppose you could say “where none of us have gone before”.
@Macindoc: Who is “us” in “none of us”? Just the crew we see on the show?
They can still go to places where life has developed on its own. It hasn’t gone there, it has developed in place.
In the end, this is a pointless quibble.
Yeah, that’s been there for a long time now. It was right to do it when TNG came and IF they have to that opener that would be the one that causes the least amount of yelling. ;)
I am forced to acknowledge that nice little nod in the final Captain’s log at the end of TUC. Ending with… “They will continue the voyages we have begun and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man – or no one – has gone before.”
Yes that’s what I was thinking of as well. Even they acknowledged that was a better way to go by then. I don’t think it’s offensive to use ‘man’ or anything (but I am a man lol) but I think ‘one’ just fits better in today’s society, moreso now than when TNG premiered.
But again, this is all funny, everyone is arguing over something that may not even happen lol.
No no… It wasn’t done to acknowledge it was the better way to go. It was done as a nod to the change that was done in TNG. It was not judging. It was just another clue that when he mentioned the new crews it referred to Picard & Co.
I don’t think it fits better today. No “one” still makes no sense.
But I don’t think they will use the opening preamble. It’s been done twice already. Not a good idea to do so again.
Ok, now you’re talking absolute nonsense. The term “one” refers to EVERYONE. As you even pointed out, there are more than “mankind” on the enterprise, so even if “man” meant mankind, by your own logic, it shouldn’t be used.
For someone who keeps insisting that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, you sure do like to talk about how your line of thought is the only correct one.
By take on this matter is guided by actual definitions of English words. Also on syntax and how they are used. It was quite obviously added as a friendly nod to the change made in TNG. Again, obviously, he referenced future crews. TNG. And then to cement the point home “or no one” was thrown in there. It is a bit foolish to assume I do not know what “one” means especially in that context.
I for one thought it was a nice shout out. That is my opinion. You can think it was not a nice shout out. Your prerogative.
All I know about this decades long debate over “one” or the other “man” is that in the KU “man” certainly seems nonsensical to Starships’ captains Gorn and Horta when they recite it as part of their Starfleet oath.
Meanwhile, I’m left pondering how giving a guy a flag entitles him to redefine “warp speed” as as “bigger and faster”?
YES!!!
Fantastic news and the title I Was hoping for as it sets a certain expectation for ‘planet of the week’ style storytelling. Don’t get me wrong I expect a modern take on this concept but if any Trek show should buck the trend of season long narratives it’s this one.
If it’s episodic, if it’s well written, if it’s not the same tone as DIS and PIC, maybe ***maybe*** there’s a chance that Kurtzman and his minions do something really Star Trek.
This news should fill my heart with joy and impatience. Having watched DIS and PIC, I’m now scared to see the result.
Minions? Comment sections are so dramatic….
Something good finally resulted from Discovery. Can’t wait.
2 seasons, some short Treks, a Picard spinoff, and now this! Discovery changed the game for CBS, and delivered so much great content for fans to enjoy! Glad to see more fans like you are really enjoying all these wonderful shows. Cheers Denny! We should do a virtual watch party for Discovery Season 3!
LOL, yeah let’s hope this one is WAAAAY better Denny C!
I remain hopeful though. At least we know they got the main characters right (and why so many wanted a show in the firs place). But I know your feelings on Discovery, so it will be easier for fans like you who don’t like that show to completely ignore it since its so far into the future and see the Pike show as the true prequel to TOS now.
I will watch it. I think Anson Mount is great as Pike. And I know a lot of fans wanted this after the Pike arc on “Discovery,” but it seems so limiting to base a series around these characters.
We know where Pike and Spock end up. We know the Enterprise will survive to be Kirk’s. And we know the Federation will survive whatever threat they encounter.
So where does the tension of the stories go?
I’ve thought about this as well, but I don’t think it has to be an issue. Here is why.
We know the fates of Pike, Spock, and the Enterprise. But don’t know the fates of Number One, Boyce, and any other cast members they introduce us to. So it is possible to add tension there.
And I don’t think the Federation needs to be threatened to add tension. The Federation has been threatened enough. It’s old news. If they make the stories smaller, it would do wonders.
Also, I don’t completely buy the idea that knowing the long term fates of characters robs the story of tension. Case in point, one of my favorite TNG episodes, “Cause and Effect”.
I missed this episode during its initial airing, catching it during summer reruns. And because this was before the internet, I had no idea the episode was about the E getting destroyed over and over again. Since I didn’t miss the following week’s episode, and many thereafter, I saw the E and her crew alive and well. But upon finally watching it, seeing the E get destroyed during the opening teaser was still a WTF moment. And I found myself saying “how they hell are they going to get through this?”, even though I already knew they would. I was captivated.
In short, as long as the writing is good, it is still very possible to have tension in the story, even when you know the characters will make it through.
Adding to this, Dr. Piper appeared in “Where No Man Has Gone Before” before Dr. McCoy appeared onscreen… So many possibilities.
Tension doesn’t always come from the fate of characters. Otherwise, why do bio-pics, or dramatizations of real events? The excitement and enjoyment comes from interesting stories, good characters, and strong performances.
Saying a prequel can’t be exciting, tense, or fun, is very narrow minded, indeed, and has been argued up and down for decades. If a prequel takes all the tension away from a story for you, then this story just isn’t for you.
When I watched the movie Apollo 13 I was still on the edge of my seat. It can be done.
Also, it’s Star Trek. Pretty much anything is possible.
That movie is the PERFECT retort for those who make these claims. What a great film! And yes– even knowing how it ended, I was still on the edge of my seat, as the situation deteriorated. Getting goosebumps just thinking about it!
When TNG first aired, I knew with 100% certainty that Picard, Riker, and Data wouldn’t be killed off, and that the Enterprise-D would not be destroyed. But they still managed to do some decent storytelling.
We could be pretty sure on all previous Trek shows that they wouldn’t kill any of the leads and that the Federation would survive. Still, these shows managed to create tension. Maybe having stakes that are lower than “the fate of the universe” will actually do them good.
Absolutely fantastic, fan-tas-tic! Like the show’s title, too. Well, never thought I’d welcome another prequel series, but here we are.
Well Captain Pike deserved this.
Sign me up! Strange New World’s is totally legit! Yes, Pike is getting his own show.
Fantastic, I would watch this right now if having the opportunity. Captain Pike earned it.
Super excited about this. :) I’m glad it’s finally official.
as long as alex kurtzman is in charge. i expect this series to suck like picard and discovery.
kurtzman is a shallow awful writer. his stories are generic and derivative, backed up with constant cgi fighting and action.
Noah Hawley should be the head runner of star trek not the guy who wrote the transformers films.
Heyyyyy. That’s not a bad idea.
Been saying that for months already.
Kurtz is not the Show runner….
show run into grounder is more like it.
I’m woefully behind on my discovery watching (personal stuff eating up my time) so my only exposure to this particular cast has been the short treks, but omg it left me salivating for more. This is fantastic news!
Great news! Outstanding Chemistry between these three. I look forward to watch ALL the new shows coming up!
Good news bad news at it’s height.
I’m happy we are getting the Pike driven show. Not happy at the names I saw attached as producers. I have a terrible fear we are going to get garbage. I REALLY want to be wrong. This show has now become the 2nd most looked forward to show after Lower Decks for me.
I still think it would have been better had they reached out to Coto and gave him free reign to do whatever he wanted creatively. The only time the showrunner would contact Secret Hideout would be to ask about budget.
This is a very mixed bag for me.
Yeah I have mixed feelings about it.
Yeah, not shocked who is behind the show so a bit mixed as well but have to remain optimistic. Someone like Manny Coto would kill doing this show. That guy understand how to make good Star Trek. Goldsman just seem to think he does based on his input in Discovery and Picard.
If you hate Discovery and Picard odds are pretty good you’re going to hate this one too. It is what it is.
I’d say odds are you are correct. And I didn’t hate Picard. I was disappointed with it but it was marginally better than Discovery.
Yeah I’m in that boat too and been saying that for months. People who were shouting ‘BRING ON A PIKE SHOW’ but with the same breath says ‘DISCOVERY/PICARD SUCKS’ most likely won’t like this any more than those.
Could be wrong of course but if Pike does the same serialized approach and the first season is about stopping a virus created by Rogue Tellerites that Section 31 stole to wipe out the Breen who started a side war with the Andorians who is secretly creating advance augment technology to get ahead of the Klingons will most likely be bitterly disappointed. ;)
“I still think it would have been better had they reached out to Coto and gave him free reign to do whatever he wanted creatively.”
The “problem” with Coto is he “swings the other way” ideologically (“outed” himself on Twitter, since sanitized his account to keep getting work in Hollywood, obviously) and with the current Trek regime and their ideological purity filter for the entire background staff, from actors, producers and writers to “science adviser” (tats and all), the chance is literally zero for an intellectual, thoughtful Conservative or even Independent to be hired for any of these shows, in any position. At a time when these very same people endlessly tout their commitment to “diversity”, the irony and hypocrisy couldn’t be bigger!
This is almost perfect news. I’m bummed that Kurtzman and Goldsman are writing the first episode, but I am hopeful other writers will come along. What’s the possibility of getting Manny Coto back to Trek?
My guess… Slim to none, sadly. I really think he deserves this shot as a reward for reviving Enterprise.
I would honestly rather Coto revive Enterprise on CBSAA as a miniseries, to cap things off. But I wouldn’t say never on him for a Trek show: he’s had a distinguished career since Enterprise, much like Fuller, having worked on Dexter, 24, and a high profile project for Fox called “neXt” debuting this or next year.
Keep Manny Coto’s paws off this. I too would like some new blood, and don’t wish Akiva or Kurtzman to be in charge, but let’s get someone fresh, we don’t need to go from one hack to another! How about Noah Hawley, since he’s already working on Trek, or Frank Darabont? My personal pick would be Graham Yost (Justified).
That said, if they’re going to bring ANY Trek alum back, i’d like to see Ron Moore return.
I’d like to see more of the Trek novel writers brought in. They’ve done a lot of solid creative work across all the eras.
Some of them have television writing credits. e.g. David Mack has 2 DS9 credits, including “It’s only a paper moon.”
Others got into writing novels after trying to submit spec scripts once Braga and co effectively shut the door on spec writers in the 90s. Kirsten Beyer and others were shuffled over to the Trek team at Simon & Schuster after submitting scripts.
I don’t mind the idea of novel writers being in the writers room, or pitching episodes, but not every prose writer is well suited for film/television. Frankly, I’d prefer writers who AREN’T lifelong fans, who can come in and give a fresh perspective. Let them get acquainted with the franchise, watch old episodes, and come up with something new.
That is an idea not entirely without merit, T’Pol’s Beard.
Nick Meyer is still the best director/showrunner in Trek history, in terms of rejuvenating the franchise. And he admittedly was never a Trek fan, had never seen a single episode, and wrote a film that was very “un” Star Trek. Very military inspired.
Michael Piller, likewise, was not a lifelong fan. Just a journeyman script writer. Sometimes it works, as with Ron Moore, or Ira Behr, but more often than not you get people who’s reverence for the material trumps good storytelling.
“What’s the possibility of getting Manny Coto back to Trek?”
Zero to negative territory, with the current TPTB. See my reply to ML31 for why.
Star Trek renaissance has arrived.
Hopefully Star Trek returns to form. Since it is a decade before Kirk, the possibilities are endless. I’m worried Kurtzman is involved but also excited and wishful for optimism.
I’m looking forward to this more than Lower Decks. The other new Star Trek shows belong in a burning trash can.
Mixed feelings for the most part.
waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG! OMG! This is so awesome!
“optimism and the future”
So the opposite of Discovery.
Good.
DISCOVERY takes place in the FUTURE.
All of the shows take place in the future?
Discovery is in the future though?
Sorry, should have been more clear. The future Discovery shows is very pessimistic and grim (at least until mid-late season 2). I look forward to a more optimistic Trek…
These actors have shown us that they can play the hell out of these characters. Now it all depends on the writing.
I’m both eager and excited AND anxious and fearful. Spock is very real to me and very important to me, and I really, really, REALLY don’t want them to mess him up. PLEASE make every writer re-watch all of TOS in production order, so they understand his character thoroughly. Then go forth and write something wonderful for these characters to do.
And could you leave the “dark” and “gritty” stuff to Discovery, if you must have it at all? We don’t know much about Number One, but Pike and Spock are both hugely intelligent men with incredibly virtuous ethics. You can give them character development, sure, but please, don’t try to make them interesting by giving them more flaws than they have in canon; they’re perfectly interesting just as they are.
I’m very much hoping that ViacomCBS, CBSAA, and Secret Hideout have become very aware of how valuable an optimistic, aspirational franchise is now.
No need to try to pull in the grimdark audience when the audience is looking for something different during and after the pandemic.
Rather, it’s time to lean into Trek’s historic strengths as the market shifts to it.
Proper Star Trek!
I rarely post things (not for lack of interest), but DAMN THAT’S GOOD NEWS!