With the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery only a few months away and filming to start later this month, we get our first interview with Doug Jones on the new alien character of Lt. Saru.
As the show hasn’t even begun filming yet (filming should start later this month, according to Jones), there is not much to be said about what Discovery will bring.
“I don’t know much!” said Jones of Discovery. Still, it’s exciting to see a member of our newest Star Trek family talking about the show and his previous knowledge of the Trek universe.
Doug Jones sat down with IGN to promote his upcoming film The Bye Bye Man, and talked a little about Star Trek: Discovery, too.
“What I can tell you is what’s already been out there. I am a new breed of alien that you’ve never seen on the series before, or in any of the movies, which I’m tickled pink about. That I get to, from the ground up, help develop and find this character, and this species, and what we’re all about… This is a whole new thing that we get to discover together, which I’m really excited about.”
One new piece of information we did get, however, is the correct pronunciation of the character’s name. Lt. Saru is pronounced “suh-roo” (emphasis on the roo).
“How can you watch tv and film and not be a fan” = not a fan.
If he spent any time watching Voyager or DS9 or 80% of TOS, then of course he’s not a fan. How could he be?
Who cares about TOS? It’s not really of any relevance to anyone under 45. Sure, a few 80’s kids who’s parents watched it might have some interest, but they aren’t really the people paying out the majority of Netflix subscriptions. Average viewership fail.
I have absolutely no idea how this is going to air in 4 months if they’re not even going to begin filming until the end of this month. The show runner is gone, storyboards need to be drawn up (much less finalized), there are scripts to learn, wardrobe, post production, VFX, sound design, and that’s all on the assumption that the sets for every episode are already constructed, staff hired, equipment in place, even the god damned canteen arrangements.
Where is any evidence of that? Where are the twitter posts of teaser set images? Uniforms? Concept designs? Paparazzi shots of people leaving and entering soudn stages?
Any single shred of info which might lead us to think this is nothing more than still on the drawing board with just 16 weeks to go?!
If this doesn’t get pushed back again I’ll be VERY surprised, and I’m fully expecting it to get canned completely until “the fall” (as muricans say). How on earth can the lead roles STILL have no idea WTF is happening at such a late stage?
Pick out any leading NetFlix original series with huge amounts of money being thrown at it, and in no reality can you expect to have a new season thrown out every 4 months.
It’s absurd. Utterly absurd.
A. Discovery has been in pre-production now for 10 months. Yes it got delayed but even when it got delayed they had planned to start shooting in October for a January release. Now they are shooting in January for a May release, so sounds about right.
B. This show is NOT on Netflix that shoots the entire season before it runs. This will be shot more traditionally meaning the show will be shown weekly and will probably still be shooting when the first episode airs although probably at the end of the shoot by then. Majority of shows are barely halfway through shooting the season on network shows when the first episode airs that season.
C. TV is not movies. The LOST pilot, a 92 minute episode that cost over $10 million was all written, went into pre-production, casting, building sets, shooting and edited in 11 weeks times. Thats 2 and a half months. And I’ll repeat that INCLUDES from when the network decided it was interested in the show, not just when they shot it. The entire pilot went from conception to a locked episode in under 3 months. Discovery has been in prep for nearly a year now. TV is just a different monster, they need time to get stuff done, especially FX heavy shows but you can shoot a pilot in practically no time compared to films.
D. Just to make this clear, last Star Trek show, Enterprise shot its pilot around May of 2001 for a premiere of that September. Yep, four months. This is pretty standard for TV shows.
So its not absurd, you make it sound like they just started a week ago when they were teasing us little things like the alien designs and what the Captain chair looked like back in the summer.
Of course it’s going to be shown weekly. How else to sucker people into useless CBS streaming services.
Being shown weekly and being produced weekly are two very different things.
For example, The Grand Tour is shown weekly. Production of these 12 episode seasons wraps up long before they begin to play out to viewers, regardless of being on TV or online. Whether or not they can be binge watched is irrelevant to the production times.
Yeah but thats not how traditional TV normally works. 90% of the time they are shot on a 9-10 month schedule, ie, all year. Cable shows the schedule is shorter since there are fewer episodes but the method is the same. Most of them are still shooting when they air. Not all, I think GOT shoot all their episodes before they air but thats a big production and only have 10 episodes but most others do. This is no different and its a CBS show, this how they shoot all their shows.
Not everything is done the same way and comparing something like the Grand Tour is irrelevant because thats just a car show. Most information and reality type shows are shot in advance before the premiere for the simply reality they require way less production time and turn around. I mean this is a no brainer and apples and oranges to a 1 hour drama, especially one that requires a lot of FX work.
Agree on all but one point; reality shows take a HUGE post production effort since many of them run dozens of cameras all day long. It requires a battalion of production assistants and interns viewing and logging hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of footage prior to assembling a cut. And there are usually more editors involved than in a scripted show, as well.
But, yeah, the production side is generally less demanding than scripted programs and you are also correct about how networks put their production schedules together. At least in my world (a cable TV channel owned by the same folks that own CBS), every series we run is still shooting its final episodes as the first episode premieres. Usually there is a 2-4 month hiatus between seasons that lets everyone decompress and gives the actors a chance to work on something else. It’s worked this way for decades.
No I understand that, I’m not saying reality shows don’t have a lot of editing in post but compared to a heavy FX show where effects of one episode takes months to produce is different. I watch Survivor (yep still do lol) and I’m always in awe just how well they edit those shows and create ‘story lines’ around them. Its pretty impressive in its own right.
Wow interesting you run a cable channel. I bet LOTS of stories there!
I wouldn’t say I run it, that would definitely be overstating it! I just run a department within it. We deal with accelerated file transfer technology, archival services, post production media management, delivery file quality control and some other more arcane stuff.
But yeah, I have a few stories.
Well still cool! :) I can imagine its a super busy job though.
Only Amazon and Netflix shows all their shows at once. All the other streaming sites its done the weekly traditional method. And dude if you are that bothered you can simply wait until the show is over and binge watch the thing in a few days. Not exactly a big deal.
“his show is NOT on Netflix that shoots the entire season before it runs. This will be shot more traditionally meaning the show will be shown weekly and will probably still be shooting when the first episode airs although probably at the end of the shoot by then.”
You can’t counter an argument by stating that things are “probably”. On what basis are you formulating the probability of that? Clearly you’re making it up to suit. This isn’t a soap opera, it’s not churning out 25 episodes per year on a 3 month production delay. The series is going to be shot and produced to completion before the first show airs, as has been stated on numerous occasions.
Huh??? I’m simply stating its being shot traditionally as MOST network and cable shows are made. What are you talking about? This is being made by CBS this is HOW they shoot their shows.
“Clearly you’re making it up to suit. This isn’t a soap opera, it’s not churning out 25 episodes per year on a 3 month production delay. The series is going to be shot and produced to completion before the first show airs, as has been stated on numerous occasions.”
And man clearly YOU are the one making things up. Bryan Fuller said this about the schedule months ago back in JUNE:
Question: “When is the shooting schedule?”
Fuller: “We start in September.”
Question: “And you go until?”
Fuller: “Probably March.”
And in case you need direct proof, start the video at 5:45 where he states it clearly:
http://collider.com/new-star-trek-series-details/
Enough ‘basis’ for you now? This is basic math right? If you have a show that originally premiered in January but your shooting schedule was going for September through March then that tells you the plan was to shoot the show in a normal network schedule where they will still be shooting for months after the show premieres.
So who is the one “making it up to suit”? Yeah man, people like you are ridiculous. I give you BASIC facts of how TV shows are shot and I have known for 7 months now they had always planned to shoot it this way because I actually look up things wherever I can before I shoot my mouth off and why I knew you’re the one who didn’t have a clue, not me.
So yes, this has always been the plan. They are shooting the show like a traditional network show is done. The fact that they are shooting the pilot 4 months before a premiere is standard procedure. It sounds like the show will shoot from January through June now which I said before is a typical thing for network scheduling. You have anything else to say now or would you like to accuse me of making up more things?
That’s not the way this show is being done. The schedule is for six segments to be filmed in advance. Star Trek is not like the other Netflix shows, and will be filmed in a more traditional manner according to Les Moonves. It’s likely to take 5 days of filming per episode, at 16 hour work days. The production for Star Trek will be like anything ever done streaming. It will totally raise the bar on how series will be financed, sold, and produced on line. The franchise has a tradition of raising the bar, and Discovery will be no different.
16 hour work days ? Boo-hoo…Actors are overpaid….and I need to get on that bandwagon. LOL
Just my opinion, but I think they will be lucky to do it in five days per episode. As far as I know, every weekly Trek show has had 6 or 7 day shoots per episode.
A lot of times, productions will overlap and they will shoot several episodes at once. That’s why when you watch a Deep Space Nine episode that’s really heavy on Sisko, the next week’s episode may only have him in one short scene. Since the shoots can run longer than a week (or whenever you have one of the principal actors also performing directing duties like in “Far Beyond the Stars”), certain actors may be unavailable because they’re working on another episode.
Yeah I heard most fantasy/sci shows actually can shoot up 7 to 8 days per episode with all the green screen involved which is still pretty crazy considering they are shooting for a nearly hour production but for any hour long production to shoot in 5 is amazing!
I read GoT will shoot every episode longer since they only have 7 episodes next season but will still keep the same 10 episode schedule. Man that must be a dream for all of them lol.
Yeah, GOT has to be a beast just to keep organized. They have locations in half a dozen countries – just keeping up with the various labor regulations is probably a full time job. I have no idea how many people it takes to wrangle a production of that size – hundreds at a minimum.
We don’t have anything that approaches that scope where I work, so it’s all just speculation on my part.
I definitely think there’s advantages to not being locked into a standard length episode or having to allot for segment lengths that make commercial breaks happen at certain times, it only makes the post more complicated. I’m sure their editors are happy about it. It will be interesting to see if Discovery takes that route or if they will try to keep the run time consistent with broadcast titles. If they do the latter, it opens the door for syndication, though that market is not what it once was.
HBO really got out in front with original programming early in the game, while most of the networks were still trying to squeeze more dollars out of reality programming. Somebody was paying attention and saw the writing on the wall. And now, they’re (HBO) the gold standard.
So why can’t everybody do it? It’s obviously fear, greed and the need to convince shareholders that they are getting the most for their invested dollar, but how do some buck that trend and take risks in programming? I wish I knew. All of us who work in television should be using Kirk’s “Risk is our business” speech as a mantra. Or maybe “nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Sure hope they remember that on the set (and in the edit bay) of Star Trek Discovery.
Honestly I always admired TV production, especially 1 hour series that has to crunch out 20 1 hour episodes a season…every season. The immense work that takes to not only write it but be disciplined enough to get it all done. Its kind of crazy when TOS was out they were shooting 30 episodes a year. Thats insane to me. Now TV is scaling back more and more but the average is still 18 episodes a season and yes because of the syndication thing although as you said its probably not as big anymore thanks to so many other options to view old shows now and why Discovery is coming to All Access in the first place.
But I look at stuff like GoT and its basically a 10 hour film they produce every year. That production look bigger than most mid budget films at a fraction of the cost. I can’t even imagine how hard it is to shoot it every year but as I said I can’t imagine a lot of these shows. HBO took a big gamble and it paid off. But for basically a period piece that shoots in so many places and has so many characters to juggle is a mighty task. Shooting Star Trek is a task too but we know Star Trek has at least the benefit of shooting mostly on sound stages with some location shoots here and there but its actually pretty crazy UNTIL Beyond basically every production of every show and film was made on the Paramount studio lot. Kind of crazy how that franchise manage to basically stay in one place all that time when shows and films are shooting other parts of the world for tax reasons.
But yes I hope too they take bigger chances with Discovery and so far it sounds like they are which is why I’m getting more excited over the prospects.
I noticed carboy hasn’t been back since he accused me of making things up. Notice how basic facts and evidence runs people away. ;D
” Discovery has been in pre-production now for 10 months.”
Indeed, the very point being that zilch has come of it other than signing up some actors who haven’t even seen a shred of pre-production themselves. This is not a good sign at all. It’s largely impossible these days to not have info leak out of production, there should be a huge amount of people involved, some of whom at the bottom levels on little or no sallary (like runners) will not have a huge incentive to follow NDA’s.
Put simply, there IS nothing to leak out.
The series begins production in the next couple of weeks. That’s when things will finally start to pick up.
They have already leaked out things like the ship design back in July, what are you talking about? They showed the Captains chair also in July which implies they have been working on the sets for awhile now, right? You act like as if they have done no work just because they haven’t shown it to us. Not every film and TV show leaks tons of things out to build PR. And my guess is CBS is simply waiting until they have a cast and start filming to show more things. To say there is NOTHING to leak out when they have actually leaked out stuff months ago kind tells you how silly your argument is. They just haven’t leaked out as much as you want. Yeah I like to see more too but that will come, so relax.
Anyway I already dispelled your unfounded notion the show was meant to shoot the whole thing before it premiered so maybe just maybe you’re incorrect on this too. I get it, its the internet and its Star Trek, the two go hand in hand being alarmed over every little thing but it sounds like now that they have cast they are gearing up or they wouldn’t have cast yet. Take a breath, things are proceeding now.
The absence of leaks does not guarantee the absence of something worthy of leaking. That’s circular logic. Just because you don’t believe it’s possible that they could prevent leaks or offer some incentive to keep quiet, doesn’t meant that CBS didn’t. And, I deal with media security in my day job. There are a LOT of ways for people to find out EXACTLY where the leak came from. Anyone implicated in something like that would be blackballed from other productions – AND sued. It would effectively end their career unless they wanted to leave the area and start over somewhere else.
We know that there are scripts, sets, props, costumes. Only once the show is released can you call it a disaster and have any credibility. Until then, it’s just uninformed speculation.
We don’t know for certain the actors haven’t seen a shred of pre-production. In fact “Saru’s” makeup and costumes would have been tested by now, yes? And all the other costumes fitted?
Actors don’t know everything, and there are other things they do know which they are contractually forbidden to mention to the public.
@ Carboy: This is a TV show, not a movie. Back in the TNG/DS9/VOY days they used to shoot a new episode each week. It may take a little longer now if they are going for more ambitious action/VFX sequences but I’d be surprised if they spend more than 2 weeks on a regular episode.
Design work has been going on for months (they released some stuff last summer even if (some) people didn’t like it). Only because we haven’t seen anything more doesn’t mean that they don’t have anything. It only means that CBS hasn’t shared everything they have so far.
Why should there be any paparazzi shots of people leaving sound stages if they haven’t started filming, yet?
TV post production schedules are also much more compressed than what is done for movies. So there’s enough time to get the pilot done for May. And remeber that the show will be released on a weekly basis, not the whole season all at once. So they could still be shooting on the season in May and still make the release in time.
Thank you!
People like Carboy are ridiculous. He seems to think this show was suppose to all be shot before it premiered so now he’s freaking out over his false assumptions. Welcome to the internet. ;)
They haven’t shot anything yet. Once they do a lot more will come out. I remember when Deep Space Nine and Voyager started, nothing was showed outside of what the ship/space station models looked like until after production started. I mean did people also FORGET how clouded in secret the new reboot movie was back in 2009??? The only thing that was shown until the film was completely shot was a website that showed us a corridor. That was literally until they shot the thing and then showed images of the sets, costumes, etc. We didn’t see a single thing until then. JJ Abrams did the exact same thing for The Force Awakens. We weren’t shown anything except a character design on Jakku until they released its first teaser trailer. Its amazing how people have such short term memory on this stuff and not every production does the same thing when it comes to leaks.
Carboy is clueless.
This isn’t a Netflix Show. It’s a CBS show made exclusively for CBS All Access. Netflix is merely an international provider since CBSAA, I guess, is not available internationally.
Originally they were going to license the show internationally to different stations but it sounds like Netflix made them a deal they couldn’t refuse and just had them provide the show. And its probably better in some ways because its going to be in every country Netflix is in.
They are really bending over backwards to get this show since A. It will be the first time ever they will show something weekly as opposed to by season like most of the shows that end up and people can watch new episodes and B. That it will be in every country they run. Netflix is better in some countries vs others because they the deals they get to run movies and TV shows are different in every country.
But knowing in a year they will be providing all of Star Trek everywhere (including the old shows) and now pretty much all of Disney content (Civil War the first film to show up under the new deal) Netflix is going to be more popular than ever.
Tiger2,
Re: Netflix made them a deal they couldn’t refuse
That may be, but THAT didn’t squelch the syndication deal CBS had with Canada [and I suspect others] BEFORE they made the NETFLIX deal which actually supports your reason for why CBS would roll out its production in a traditional network show production time frame.
Carboy
Who cares about TOS? It’s not really of any relevance to anyone under 45.
And you’re judging Doug Jones’s fan cred?
Yeah TOS is totally irrelevant, that’s why they made the last three movies with the TOS characters
And ever since the newbies weened on the spin off series Star Trek has diminished in popularity, faulting in both movies and TV.
A full blown return to the classic series and a full fledged reboot with Kirk, Spock and McCoy is the ultimate answer.
Damn cannon, brush off what’s been done and just create Star Trek from a new start and steer clear of any type of retelling of original stories of any kind.
Look at it as the adventures between the adventures.
I Khan Believe It An\’t Butter,
Re: Star Trek has diminished in popularity, faulting in both movies and TV.
TNG might not have been my cup of tea as a Trek series but I always recognized its value as a Roddenberry series that gave him a platform to tell his tales much like HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL which I WAS (al)most literally weaned on.
Given the journey the first series took o’er these 50 years, I’m not sure of what type of popularity you are metering? Each of the following series produced MORE episodes than the first one and are currently in daily over the air broadcast syndication on the HEROES & ICONS network along with the first.
So even IF they aren’t as popular as the first series is NOW, it seems each is on its way as the first was.
This is SO silly. TOS was cancelled in its 3rd season. Most fans seem to think only the first two were actually good and the third season bad but yes lets look at everything with old nostalgia eyes as if TOS was some huge immense success and the others had little to no success at all with fans.
I’m not putting TOS down, I grew up watching it and why I was a fan in the first place. But people who seem to only like TOS 50 years later needs to let go, seriously. Star Trek has been immensely successful and since literally every Trek show, even Enterprise, manage to get more seasons than TOS initial run (even running two Trek shows together) shows how much the franchise has spread and for the better. I never get people who just want Hollywood to deliver the same thing over and over and why we are now on our third Spider-Man reboot.
I disagree with carboy TOS is something that should be thrown in the closet and forgotten but I disagree with you its Treks sole future. BOTH of these statements are sad to me. And we now have a rebranded TOS $200 million movie series and yet people still aren’t happy how it turned out so maybe that should tell people its better to just leave well enough alone because oddly its the TOS nostalgia people that are hardest to please and why Beyond bombed. Do something new thats not going to get judged and micro analyzed to the 10th degree.
I like seeing something new and unique and probably why DS9 is my favorite show out of all of them. Because it took chances, it actually made Star Trek more adult and bolder. So I’m always happy to see them trying something new with the franchise and try to expand it and not just lazily repeat the same formula over and over. And sounds like they are continuing that message with Discovery even if they are going back the lazy route of setting it around TOS period. But it at least sounds like the show will be night and day from TOS and the others which gives me optimism we are going to see something fresh and unique.
You can discern from his body language that he’s not really a fan but is aware of Star Trek lore. I’m sure he’s watched a few episodes since he got the part because he knew how rabid the fan base would be about his level of knowledge. He did mention he had 30 years of nerdiness behind him, but I don’t think he ever nerded his way into Star Trek.
Didn’t they talk about set construction back in the fall? While they nail down characters and actors and scripts, it’s not hard to imagine them building the sets for, say, the ship interiors, months in advance.
My bigger worry is promotion. While it’s not uncommon for Netflix shows to drop with no promotion (who has really heard about Stranger Things before it debuted?) I feel like Discovery NEEDS that advanced marketing to be successful.
I hope they start releasing trailers shortly after filming.
I think Doug Jones’ Saru will be like Bryan Singer’s previous character The 76th Distillation of Blue (aka Diz) (Chief Engineer) a member of a gaseous species from the gas giant Penumbra who use “motion suits” to interact.
https://trekmovie.com/2011/04/16/exclusive-details-excerpts-from-star-trek-federation-series-proposal/
…or Mr. Zero from Star Trek: Final Frontier:
http://www.startrekff.com/gallery/other-crew/18915677
I really hope they do Bryans Singers Star Trek Federation in the Future.
DS9 is not real Star Trek – No wonder you would want ti see a disrespectful miss-fire like Federation be created.
Thats silly, DS9 is real Star Trek. Just because it doesn’t take place on a space ship doesn’t mean its not Star Trek. Its a fan favorite for a reason.
Blashemy! DS9 is not only real Star Trek it’s the best series with an incredible cast of characters and great continual plot. Plus lots of space battles :) . But anyways, that being said, if I just want to watch a single Trek episode, I go for TNG. DS9 requires watching more than one due to that plotline.
Amen
Yes and no, its true DS9 is more serialized but there are still plenty of episodes you can just watch one episode of. The first four seasons especially. Its the later seasons when it gets more difficult but there are still some standalones. But yes probably until after you watched the show completely once through.
It is absolutely real Trek. That is the most absurd comment I have ever heard regarding that series.
Anybody else think his using the “tickled pink” idiom is a hint, or am I reading into it too much?
Are you thinking that it means the alien he is playing is pink? Otherwise it is not clear what you mean.
He’s pink, ticklish or both?
Did CBS ever confirm the casting of the lead character or did they just take the holidays off? I never heard about an official press release like they did with prior casting news.
The actress from The Walking Dead is the lead.
I’m glad they’re finally starting filming this much. Hopefully that means that we will get to see some pictures and footage before long.
Kind of funny how he will continue the long tradition of an alien playing the “science officer” on the show.
TOS: Spock
TNG: Data (close enough ;))
DS9: Dax
VOY: Actually just realized Voyager never had a steady science officer. Crazy.
ENT: T’Pol
So another alien smarter than us dumb humans.
Janeway was the de facto science officer on Voyager.
Yeah OK I do have to go with Janeway too. Girl is smart as a whip and it was cool to have a Captain that was actually a scientist for a change. That would kind of just make sense when you’re exploring the galaxy. ;)
Except a recurring theme from TNG its entire run was that humans are vastly superior than any other species in the universe.
I don’t believe that. Humans were certainly smarter in the 24th century but they still ran into a lot more advance aliens.
Tiger.. Apparently we watched two different shows. On rare occasion when the crew ran into a hyper-advanced species where it was impossible to even communicate with as they were on such a higher plane… That was the only time they gave respect. Mainly because that race could easily destroy the Big E with just a thought. But apart from that, they would act smug regarding other cultures differences but the subtext was ALWAYS “your society is backwards in this way”. It happened time and time again. Even among their Federation allies.
But isn’t that Star Trek lol. How many times did Kirk enter some new society, watched them for an hour and decided their way of doing things were backwards? Maybe the aliens werent all more ‘advanced’ but it was a common trope that Starfleet shows up and tell them how they are doing it wrong. Oddly the prime directive got stronger later but it happened on most of the shows not just TNG.
Tiger2,
Re: how they are doing it wrong
Definitely from TNG on there was a lot of that and Kirk had a smattering of it, but I came away with the sense that Kirk was more about that they weren’t seeing the whole picture and misinterpreting their data because of it. It wasn’t as much “You are wrong because we [The Federation] are right.” that came after him., i.e. it seemed as if Spock was always asking “How are you going to explain this or that to the Federation?” because Kirk’s solutions were more in tune with the cultures he was aiding than The Federation’s, at least from Kirk’s point of view.
Kirk out on his frontier seemed more “I make the law.” kind of guy in the vain of Socrates’ Benevolent Philosopher King. He made all the Captains that came after seem more like bureaucrats who seem to be saying “I follow the letter of the law.” a lot more than he did in looking for solutions more in the spirit of it.
Tiger,
Yes it is Star Trek in the sense that it was about the human condition and human strengths and weaknesses. But I still found the TNG crew condescending when they “accepted” other societies. Much less so from the TOS crew.
I guess we just see it differently. No biggie but every crew did a lot of soap box standing towards other cultures but thats Star Trek in general since they are the heroes in the story so I never saw it as a big deal.
Data wasn’t actually the science officer. He was the operations officer, like Harry Kim. That’s why he wore gold instead of blue.
Thats what I meant by ‘close enough’. Data wasn’t officially the science officer but he was given all the duties of one since he’s the one that came up with the solutions.
They need to put a “like” button on here!
They actually had one lol. But they also had an ‘dislike’ button too and where things sort of got out of hand. ;)
I hope this doesn’t/hasn’t turned into a “oh he’s not a fan” commentary in the comments. So many interviews of other Trek tv casts who before they started filming their series openly said “y’know I wasn’t a deep fan of Trek, I was an actor and I really enjoyed the potential of the role” or something like that. So lets just see what we’re going to get.
I dont really care if he’s a fan. He’s an actor hired for a role. if he’s good at that, Im thrilled. I’d expect most actors when accepting a series role would research to source material and become knowledgeable. Still doesn’t have to be a fan.
@TUP: From all we know he’s playing a member of a new alien race that we’ve never seen before. So there’s no source material for him to research. Unless the producers want to specifically go for a TOS “vibe” (or any other Star Trek incarnation that’s come before) he doesn’t need to become knowledgeable about any of this. He doesn’t need to know any details about canon. That’s the writers’ job. He just has to flesh out his character (together with the wrters/directors) – and hopefully make him compelling and internally consistent. It would be different if he was playing an established character or at least a member of an established alien race but he’s not.
Thats true
Good point. If he was playing a Vulcan or a Klingon he would have tons of material to study and expected to study. But being unique he can do whatever he wants or whatever the writers write for him.
Tiger2,
Re: Good point.
AND in a prequel of all things!?
I’m not the one who whined when Enterprise introduced the Xindi or the Suliban. ;)
And I find this funny this is aimed at me because I was on this site a few weeks ago actually defending why we never saw the Phlox species on later shows from TOS and beyond after being introduced on Enterprise. As I said at the time the galaxy is a big place, not every species we encounter before means we are going to just stay their best friend forever after that, join the Federation etc. I also noted other examples like being introduce the Deltan in TMP and never seen again in the other films or shows along with a long line of alien species that popped up in TOS but never in TNG or others.
So yeah makes perfect sense to me. But I was never the one shocked a show set in an earlier time would show new species. Its a big galaxy, of course it would.
Tiger2,
Re: I’m not the one who whined
No, but you ARE the one who suggested that prequels have an inherent problem in that new things can’t be introduced without creating canon contradicting problems resulting in the moaning whine of canonistas that you’d rather not have.
I find this whole exchange funny. I said I don’t generally like prequels for two basic reasons: A. I simply like going forward in story telling, not back and B. Yes prequels are simply more handcuffed to what came before, thats just the reality. It doesn’t mean they can’t come up with compelling things but you are STILL handcuffed to it nonetheless, right?
Why DS9 was so great because out of nowhere they decided to not only give that show this huge war arc but then included so many known species as a part of like the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, etc. My point being they were free to do literally anything they want and it was that freedom that could go as big as they want.
Then you had the Xindi war arc on Enterprise (which I recently rewatched) and while they basically had the freedom to create the basic story line it was obvious they were still very handcuffed to canon and why they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) go as big. You can’t make it about some big war if no one has ever heard of it. Why it was basically the Enterprise and in a unknown isolated pocket of space. If that story line happened in the 24th century the story line could’ve been bigger, spread across multiple planets.
So yes new things can be introduced but they still have a limit. I mean this isn’t exactly a new revelation, I simply think its better where you can have complete freedom to tell a story vs wondering if you add this character, species, plot line will effect some episode that was shot 30 years ago, thats all.
And again I find it more funny I’m actually cool with most of the things they actually done in Enterprise and the KT films. Even though I hated the restrictions I didn’t mind stuff like the Ferengi, Borg, more modern look, etc. I don’t love prequels but I actually had few issues with what went against canon. Its the whiners who made it a big deal to the point you have to wonder why are you even bothering? And believe me, that will end up the same with Discovery.
Tiger2,
Re: I find this whole exchange funny.
As do I. The idea that a story that takes place ostensibly centuries ahead of us in our future, which hasn’t happened yet, hamstringing Hollywood creatives MORE severely than stories they chose to unfold in our past, which actually HAS happened, amuses me to no end.
Especially as I ponder your worse case scenario: a STAR TREK prequel series that chooses as its setting to have the ship time travel to some time past the era of we who are discussing this and stranding the ship so that all its tales unfold there.
OMG man, did you just want to argue about this or something? I don’t like prequels, many people don’t for the reasons stated above. How many times can I say it? Its just personal tastes.
And YET I been one the biggest supporter of this show so clearly I’m not just washing my hands of it for simply being a prequel right? I only stated my fundamental issues with ANY prequel stories but I don’t judge it on that alone. I have said over and over again I’m looking forward to the show, excited about the cast, especially the lead, love the Klingons are back, etc. I’m way more positive of the show than not and as said I defended it here and every other article I comment on because believe it or not I believe in waiting and seeing the product first before I criticize it. And I won’t be moaning if the ship actually looks like it was designed in 2016 and not 1966. I can actually accept the show will look different from TOS and completely FINE with that. You act like I’m trying to find any reason to hate it when its been completely the opposite for me, right? So what more do you want?
In other words get over it. I’m only going by the previous prequel series we have NOW and they weren’t big hits with the fans. And people simply want to go forward. And maybe people would be less cynical on it if A. We didn’t already have Enterprise and B. Its been over 15 years since we had a Star Trek story that moved forward. Its not just Discovery alone a lot of people are not excited about another prequel but I suspect most will give it a chance just the same and people should.
Tiger2,
Re: Preferences
Well, I only have one other thing to point out: as far as I can tell this new production company won’t be drawing on the creative talents of anyone connected to the other prequel efforts. Kurtzman is there, but he doesn’t seem engaged in writing the scripts or directing. So I doubt the mistakes of the past [pun intended] will be duplicated. But I understand it’s human nature to be smoke shy after believing they’ve been twice burned.
Thanks for taking the time to explain.
Live long and prosper.
The point about not liking prequels because you like going forward in story telling is just about the stupidest thing I’ve read here (and we had Orci posting nonsense for months). And you know why I feel that way. (I am not calling you stupid, just that lame reason which isnt really a reason at all).
I suppose some writers want to be in complete control. But as a fan, if I was hired to write Star Trek with the caveat it was mid-franchise and I had to respect canon, I’d see it as a wonderful challenge to fill in the blanks while telling new stories and creating new canon all the while respecting established canon.
I always felt like Orci and his pals just werent good enough (or didnt think they were good enough) to respect canon and create new adventures and thats why they wanted to be rid of it. And ofcourse, STID shows us that, in fact, they really were not talented enough to do it. So I guess they were right,
TUP, some people simply don’t like prequels. I have said it over and over again why. You don’t seem to want to go farther in the future when there are sci fi stories out there thousands of years into the future. You don’t want to ‘go forward’ is no more valid than people who don’t want to ‘go backward’, its simply personal taste at the end of the day. OK? I mean my god how many times does it have to be said.
The fact is a lot of fans are NOT happy its another prequel. Around other boards some people are already proclaiming it another Enterprise. And as I have said because probably its the third one in the series. Hopefully the show will change those people’s minds and just be a good story but they have the right to hate prequels, especially if they feel they can’t be free to tell other stories or its just an excuse to be another nostalgia piece instead of trying to do something bold. Its not a ‘stupid’ reason if you just don’t like prequels. Many Star Wars fans are eye rolling about the upcoming Han Solo project because it just feels like an uneeded nostalgia story instead of movie forward with new stories. They may end up liking it but its just how people feel. Not everyone wants to ‘fill in the blanks’ or feel its needed.
And they already had the ‘wonderful challenge to fill in the blanks while telling news stories and creating new canon all the while respecting established canon.’ They were called Enterprise and the aforementioned KT films. You hated both of them, partly because in your own words they both did a bad job of getting that aspect right. And thats your right to feel but I guess you think third time will be the charm, eh? Well I hope so but knowing people like you and other Trek fans I already feel the eye rolling coming and why I wish they would just stay away from it altogether. But we’ll see right? God I hope so already.
OK no worries! I just want a good show end of the day like most people and hopefully we will get one, prequel or not.
I actually am super cool with his obvious limited knowledge of canon and that he isn’t a fan. Let’s get something fresh man.
And I love TOS by the way……and even Enterprise.
The Discovery logo is a mess. Ugly. Erratic. Looking forward to the series but the design is lamentable.
Just sew a mannequin arm on Doug Jones’ chest and an extra leg on his pants and we have Arex.
Seriously, that’S what I thought when I saw the picture above. He’d be a perfect live-action/CGI Arex.
Sounds like an interesting character.
I thought CBS ALL ACCESS was going to release the entire season at once like Netflix does it. I love that ! Saturday afternoon….lay in bed for 10 hrs or so and watch. When a series is good…I hate waiting week after week…especially if the season is an entire arc. Standalone episodes is one thing, but shows like Daredevil…ect….its great just to watch the entire season in a day.
But thats the problem Alex. CBS wants us to pay for the site for months if not forever lol. You put the show up all at once, everyone will pay their $6, watch it over the weekend and then cancel. Thats the one big snag (but advantage for us) with these streaming sites, its a month by month basis. So they have to find ways to get you to keep paying or at least not cancel too many times over the year. Netflix and Amazon have a big enough library now of both original shows and a library other properties to probably keep people paying all year. That and the fact every month they find a way to add a new movie or show on to keep people to stick around. Its looks like Hulu is getting there too but they also have a lot of third party sources.
CBS is going to have a tougher time because A. You’re basically just paying for their library of shows and theirs alone although its a lot of shows B. Hardly any films although I suspect they will add more in time (and it should be a no-brainer all the Star Trek films are there but yet…aren’t) and C. Yes few new shows in general.
There are so many people already saying they won’t pay for the show because they don’t think the site is worth it. I’ll pay because I would pay double that easy if I get Star Trek episodes out it. ;)
And you can always just wait until the season finish and then binge watch it. I imagine a lot of people will just do that way too. I know tons of people now who just waits for a season of a show to end and watch it like that. TV viewing is truly changing.
@ Tiger2: The problem with waiting until the season ends is that you have to be really careful about spoilers. Back when Star Trek was still airing new episodes each week people were discussing them right away. I can only imagine that something similar will happen with Discovery.
DIGINON,
I get it that non-spoilage of plot is a big issue for some. But STAR TREK for me, has always been about tales so well told on screen that I’ll watch them over and over and over again. So, for me, spoilage of the plot doesn’t bother me as I expect it to be good enough to watch again, regardless.
And ultimately, if not knowing how a story turns out is your Prime Directive then you are never going to watch ANY Trek episode more than once, and that’s fine, BUT that’s not what contributed to it becoming the phenomenon that it was and caused it to continue to survive these 50 years hence.
I’d prefer a full release at once so I can watch it when I want to and on my schedule. But I cant fault CBS for wanting to make money and this is the business plan they have adopted.
If someone isnt willing to pay a few bucks to watch the show then so be it. That’s not who CBS is targeting. They are targeting the ones who WILL pay, and banking on there being enough to make the whole project worthwhile.
Thats true. There will always be a set back of some kind. I use to live in different parts of the world where I didn’t even see a new season of my favorite show months later. You just learn to block stuff out after awhile what places to avoid etc IF you don’t want to be spoiled. So it comes down to will power and yes you should stay far away from these boards for a few months but they can do it if they really want to wait and binge watch it.
Tiger2,
Re: you can always just wait until the season finish and then binge watch it
Hmmm…I was always expecting that after the series’ season airs they’d have the box set of season shows on the shelves in the US in time for Holiday sales, but I wonder now if we’ll have to import it from Canada because with this thing already having paid for itself Les’ motivation is liable to be all about NOT doing anything that might subtract from subscriptions in the US?
I am hoping there will be discs as well. But I don’t want to buy them. I am hoping the full season discs will be available on Netflix. The idea that I have to stream this series is irritating to me. Streaming quality is just crap. There is no way around it. And I don’t want to watch on my phone or laptop. I want to watch it on my TV! There is a browser in my TV but anytime I have tried to stream using it is crashes, or stalls, or buffers. I don’t want to watch a show that way.
ML31,
You have a point about not wanting to buy a pig in a poke. I’m assuming between the pilot and other opportunites that will arise for me to catch random episodes, that I’ll have a good idea about whether the box set will be worth its purchase price.
You realize that even releasing once a week only means you have to have three months subscription, at a cost of $18, right?
Or one could wait until the last episode airs and binge watch exactly the same way. And let’s not act as if this is the only show that will release streaming on a weekly basis…
Torchwood,
Re: You realize
ONE. I believe that Moonves’ will do everything in the US that he believes will maximize subscriptions including limiting the number of episodes available for binge watching. In other words, I believe it when I see it.
TWO. I am and audiovisual geek oriented sort of person. IF I was sure the show was being edited and mixed with an eye towards maximizing it towards looking the best on the ALL ACCESS stream given its limitations, I probably could be talked into it. But as it stands, I’m convinced the Canadians are going to be able to view a superior on screen presentation than the one I’ll be able to catch on ALL ACCESS, and if I find the stories have merit, the boxed set is where I’m inclined to spend my Trek dollars for this product.
In my post here:
https://trekmovie.com/2017/01/07/watch-doug-jones-talks-star-trek-discovery-how-to-pronounce-lt-saru/#comment-5332544
“…I believe it when I see it.” should be “…I’LL believe it when I see it.”
“I am and audiovisual geek…” should be “I am AN audiovisual geek…”
I would love to be in a Trek series….a lot of fans would love it, but alas, the stars never aligned right for me. And it pisses me off, I’ve never been to a Trek convention. Never got to meet the great Leonard Nimoy ( would choose to meet him over Shatner any day ) R.I.P. Leonard.
Some people in this world is so darn lucky !!!
Alec Grimes,
I’ve seen them both live on stage at different conventions. Nimoy had more intersting things to say. Shatner was more entertaining.
At the time I saw Nimoy, I believe he was chain-smoking something fierce. I have an aversion to cigarette smoke, and have always wondered if I could have got past my aversion to the smoke “aura” around him even if he wasn’t lit up?
Saru = monkey in Japanese
: