Today CBS released another character video, this time focusing on Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan. It includes interview segments with actor James Frain and producers from Star Trek: Discovery, along with some new clips.
A closer look
There were some new elements shown in the Sarek video.
Michael Burnham speaks to Sarek via hologram
Vulcan educational pods (like those seen in 2009 Star Trek movie)
Young Micahel Burnham in educational pod answers questions
Michael Burnham speaks to Sarek
Sarek speaks to Michael Burnham
Yes we know the video is region locked to the USA.
Star Trek: Discovery premieres on September 24th on CBS with all subsequent episodes on CBS All Access in the US. In Canada Star Trek: Discovery will premiere on Bell Media’s CTV and the Space Channel on the same night. Netflix will launch Star Trek: Discovery on Monday, September 25 to countries outside of the U.S. and Canada.
Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.
Is Sarek the first character to be played by 4 different adult actors (not counting childhood flashbacks) in canon shows and films? Has there ever even been a character played by three adults?
Picard has been played by 4 actors; 1 child, 3 adults.
Spock would make the list too. There have been 3 adult actors (Nimoy, Quinto, Davis (TSFS)). Several other child/adolescent actors portrayed him, notably in Yesteryear (TAS), The Search for Spock, and Star Trek 2009.
Ziyal? I think there were 3 Ziyals.
There were 2 different Alexanders, the child from TNG & the adolescent from DS9.
4 actors portrayed Alexander; 2 children, 2 adults.
5, if you include the photo from DS9’s Way of the Warrior
This is the best clip I have seen so far. This looks great- very psychological, intelligent, complex. And very interesting. It’s kind of the opposite of the JJ movies- like Star Trek got back 25 IQ points it temporarily lost during that period. I’m really excited now.
Dude, for real. I’m thinking we might just get intelligent Star Trek back.
Lol fans are such a joke. I felt like the only one criticizing jj Abrams trek for lack of intelligence in exchange for explosions, juvenile dumb humor and basically ignoring trek history and lore since his first movie. EVERYONE defended Abrams and had the exact opposite opinion as mine. And now? Most fans think Abrams trek is a joke like I did from the beginning, now the hype for those movies are gone and a lot of people see what they truly are. (There’s a reason why you never hear from Orci anymore.)
For discovery..Get real and look at Discovery for what it is and don’t buy into the hype. It may be great or it may be another Abrams turd clone. Take off the cheerleader hype “OMG IT’S TREK BACK ON TV” eyeglasses and watch objectively.
Not to toot my own horn too loudly, but if you think you were alone in proclaiming loudly (and, in retrospect, perhaps somewhat obnoxiously) to all who would listen, up to and most especially Bob Orci, what a soul-crushing disappointment Trek 2009 truly was, check out the archives of this site sometime, starting with May 2009 and working your way forward.
I like all the Treks in some way shape or form except for Enterprise, Final Frontier, Generations, and Nemesis. Those I despised.
Glad to see they are finally opening up somewhat about the themes they are going to explore on Discovery. I mean in addition to war with the Klingons which has been front and center in the marketing so far.
I hope Discovery knocks it out of the park, but I am still not going to subscribe to another streaming service to watch it.
Are you going to watch the pilot?
Everyone here will, despite how much some will pretend otherwise.
It’s $6 bucks, dude. If a new trek movie came out every month would you pay the $15 to go see it? If we get at least 2 hours of DSC per month that’s still a good deal compared to a feature film cost (nevermind the popcorn). And TV has much better story telling potential than films these days IMHO.
$6 is less than the cost of one lunch. You wouldn’t trade one lunch to see up to 4 episodes of trek in a month? And lunch only lasts about 15 minutes.
The streaming service is month-to-month. You’re not locked into a year FFS.
Whenever I hear people gripe about $6 it makes me wonder how many fans would have killed for, say, another season of TOS in 1970, and what they would have paid to see it.
Or another season of TNG, or heck, even Enterprise. I mean, fans paid $10 to see the garbage that was Nemesis, but won’t pay $1.50 for an episode of Discovery??
How much did Enterprise fans raise for a season five? $6 seems to be a bargain. You can always cancel if it sucks.
We all happily shelled out $$ to see the TNG crew in four movies, the TOS crew in 6. With no idea what to expect, we all shelled out $15 or more to see JJ’s first film at least.
So why not $6 to check out 4 episodes?
It seems to be a “principle” issue, where fans are annoyed that what used to be free over-the-air is now something they have to pay for. But again, doesn’t bother everyone when it’s a movie.
And if you’re offended and see it as a “money grab” then here’s a news flash: everything is a money grab. That’s why shows get cancelled when they don’t get good ratings. That’s why they make toys, and comics, and collectibles.
You think Gene Roddenberry and CBS did 5 Trek series just for fun?
I made the “you paid to see the movies when they came out, right?” point on a couple DSC Facebook ads yesterday. I’m so tired of people complaining about the price. It’s been 12 years that we’ve been saying we want to see new Star Trek. Well, here it is. So you either want new Trek, or you don’t. Because this is how we get it now.
I wish someone would just come right out and say, “OK, truth be told, this is a Star Trek prequel set in the Kelvin universe but for reasons we can’t get into we can’t actually come right out and say that it is.”
Why would they lie like that?
I think the separation of the television and film franchises didn’t allow for a Kelvin Timeline series to make its way to television through Discovery due to the legalities surrounding such a move due to the CBS and Paramount Pictures divide. Discovery could exist in either timeline.
Rather, I think it’s obvious that they’re taking the best stuff from the Kelvin movies that weren’t “uncanonical” in the least. The Vulcan education pods were a fantastic idea that fits perfectly into the Prime Universe. (The scene with the Vulcan kids is one of the parts of the 2009 movie that I have no problem with whatsoever.)
I’m glad to see they’re not shying away from good ideas just because they happen to come from a movie that some people didn’t like.
It’s also safe to presume that the Vulcan Education Pods (or VEP’s) not only existed in the Kelvin timeline, but their use went back prior to Nero’s arrival, and exist in the prime timeline as well, and we simply never saw them (as is obviously the case). It’s really not a long leap in…logic.
It’s also reasonable extrapolation of the Spock “re-training” scene in Star Trek IV, but shown for children, and a full class of pupils, at that.
Absolutely. But we’ve got a subgroup of fans who go absolutely batshiat nuts if they see anything that carries even the merest hint of those movies… like LENS FLARES, for heaven’s sake, which were around long before Abrams showed up.
These people gimme a pain in the back of my lap.
That occurred to me, too. So when it comes to the eminently reasonable idea of a super intelligent, technically sophisticated race educating themselves via computer, the Prime Timeline got there first.
There’s no arguing that the idea originated with the JJ films. But those films set a post-precedent if you catch my meaning. Because the only way those VEP’s *didn’t* exist in the prime timeline is if you think that Nero’s arrival somehow caused the Vulcans to invent them. Or at best, that they were only created within the previous 20 years of the Kelvin Timeline.
It makes far more sense that their existence predated Nero’s arrival, and they, therefor, exist in both.
I mean, ships in the Kelvin timeline have two nacelles and a warp core. That predated Nero’s arrival. Lots of things did. Is it such a big leap to think that these things did too? And that we only SAW them for the first time in these films?
And are these pods, and lense flares, the only evidence you have for your “Kelvin Timeline Conspiracy” theory? Give me something in the story or characters that really hints to this, and I’ll consider it.
I’m not sure which of us you’re responding to (the site’s comment system could use a tuning), but I’m on your side 100 percent on this. I’m not a “Kelvin Timeline Conspiracy Theorist” in the least. :)
I thought the education pods were shown in TAS “Yesteryear.” I don’t personally regard TAS as canon, but it sheds some light into what people were thinking around the time of TOS.
Sure. We just never saw it depicted onscreen before. And the design in the movie was so beautiful, ST: DSC would’ve been fools not to borrow it.
I was responding to you and Michael, but not in disagreement. Just reinforcing the argument.
Absolutely.
I hated that movie, but loved that scene (up till the moment when Spock’s tormentors called his mother a “human whore,” which was stupid. Yes, good ideas are good ideas.
Which is, sadly, something a lot of fans do. I was skeptical about 2009 but enjoyed it quite a bit only to be disappointed by STID but, hey, that comes with the territory when it comes to Star Trek movies.
There’s be no reason for them to say that since that’s not at all true.
Grow up.
@Aggggggh It was an observation and everyone brought up a number of fun and valid points. I love discussing Star Trek and hearing various points of view but when I disagree my responses never devolve into petty insults or direct attacks. So, “Grow up”? Really?
Yeah, that was uncalled-for. People get too worked-up about this stuff, myself most definitely included. (These days, I really try to save it for politics.)
LOL. I hear that.
You just said it. I think that’s about as far as it needs to go.
Do you really think Discovery is going to adhere to the plot elements from the Kelvin films? So, Nero has arrived already and is now in isolation somewhere (with the Klingons, based on cut footage). Kirk was born as the Kelvin was being destroyed. The Enterprise was built on the ground in Iowa, Kirk rides his motorcycle out to watch, and eventually gets recruited directly by Pike in a bar…… so on, and so forth.
No, not at all. My point was that they seem to be adhering to the aesthetics and overall feel of the Kelvin Timeline, not the Prime Timeline and that with some very minor tweaks or even a single line of dialogue Discovery could exist in either timeline. I think the only thing that prevented CBS from placing Discovery in the Kelvin Timeline was the separation of the CBS and Paramount franchises and any contractual obligations preventing such a thing from happening.
Well, we disagree there. I don’t think the production design actually resembles the Kelvin Timeline stuff all that much, though the shooting style definitely does.
If I see a brewery doubling as a starship engine room, I’m outta here.
The brewery. Oh, man.
Grow Up
Come on, you’re better than that. Engage in a conversation, disengage from petty insults.
Region unlocked https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPi6JL8VFwg
Thanks!
Thanks for posting that link. Now if TrekMovie would respect their non-US audience and simply also post these links in their article when they become available instead of rudely saying “Yes we know this video is region locked.” It might be important to point out that the INTERNATIONAL, and not American audience, is actually paying for this show via Netflix. Netflix outside the US covers 100% of production costs. And the show is made in Canada. And how can fans of a borderless future not take steps today to make that borderless future a reality and respect all people no matter where they are from? TrekMovie, simply post the link to the international version of the video under the US version when it becomes viable. Easy.
If/when Netflix makes videos available for international viewership we try to update with links. Like most sites, we don’t include unofficial videos.
You know what I love? Going to a nerdy Star Trek site and seeing people take the time to post that they’re not going to sign up for the subscription service.
Yaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnn.
Nobody cares about whether you’ll sign up or not.
This site is filled with non-fans who pretend to be fans.
I mean, do football fans go to NFL.com and post that they won’t be signing up for NFL Red Zone? I doubt it.
It’s not just websites – they are visiting almost every DSC related video on youtube and complaining how DSC is SJW/will kill Trek/will fail/etc. –
this bunch really are disgraceful.
They’re trying so desperately to make a small, small minority seem larger than it is.
But even as men wrecked upon a sand, they will be washed off by the next tide.
It is definitely disgraceful, but I can’t help but laugh at it from time to time. A group of “fans” who complain about the new show having an agenda, when, in fact, *they* are the ones who have an agenda. Imagine getting so upset because a new Star Trek show has a gay couple, a black lead character, an Asian female captain, and might promote equality and justice. Seriously? When did those things become something to sneer at?
And they claim it’s too “in-your-face” about it, when the only reason it feels “in-your-face” to them is because they disagree with it and it apparently makes them uncomfortable.
Excellently put Mawazi.
Agreed and the only agenda Discovery has (CBS, actually) is pulling in more subscribers for All Access. We get new Star Trek, CBS gets cash. It’s the circle of life, man.
Perhaps some ticked off fan started his own bot-army to post negative stuff on sites and videos. I think that’s how the Borg got started.
Right…it’s literally less than anything else that has to do with trek. A trek movie ~$15… Convention tickets? Don’t know, but probably not $6. Are there any collectibles for less than $6? May be a bumper sticker. Wait, emojis are free. You can do a LLAP emjoi on your phone for free. Unless you count the $500 phone and $100 phone bill per month.
Less than $6? Nope.
Agreed RikersMailbox!
It’s unusual yes in the sense that if the subscription was let’s say for new Trek every month and nothing else – let’s say a series, some shorts, articles, licensed novels, legit fan films – an interactive social experience like Facebook- how many fans would pay for that?
You are right. I heard the head of CBS merchandising call the comment section of this site the Rura Penthe of Star Trek comment sections. It really is pathetic.
I’m going to say it. This “promo” made me ready eyed.
Teary eyed!
(This time it was autocorrect)
If it helps, my eyes are also ready!
Me too. And ‘ready-eyed’ doesn’t sound so bad. There could be a meaning in there. Feels almost Klingon…. ;-)
Instead of being sarcastic about region locked videos, why not post links to the YouTube ones?
Agreed. Simply post the YouTube link under the video when it becomes available. How hard is that?TrekMovie comes off as rude and arrogant and that their US audience is all that matters. Very American actually. (Posted by an American who lives outside the US.)
We think it sucks too. However, go look at the comments section of the other promo articles, they were flooded with people shouting into the void about the region locks. We can’t change the fact CBS locks the videos.
@Matt Wright, You can’t change the fact that CBS locks the videos, but the phraseology you use to explain that fact — “Yes we know the video is region locked to the USA” — could be seen as uncaring by your international readers.
Might I suggest instead “Unfortunately, CBS has region-locked this video to the USA.” That both makes it clear that the region lock is CBS’s policy, not TrekMovie’s, and it makes it clear that TrekMovie understands that this policy is unkind to international viewers.
And yes, I’m an American. :-)
I for one am always okay with a bit of sarcasm.
SAR-ek. Not SAIR-ek. But whatever.
If nothing else they’re running a very tight production, no leaks yet on the name of actors playing Amanda and Spock.
No reason to think anyone has been cast for those roles at this point.
@Michael Hall,
One reason, James Frain.
In an interview with TV Guide during SDCC, Frain explicitly stated that Amanda will appear in later episodes, most likely the 10th episode:
“What we start with is Sarek’s mentoring of Michael and his attempt to find a place for her. There’s a little bit of backstory that starts happening about how she became involved in his life. And then Amanda comes in — in the last episode I shot, she had just been introduced, so I’m pretty sure we’re going to be finding out about that. But I haven’t read the last five episodes, so I don’t know. They come in very late.”
And yesterday in an interview with USA Today he hinted that Spock will play a role in the family drama:
“He has a tremendous affection for her,” Frain says. Nevertheless, he warns, the unusual family ties are “going to become a problem as we go on — the Spock relationship, the Michael relationship, the triangle of that — but we don’t really get into that yet.”
I hadn’t read that, thanks. I’d still be amazed to see the producers attempt to cast a Spock in the first season–way too many potential pitfalls as opposed to payoff, and their plates are plenty full as it is. But seeing Amanda would be interesting enough, and if the series spends a fair amount of time on Vulcan her absence would beg explanation.
I think the fact that we know still very little about the story beyond “something happens with the Klingons” is a testament to how well they’ve kept things close to the chest. I for one am glad for the embargo, mostly because when spoilers come out I can’t help myself!!
One thing CBS All Access did for The Good Fight was hold back casting info until a character was going to appear in an episode. This was even though the season had already completed filming way before. I think it was their way of promoting the show once it started airing to try to get viewers to check it out.
I’m still carrying a grudge against Sarek for the way he treated Spock in “Journey to Babel,” so I’m glad that Burnham will be taking him to task for his failures as a father. Get him, Michael!:-)