Today’s Star Trek: Discovery update has news on the second season and a big spoiler confirmation. We also have a new character video, a fun new Discovery themed bitmoji and more.
Kurtzman indicates season 2 order coming , confirms Frakes’ spoiler
There has been some discussion about Discovery’s second season and executive producers have talked about how they have already picked an idea for it and started some early discussions, but it is still not official. However, over the weekend at NYCC executive producer Alex Kurtzman indicated things are looking good for S2, telling Polygon:
“Conversations are going very well. We’re more than hopeful that they’ll be ordering a second season very soon.”
And speaking to ComicBook.com at the same event, Kurtzman confirmed the previously reported spoiler that came from Jonathan Frakes. In fact he said they will not only do one episode featuring that classic Star Trek element, but multiple episodes.
Get to know Stamets
CBS has released another character video, this time focusing on Lt. Stamets, featuring actor Anthony Rapp and producers talking about the astro-mycologist.
Discovery inspiring Saru love and IT lessons
The new Star Trek show appears to be having an influence beyond discussions of Klingons and canon. Today there are a couple of examples showing how Discovery is affecting people.
First up comes from YourTango.com with an article titled “Why Lieutenant Saru From Star Trek: Discovery Is SO Attractive To Women Like Me” which offers this insight:
Played by actor Doug Jones, Lieutenant Saru’s job on the ship is that of science officer. Since I love nerds, it was only natural that I’d be drawn to him, even if he does kind of look like the result of someone peeling the face off of a sheep. Intelligent and sarcastic as they come, for me, it was love at first pithy-rejoinder as far Saru is concerned.
Over at ZDnet, they see Discovery teaching tech industry lessons with “What Star Trek: Discovery taught me about cloud consulting.” Apparently the disfunction of the crew is a learning moment for the cloud:
In addition to the parallels to current society that I see between the Federation and the Klingons, I see many parallels of the Discovery crew itself to roles within our IT profession, particularly in the services and consulting space.
Ripper the tardigrade gets Bitmoji treatment
Bitmoji, the app where you create your own personalized cartoon avatar, has added a tardigrade for you to pal around with. You can create tardigrade stickers and to use on social media to show you are on #TeamRipper. You can find Bitmoji on iTunes. and GooglePlay.
Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusive in the US on CBS All Access with new episodes released Sundays at 8:30 pm ET. In Canada Star Trek: Discovery airs on the Space Channel at the same time. Discovery is available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada with new episodes made available Monday at 8 am BST.
Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.
Maybe discovery is the mirror universe?
It’s not.
There can be more than one alternative universe.
There’s no Federation in the Mirror Universe.
The question indeed is: how can you go darker than dark? As someone so aptly illustrated, Discovery already is a “Murphy’s” universe where what can go wrong, will go wrong, and personal choices have dire outcomes. The whole poignancy of the mirror universe stemmed from the fact its darkness contrasted boldly with the brightness of the prime universe. With that brightness gone, what is the point of the mirror universe?
Oh well, since “Context is for Kings” was pretty much the apex of darkness (except for the “they ate her!”-shocker and Landry’s Darwin Awards moment, the last episode felt almost Trek-like), at times feeling pretty much exactly like the “Yesterday’s Enterprise”-timeline, I guess they’ll still be able to make the mirror universe feel even more violent and cynical. Note that it could be really interesting to see how things actually turned out after the Terran Empire came into the posession of future tech in “In a Mirror, Darkly”
I would assume any advances the Terran Empire gained were set back by politics and backstabbing, until technology fell in line with the natural pace of development.
That’s a valid point, but it sounds like you’ve already made your mind up. Why not wait and see?
Its Prime Alternate.
Doesn’t matter what they say.
DSC is no more Prime or canon than TAS is.
We can glean essences from it for TruePrime, but TruePrime it is not.
TAS is canon. They’ve been saying that since 2006.
Gene and the Okudas say no way.
The animated series was sanctioned by Gene at the time, had all the actor’s from the original series as well as intelligent episodes penned by writers from the original series like Sam Peeples, DC Fontana, David Gerrold, etc. Gene’s acceptance of it as “canon” is not required.
I’d say pseudo canon. But it really doesnt matter. Because even if we accept its canon, its only canon until something else over-writes it with new canon.
The thing about Trek is this, “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not For The Lamb’s Cry” is no more canon than “The Trouble With Tribbles” or “The Counter-Clock Incident,” they are all equally valid in the canon….meaning they all happened.
I’m perfectly willing to accept “Yesteryear” into my personal head canon, especially since it has since been lightly referenced in TOS remastered and elsewhere (and I could care less what any “official canon” is in any case). I can also see including maybe another one or two of the better shows–but I can’t buy that there’s a thirty-foot version of Spock out there somewhere, sorry.
If I remember right, it was the Okudas who changed their minds.
No, it was David Gerrald and DC Fontana…my mistake.
And it was 2007 not 6 like I said earlier.
YES! Confirmed Mirror Universe stories!!! That’s exciting. Imagine a mirror universe where Captain Lorca is diplomatic, patient and caring….but he does it with a goatee! ;D
It really is going to be interesting to see how MU is presented on this show. I loved all the MU stories and its fun that universe now has its own story arc from Enterprise through DS9. Now Discovery will add to it as well.
And it never occurred to me the spore drive could actually be adapted to do things like visiting parallel universes like the MU and even time travel. Yeah, they can get a LOT of story out of this piece of technology that can lead this show into some very interesting sci fi concepts and not just get to Risa in 10 seconds.
Yeah, Discovery meets the Mirror Universe reminds me a few years ago when they announced the new movie Superman would fight Batman. So…it’s going to be dark versus darker? Okay. Sure.
You do know that there have mirror universe stories on TOS, DS9 and ENT… right? They are great episodes.
You do know Discovery is darker than those shows, right? Try reading my comment again.
I read your comment. Did you not read mine? DS9 was a dark show… they did many mirror episodes.
People are really embracing the “dark” idea here. If Lorca burst out in song and dance and everyone made love on the bridge some people would still whine about how dark it is.
Its not dark. its a story where they are at war. Mirror Universe was a lot “darker”.
Its almost too bad Enterprise went there because they could have potentially showed that the Spore Drive technology CAUSED the mirror universe.
Yeah, people already forget that life on the Shenzhou seemed pretty Starfleet-normal, up until all hell broke loose.
I was thinking that the only way this could make sense is if it is a different mirror universe than the one shown in TOS and DS9, for two reasons. First, once again we have a situation where the TOS crew had apparently no knowledge of the mirror universe, although of course Discovery was there ten years before. This always seems to happen, doesn’t it?
And secondly, as other people have pointed out, what’s the evil mirror universe going to be like? Maybe where Starfleet puts war over exploration, and the crew hate each other? Ummm…
So maybe it will be a mirror universe where everyone likes to wear neon green clothes or something like that.
Maybe there are no whiners in the Mirror Universe. That would be a bliss.
Maybe differing points of view will be tolerated in the Mirror Universe. That would be bliss.
I’d be happier with no whiners to be honest.
Different points of view are always welcome. Childish whining, not so much.
Re: why no-one’s heard of this ship/crew/her adventures before.
There’s really no point asking this question until the season’s over. The nature of the way the story’s being told in serialized form requires that. Yeah, a little more frustrating sometimes but just because the show hasn’t provided those answers yet doesn’t mean it isn’t going to. In terms of hypothesis, there are already two obvious answers:
1. Discovery doesn’t survive to tell her tales.
2. Discovery survives but decides not to share her stories.
I like your options. To add to option 2:
Because Discovery is a covert, black ops operation. What happens on Discovery, stays on Discovery ;)
It seems like Section 31 all over it.
Lorca acts like S31 100%.
Cold. Ruthless. But for a “good” cause… supposedly.
He’s actually similar to Kirk in many ways. Since we arent focused on him, we dont see his relationships. If we only saw Kirk when he was giving orders or planning war strategy, would he be much different?
Kirk was a brilliant tactician also.
Or:
3. Discovery was simply so irrelevant, like this whole STD show, that nobody bothers to mention it or care about it.
Thanks for your input. You must be great fun at a party.
Well, we certainly know that STD is enormous fun.
Doesnt have to be the same Mirror universe.
Just like this aint really Prime no matter what they say.
Its Prime, no matter what some anonymous whiner says on the internet.
Fair enough.
Am I the only nerd who knew about tardigrades before Trek made them mainstream? That bitmoji is my new prof pic on fb.
Knowing about tardigrades isn’t anything unusual nor does it make one a nerd. And, yes, I knew about those microorganisms before they were idiotically depicted as some scary monsters in STD. They’re quite fascinating creatures, actually, and here in STD they are obviously misused as a horror plot device.
Scare Trek!
Um. . . that isn’t supposed to be a normal type of tardigrade. It’s like, you know, transporters, warp drive, subspace communication, and the like–theoretically possible (if highly unlikely), but in any case purely speculative. I know you’re very impressed by your own degree of scientific acumen, but were you not aware of that?
That’s no tardigrade. It’s some huge scary monster that’s supposed to be a tardigrade. Very scientific indeed…
Uh no…that’s not true..”Context is for Kings” was the horror episode. It was the next one that mentioned tardigrades, which Ripper was similar too…although much larger and actually not naturally aggressive at all. They explained the whole self defense thing. And yeah, tardigrades are very cool micro animals. I was glad they were mentioned.
I don’t think they’re misused at all. I’d be pretty afraid of these water bears if they were blown up a million times as they are in DSC. But they’ve long been depicted in the media as hardy space travelers, so their status here as indigenous spaceborne creatures is rather appropriate, IMO.
Heck, I’d be afraid of a bacteria if it were blown up a million times its size… but it would still be a cheap scare.
Maybe. I had never heard of them until I googled them. Love the real-world science. Even when they are techn-babbling, I am enthrawled by how “real” or at least, possible, it sounds.
I Heard this Really cool Rumor that Discovery IS driven by the Alice in Wonderland idea(reference Burnham’s book). Burnham is Alice. The Captain is the Mad Hatter, Discovery is the well, etc. The drive they are trying to create, they will eventually discover, is NOT moving them from place to place…it’s moving them from universe to universe. Most of which have few differences…but the longer they play with it and the further they push it the further they get from their own base reality. Eventually they find themselves in something that resembles ToS continuity… THAT is how they will scrub away most continuity issues and still get to tell basically any version of Trek they want along the way…
Does that erase their original time/universe? The Kelvin universe? Consolidate ‘verses? Are they trapped in the new ‘verse? Did they create the “new” ‘verse (our familiar Trek timeline)? I don’t know, but if we see what has already been hinted at; that the visuals will become more “Trek” as the show goes on (LOOK at some of the pics when Burnham “travels”; the Devil In The Dark facility and the “Paradise Syndrome” obelisk stand out…especially the Obelisk which is unaltered from ToS) then we’ll definitely have an indicator…and it might even make the series worthwhile…
It sounds interesting but that sounds a little too convoluted for even Trek. ANd I think it might confuse new viewers. They were even afraid to say the worlds ‘alternate universe’ in the Kelvin films (even though thats what it was literally) I have a feeling something like that may feel a bit much. One episode maybe but an entire show built around it is a lot to take in.
Words not ‘worlds’.
Where did you hear this rumor?
It’s more likely that Discovery is part of McCoy’s hallucination he’s having on that Shore Leave planet…
quantum47,
Re: McCoy’s hallucination
Or that cordrazine one he slept off on Edith’s cot?
Now that you mention it…
Hmmm. I actually kinda like this idea.
SOunds really interesting. BUT…it would mean they are flat out lying to us about it being Prime. And given how well the lying worked with Khan, I cant see it.
Perhaps a variation of it. Where they ARE Prime now. Were Prime. Will continue to be Prime. But the more they perfect the Spore Drive, they eventually cause a rift.
The reason being, its not just about looking like TOS. Enterprise exists. And they are very much acknowledging that. If Enterprise didnt exist they COULD do it similar to the Kelvin timeline where everything looked different and they winked at the camera and said “nero” everytime something was different.
So I like the idea. But not in the sense of changing universes with every jump but perhaps damaging the Prime universe and/or creating a rift that could endanger the entire universe.
I’d suspect that the way they get to Mirror is through a malfunction in the spore drive.
Saru is a character I just can’t get on board with. He is so judgemental of Burnham despite being a part of the same situations she has been in. You would think he would see that the situation isn’t that black and white. He also had the opportunity to go with her to the torchbearer but declined. He also never stepped in to stop her and Georgiou from going over to the Klingon ship. You would have thought it would have been a perfect “I sense death” moment. Two people against some heavily armed Klignons doesn’t equal success to me. Instead he once again stayed on the ship. I hope his character evolves beyond his constant need to judge Burnham because Doug Jones is a good actor and the concept of Saru is good it’s just the storylines that feel flat to me.
He was part of the same situations as Burnham, except for, you know, the part about assaulting their captain and trying to take command of the ship. Kind of a big deal.
Well, that is all true but comes from the same basic issue with the premise of Michael as “war starter” when she actually did absolutely nothing to trigger the war. And is the only thing that really aggravates me.
You are right, the war was inevitible, but Burnham did give the order to fire on the ship, and even though they didn’t fire, because the captain stopped them, the weapons charging is something that can be detected by sensors.
Starfleet may have thought that the Klingons detected the weapon’s charging and triggered the war.
That is not what really happened, as T’kuvma was clearly planning war anyway but Starfleet didn’t know that.
I do keep pointing this out, but no one seems to acknowledge it. Thanks.
Personally, I’m more interested in what the Klingons are going to be like in the Mirror Universe…?
I’d love if they show us for sure where this universe split from ours. Or was it always the same but different from the beginning of time?
I always liked the idea that it was McCoy saving Keeler that split them off. Though that implies the Mirror Universe is a Nazi universe. Shouldnt they all be speaking German? lol
Had more than enuff of that in Enterprise, thanks. Don’t give them any ideas.
I say the Klingons get hit with a Chemical weapon by lorca that turn them all into TOS Klingons! Would be nice…
I dream of a Star Trek were more competent creatives than Alex Kurtzman are at the helm. Mr. Kurtzman can gladly make more horrible Universal monster movies.
I do not want to offend anyone, but I think the Mirror Universe only works for American society. In the rest of the world an exposed navel does not scandalize anyone. Although I recognize that a society that attacks planets to steal its resources, that it is always at war and that it practices torture is a good metaphor of the United States.