‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Cast Headed To ‘Carpool Karaoke’ + Reveal Secrets Of The Makeup Trailer

For Star Trek: Discovery this week, we heard from co-showrunner Gretchen J. Berg about season two plans, learned a little bit about Tig Notaro’s new role, and saw CBS showcase Discovery at Licensing Expo. But there are a few other bits of Discovery news to catch you up with in our weekly wrap-up with behind the scenes insights from the set, the makeup trailer, the writers room and beyond.

Disco in the Carpool Karaoke

Some of the main cast of Star Trek: Discovery are headed to Apple’s webseries Carpool Karaoke, the spin-off from The Late Show with James Corden where celebrities sing in carsCBS Studios, who produce the show, announced “Starfleet’s newest mission” on Twitter, showing Sonequa Martin-Green being thrown the keys, and joined by co-stars Mary Wiseman, Anthony Rapp and Doug Jones. The second season of Carpool Karaoke was announced in February but has no set premiere date. The first season kicked off in August 2017, so maybe we will see the Disco stars singing in an SUV this summer.

Sonequa Martin-Green also tweeted about their time in the car, saying they were “killing this.”

Tales from the make-up trailer of singalongs and Klingon boobs

As part of their Emmy Awards voting season coverage, IndieWire has an in-depth profile of the make-up team behind Star Trek: Discovery, with a tour of Alchemy Studios along with talking to makeup designers Glenn Hetrick and James MacKinnon and actors Mary Chieffo (L’Rell) and Doug Jones (Saru).  One of the things Hetrick and MacKinnon talk about is how important it is to set the right mood in the makeup trailer, which includes playing music to keep the actors relaxed for the hours it takes to apply their prosthetics, revealing some of the favorites of the cast:

But usually the people in the chair get to pick the soundtrack. Jones is a big Whitney Houston fan, and ’80s pop was in heavy rotation as well during Season 1. Chieffo recalled one morning where she, Jones, and co-star Anthony Rapp were all in makeup together, and because they were all “musical theater people,” they weren’t shy when it came to singing along with that morning’s playlist, even the pop tunes. “Pretty much any song, we were just willing to go in guns blazing,” she said.

Prosthetics Supervisor, James Mackinnon; Doug Jones; Assistant Key Prosthetics Rocky Faulkner of (Jan Thijs/CBS)

The article also provides some interesting details on how the work gets done, such as how they solved the problem of making it easy for Jones to breathe by creating canals under the makeup for his nostrils. Mary Chieffo also talked about how she refused an offer to have a body double handle the Klingon nude scenes as she didn’t want another actress to get L’Rell’s movements wrong. She also discussed the process of having her body cast:

“I’m a theater gal, so I’m pretty free. I’m not walking around topless normally, but I’m very comfortable with whatever you need to do to get the job done. So once we got that cast and then once it was designed, I did actual feel quite comfortable once I had it on, to walk around that day.” How comfortable? Once the prosthetic was applied, she said, “‘They gave me a shirt, but then I’m like, ‘These are so not my boobs.’”

Key Prosthetics, Hugo Villase and Mary Chieffo as L’Rell(Jan Thijs/CBS)

Speaking of MacKinnon, This week he showed some pride in an Instagram post about finally “made it,” with chair in the video village.

Celebrating Doug’s birthday with songs, cake and noogies

It was Doug Jones’ birthday this week and apparently it was an event on the set. Emily Coutts (Lt. Keyla Detmer) revealed there were multiple renditions of singing “Happy Birthday” to the actor as well as a cake.

As for the newest member of the cast, Anson Mount (Capt. Pike) joked that he gave Jones some “noogies” for a birthday present.

Writers eat their feelings

The cast weren’t the only ones with a cake this week as Kirsten Beyer and Erika Lippoldt got a special cake for their fellow writers, so they could literally eat their feelings. .

Sharma tried out for Burham

At the FedCon convention last weekend actress Rekha Sharma – who played both a prime and mirror version of Commander Landry in season one of Discovery – revealed she originally auditioned for the part of Michael Burham, which eventually went to Sonequa Martin-Green.

New trailer for Strange Angel, coming in June to All Access

While fans wait for the return of Discovery, CBS All Access has a new genre show coming up on June 14th and this week they released the second trailer.

Fan art of the week: Season 2 teaser poster


Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on Space and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else.

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.

 

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That fan poster… Beautifully retro and pays tribute to the TOS aesthetic – a shame the actual episodes will be no way near as stylish – all bathed in that pretentious blue tint, shiney metalic details, soft and hazy special effects, footage too dark to see and none of the colour palette in that gorgeous poster. I can’t believe how disrespectful and up it’s own behind Discovery is, how dismissive of both all the hard work of previous designers, artists, creatives on previous Trek series – but most of all, the fans love for their beloved franchise. I remember Jadzia Dax ‘geeking out’ at the TOS aesthetic in that much wonderful DS9 epsiode. It IS a sexy aesthetic. We even saw the original TOS Enterprise too and it looked magnificent. But Discovery doesn’t respect history. Discovery could of added some aztecing to the hull, fine, and bathe it in the stupid blue tint, fine – but instead they redesign the Enterprise. I HATED the JJ-verse movies, but now thinking about it, at least the visual differences are explained as things taking place in an alternative timeline – with even a model of a presumably shelved TOS style constitution class hanging on the ceiling in the admiral’s office in a deleted scene. Discovery has gone out of it’s way to stand apart from the continuity 50 years of the Trek had built up. If you dislike Discovery, you must be racist, homophobic, sexist, stuck in the past. No, I’m not any of those things. Game Of Thrones was so addictive it took over my life… Orange Is The New Black stole my soul! The Walking Dead has me screaming with delight/anger and counting the minutes to the next season. Discovery did none of those things. They preach this social progressiveness – but news flash – they should of been doing that anyway! I can’t applaud them for showing gay characters, when The Golden Girls dedicated an entire episode to Blanche’s gay brother in 1991! There’s nothing impressive about Discovery is doing, nothing DS9 didn’t do 25 hears ago, but it keeps patting itself on the back. But as a window into that rich 50 year Trek tapestry… I would of supported Discovery.. even the bad writing, Klingons that through gruesome operations become Human, wars that abruptly end because a bomb is placed on the homeworld… I could of stomached all that convoluted rubbish because it’s part of that rich 50 year tapestry… but it doesn’t want to be part of it! It makes this huge effort to distance itself and in doing so, it distances us. The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens, and this new Han Solo film take great effort to protect visual continuity and it’s brand. The Discovery production team wants to reinvent the wheel, all the while standing on the shoulders of an iconic and much-loved brand it doesn’t deserve to have anything to do with.

Sigh! You are going negative on this article? This article? Seriously?

(And here I thought this was one article where the malcontent-whiners would certainly “take the day off?”)

Far be it from me to interrupt this echo chamber, but Discovery has failed in all but the smallest, most obsessive circles.
It’s a laughing stock, a show made for teenage Marvel fanatics. Something so universally terrible won’t last, and unfortunately it’s going to take down everything else in the franchise with it.
Fan fiction was the first victim, then along came Discovery to re-write TOS, obliterating 50 years of spin-offs in the process.

Watch in amazement as Discovery wins absolutely nothing at the Emmy’s, then remember this post.

You don’t like it. You think it’s the worst thing ever. That’s fine. I have no problem with that as long as you realize you only speak for yourself.

I’m pretty sure he doesn’t only speak for himself. Some people have an irrational hate this show, others blindly defend it. I’m kind of ‘meh’ about it, personally. It’s not the worst take on Star Trek but it isn’t exactly the best science fiction show of the past decade, either. It’s just another iteration of Star Trek.

“As long as you realise you only speak for yourself”. Haha, well, with respecg – Others have now posted… saying exactly the same thing. You’ll eventually learn how to skim over a post you disagree with, and truly respect a person’s opinion. Stargazer, Captain Neil and Big Green Space Hand have all agreed with me here. There are countless others who dislike the show but don’t like the bullying and name-calling that comes with posting. Personally, I can stomach it. We’re not racist, we’re not stuck in the past, we’re not sexist, we’re Star Trek fans. You can’t silence us and you will eventually learn to skim over a post like an adult without adding abuse or bullying, belittling people.

“You’ll eventually learn how to skim over a post you disagree with, and truly respect a person’s opinion.”

If that is your rule, then you just violated it by not skimming over JonBuck’s post here. In fact, today, I am counting about 5 violations to day by this rule of yours that you claim to go by???

Say what you mean; mean what you do. You are not going to get a free pass to criticize others for behavior here that you yourself continually violate.

“Far be it from me to interrupt this…”

Thanks for noting up front with this statement that you are not to be taken seriously, and thus saving me the time from having to read the rest of your post. I wish more posters would provide disclaimers like this.

Thanks Big Green Spacehand, It’s so validating to read others are in agreement. There won’t be any Emmy’s and I WILL remember your post! Haha

Hi Martin,

A question for you. How many Emmy Awards did the TOS win in it’s first season?

How about it’s second season?

Third season?

Now, adding all of the Emmy Wins up, was the total tally on the number of Emmy Awards won during the complete run of TOS?

ZERO.

To be honest. TOS was a really crappy show. I can’t blame anyone for canceling it.

Wasn’t addressing you. I will await Martin’s answer.

[tiptoes in] Nimoy was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but no Emmy win [tiptoes out]

it’s going to take down everything else in the franchise with it.
Fan fiction was the first victim

I don’t really see that happening. TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT will remain as popular as they are.

As for fanfic, it’s held up, nay, prospered, so I suggest if you hate DISCO that much, go write some fanfic of the Trek You’d Rather See.

So I guess you don’t actually watch the show then?!

Well thank you for a diatribe that actually makes sense!

My pleasure Stargazer!

I see that salty “fans” never take a day off. Its really sad that CBS broke into your house and forced you to watch DSC. Such a travesty. I hope you were able to escape in time so you are not forced to watch season 2.

We’ll continue to watch as Trek fans. And we’ll continue to complain abiut what we might not like. No amount of insults or belittling will change that :-) We’re emotionally invested to a franchise that gave us an optimistic vision of the future and relief from our own real-world stresses and problems. In turn, we’ll react strongly when it’s not treated with intelligence and respect,

“and relief from our own real-world stresses and problems.”

That’s called Star Wars.

Its a shame those of us not enamoured with Discovery are given some unpleasant comments, like saying “how dare you feel different from rest of us” and that hurts a lot, to the point I have had to keep my thoughts on this show to myself.

I agree with you Martin, I feel that the producers are stuck up their own asses, thinking they are making a hip and relevant show, claiming to be respecting canon, yet feeling they are giving two fingers up to Trek legacy.

I also dislike that the fans who don’t like DSC, are being called racist, sexist and stuck in the past. Here is a little secret, if Burnham was a white male or female and written in the same way that the character has been written, I’d still dislike the character. I loved Janeway in Voyager, so why would I have a problem with a woman? I loved Sisko on DS9, so why would I have a problem with a black lead? In the end of the day it is the writing and how it respects the legacy that defines if I like a show or not.

I do think they are so intent on being ‘woke’ a term that I despise, that they seem to forget that every Trek show has been progressive and that they are not the first.

A same sex kiss in 2018, is not groundbreaking in the say the interracial kiss on “Plato’s Stepchildren” was in 1968. Because its very common to see on TV these days.

Sometimes it felt like they got their information just skimming Memory Alpha rather than watching the episodes. They probably do pat themselves on the back when they read a fact. I am sure the one who read up about Klingon redundant organs must have giggled like a school boy when he cocked up the two penises thing, completely missing the point of the redundant organs.

I also agree the current team is so far up their own asses, they need to pay respect to what came before and not try so hard to be a Trek show, that is not feeling Trek.

Now it is possible my feelings could change, my dislike and lack of enthusiasm at the moment could come back. It all depends how season 2 turns out.

In regard to the Kelvin timeline films, Beyond changed my feelings as it felt like Trek, though I still dislike Into Darkness with a passion.

It is sad that I feel like this as I have loved Trek most of my life, and I still do and its sad I cant like the new stuff as much.

I totally agree with you Martin. While part of me thinks there is potential for DSC if the writers start to embrace making a Trek series and actually tie it in more, not just in plot points but visually as well, in a way that season 4 of Enterprise did.

I geek out more with TOS stuff, its a cool aesthetic, simple yet funtional. Its a look that can easily be updated to feel more modern, not revamped and changed.

The fandom and the bitching that people get for having different opinions is the sickening part of this current show. I despise the fact that people are called racist or sexist for not liking DSC. If Burnham was a white male or female I would still hate the character, as its the writing that makes a character. I liked Janeway on Voyager, a female lead. I loved Sisko, a black lead. So the racist and sexist card should not even be played. We are Trek fans, we are beyond this kinda BS.

The current producers are so focused on the progression aspect, that although it is continuing the ideals of Trek, it is being done in a most negative way. They are promoting it as if they are the only show that has done this, but every show has been progressive and has always been an aspirational as well as inspirational show.

In my eyes a same sex kiss in 2018, is not the same as an interacial kiss in 1968. The former is common on TV now but the latter was a taboo in 1968, therefore it was groundbreaking as it had never been done before.

Captain Neil, it looks like you forgot to post your third response in a row agreeing with him? Perhaps if you posted five responses in a row agreeing with him, what you guys are saying would magically become true?

Quantity unfortunately can frequently Trump substance on today’s internet.

Sorry I thought the first one didn’t send. It did not show bio when I posted.

Apologies.

Ah, OK, thanks!

And why should we be treated any differently because we view the show in a different light

Are we not allowed to have different opinions, must we all like it. Just remember I stuck with Trek during Enterprise, when other fans gave up on it.

I love Trek but my feelings on one show does not change. Only thing bit changes is how I view fans.

Sure, you are free to say whatever you want here. Perhaps stop being so thin-skinned when people disagree with you though — just drop the self-serving “we” victim nonsense, as it weakens your positions and comes across like you are whining.

And what I don’t get from those of you who don’t like Discovery, is what do you have to bring your complaints about the show into discussions on articles like this which are not centered on the overall show? This article is basically covering fun cast activities (karaoke for crying out loud!), a fan poster and a trailer for another series. Can’t you detractors give it a rest at least on articles like this?

The incessant, never-ending complaining on EVERY article here, many of which aren’t even focused on the core DSC content is just such a buzz-kill to those of us who like the show and aren’t so wrapped up in our personal worldview being challenged by it.

I have zero problems with people disliking Discovery. Zero problems. If you dont like it, hey- that’s entirely your decision and I can respect.

What i DO have a problem (and this is NOT a dig at you, Captain_neil) with is people who feel the need to relentlessly attack and insult fans who do like the show, who relentlessly engage in sexist and homophobic language about cast members and production crew and/or spout their idiotic, small-minded bigotry at the mere presence of minority characters. It is those “fans” who deserve to be singled out and shamed. Not the fans who dont like the show but are able to express why eloquently and without resorting to the above.

Thanks Captain Neil, reading your incredible reply was really validating, Thank you!

Well said! I found it life-reaffirming, groundbreaking and paradigm altering.

In fact, that reply may go down as one of the best replies of all time in this history of the internet!

No need to be sarcastic, I was only sharing my two cents on DSC.

Huh? I was responding to Martin’s post?

I took the long weekend off from this, but came back to a very well-versed entry here. Well put, Martin. You pretty much summed up my feelings towards everything wrong with this show…which doesn’t leave much in the ‘right’ column. Don’t be discouraged by those drinking the Kool-Aid and calling you out on your rightful opinion(s). This show needs an enema for season two. I hope one is on the way.

I’m really hoping the writers took to heart of all the stuff that wasn’t up to par last season and give us a much better second season. I was probably more on the fence about season one overall but I do have hope we are going to get a better second season which (thankfully) won’t include another useless war and (crazy if it happens) we actually get some exploration stories next season.

Fingers crossed!

I wish I could buy an art print of that beautiful fan poster. Excellent job!

Patiently awaiting coverage of THE GOOD FIGHT featuring Delroy Lindo and Cush Jumbo…

Quick reminder – THE GOOD FIGHT finale, “Day 492”, drops tomorrow. Scores will be adjudicated. Jaws will be extended. Rubicons will be bisected. #JumboTronRising

Fun update, thanks. :)

Mary Wiseman looks quite fetching in that carpool pic!

However disappointing Discovery has been, I think we can admit it has been worth it, if for no other reason than the frothy, saucy Ted Sullivan Shenanigans®.

You need to get out more.

Ah some Ted Sullivan quotes make me think he never saw Star Trek before, something like “women and people of colour, won’t have to squint to see themselves in this show’, which is clearly wrong as the whole thing was Trek was all about diversity.

Whereas Trek put these people in these roles with question and therefore the statement became powerful by the fact that women and people of colour are doing these tasks without anyone batting an eyelid, this spoke more.

Today its as if producers want a pat on the back for being so with it, that sometimes I think storytelling is suffering.