The second season of Star Trek: Discovery premieres next week, so naturally, there is a lot of publicity for the show coming out. Executive producer and showrunner Alex Kurtzman, along with new stars in season two Anson Mount (Captain Pike) and Ethan Peck (Spock), were all speaking to press outlets recently. We present some highlights.
Syncing up with and expanding canon
Speaking to DigitalSpy, showrunner Alex Kurtzman reiterated his previous comments about “syncing up” with canon:
“We are syncing up with canon [this season], We know we’re 10 years pre-TOS but there are a lot of big questions. Like, how come Spock is never mentioned as half-sister of Michael Burnham? This season is all about understanding what that relationship is. By the end of the season, we will be synced up with canon.”
Building on what came before
“We touch on canonical elements this season, beyond just the characters, there are other things that will come into play that you have seen on TOS. Again, the idea is always to build on what came before without negating what came before. We mentioned that the Talosians might show up this season. Anyone who knows ‘The Menagerie’ or ‘The Cage’ knows what they’re capable of. So it’ll be really interesting to see how they might fit into the world of Discovery.”
Kurtzman sees a long future for Discovery
“[The series] can go for a long time, a lot of the series have gone for a long time. The key is to constantly find a way to reinvent while also always delivering what people expect from the show.”
The adventures of the USS Discovery continues
The cast has been talking too
Ethan Peck and Anson Mount spoke with USA Today about their characters, both new to the series.
Spock has unraveled, says Peck
“When we first see him, he’s sort of unravelled, this is the time when this epic conflict within him — a human and Vulcan in one being — is really on the surface and plays out on the surface. The Spock that we are creating isn’t immediately recognizable as a Spock you’ve seen. So we need to get him in a place where he is shaped and molded to the Spock that we will see in the Original Series.”
Spock scrawls on the floor of his padded room
Mount says there’s more to learn about Pike
“When you think about how much we actually know of Pike or have seen of Pike — he’s got to be the most revered character that’s had that little amount of screen time, we have one episode … one 2-part episode — it’s not even an original episode, and we have a movie in the Kelvin timeline. That’s not even about Pike! So there’s a lot to be explored.”
Pike’s driving force in season two
“He is really driven to figure out these Seven Signals, and he will. He will stop at nothing to figure out what is going on. We get to learn a lot more about his leadership style; his relationship to Starfleet; his relationship to his crew, including that of the Enterprise; his relationship with Spock; and his relationship to the fundamental attitude of Starfleet, which is curiosity.”
Captain Pike confers with Burnham in the season premiere
Star Trek: Discovery is available 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.
It’s sad that the show runner keeps referring to Michael as half sister to Spock. He doesn’t even know the difference between half sister and adopted sister or just Sarek and Amanda’s Ward.
Many people with adopted siblings refer to them as if they were blood related.
Yep – it’s the same with detractors too ( “We know Spock never had a half-sister!” ).
It’s clear that Burnham is Spock’s FOSTER Sister, but I’ve heard the programme makers themselves use the terms “Foster”, “Adoptive”, “Half” interchangeably – which as you point out – is incorrect.
I have no idea but I’m guessing the writers have even less.
Slider’s comment for the win.
Phasers, lasers, blasters . . . . what’s the difference? The audience doesn’t “care”. . . . ;-).
What can you expect from a team that thinks SONAR is an effective tool for detecting objects in space, and has Craft looking at a shooting star in deep space (Calypso short subject video)?
But why Spock has never mentioned Burnham is not a burning question. First, it’s already been shown that Spock never speaks about personal things until they become relevant. There is the whole Sybok thing and Kirk had no idea Ambassador Sarek was Spock’s father until he boarded the Enterprise. So that is not a thing. And next, the excuse to shoehorn Spock into the show feels totally forced. Why does Kurtzman feel compelled to answer questions no one is asking yet ignoring questions that the Discovery show has created for itself?
On the other hand, what was said about Pike is pretty true. He only showed up in two episodes. (Counting The Menagerie as one) We learned some of what made him tick but not much else. So that is someone who really is wide open and would not be against the possibility of a show set on Pike’s Enterprise. Even the Spock/Pike relationship has the potential to be interesting.
Agree with you on all counts ML31. Nicely said.
“First, it’s already been shown that Spock never speaks about personal things until they become relevant. There is the whole Sybok thing and Kirk had no idea Ambassador Sarek was Spock’s father until he boarded the Enterprise.”
It may or may not be due to fan pressure, that they are answering this – fans who wrongly believe we already know everything about Spock.
It’s not a burning question for me. I’m just enjoying what’s on the screen. People need to chill with those kinds of complaints.
Like the Enterprise herself, there’s more to explore about Spock during this time period. Even though there are questions that no one was asking, that doesn’t mean the character’s early history can’t be explored.
And while it won’t be the focus, what excites me is that there’s a full decade of 1701 Enterprise history we don’t know a thing about. We are in a position to get more history on that ship — along with Pike and his crew. And who knows, maybe we can finally meet Robert April (again).
Point is, for me, they picked a good time period to explore and I’m excited at what’s in store and for the possibilities.
I’d love for the show to give us our first live-action story for Captain Robert April too – even if it’s via flashback.
Not just flash backs I would love a movie or semi-series about the first mission of the 1701 and captain april.
Yes!!
I continue to hope for a Captain Pike series, but, I’d take a Robert April one, too!
Ditto, and like I said on the other thread I can see Robert Patrick in the role.
Patrick might be available now that Kurtzman’s other show Scorpion is finished.
Both Morgan Sheppard and Norman Iloyd died today.
Loved Sheppard, particularly in “Bliss.” What a gifted actor, and one of the few who ventured into a role in the JJ films.
OMG, it’s already time to cancel this thing!
Are you renewing your CBSAA account for season 2? I only ask because an opinion online means less than money to CBS, and if I felt that way, then I wouldn’t be renewing my subscription.
Let’s hope so.
I’m sure that they’re doing that right now just because you’ve said to.
Also, Paramount has shelved Star Trek 4 indefinitely.
That bit about StarTrek 4 comes from Deadline.
Deadline has nothing about that.. do not spread false hopes.
That is just sad. Kelvin Time line Star Trek is so much better than Discovery.
I find that unfortunate if true myself. I have enjoyed the three KU films more than 15 episodes of Discovery. By quite a bit. And I think we need to appreciate the gravity of that comment as Star Trek has always worked better as a TV show than as a feature film.
110% agreed, @ML31.
Into Darkness soured things a little for me. I really don’t like that damn Spoke “Khannn” scene, it grates on me big time.
They are decent films and obviously big budgeted and all, but they lack some of the Star Trek vibe of earlier films; for example First Contact is a far superior Star Trek film than any of the three Kelvin films IMO, but I’m weird I guess in that I still prefer the TNG films over the Kelvins.
Into Darkness was seriously flawed, I grant you. Which should also say a lot about my above comment.
It’s hard for me to compare the two better TNG films to the two better KU films. They just had a completely different feel to them. But I can say that the worst KU film was better than Insurrection. By a long shot.
Absolutely!!!
I too, have derived much more pleasure out of the KU than DSC thus far. Sad news, if true, in any event.
Read the same. That’s a wrap on the Kelvin timeline, folks. Once Viacom and Paramount are under the same roof again it will be as if those films never actually happened.
Paramount fumbled the series after 2009. After the success of Star Trek in 2009 it was a hot property again and the sequel should have been in theaters within 2.5 years but they let Abrams move ahead with Super 8 instead to keep him happy. Paramount was rewarded with a sequel four years after the original that irritated fans, left casual viewers indifferent and a director who fled the scene to work on a Star Wars movie. They then take a page out of the new Lucasfilm handbook by hiring a director for the next movie and then dismissing him for a director who can deliver a safer product for the studio that will ease the anxieties of studio execs who don’t understand the material. And then, to really drive the nail deeper into the franchise coffin, they completely botch what should have been a huge event with a major marketing push behind it: Star Trek’s 50th anniversary.
Way to go, Paramount.
Now that we have an article up officially, please continue the Kelvin movie discussion in that article’s comments.
https://trekmovie.com/2019/01/08/report-star-trek-4-may-be-shelved/
Haha, IMO they shouldn’t even worry about why Michael isn’t mentioned in TOS – it’s not as if Sybok is mentioned either and nobody seems to question that? And Sarek being Spock’s father is completely unknown to Kirk and McCoy, even though Spock is friends with both and Sarek is a highly decorated galaxy-wide known ambassador. That said, I guess it’s good to try and placate the naysayers, so why not try to make them happy. A few more fans for Discovery are always welcome. Ok, back to work now.
And yet I’d love to see Sybok in Disco… :-)
That is one character that I wouldn’t mind seeing show up in Discovery. At all.But I’d settle for even a quick reference. “Father felt that way about Sybok as well…” Or something…
I think more people would question Sybok if he had been created by Alex Kurtzman. People round these parts seem to have vendetta against the man just for dragging Trek into the 21st century. Sad but true.
And I say this not as an apologist. I enjoyed DSC Season 1 at the time but I have very little desire to watch it again. It felt as though all fifteen episodes were quickly written and the season didn’t properly get going until the end of “Chapter 1” (or the mid season finale to everyone).
Funny because I felt like S1 NEVER got properly going. If felt like it was heading somewhere but after they returned from the break the show seriously went over a cliff.
Yeah to me it doesn’t really matter, we all know why she’s really there, you either accept it or you don’t. If you don’t like Burnham being Spock’s sister it’s not going to matter why he never mentioned her, it still going to feel ridiculous. That said, if they came up with something that really adds to the story and not just to ‘fill in canon’ then fine. To me though its like trying to explain why Klingons suddenly have hair again, most fans don’t really care about having an explanation for it, most are just happy they do.
Not every little thing needs to be explained especially when its pretty clear why these things are there.
When I see the new poster art that reads, “Exploration is logical,” I can’t help but think of the Futurama line uttered by Spock, “Fascinating, Captain, and logical too… that we need some help.”
Mr Alex Kurtzman was the worst thing that ever happend to Star Trek.
I feel Berman and Braga did more harm than Kurtzman has so far, but we’ve got some time to go!
I for one am happy that someone got his act together and took charge of the franchise. No, Discovery is not perfect but because of Kurtzman and those fans who tuned into Disco last year, CBS committed financing for Picard, Lower Decks, Short Treks and Season 2 of Disco. If not for Kurtzman, we would be watching the few fan movies every 2-3 years but instead we now have a plethora of Trek to watch for at least the next decade. And that benefits all of us fans, even the naysayers. So all this fan has to say to Mr. Kurtzman is “thank you!”
Could be worse. He hasn’t brought on the Power Rangers to be the MACO (Military Assault Command Operations) team aboard Discovery . . . . . yet.
Firstly, Spock not mentioning Ambassador Sarek was his father isn’t indicative of much, as this was in only the second year of Spock’s service as Kirk’s first officer. Second, “it’s cool if Discovery does x because Shatner’s Star Trek V did x too!” – You might want to avoid using this as your go-to line of defense. But fine, Vulcans are intensely private (even though we see Spock being notably open and candid with his friend, Jim, by the time of Star Trek VI). It’s less an issue of canon violation (Alex has been teasing the explanation for so long, it should be a doozy) and more so that introducing never-mentioned siblings is usually an eye-roll inducing cliche that smacks of soap operas or long-running series out of ideas (or streaming services desperate to pander to fan bases with easy gimmicks.) If you’re going the never-mentioned sibling route, you better make sure it doesn’t cheapen long-established iconic characters, something Discovery botched with the ludicrously out-of-character Sarek seen in the final episodes of the first season. Anyway, I look forward to seeing the New & Improved Talosians with their enhanced head veins.
“…If you’re going the never-mentioned sibling route, you better make sure it doesn’t cheapen long-established iconic characters…”
Great line. Well said.
” and more so that introducing never-mentioned siblings is usually an eye-roll inducing cliche that smacks of soap operas or long-running series out of ideas ”
Is it funny that as soon as I read that I instantly recalled DATA’s evil twin? Another right out of the book of bad soap opera cliches.
It’s a bit unreasonable to believe that Spock being the son of the friggin VULCAN AMBASSADOR TO EARTH was something Kirk never knew. Like…doesn’t Starfleet have this information in its files? Doesn’t Kirk know a thing or two about his first officer and close colleague? I think that’s more unbelievable than basically anything Discovery has thrown at us.
Yes exactly! It was ridiculous then but you just shrugged it off because its something they obviously just decided to include his parents on a whim and they were literally in just one episode, so I never saw it as a big deal. People keep comparing that to the Burnham situation but I don’t buy it at all. And even if Spock never mentioned her, why has Sarek never mentioned her either?
And why do ANYONE has to mention her?? Burnham is a celebrity. She’s Starfleet first Mutineer, first human to live on Vulcan with Vulcan parents and help start and end the Klingon war. She can’t even say her name without someone calling her a mutineer. I imagine every Starfleet officer would know something about her by that point regardless if Spock never mentioned her.
Yeah… There is that little tid bit. But I do find it funny that when Chekov asked Spock “Has there ever been a mutiny on a starship before?” he responded with “Absolutely no record of such an occurrence, Ensign.”
If anyone would know about Burnham’s mutiny it would be her adoptive brother, wouldn’t you think? For a show that allegedly is making an entire story arc out of an insignificant smile from a character whose characteristics were severely in flux in a pilot episode no one was supposed to see… I find it odd they would overlook that particular line.
STD is the result of a group of people who understand nothing as to what Star Trek was meant to be. This show is insulting at best and flat out ignorant at worst, trying to rewrite a history that is the core and backbone of what Star Trek is. Now they are backpedaling in an effort to undo the damage created by the horrible writing and lack of research done throughout season one. The Star Trek legacy will only begin to heal the day this travesty is pulled off the air.
what kind of Disease is caused by not understanding “nothing” as to what Star Trek was meant to be?
Whatever. I pay my CBSAA fee and anxiously await whatever Star Trek is on next: ST:D, Star Trek IV, TOS/TNG/VOY and ENT reruns on H&I every freaking night. When those aren’t on, I turn to Youtube and watch the awesome fan films. Just watched Ghost Ship last week, thought it was great! Love New Voyages, Continues and Horizon and was looking forward to Axana too. You should just be happy there is content out there and quit whining about what you think Star Trek is supposed to be.
H&I, every night! Same here!
Agreed.
It’s probably a good idea cancelling the JJ Trek 4 movie. You don’t want two confusing timelines going on at once.
Even though Disco syncs more with the KT than Prime timeline
But they aren’t pushing for that unfortunately which is leading to more confusion.
If you understood anything about Star Trek, you’d know the series aren’t referred to as STE, STV, etc. Instead you’re just outing yourself as a troll to be ignored.
*Eye Roll*
This is just a butthurt, whining fangirl complaining because somebody didn’t take into consideration what she wanted to see from a Star Trek show. Sad.
Is there any way to get the mods to consider comments like ‘butthurt whining fangirl’ grounds for immediate and permanent removal from the board? I’m seriously sick and tired of dissenting opinions (on any side of an argument) being treated by other posters who write remarks that are as inappropriate as those of the u.s. president, lacking in content and basically only about belittling the poster instead of addressing the post itself.
“The Star Trek legacy will only begin to heal the day this travesty is pulled off the air.”
It’s going to be a long wait for Jess…..
Joss Whedon likely felt the same about Firefly, and Firefly was actually excellent…
It took a few episodes but Firefly eventually grew on me.
FF is still excellent — I rewatch all of it and SERENITY at least yearly, just like other short-run series like THE PRISONER, CARNIVALE, SPACED and THE HOUR.
God I hope not.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, vote with your wallet. An opinion on a niche website means nothing compared to the money given to CBSAA.
If enough people don’t pay, it’ll stop.
I like DISCO, and think it’s had the best 1st season since TOS, so I’m going to stick with it until I don’t like it, and then I’ll stop giving them money.
Kurtzman has been teasing the big reveal about the relationship between spock and Michael for too long. It doesn’t matter what they come up with half of the people here will say it is terrible and affront to all things Trek.
Kurtzman says there are no plans to bring in a young kirk. He said the same thing a year a go about a young spock and here we are. We already have the 1701, Kirk is out there lurking somewhere, looking for his own command.
It is interesting that in TOS, Pike and Spock seemed have the close bond (Spock committed mutiny for his old Captain, screwing Kirk in the process), whereas in the Kelvin uni, Pike and Kirk are buddies. Curious how this will play out. So far it looks good and they are sticking to TOS history.
Everyone complains that new trek, be it Disco or Kelvin trek is not like TOS, well, everyone is right, and TOS failed in it’s original offereing. That is a fact. It barely made it 3 years. It took time for television to catch up to where Trek was at the time.
Advertisers are not going to pay for people wearing their pajamas in a space ship quoting Shakespeare, just like most people are not going to pay for CBS all Access to watch that. It is just what it is. Pike’s 1701 uniform in Disco is actually pretty good, better then the Kelvin uniforms. Yes, it is different. Some of that may be due to the war between CBS and Paramount, the same reason the NCC-1701 had to look different. It is what it is.
IT is far from perfect, but at least we get Lewis Carroll. We also get what is basically a 2018 version of TOS on a movie budget. If that is not good enough, haters should pull out the VHS tapes and laser disks. If you don’t have them, I have a set I can sell you, along with about 300 LP albums.
“[The series] can go for a long time” Sounds like a threat than good news to be honest.
I’ve always noticed that in the first handful of episodes of TOS, Spock is a little more emotional than he is later in the series. While this can be easily attributed to Leonard figuring the best approach to the character, it would be interesting to find out that it is all a result of his unraveling this season. He’s still “recovering” by the time TOS comes around and has the occasional emotional outburst before getting it fully under control.
Just a thought. :)
My guess is this is what they are going for. I been rewatching a bit more TOS the last month and I do too notice Spock actually smiles quite a bit in first season even if subtle (which is why they need to ‘explain’ why he smiled in The Cage is stupid but I digress).
But yes maybe that’s the point? It’s to explain his entire behavior in the early days of TOS. I still think the whole thing is unnecessary but welcome to prequels, to cross a t or dot an i on every last past discretion you can even when its so minor and old it really doesn’t matter anymore. I guess it is what it is.
It’s because the character was still somewhat in flux and the episodes aired out of order of production. This is something that I find odd to focus and entire story arc on. It’s like doing a story about why Mitchel thought his best friend’s middle name began with an R.
Personally, I hope Discovery goes for a long run. No, it is not perfect but as it turns out, there was a lot of production infighting and fan dissatisfaction when TNG first premiered back in 1987. Thank goodness that the internet was primarily being used by scientists and engineers back then and not for complaining about TV shows – that allowed TNG to improve and continue on for a nice 7-year run. Hopefully Disco can improve as well and do the same.
TNG had a 7-year run because it had good ratings and it made money. STD is losing money and CBS All Access isn’t bringing in the viewers. If you entertain the possibility that EVERY subscriber to CBS AA is watching STD, then the ratings would be less than half of what ENTERPRISE had during its worst season.
Well the movies look dead for at least a few more years but it looks like the TV side will be living on indefinitely now. CBS wasn’t kidding around when they said they saw Trek on all year round. Discovery will probably get 3-5 seasons no matter what because it wants to build out a strong Trek library. So that’s great for us fans (even if you hate the show it bares out that CBS is committed to Trek and that future shows are happening like the Picard show) and we probably don’t have to worry about losing any Trek show for a long time to come. They are even expanding the Short Trek show as well. So things are getting VERY exciting for Trek fans.
It sucks if you were generally a Kelvin fan and wanted to see those movies continue (and they still might) but my guess is the TV side is where things are really going to be the franchise attention from this on.
As long as there’s someone in charge with a VISION, I believe in the Star Trek property. What a day for news.
With the Talosian’s involved we should expect the crew will have to endure their ability to create illusions. The Talosian’s steal your thoughts and memories then use them to create illusion’s to manipulate you into doing their bidding. Maybe Pike never leaves Talos, and is actually trapped there. The Talosian’s could send a duplicate in order to trick everyone into believing the fake is the real deal. Who knows, we might even find Vena behind the whole thing. Sounds exciting.
Obviously you haven’t watched The Cage episode. 1) The Talosian’s needed the humans because they had reached a point where they couldn’t repair the machines left by their ancestors. If they can’t repair their own systems (because they lost the technical expertise over the years) I doubt they could suddenly build the perfect duplicate fully capable of fooling everyone. And for what purpose?
2) At the end of the episode they acknowledged that having humans around was far too dangerous so I don’t see the incentive to keep a pair capable of breeding.
I love the HISTRIONIC commentary from people on here. Someone acutally said “Star Trek can begin to heal once this is off the air.” Holy $h*t people don’t have perspective on the state of our world. Anyhow, my 2 cents is Kurtzman has actually done a reasonably good job putting Discovery on track for a good season 2 after too many changes in producers and a little infighting with the producers and writers last season. Looking forward to it. As you were self-appointed gatekeepers, as you were…
Michael Burman is a complete fool. She chooses the alternative Philipa an insane murderer over Lorka? Well so much for the plot but Lorka’s ( undoubtedly the most grounded actor) departure means I won’t be watching season 2!