‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Update: Costumer Talks “Skant,” Cruz Talks Culber’s Trauma, And More

| March 14, 2019 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 26 comments so far

Tonight Star Trek: Discovery shows us the next adventure for the crew after they ignored their orders to stand down at the end of last week’s episode. Cast and crew have taken to social media to hype the new episode, plus we have news about a uniform variant, Wilson Cruz preparing for Culber’s next phase of his life, and more to get you ready for the new episode.

Costumer says the “skant” will make an appearance this season

Costume designer Gersha Philips spoke with the Daily Dot about the second half of season two. Among the topics discussed were Vina’s look from last week’s episode and a certain unisex uniform variant from early-TNG.

Vina wears Kanye

It was an interesting journey, coming up with what Vina should wear. The dress is Iris van Herpen, who designs all those really cool [3D] printed items. We didn’t want it to be too futuristic, it’s a cool embossed leather and it has these pearl beads in it. I was looking for something that did echo the original, so I guess that’s what you’re seeing, but to me, it doesn’t feel as retro as it looks.

[Vina’s] shoes are actually Kanye West’s brand, they’re by Yeezy. They’re like a stiletto pump, so the toe is clear and the heel is clear, they’re made out of vinyl. It is a very sexy shoe. When we put her in it we didn’t realize the terrain that she’d be walking in.

The skant is making a comeback

The Daily Dot asked Philips if she has thought about bringing back the unisex mini-dress-like variant commonly called the skant.

We have! They haven’t come out yet, they’ll be later in the season. I was looking for a particular character to do it on, and we didn’t have anybody specific. It’ll come up closer to the end, but we did do it and we will try to do it going forward.

It’s true that it’s always been there for Star Trek – you know, apart from the original series and the J.J. [Abrams] remake, they have maintained a really cool non-binary look throughout. So I think that for us going forward, it was really important to do that as well.  …our intention is definitely to do them for both men and women.

The “skant” as seen in TNG season one

Wilson Cruz on his preparation to return as Culber

Wilson Cruz gave an interview to The Advocate this week, where he discussed how he approached the challenges of Hugh Culber being a survivor of trauma:

To prepare for Culber’s dramatic transformation and storyline, Cruz immersed himself in culture related to trauma. He listened to the music of folk singer Patty Griffin as well as the audiobook for Cormac McCarthy’s harrowing dystopian novel The Road, which was “useful in imagining desperation and the bleakness of the end of the world and end of existence.”

As many fans noticed, Cruz bulked up between seasons to help show the differences between Culber 1.0 and 2.0

The actor, 45, also adjusted his workout routine to become “bigger and stronger and leaner” to portray a “brand-new body.” Cruz wanted Culber “to feel like he was driving a brand-new car and didn’t quite have a handle on it.”

In last week’s episode Hugh made a tough call and broke off his relationship with his longtime partner Paul. Cruz stressed that this is only the beginning of the healing process, and we’ll see more in the coming episodes:

This separation from Stamets is really about getting enough space so that he can be selfish enough in this processing to really concentrate on what he’s feeling and what he’s not feeling and what he eventually wants to do.

“If Memory Serves” — Ep#208 — Anthony Rapp as Stamets; Wilson Cruz as Culber of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/CBS ©2018 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Excitement for “Project Daedalus”

Tonight’s episode of Discovery is directed by Jonathan Frakes, who is very popular with the cast. Guest star Jayne Brook (Admiral Cornwell) took to social media to give him a shout-out.

Airim 2.5 actress Hannah Chessman showed herself getting made up as Airiam in her space suit to promote the new episode.

The always passionate and supportive Doug Jones has kind words for Hannah and tonight’s episode.

And Michelle Paradise, the episode’s writer, is excited about her debut:

L’Rell will return

We haven’t seen L’Rell since episode three of the season, but thanks to social media we know she’ll return at least once more. L’Rell actress Mary Chieffo took to Twitter to assuage fans’ worries that she’s not coming back:

Cast and crew share behind-the-scenes thoughts and photos

Anson Mount shared this fun photo of Shazad Latif being grasped by the squid-probe from episode seven of the second season.

Makeup and prosthetics designer James MacKinnon posted a photo from earlier in the season (likely episode 205) where he is “lubing up cocoons.”

Composer Jeff Russo posted an image of astronaut and space shuttle Discovery pilot James Kelly dropping by a StarTrek: Discovery scoring session, along with rocket scientist Julie Zingerman.

Speaking of space, the Discovery writers’ room took a field trip to Space X this week and shared the moment on Twitter.

And the official CBS Twitter account posted a fun photo featuring Sonequa Martin-Green and Ethan Pecknwith Talosian actors Rob Brownstein and Dee Pelletier, on location at Lefarge Quarry.

Today, Peck shared his own picture from the Talos IV location shooting, where he got quite profound on the subject.

View this post on Instagram

As I was doing research for the episode, "If Memory Serves," I couldn't help but notice the eerie similarity between the words Talos and telos; I wondered if the writers had been aware. Telos has roots in classical logic, and Aristotle believed we are all driven by this ultimate purpose, or end goal. I believe that for Spock, and especially Pike (see "The Menagerie" from TOS), Talos represents something similar. Spock believed he could die on Talos after the Talosians extracted his memory of and about the Red Angel–information not just to serve Vulcans and Humans but all of sentient life, serving the needs of the many. How profoundly aligned I found this be with Spock, and how lucky I felt to be lost in and swept up by the magnificent annals of Star Trek. TL;DR Talos IV is hot.

A post shared by Ethan Peck (@ethangpeck) on

Pike is like…

Anson Mount took to Twitter to express his gratitude for all the positive feedback about how well his Pike is meshing with Jeffrey Hunter’s, especially after last week’s “If Memory Serves.”

Sonequa cover story in Essense

Star Trek: Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green is gracing another magazine cover, this time the March issue of Essence. In their cover feature, the actress talks about how Star Trek is part of a trend of expanding opportunities for women of color

I certainly see more doors opening for Black women and people of color. And of course I celebrate it. But I also have a healthy yearning for more. The way to continue opening these doors is by continuing to do what we’re doing: telling these varied, interesting, compelling, ugly, beautiful, human stories. We need for people who look like us to tell them, because otherwise we[’ll] continue to see ourselves through other people who are different from us. So I appreciate our writers and producers for standing by this vision to have a Black woman at the helm. I’m so very humbled by it and innovated by it. I just hope that this keeps spreading. I think it will.

Sonequa Martin-Green on the cover of March Essense

Essence also released a behind-the-scenes video of Martin-Green’s photoshoot, where she talks about changes in her hairstyle and how it was important for her to have her natural hair seen in her work.

Discovery Season 2, Episode 9 debuts tonight

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.

“Project Daedalus” will be released on All Access on tonight at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT. It will air on Space at 8:00pm ET/5:00pm PT tonight. It will be available on Netflix tomorrow morning, Friday, March 15th, 2019.

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

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Blasphemy! Spock is smiling on that BTS photo! ;)

He has nice teeth. The beard looks good on him. Don’t shave it Spock!

I am continually amazed by how much star trek fans hate star trek. There was a guy on reddit today moaning that the Skant would be an egregious canon violation.

In terms of Trek shows some fans be like:
“In the end, there can be only one…”
Sorry, couldnt resist…

Skant is already canon so that doesn’t violate anything.

Star Trek: Drag Race! Love it. Gender its a silly social construct. Let’s see dudes in miniskirts and deconstruct it. Boldly go, girl!

Well this post is certainly an update. And a half.

Airiam is the most interesting character on this show. She is more interesting than Saru even. I’m happy we will see her again in tonight’s episode.

No The Orville episode tonight. Bummer!

Hasn’t Nhan been wearing a “skant”-like uniform variant the entire time?

Yes. She’s been wearing a skant with pants since she joined the Discovery. The full interview mentions that. The point we picked out for the article was that we’ll also be seeing men wear it.

I believe the skant is a one-piece that has bare legs on display. Nhan’s TOS-inspired uniform actually had a red shirt, black skirt, and black pants.

Actually the skant can be worn with pants, it was seen with pants in TNG S2 before being phased out. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Starfleet_uniform_(2350s-2370s)#Skant

See also my previous comment about Gersha confirming Nhan is wearing the Disco version of a skant with pants.

It’s referring to what Nhan wears once she joins the Disco crew, not her Constitution class uniform.
comment image

The Discovery skant with pants is particularly recognizable from behind due to a wide waistband in one of the 3 metallic colours.

I’m pretty sure we saw a science crew member in a silver trimmed skant in a corridor movement scene last week in S2 E8, but we didn’t see the legs.

Ah, well, I stand corrected ;-)

As Futurama demonstrated, the skant is only great for the first person climbing the ladder. Look away, Kif, look away…

HA!!!!!!!

Need to discuss tonight’s episode! Aah! And quick, before the trolls gather to pick the bones.

NO SPOILERS – Hats off to Jonathan Frakes and the cast for tonight’s emotional episode. Not like anything they have done before. Anxious to see what the rest of the viewers thought.

I like the episode, but I think it would have been better if Airiam had done more than just standing around in the background and pressing buttons before this episode.

My sentiments as well. It worked. But would have worked better had she done more even during the season.

Sonequa Martin-Green looks incredible on that Essence cover. Man. I know we’re not supposed to say things like that anymore, but … man.

She was terrific in tonight’s episode, too.

It’s all good if Anson Mount is featured in the same poses next week.

For the record, rebuilt Culber should be even more of a reason to doubt it’s the real Culber. If he was the true Culber from last season, producers should have not allowed Cruz to bulk up.

So that has a name? Back during the first season of TNG my friends and I just referred to it as “men in skirts”. We chalked it up to Gene Roddenberry trying to make some sort of statement.

If they give Tilley one, would she be skant-Tilly-clad?