Over the weekend GalaxyCon had a Star Trek virtual event with Star Trek doctors Gates McFadden, John Billingsley, Alexander Siddig, and Robert Picardo. A last-minute addition to the event was Star Trek: Discovery’s Wilson Cruz, who talked just a little bit about the upcoming season.
Star Trek doctors GalaxyCon Live panel
Cruz talks captain’s chair in season three
Wilson Cruz was trying to be very careful about dropping spoilers during the online discussion and mostly focused on the first two seasons of his work on Discovery, but there was one moment where he may have given us a hint: When a fan asked the group what other position on their ships would have proven an acting challenge, Cruz said the following:
I am just letting Sonequa to make sure – all the captains – to make sure they keep an eye on that captain’s chair. That’s all I am saying.
The question of who will be the captain of the USS Discovery in season three has been the subject of much debate. In his response, Cruz started off by indicating that Sonequa Martin-Green’s Commander Michael Burnham will end up taking the big chair, but halfway through his response, he halted and inserted “all the captains,” perhaps as an attempt to reverse any potential season three spoiler.
When the USS Discovery was last seen at the end of season two, it was under the command of Commander Saru (Doug Jones), who took the ship through the wormhole over 900 years into the future. Doug Jones told TrekMovie in May that the choice of captain comes down to Saru and Burnham. “We are both capable. Who is going to get it is again a mystery that comes in season three,” he said.
While on that subject, it is worth mentioning an upcoming issue of Star Trek magazine. Due in September, issue #77 features an interview titled “Starship Mine! Doug Jones On Assuming Command.” Some may see this as a clue; however, the season two trailer indicates that Burnham and the Discovery remain separated for a year after they arrive in the future, during which time Saru presumably remains the de facto commander of the ship. Jonathan Frakes has already confirmed that Burnham doesn’t reunite with the ship until the third episode of the season.
Is this magazine cover a clue?
More doctoring and maybe some cool 32nd century medtech
During the panel, Cruz also talked about how he was glad that the second season explored Culber’s death and return and “had an effect on him and has changed him in some way.” When asked about favorite episodes for his character as a doctor, he brought up how that change will affect Culber professionally:
In [season 3] is probably my favorite doctoring episode. I can’t say much about it but we get to see how he has changed and how he is a different doctor now because of what he has been through.
Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz) saving the life of Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) in season two finale
The actors also talked about some of the challenges they faced dealing with all the medical props on their shows. For his part, Cruz revealed that for the season two finale he kept having to redo the climactic emotional scene where he is saving Paul Stamets’ life because he kept mixing up his medical tricorder with another medical instrument and would have to start the “choreography” all over again. Cruz again started to talk about season three, but stopped himself with:
There is so much I want to say because we go one thousand years into the future for season three. There is so much I want to say about what we are doing now, but I can’t.
We do know that the show will feature some future tech, as there were some new items spied in the season three trailer, although those were more on the weapon side of things than the medical.
David Ajala as Book and Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham with some kind of new devices in a preview of season three
But when is season 3 coming?
The big question about season three of Discovery is the release date. It was a bit of a surprise last week that the new animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks got an official launch date (August 6) before we had a date for Discovery. The official CBS announcement about Lower Decks did state that Discovery was “returning with season three later this year.” While Discovery could arrive as early as October to land after Lower Decks wraps up its run of 10 episodes, it is more likely we will have to wait until November or even December.
Teaser image for Discovery season 3
Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.com.
I think season 3 will show its first 6 episodes in October- December and continue the next 7 episodes in January 2021
I know many are still cynical and/or downright hate this show but I am still super excited about the prospects of seeing Star Trek a thousand years into the future. I have never been as excited about a premise for a show in a long long time. Yes, I know, it’s still Discovery, they can mess it up immensely. But as someone who at least thought season 2 was a HUGE improvement over season `1 (which is still my worst first season out of any shows including TNG first season) I am a lot more upbeat about it’s chances these days.
And yes it’s annoying we don’t even have a return date yet for a show that’s already been off the air for a year now. I do miss the old days of Star Trek when a show ended in May and showed up in September. Those were the days lol. But it just hit me the other day if Discovery was made like all the classic Trek shows from TOS to ENT with a more standard schedule with 25 episodes, it already would’ve finished season 3 by now with around 75 episodes in the can AND would be starting season 4 in a few months. Crazy huh?
Covid-19 would’ve still pushed things back for sure though, just speaking in general.
Anyway CBS, at least give us another freaking trailer by now or something! We need SOME new content!
You’re the most optimistic one here and I appreciate that.
I agree with everything you said and double down on a new trailer, its time!
I love the show and 1st and especially 2nd season is better than any other 2nd season Trek except the original series
Do glad we got a new and different Star Trek instead of a regurgitation of the past
I certainly have my issues with the show still but honestly no more than I have with most Trek shows prior. I learned to love all those in time (yes even Enterprise ;)), so I’m hoping eventually I will with this one too.
At least to me, while the show is still faaaar from great I have to say not only did they acknowledge all the mistakes they made in season 1, practically every major change they did make in season 2 was for the better IMO.
And in season 3, they are doing something MANY of us wanted on day one and that was a post-Nemesis show. In this case they are going waaaaaaay post-Nemesis lol. To the point the only people who could ever show up in a cameo without any time travel is the Doctor, Q and maybe Guinan. Oh and of course Riker (yeah, I believe they’ll find a way! ;D).
In all seriousness, as you just said, we’re no longer regurgitating the past. That’s why so many of us wasn’t excited about the show as we could have been because although it was a ‘new’ Star Trek, it still felt like it was going to cover old ground…just in a different way basically.
Now this is completely NEW ground in every way and shape possible and why I’m so excited!
And I’m still very excited for SNW! I have to make that clear lol. It’s just nice we now have enough Star Trek that can go many different directions, eras and settings.
Tiger, I want to have your continuing optimism for this show because I don’t ;) After they managed the unthinkable and screwed up that sure bet, Picard, I’m merely curious to see just how they are going to turn this giant narrative opportunity into a boomerang that hits the unsuspecting audience hard ;) My cynical self thinks this narrative freedom from canon will also be used to create freedom from *Star Trek* – what it used to mean, what it used to stand for. Because frankly, if they managed to do just that from *within* the (supposed) “confines of canon” in season 1, and Picard, what would stop them when they are really 1000 years removed from all ‘shackles’ (their view)? Now they are free to create their own Star Wars, Farscape, Firefly, &c.
“Now they are free to create their own Star Wars, Farscape, Firefly, &c.”
But they’ll just give us their own Andromeda… S3 is quite obviously Trek’s version of that show, given the entire premise…
Your point about “freedom from Star Trek – what it used to mean” may be valid from a purist POV, but I believe it’ll be closer to traditional Trek than you may think.
It’s paradoxically absurd: S1 was canonically closer to classic Trek than any other show but they tried to make something completely different.
S3 will be the farthest away canon-wise, but it’ll be closer to what you expect…
If not, at least, it’s something fresh. Trek creating their own take on Andromeda, Farscape, Firefly, Expanse, Killjoys doesn’t sound too bad to me. TWOK was different from TMP, TMP was different from TOS, even TOS was different from The Cage… All of it is Star Trek, there is no such thing as “what Star Trek is supposed to be like”…
It’s all a matter if taste, of personal preferences… Niners celebrate DS9 as the best Trek show ever while it is inarguably the odd one out of the four spin-offs we got in the 90s/early00s…
Well I’ve never seen a single episode of Andromeda. But based on how people talk about it here, I don’t think I want to either. ;)
But regardless they were given the freedom to go that direction IF that’s where they’re going with it. They certainly couldn’t have done that in the first two seasons.
For me I am excited it is something completely different than before (while acknowledging it can still suck). It doesn’t mean I couldn’t have loved what they originally set up, I just felt no real excitement about it either. I just didn’t remotely care about seeing a war we already knew what the outcome was going to pretty much be (basically a stalemate) but I know others did like the idea of it. But now, if there is another war in the 32nd century it can end however they want it to.
But then the other problem was like you said, they set it in a familiar era but completely changed the look and feel of the universe at the same time. What was the point then? So they already pushed away people who didn’t want another prequel and then they pushed away other people who did want it but hoped it felt stay true to TOS when it didn’t at all IMO.
The show alienated so many people by the time it started and it didn’t help it was badly written (the worst sin of all). But I’m hoping with a new setting and direction its given them inspiration to make the show their own in a way they couldn’t first season.
“Your point about “freedom from Star Trek – what it used to mean” may be valid from a purist POV, but I believe it’ll be closer to traditional Trek than you may think.
It’s paradoxically absurd: S1 was canonically closer to classic Trek than any other show but they tried to make something completely different.
S3 will be the farthest away canon-wise, but it’ll be closer to what you expect…”
I wonder what gives you this certainty after everything we have seen, especially after Picard which had the golden opportunity of harnessing the nostalgia and love fof TNG (also from a business perspective) but instead chose to subvert and” deconstruct” (destroy) everything the 24th century stood for, and likewise tarnish, if not outright kill every legacy character they featured (including Picard)? And great if you like Farscape and Firefly and want to see more of that in Trek (why not stay with the original rather than the poor imitation?) – for my part I don’t like them and I liked Trek because it wasn’t like them – mostly bright, Utopian, free of cussing, graphic violence and petty inter-character conflict. I don’t think it’s too much asked to expect at least ONE show out of the many to harken back to that. Ah well, SNW, MAYBE..
It did no such thing.
Great argument there, laddie ;)
Even Chabon admitted as much. He chose to use the word “probe”, but what he accomplished was just the same tired “deconstructing” you’d expect a posh Pulitzer post-modernist to do!
Nice thoughts…
I have rewatched Discovery S2 again just recently and I love it, so I am excited for S3 to hit up pretty soon too. Picard was good, but Discovery is much more entertaining, at least for me. It’s too bad alot of people don’t like it, but that’s the way it goes I guess.
Personally I love Season 1 the best because Burnham is in a more ambiguous place and Lorca is there. I love it through Episode 11. 12 and 13 ruined it for me, but the last two were decent.
I loved Season 2 but thought there was a bit of over-correction: Klingons have hair! Pike is really nice guy! And the whole Section 31 thing and the Red Angel mystery got to be a little too much.
I love Pike, Spock and Number One, though, and I do look forward to that new show.
I really wish Season 2 could have picked up with a PTSD-inflicted Prime Lorca, assuming command after some therapy, but there being a war on, the process would be rushed. Saru could resent his return, and the entire crew could distrust him, and he’d have to work to get their trust — and to trust himself after a rough 800+ days in the Mirror Universe.
I hope they find a way to bring Lorca — and the terrific Jason Isaacs — back. With COVID, who the hell knows what will happen with anything.
I think viacomcbs wants to use season 3 to help launch the streamer that will replace CBS All Access.
It’d be nice for Culber to finally become a character on this show, and not just a walking billboard for gay couples in Trek.
He’s been a character, a compassionate doctor, a murdered man, and someone recovering from being terrified every day into a relationship he’s not sure he wants anymore, to a semblance of his old self.
I guess you were too blinded by billboard rage to actually see what was portrayed onscreen.
To his credit, the billboard was advertised as such to ad nauseum by the behind the scenes people since before season 1. Maybe they should spend more time on writing compelling characters first and SJ tokens second? The objective is egalitarianism and unity (one hopes), not fanning division, after all.
While I generally disagree with you on this one VS, I agree that the promotional hype can overwhelm what actually is shown onscreen.
For Discovery in general (and Picard), this seems to be an issue.
If screen-time is precious in a short streaming season, then it is all the more crucial to really craft the writing of every scene and lock all all the plotlines and plot details before shooting starts.
Instead, we are getting a lot of EPs telling us what’s important in episodes or why things were done in a certain way when ideally the show should stand on its own, and the show should carry a plot thread through to resolution rather than dropping it to focus on the star in the finale.
The XBorg in Picard are the most egregious example, but I have to agree that after the end of season one of Discovery, Culber was definitely leading as most promising but abandoned character.
I think the disagreement hinges on whether one perceives Culber as seen on screen as a full-fledged character in his own right or not. So far, I do not – he was mostly defined through his relationship and his relations to various groups. But who is Culber the individual? The only thing I remember is Kasselian opera. And frankly even Harry Kim and Tom Paris were richer characters in Voyager season 1! Culber so far is more like Kes – defined through somebody else, and with weird physiological properties (now reborn). Maybe that will change in season 3 as a “doctoring episode” is coming apparently…
And no objections on the XB’s. It is ironic: all these producers and Stewart were telling us they’d surely not include the Borgs, AGAIN, just for gratuitous reasons, but in the end that’s exactly what it was – no relation to the actual story whatsoever!
I more or less hate Discovery, and even I think Culber is an interesting, fully-formed character. That’s probably due more to Cruz’s acting than to the writing, but even so, I think he’s anything but a walking billboard.
And even if he was, that’d be fine by me, because it’s the sort of thing Trek ought to have done decades ago.
Season 3 is a 2021 release at this point.
I dig that white uniform of Culber’s. I hope he’s on the show more this season.
As for the command chair, it makes no sense for anyone other than SMG to be the ship’s Captain. But it also makes no sense for convicted mutineer Michael Burnham to be a Captain. Nice hole you painted yourself into there, show.
I have to disagree, I think Saru makes the most sense. Especially since not only he was actually the first officer, he was acting Captain for awhile. I don’t know how Burnham would be more qualified at this point, especially since you pointed out unlike Saru, she has a criminal record. ;)
That said, I wouldn’t really have an issue if she became captain but I also have to agree with your other point the internet would probably melt down if she was captain lol. I mean I can kind of buy she is still in Starfleet given the situation but being captain probably might feel like a stretch for most.
Buuuut, then again we are now talking about a show that not only threw their ship a thousand years into the future, but Starfleet also pretended said ship and crew was destroyed and now facing a scaled down Federation in crisis. I mean none of it is exactly normal procedure lol. Her being captain given everything would probably be a big shrug.
I’m still wondering how a ship and crew that is literally 900 years behinds the time can even BE in Starfleet??? But this show is being run by the same guy that made Kirk go from cadet to captain in a week and woke up a 300 year old 20th century augment to design advance starships so I sort of answered my own question. ;)
Burnham was pardoned and her record expunged when they restored her commission at the end of season 1. Sarek said that when he gave Burnham her badge back.
But people still remember. Ensign Ro underwent a similar problem. She was met with initial skepticism from the E’s crew. Except the bartender.
Ro is a great example. According to some people’s questionable logic Ro should have been readily accepted for having the “privileged skin color” (never mind her being alien, but people here even seriously argue Klingons are black…)
Another example is Nick Locarno. Even portrayed by the same actor, they had to invent a new character and clean slate for the sake of narrative credibility. And by some people’s logic, he was as privileged as they come!
As so often, the real problem is not racism. For Burnham (as for Space Hitler), it’s poor character handling, if not character assassination.
The name change from Nick Locarno to Tom Paris was almost certainly due to the desire to avoid paying royalties to the writers of “The First Duty” for *every* *single* Voyager episode. The backstory was virtually identical.
The TNG crew got over its skepticism about Ro a lot more quickly than the DISCO crew got over its skepticism about Burnham. And no one on TNG every physically attacked Ro, which is what happened to Burnham in “Context is for Kings.” An amnesiac Riker even slept with her.
And there was not an ounce of animus towards Kirk after STAR TREK III, nor Spock after “The Menagerie.”
You have double standards for a Black character.
BTW In the Relaunch Voyager novels, it’s noted that Paris was charged for the Academy graduation stunt.
When readers challenged Kirsten Beyer (who authored the books) on this, she responded that it had been confirmed to her that Paris = Locarno.
I wasn’t talking about skin color at all. Perhaps that was your narrative. I was just saying that even though Burnham’s record was expunged and she was pardoned, it seems unreasonable for people to forget about a mutiny that led to a war. I can see people forgetting about an incident where 8 people died. We don’t even know the particulars of that incident. But she was shunned for it when she came on board. The nature of episodic TV was why the crew seemed to get over it pretty quickly. Animosity towards her was only seen in her first two episodes. (I’m not yet though season 5 yet so I do not remember if it was brought up again). But animosity towards Burnham lasted for about two episodes as well. Which is inexcusable in Discovery’s case being a continuous seasonal story.
At any rate, I was merely pointing out that Ro was in a similar situation. Had no intention to play any sort of race card here….
I think you missed my point, I was saying (confirming) exactly that irrespective of skin color these other characters faced failure and were regarded as “spoilt goods” by writers and characters in-universe just the same, it’s par for the course to accept just as well that Burnham is not “captain material” based on her history. Anything else would be “playing race cards” indeed…
I like the idea of Saru being captain and Burnham his most trusted advisor, and some of their struggle to reconcile their relative experience as they decide what to do.
I’d love to hear Saru say, “Burnham, you’re not always right,” and Michael retorting, “Neither are you.” Then Saru, “How can we solve this problem together?”
I’d reallllly like them subvert expectations in these less than expected ways for once, Marja, but I can’t see it. If season 3 goes that way, I will give credit where credit is due though!
I’m just going to treat it as though Season 1 and 2 never happened. This Federation ship just magically appeared 900 years in the future on their mission to restore the Federation. And I’m going to hope that the scripts all make sense
Well, they probably won’t make sense if you pretend that the first two seasons don’t exist.
They’re not likely to make any sense either way, if season 2 was any indication.
The long night has come, the United Federation of Planets, the greatest civilization in history has fallen… and now, one ship… one crew have vowed to drive back the night and rekindle the light of civilization… On the Starship Discovery, hope…lives…again…
Just FYI, I read your comment in Shatner’s voice. It was epic.
What a tease! Looking forward to seeing what happens with Disco crew.
I really hope Saru stays captain! Doug Jones does SUCH a good job, plus it’s about time that Star Trek had an alien captain. Since Burnham is the star of the show, I’m guessing that she’ll be becoming the captain, but until Season 3 airs, I can still hope for Saru. :-)
Plus I really like the idea of the show being from the point of view of someone other than the captain. If that falls to Saru, fine, we can see everything through his eyes.
But the show needs to stick to that premise of “not centered on the captain”
I love Saru, but Discovery is Burnham. Not sure if we are going to see her as a Captain now, but I hope at some point we will see her as the Captain.
At this point in STD I really don’t care who is in command of the ship. I just hope the show gets much better. I know, I know… There is no evidence it will. But like a fan of a bad ball club, all I have is hope.
Lol at the last sentence. It’s the hope that kills too.
I think 90% of people commenting on here know the writers can’t write good sci-fi let alone good Trek even if their comments are positive. How anyone can dine on fine filet mignon steak with TNG’s The Drumhead, TOS’s Balance of Terror, DS9’s In the Pale Moonlight and many more to the utter tripe of STD (and Picard) and say that recent Trek genuinely is as good as what cane before is totally beyond me.
I hope season 3 is somewhat coherent. If it can do that, it’ll be much better that STD 1 and 2 as well as Picard.
You are always so cruel when it comes to this show…but I dig that about you!! :)
Would love to see this show produce a Drumhead or In the Pale Moonlight. I’ll even take a Timeless or a Living Witness! Maybe it will surprise us next season! But I know, I know, I’m not blaming people for not getting their hopes up either.
Timeless was great, up their with best. To this day I’m still baffled how it was a Harry Kim centric show and come out so splendidly.
Lol poor Harry. Still feel gutted not to see him have a cheesy reunion with his folks at the end of the series. Even I felt like I knew his mum.
I was glad it was Kim who was at the center of the show. I think they knew there were complaints he wasn’t getting enough to do and gave him the plum role of the show’s biggest episode. He did a great job too!
But I’ve always liked Kim.
Ahhh Living Witness was excellent! Great shout. To be fair, that future is somewhat consistent with STD S3. With the trajectory of the UFP, one would think they should be in the Delta Quadrant within a couple of centuries after Voyager (I think it was that type of timespan… could be wrong!). However, they’re not – otherwise, the Federation would have cleared up Voyager’s role in their history. Did STD’s writers know about Living Witness, probably not, but we can’t know for certain.
I don’t mean to be cruel to them. Like how T’Pol tells Hoshi (well I’m paraphrasing) how she demands so much because she knows she is capable of it. They’ve got one of the most desirable jobs in the world. Wouldn’t everyone in here absolutely love to write Trek? I just want them to take some time, not to panic, explore the tapestry of Star Trek, speak with some Trekkies and scientists and update their scripts accordingly. I want them to succeed and to enjoy Trek again so badly.
I can’t remember where I read this but someone says Q remarks in a Voyager episode the Federation would have made it to the Delta Quadrant by the 26th century. Could be wrong on that, it’s just what I remember someone else saying. So if true it is a bit contradictory. I don’t think a huge deal though.
I think with DIS, the problem was the show was all entirely based on someone else’s idea who got fired before they started shooting the first episode and the others got holding the bag. It doesn’t excuse it but the people running the show never really owned it like the way Fuller did who clearly every decision was made by him and was basing it off what he came up with. Season 2, while I know you still hated it, came out better at least for a lot of people because it was clear it was their own stories they wanted to tell and made changes that just didn’t appeal to a lot of people in season 1. Yes, it STILL had its problems for sure but you could see the potential in season 2 much more than you could in season 1 IMO (no one would be begging for a Pike show now if that character didn’t turn out so great on DIS).
So I’m hoping season 3 turns the corner completely whatever year it finally debuts in sort of the way Enterprise did by season 4.
Ah, Mary Sue becomes Captain. My god, why was i so naive to expect something different…
Agreed, the American political narrative of the moment DEMANDS it. Nobody ever said ALIEN LIVES MATTER, right? ;)
STD has proven to be a show that goes the path of least resistance, the one of pandering, conformism and opportunism. I wouldn’t ever expect these writers to create a powerful symbol against the tidal forces of P. C., other than by sheer, accidental incompetence (remember Wilson’s “fridging” back in season 1 that totally wasn’t meant that way and neednt to be “corrected” with the most inane of scifi plot devices?)
Dude, if you hate Discovery for have a black woman in command, you’re *really* going to hate the 2024 election.
You mean the two old white dudes that ARE running are going to succumb to the virus and MSG will heroically take over that one TOO? ;)
But seriously, the captain should be chosen for narrative credibility and not partisan virtue-signaling. As for the former criterion, things dont look TERRIBLY good for Starfleet’s first mutineer and war criminal… ;)
Where is the narrative credibility VS in having an idealized future society, free of systemic discrimination, wherein most of the captains are straight white men?
TG47, you gotta ask that the writers! They wrote themselves in a corner (as with Wilson) by making her a mutineer and war criminal and THEN concluding not just her victims (like Detmer) would forgive her, but also Starfleet on the whole. Completely narratively incredible. But to send the message that someone who has been portrayed as completely unsuitable, of lacking the merits to become a captain, nevertheless becoming one solely because her skin color demands so – now that is not just a refutation of meritocracy, but in fact an endorsement of racism!
As with everything else. Black captain with competence and depth has already been done, and done well in Trek. His name was Sisko.
I think the writers unfortunately think the viewers won’t accept a black female captain unless she really earns it. Ending the Klingon War? Oh the fanbase haven’t taken to her. How about having her become Interstellar Iron Man and defeating a monstrous AI to save the whole galaxy? No, the fanbase somehow still aren’t unanimous in loving Burnham. I suspect they’re going to raise the stakes further and create an even mire convoluted story to elevate Michael.
However, the tragedy is if they just kill off or incapacitate Saru early on and just put Burnham in the captain’s chair, no one would kick off about it. The reaction from those who have been critical of Burnham’s arc would just be “finally, she’s the captain now, let’s get on with the show”. The show could then just breathe.
They could have actually just done that in season one, seen Star Trek fans universally be like “ah Captain Burnham of the Discovery, that’s cool. Let’s see what her style’s like”. I’m sure the writers would be confused “what this disproportionately male, older demographic have accepted our black female as a captain?!?!”. In a way, they’re projecting their bigotry of low expectations on our fan base. We have some idiots of course, but for the most part, we don’t care what ethnicity or gender our crew/cast is. Just write good stories!
“ We have some idiots of course, but for the most part, we don’t care what ethnicity or gender our crew/cast is. Just write good stories!”
That is 100% dead on. Regardless of a phony narrative some are pretending is the case, the vast overwhelming majority doesn’t care about the ethnicity or gender of the cast. They just want a show of at least decent quality.
I get your point but dont subscribe to this 100%. We do want a cast that at least attempts to portray and represent “United future Earth” somewhat credibly, which is part of “quality”, and most of the more recent Trek shows have failed at that, ESPECIALLY the “international” part. Picard’s cast is a notable exception but unfortunately it couldn’t save the show anyway… Most shows now clearly cater to the American world view more than ever before, and that of a distinct political faction, at that. All this endless wining about “minorities”…. but where’s the Asians in there?
“I think the writers unfortunately think the viewers won’t accept a black female captain unless she really earns it.”
Uhhh yes, viewers won’t accept ANY protagonist captain without them ‘really earning it’. That is the crux of the matter! Sisko got his promotion at age 38 several seasons into DS9 after seriously proving his chops as station commander at one of the politically most combustible places of fhe galaxy. Burnham’s crimes are so serious so as NOT to warrant second chances, at least in this profession and position, being entrusted with hundreds of lives (after she caused the death of thousands if not millions). Irrespective of intent and further punishment, we don’t want those who recklessly endanger lives do further policing, right?
This idea that somehow her (or anyone else’s) minority status automatically earns her a place in the sun despite incompetence and character flaws is dangerous, divisive and will only lead to further injustices. Everyone’s an individual first and should be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Guess who said that…
Maybe you’d do well reading MLK’s speech about the danger of the white moderate, who cares more about a negative peace which is an absence of tension, as opposed to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.
It’s called Letter From a Birmingham Jail. It’s been reproduced many times online.
What with all this “endless whining about minorities will just stoke more tension” stuff you’re saying.
Just sayin’.
PS: Star Trek has always had a highly American worldview, and it’s hilarious to me that you seem to think that didn’t used to be the case, correct me if I’m wrong. But given everything else you’re saying you seem to be American so it’s understandable you couldn’t see the forest for the trees. They had an Englishman in Picard and Bashir and an Irishman in O’Brien and a fake Scot played by a Canadian with a terrible accent, so what more could we have wanted?
“PS: Star Trek has always had a highly American worldview, and it’s hilarious to me that you seem to think that didn’t used to be the case, correct me if I’m wrong. But given everything else you’re saying you seem to be American so it’s understandable you couldn’t see the forest for the trees.”
No, no I’m not (thank god!) Never set a foot into your country, never intend to! Just seeing internet articles poisoned with ubiquitous hyper-partisan politicization is enough for me, thank you – not just the news, but tech blogs, science, arts and now, even this very Trek blog peddling with Bacon Lettuce Mozarella and similiar flavors for the clicks and ad views (I get it, everybody needs a bigger paycheck during the pandemic and polarization sure pays!)
And how nice of you to consider my interest in Trek ‘hilarious’! I already had this discussion 20 years ago about Trek being too American (Blaring speaker: “IT’S AN AMERICAN TV SHOW!!111”) – of course at that time for entirely different reasons (the hyper-reactionary, militaristic Enterprise series). What can I do – the rest of the world hasn’t caught up yet with producing acceptable scifi, and I was perfectly fine with the old series of the Golden 90s and 60s. Don’t fix what isn’t broken!
Yes, fandom will accept any person of any ethnicity or gender or alien race as Captain so long as they earn it. Case in point, one of the biggest complaints of ST ’09 was Kirk’s light speed ascension to the captaincy. Not many felt Pine’s version earned that chair based on the events of the film.
Safe to say I’m one of the biggest critics of the Abramsverse films! They don’t even register as real Trek in my book. The point is bad writing and not racism, period. “As written”, Burnham has not earned the captaincy. Comicbook super-hero stunts only make her lack of real character depth all the more obvious.
Oh and – you don’t have to reply to this – but I have well noticed your extreme uncomfortableness (even fear) as being seen agreeing with me on anything controversial, even if I was really making a similiar point as you! You don’t need to worry – I understand having an “incorrect” point of view, or even just being associated with the “wrong” people, carries a real threat to your livelihood in your “free” country now and I will try to remember not to bother you with my evil and harmful points of view anymore ;)
You are correct about people here being understandably fearful of saying ANYTHING these days. People have been fired from their jobs here just for associating with someone who says something someone doesn’t like. That said I consider myself squarely in the middle politically. There are things on both sides I endorse and despise. The end result of that is when I talk to lefties I get accused of being a righty and when I talk to righties I get accused of being lefist. Both sides are often unhappy with me when I post political stuff. Yes, there are things you say that I am behind. There are things you say that I’m not. I’m not one of those who is offended or hurt because someone says something I disagree with. In fact, it used to be one of our strengths that we are free to voice our opinions. I LIKE dissenting views of things. When someone makes rational arguments against a personal opinion it forces me to reconsider my take or become a better thinker. But yes… It’s gotten pretty bad here on the free speech side of things and many have decided to at least temper their speech else some weak minded people attack.
President Candace Owens <3 <3 <3 haha
Boy do I wish this site had the ability to hide comments by specific users. I’d never see another word by Vulcan Soul, and that’d suit me just fine.
LIKEWISE! :D
I’m sure 1) this new comment system has an ignore user function and 2) they turned it off on purpose.
In short, they want these clashes because it drives engagement and therefore, ad revenues…
Hé is so hot
I am so done with CBS, we been waiting since January. No some thing else will need to come out and will be waiting for Discovery 3 way in to next year. No I think CBS wants to be done with Star Trek, they hope by not airing it, will forget it. I still think this would be some much better then watching the world tear it self apart on CNN and and Fox news. I very disappointed and done. -M
Michael, they aren’t doing it to punish fans. It’s a global pandemic happening. There is only so much they can do right now, but yes it’s frustrating we don’t even have a returning date yet.
But a new Star Trek show will be premiering in less than a month now, so how do you figure CBS wants to be ‘done’ with Star Trek? Especially since they have literally 6 shows in various stages of production now?
Thanks for saying it Tiger2.
Wishing away the pandemic won’t change things. But managing it well makes a difference to how soon economic activity can not just open but actually function (as Sweden is demonstrating).
Fortunately for most Star Trek production, Canada has “planked the curve” as the Chief Public Health Officer called for, and television and film production is coming back on line.
The Greater Toronto Area was one of the last areas in Ontario to reach phase 2 reopening, but it’s been that way for a couple of weeks. The guilds have been tweeting that they’re signing off on Covid safety protocols.
No dates for Trek production to restart in Toronto and Mississauga. We know though that preproduction on Strange New Worlds was ticking along before the shutdown and Discovery season 4 is on the rumour list for reopening preproduction.
At this point, the issue is whether US actors and creatives will have any flexibility on the 2 week mandatory quarantine once they arrive in Canada. They may need to come in and stay through the entire production season. One also has to wonder if there is a way to do some of the postproduction in Canada instead if it could speed things up.
What this means is that in 2021 we are likely to see a lot of new live action Trek, even if Picard season 2 production is still a ways off given the Covid situation in California.
It’s just so silly. I’m not trying to be mean here, but use your brain. If ANYONE wants to get Discovery on the air as soon as possible, it’s CBS who has spent millions making the show and wants to recoup it’s money back ASAP like every network or studio out there. But Michael is treating it as some personal affront like they are just holding the show back to get fans upset because yeah, that’s what corporations like to do, alienate their fanbase by not airing shows they already paid for.
This is a time when you should let your inner Vulcan out and stop using so much emotion and just think logically about the situation.
Sadly the Covid situation is just really done a lot of damage, ESPECIALLY in America where most of movies and shows still shoot. I’m so happy Canada at least have it under much more control (but you have better leadership there that understand how science works. Every western country sadly now has better leadership these days than us when it comes to this crisis (sigh)). But I’m hoping you’re right, things will ramp up there much sooner in terms of production. I know in Europe they are now shooting movies and shows there again with the next Matrix movie (I still can’t believe I just said that lol), Mission Impossible etc are either filming or will start soon.
Sadly all the productions still shooting in America itself seems to be way behind with no real sign of when things can start up. But Jerri Ryan did say they hope Picard can start in the fall, so fingers crossed. And if so we’ll still see the show sometime in 2021 at least. And they are still saying DIS should air this year but I’m guessing October will be the earliest if they wait until after LD are done.
How is it possible for people to be this ignorant and under-informed? Do some people think shows just magically appear out of thin air?
It’s been so long since DSC season 2 finale that I’ve kind of lost interest. If they didn’t bother to release season 3 I’d probably be fine with it at this point.
Besides, the longer fans have to wait for something, the higher the expectations can be. No way can they deliver on how much will be expected by the end of this year.
Not happening this year. Hollywood is repeatedly punting during Covid rather than just admit that next year is the earliest. Otherwise people lose interest. It’s called PR and it works because all everyone talks about is when is it coming? Next year.
There are 700 episodes of Antique Trek for the older crowd. Sorry the younger folks only have a cartoon.
Is anyone else out there kinda tired of waiting around for this show? They told us at the beginning of the coronavirus deal that it had been filmed and they just needed to wrap up some things in post production. Here we are a little over 4 months later and we keep hearing about “post production” and release in “2020”. What gives? Probably some money game where some suits are sitting on it, trying to determine the exact moment that a release can get the most viewers and make the most $$$. Such BS!
You clearly have no idea how detailed post-production is, nor how much more complicated that becomes thanks to a nationwide quarantine.
“Probably some money game where some suits are sitting on it, trying to determine the exact moment that a release can get the most viewers and make the most $$$.” — Yes, you got it. They are basically stealing money right out of YOUR wallet. Unforgivable that a business would even try to make money.