Interview: Akiva Goldsman On How Episodic ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Allows For Classic Twists

Akiva Goldsman is doing double duty now in the Star Trek Universe, acting as executive producer and co-showrunner for both Star Trek: Picard and the upcoming new series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which is set on board Pike’s USS Enterprise. On Star Trek Day TrekMovie had a chance to speak exclusively with Goldsman about both shows; We already posted our Picard discussion, so now we present what he had to say about Strange New Worlds.

Rebecca Romijn and Akiva Goldsman at Star Trek Day Strange New Worlds panel

With Strange New Worlds and Picard shooting at the same time, things must have been very complicated for you.

Yeah, I have great partners, Henry Alonso Myers on Strange New Worlds and Terry Matalas on Picard. So, I get to sort of flip back and forth.

For Strange New Worlds, you wrote and directed the pilot. Was it important for you to set the tone and style of the show?

Yes, I really wanted to do that. I had sort of been imagining this show since I went to help out on Discovery [season one]. Alex [Kurtzman] asked me to come help and I didn’t know what the show was, but he knew I was a Star Trek freak. So I quickly looked on the Internet to see what it was, and everything said it was going to be about Number One and Pike. So when I got to Disco, I was excited for a show we weren’t making.

From that moment, I have been agitating for this TV show. And I really wanted to make a show that would have appealed to the 12-year old me that went to that Star Trek convention in 1974. And it felt like the best way to do that would be to kind of help set the tone visually, and really more in storytelling. I don’t do much visually. I have great people like Glen Keenan, who is a great director of photography. I’m not actually a visual director. I just kind of know where the story is. But together, I think we made something pretty special.

Ethan Peck as Mr. Spock in Strange New Worlds character reveal video

From the character reveal video, we can see that there have been some visual changes made to the uniforms and the sets. Even though they were close on Discovery, did you want to get even closer to the look of The Original Series?

Yeah, I would say we iterated one more time. I think that the organizing principle for our iteration was our view of canon. But having said that, we body english the shit out of some things in order to make it work.

The big surprise in that video was revealing more familiar characters like Uhura and M’Benga. So what do you see as the balance of the old and the new? Are we going to see something new every week? A new planet, new species, that kind of thing?

Well, I can answer it this way. We are returning fundamentally to episodic storytelling. What is unique about this particular Star Trek show in the current Star Trek Universe is that it is fully episodic. Now, when I say “fully” I’m slightly exaggerating in that the character arcs are still serialized. It’s not like Jim Kirk will see Edith Keeler die one week and be fine the next week as it was in The Original Series.

Our characters will carry with them what they suffer from, or what they learned, from episode to episode. But the stories are episodic. And that allows us to do something that The Original Series is quite good at, to give you slightly different tones. And to give you—for lack of a better word—hidden morals of the story. Like an O. Henry turn, like a Twilight Zone that gives you a kind of pop that really is the province of episodic storytelling.

Some Star Trek shows—like DS9—are very much ensemble shows. The Original Series was primarily about the two or three leads. How is it on Strange New Worlds? Are Pike, Spock, and Number One the new troika or is it more of an ensemble?

This Star Trek really is an ensemble piece. But what we do, which is a little different than the other ensemble pieces that are currently in play, is we don’t actually try to tell everybody’s story every week. We sort of move our focus around a bit. So you might easily look at an episode and say, ‘Oh, that was really Pike episode’ or ‘That was really a M’Benga episode.’  

Babs Olasanmokun as Dr. M’Benga in Strange New Worlds character reveal video

More Star Trek Day

Check out more trailers, panel recaps, and interviews from our full Star Trek Day coverage.

ICYMI – Meet the cast of Strange New Worlds 

More to come

There is still more to come from Star Trek Day, including more red carpet interviews, so keep reading TrekMovie for our full Star Trek Day coverage.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds arrives on Paramount+ in 2022.


Find more Star Trek: Strange New Worlds news and analysis.

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So looking forward to this series.

I respectfully disagree that the Enterprise sets were “close on Discovery.” In my mind they still aren’t close enough. But I’m kind of a purist when it comes to visual continuity and appreciate that it isn’t 1966 anymore. But they could still do a lot better in my opinion of course :-)

I kind of thought the only thing that was kind of off was that corridor that encircled the bridge. It was kind of that, and the general scale being bigger that are a little hard to get used to. But other than that, (and maybe the version of Engineering from the Short Treks, it seems pretty much like the Enterprise, to me.

They cold have done better. But they did way way WAY better of a job than the Kelvin movies did.

The set changes don’t really bother me but the new transporter looks a little busy. The exterior design doesn’t look like the Enterprise. The Defiant in Enterprise looked more like the Enterprise than the Discoprise. Its supposed to be a prequel to TOS, it doesn’t have the excuse of TMP of a refit happening, or like the KT where the incursion of Nero allowed the changed design. I hope they change the design to be somewhere in between the original and Disco but i will understand if it stays the same.

There’s enough time between “The Cage” and the Federation-Klingon War for the Enterprise to have undergone a refit. So there’s no reason why that doesn’t explain the new look for the Enterprise in Discovery. I would also point out that as “In a Mirror, Darkly” showed with how the USS Defiant was more advanced than the ISS Enterprise and the ISS Avenger that just because something looks visually more sophisticated and advanced doesn’t necessarily mean it is.

I tend to agree. I think they could have done a much better job with the Enterprise and the overall look and feel of the era on Star Trek Discovery. It needed to reflect what we saw before a lot more. A good PD crew is capable of evoking the original feel while still updating it for modern audiences. And I did like reading that they made more changes to the look. Hope it works…

As long as they keep on refitting it to look closer and closer to the way it looked in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” I don’t mind. The thing that’ll really matter is what it looks like in 2265.

The way I see it, if this show lasts seven seasons, as the average Star Trek show used to last, and assuming season one is in 2258, which would have been where we last seen them in Discovery; then the show will indeed end in 2265, providing there are no time jumps or anything like that.

If that is the case, I really hope to see a TOS accurate bridge by the last episode, and James T. Kirk taking command. But pleeeaaassee don’t recast him, just get a stuntman to play his body, and Deep Fake his face with CGI, and use William Shatner’s voice. In fact they better hurry up and film that scene ahead of time, because Shatner may not be around by then!

Well said Marc! They could explain the changes and the less advanced look as Pike wanting to simplify things when he becomes Fleet Captain, which would be consistent with his aversion to holographic communications. And I would love to see a de-aged Shatner as Kirk in the finale. The only thing I disagree with you on is Shatner maybe not being around in 7 years. I think he will be the first human to live forever :-)

It kinda depends on how you look at it. I allways liked, that the shows up to Enterprise treated it like an alternate universe to our own. Where there was a third World War somwhere in the 21st century and eugenics wars in 1996. And the 2250s looked like a 60s TV show. I allways felt it was a sign of respect, to allways come back to this look when they actually went to the past. It makes the universe feel that little bit more koherent.

Even JJ Abrams had enough sense to show the original creators of the look of the show some respect and not make their hard work meaningless. He just set his movies in a different timeline.

Not you can of course nit pick the shit out of all of this but I allways appreciated the effort. Appart from maybe Lower Decks there just seems to be no love or even respect for Star Trek pre 2005 in those writers rooms nowadays.

After loving all Star Trek my whole life, being very excited for Discovery and Picard and being let down hard, with no interest in Lower Decks, Prodigy, Section 31, or Starfleet Academy, all my hopes are pinned on Strange New Worlds. Goldsman’s interviews have me excited again and I hope not for no reason. They need to make the Star Trek universe seem large and expansive again, mysterious and futuristic like it was in TOS, not just a collection of the most hackneyed pop-culture Trek elements mixed with shallow character development, preachy politics, middle-school cafeteria dialogue and ridiculous, hole-ridden plots that do nothing other than make you remember you’re watching a poorly written, unimaginative TV show.

May Strange New Worlds be the first Kurtzman Trek that breaks the mold!

Only a meathead* could consider TOS, much as I love it, not to be “preachy,” much less not-as-preachy as all of its successors combined. When SNW, DSC, or PIC hits the audience over the head with a sledgehammer in the manner of a “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” by all means let me know.

*I say this with all respect. For all his faults, Mike Stivic was the moral center of the Bunker household.

You precisely describe TOS: hackneyed, shallow character development, preachy politics, middle school dialog, ridiculous hole-ridden plots…

Yet the only other TV show in the 1960s that was even close to as forward-thinking as TOS was The Twilight Zone. Look at TOS’s contemporary Lost In Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to see what network TV really wanted in the mid 1960s.

You are correct, Twilight Zone was very forward thinking.

You’ve got to be kidding. The two preachiest Trek shows to date are, by far, TOS and TNG.

I have NO idea how people can say TOS wasn’t preachy when practically every episode ended with Kirk making a speech to whatever planet he beamed down to about how their society was getting it wrong and how people can learn to co-exist better. In one episode he literally used the U.S. Constitution to make his point lol.

I don’t get it either. I happen to love TOS, but Kirk spent more time speechifying than all the other captains combined. Anyone who complains about modern Trek being too preachy is exposing a lack of familiarity with the older shows.

Make Trek Great Again!

lol

I’ m not a fan of Goldman, but with what he said on Star Trek Day he regained some trust by me. I can identìfy with what he tries to achieve for this show. He is an honest fan of classic Trek.

Sounds good.

Can’t wait for the return of Classic Trek storytelling through Strange New Worlds.

Hmm. Really liking the uniform M’Benga is wearing. Big fan f the wider black “collar.”

Finally!! After suffering through the last few years, watching millions of dollars being spent on pointless Mary Sue stories (pure drivel), we are getting back to what Star Trek was about in the first place.

(YEAH, I SAID IT)

Whenever a fan says things like “What Star Trek was about in the fist place,” they almost never can accurately describe what Star Trek was about in the fist place.

Star Trek was about making Roddenberry money.

Exploration!

I’m more interested in the tone. Is it going to be hopeful and optimistic. or have bright colors like TOS but still be as brutal and dystopian as Disco and Picard. I’m hope its the classic formula not new coke.

Do you really want me to say it ? Because I don’t want to say it ! But I’m going to , because i have to . And it might be the last thing I say for awhile . This is not directed specifically at Akiva Goldsman , because I don’t know him or his work , other than that I’ve heard he is a recognized producer .

I haven’t enjoyed Star Trek since 2005 , be it the movies or series . The stories are revisionist remakes , and the characters seem shallow . Their prime directive seems to be action and more action . The actors lack gravitas because the stories are pointless . The new movies are virtue signalling for the movie-going “Trekkies” . Poor old Nimoy appeared as a very gnarled gratuitous figure in the great Star Trek Rebirth . Picard seems lost and useless in the fall of the Federation , And of course , Hot Seven Of Nine has come to save the day (and will probably become Picard’s partner and love at Chateau Picard in the finale !) Q , Q , Q needs validation again to CQ or GQ ! And don’t get me started on Discovery – a whole series about Spock’s black Sista! , he’s having trouble remembering ?

I must admit I was looking forward to Section 31 , but whoever produces this , I guarantee it will be some shallow James-Bond-style show fought in the corridors of a mirror universe .

At the moment , I’m watching Voyager , and enjoying a team that are discovering their humanity , working to keep the ship seaworthy and surviving together as well as discovering other races . I have seen the pilot with Genevieve Bujold (a great actress but unsuited to the Voyager format) and Kate Mulgrew as the lead as Captain for a long-running series was a God-Send . Probably the hardest role in this series has gone to Tim Russ , who gets a nod of respect for making an improbable role seem right . Duncan O’Neil always amuses as the intelligent fratboy on the ship . I’ve enjoyed the technical side of this show , as I did with Enterprise , which might make me a technical Trekker .

I usually don’t get on people’s personal issue or case with a character but the way you refer to Spock’s sister as ‘sista’ is eye rolling and really comes off racist because you are clearly calling Burnham out for being black. And make no mistake I don’t like the idea of Spock having a sibling either and the whole concept of it was dumb on its head (but always accepted it). But her race should not be remotely an issue in Star Trek. The fact she’s ALSO human and considered his brother is what makes Star Trek Star Trek. Race itself should be a complete non-factor in it. Maybe you DON’T mean it that way, if so, I apologize, but that’s how it comes off.

On the other end. completely agree on Voyager. I’ve always liked the show a lot but never loved it. But like you I am rewatching the show in its entirety, probably the first time since it ran and appreciate it more today than I did back then. I’m just a handful of episodes from finishing season 7 but it was a really fun journey! It’s been my third favorite show out of the franchise for a few years now. At one point it was my fifth favorite which shows how things ebbs and flows as time and viewing habits change.

Even though I have my issues with the new shows, I do generally like them all. Far from love. After all DIS and PIC are my least favorite shows by far in the franchise. But as I pointed out, so was Voyager at one point. Other words, things can improve and I’m hoping both will.

I’m also enquiring as to the purpose of this show , Tiger2 ? In all the canon up to this show , there is no mention at all previously , as far as I know , of a sister . I’m saying the role is virtue signalling to a minority group . I’m using that term , because the actress (who i consider to be a good actress) is presented as a stereotypically black action figure (do I detect a New York cosmopolitan accent with her?) . Look as far as I’m concerned , the series has been made specifically for a large ethnic group , maybe for that purpose alone , and I’m happy they have a Series that they can call their own . But it has nothing to do with the Star Trek Journal : It’s a made-up interpretation , of a vast universe , that doesn’t make sense .

Do you seriously think this show was made just to get more black people to watch it? If so, being black myself, great!!!!!! ;)

But no, I don’t think that was the real purpose. I think it was just to add more diversity as it SHOULD be. In other words, sure having a black actor may get more black people curious of the show, but it’s not going to live or die by how many black people watch the show either, right?

Neither if a character is a woman. Or gay.

That’s what gets missed in all these ‘diversity’ discussions, I don’t think I have ever heard once, ANYWHERE there is data showing a large segment of black viewers (or any minority viewers) now suddenly drawn to Discovery due to having a black lead. Nor have I heard that about gay viewers because two gay characters are on the show. If it is, no one at CBS or anyone making these shows is bragging about that. Because that’s not really the point. The point is IF there is someone who is watching that happens to be black, gay, Latino, a woman WHATEVER, they simply see a little of themselves in the show.

That’s literally what TOS was doing! And now people like you are pretending these new shows are doing something drastically differently. So when they had Uhura, another black sista, are you going to sit here and tell me it wasn’t for the purpose of the message of diversity? My god, every time that show is discussed, like on Star Trek Day it comes up over and over again.

And 55+ years later Star Trek is STILL doing that! And you’re complaining about ONE black person on the show?? Seriously, it’s one character! And you’re also assuming the SOLE black character on a TV show is made for an entire ethnic group? Wow. You do realize they now have shows with an ENTIRE cast of black characters on them now right? If the makers of Discovery wanted to have an ‘entire ethnic group’ watch the show, maybe they would’ve added more than just one lol. It’s not 1966 anymore man. There are tons of other and BETTER options for that today.

Well I guess they have two black characters now that Booker showed up, so that must mean millions more black people are watching it. And he’s a dude!!!!!!! EVEN BETTER!!!!

P.S. You have Picard and SNW, both white guys leading those shows. So get over it already.

But we still agree making her Spock’s sister was dumb and completely unnecessary. But that’s all we agree on.

Well here’s to the coming Series , Tiger2 ! May they have some power and scope to their vision . I’m still hoping for a dark and deep Section 31 thriller . And at least Patrick Stewart is getting a good action send-off in Picard !

Nice how you side stepped everything I said lol.

OK, we’ll leave it there. And if you don’t like Discovery or even Burnham, no one is getting on your case about that obviously. Certainly not me. Maybe the other shows will be better for you.

I find this ironic that, out of all the new Kurtzman-era shows, Section 31, the one (other than SNW) that you are most looking forward to is the one that seems least likely to have optimistic, character-driven stories harkening back to the “golden” age of Trek. Though you did mention that you expect (as I do) that it will be filled with “shallow James-Bond-style show fought in the corridors of a mirror universe” – which is perhaps the most perfect summary of the current producers’ approach to action on modern Trek.

But here’s to hoping SNW succeeds!

Thanks for the reply , Ometikian . At the moment , there seems to be 2 different news opinions on Section 31 – Because of so many new Series and possible Movies in the works , S31 has been put on hold . And the other news opinion is that they have a team of writers on it now and are prepping for production . Only the editors here at Trekmovie with their connections would know what is really occurring . I’m waiting for further info from them . One can only hope it will be a decent spy series .

“The point is IF there is someone who is watching that happens to be black, gay, Latino, a woman WHATEVER, they simply see a little of themselves in the show.^

Works for me. There is no confirmed German character on Discovery, but at least a recurring actor with some German background/heritage. It’s not really that important, but still makes me happy to have someone I can relate on that cultural level.

Kayla Detmer is supposed to be German, at least according to the novels.

Yep you’re right. I just went and checked. She is German and comes from Dusseldorf according to the novel Desperate Hours. I’ve actually been there as well. A good friend I went to grad school with was from there too and went to visit him (although was living in Cologne at the time but took me there as well). Small world! And a really beautiful city.

It is a small world indeed. I visited the Enterprise-D touring Bridge in Düsseldorf and saw Marina Sirtis, Levar Burton and Brent Spiner on the German First Contact Premiere in Cologne. Glad to hear you enjoyed your visit in Düsseldorf.

Loved Düsseldorf! Would love to go back to Germany one day in general. But unfortunately all travel seems to be on the back burner for awhile. ;)

Man I had NO idea First Contact premiere happened in Cologne or the E-D bridge was in Düsseldorf Pretty cool! The FC premiere must have been really special. The crazy thing is I live in L.A., maybe live twenty minutes from the Chinese theater where practically every Star Trek premiere was held and missed all of them.

As for my friend he didn’t seem to be much of a Star Trek fan (I think we never once discussed it) so none of that Trek trivia ever came up or if he knew about it unfortunately.

Yeah, but I doubt they will ever make that canon on the show. I think they missed the chance to let her quote something from her fellow Düsseldorfian compatriot Heinrich Heine, to express her homesickness after the time jump.

I think this poem would nicely sum up Detmer’s melancholic sentiment:

Where shall I, the wander-wearied,
Find my haven and my shrine?
Under palms will I be buried?
Under lindens on the Rhine?

Shall I lie in desert reaches,
Buried by a stranger’s hand?
Or upon the well-loved beaches,
Covered by the friendly sand?

Well, what matter! God has given
Wider spaces there than here.
And the stars that swing in heaven
Shall be lamps above my bier.

I always thought they were trying to create female Picard with Bujold. And Kate had that swagger and badass quality that Shatner had in TOS. A sort of confidence and belief that sold the character. She nailed the role from the first time she appeared on camera right off the bat in the pilot, and made it look so easy.

Indeed , Skyjedi ! You’re right ! Bujold was intended as a female Picard , and Mulgrew was definitely the female Kirk (so petite yet brave and tough) !

That’s silly. Voyager was vanilla garbage compared to almost all of Star Trek that has come out since the end of Enterprise, and it had the dullest, blandest cast of characters.

Voyager had a great pilot. Some Classic sci fi as in that planet that rotated out of sync capturing Voyager but overall the show was kind of spotty .

Voyager had some of the craziest plot lines out of all Star Trek, that’s why I like it so much! It was just a lot of trippy Trek episodes and they actually encountered a lot of strange new worlds in the process. Voysger is definitely the best show when it comes to pure exploration. Janeway has seen more new planets, societies and aliens than any of previous Captains of classic Trek easily. I’m hoping Prodigy continues in that vain with them trying to get home again but stopping at a lot of new planets and nebula along the way.

I’m hoping Prodigy continues in that vain

…talk about a Freudian slip.

LOL, whoops!

Utterly disagree! Voyager is a good show, but did have a flawed execution at times, that can’t be denied. And I LOVE the characters, especially Janeway, Seven, Tuvok and the Doctor. There is nothing bland about them (well OK, Tuvok, but that’s what being a Vulcan is all about ;)).

But I always liked Neelix as well, so nothing I say counts lol.

I LOVE VOY! The pure exploration side is the best in Star Trek.

It has flaws, I would of liked them to have built up stronger and more numerously appearing supporting characters, as well as I would of liked more long term conflict with the same species. This is why I like the Kazon and Vidiian stories. They kind of continued it with the Hirogen and Malon, but went into the alien of the week trope far too often.

Its DS9 I like least with its religious propaganda, annoying Ferengi stories and the insufferable Kira.

DS9 is my favorite show out all of them! AND I’m also an atheist but still love the religious aspects of the show! But it just proves everyone just sees things differently! That’s what keeps life interesting! :)

Your point about Voyager and having more long term conflicts, that was one of the things that made Voyager so different. It just couldn’t really do that realistically considering it was heading warp nine in one direction (generally speaking). I never liked the Kazon much but I did like the Vidians a lot. But regardless it’s hard to keep any one species around longer than a season when they are constantly moving out of their space and territory. It’s also why they brought in the Borg because A. it’s the Borg and B. they already was known to have spread across a lot of the Delta quadrant and why they were moving in the Alpha quadrant little by little. And their size and technology made it easier to justify it even if you just randomly ran into a cube somewhere.

Most of the other people they ran across were usually one species who lived on one planet, maybe colonized a few systems or kind of roamed around like nomads like the Hirogen. It’s kind of hard to keep bringing them back after they passed a thousand light years or so. The Federation is probably the biggest known group in the galaxy and they are only spread across 8,000 light years in the alpha quadrant. Sounds big, but it’s still peanuts when you consider the vast size of the alpha quadrant alone. Technically Voyager would’ve been well out of Federation space by fourth season as well.

Opinions are like fecal exits.

Well everyone has a favorite and a worst. From my point of view it was TNG that had easily the dullest and blandest characters. And it isn’t even close.

Like you said, a matter of taste. TNG had at least Worf and Ro, two of Trek’s best characters. And Picard wasn’t dull in season one, when he still hated Riker and was at least annoyed by Data.

What? What makes you think Picard hated Riker in first season? They seem to like each other just fine.

I admit that hate might be a hard word for it, but in the pilot there is a very strong rivalry and uneasy atmosphere between them, which they carried over from the Kirk Decker relationship in The Motion Picture. Picard is very harsh to Riker and roasts him as if he suspects Riker is After his job. And in “A Matter of Honor” there is this very competive scene between Picard and Riker at the shooting range, in which Picard practically forces Riker to accept the assignment in the Klingon ship with the mischievous intend to see Riker getting a bloody nose from it. At least that is how I always read this scene.

I did feel like the initial Riker — Picard relationship was set up by Roddenberry to be a rehash of the Decker — Kirk tension in TMP.

Fortunately, the writers let the roles develop in their own direction and that meant the relationship had to also.

Picard did need to assert his leadership in the same way as Kirk. They were very different personalities with different approaches so that Riker complemented him rather than was set up in competition with him.

I fully agree that Worf was easily the best character on TNG and among the best characters in all of post TOS Trek. Ro was good but they never used her to her full potential.

I never thought Picard hated Riker. I mean, Riker was Picard’s personal choice for his first officer. Doesn’t make sense he would hate him. Picard’s style was to be uncomfortably distant from everyone. But to each his own.

I have to agree with Tiger2’s comments that Deep Space 9 and Voyager built on The Next Generation in developing TNG’s storyline as well as character interaction . I’ve also heard that many find them boring , but I don’t . I’ve always thought the Star Trek Movies were for the active progression as in action of the Series , and the Series were for serious thought . I like that the Series explore the lives and work of people in the 24th Century Federation . I like to look over their shoulder , and see what they eat , what they’re thinking , what the day holds for them and how they interract with their friends and others . In both Series , you have capable actors who make it seem real .

Sister he can’t remember?

Look, I love Laurence Luckinbill and wish he and Anne Jeffreys managed to do THE DELPHI BUREAU for a lot more episodes, but Sybok was the brother he couldn’t speak of long before her.

And to who was he virtue signaling? White male evangelist cultists???!!!

The uniforms are great, I think the look of the sets (from what we can see) look good too.

I guess I’m the contrarian on the uniform update.

The males on the bridge look really dreary and not particularly stylish.

Sounds very good . So glad we’re going back to more episodic stories. Hopefully this is all in the same vein as The Mandalorian was able to balance episodic adventures with serialised character arcs so perfectly.

This might also mean that finally one of the live action Star Trek TV shows is actually re-watchable because they are individual stories! Something that hasn’t really been possible since ENT. (Lower Decks not included).

I mean can anyone honestly say they they can stick on a random episode of Disc or PIC and be satisfied? I sure know I can’t, those are a one -time watch thing for me. So here’s to more one-off adventures, which allows for various themes and ideas and lessons and the ability to focus on the whole ensemble of characters. Excited!

This all sounds like great news, but basically it just sounds like SNW will be doing what Lower Decks has been doing for two seasons now.

I think that’s another big part of LDS appeal, it’s basically the return of episodic seasons in Star Trek. Like Goldsman said for SNW, the stories will feel mostly standalone but everything will follow the characters which is exactly what LDS has been doing. Every week we have no idea what new adventures our lower deckers will be up to but all the characters have continued their story arcs from first season. Nothing is ‘forgotten’ but the stories rarely connect episode to episode. The only real through line this season story wise is the situation with the Pakleds, but the show has been very open which is why it’s a lot of fun to watch.

If SNW goes down that line (and its GOOD) then yeah it will make a lot of fans happy again.

i guess we won’t be seeing a actual trailer or event teaser soon then i have heard the shots from the meet the characters videos from star trek day was made from clips from the trailer

So looking forward to STRANGE NEW WORLDS and PICARD S2.

Respectfully, to Mr. Goldsmans’s comment about Kirk being fine following the loss of Edith Keeler, the following episode shows Kirk loosing his brother Sam and sister-in-law.

His point I do understand is that the series characters should possess and show emotional of life-experience continuity.

Kirk was tough as nails. He lost both his son and the Enterprise in Star Trek III. And he didn’t surrender and give up.

“Respectfully, to Mr. Goldsmans’s comment about Kirk being fine following the loss of Edith Keeler, the following episode shows Kirk loosing his brother Sam and sister-in-law.”

So… you agree with him, then. Every episode, the pain of previous episodes is no longer in play.

There was SOME continuity on TOS, but very very little, but it was a sign of the time. They would occasionally throw out a line about a mission they had in a previous episode, but that was usually it. Some of the characters certainly got developed, but mostly just what was said about them that was outside the show. You rarely saw any real development on the show itself. As you said they would show some dramatic experience in one episode and it was completely forgotten or avoided the next.

The best example of this to me was the episode “The Lights of Zetar”. That was the episode where Scotty just got a girlfriend suddenly out of the blue. They made it clear they had just started dating but it’s no way you can just throw someone in a romantic relationship on a show today without some type of lead up or how they met unless we’re meeting the characters for the first time. I didn’t even remember that episode until seeing it again in my grand rewatch and the entire episode is basically about his new science officer girlfriend’s body being invaded by some energy alien things and everyone reassuring Scotty they are going to save her. Of course it’s a happy ending, she’s saved, aliens are gone and the announce how much they care about each other. Everyone just seems happy Scotty has found love. Next episode she’s completely gone and no one has ever mentioned her again lol. Not even in a throw away line. Now THAT’S how you do episodic TV! ;)

Well, yeah, and he never mentioned his brother, sister-in-law, or nephew again, and never seemed effected by their deaths in later episodes.

Carrying trauma over the course of a lifetime was considered a weakness in that time period, especially with war veterans.

On the one hand I try to be optimistic about Akiva Goldsman’s involvement in Trek, on the other hand I keep remembering he is the guy who wrote Batman and Robin and shudder a little. Yes, people are gonna tell me he also won an academy award for A Beautiful Mind but I don’t know if his Oscar win is enough to reciprocate the disaster that was Batman and Robin.

Goldsman is capable of writing strong drama, but is not good at delivering humor. I believe he’s grasped that point.

Let’s have a TOS style series, exploration of the frontier, wagon train to the stars colonization, starships being a rare and expensive commodity in a dangerous universe.
Stick to that and the show will be great. Crews that function in that environment will be exciting regardless of any details (though I personally can’t wait to see M’Benga, Uhura, etc).
Also on the sets, colorization with lots of functionality and dynamics. Copy TOS.
Please no bland sets. Leave the Captain Chairs in front of bland doors in oversized nonfunctional rooms to the other shows.

Prepare to be disappointed…again. ;)

But I can’t wait to see Uhura, Chapel and M’Benga as well!

Just as I couldn’t understand how Xena and Hercules (which Kurtzman wrote for) could beat DS9 in the ratings for years, I’ll never understand how the writer-directors of “Winter’s Tale” and “The Mummy” could get to run one of the most venerable and cerebral Crown Jewels of tv franchises and direct episodes, including pilots, whenever they like. Just more proof that we definitely do not live in a meritocracy.

Okay, I will try to get that out of my system. But I’m still waiting for something half as memorable and rewatchable as the best episodes of the older series. I’m really really hoping this format helps them focus and brings out the best in the writers, however incredulous I might be about who they report to.

It’s about DS9 needing continuity – which audiences at the time were not used to.

It’s not so much DS9 not being everyone’s cup of tea (that plus the reality of the imploding first-run syndication market I’ve come to terms with), it’s that so many more people actually liked two of the worst shows on television. And that’s what Kurtzman cut his teeth on. Sigh.

Goldsman talks a good game, whether he delivers a pure fan sided show I’m not so sure…heard these promised from him and Kurtzman before with other shows.

As long as it isn’t too much like Discovery that will be a good start.

Looks so good! love the new uniforms too.

I’m hoping for a rousing main theme and decent opening credits montage for this, but I’d settle for an ‘otherworldly’ vibe if not.

Out of all the modern Trek shows, this would be the one to do a version of the “Space, the final frontier” speech in the opening credits. I’m seriously hoping for this.

Yeah, this one really should have that monologue. Maybe have Pike put some extra emphasis on “To explore strange new worlds.”

Mmm…not liking the uniforms.
the styling makes it look like every one has man boobs.
The JJverse did better.

The designer for some reason is addicted to NBA warm-up sweats!