Anson Mount Clarifies Message To “Old School” Fans About ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’

Last week Paramount+ sent out a video message from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Anson Mount announcing the completion of the final pickup shots for the first season and thanking fans for making the series happen. But in a new interview, Mount is clarifying another message he sent out to fans in July.

Mount’s message to old school fans was about the season one finale

In July just as they were about to start shooting the season one finale, Mount tweeted: “Old school fans are going to VERY excited to see what we’re trying to pull off with this one.” In a new interview with Syfy (promoting his role as Batman in the new DC animated film Injustice) the actor was asked about what the July tweet meant regarding the series and Mount clarified he wasn’t actually talking about Strange New Worlds in general for that particular message:

Well, I think that tweet was a little misinterpreted. I was talking about episode 10, specifically. But I do think the spirit of our show is in its title. We’re going back to the big idea of the week, the new planet of the week. I think that in itself is going to be exciting for old school fans, as well as new ones.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like there is something special about the season one finale that will be of interest to “old school fans.”

Anson Mount at Star Trek Day, September 8, 2021. (Monty Brinton/Paramount+)

Sitting in the captain’s chair was surreal

Syfy also asked the self-avowed fan was what was the bigger moment: wearing the iconic TOS uniform or sitting in the captain’s chair, and Mount was definitive:

Oh, definitely sitting in the chair. That moment…that caught me off guard. Because it was not a work day. I was just there as Anson in my own clothes and I sat down in the chair and it was in that moment that I flashed back to playing Star Trek as my make-believe game when I was like eight years old. Something about it was just really strangely emotional for me, and I’m still doing that. I don’t even know really how to articulate it, but it’s surreal and it’s weird… but it’s something that I’m so grateful for.

Anson Mount as Captain Pike in Star Trek: Discovery “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”

ICYMI: Mount’s Season One Wrap Message

Paramount+ released this video on October 11.

 

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


Find more news and analysis for Strange New Worlds.

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Please don’t dig up James Kirk. Fed up of the classic trek character shows up in finale. Enterprise showed up in Disco and Riker showed up in Picard.

They should wait until the season 7 finale for Kirk.

Or a movie…

Riker was seen earlier than the Picard finale, though.

I’m hoping they won’t do that as well. If Kirk shows up it absolutely should be the last show of the series. But this is Secret Hideout. They do dumb things all the time. So I wouldn’t put ANYTHING past them.

I’m just hoping it is something that works in context with what Strange New Worlds is doing and doesn’t just pop in for fan service reasons like it does in literally all the other SH shows.

A little eel-bird told me they’re bringing back the lights of Zetar.

As long as it’s not the lights of JJ’s lens flares, I’m good .. 🖖😜

Ditto, but really no Lights of Zetar :)

What I’d really like to see is a young Scotty. There’s a huge backstory to be told there.

I’ve always thought that Montgomery Scott should be a minor character on this show. His is the one character that makes the most sense to be on the Enterprise after Spock. He should be some Lt who reports to whoever the Chief Engineer is. His love of the Enterprise almost requires he be on that ship before Kirk ever arrived.

But since that makes the most sense then Secret Hideout will do something different with him. That has been the pattern thus far.

There is always season 2. ;)

I was always fascinated with the story of Pike from TOS – I am so totally pumped to actually have a series with the character! And Mount does a terrific job of capturing Mr. Hunter’s version of the captain. Freakin’ sweat!

I liked Mount’s take on Pike well enough, but I’m curious why you think he captured Jeffrey Hunter’s “version” of the character. So far as I could tell, Mount’s Pike seemed far more genial and easygoing than Hunter’s Pike, who was a pretty strict CO and something of a burn-out case besides.

I’ll grant you that he LOOKED like Hunter, but personality-wise they were totally different. Hunter’s Pike was angry, snarly, sexist and condescending.

I never said this out loud but I never really liked Hunter’s Pike that much. But it was also just one episode. I would’ve got used to him if he stayed but I like Mount’s version so much better. He’s a little like Picard in terms of how he views Starfleet/Federation but has a very laid back relaxed vibe.

I like Mount’s version so much better. He’s a little like Picard in terms of how he views Starfleet/Federation but has a very laid back relaxed vibe.

Do you know who all this reminds me of (and not just because of Mount’s hair) ? I think it would be great to have George Clooney in a Star Trek film or tv show, but with Anson Mount we’ve basically got “Captain Clooney” ;)

Regarding the Kirk stuff elsewhere on this thread — The best option would probably be to deepfake TOS Shatner, with modern-day Shatner himself providing the voice. However, if SNW is planning to go the Spock route and recast the role: My previous suggestion Armie Hammer is obviously having some, er, problems at the moment, but I was thinking Boyd Holbrook could be a very good alternative. I reckon he could actually pull it off as a credible pre-TOS Kirk. Just something that struck me when I happened to see Holbrook in few things during the past year. Possibly the obvious choice in hindsight, unless SNW is aiming for (eg) Ryan Gosling. I suspect getting Holbrook would be more feasible.

Dude I had no idea what you meant about Armie Hammer until I looked it up and…oh my! How I never came across any of that is crazy lol. I guess that’s what happens when you have waaaaay too much power and money.

As for Kirk, yeah that choice seem fine look wise, but I know nothing about the actor himself. I don’t think we would ever see a huge star like Gosling though playing this kind of role. Besides (I assume) it wouldn’t be a huge part IF we are talking about someone you see for an episode or somethin. Although I wouldn’t have a problem seeing Kirk sooner if they can find a way to do it sooner, I do think it would be better to present Kirk by the end of the series…but yeah who are we kidding. ;)

Keep in mind, Pike was “in a mood” in that episode. A burnout.

It’s an odd way to introduce us to this new space hero, which is probably one more reason The Cage didn’t win over the network.

Exactly. It would be as if Picard’s sole episode was “Family.”

Exactly – part of the story relied heavily on the fact he WAS burned out, so of course he was going to come across as frustrated and angry. I just hope SNW has stories nearly as good….

Maybe its Robert April….

That could be interesting…. IF done well.

Lt. James T. Kirk!

U.S.S Faragut

Too soon. Kirk was roughly 35 years old when he took command. He had progress from LT to being promoted to a Captain. Pike has his own 5 year mission to do.

deepfake Twilight Zone Shatner

Hopefully he is talking some old school Wagon Train to the Stars, only ship in the quadrant exploration of the final frontier!
Also love the Captain Chair with display screens and crew in the background, so much more exciting than a door and more functional than a dude standing blocking the way to displays. Hopefully some old school colours while functional with some thought!
This could be the Mandalorian for Trek if done right.

Star Trek was never “Wagon Train to the Stars,” though. That was just the lie Roddenberry used to convince the networks to buy the show since Westerns were popular. The show he gave them bore very little tonal resemblance to “Wagon Train.” I know a lot of journalists have repeated the “Wagon Train to the Stars” story as gospel, but that usually implies they’ve never watched “Wagon Train” and don’t realize he had conned the network. :)

Absolutely, it was clearly a sale pitch rather than a description of what TOS actually involved. And for the best too.

Guess you never saw the Enterprise save a mining colony, be the first to explore a new planet where there were no reinforcements or where a call to attack the enemy after all the border forts were destroyed had to be made single handily by the Captain because a communique to enter the neutral zone took forever. Good times, I recommend you check out “Star Trek”.

That’s not really their point though. They are only saying TOS didn’t follow the Wagon Train premise. It was already part of a multi-alien Federation and Starfleet was over a century old. It was still relatively new in the scheme of things but it wasn’t one ship just doing things on its own either. There was a lot of Federation business they did more than anything. But the same could be said of TNG and DS9.

Voyager is really the true ‘wagon train’ because it was exploring areas of the galaxy no other Federation ship had been to.

“Wagon Train to the Stars” didn’t mean you were just alone. That’s the part your missing (like all of new Trek).
It meant you were watching one of the first Starships while the Federation began to colonize and explore the final frontier.
TOS had mining colonies, outposts with only a few starships representing all of the Federation. They had to get resources, learn to live in the wilderness, meet new nations and establish alliances, etc.
That was the “Wagon Train to the stars” that new Trek ignored, there energy was free and all the aliens want to learn how to be us enlightened humans. And 1000 starships were just a 30 second phone call away.

But my point is by the time Kirk was Captain, there was already 1,000 Federation colonies! Yes, space is very very big so in the scheme of things that’s still a tiny amount of worlds. But it does tell you Starfleet was already well out there taming the frontier. I imagine by the 24th century they would have doubled that number.

I don’t understand this odd romanticism with TOS. I only mean that the Federation wasn’t the little space organization that could. They already had multiple worlds involved and Starfleet was at the top of the heap of it, not at the bottom. They were the ones to seem to have the resources for defense, research, diplomacy, exploration you name it.

And I can’t think of a single show where a 1,000 starships were 30 seconds away lol. Again, where do you get these ideas? Name 3 episodes from any show where they needed Starfleet help in a jam and at least a dozen or more starships showed up less than an hour (you said 30 seconds)? Just three episodes from any show outside TOS. That’s 700 hours of shows so should be pretty easy.

Annnnnnnnnnd still no response. Only asking for three solid examples. But you should be able to give at least a dozen the way you go on about it.

Still crickets lol. So I guess coming up with 3 whole examples over something you talk about constantly is hard, huh? Kind of proves my point though once again. ;)

Sorry, don’t check every page every day?!? What does that prove exactly?
Watch TOS – are you talking 1000 colonies with some of those colonies having just 12-100 people? The whole Federation-Romulan border had just a handful of asteroids to protect Federation space with just a single starship showing up as reinforcements.
Janus VI had a starship show up to save 50 miners, must be pretty crucial for a colony. Max what, 1000 people? This is how it is when you develop a frontier.
Anything beyond that is a retcon just not shown in TOS (Discovery of course has a TNG starfleet show up, whatever…).
I guess we saw that. And in some cases it was a capital ship defending those 12-100 people so crucial were the mines.
You do have some major colonies like Deneva I suppose which are shown as pretty undefended/new.
Most at the time of TOS saw just five key races in the Federation – humans, Andorians, Vulcans and Tellerites (with the Alpha Centuarians being thrown in though never shown).
Hell, in TOS they talk about “only ship in the quadrant” and there being only “12 starships”.
Compare that to Wolf 359 (fifty starships), Picard (hundreds of generic cookie cutter ships, I don’t know what class Riker was commanding anymore), DS9 (fighters, cough, I mean starships).
I think we can all agree, the Federation frontier seemed a lot more in development in TOS (and a lot more dependent on the actions of a single Starship crew).
I’d urge you to watch “Master and Commander” and compare that to modern naval battles to see how ‘frontier battles’ can be more dramatic from the perspective of a single crew despite their being less refined technology.

Three clear examples:
#1 – Balance of Terror, the entire federation-romulan border is a couple of asteroid mines with their only reinforcements being a single starship.
#2 – Janus VI had a starship show up to save 50 miners, must be pretty crucial for a colony. Max what, 1000 people? This is how it is when you develop a frontier. I guess that is a Federation of a 1000 colonies, if you could 50-100 people as a colony?
#3 Mudds Women – mining colony of 20, a starship brings supplies. Seems a pretty remote frontier setting to me.
#4 All the times anyone mentions “only ship in the quadrant” and there being only “12 starships”.
#5 Any time a major colony like Deneva, Rigel, has no defence other than the Enterprise on patrol
TOS we see four key races in the Federation – humans, Andorians, Vulcans and Tellerites (with the Alpha Centuarians being thrown in though never shown).
Compare that to Wolf 359 (fifty starships), Picard (hundreds of generic ships, I don’t know what class Riker was commanding anymore), DS9 (fighters, cough, I mean starships).
I think we can all agree, the Federation frontier seemed a lot more in development in TOS (and a lot more dependent on the actions of a single Starship crew).
I’d urge you to watch “Master and Commander” and compare that to modern naval battles to see how ‘frontier battles’ can be more dramatic from the perspective of a single crew despite their being less refined technology.

Hmm, moderated.
Three clear examples:
#1 – Balance of Terror, the entire federation-romulan border is a couple of asteroid mines with their only reinforcements being a single starship.
#2 – Janus VI had a starship show up to save 50 miners, must be pretty crucial for a colony. Max what, 1000 people? This is how it is when you develop a frontier. I guess that is a Federation of a 1000 colonies, if you could 50-100 people as a colony?
#3 Mudds Women – mining colony of 20, a starship brings supplies. Seems a pretty remote frontier setting to me.
#4 All the times anyone mentions “only ship in the quadrant” and there being only “12 starships”.
#5 Any time a major colony like Deneva, Rigel, has no defence other than the Enterprise on patrol

Three clear examples:
#1 – Balance of Terror, the entire federation-romulan border is a couple of asteroid mines with their only reinforcements being a single starship.
#2 – Devil in the Dark (moderated?) VI had a starship show up to save 50 miners, must be pretty crucial for a colony. Max what, 1000 people? This is how it is when you develop a frontier. I guess that is a Federation of a 1000 colonies, if you could 50-100 people as a colony?
#3 Mudds Women – mining colony of 20, a starship brings supplies. Seems a pretty remote frontier setting to me.
#4 All the times anyone mentions “only ship in the quadrant” and there being only “12 starships”.
#5 Any time a major colony like Deneva, Rigel, has no defence other than the Enterprise on patrol
TOS we see four key races in the Federation – humans, Andorians, Vulcans and Tellerites (with the Alpha Centuarians being thrown in though never shown).
Compare that to Wolf 359 (fifty starships), Picard (hundreds of generic ships, I don’t know what class Riker was commanding anymore), DS9 (fighters, cough, I mean starships).
I think we can all agree, the Federation frontier seemed a lot more in development in TOS (and a lot more dependent on the actions of a single Starship crew).
I’d urge you to watch “Master and Commander” and compare that to modern naval battles to see how ‘frontier battles’ can be more dramatic from the perspective of a single crew despite their being less refined technology.

#1 – Balance of Terror, the entire federation-romulan border is a couple of asteroid mines with their only reinforcements being a single starship.

#2 – Devil in the Dark (moderated?) VI had a starship show up to save 50 miners, must be pretty crucial for a colony. Max what, 1000 people? This is how it is when you develop a frontier. I guess that is a Federation of a 1000 colonies, if you could 50-100 people as a colony?

#3 Mudds Women – mining colony of 20, a starship brings supplies. Seems a pretty remote frontier setting to me.

#4 All the times anyone mentions “only ship in the quadrant” and there being only “12 starships”.
#5 Any time a major colony like Deneva, Rigel, has no defence other than the Enterprise on patrol
In TOS we see four key races in the Federation – humans, Andorians, Vulcans and Tellerites (with the Alpha Centuarians being thrown in though never shown). Read SF Technical Manual, and you’ll see they are listed as the races of the Federation, everyone else are just “associate members” in some declared exploration treaty zone in which the Federation protects them under the Prime Directive.
Compare that to Wolf 359 (fifty starships), Picard (hundreds of borish generic ships, I don’t know what class Riker was commanding anymore), DS9 (fighters, cough, I mean starships).
I think we can all agree, the Federation frontier seemed a lot more in development in TOS (and a lot more dependent on the actions of a single Starship crew).
I’d urge you to watch “Master and Commander” and compare that to modern naval battles to see how ‘frontier battles’ can be more dramatic from the perspective of a single crew despite their being less refined technology.

Apologies on the breaking up of the response, I don’t know why but moderated if posted together.

Note that this continued into the movies.
In ST:TMP the Enterprise is the only ship in interception range for EARTH.
In ST:IV where the CIC announces “we are launching everything we have” they lose two starships and three smaller vessels (“Mister President, the Probe is headed directly for us, The signal is damaging everything in its path. The Klingons have lost two vessels. Two starships and three smaller vessels have been neutralised.”. Oh and I guess spacedock had the Excelsior (not even commissioned) and a Miranda class, which was appearently pretty good for Earth defences.
In ST:VI, Operation Retrieve which is an all out attack on the Klingon homeworld to retrieve Kirk was a handful of starships

Yeah it was just a sales pitch. TOS has never truly been ‘Wagon Train to the Stars’ since half the episodes they are actually going to places other Starships had already been to. Some a century later. TOS spent a lot of its time doing bureaucratic Federation/Starfleet stuff. Like TNG, the ‘exploration/First Contact’ aspect was really the second part of their mission.

I think Roddenberry was giving a basic elevator pitch, and roughly speaking Star Trek was that show that went to a new location and dealt with new guest actors every week, like Wagon Train. He could have just as well said “Rawhide to the stars.”

How about some frontier then in the “final frontier”… complete with some hardships, colonists, resource limitations, struggles and conflict, etc?
Got to admit though, maybe that just isn’t Trek anymore. Maybe that’s now the Mandalorian? Firefly… or Foundation.. the Expanse or Lost in Space?!? I heard Dune is in the theatres this week?!?
So weird Trek is being out Trekked until you realize that Trek is now holodecks and 1000s of ships with quad quantum torpedo launchers where humanity/the Federation knows all.
Hopefully by “old school” Anson Mount is talking about reclaiming some of that frontier spirit where the actions of a single starship can determine if half the quadrent is learning to speak Klingonese.

“Hopefully by “old school” Anson Mount is talking about reclaiming some of that frontier spirit where the actions of a single starship can determine if half the quadrent is learning to speak Klingonese.”

The same people who is making this also made Discovery. The same show where you hoped for and said these things as well. In other words, don’t hold your breath.

And we know when Enterprise is caught in a jam, they just happen to have hundreds of automated drones hanging out in the shuttle bay ready to kick serious ass. I’m sure Kirk would’ve loved to have those when the Klingons showed up lol. Again…don’t.hold.your.breath.

“The same people who is making this also made Discovery.”

My biggest concern about this latest incarnation from these showrunners.

Secret Hideout is a huge handicap to all the Trek shows. If a show they produce is ever decent, it will have overcome a MAJOR hurdle.

TrekLit author Christopher L. Bennett has repeatedly noted that “Wagon Train to the Stars” was Roddenberry’s pitch-shorthand to executives for “prestige TV, serious drama, plots driven by guest stars” — something that hadn’t been done with TV-SF, whose precedents included juvie-adventure “Space Patrol” (ABC 1950-1955) and anthology series like “The Twilight Zone” (CBS 1959-1964). It was never meant to frame the sociopolitical milieu. “Wagon Train” (NBC 1957-1962, ABC 1962-1965) was the top-rated show for a while, so it’d be like saying “CSI in space.” (In that vein, somebody probably pitched “Mercy Point” (1998) to UPN as “ER, in space.”)

Looking back as we work forward on “Strange New Worlds”

Starting in 1999 there was a set of 10 Star Trek books, all under the name of “Strange New Worlds”. Each book held 20 to 25 short stories written by Star Trek fans. Some were Professional writers and many were new to story writing.The stories were showcased in each of the Star Treks that there were: Star Trek, Star Trek, The: The Next Generation,Deep Space, Voyager, and Enterprise. Those making the TV show, “Strange New Worlds”, don’t know know about this book series and high end sci-fi Trek in the books. It would be interesting if those who are making “Strange New Worlds” could find out about these books they would find many ideas the producers could use to fill content.

Whatever it is, hope it’s good!

Why do I feel like this is gonna be a Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian kind of moment? Maybe a deepfake Kirk appears with Shatner voicing him?

At this point, all we can do is speculate, but I doubt that Strange New Worlds would bring in Kirk in its first season. If it’s a final episode surprise, then it’s probably something large–maybe a refit of the Enterprise to make it more in line with the original series depiction. If it’s a character, I could see Sulu as a possibility given that he served under Pike.

Yeah, but these producers can’t help themselves. They always go for the lowest hanging fruit. I remember they were saying before the premiere of Discovery that we would not see the Enterprise for a while and bam,wam they put it in the season finale. Kirk is a definite possibility here.

I think the fact the show was set 10 years ahead of TOS was done mainly for a safety net. The idea of bringing in the Enterprise of Spock was something they would do only if things looked bad for the show. Something they thought would bring more eyeballs to it. But they probably thought it would take longer. Little did they realize the show would be so very bad they would need to haul out the big guns right away.

I very much like the idea of a redesign in the finale to make it align more with what came before. But because it’s a good idea I’m sure Secret Hideout will reject it.

It wouldn’t really make sense though, since the Enterprise looked more like the TOS version in The Cage.

Well… Yes…. Which is why a redesign would make some sense.

I’m just here to point out I don’t much care for the uniforms. Carry on

I agree.

They are very much more dull and uninspiring. The fit isn’t great either. They look like they were designed by committee.

Gersha Phillips’ designs are usually more futuristic than she’s produced recently. I think that the uniform designs seem to be constrained by some desire to cater to fans who aren’t willing to let the production design be creative as it was in the 60s.

I also find that some of the bridge updates are not so great. I liked the captain’s chair better in the Discovery version for example.

Maybe it’s because of what we saw already on Star Trek Discovery has lowered my expectations for everything but I’m fine with the uniforms.

The finale has them time travelling a few years into the future, into the TOS classic ‘Spock’s Brain.’
You heard it here first, folks

no they use the Guardian to travel back to the 1930s. there Pike takes Kirks place going back to the TOS Enterprise and Kirk (deepfake ’66 Shatner) stays behind with Edith (deepfake ’66 Joan Collins)

Brain and brain, what is brain?

I hope they introduce Robert April in live action.

probably a Gene Roddeberry deepfake cameo

Played by Tom Hanks!

Actually I always pictured Robert Patrick as April, a more grizzled, older guy.

While there maybe a few fans who did not care for ENTERPRISE, my wife and I enjoy it because of the pre-Kirk era history that was so rich and could have been explored. Also that was the series on TV when we met and watched while dating… That being said, this SNW series has room to explore some pre-Kirk era history. Especially since its going to episodic rather than the current anthology trend while its good, it seems that there is only the season finales that turn in the best episode in my opinion. That is not to say that these (Disco & Picard) are not worthy of watching, far from it. These new shows have given Trek the boost it needed for us and a new generation. It will only get better from here on.

Scott Bakula returning as elderly Jonathan Archer?

Honestly, he’d be like 150. I’d rather not see that.

They could do a flashback to the launching of NCC-1701. Archer was supposed to have been present for that.

I think this is the best idea. Do a flashback when he was President. Love to see Archer back, even if its just a cameo.

I don’t recall anything mentioning where Archer was around for the commission of the old 1701. So how old was the Enterprise when Kirk got it? If Archer was there then it would have to be 50 years old at least.

I think that comes from In A Mirror, Darkly. Supposedly Archer lived long enough to see the Enterprise commissioned.

It is in the bio of Prime Archer that Mirror Archer reads in In A Mirror, Darkly. So it isn’t exactly canon (you can’t see it), but it was there.

Memory Alpha says NCC-1701 was launched in 2245. Archer was born in 2112, so Archer would have been a hearty 133 years old!

Got it. It was in the bio you had to pause and zoom in on. It is my understanding that such things aren’t considered canon. But what the hell…

Even if it isn’t they could still make it canon later, right?

I suppose they could but I find pretty much everything Secret Hideout is doing is pretty tough to swallow as canon.

Yes, yes. I know they say it is and I guess it is by the “rules” such as they are.

Well either way the chances of Archer showing up on this show are probably slim to none anyway. So it doesn’t really matter.

The only Enterprise characters who it would really make sense to bring back would be T’Pol or Phlox. I’d love to see Bakula return as Archer, but SNW wouldn’t be the right show for it.

Whats with Mount’s hairstyle as Pike?!?!
Back to Discovery cut please!
;-)

It looks quite over the top in these photos, I agree.

But I also preferred the Discovery uniforms and bridge.

Maybe the EPs felt they needed to poof up the hair to compensate for the dull and boringly cut uniforms.

I am really worried they are TNG snoozefesting it – taking away the colors on the bridge, etc.
Might have been upset that a smaller colorful display filled bridge with shots of the Captain with activity and displays behind the Captain instead of a big door captured the fanbase where a larger more expensive set comes off as non functional and forgettable.
The answer isn’t to dumb down your TOS set, it’s to TOS your new sets.

Is it something totally minor like saving the Space the Final Frontier speech til the end of season 1. And possible reprising the Alexander Courage score. I doubt its Kirk they wouldn’t do that, would they?