This week’s ramp-up promoting Star Trek: Strange New Worlds continues with a third character introduction video, following Tuesday’s videos focused on Cadet Uhura and Security Chief La’an. The new one is for Lt. Ortegas.
Meet Ortegas
Joining Captain Pike (Anson Mount), Spock (Ethan Peck), and Number One (Rebecca Romijn) for the new series will be a collection of new and familiar characters onboard the USS Enterprise. One of the new characters is Lt. Erica Ortegas (Melissa Navia) who is the focus of the following social media promo.
Lieutenant Ortegas came to fly—you're gonna want to hold onto something. #StarTrek #StrangeNewWorlds premieres May 5 on @ParamountPlus! pic.twitter.com/o8r3SNcJ68
— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) March 30, 2022
NOTE: this Instagram version should be viewable internationally.
A closer look at the phaser
Since this has been noticed by fans, the phaser looks to be the same as the 23rd century Discovery phasers, but with a slight paint job update. The muzzle is now all silver, where previously it was a darker gunmetal color.
Phaser as seen in Discovery season one.
Ortegas fires a phaser in Strange New Worlds.
Coming in May
The series debuts on May 5th. Paramount+ has provided the following synopsis:
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series will feature fan favorites from season two of Star Trek: Discovery, Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.
And in case you missed it, here is the teaser trailer…
And the teaser poster…
Find more news and analysis for Strange New Worlds.
Was that a Tholian Web I saw? I’ve always liked the Tholians because they were extremely alien.
Yup, certainly looked like a Tholian Web. Also agreed about the Tholians, one of the more underrated but memorable aliens of Trek.
I read that as „they were extremely italian” and was wondering, what you mean. I really need some coffee 😅
Hmm more Tholians, seems they will be showing up a lot for SNWs.
We haven’t seen the Tholians on screen since Enterprise so yeah it would be great if they showed up here again.
Spocks’ hair doesn’t look as messy in this clip.
Is that a TOS handphaser !? :D
What else should it be? Even on DSC S1+2, they had 99% faithful replica of TOS era phasers and even some damn close tricorders and communicators. They are even in the opening titles!
Enlighten me please. Where on Disco do we see a classic TOS phaser in action? I do not mean the great disco phaser pistols, which would eventually evolve into the classic TOS phaser. THX
I posted the picture of the Disco era version of the TOS Phaser but the mods apparently slapped it down.
Burnham used it frequently in Season 1. Just google “Discovery era phaser” and you’ll see it
Guys, I believe there is a misunderstanding. I know the disco TOS version. To me it looks like she is using an original TOS phaser, first time introduced in the 60s when Star Trek TOS premiered.
I don’t think so, from what I can tell from the sadly low res video, it’s the Disco phaser with a paint job update. The muzzle was simply repainted silver (to look a bit more like the TOS phaser that’s a few years out), and the knob on the side was given a shinier silver paint too.
EDIT: I added a comparison to the article.
Thank you so much! :) Highly appreciated!
Trekyards picked up the Phaser discussion. https://youtu.be/wybKXlHSqps
Oh, that one was a bit rough. I enjoyed the first two a lot, but this one contains some very cringeworthy dialogue.
Yeah, that was really disappointing to me but not unexpected after what I’ve seen in Discovery and Picard. I don’t know why the writers of Modern Trek can’t write good dialogue. I think Harrison Ford’s assessment of George Lucas’s dialogue would apply nicely here too. “You can type this s**t, but you can’t say it”. Mileage may vary and many will disagree but that’s my feeling about that.
Please Star Trek writers…step it up.
Ha, Harrison Ford is a grumpy national treasure.
Well, hopefully they’ve “stepped it up” already because Season 1 and half of Season 2 are already in the can. PS: I can’t quite picture Jeffrey Hunter spouting that “blind date” line, can you?
“the writers of Modern Trek can’t write good dialogue”
That’s very much an over-generalization.
I’m guessing that you haven’t ever actually seen any TOS episodes. There was plenty of cringe worthy dialogue on display….
Yep, but bad writing is probably one of those things about continuity they can change now. ;-)
Every series that was pumping out 20+ annual episodes had bad scripts. But let’s not pretend that shows like TOS and Twilight Zone didn’t have, on average, more literate scripts than today’s product as those shows came from a more literary era, when the average person was more likely to read a book for leisure. And no, this isn’t nostalgia, I wasn’t alive in the 1960s– it’s just an honest historical assessment.
Too, the people running these shows weren’t writing 3-4 other shows and producing other films and if you had constant delays and overruns, you would be fired. They *had* to give these a lot more attention.
I dunno, been a Trekkie my whole life, I thought the date lines were great, speaks to the more laid back nature of Pike as a Captain that he’s willing to be fun like that.
Pike was *not* a laid back character.
The Pike we had in The Cage is not this Pike, that much was evident in S2 of Discovery. That Pike was one burnt out, this one isn’t, also this one has an idea of his future. Live in the moment.
This is essentially a different character from the one we saw in The Cage. Mount said that in interviews for Discovery. He looks a little like the original Pike, but the character was re-imagined basically.
Mount’s Pike is more like the one we saw in the first two Kelvin movies.
The team are trying to get ‘Trek to the next generation of viewers (pun intended). Unfortunately, old school fans have to let go.
So be it. I let go of Discovery. Will let go of Picard as well if todays episode continues last weeks quality dip. I have no trouble letting go. If something doesn’t inspire me, I am happy to move on. :)
My mileage on your comment varies so significantly that I am driving in the opposite direction.
You come across like you haven’t watched a lot of the old TOS and TNG eps where there are ton’s of these issues, and much worse writing, frankly.
the problem is not only does the dialogue sound cringe-y at times but it’s going to date the show faster. There is too much millennial speak I guess. Which feels too now and less about a show set in the 23rd Century or 24th or 32nd etc. Remember when our characters got confused by modern slang when they went back to a modern time.
To me the swear words come across more like a an attempt to be edgy and adult since they are on streaming rather than feeling natural.
To me using the modern slang is like if Wesley Crusher said ‘wicked’ in the early TNG days, a common slang of the time but not today.
To me the dialogue is aimed at people who never grew up with Trek.
JUST now it occurred to me that one possible reason why neither Colt, Boyce, nor Tyler are part of Strange New Worlds is because of how much time has passed between The Cage and this series’ first episode. They must have moved on to other posts or, in Boyce’s case, possibly died.
Still wish we got Jeffrey Combs as Boyce, would have been perfect casting.
Indeed.
the reason they could not get jeffrey combs as he put it is cause were dsc and strange new worlds are filmed and made and they can only use x amount of usa based actors the rest have to be canada based actors for the shows
Probably died? Why? The actor who played Boyce in “The Cage” was 49. This show takes place less than a decade later.
49? Damn. People aged differently in the ’60s.
Yeah. Well, if you lived through the Depression, a world war, rationing, a general lack of vitamins and vaccines / antibiotics etc as we do today…it takes a toll. Then again aging really also depends on genes and lifestyle. Some people’s skin starts losing elasticity earlier than others, etc.
I would bet that smoking cigarettes contributed predominantly to the more advanced looking age of actors back then.
Indeed.
Paul Fix who played Dr. Piper was born in March of 1901 making him approximately 64 years old at the time WNMHGB was filmed.
I turn 48 in about a week. I would hate to think I look as old as Boyce!
LOL 49?????
That guy looked like he was 60 easily.
Paul Fix who played Dr. Piper was born in March of 1901 making him approximately 64 years old at the time WNMHGB was filmed. Did you just make up the 49 year old thing?
John Hoyt (Boyce) was born in 1905, which would would have made him age 59 when ‘The Cage’ was filmed in 1964. Sorry, girlfriend!
I been saying this before there was officially a show because none of them were mentioned when Pike was on Discovery, even in reference. It doesn’t mean they weren’t there, but it seemed obvious if they weren’t they simply left the ship between The Cage and Discovery.
I’m sure we will get references of some kind, especially for Boyce, but I wouldn’t be too shocked if we never actually saw them. They wanted to make their old characters for the show (along with a few TOS ones) so it makes sense.
Indeed.
I meant their OWN characters lol.
Not digging the texturing job they did on the modelling of the ship. Somehow it looks both dirty and shiny, which is a weird combination.
The ship looks wonderful!
I’ll settle for just having them let the camera hold on the ship for longer and allow for simpler more majestic shots. We don’t need every shot to be some fancy rotating camera move that sound us upside down.
One of the nice things about the constant need for stock footage and cutaways between scenes in the old days was that the ship got more and more familiar to the audience and the vehicle almost became a character. I have so little emotional connection to Discovery and La Sirena, and not all that much with the JJ-prise either. There’s not a lot of graceful cinematography or lingering shots in the VFX anymore, and that’s before the decision to dirty up every shot with murky space. I’m not saying we need to go full TMP beauty pass here, but I think I’ve diagnosed why I don’t care about the ships any more. Used to adore them.
You have a point. It seems a little unbelievable that nebulae and dust clouds are visible as sky-filling from almost every point in the galaxy.
I would prefer a nice hybrid of TNG-style clean lighting and plainer starfields (I mean, throw in the Milky Way, but it shouldn’t dominate), and ‘realistic’ space lighting with hard shadows when in orbit, etc. We could lose the ‘dust on the lens’ affectation.
Also, the new CG models seem to lack the built-in self-lighting that was present on the physical models, like the uplights that illuminate the pylons, the under-saucer lights, etc. (We see them turn on when the Enterprise leaves spacedock in ST:WOK.) They really help to define the outline of the ship.
Yes, as I watch these trailers I am struck by how poorly lit the Enterprise is. It’s just hidden in darkness and looks dull. It would definitely be nice if they found a more flattering style.
Looks good so far. I have some doubts about the show but I’m still looking forward to it. I’m going to stop watching Discovery, which I think is quite feeble, and switch over to SNW. First time in my I’m stopping a Trek show, I just can’t anymore with Disco.
You’re a trooper. I couldn’t abide Discovery anymore after ep. 4 of Season 4. And I think I’m done with Picard too. Hoping for a Stargazer series to join SNW after Discovery is mercifully put to sleep.
Yep, a Stargazer series is a no- brainer imo.
I just can’t do it. Too much of a fan. I still watch my sports teams loose game after game, too. Sometimes being a fan sucks.
Agreed.
Strange New Worlds seems like the best time to shake off the past and reboot Star Trek properly. Looks like it’s going to be a massive, platform-busting hit at this point, too, and between that and Discovery (which will only be strengthened by having SNW directly tie into that series rather than the Roddenberry/Berman shows), seems like Trek will have both ends of the future covered. The last few hardcore fans from the 60s-90s will still have Lower Decks for their weekly shot of nostalgia juice, HoloJaneway on Prodigy, one last season of Picard, and, of course, hundreds of hours of film and TV to revisit.
A long way to say that it’s not clear how another TNG-era show fits into the model. Paramount is trying to grow and develop a new legion of fans. Discovery and SNW seem like the perfect foundations to do that, and plenty of older fans still watch this new stuff, so it doesn’t feel like there’s an imperative to cater to them anymore. At least, if SNW is as successful as it’s suspected to be, the need for older fans’ approval will cease to exist.
You seem to denigrate younger fans by implying that they are OK with low brow fare and poor writing. I don’t believe that’s true. The low ratings of Discovery eps on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB seem to indicate that fans of all stripes are dissatisfied with the quality.
I didn’t say or imply that the new stuff is low brow fare and poor writing – that’s a judgment call. It’s very clear that a lot of younger viewers LIKE seeing shows where there are recognizable faces in relatable situations, which NONE of the old shows have in any way. Old Trek is about one man’s idealized version of humanity in the future. New Trek is about us today in the future, using the best VFX, production design, and modern storytelling that money can buy.
I just think that because this show is about the Enterprise (truly the best setting for a Star Trek) and it will have so many non-white, non-male, non-hetero characters populating it — along with familiar faves — that its hit status is all but assured. People like the idea of the adventures of the Starship Enterprise and modern audiences like seeing a heightened reality on their screens.
Too, I don’t consider Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb to be reputable sources for fan interest, as there’s too much motivation for bad actors to skew those results. The only thing we can be sure of is that they keep making these new shows, so, they are having their intended impact on the P+ platform. There’s an old adage that “TV is 90% familiar, 10% different.” SNW is 90% Star Trek, 10% different, and I think that different here is really going to pop because it’s all happening aboard the Enterprise.
ETA: Even if there were a Stargazer show, it would still be produced by the current IP managers, so, there’d be no visual or storytelling distinctions between it and all that has come before.
Data and Picard are more popular with living humans than any original Secret Hideout Trek character will likely ever be. If social media is any indication (I mean, outside of modest Disco circles), Discovery has made almost zero impact on the culture at large. And the notion that Jake Sisko, O’Brien, Torres, the normalish humans of ENT, or McCoy back in his day– aren’t “relatable” characters is high-grade hogwash. Numerous press accounts point to “classic” Trek performing well for years on streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime prior to the consolidation on the ‘Mount.
To be fair, Data and Picard got their reunion in season one of Picard. Voyager was the top streaming show on Netflix for years, which is why they put Janeway in Prodigy. I agree that Disco’s cultural impact is limited and negligible. SNW is what I project to be the big hit of all these new shows. That it can be tied directly into Discovery is why I think they’re the ones to build the future of the franchise out from. Strange New Worlds because the IP managers (::cough:: “writers”) get to rehash TOS stories but told with modern conventions and even pave the way to their own version of The Next Generation. Discovery gets to branch out into Starfleet Academy and Section 31.
You and I might be able to make arguments to modern viewers about which characters from canon *are* actually relatable, but two things: 1) there’s very little chance the current IP managers know or care about DS9 and Voyager lore, which means they can safely argue that there’s nothing in canon to be relatable; 2) all the ones you cited are not accessible to this reboot (it’s a reboot, even if SH denies it. They’re just denying it to minimize bad press) or Discovery, so they have to refit canon characters (Uhura, Khan) to check their desired boxes.
[ALTHOUGH, it will be interesting to see if they can make Ortegas into a three-dimensional character. It’s a little weird that all three character intros showed three highly qualified characters who nevertheless feel unsure of themselves. On the other hand, that’s the kind of lazy character setups the Goldsman Group has been getting away with for years now.]
The first 5 years of SH’s management of the Star Trek IP has been built on catering to old Trek fans. Picard, Lower Decks, the Chris Pine movies, and (possibly) Prodigy are all cul de sacs off the main street(s) *at this point*. At least, in my view. The Chris Pine movie franchise is in a weird position because of this, and we’ll see if/how long that continues. If Star Trek is going to survive and thrive, it needs a broader demo. I agree that Discovery didn’t accomplish that, but it wasn’t a total failure in that regard either, and for marketing purposes, it will remain the franchise’s flagship show. Strange New Worlds is poised to pop. Maybe not match Halo’s numbers, but do something similar: put P+ in front of new eyeballs. And at the end of the day, that’s literally all that matters.
Your wild assumptions about Trek viewing demographics are notably fallacious.
LOL yeah.
This post literally sounds like what some fans were saying when the Kelvin movies started lol. I wish people stop trying to erase the past, it’s not going anywhere. Yes you can certainly have new which I am very much happy to see AND want. I been the guy suggesting they just reboot the whole thing and start anew. But as they been making pretty clear now, a lot of Star Trek rests on nostalgia, especially with this new group.
And it’s quite silly to suggest SNW have nothing to do with Roddenberry when 6 of the characters from the show comes straight from TOS. Just bizarre.
And three of the new shows are TNG era shows. So what are you TALKING about??
“So what are you TALKING about???”
I am not saying a reboot of the Star Trek concept. Every new Batman is a reboot of Batman. This is a reboot of the adventures of the NCC-1701. The Pine movies are in a parallel universe that still says Star Trek: The Original Series exists and happened. Batman reboots don’t do that. Robert Pattinson didn’t get an assist from Adam West or Burt Ward.
Just as Batman still references past Batman stories (as either an Easter Egg, callback, or plot point), it’s still understood to be a reboot of that IP. Discovery, Picard, etc. are all — allegedly — acting as though they are *continuations* of the TOS universe. I think the fact that the next iteration of the IP is set basically aboard the 1966 Enterprise, it’s more reasonable and logical to conclude/assume/insist that Strange New Worlds be a straight reboot of *that* series, which ultimately makes the IP managers’ jobs EASIER in the long run because it means you can redo ideas (remember: the SH people have chaffed against or complained about not feeling like they could tell the stories they wanted to because Star Trek had already done them) but in your own style. It also sets them up to do their own take on The Next Generation down the line, too.
I know you weren’t saying that. I’m saying I would’ve preferred that personally once we heard Discovery was a prequel; especially since it felt like a reboot in all but name only. But if they made it a post-Nemesis show (which they finally did) then there would be no need to reboot it since they have more freedom to do whatever they wanted.
But no offense, you also can’t say they are trying to move away from Roddenberry/Berman era if the new shows are set in the same universe and they are using an abundance of legacy characters to prop up these shows.
I mean I know what you’re TRYING to say, that the shows are going a different direction than the classic shows. And I remember responding to you in another thread about this, sure, because all the other shows are old. Even Enterprise is 20 years old now lol. But again, it’s NO different when TNG started. It too was going a different way from TOS and it still had the original creator on board.
But in this case, I’m sorry, I don’t really agree with you and they are trying to negate the past. To me, it’s the complete opposite. Only Discovery seems like it’s trying to forge something completely new thanks to being in the 32nd century. And I welcome it. Even though I’m still very ‘meh’ on Discovery itself I still want that show to continue and future shows stay in the 32nd century to build up that setting just like VOY and DS9 did after TNG.
Ironically if someone told me they were making a new Star Trek show back in 2016, this would’ve been the direction I would want to go in from the start. I love Janeway, Kirk, Data, Picard, Spock and all the rest; but I would’ve been just as fine if we never saw them again. Just go far into the future and give us something very new and different away from everything we knew before. To me, that’s kind of what you’re basing your argument on.
But the other shows are all drowning themselves in nostalgia to get the old fans back on board from what I can tell. I mean it’s kind of ridiculous to say that they are moving on from the TNG era when there are not only three shows, but they are all very new ones at that. Picard will end next year but PRO and LDS will probably be 5+ season shows (LDS is already green lighted through season four now). And my guess is Picard will be replaced with something else and more than likely with another TNG era character to replace Stewart.
I also think we will see even more TNG era shows in the next few years because they know that’s what a majority of the fanbase today grew up with and made it abundantly clear that’s what they wanted more of after Discovery was announced. Now we have three of them. That isn’t a coincidence. ;)
They also just announced another Kirk coming to SNW next season for a character that doesn’t even need to be there yet. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING they are doing is to appease old fans. And my guess is that won’t stop for a long time to come. And where your argument makes no sense to me.
I guess I’m not sure what about SNW is appeasing old fans if they’re going to, essentially, rewrite history. And I’m 100% focusing on what Strange New Worlds can be.
PRO and LDS can for sure hang around to appeal to the old fans and extend the prime timeline in a way (animation) that can be ignored or included as needed. Having shows set in multiple eras makes a lot of sense from a subscription standpoint, too, but making the original shows exclusive to P+ seems like an even more cost effective way of keeping those same fans. There’s definitely a diminishing returns quality to throwing $8-$12 million per episode at new shows built around old, expensive actors and decades of story baggage.
The minimum age for someone who “grew up” on the Original Series (that is, someone who started watching Star Trek when TNG did not yet exist) is roughly 40 years old (figure the minimum age someone could start watching TNG in 87 and, like, absorb it, is probably 5 years old. 1987-5 = 1982, 2022-1982 = 40). Star Trek and Star Wars are basically the last two big IPs to not get some sort of reimaging or reboot, but there’s absolutely nothing in the behavior of the IP managers to his point to suggest that they view TOS as sacrosanct. Whatever forces that stopped JJ from doing that with ST09 are not involved at SH or P+. It’s there for the reinvention, in other words, and SNW seems like the best way to do that, with a Pine to Kirk transition already baked into the premise.
Again I don’t understand this argument? How is SNW rewriting history when we haven’t seen it yet lol. And isn’t the reason why Discovery is in the 32nd century now because they DID try to rewrite history and fans balked at it? Do you think they are going to do that again? And isn’t the fact that Discovery is even in a new setting kind of proof that they were trying to appease old fans or why do it at all? So to me, this all proves the opposite, right? New fans don’t care which character is related to who.
And I didn’t say they are appealing to TOS fans only, I’m talking the entire era of classic Trek, 1966-2005. Not every one who started watching Star Trek in this era was already 20 or 30 years old. A lot of people were teenagers when TNG started and a lot were when Voyager started years later. So the age range is in huge flux when you are producing new content and shows in a nearly 40 year period.
And you’re missing the bigger picture, a lot of new fans under 30 today have become fans of the classic shows thanks to streaming. It’s why shows like Discovery even exist now. So they are trying to appease those fans too.
Again I know what you’re trying to say, but none of it rings true when you just look at what is happening on the shows. No one is bringing back an 80 year actor to play a character from nearly 20 years ago to get teenagers excited about new Star Trek. PIC, LDS, PRO and definitely SNW all seemed designed to market to old fans the same way Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan, Bad Batch and etc are marketed to mainly old Star Wars fans.
This is ONLY my theory on this and you can certainly disagree with it. I think Discovery itself WAS meant to bring in new fans but still appease the old ones kind of what the Kelvin films were designed to do. They wanted to reach, sorry, the next generation of fandom and basically rebooted them as you said.
HOWEVER, the problem was they were so afraid to alienate the old fans they still tried ways to convince them this new stuff is still like the old stuff and why they couldn’t just outright reboot them (which they clearly should have). They were trying to have their cake and eat it too and while I think it DID work with mostly new fans, it seemed to have failed with the old ones. And I feel from Picard on, all they been trying to do is get old fans back on board. Yes, its still going to be different because we live in a new era of TV in general. But everything to me is the complete opposite of what you’re saying.
Think about it, the new shows have only been around for 4 and a half years and yet, they will have brought back 30 legacy characters by the time that SNW season 2 starts…that we currently know of. Why are you bringing back so many for apparently ‘new’ shows?
And lastly look at SNW. Not only are they bringing back half the TOS characters, they also promised it would be episodic. Why do you think that is? Is that to attract younger people who were already born in the serialized age or for people who watched TV in the 60-90s where episodic TV, especially on Star Trek, ruled?
I mean that alone kind of negates your entire argument right there. ;)
To go back to the Batman example, they are taking the franchise back to the beginning to give new/younger fans *their* Enterprise. *Their* Spock. *Their* Uhura. *Their* Kirk. This will be the Enterprise Star Trek fans think about 60 years from now – at least, that’s the hope with all this and why I keep saying it’s a reboot. It’s just like every reboot that has ever existed. It’s a take on a source material, and it gets refreshed/revisited every so often. How is this different from the Pine movies? Well, those are still connected to the original actors and universe. SNW is a direct prequel/sequel to Discovery than it is to TOS.
We probably just disagree about why they are bringing back half the old crew – you think it’s to continue to appeal to old fans, I think it’s just so that managers have a starting point for content creation (canon gives them a shortcut and a road map — remember, they’re not trying to say anything new with the IP or make art with these shows: they’re trying to put their kids through college and build up an incredible retirement fund).
We agree that they’ve been trying to have it both ways, but even if the intention here is to play within some broad scope of canon, they’re not going to be able to do it (evidence: they have failed to do so already throughout these new shows), and it’s just more rational if everyone involved stopped being so uptight and just see SNW for what it is: a reboot, and if fans don’t like that, they have literally all the other Star Treks ever made to just before SNW that they can still watch (in some cases) or revisit (as in all cases).
Your Batman example was literally the same argument for the Kelvin films. I get your point, I just don’t remotely agree with it, that’s all.
The problem is its NOT a reboot. That in itself is the issue. They are hanging on to 50+ year old canon not to get the next 20 year old invested, but to keep the 40-60 year olds mostly. I mean LOOK at Batman, there has been multiple resets of that character. We just got a new reset of him with The Batman. They are completely separate universes. Star Trek DOESN’T do that for a reason, because it has a very loyal (but fickle) fan base and they know it. That again, should tell you everything.
At least the Kelvin movies are trying to be their own thing. SNW is NOT TOS, I get that, but clearly they are trying to appeal to everyone who watched it and probably much closer than what the Kelvin films did while still trying to modernize it.
Look, I understand what you’re trying to say and that new Star Trek is being made for a new set of fans. People even argued this for Picard lol. Sure, OF COURSE, they want new fans and they need them. But nothing to me suggest the show is being geared for new fans either, that’s all. To me, it looks like it’s all being marketed for the same people who have been watching Star Trek for 20+ years now.
Again, why would they make it *episodic* if the point is to appeal it to a new generation? Discovery, as stated, was made for new people; at least in part. That show really tried to do things differently, to even redesigning the entire look of the universe…and it failed with old fans. So I’m not totally disagreeing with you, they DID try, but it only upsetted the old fans and now its saving the galaxy 930 years in the future.
Do you not see what I’m saying? Discovery was what you were talking about. And what have they done SINCE then? They have not only removed that show from classic canon, every show since has only gone back to the old canon in the strongest way possible, especially LDS and PRO. Look at the first season of Discovery. Then look at the first season of Lower Decks? Why is that show constantly getting rebooted every season? And did they move it for the old fans or for the new ones? Again that’s my only point.
To semi-paraphrase The Social Network: If they wanted to reboot Star Trek for a new era of fans, they would’ve rebooted Star Trek.
Fifty five years on, they still haven’t yet.
It remains to be seen just how episodic the show winds up being. It’s really impossible to believe anything Akiva Goldsman says before a show airs. Picard was supposed to be a character study, after all.
And to the larger point- Discovery borrowed stuff from canon and then chose to become its own thing later on. That doesn’t preclude Strange New Worlds from doing the same thing (take canon and use it for its own derivative purposes) from the jump.
I go back to the question, “Why is this show being made?” I don’t think “Anson Mount’s portrayal of Christopher Pike in season two of Star Trek: Discovery was so popular that we decided to build a show around him” is enough of a reason. It’s never as simple as that. And the fact that they fail more often than not to appease the fickle fans should be all the more reason for us to go into SNW with the thought that this is a reboot.
I keep connecting it to Discovery because it’s Ethan Peck and Anson Mount and Rebecca Ramjin reprising their parts and I doubt they’ll be able to avoid Spock confessing to Khan that he too has a secret part of his family that he’s not supposed to talk about as a way of relating to her, and in so maintaining that connection, they legitimize the Discovery canon, the “ask” here being to ignore the times Discovery conflicted with or changed TOS canon because it connects more directly to what’s happening here in SNW.
Using similar names and vaguely similar design choices to evoke the original IS an appeal to old fans (I’m an old fan, to be clear!), but they’re not going through the trouble of telling stories about the first Starship Enterprise JUST to appeal to old Star Trek fans, because if they blow it, that’s it. Ballgame’s over. And there is a very, very high risk in pissing off the old Star Trek fans with this canon-not canon reboot-not reboot situation they’ve decided to put themselves in.
It’s imperative to the model to bring in new fans and it’s easier to market if you get to throw around “this is the new crew of the starship Enterprise.” Audiences around the world and of all ages have high awareness for Enterprise, Spock, and space (and maybe Kirk), and just seeing a new crew for some people will be as though Paramount was doing a new generation of The Next Generation.
OK, look, we’ll see. I understand your point and you could be right about everything. I just don’t see it personally.
And the funny thing is I don’t disagree with your main point, that Star Trek needs to be reinvented for new generation fans. That’s what TNG did and it did to a great effect because I had friends who fell in love with that show who never watched TOS while I was a devoted TOS fan and it created other spin offs because of it. So it can happen.
And yes that’s exactly what they tried for both the Kelvin movies and then Discovery. So again. I’m not disagreeing they haven’t tried that, I’m really arguing just how successful it’s been mostly and from what I can tell, it’s been middling at best. The Kelvin movies are the perfect example. They started off with huge fanfare and got people who has probably never watched a single episode off Star Trek in the theaters. But by the time Beyond rolled around, it felt like most of the newbies left and it was just mostly us old fans again.
And don’t get me wrong about the Kelvin movies. The thing is those films are insanely popular when you move away from the nerd sites like these and us old curmudgeon fans. Just go to the RT site and read the fan reviews on STID. You come to places like here and you would be convinced STID was the worst film made since Catwoman. But you go to where it’s just casual or firs time people, it’s a totally different perspective.
Those films DID hit with a new target base in a big way. I know some people here don’t want to hear that, but yeah based everything I’ve seen at least, they did. The PROBLEM is either A. there is just not enough of them to sustain the films FOR their budgets and/or B. they still never became devoted to the franchise like the older base has and many moved on by the time Beyond rolled around. But you can’t doubt how popular the first two films were with new fans and yes a lot of old fans too.
With Discovery though, I feel it’s just a lot more complicated for different reasons. The people who hated the Kelvin movies have the same issues with Discovery too. NOT all of them of them, just the people who feels the new stuff has turned away from the old stuff and Paramount is (obviously) still listening to those people more than anything. And I just don’t think a lot of new people really checked it out. Not at the level compared to the Kelvin movies for example. Maybe a lot of it had to do being on a streaming site no one really wanted and if you’re not already a big Trek fan, it’s hard to justify paying for it. Yes, it (was) on Netflix worldwide, but again America is where the overwhelming majority of the base is. The Kelvin films box office made that abundantly clear if people want to think otherwise.
We’ll see about SNW. But sorry I just think end of the day this show is going to be mostly watched by a huge majority of the old fans even if the intent is to target new ones.
I been on this site for about a decade now since STID was gearing up and yet it seems like 95% of the people who bother to come here are the same people whose been watching Trek at least since the 80s, but many since the 60s and 70s. I’m not using this site as a barometer in terms of the overall demographics of the fanbase but it’s telling. Reddit at least has a lot more younger fans now but even the majority of those became fans during the TNG era.
I have not seen a huge swath of new fans since these new shows started. It doesn’t mean they don’t exist, but I feel if more did they would’ve rebooted the franchise long ago to appeal to those fans. They certainly had the chance after a 12 year gap between Enterprise and Discovery. Paramount knows ultimately who keeps their bread buttered and will never rock the boat because of that. But that’s solely my opinion.
But one thing we are 100% agreement on is that it was smart to put the shows in different eras. I been wanting this frankly since Voyager. Once that went off the air I was hoping they start being more creative and put shows in different eras like the 25th or 26th century. Now they did do that with Enterprise but not something I was super happy with lol. I never really gelled to having a show set so far back from the others but I understood why they did at the time.
But today, THANKS to Kurtzman, we can now have shows in the 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 27th, 32nd and beyond. This excites me because I love seeing Star Trek in different iterations personally. And this gives people a little something of everything.
Look I am an old fan for sure, I love seeing all these old characters. But I also agree Star Trek has to push forward for other generations too. So I am 100% on board with that. I just think it’s kind of a misnomer to suggest that’s what these new shows are doing when they are all following 50+ year old canon now with the same characters many of us grew up with. To me, that’s not really trying to appeal to new fans at all when every ‘new’ show delves into characters and their backstories that was created literally in the 60s, 80s and 90s. But that’s just me.
“I just think it’s kind of a misnomer to suggest that’s what these new shows are doing when they are all following 50+ year old canon now with the same characters many of us grew up with.”
To be clear, I’m only suggesting that SNW is (potentially) a straight reboot, and if it works, it will push Discovery firmly into being a reboot as well (though, after the fact-but, it’s not like the show doesn’t conceptually reboot itself every season already). Of course Picard, LD, Prodigy are not reboots, nor do I think they would be brought into the reboot universe like Discovery could be.
I don’t agree that using the same characters/names and situations from 50+ years of canon precludes a SH era Star Trek show from (potentially) being a reboot. All reboots draw from their source material(s). And I think when IP managers get cavalier with canon because they want to do their own thing within it, I believe it makes the most sense to label that output as a reboot rather than a continuation.
OK, I understand your point more now. But dude, I’m sorry I’m not trying to be argumentative, I swear, it’s just a really strange argument to me.
And not to belabor this point, but we already been through this with the Kelvin movies. I mean those films were designed EXACTLY to do what you are proposing here. I can think allllll the back to 2009 and everything you have been saying here, every word of it, was stated over and over and over again about the potential of those movies back then.
The Kelvin movies A. was an ACTUAL reboot and B. were designed for new and younger audiences. That’s why they gave it its own universe so they can do everything you’re claiming SNW is suppose to do, which is why this argument is odd to me.
They were made to reboot the franchise and start anew. Those also relied on canon but not in a way a newbie would need to rewatch 100 hours of Trek to understand. It’s Kirk and Spock on the Enterprise for the first time since TOS, that was the leading argument going in at the time too. People were suggesting the Kelvin movies would span into other realms and we would start getting novels, video games and of course the biggest prize of all, a new TV show. But it never really happened the way people thought and remember the Kelvin are probably the MOST watched properties by new fans, at least at the time.
And nothing happened. They got some of that stuff like comics, etc. But it never really went farther than that. And as I said in my other thread, the movies ARE popular by new and younger fans. It targeted the people you are claiming SNW is suppose to target so why did those films never go beyond a set of movies? We have five shows now, but all set in the prime universe again. You would think one of them could be set in the Kelvin timeline to directly appeal to those new fans you claim SNW is suppose to do.
There are two answers for it, but both pretty relative to my argument. First because the older fan base never took them as the classic shows and movies and also because the merchandise never took off in the way these big franchises expect. So while it made some money at the BO, at least two of them, it never crossed over in a mass market way to the old fanbase.
And that’s where I keep coming, It’s just proof no matter how many times people say Star Trek has to move to new audiences, it’s easier said than done. I know another one is being made now, but I think we can all agree the hype for those films are pretty low compared to its start. I’m frankly still shocked they are making another one, but maybe it will surprise me and be a big hit. But it’s funny you don’t even consider them as part of your argument. But ten years ago you could’ve said everything about those as you are saying here…and many did.
But it proves to me no matter WHAT the intent is in terms of capturing a ‘new’ audience, when it comes to Star Trek it’s hard to move beyond it’s main base as the biggest source of revenue and if something is too different, it’s rejected sadly.
I see you’re point more clearly now, too, and agree with what the Kelvin movies both actually were and what they were intended to be, but I do not see the movies being connected to the TV shows at this point and I think the ultimate failure of the feature film portion of the IP can be *more easily* traced to piss poor management by the studio and the parent company’s determination that Trek movies should be managed by one part and Trek shows managed by another part of their corporate machinery.
I just don’t see that being the case with these series, mainly because of Paramount+ being a huge new factor that didn’t exist when the Kelvin series launched and got up and running, but also because of the re-merging between the movie studio and TV studio. There’s also the Goldsman factor: he’s not showrunning and directing SNW to live out a lifelong dream of making an homage — he wants to put the Akiva stamp on something, and the way most people do that is by making it theirs in some way that distinguishes it from what came before, and since he’s nominally a “storyteller,” I start my investigation into what’s going on with this show at that level; and so I sort of reject the idea that the recent history has much bearing on the current and future plans, and that’s my POV.
On top of that, because Star Trek IS too big to fail at this point (after all, Paramount is desperate to spotlight as much IP as they can to become a viable purchase target for places like Apple, Netflix, Amazon, and maybe even Disney), maintaining canon at this point seems 1) beside the point and 2) more trouble than it’s worth.
But it does seem like our split here is based on you seeing SNW as merely an extension of the course correction SH has done to appeal even more to long-time, diehard fans since Discovery didn’t pop while I see all the obvious canon trappings as a bait and switch, at least where long-timers and diehards are concerned.
I give you credit, Anthony. I bailed on DSC after season 2. I left when Pike did.
Definitely want a Stargazer show now too!
S4 Episode 4 was when I had my fill of Discovery too. I’ll be done with Picard after today if episode 5 doesn’t improve. I’ll give Season 3 a chance but after the last two episodes of Picard, my desire to watch the show has completely vanished.
I have to admit, while I thought fourth season of Discovery ended OK, I would’ve been fine if the show ended after fourth season. For me I’m more interested in the 32nd century setting beyond the show itself.
I DO like Discovery, but yeah, it’s a frustrating experience at times. And this last season especially so which is sad to say since this season was probably the most ‘Star Trek’ the show has ever been.
I said it in another post but will say again here – The Enterprise looks SO GOOD, I can’t wait to see more of it :D
Yep!!!
This is what a lot of us wanted with Discovery. Not the Enterprise itself, but a show that at least harkens back to the look and feel of TOS and it looks like now we are finally getting it!
Urgh
what does urgh mean use your words not a sound
Looks incredible! Really digging how the senior officers give pep talks or compliments to these younger officers. The world needs more kindness and it tells us everything we need to know about these characters without us having to guess!
I think we see Pike talking to La’an in his starboard side ready room. Why? Notice the upside down trapezoid window. Looks like the windows around the bridge in the Discovery/Short Treks version. Exciting!
Looking good so far, hopefully Discovery gets cancelled next year, leaving us with four high quality trek shows on the air
It was renewed for a fifth season in January. So apparently SOMEONE is watching it.
Fifth and final i hope…god forbid it drags on like The Walking Dead….
Hmm, not the best banter I’ve ever heard, but thankfully we have Flan Noonien Singh and her tribble augment to look forward to.
Mmmmm flan
Boy, if a trailer is meant to catch your interest by showing some of the “good bits” from the show, they’re going to have to do a LOT better than THAT!
I think I’m going to like all the new characters. Yes, still very little to go on but they all seem to have real personalities at least.
And the show just looks beautiful. But I can say that about all the new shows. Paramount is not skimping on the FX of these shows, that’s for sure. They all look movie quality, especially Discovery and Prodigy which I feel are the most beautiful. SNW looks like it will be a new contender.
Agreed. That’s why sometimes I wonder whether more JJ-verse movies are really necessary and desirable. Trek is best in television storytelling format and now with the production values so high, who needs another film??? If the writing is kept up to snuff, I’m good with that! Give me a great SNW and stargazer and I’ll be a happy camper for years to come!
Yeah so true. I wonder that myself. When the Kelvin movies started it was a lot of pent up demand over them because they were a new entity but also the only new thing we gotten in years. It’s a very different ball game today. Even Alex Kurtzman said once that the movies are less needed because we are getting basically movie quality effects now with these shows. The way they shoot them is basically like how films are shot today because they have more time (and money) to make an episode these days.
And I always make the same point about the TNG movies. They made less overall when compared to the TOS and Kelvin films, but a part of that could be because we were still getting tons of Star Trek every week (and for free) when they were running. That’s not the ONLY reason of course, but it has to be factored in because the Kelvin and four of the TOS films were really the only new content when they ran. And I remember Harve Bennet blaming TNG for Star Trek V getting smaller BO. It probably had to do more with being a really bad film but that probably was a reason too; just a much smaller one.
With five shows on, I don’t know how big the demand the next film will be. But I also think a big reason it’s being moved forward is due to Paramount+. It will add more content for Trek on that site and it will funnel in the people who don’t watch the shows too. I just don’t think the B.O. itself is the main focus anymore but also how many subscribers will turn up for it.
I’m sure you heard about the fight going on with Tom Cruise and the next Mission Impossible movies landing on Paramount+; but reading that dust up makes more sense why Paramount is pushing for another Star Trek film right now.
Weird hairdoo choice by the series creators unless she’s suppose to be an alien? In the top photo she looks goofy with that look, almost like Flo from the insurance commercials,
Careful, Will Smith might read this.
LOL
That’s a common enough modern hairstyle that you can find right here in good ol’ 2022.
Star Trek has a strange fetish about often making their female characters less attractive than they normally would be (starting with making Jennifer Lien wear that wig instead of her natural long blonde hair).
this was the best one so far. tholian web and good banter 1st date 3rd date or blind date
AHHHHH THIS WAS AMAZING!!!! “Blind date!” Hahhaha
Lt. Ortegas actually looks like a fun character who wants to be at the helm!
Maybe this is the best Trek since Star Trek VI?!?!?!