Hailing Frequencies Open: Media Articles, Casting News, Scheduling

[Sisygambis]

I am willing to give another prequel a shot, but only because it's a 13 episode, limited series.  There can't really be an wandering around with the plot and running up against too many events, people and places.  I think if they focus on one event, it could be ok.

I'm also interested in a main character who is not the captain - is she part of the command/senior staff or will this be a Lower Decks situation?

The only part of this that gave me a bit of a doubt was "new exciting aliens."  I don't really want a bunch of CGI'd characters - I'm totally fine with humanoids with different noses and foreheads - there was even an explanation in the cannon for that!  I'd be down with seeing some of the different aliens that we haven't really explored before - Andorians, Bolians, Orions, Benzite (sp?), but are part of the exsisting world.  Not sure how I'd feel about a bunch of new species we'd never heard of before.

But, it's really all a lot of wait and see!  I'm generally enthusiastic about this and I have liked Fuller in the past, so only time will tell.

[Kromm]

7 hours ago, DavidJSnyder said:

I'm wondering how the idea of a lead who isn't the Captain is going to work in practice.  If you look at the first season of The Next Generation it feels to me like they were trying to set up Riker as at least the co-lead and failed.  Or on The West Wing where the originally though the show was going to be staffers and the President only an occasional presence. If you're on a ship as the show goes on the Captain is the one making final decisions of importance.

Even as a more minor character, I still hope the Captain of the ship isn't another straight white guy.  Unless he turns out to be evil.

Hmm. Since this takes a lot of extensive speculating, and digging even deeper into stuff Fuller said, I'm gonna give my theories over in the new Spoilers & Spoiler Discussion thread. 

[Lugal]

As a lieutenant commander, I'm guessing she'll be high enough up to have an influence on events in the ship, but still have the captain over her head, which could set up some interesting dynamics.

I'm not against a prequel per se, although I would have preferred one between TOS and TNG, centering around the Tomed Incident like some of the initial speculation.  Done well, a prequel can fill in the gaps in the Trek Universe, it's just Star Trek hasn't done prequels very well. My problem with Enterprise was Braga's general attitude to world-building (that it's too hard) and things just rehashed previous episodes and contradicted things we saw later.

[paigow]

8 hours ago, Lugal said:

As a lieutenant commander, I'm guessing she'll be high enough up to have an influence on events in the ship, but still have the captain over her head, which could set up some interesting dynamics.

On most cop shows, Detectives -rather than Captains- are the focus. If STD goes with a "Shelby vs Riker" or "Riker vs Jellicoe" direction, then more surprises would be possible.  

[xaxat]

Maybe that means have a Star Trek where the captain actually stays on the bridge where he/she belongs instead of going on all of the away missions.

[Anna Yolei]

On June 2, 2016 at 1:42 PM, Lebanna said:

I am absolutely with you on this. I don't know if this show has a chance, but I do know that it wouldn't last long in the climate that  has in the last year killed Person of Interest, Limitless, The Muppets - even Hannibal, for that matter, way before their time. There's no space for difference anymore.

There is, however, online.

This is a bit late, but I gotta agree. I don't how many here were watching Enterprise as either a hate watch or unironic enjoyment, but having posted at TrekBBS again lately and visiting my old stomping ground of their ENT forum, I've run into many people who gave up watching because their UPN affiliate kept shuffling the show to various times as they made room for local sports and such. Regardless of one thinks of the quality of the show, that hurt the ratings considerably. There's also the fact that stations were dropping UPN entirely so the show reached a maximum of eighty percent of the homes Voyager did.

Long story short, this is why I'm glad it's not on network TV anymore. I would have preferred Hulu or Netflix, but the whole season costs less than 20 bucks to watch, and I'm assuming there will be some season pass thing with Android and iTunes down the road. Plus, I'd have access to the old episodes of the soaps I watched as a kid, so there's that bonus. Worst case scenario, I cancel my subscription after the season finale and sign up again next January (or whenever season two begins).

On August 17, 2016 at 11:13 AM, xaxat said:

Maybe that means have a Star Trek where the captain actually stays on the bridge where he/she belongs instead of going on all of the away missions.

I joined the Navy well after I became a Trek fan.

suffice it to say our officers didn't work one-tenth as hard as Starfleet's.

[DavidJSnyder]

Here is pretty much everything publicly known right now in an infographic.

[blueray]

I still wish that the US netflix would have access to it.

[KnotsLanding]

On 8/31/2016 at 8:58 AM, DavidJSnyder said:

Here is pretty much everything publicly known right now in an infographic.

My biggest question is, how does filming start late September and we still don't know even one cast member? It would seem by now we should know *at least* two thirds of the cast. And in order to reach a January premiere date, they need to start filming soon so it can't be pushed back too much.

[benteen]

I like the idea of it not focusing on the captain.  It's a good change of pace right off the bat.  We'll see if it stays that way.  As pointed out, the West Wing shifted focused to the President right after the pilot episode.

I hope the captain is an alien myself.

[starri]

19 hours ago, KnotsLanding said:

My biggest question is, how does filming start late September and we still don't know even one cast member? It would seem by now we should know *at least* two thirds of the cast. And in order to reach a January premiere date, they need to start filming soon so it can't be pushed back too much.

The actual 50th is Wednesday.  I'm betting we'll get everything then.

[KnotsLanding]

I hope so. The idea of last minute casting is worrisome, but as you said it could be because this is Star Trek they're just waiting until the best possible moment to release the information. It's just with this series being streamed and the movies having such A-listers I have big expectations for the case, whereas the older series (particularly Enterprise) seem to lack a strong, well-established cast beyond the leads. 

[xaxat]

So, you pay your money to get CBS All Access, and you still get ads.

Quote

At the recent Television Critics Assn. press tour, CBS Interactive president Marc DeBevoise explainedthat episodes of All Access originals — which also include “Big Brother” and a spring spinoff of “The Good Wife” — would carry an ad load of 12 minutes per episode.

They're just begging people to pirate this show.

[Kromm]

1 hour ago, xaxat said:

So, you pay your money to get CBS All Access, and you still get ads.

They're just begging people to pirate this show.

SO generous of them to cut down from the typical 14-18 minutes of ads shows typically have now to a mere 12! 

NOT.

[DavidJSnyder]

Since then, they've added a more expensive ad-free version ala Hulu.

Edited September 8, 2016 by DavidJSnyder

[xaxat]

$9.99 a month? 

So more than Hulu, more than Amazon Prime, more than Netflix. And their catalog is smaller than all of those other options.

They're just begging people to pirate this show. 

[starri]

13 hours ago, xaxat said:

So more than Hulu, more than Amazon Prime, more than Netflix. And their catalog is smaller than all of those other options.

The ad-free version is cheaper than Hulu's ad-free subscription.

I'm not so concerned about the service flopping, because they've made enough money on the foreign rights on Netflix that it'll just move over there eventually.  I'm honestly more concerned about the service being successful, because that might cause the other networks to shift from content aggregators like Hulu to their own stand-alone services.

[revbfc]

Yeah, I'm not paying for CBS All Access.  All of you have given my reasons, so no  need to repeat all of them. 

It's sad, though.  I love Star Trek, and I'm a big Bryan Fuller fan.  This should be worth my money, but I fear CBS will pull stupid stunts to increase their profits (like waiting two weeks to post episodes so they can get an extra month of fees from customers).

Edited September 11, 2016 by revbfc

[KnotsLanding]

Isn't CBS already doing it as one episode per week? That right there will guarantee keeping your subscription for at least four months. I don't think All Access has much to do with the success of this though. If it works out great, if not I'm sure they'll just move it to Netflix. I'm mostly getting irritated by the lack of information we have. They wasted Comic Con by not revealing much. The 50th Anniversary when everyone was writing about the show came and went and no cast announcement. Same thing for the big convention. At least announce ONE actor, something. They completely have wasted the added buzz from the 50th anniversary. 

[paigow]

Maybe a lead actor/ actress dropped out like Voyager...and they are scrambling to recast...

[KnotsLanding]

Considering how soon filming is and how close the premiere is, they should have more than one cast member to announce by now. We already know one of the main characters will be the captain, who I believe they said is male and then the female lead in the Number One capacity. At least one of them should be cast by now one would think. I wonder if they're having trouble locking down the type of actors they want. I know in the past it was difficult to get certain actors because they didn't want to end up typecast, but I don't think that is as much of an issue now.

Overall, I just feel like they wasted so much free promo by not revealing enough. Hell, an actual detailed description of the show and the event it's centered around could've been nice and fueled discussion. Something other than some colored turtlenecks.

[Kromm]

2 hours ago, KnotsLanding said:

an actual detailed description of the show and the event it's centered around could've been nice and fueled discussion. Something other than some colored turtlenecks.

Actually Fuller said recently that it has to do with Balance of Terror:

[KnotsLanding]

I saw that, but that is still incredibly vague. They're past the hinting stage. At this point, hell at the official pilot pickup stage you'd at least have an actual description of the show. Especially with it airing in a new format, they need all the promotion and buzz they can get. They literally have three months to film, promote and get the show out there. 

[Kromm]

13 minutes ago, KnotsLanding said:

I saw that, but that is still incredibly vague. They're past the hinting stage. At this point, hell at the official pilot pickup stage you'd at least have an actual description of the show. Especially with it airing in a new format, they need all the promotion and buzz they can get. They literally have three months to film, promote and get the show out there. 

I think either the release date has slipped (and they haven't bothered to announce it yet), or they're already filming and have somehow kept it quiet. This piece at least claims they should be in the middle of filming one of the early episodes by now. If they only have 3 of 13 scripts done, that's a problem of course. You'd figure by the time the show premieres, even though they're not using a typical "all at once" streaming model, they're going to have to have filming done on a majority, because even with modern FX (a lot quicker than years ago), they're going to need a few weeks per episode for that. As for promotion?  My assumption is that they're wanting at least a few in the can before they do that. Maybe they'll push out some pre-FX stuff soon, but if they wait for the effects that's got to be in the next month, I'd wager. 

[DavidJSnyder]

On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 2:31 PM, Kromm said:

I think either the release date has slipped (and they haven't bothered to announce it yet),

Good call.  Delayed to May.

Edited September 14, 2016 by DavidJSnyder
Typo

[starri]

I'd rather is be slow and good than fast and bad. I would still like some more info. 

[Lebanna]

I was thinking that there was no way no news was good news. So it's a relief to see that they've rationalised the time scale. There was no way they could get a special-effects  heavy series which hasn't even been cast yet out by January and make it not horrible.

This is good.

[Kromm]

1 hour ago, DavidJSnyder said:

Good call.  Delayed to May.

A longer delay than I'd assumed.  I'd been thinking they'd get the first episode in by the end of February sweeps (not that sweeps really counts the same for streaming I suppose). May is theoretically a sweeps period too, I guess, but not one as important as November or February. 

[Lebanna]

Eh, Stranger Things came out in July and is massive worldwide. These days, especially globally and online as this show will be, the ratings rules have definitely changed.

[ottoDbusdriver]

I suppose this means they can start casting finally.  :)

[KnotsLanding]

While it's good they'll have time to make sure the show is as good as it can be, this shows how little a priority Star Trek is to CBS/Paramount as a property. I still feel like they wasted this 50th anniversary in terms of the movie and now the series. Built in, free publicity and it all pretty much went by unnoticed. Even the movie didn't really use it to promote the release. Oh well, at this point we will see how it goes. Hopefully May is the actual date and we don't see it pushed back again. 

[benteen]

39 minutes ago, KnotsLanding said:

While it's good they'll have time to make sure the show is as good as it can be, this shows how little a priority Star Trek is to CBS/Paramount as a property. I still feel like they wasted this 50th anniversary in terms of the movie and now the series. Built in, free publicity and it all pretty much went by unnoticed. Even the movie didn't really use it to promote the release. Oh well, at this point we will see how it goes. Hopefully May is the actual date and we don't see it pushed back again. 

I agree with this.  CBS/Paramount has done a lousy job with the 50th anniversary and they don't treat the Star Trek property as well as they should.  Their attitude towards the 50th anniversary seems to be "Don't push me, I'm coming."  BBC, on the other hand, wrote the book on how to do a 50th anniversary with Doctor Who 3 years ago.

[KnotsLanding]

BBC has just done an excellent job with Doctor Who in general, but that 50th anniversary was something special. CBS/Paramount just view Star Trek as a cash cow that pretty much can do the work for itself. I feel like they weren't paying close enough attention and Fuller was simply moving like a snail as I've heard he often does and got behind schedule. The fact that they only had three scripts ready was the major problem. No scripts and you can't start filming and he can't focus on casting if they don't have enough scripts completed. I just need something to make me excited again and I'm back on board. So far not pleased with yet another prequel and the snail pace they're working at, but a good casting announcement or series description could tide me over.

[xaxat]

Even the US Navy is celebrating the 50th anniversary better than CBS/Paramount. 

They just commissioned a new, highly advanced ship headed by Captain James (not T unfortunately) Kirk.

(OK, it's probably just a coincidence.)

[legaleagle53]

4 hours ago, xaxat said:

Even the US Navy is celebrating the 50th anniversary better than CBS/Paramount. 

They just commissioned a new, highly advanced ship headed by Captain James (not T unfortunately) Kirk.

(OK, it's probably just a coincidence.)

Quite probably, since James Tiberius Kirk won't even be born until what, 2232 or thereabouts?

[paigow]

Then the ship is from the future????

[legaleagle53]

2 hours ago, paigow said:

Then the ship is from the future????

Could be.  As Star Trek has shown us many times, experienced professional time travelers from the future would know how to blend themselves into 21st-Century culture so thoroughly that we "primitives" would never know the difference.  Maybe we've already had visitors from the future and just never knew it!  ;-)

[Anna Yolei]

Late to the party, but I'm glad for the delay.  One of the very few good ideas Berman and Braga brought up to UPN/ Paramount was waiting a year between Voyager and Enterprise to get their shot together, which the network declined. We all know how that turned out.

So I'm glad the execs at CBS are listening get now, although I too am disappointed at the lack of fucks given about the 50th anniversary. 

[Lebanna]

Yes, almost exactly fifteen years on from the beginning of 'Enterprise' (no, I can't believe it's that long either) I think we've all had time to analyse what went wrong there. While I do now appreciate the show for what it is, it was a show that needed to break a bunch of rules about what Star Trek had been. It needed to deal with the new changes, social, political and televisual of a new century. And yet, when it was planned, not much had yet changed. When it actually started, things were changing practically every day.

For example, the show started only weeks after 9/11, began filming months earlier, and had to play catch-up, relatively unsuccessfully, to try to replicate the new socio-political reality of fear and instability for the rest of the first season and beyond. Television was becoming more serialised, but Enterprise's attempts to serialise their monster of the week/planet of hats stories didn't really get good until season three/four, by which time many old school Star Trek fans like myself had already checked out (I watched it years later on DVD).

Enterprise repeated so many storylines that we had already seen done better on TNG, DS9 and VOY, leading to a sense of déjà vu in longterm viewers of the franchise. It seemed like the writers had run out of inspiration, or worse, had actually forgotten that these plots had been done before.

It also seems incredible that Star Trek, which showed the USA's first televised interracial kiss, couldn't even dare to include a regular gay character in the main cast by 2001. The cast was big enough - would it really have been so difficult to show Reed, Hoshi or Mayweather, or hell, why not Archer, in a gay relationship? That would have been something new, for Star Trek in a new century. Not to be controversial - just to show that it's as normal a part of life as a white man kissing a black woman.

And then there were regressions such as T'Pol's skintight catsuit with its enormous butt/boob padding - or making the first female Vulcan regular character irrational, unstable, mentally weak and overtly emotional. It worked as a storyline from time to time with half human Spock, but in completely Vulcan T'Pol's case was nonsensical and was viewed by many to be playing off old stereotypes of female hysteria, just at a point in time where feminism was beginning a new wave of popularity among younger women, and strong female characters were about to become huge in popular culture. T'Pol could have been at the forefront of that. Instead, she didn't even feature. Compared to Kira, Dax or Janeway in the '90s or Uhura in the 1960s, T'Pol was written in a manner that was way behind the times in which the show was broadcast.

The show didn't push boundaries - it ran desperately to try to catch up to them. That extra year of work and thought and prep, might have made an enormous difference.

But there are also more recent examples - 'The Muppets' last year was rushed into production months before the production team planned to be ready, and while I actually loved that show, clearly most people didn't. I do wonder what it could have been like with the extra time and development. It might not be cancelled, for example. The missteps it made - as much as I enjoyed it, I admit there were many, might never have reached the screen.

So, for me, especially in these strange, changeable times, the more time they have to prepare Discovery the better. We might get better written scripts, a better cast, better special effects, a more coherent plot and a show which better reflects where we are and where we really want to go in the future.

Edited October 1, 2016 by Lebanna

[DavidJSnyder]

Bryan Fuller no longer showrunner.

[Lebanna]

Oh, shit. This is terrible news. I know they have loads of other people involved and it's 'following his vision ', but how long will that last? 

Fuller was what made this show a no-brainer-it's-gonna-be-awsome for me. Now I have to go back to worrying about whether it's going to suck. And damnit, I was so looking forward to this.

[greenbean]

The show seems to be in disarray. Have they not cast the leads yet?

[AndySmith]

I'm not disappointed he is gone (never been a huge fan of his work), but given how much BTS drama that seems to be going on, this doesn't bode well.

[paigow]

What are Berman and Braga doing now?????????

[DavidJSnyder]

• 8 hours ago, greenbean said:

  The show seems to be in disarray. Have they not cast the leads yet?

  According to Mo's article one of the issues the studio has is they haven't cast the lead yet.

[Maverick]

 This is going to be a trainwreck.  They pretty much lost me at 'another prequel', but the apparent disinterest in getting it developed says this isn't really a top priority.  But hey, they've got some not-so-snazzy turtle neck uniforms so maybe we should cut them some slack.

[Lugal]

This is not looking good.  We're getting Akiva Goldsman of Batman and Robin fame?  And these guys are expecting us to sign on to a subscription service to see this?  At least Fuller will still be an executive producer.

[blueray]

That sucks, he was definitely on  the reasons why I was going to watch, as I've liked his previous work. They still have casted the cast, I feel like they need to soon as filming still needs to start before the end of this year.

[starri]

While this is not exactly encouraging, for anyone who saw William Shatner's documentary Chaos on the Bridge about the struggles getting TNG on the air, this might not be a dealbreaker.  We only hear about the behind-the-scenes mess because the Internet is a thing now.

[paigow]

15 hours ago, Lugal said:

This is not looking good.  We're getting Akiva Goldsman of Batman and Robin fame....  

and Lost In Space reboot!!!!!!!