Hailing Frequencies Open: Media Articles, Casting News, Scheduling

[thuganomics85]

I had no idea James Frain was going to be in this as a Vulcan.  That's some brilliant casting right there.

It could go either way, but I'm cautiously optimistic for now.  Michelle Yeoh is always awesome and I'm rooting for this to be a big hit for Sonequa Martin-Green, after Sasha's "exit" from The Walking Dead.  Looks great, even if you have to hand wave how the tech looks way more advance, despite being a prequel.  But overall, I'm just glad to have another Star Trek series to watch.  Even if I have to apparently by this CBS Access thing for it. 

[starri]

3 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

I had no idea James Frain was going to be in this as a Vulcan.

Not just a Vulcan.  He's Sarek.

[TVSpectator]

Okay, so I just saw the trailer at IO9- it said that the show takes place, "10 years before Kirk" does that mean that it takes place 10 years before TOS or 10 years before Kirk's birth?

[starri]

1 minute ago, TVSpectator said:

Okay, so I just saw the trailer at IO9- it said that the show takes place, "10 years before Kirk" does that mean that it takes place 10 years before TOS or 10 years before Kirk's birth?

The former.

[TVSpectator]

1 minute ago, starri said:

The former.

Wait how are they going to fit everything 10 years before TOS? The uniforms look more like ENT era and the technology seems way more advanced than even the technology in TOS.

Edited May 18, 2017 by TVSpectator

[Unusual Suspect]

17 minutes ago, TVSpectator said:

Wait how are they going to fit everything 10 years before TOS? The uniforms look more like ENT era and the technology seems way more advanced than even the technology in TOS.

It's also filmed 50 years after the original, and while I know the ladies would rock them, I wasn't really wanting them in miniskirts.

[starri]

And they are using the TOS color scheme for the divisions.

[TVSpectator]

Just now, Unusual Suspect said:

It's also filmed 50 years after the original, and while I know the ladies would rock them, I wasn't really wanting them in miniskirts.

Yeah, but it just seems like they are ignoring the fact that the uniforms just didn't look that but instead look like they are from the ENT era (which really isn't that too far from the Kirk era either, btw but it has been establishing that they were using the old TOS' era uniforms for some time before that). Personally, I just want something that can mesh well with the old canon and yeah, the mini-skirts were a major mistake on Star Trek's part but at least in TNG they tried to fixed that for a while and then just phased it out. 

8 minutes ago, starri said:

And they are using the TOS color scheme for the divisions.

Well, at least that DOES mesh with the canon then- if that is actually happening. 

[starri]

4 minutes ago, TVSpectator said:

Well, at least that DOES mesh with the canon then- if that is actually happening. 

It is.  Burnham and Georgiou have gold stripes on their epaulets and Lieutenant Doug Jones has metallic blue ones on his.

[Unusual Suspect]

2 minutes ago, starri said:

It is.  Burnham and Georgiou have gold stripes on their epaulets and Lieutenant Doug Jones has metallic blue ones on his.

Hmm, not seeing redshirts though. Though maybe the helmsman is? I'm not certain, but there seems to be some red mixed in the gold piping in his uniform.

I'm starting to dig the new uniforms. I like that the rank is integrated into the insignia pin. I like that they have pockets.

[msani19]

I was less than excited about this, especially as the news about the production made everything sound less than ...ready. Plus, the idea of adding another streaming service is starting to feel excessive. However, I was so into that trailer! I guess those bastards at CBS are going to get some of my money. I'll watch the first episode CBS airs for free and then decide but, I think I might be in any way.

Damn my love of Star Trek! 

[Raachel2008]

2 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

 Looks great, even if you have to hand wave how the tech looks way more advance, despite being a prequel.

 

1 hour ago, TVSpectator said:

The uniforms look more like EN

You know it is a Star Trek forum when people are obssessing about uniforms not being true to TOS or being too much like ENT or the technology looking too adavanced. 

I don't mind the uniforms at all. That's a minor point and the fact that there are no mini skirts is a plus in my book. Now, about the tecnology, it looks like AOS, and AOS is Kirk, Spock,  too. Even if it is an alternate timeline, it is the "right timeline", with Kirk being born the same year, etc, etc et al. So if Discovery is 10 years before Kirk's Enterprise, it is not that absurd that Discovery is so "advanced", Now, I know some people are thinking TOS here, but why would this show follow TOS visuals, so to speak, and not AOS? This is a 2017 show, not a 1967 one or even a 2001 (ENT).

I LOVED the trailer. Love Michelle Yeoh to death, love Sonequa Martin-Green and I'm on board. Very happy it is a Netflix show, which I'm sure means we get at aleast two seasons. I don't know how to explain how happy I was watching this. The only thing I can come up with is that my sould feels light.

[Kaoteek]

This trailer just didn't work for me. At all. Even putting aside all the possible continuity problems with TOS (the showrunners have made clear it wasn't a nuTrek prequel but a TOS one, which makes most of this trailer's nuTrek stylings kinda weird to me), from uniforms to insignas to Klingons to set design to the overall production design, there was nothing really compelling to me, there. I never felt the lead was particularly charismatic in her other parts, the heavy focus on klingon & vulcan related material just doesn't do it for me (been there, seen that, would rather see other races explored), and I still don't get why they went for the whole prequel aspect when the entire fanbase is burned out on those.

[legaleagle53]

On 5/17/2017 at 8:01 AM, Lebanna said:

Black finish, silver highlights. Although they look a bit gold here. 

And it just occurred to me that we could potentially run into Dax again on this show.

True, but of course it wouldn't be Jadzia or Ezri Dax.  The host in this particular time period would be former Olympic gymnast Emony Dax, if I remember correctly.  She and McCoy once dated, according to Jadzia -- and Jadzia said that he had "the hands of a surgeon."

Edited May 20, 2017 by legaleagle53

[SmithW6079]

17 minutes ago, Kaoteek said:

This trailer just didn't work for me. At all. Even putting aside all the possible continuity problems with TOS (the showrunners have made clear it wasn't a nuTrek prequel but a TOS one, which makes most of this trailer's nuTrek stylings kinda weird to me), from uniforms to insignas to Klingons to set design to the overall production design, there was nothing really compelling to me, there. I never felt the lead was particularly charismatic in her other parts, the heavy focus on klingon & vulcan related material just doesn't do it for me (been there, seen that, would rather see other races explored), and I still don't get why they went for the whole prequel aspect when the entire fanbase is burned out on those.

Yeah, I was meh on it too. I'll probably never watch it, since I won't pay for the streaming service, but nothing here compels me. Fan film "Prelude to Axnar" had more of a Trek feel to it.

[benteen]

I really enjoyed the trailer and am very much looking forward to it.  I don't mind updating the technology at all.  I don't think the original Star Trek even had DNA technology (look at how Kirk tries to find Kodos in The Conscience of the King).  Should Discovery not have DNA technology because it's 10 years before the original series?  That would be ridiculous.  The technology on Discovery should be based on the current technology today, not the current technology of the 60s when the original series was done.

I'm glad they ditched the mini-skirts as well, something that Abrams should have done with his Star Trek reboot.

I'm not a fan of the new look Klingons I will say.

No Jason Isaacs in this trailer but you can't go wrong with Michelle Yeoh at all.

[Lugal]

14 hours ago, Kaoteek said:

This trailer just didn't work for me. At all. Even putting aside all the possible continuity problems with TOS (the showrunners have made clear it wasn't a nuTrek prequel but a TOS one, which makes most of this trailer's nuTrek stylings kinda weird to me), from uniforms to insignas to Klingons to set design to the overall production design, there was nothing really compelling to me, there. I never felt the lead was particularly charismatic in her other parts, the heavy focus on klingon & vulcan related material just doesn't do it for me (been there, seen that, would rather see other races explored), and I still don't get why they went for the whole prequel aspect when the entire fanbase is burned out on those.

I have to agree, the trailer didn't really grab me the way others have.  It does feel a little too much like AbramsTrek, especially in the look for the Klingons.  I never really saw Sonequa Martin-Green in anything (never got into the Walking Dead) but I've always liked Michelle Yeoh.  If they could develop the Vulcans the way TNG developed the Klingons, or even how DS9 developed the Ferengi, I could get on board with that.

[Lebanna]

Well yes, and this time unlike on ENT, not have the Vulcans be on the whole total boring snobby sneaky bastards. I know they explained why Vulcan culture changed (because Archer taught them so much *rolleyes*) but having to actually watch that was a disappointment.

Cool snobby sneaky Vulcans this time. 

Edited May 18, 2017 by Lebanna

[starri]

To premiere September 24.

[Lugal]

They're doing a split season on a streaming show?

[SVNBob]

5 hours ago, Lugal said:

They're doing a split season on a streaming show?

Part of me thinks this might be meant as a way to drive up subscriptions for their service.  They advertise a one-week free trial before having to subscribe.  With a split season for a show that many have said they are waiting to use said free trial for, that means that those people can't binge the entire season in that free week.  So they'd have to pay to get the whole story.  (Or wait until the second half is released.)

 

Another part of me remembers that CBS has tended to skew older in its demographics over the last several decades.  It is the second oldest of the old Big 3 (NBC is the only older network), so they could still be thinking in terms of TV viewing.  Which means they might be anticipating episodic weekly viewing instead of binging.

 

Or it could be a matter of not wanting to delay airing anything any more and putting out the finished "first half" of the season while still completing work on the remainder of the season.

[starri]

They did expand the season to fifteen episodes, so they likely needed more time to finish.

Given the choice of a split season or another delay, I'll take the split season every time.

[starri]

Sonequa Martin-Green talks about Commander Burnham.

Very minor spoilers about her background.

[starri]

And here's our first look as Jason Isaacs on Discovery's bridge.

[legaleagle53]

Interesting uniform design and color, considering that this is supposed to be only ten years before the "classic 23rd-Century design" (to quote Jadzia Dax) of the original series.  I wonder what occasioned such a radical change.

[Maverick]

 They look like they go be an evolution on ENT's mechanic coveralls, but yeah there's no real evolutionary path between them and TOS-era uniforms.  To be fair, the TMP uniforms don't look like anything that connects to TOS and maroon uniforms used for the remainder of the movies are completely disconnected from both.    [nerd alert] They really screwed up using the delta shield emblem.  That emblem wasn't used fleet-wide until after TOS.  Prior to that, each ship had it's own unique emblem.  The non-canonical reason is Starfleet chose it honor the Kirk and the Enterprise  for their extraordinary work.  [/nerd alert]   I also don't like the rank insignia being embedded in the delta shield.  Aside from the fact rank pips weren't used until TNG, it looks like some piece of crap made with cubic zirconia chips you'd pick up at a convention. 

[Adira]

I feel like I hate everything we've learned about this series.

Why do the uniforms look like this?  If this series took place shortly after ENT, then maybe I could understand it, since the blue uniforms do look similar to ENT's.  But what's with the coloring??  Every single series from ENT through DS9, Voyager, and the TNG movies had uniform colors depicting position and used red, blue, and yellow (or a slight variation of those).  Now suddenly IN BETWEEN ENT and TOS, they are using some sort of gold, silver, bronze coloring scheme??

I just wish the creators of this just admitted this has nothing to do with Star Trek, isn't supposed to be Star Trek, and just did their own thing without pretending this was Star Trek.  That FOX show Orville looks more like Star Trek than this!

[starri]

I really do not understand all the agita over the uniforms.

[legaleagle53]

1 hour ago, starri said:

I really do not understand all the agita over the uniforms.

Because for those of us who grew up watching TOS, it's too radical a departure from what should be the uniform look of an era that is only ten years before the Enterprise's original five-year mission began.  This uniform looks as though it belongs in the late 22nd Century, not the mid-23rd Century, hence the agita over it.

[starri]

30 minutes ago, legaleagle53 said:

Because for those of us who grew up watching TOS

I also grew up watching TOS, and TNG, and DS9, and yet I'd rather have a good show than fidelity in the uniforms.  YMMV.

[Adira]

2 hours ago, starri said:

I really do not understand all the agita over the uniforms.

It's not JUST about the uniforms.  It's about EVERYTHING that they've changed, for no apparent reason as far as we know.  Why do the Klingons look nothing like normal Klingons or TOS Klingons (who's appearances are explained during ENT)?  Why do the uniforms look nothing like the TOS uniforms (which takes place only TEN YEARS after the start of this series)?  Why is the coloring on the uniforms completely different from anything in EVERY OTHER Star Trek series and movie?  Why does the technology look so much more advanced than TOS technology?  Obviously it's going to look different because it's 2017, but it look RADICALLY different.  ENT didn't make their technology radically different.  And WHY is it airing on CBS All Access?  They don't have enough respect for Star Trek fans to air this on CBS?  They want to EXPLOIT Star Trek fans by forcing us to pay for a service we don't even want in order to watch the one show we do?  AND it'll air in weekly increments with a nice break in between to force us to pay for months at a time?

It just looks and feels like they were trying to make their own sci-fi show, while stealing the stuff like they life from Star Trek and discarding what they didn't, even if it makes no sense.  And then they figured they could slap on the "Star Trek" title and all the Star Trek fans would just flock to it, even though it looks and feels nothing like Star Trek.  Obviously I'm going to give the show a shot and I'll judge it on it's own merit, but everything I've seen so far has been a huge turnoff.

[starri]

People complained that TNG wasn't TOS, that DS9 was on a space station, that VOY's captain was a woman, and that ENT was a prequel as well.  And whatever those show's respective quality from there, none of it mattered in the end.

[Adira]

2 hours ago, starri said:

People complained that TNG wasn't TOS, that DS9 was on a space station, that VOY's captain was a woman, and that ENT was a prequel as well.  And whatever those show's respective quality from there, none of it mattered in the end.

If people complained about all those other things, why are you confused people are complaining about Discovery?

I'm not sure what you mean by "none of it mattered in the end" though.  I was too young to know about any of the complaints regarding TNG, DS9, and VOY, but I was old enough for the complaints about ENT was a prequel, and I actually DO think it being a prequel hurt it.  I think it's lame that Discovery is another prequel as well (especially one that doesn't seem like it's going to line up between ENT and TOS at all).

[Bort]

Please take further conversation about canonical differences to the newly created Star Trek Canon topic so that the media thread doesn't get filled up with non-media conversation.

[wilnil]

(Moved to Canon thread...)

Edited June 22, 2017 by wilnil
Sorry, posted just as the note about canon topics did.

[starri]

Some new media out today in advance of the SDCC panel.  Including this cool poster.

I didn't like the design of the ship when I first saw it, but with the tweaks we see here, I like it a little better.

[Unusual Suspect]

It's still a stylised poster though, so until I see a ship sailing through the stars, it won't feel quite real to me. I mean, I remember getting up in arms over the NX-01's design, all the calls of "Akiraprise". And the ship was one of the least offensive parts of the show for me.

[starri]

Very trippy final trailer.  Still no shots of the Discovery herself, but some really cool-looking ones of the Shenzhou.

[jsbt]

Looks a lot better than the last one.

A lot of spec going around that the overall plot involves folks a) stranded on that desert planet (i.e., how they burned in the delta) and b) time distortion/travel. Would make sense. Or maybe the arrival of the Discovery follows that.

I guess I will need to speed up my rewatch of the last two seasons of DS9.

Edited July 23, 2017 by jsbt

[starri]

There's a split-second shot of the Shenzhou shooting at what looks like Discovery's version of a Bird of Prey.  The BoP looks really cool.

I suppose we're going to have to discuss the Break The Internet reveal about Burnham's connection to the Vulcans eventually.

[Unusual Suspect]

Couple things of note:

1. You can actually see Discovery herself, going to warp at 1:32 in that clip.

2. There's a third Federation starship, the one getting blown apart at the beginning is the USS Europa.

3. It's an okay trailer, I'm still thinking this show is going to be good.

[starri]

On 7/24/2017 at 11:19 AM, Unusual Suspect said:

2. There's a third Federation starship, the one getting blown apart at the beginning is the USS Europa.

I think it's also the one getting blown apart at the end too.  You can't really see many details, but what you can make out doesn't look like either the Shenzhou or Discovery.

"You're mad!"

"I'm Mudd."

I am not a fan of Rainn Wilson, but there's something about that's...almost kind of awesome?

[Maverick]

Why is Mudd, who was bumbling small-time con man, being portrayed like a Bond villain?  

[starri]

I'm curious how they're going to square that as well, although I imagine it might be something as simple as he was playing a small-time idiot for Kirk and was a lot more calculating that he let on.  Although hard to follow that line with his wife, Stella.

But even with that big question mark, I still think I dig it.

[paigow]

18 hours ago, Maverick said:

Why is Mudd, who was bumbling small-time con man, being portrayed like a Bond villain?  

There is a Rainn Wilson interview that confirms a darker, sleazier Mudd than the TOS version.

[Lugal]

Well, when we first met Mudd, he was trading women that he kept dosed with beauty drugs.

[paigow]

Maybe he starts out as a bio / chem weapons dealer on Discovery and moves on to human trafficking before meeting Kirk....

[readster]

10 hours ago, paigow said:

Maybe he starts out as a bio / chem weapons dealer on Discovery and moves on to human trafficking before meeting Kirk....

Exactly, see that I could understand no problem. Mudd was always crazy, so to see him like this and by the time he gets to Kirk he has lost a lot of his darker edge due to experience and age. That I can buy. 

[Bort]

Hey all, let's not forget about the Star Trek Canon topic for when the media discussion starts going off on a tangent.

[starri]

Some nifty photos from the EW cover story.

Including our first glimpses of Mr. Tyler, a former POW with PTSD, Lt. Stamets, and Cadet Tilly.

Saru is apparently a Kelpian.