Star Trek: Discovery Trailer, Spock's Sister and More from SDCC

This weekend the panel for Star Trek: Discovery was held at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con. With it came the release of a new trailer for the TV series that premieres September 24th on CBS All Access along with a few new tidbits of information. The trailer teases Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd, Federation ships exploding, potential Klingon battle and more.

From the panel:
- The main character, Michael Burnham, is Spock's sister via adoption. Sarak and Amanda took her in after her parents were murdered. Apparently there is a story reason why Spock and Sarak never spoke of her. Its sci-fi, just learn to go with it, less stressful.

- Klingons speak Klingonese with subtitles for the audience (which must really suck for the actors)

- Doug Jones' character of Lt. Saru is a Kelpien with hooved feet which causes the actor to walk funny (which must really suck for the actor)

- Reconfirmed the 15 episode season will have one story-arc

- Wilson Cruz (My So Called Life) joins cast as Dr. Hugh Culber, medical officer on Discovery and boy friend to Anthony Rupp's character.

- Jason Isaacs' Captain Lorca is "probably more fucked up than any of them" with "lot of sharp edges."

- Series music composer is Jeff Russo (Fargo Tv series, American Gothic)

The trailer is below, stills from it can be found here. Besides the panel there is a little more from the weekend. CBS rented a gallery to show off the costumes, props, and art that was created for the show. You can find images from that here, here and here. On a slightly related note, you can check out The Orville trailer which is a spoof TV series of Star Trek from Seth McFarland (Family Guy).

New Star Trek: Discovery Poster, New Klingon Explanation

Here is a new poster for Star Trek: Discovery that was put together for the San Diego Comic-Con later this week. It provides the first solid look at the Discovery ship. In addition the producers spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the series' Klingons who look like most of their design was from the Abrams's movies even though the series is set in the Prime-verse of The Original Series.

“In the different versions of Trek, the Klingons have never been completely consistent,” [showrunner Aaron] Harberts said. “We will introduce several different houses with different styles. Hopefully, fans will become more invested in the characters than worried about the redesign.”

So in short, because they felt like it. My question remains is so much have seen up to this point regarding in design for this series clearly been more inspired from the Abrams' movies rather then the TV series? Seems like instead of blazing their own path they just grabbed discarded movie designs while adding an occasional touch of TOS. Was it CBS' mandate? Just a preference choice? Coincidence?

Star Trek Discovery Star Introduces Character

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Star Trek Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead) spoke about her First Officer Michael Burnham, essentially giving an introduction to the character. While a recent trailer seemed to hint she was Vulcan (or half Vulcan) that theory never made sense as Spock has long been established (both in TOS-vere and the 1st Kelvin-verse movie) to be the first Vulcan/half Vulcan to graduate from Starfleet Academy.

Instead the character is "the first human to attend the Vulcan Learning Center as a child and then the Vulcan Science Academy as a young women." In earth terms that is like someone graduating from high school at 12 and Yale at 16 so it implies right away that the character is incredibly smart. From her schooling she developed a close relationship with Sarek (James Frain) and Spock's father.

“I’m the first officer on the U.S.S. Shenzhou that is captained by Captain Philippa Georgiou, who is played by the amazing Michelle Yeoh,” she says. “I have an inner war and it’s a journey of self discovery and finding out what it means to be alive, to be human, to be a Starfleet officer, what it means to be a hero.”

“I have the Vulcan conflict in my life from Sarek and Amanda so there’s always going to be that inner conflict with me. But I think it’s relatable because we all have some kind of inner conflict going on — who we are versus who we present ourselves to be. There’s a lot to be discovered.”

Star Trek:Discovery To Premiere on September 24

Star Trek: Discovery has an official premiere date. This may seem like a repeat of previous stories but this if the first time that CBS has put a firm date and time on when the new Trek series would be released so this is for year. The cost of bumping it would be expensive assuming they are planning to start releasing marketing materials soon about it.

The 15 episode season will be split in two (like The Walking Dead and other cable shows have been doing for a while now). The first eight episodes will go from September 24 through November 5th. The second half is planned to start sometime in January 2018. Keep in mind the show by design is set for streaming services depending on country.

The schedule will vary slightly depending on country so here is the summary from StarTrek.com:

United States
Premiere: September 24th at 8:30pm to 9:30pm ET on CBS (but NFL Football and 60 Minutes may cause a delay)
Episodes 2-8: released on CBS All Access each Sunday to November 5 (exact time not specified)
Episodes 9-15: January 2018

Canada
Premiere: September 24th at 8:30pm to 9:30pm ET on the Space Channel
Episodes 2-8: each Sunday on the Space Channel to November 5 (I assume also at 8:30 PM ET)
Episodes 9-15: January 2018

Rest of the World
Premiere: September 25 on Netflix (exact time not specified but probably midnight)
Episodes 2-8: each Monday on Netflix to November 6 (exact time not specified but probably midnight)
Episodes 9-15: January 2018

Star Trek: Discovery Trailer, Stills, and Talking Trek Aftershow

Wednesday was "upfronts" for CBS where they presented their plans for the 2017-2018 television season for the United States (and really the world since most of their shows air worldwide). Part of that presentation focused on Star Trek: Discovery that included a trailer (below) and announcing the season will expand from initial plan of 13 episodes to 15. There will also be an aftershow called "Talking Trek" but no details on how, where or who will host the show was not revealed.

The show is said to be said in the Star Trek "prime" universe 10 years before The Original Series but I would understand if you assumed it was the movie's Kelvin-verse (or was later revealed to be) considering everything from set design, Klingons, how its shot, and over all look and feel seems to come directly from the recent three movies (get a taste in new pictures below).

I have mixed feelings on that but ultimately understand the business and story thinking behind it as today's special effects technology would be hampered if forced to go retro in designs on everything. Do able but kind of working with one hand tied behind your back for no reason except to pray to the continuity gods. If not in the US, can see the Netflix version here. Screencaps with theories here.