Short Treks: The Brightest Star Available Now

Just a friendly reminder that the latest episode of Short Treks is out now on CBS All Access in the States and Netflix nearly everywhere else. Titled "The Brightest Star", it acts as an origin story for Saru.

Short Treks Trailer for The Brightest Star

Below is the latest trailer for the next Short Treks episode. Called "The Brightest Star", this one appears to be a kind of origin story for Saru. The episode will hit CBS All Access on December 6.

Star Trek: Section 31 TV Show With Michelle Yeoh Coming?

Deadline is reporting that Michelle Yeoh is in talks to reprise her role as Captain/Emperor Georgiou for a Star Trek: Section 31 TV series. This would make it the third potential series in the works for the franchise as the Jean-Luc Picard is currently in pre-production as is Star Trek: Below Decks cartoon series. None of these shows have a current release date but its at least not until mid to late 2019. Below is some context but does include spoilers.

SPOILER WARNING

For those seeking context, Section 31 was first established in Deep Space Nine and also appeared in Star Trek: Enterprise and various books. The name comes from the original Starfleet Charter, Article 14, Section 31 which allows "for extraordinary measures to be taken in times of extreme threat." In effect its the CIA and NSA wrapped into one that infiltrates all organizations and governments within the Federation and anywhere else that could potentially be a threat to the Federation. Their tactics can best be summed up as "by any means necessary" to not just protect the Federation but also the secrecy of the organization itself. The significance of Georgiou's participation is due to the end of the first season of Star Trek: Discovery, when the then Mirror Universe Emperor Georgiou entered the Prime universe and took on the disguise of good Captain Georgiou. In effect, the organization will be recruiting a heartless psychopath who hates non-humans with a primary source of leadership skills amounting to fear and assassinations while having zero concept or knowledge of the Federation or any of its ideals that Section 31 is supposed to protect. Its the fox in the hen house scenario with galactic implications. It sound incredibly entertaining if they take full advantage of the potential.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Cartoon Series Announced

Joining Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard (or whatever the name turns out to be) is the second cartoon series in Trek history with Star Trek: Lower Decks. The half-hour animated comedy comes from Rick and Morty writer Mike McMahan with a "focus on the support crew on one of Starfleet's less important ships." No other details were revealed so the the look of the series, the time setting, cast, ship, etc is a bit of ways off.

"Mike won our hearts with his first sentence: 'I want to do a show about the people who put the yellow cartridge in the food replicator so a banana can come out the other end.' His cat's name is Riker. His son's name is Sagan. The man is committed," said executive producer Alex Kurtzman in a release. "He's brilliantly funny and knows every inch of every 'Trek' episode, and that's his secret sauce: he writes with the pure, joyful heart of a true fan. As we broaden the world of 'Trek' to fans of all ages, we're so excited to include Mike's extraordinary voice."

In general the time to write a cartoon episode to finished product is about a year so even assuming work has already begun, this series hitting the air is probably late 2019 or spring 2020 at the earliest.

Short Treks Trailer for Calypso

The next entry in the Short Treks monthly series has a trailer. Called Calypso, it apparently takes place 1000 years in the future. The short will hit CBS All Access on November 8 at 9:30pm ET and likely Netflix elsewhere in the world around the same time.