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.

First Image from Star Trek: Discovery

Entertainment Weekly has posted the first official image from Star Trek: Discovery. It basically reveals nothing except that Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) and First Officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) have a conversation on a desert like location. About the only Star Trek detail of note is the old school communicator and tricorder on Martin-Green. The show is still on track for a Fall 2017 unless CBS announces something different during this week's reveal of their 2017-2018 TV season plans.

Star Trek Discovery Announces Four New Cast Members

Star Trek: Discovery has four new cast members and assigned an existing cast member a new role. The new hires are:

- Shazad Latif (Penny Dreadful), playing Lieutenant Tyler. He was going to a Klingon named Kol
- Kenneth Mitchell (Frequency), now assigned the role of Kol who is a commanding officer of the Klingon Empire.
- Rekha Sharma (Battlestar Galactica), Starship Discovery security officer named Commander Landry
- Clare McConnell (newbie actor), a Klingon Empire leader named Dennas
- Damon Runyan (Suits), a Klingon Empire leader named Ujilli

At this point either this show has a really large ensemble cast or they are announcing guest actors for whatever reason. As for when the show will finally be released, CBS is sticking with "Fall" but if the looming writers' strike starts that date could be pushed to next year as the series is still filming and the strike would likely delay completion of the show.