Our first real look at the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery television series has been revealed and, I must say, it is glorious.
I spent a lot of time in various fandom boards yesterday after initially watching the trailer, and while there is that percent of hardcore Trekkies who are kind of whining about how it looks “more futuristic than TOS,” those of us who know that production values for television shows nowadays are much higher than those in the 60s are pretty thrilled.
Here are a few random thoughts about the trailer:
- Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) and First Officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) are both women of color. I love it!
- I’m digging the uniforms. They do remind me a bit of the Star Trek: Enterprise jumpers, but I like how rank insignias are apparently indicated by the silver trim on the shoulders. At the same time, I also get the uniform vibe from the TOS movies.
- Burnham clearly has ties to Vulcan. Is she part Vulcan like another well-loved first officer (hint: Spock), or is she a human that, for some reason, spent a lot of time with Vulcans as a child? (We can see a flashback of a round-eared child with an obviously Vulcan haircut that fades into a shot of Burnham, hinting that they are one in the same.)
- The SFX look pretty amazing.
- It’s nice to see new aliens, but I’m not sure if the Klingons needed a redesign. It looks like they are leaning heavily on the Abrams Klingons, as none of them have hair. It feels unnecessary. In fact, every single alien in this trailer has no hair. Are wig prices rising in Hollywood or something?
- No sign of Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd yet, but according to IMDB, he’s in 9 episodes, so I’m sure we’ll see plenty of him!
Lastly, if that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, take a look at the international trailer, which has a slightly different tone:
Star Trek: Discovery is set to boldly go in the fall on CBS All Access in the U.S. and on Netflix internationally.
