Today is the anniversary Star Trek’s debut on CBS in 1966, and to celebrate, the network is holding “Star Trek Day”, using the occasion to host a number of panels about the franchise.
Along with those panels is a new trailer for the upcoming third season of Star Trek: Discovery, which debuts on CBS All Access on October 15th.
At the end of Season 2, the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery found themselves rocketed 930 years into the future to prevent the Sphere (a living, planetoid-sized entity) from falling into the wrong hands. This new teaser shows the crew adjusting to their new surroundings: a one-way trip into the future, and where the Federation has largely collapsed as a result of some event known as “The Burn”—the “day the galaxy took a hard left.”
As they work to figure out their surroundings, they come across a bunch of people who are hopeful despite their dismal surroundings, clinging to the belief that the Federation would somehow return and make things right again. It’s a hopeful message that’s at the core of the franchise.
CBS’s panel for the series debuted the trailer in which Mica Burton moderated a virtual panel with co-showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise, and new series star David Ajala. They speak a bit about how they’ve updated the logo for the series, and some of their favorite moments from the trailer—Burnham screaming after she lands on a new planet, some of the action scenes, and feeling of hope that the characters feel as they confront their new mission.
Buy the Book
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
Kurtzman explains that the characters find themselves in a world that’s reminiscent of our own, and that their goal this year is to try and rebuild a better world, something that’s keeping with Gene Roddenberry’s original optimistic vision for the future.
When asked about the thousand year time jump, Paradise said that it was an exciting change for the show, one that would allow them to go “beyond established canon and see what a whole new world would look like.” The first two seasons allowed them to fill in some gaps with the franchise’s longer canon, but jumping so far into the future would allow them with a fresh environment with with to work.
Ajala’s character Cleveland “Book” Booker is an inhabitant of this distant future, and he says that he’s someone who discovers a new sense of purpose with the crew of Discovery, and he’s going to bring out something special in Burnham and vice versa.
Kurtzman and Paradise note that there’ll be some major changes in the world, some of which Booker will be a window for. The Federation didn’t face away: there was some cataclysmic event that crippled it. Paradise notes that at first, it’s a mystery for Burnham to unravel, and after that, they have to figure out how to revitalize it.
Star Trek: Discovery returns to CBS All Access on October 15th.
That should be “a millennium in the future.”
Sounds like Andromeda.
Glad to see some Reno snark in the trailer. Hoping it does like other Trek series and finds its footing in third season.
@2: Well, considering how Picard ripped off Mass Effect, it wouldn’t be the first time Nu!Trek has decided to emulate better stories rather than tell their own.
@4/Devin Smith: As a matter of fact, Andromeda was developed by former DS9 writer-producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe, based in part on his own musings about how he would create a far-future Star Trek series about rebuilding the Federation after a fall. And of course it was reworked from Gene Roddenberry’s Earth-based post-apocalyptic pilots Genesis II and Planet Earth.
Heck, I’ve been seeing musings about how an “after the fall” storyline would play out in the Trek universe for decades now. It was probably inevitable that it would be done someday. In fact, something on very similar lines was in development as an animated Trek series back in 2006, but was abandoned when the Kelvin films came along:
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Final_Frontier
It’s conceivable that “the Burn” could refer to the cataclysm that struck the Federation in that animated proposal. It’s possible they’ve reworked elements of that premise into this.
Color me cynical, but the attempts at recreating the glories of the Roman Empire didn’t turn out all that well. I’m not sure that looking at the past provides the best models.
@6/fcoulter: Sure, if your model is the Roman Empire, a bunch of conquering schemers who got off on torture and slavery and cultural appropriation and partying till they literally vomited, the result will pretty much suck. If your model is the United Federation of Planets, though, you’re probably better off.
Oh, and here is the absolute best thing about the new season:
https://www.facebook.com/StarTrekCBS/posts/3552651771453286
@7: “cultural appropriation”.
Yes, how dare they learn from other cultures and then apply those lessons to their own experience, how dreadful of them.
“Cultural appropriation” is too light a term for the Romans. They would consider that foreplay before the invasion.
Devin@@.-@: someone in the creative industry has picked up and run with a concept they did not personally invent. Bust out the pitchforks, villagers, it’s mobbin’ time!
Devin@9: now the culprit is an actual ruthless empire. Rest easy, all is as it should be.
Were you replaced by a pod in-between?
Anyway, getting back to the trailer… The scenes suggest that Burnham will be in one place (planet?) with Booker for some time while the rest of the Discovery crew is getting sorted out separately, and then they have a huggy reunion, possibly at the end of the first episode, since Burnham seems to get a haircut thereafter (which is a shame, as I love those long braids).
I really like the Starfleet equipment kit at about 0:30, with communicator, tricorder, insignia, phaser, and some other unknown items neatly packed together (not sure why the insignia is needed, though, since they weren’t combadges yet). I kinda want one as a collectible.
Something else I don’t think we’ve ever seen before: An Andorian with a beard (or at least thick stubble).
Lucius Septimius Severus was an roman emperor born in lybia. the roman empire, born in central Italy, had a black leader some 18 CENTURIES (see? a latin word!) before barak obama. there were also leaders from all europe and outside of it and all of them were equally romans.
and ask black people today in america about slavery, today.
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Looks glorious, hope I get to see lots more of Tig Notaro snarky Jet Reno. Her appearance in the trailer was a highlight in so many highlights.
I’m not much of a fan of post-apocalyptic stories in general, but I suppose it was bound to work its way around to Star Trek. On the upside, they did save all life in the galaxy. Let’s go.
This trailer did exactly what it was supposed to do, which is get me excited about season three……
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@16/Mr. D: To be fair, it doesn’t really feel that post-apocalyptic in tone. The situation is bad, but the dialogue and images that were featured seemed to focus on hope and optimism and positive feelings.
And Booker only said “the Federation mostly collapsed” (though that sounded trimmed down from a longer line). Meaning part of it is still there.
@17/krad: The video about the cat was the most exciting part for me. That Maine coon’s so huge I half suspect he’s playing a Kzin.
The rest looks promising, although I really hate the aesthetic of this show’s CGI space shots. They’re so damn cluttered! Space isn’t supposed to be cluttered! That’s why it’s called space!
I’m very excited about this season! And yes, more Tig Notaro is good.
@8 – Chris: That link is dead, what was it? The NB and trans character/actors announcement?
More world’s for St. Michael to save, and a really dishy love interest!
@20/MaGnUs: The Facebook link still works for me, though it’s slow to load. Here’s the Twitter link:
https://twitter.com/startrekcbs/status/1303413130203029504
Alternatively, here’s an article with the video embedded:
https://io9.gizmodo.com/meet-the-next-legendary-star-trek-pet-grudge-the-cat-1844990797
Color me very, very excited for this one! The prospects for a reconstruction of the Federation and reclaiming the heart of Star Trek, which is the idea that humanity can progress ethically and culturally as much as it progresses technologically, is everything I could hope for in a Star Trek series.
Picard had its ups and downs, but it had one moment that got a fist pump from me, which was massing up two huge groups of ships for a gigantic, epic space battle—-and then NOT having the battle and resolving the situation peacefully instead. Discovery season 3 looks like an embrace of that ethos and I am here for it.
I was not a fan of season 1 of Discovery but season 2 was fantastic and this looks better.
And for those who don’t like the idea of “post-apocalyptic” Star Trek, please keep in mind that Star Trek itself is a post-apocalyptic story! The story of a humanity that nearly destroyed itself in a nuclear war, then found the strength to band together and build a better world and bring that better world to the wider galaxy.
They have a cat! Kitty! Okay the show just got better.
@22 – ChristopherLBennett: Ah, the cat, I saw him in the Star Trek Day panel.