SNAPSHOT
Set roughly ten years before the events of the original series, Star Trek: Discovery shows a never before seen era that shaped Federation history. First Officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) encounters new ships, worlds and villains as the threat of war looms.(synopsis via Netflix)
There was a point, at what has at times felt like a five year voyage of its very own, that I’ve been given pause to wonder if Star Trek: Discovery, which will debut an enlarged 15 episode this fall on CBS All Access and Netflix this northern autumn, would ever reach the screen.
After a lot of Star Trek TV episodes and movies – to get some idea of just how much, check out this Wired article – including my favourite series Deep Space Nine, which winningly introduced some grit into Star Trek‘s perfect future worlds, it will be great to have a new series to immerse ourselves in.
While the movies have made for enjoyable instalments in the long, much-storied history of Gene Roddenberry’s utopian future, particularly the reboot ones of late, there is a sense that Star Trek‘s real home is television and it is good to see it returning to where it all began.
The trailer augurs well for Star Trek: Discovery being a fine addition to the venerable franchise with Wired noting it has a great many good, fittingly progressive things working in its favour:
“Discovery will focus on a callow commander (Sonequa Martin-Green) rather than a sophisticated captain, though we’re still getting the latter, too, played by the great Michelle Yeoh. Lantern-jawed cis-het white men have been rightly cleared off the bridge in favor of a team that more accurately reflects the galaxy (and Gene Roddenberry’s vision). New ship, new crew, new strange new worlds, new life, new civilizations. Beam me up.”
That’s a lot of boxes ticked and you can only hope that the series isn’t simply content to do just that but is happily to boldly go once more, all too aware that there is still a great deal of mileage to be made from Star Trek‘s visionary premise and promise, and why not use a Federation starship to fulfill it once agin on the small screen?
Star Trek: Discovery debuts this autumn on CBS All Access in USA and Netflix internationally.