Two words.
BLOWN.
AWAY.
You and I waited a long, long time but we finally got a Star Trek: Discovery trailer.
Your reaction might have been different but I loved it, and am super-hyped about the series
with one caveat that I will go into at the end of this video.
But what you’re here for is a breakdown of the trailer and I’m going to give you
just that, and focusing on the longer, and I believe superior, US CBS trailer.
Welcome to The Final Frontier; let’s do a deep dive into the Star Trek: Discovery
first look trailer.
The trailer opens with Captain Phillipa Georgiou (played by Michelle Yeoh) and her First Officer
Commander Michael Burnham (played by Sonequa Martin-Green – fresh from her role as Sasha
in The Walking Dead) walking across a desert in what looks like Vulcan, wearing robes that
are not unfamiliar in Star Trek history.
Yup; this series is set in the Prime Universe – that’s the same as the original Kirk,
Picard, Sisko, Janeway, etc – and it takes place 10 years before Kirk’s 5-year mission
on the Enterprise.
However, although the storyline is within established canon, you’ll notice that the
series has a much more modern aesthetic.
And this is a little bit of wordplay; we know the series stars the USS Discovery but it
looks like there is a major discovery in deep space in this trailer.
We learn that Burnham and the captain have known each other for at least seven years
and they are therefore likely to have a close relationship.
Georgiou then surprises Burnham by talking about her getting her own command.
We then see the first DSC merchandise that I will want: a classic flip-style communicator
which is reminiscent of that used in The Original Series.
And then we see it; a beautiful Federation starship slips through the clouds with nacelles
slung under the saucer section, rather like the Centaur class ship from the TNG era.
The ship is very similar to this design by the concept artist John Eaves, who I believe
is part of the DSC team.
Now, let’s get this straight right from the beginning: this is NOT the USS Discovery;
it is instead the USS Shenzhou, which we previously saw as a wireframe model.
This is Captain Georgiou’s ship, which is probably a flagship for Starfleet, and we
do not see the Discovery nor its captain, Lorca played by Jason Isaacs, at all during
the trailer.
Still don’t believe me?
Then check out this image from the DSC poster.
Computer.
Magnify section 5F.
You can clearly see these aren’t the same ships.
And the Discovery here does look tweaked compared to that which we saw in the Comic-Con trailer
last year.
So where is the Discovery?
I’ll get to that in a bit.
Loving the transporter effect here, which is slightly reminiscent of the TOS transporter
effect with its gold sparkly effect, but I love the delicate mesh-like contour effect
we see.
And we see a new warp effect; it shows how the warp field is dilating space in front
of the ship rather than the what we’ve seen previously with stars streaking by to show
that the starship is moving very fast.
And we get a good look at the new uniform, which is very much an evolution of that seen
in Archer’s generation on the Enterprise NX-01.
Notice during the trailer that the delta symbol and stripe change colour from gold (for Command),
silver (for Science) and bronze (for Operations) and we have the traditional symbols for Command,
Engineering and Science on the badges.
Now take a look at the badge on Georgiou's uniform; you'll notice four small pips on
there to denote her rank as captain.
This is how you can tell the rank of officers on board.
Say hi to Lieutenant Saru (played by Doug Jones), Ensign Connor (played by Sam Vartholomeos),
and I believe this is Emily Coutts as the helmsman – who has yet to be officially
announced.
Now; this is really interesting – we know that Burnham and Saru are officially part
of the crew of the USS Discovery – so, what are they doing on the Shenzhou?
It could be they end up transferring to the Discovery or perhaps the rumour that the Shenzhou
is destroyed before becoming the USS Discovery is correct.
You may wish to check out my previous video on plot theories for Discovery by clicking
above.
But with the Discovery having Lorca as its captain, things do not bode well for Captain
Georgiou… but why would Burnham not get the command if Georgiou thought her ready?
Could it be that she disobeyed orders and found herself leaving the Shenzhou, or was
she partially responsible for its destruction?
I suspect we’ll find out in the first two episodes.
We hear Sarek – Spock’s father – talking to Burnham about leaders needing a cause for
followers to rally around.
Perhaps a portent for things to come?
And the reason for Sarek specifically talking to Burnham is strongly hinted at later on
in the trailer.
Note that the use of a hologram is something new for Star Trek communications, especially
for the Federation.
A great look at the bridge, and if you were in any doubt before then this is confirmation
that DSC is a soft reboot for Star Trek: keeping canon in terms of story but aesthetically
updating technology so that the series is now thoroughly modern rather than retro-modern.
In fact, this bridge has a similar layout to that of the Enterprise E.
We also get a look at Lobot’s great great grandson and a reject from the Blue Man Group
who accidentally slept on a tennis racquet.
But joking aside, I do love the thoroughly mixed alien nature of the crew – truly diverse
and representative of how many worlds are part of the Federation.
Just a reminder, that it’s expected that the first two episodes will be a Klingon-heavy
two-parter so we get our first clue on what the plot of the first couple of episodes will
be as Saru explains they have found something interesting.
And take a look at that viewscreen – absolutely stunning, with graphical overlays over the
main image.
So, Burnham seems to convince the captain to go investigate the unknown item for which
they seem to have boldy gone where no one has gone before as they are at the edge of
Federation space – perhaps close to Klingon territory – and Burnham dons a pretty snazzy
EVA suit to go investigate.
Again, the suit is a much more modern than what we’ve previously seen in this era of
Star Trek.
Note the Starfleet logo on her suit, which we also see elsewehere.
So we see Burnham outside the ship looking at what looks like a binary star system.
It looks pretty chaotic, which is probably why she needs to undertake this mission wearing
a spacesuit rather than taking a shuttle.
And here we see the Shenzhou’s registration: NCC-1227, which is another indicator that
it comes before the Discovery, which has the registration NCC-1301.
[Enable igniter]
Confirmation of an Autumn (aka Fall) release – expect no more delays on this one.
We presumably have some sort of space vessel here – is this what Burnham went to investigate?
Looking back at some of the leaked Klingon starship concept drawings from last year,
it could perhaps be this ship?
But here we have what is clearly the inside of what has been labelled the Klingon Sarcophagus
ship.
And we actually see what looks like a real sarcophagus rising up high.
Have a look at the design of the ship, which has similarities to the concept art and was
clearly what we saw being built in the previous DSC teaser video.
The casket itself has a Klingon-like face on the top but notice what looks like hair
flowing from the face and contrast that with the new-look hairless Klingons we see.
So who is inside?
Perhaps the Klingons have lost their leader, plunging the Empire into chaos due to the
creation of a power vacuum.
But the Klingons think of a dead body as an empty shell, so either this fact has been
ignored or the person inside is of such high importance that their body was deemed worthy
of preservation or perhaps this is the ‘unknown object’ found floating in space?
We get our first look at the reimagined Klingons, which has caused a lot of controversy amongst
fans.
But when Bryan Fuller was attached, he did say the show would have new aliens and would
reimagine existing aliens, and that’s precisely what we see here.
I think this race looks much more alien but recognisably Klingon and, as mentioned in
an earlier video, the look is similar to early Klingon concept drawings by Robert Fletcher
– a costume designer for Star Trek.
But I know I’m much for forgiving that many other fans.
Note the different colours, which I assume will denote function or rank.
I did think that the new look was perhaps because we were looking at possibly an ancient
Klingon race, possibly held in cryostasis who have awoken centuries later, but with
T’Kuvma described as a Klingon leader looking to reunite the houses looking similar and
therefore presumed to be of the modern era, I think that is now unlikely.
Although it does still leave the question about why we see hair on the casket face but
not on the Klingons themselves – perhaps a part of the ritual taking place?
Also note that the Vulcans remain faithful to the original look… lots to ponder there!
Here we see the constellation Ursa Major, aka The Great Bear, and it is beautiful to
see those Klingon symbols appear.
Very happy they didn’t change those at least!
["Warp signatures detected" "Contact Starflett... we have engaged the Klingons”]
"We have engaged the Klingons"… and this confirms the plot for at least the first 2
episodes of DSC: a conflict with the Klingons; perhaps this is the incident that ignited
The Four Years with the Klingons?
In this quick shot you can see the Klingon’s don some kind of helmet with which they seem
to control the ship, which again harkens back to the original concept drawing for the Klingon
Sarcophagus ship.
And here is our first good look at T’Kuvma, played by Chris Obi, who also features in
Fuller’s American Gods, looking rather resplendent in his funky gold attire.
This is actually the underside of the Shenzhou; I’ll flip it over for you.
Soo the bridge is actually on the underside of the saucer section.
And we now have our biggest revelation of the trailer…
"You will never learn Vulcan; you're tongue is too human."
So is Burnham half-Vulcan like Spock?
The young girl doesn’t have Vulcan ears but Sarek is telling her that her tongue is
too human to speak Vulcan, implying that at least some part of her is not human.
Looking back at the trailer, Burnham seems to exhibit some Vulcan mannerisms.
Perhaps she just grew up on Vulcan, for example as the daughter of Earth’s Ambassador to
Vulcan.
As Sarek seems to be acting as a mentor this means she could very well know Spock.
She clearly is more emotive compared with Spock and we’ll see a lot more of this emotion
in the rest of the trailer.
Here we see Burnham in perhaps a decontamination chamber like we used to see on Enterprise
or it could be a medical scanner following her confrontation with the Klingon that we
see right at the end of this trailer.
The corridor continue that angular industrial look of the bridge.
This looks like some kind of sonic attack but its not a type of weaponry we’ve seen
from the Klingons before so perhaps there is a third alien race involved here.
This looks like the Klingon death ritual; the screams are intended to warn those in
Sto-vo-kor that a Klingon warrior is about to arrive.
Notice the Klingons here look different to each other; simple diversity or are these
different Klingon sects representing the various Klingon houses?
So Burnham now seems very un-Vulcan like talking about cutting heads before we get a glimpse
of how king prawns will evolve to in the future.
At first, I thought this was a robot but on closer inspection it does seem like there
is a person underneath who is wearing it… it could be still be a humanoid Android or
perhaps some kind of massive pre-holodeck VR helmet?
Note the USS Shenzhou label on the side.
Here; we get a good look at the console technology with transparent touchscreen displays.
"Starfleet doesn't fire first."
"We have to!"
“Starfleet doesn’t fire first”... is this a token nod to the existing universe
or is this something that the series will really abide by?
The trailer does seem very action orientated but trailers are there for enticing potential
viewers to watch so don’t always reflect the final product.
And we have some clever editing splicing together what look like different scenes and conversations
to create its own narrative; I don’t think Burnham is advocating firing first here.
Here, we see that technology has evolved from the use of photonic torpedoes – an earlier
design used on the Enterprise NX-01 – to full-on photon torpedoes that we first saw
on the original Enterprise.
And then we have perhaps the most curious line of the trailer, uttered by Lt Saru:
["My people were biologically determined for one purpose alone: to sense the coming of
death...
I sense it coming now."]
“Biologically determined to sense the coming of death” – how on earth is that possible?
This seems more like fantasy that science fiction, although Saru’s race may be able
to somehow sense or move into the future it does seem a bit unusual to be able to sense
death itself… and does that mean they were purposely bred?
Why and by whom?
Note that there is some editing going on here so there could be some splicing going on to
subtly change the actual conversation that took place.
Finally; we’re back in the asteroid field we saw earlier with the structure in the background
and Burnham is not alone.
I think that is a Klingon warrior it's own own version of an environmental suit and – it’s
difficult to see - but I think that’s a Bat’leth they are carrying.
This trailer is our first good look at Star Trek: Discovery; it does have an action-heavy
vibe to it but so did trailer for TNG, DS9, etc – trailers don’t always reflect the
final product and this seems to have been created using footage from only the first
or possible the second aswell episode.
This is here for mass awareness and to build excitement amongst as many people as marketing
can.
I love it; it looks beautifully presented and very lavish – a lot of money has clearly
been spent on this show.
However, will it satiate existing fans of the show?
First of all, is that even possible?
The new visuals certianly look like the JJ movies and have their detractors; I think
maybe they could have kept some more of the existing look but expecting the show to look
like it was made 30 or even 50 years ago was an unrealistic expectation.
Star Trek was never supposed to be retro, it was always a modern feature.
TNG modernised and here we have DSC modernising further.
But the real verdict won’t be about how the show looks, but how it feels – will
it be true to Star Trek?
With Fuller no longer involved, the chances are lower, but we still have Gene and Majel’s
son – Rod Roddenberry – and Nicholas Meyer – who directed The Wrath of Khan and The
Undiscovered Country – on board, so I’m definitely not writing it off yet.
And even if it does miss the mark, it will be nice to see Star Trek – albeit in another
form – on the small screen once more, where it belongs.
The good news is that we now have 15 episodes, two more than the originally announced.
Plus, there will be a companion after-show.
You’ll be able to catch the premiere on CBS in the US in Autumn (also known by some
as ‘Fall’), with the remaining episodes broadcast weekly on CBS’ online streaming
service CBS All Access.
The rest of the world can watch on Netflix with the exception of Canada who can see it
on the Space network.
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Live Long and Prosper.