Hi all, Ric here with a quick breakdown of points from the Star Trek Day panel which dropped a
couple of trailers for Picard and Prodigaty, as well as their casting reveal for Strange New
Worlds, all three of which I’m pretty hyped for. To begin with, Strange New Worlds!
We have the introduction of legacy characters in Uhura, at this time a cadet who looks to be
in her final year at the academy, Christine Chapel and Doctor M’Benga. On top of this,
we have three new characters to add to the crew, Erica Ortegas, La’an Noonien-Singh and
Hemmer. This in addition to the crew we already knew, Captain Pike, Number One and Mister Spock.
During the presentation, it was mentioned how there is precious little in canon on the crew
of the Enterprise before Kirk took over in 2265, which is true. The only real additions we got to
Pike’s character were from the alternate universe films, which have long since spiralled into their
own continuity, so no direct lore there, although there are numerous books and novels
set in Pike’s era. They went on to say that such apocrypha is canon seemingly
at the whims of the writers and therefore also not a stable source to be drawn from,
and in other news, it rains of Ferenginar. so nothing has really changed there.
Nevertheless, I thought I could delve into what little lore there
is with this roster of characters, and see if any ends up as inspiration in the show.
Firstly however, the setting has not been 100 percent confirmed. It is set in the 2250s era,
same as Star Trek discovery’s earlier seasons, but we don’t know exactly when. Discovery departed in
2258, so it’s most likely post-Red Angel, which gives us a 7 year span before the Enterprise has
to be handed over to the rising James T. Kirk. If so, it looks like the uniforms were updated
from the naval blue, and even the asymmetrical coloured ones seen in Discovery, to ones that are
ever more slowly creeping closer to the TOS era style. They’re alright. I could do with seeing
more of them, but they have kept the delta pattern decals now applied down the arm, but following the
seamline of the original tailoring on the TOS uniforms. The collars are completely different,
and Una appears to be wearing a variation top, but aside from that, I like.
It was also said that they are still sticking with the visual overhaul of the show,
to modernise the look, which I don’t mind as long as it’s done right. Which is an easy thing to say,
so let me explain. Discovery’s overall look to me felt like too much of a departure,
and I could see relatively little in common with the TOS era styles I knew. However,
when the Enterprise was introduced, I did not mind its visual overhaul. A lot had been changed,
yet it was similar enough that I can look at the two bridges and ships side by side
and acknowledge it as the same ship. That line I think is going to be different for everyone,
some people will tolerate no alterations form the original design, and some people don’t give a fig
what it looks like. Still, for me, the reassurance that the sets were designed with callbacks to the
TOS eras is a relief and I can’t wait to see more. Moving on to the new characters now.
M’benga studied medicine on Vulcan after graduating Starfleet academy and in McCoy’s
time was the second highest ranked Doctor on the ship. Apparently his time before the Enterprise
was on Starbase 47, which was a small relay station. The rest of the stories have already
been overwritten as they placed his joining of the Enterprise in Kirk’s time, not Pike’s.
Christine Chapel at this time was a specialist in bio-research and later engaged to Professor
Robert Korby by 2261. She also flirted with Spock, so with the hints dropped at relationships in the
show, perhaps we’ll see some bemused Vulcan expressions. Then again, this is also at a
time when Spock didn’t have his emotions on as tight a leash as he would in later years.
Hrm, maybe a Chapel-Spock relationship will not materialise in the show as that was a
thing more seen during the unfolding of TOS. Aside from her birth year being given as 2237,
there is little else on her at this time period, most of it concerns her time after TOS.
Nyota Uhura’s graduation from Starfleet academy was mentioned as 2261,
so at the latest, this could date the show as 2260, with Cadet Uhura in her final year of the
academy. Which is often when they get assigned to Starships. She was a lieutenant by 2266,
and in the interim, other stories have her serving on the USS Ahriman, Potemkin and then
the Enterprise in 2262. So she may be a temporary crew member, or they might just ignore those other
vessels to have her on the Enterprise since graduation. hey, didn’t the Kelvin films also
portrayed a relationship with Spock, so ohmygawd is this going to be the Spock love-triangle show?
As for Hemmer, he looks to be an Aenar, the Andorian offshoot race with telepathic
abilities. Granted this is based entirely on speculation as we see no psionic powers,
but he has the pale skin and a visual disability as many Aenar do. I would be all up for this,
as it would be the first time since Enterprise where we get to see what
the Aenar got up to after their possible reintegration into Andorian society.
Or he could just be an Andorian. As for La’an Noonien Singh? There’s
nothing important there right? Honestly though, this is prior space seed and Kahn’s rediscovery,
so all that is known of him is his legacy in the Trek universe as a dictator and conqueror.
I imagine someone with that name may be carrying around a lot of baggage,
but for context, Kahn rose to power in the future year of 1996, 265ish years ago in Trek time.
Probably a descendent or something, but I like characters that have that shadow over their past
that others try to use to define them with, and I hope that plays a role with this new character.
As for Ortegas, I think she’s entirely new, so I have no idea beyond what we see on screen.
Red Shirt, probably operations, sat at the helm, so probably a navigator,
tactical officer or some such. So with those looks into the characters,
I’m curious to see what is used, scrapped and reinterpreted into the Strange New Worlds. There
really is little established lore for them, even Uhura before her posting on the Enterprise as
its Communications officer. With the episodic format returning, I’m looking forwards to SNW
and hope that it comes as a breath of fresh air. Ongoing narratives are grand and all, but they
severely diminish “rewatchabity” for me. Thanks for watching this video, I’ll probably do another
covering what we know about Star Trek prodiggy, and I’ll try to resist saying, I called it, before
looking more of the Star Trek: Picard Series 2 trailer. I’ve been Ric, thanks again and goodbye!