Fun Star Trek: Discovery (2017)

[Doctor Omega]

Just stumbled on this.....


http://anas-tronaut.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/star-trek-discovery-tardigrades.html






I've been approached lately by some of my fans via twitter,facebook, youtube and the AGS forums about several similarities between the new series Star Trek Discovery and my point and click adventure game Tardigrades. I honestly don't know how to begin this article, so I prepared a few screenshots from both the TV show and my game for comparison. I am doing this to clarify that I haven't stolen ideas from the show at all since all of my posts from the devlog are dated years before the show.

Tardigrades production announcement was on May 8th 2014. The devlog can be found here. The game is about a civilization that lived on Earth 20,000 years ago. They are on the verge of intergalactic travel using giant Tardigrades to travel anywhere in the universe. The main character, Carter, is a botanist whom will discover later in the game the connection between the super tough creature and instantaneous space travel. I've made several promo videos that can be found on my YouTube channel that show my ideas of space travel using giant Tardigrades.

 

[Doctor Omega]

several similarities between the new series Star Trek Discovery and my point and click adventure game Tardigrades

So is STD nothing more than a great big....

 

[Doctor Omega]

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Showrunner Dismisses Post-‘Voyager’ Setting – Says S2 Will Reconcile Canon




One of the biggest decisions made early on for Star Trek: Discovery was to set it a decade before The Original Series in the 23rd century. Speaking to the press in the UK (via Metro), co-showrunner Aaron Harberts discussed and defended co-creator Bryan Fuller’s vision for a prequel to TOS instead of a sequel to the 24th century series Star Trek: Voyager:

‘I’m glad that it is [a prequel] because it set up parameters for us. Let’s say we set it 100 years after Voyager, the canvas is so broad. To try to contemplate, you’re creating a whole new mythology really. I think Bryan [Fuller] was interested in The Original Series and I think he was interested in the lead up to where The Original Series is. I think he was very interested in the Klingon / Federation conflict, but I don’t know definitively why he picked that.’

While Bryan Fuller eventually settled on the show being a prequel to TOS, it has been reported that his original pitch to CBS was for an anthology series that was set in a different era each season, including going beyond Voyager (a show that Fuller worked on). That idea was deemed too costly, so the show was structured around a single era with a single crew, but with new story arcs for each season.

Of course Discovery isn’t the first Trek series to make the decision to not go beyond Voyager. Star Trek: Enterprise debuted a few months after Voyager’s finale and it was set in the 22nd century. Recently talking to TrekMovie Enterprise co-creator Brannon Braga also dismissed the idea of a show set after Voyager saying “It was hard to imagine at that time what it meant to jump 200 years into the future.”

The finale of Voyager was set in 2378, 122 years after Discovery

Season 2 to reconcile canon issues
Harberts also addressed the issue of how Discovery will reconcile the introduction of technology and characters never heard before:

‘We have ten years until The Original Series comes into play. It is a challenge creatively because we have lots of choices, in terms of how do we reconcile this [Spore] drive? This surrogate daughter of Sarek? How do we reconcile these things the closer we get to The Original Series? That’s going to be a big discussion that we have in season two. What’s so fun about the character of Michael, just because she hasn’t been spoken about, doesn’t mean she didn’t exist. A lot of the writers on our show are deeply involved in Star Trek, their knowledge is some of the finest around, they really do help us find areas where we can steer around things.

Andorians and Tellarites confirmed
Speaking of season 2, we recently reported that Harberts has already started working on that this week. And this morning he addressed a consistent issue with fans which is that we still haven’t seen some classic Federation aliens on the series.

18h
Marnix ten Brinke @marnixtenbrinke
@AaronHarberts @GretchenJBerg Could you please give us some Andorians and Tellarites for season 2 of DISCO? #foundingfathersfederation

Aaron Harberts

@AaronHarberts

Definitely.

5:33 PM - Nov 16, 2017

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[Doctor Omega]

Let’s say we set it 100 years after Voyager, the canvas is so broad. To try to contemplate, you’re creating a whole new mythology really.

You complete and utter idiot!

You wouldn't need to set it 100 years after!

How about 25, when all the characters from TNG, VOYAGER and DS9 are around for potential cameos? Cameos that would enrich your series and make it feel much more authentic than your present dumb nods such as the lead character presumably going to the same school as her - sort of brothers - Spock and Sybok.

Oh yeah, Sybok. Remember him?

Then have those stupid new turd aliens of yours be a race that has all but wiped out the Klingons.

Then your series could have played out as it has.

Oh, no. Your series would still be a bleak dystopian vision and completely un-Trek.

Ah, forget I said anything. You and your crummy show are beyond hope!

 

[McQualude]

I think they should write off Discovery, much as fans did Enterprise.

 

[johnnybear]

Enterprise was not a show that I embraced either! Not a resident on my shelf I can say but Discovery is even worse! Why do these morons keep wanting to upset the apple cart? Why set it before TOS? Is it because you find TOS embarrassing or is it that you know you can't beat the original?
Setting it a few years, a decade or even a century after VOY would give them the ability to do what they wanted and with virtually no argument as such! They could bring back The Klingons as baddies, or The Borg or create a new baddie and if we liked it we'd watch it but at least we couldn't moan about continuity or style because it would totally be their vision not them trying to destroy Gene Roddenberry's utopia!
JB

 

[Doctor Omega]

“Star Trek: Discovery” S2 To Solve Canon Issues?





Fans of “Star Trek” vary wildly with some preferring the original series, some the spin-offs, and some the more recent J.J. Abrams films.

With the launch of CBS & Netflix’s “Star Trek: Discovery” a few months ago, the fanbase again has found itself divided. ‘Discovery’ has earned a fanbase, whilst others prefer FOX’s “The Orville” which is effectively “Star Trek: The Next Generation” with occasional genital-related jokes and a family-friendly setting.

‘Discovery’ has been mostly well-received, but if there is one common complaint about it from the fans it’s that the series doesn’t appear to fit into existing “Star Trek” continuity – the inconsistencies within long established canon are too many and too varied to be easily explained.

The show’s producers have previously made it clear the show is set in the ‘Prime Universe’ like all of Trek prior to 2009, and not the ‘Kelvin Timeline’ of the films since the Abrams-directed reboot. Yet ‘Discovery’ veers even further away from established Trek lore in those films not just in terms of onscreen technology but character elements and Starfleet’s capabilities.

This is most notably seen with Burnham being Spock’s half-sister and the Discovery’s spore drive, neither of which have previously been mentioned in established Trek history. Producer Aaron Harberts has now revealed to Metro UK that a big element of the show’s second season will be how the new series reconciles with the old canon:

“We have ten years until the original series comes into play. It is a challenge creatively because we have lots of choices in terms of how do we reconcile this [Spore] Drive? This surrogate daughter of Sarek? How do we reconcile these things the closer we get to the original series? That’s going to be a big discussion that we have in season two.

What’s so fun about the character of Michael, just because she hasn’t been spoken about, doesn’t mean she didn’t exist. A lot of the writers on our show are deeply involved in Star Trek, their knowledge is some of the finest around, they really do help us find areas where we can steer around things. But the Spore drive? Who knows? It could be classified. There are many options.”

The final episodes of the first half of the first season suggested the Spore Drive could be used for jumps to alternate realities, an explanation that could work in canon if this was simply another alternate Trek timeline. The second half of the first season will continue from January 7th.

 

[Doctor Omega]

How do we reconcile these things the closer we get to the original series?

A lot of the writers on our show are deeply involved in Star Trek

we can steer around things.

There are many options

Idiots.

 

[johnnybear]

Whatever they try to tell us, Discovery is set in an alternate reality! The Klingons resemble those seen in the second JJ Trek film for starters! And after we've seen the explanation episode will we be saying, "Oh of course, that makes sense, it's so obvious now!" I doubt it!
JB

 

[Doctor Omega]

“Discovery” S2 Becoming More “Trek”-Like





“Star Trek: Discovery” producers Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts appeared on a CBS panel about politics and social issues on television at the Television Critics Association presentation this weekend.

Following that, they spoke with reporters including Slashfilm about the future of CBS All Access and Netflix series which returns with the second half of its first season tonight and has already been renewed for a second season run. It’s the latter people wanted to discuss, and Harberts touched upon topics to be explored:

“We are very interested in tackling themes of faith next year, science vs. faith. We’re interested in different points of view on that and we’re still hashing out what we want to tell. The second season is not a war season. We’re in this interesting pocket of time, ten years, now nine years before TOS. There are a lot of things in terms of TOS canon that we want to do some nods to and we’re still figuring it out. This next season is going to be jam-packed with stuff that we wanted to do [the first season].”

The writing staff got to work on the second season last month and are currently three episodes into development – certainly it’s going to be a far more stable year production wise than the first year which proved rather rocky. It also means the return of more classic “Star Trek” elements:

“We have time this year, so we have time to do things like more away missions, newer planets, stories that might fall a little bit more into a framework of allegory that people love to get from Trek. But we will always continue to have that overarching serialized thread.”

The remaining episodes of season one are also going to see a push more towards the original series tone of optimism and light as it wraps up the ‘war’ arc:


“Redemption is a huge theme. The other thing that’s a huge theme for us is taking the Federation from the darkness into the light. One of the things we do hear about is everybody wants this optimistic version of Star Trek right out of the gate. I feel that our show has a lot of hope in it from episode to episode on the character storyline that we’re tracking. By season’s end, people will see the Federation that they’ve come to know and love from [the original series] on.

[Tonight] we’re introducing a huge new development. It’ll be fun for Trek fans. It’s a nice nod to some stuff from TOS but what happens [tonight] firmly anchors the back half of the season. The back half of our season is definitely, again, a war story and how the war is going to play out, but our characters find themselves in a place where their very identities are challenged. It’s an emotionally wrought back half of the season.”

“Star Trek” veteran Jonathan Frakes helms the new episode and Harberts said he provided a huge morale booster on set during the middle of the season where things tend to drag: “He came in at just the right moment and electrified the room. When he left it was a triumph for him. People’s spirits were just through the roof.”

 

[Doctor Omega]

“Discovery” S2 Becoming More “Trek”-Like

Too late. Get lost.

All audience abandon ship! Set course for THE ORVILLE. Maximum speed!

 

[Gavin]

certainly it’s going to be a far more stable year production wise than the first year which proved rather rocky. It also means the return of more classic “Star Trek” elements:

Translation: "We got it wrong and now we're trying to fix it".

 

[johnnybear]

The fans told 'em they've got it wrong and like all modern day producers they ignored us! We're looking at you, Moffat and Chibnall too!
JB

 

[Gavin]

An interesting article that makes some good points (at least in my opinion).

Lots of spoilers (including in my comment below) so please don't read if you don't want to know.

http://whatculture.com/tv/star-trek-discovery-review-6-ups-and-5-downs-from-season-1

A summary for those without the time to read the entire multipage article with my opinions in blue.

The downs
1. Nay To The Klingon Scenes
People's views may differ on this, but I prefer not to have to read subtitles every time the Klingons are talking. There's long been a convention in Star Trek that when alien groups are speaking among themselves the audience hears them in English (with sometimes an initial bit in their own language to demonstrate). The audience is then asked to accept that the aliens are speaking their own language. For me this works better because I tend to lose focus of what's happening on screen when my eyes are glued to the subtitles.
2. Burnham Is An Inconsistent Protagonist
It's hard to argue with this one, from what I've seen so far. They need to nail down what they want her character to be. I don't mind a faceted protaganist but it has to be consistent. At the moment, the only thing that I'm finding consistent is that she's unlikeable.
3. Lack Of Diversity In The Main Crew
I'm not really sure about this one. There seems to be the usual amount of diversity among the cast for a contemporary TV show. But the article points out that almost all of the main characters, despite their diverse heritage, are American. When you consider that TOS had a main cast including a Scotsman, Russian, African, and Japanese (although I'm not sure if Sulu was meant to be American of Japanese descent) as well as a Vulcan, this is probably a fair point. Overall it doesn't particularly bother me much.
4. The Bridge Crew Is Still Completely Under-developed
I haven't watched all of season 1 yet so I can't tell if this is true or not, but if so there's probably room for development. The focus isn't specifically on the bridge, though, so it may be less of an issue than its being made out to be.
5. Damage To Continuity
This is the killer for me. There is just no way I can make this show fit into continuity without ignoring a significant amount of things shown. And some of the issues relate to things that didn't need to be issues. Why make Burnham Sarek's adopted daughter when she's never been mentioned before. It could easily have been another Vulcan we've never met before that raised her. It wouldn't have changed her character in any way and wouldn't make Spock and Sarek look like they've completely forgotten her in the future. Why make the Klingons look and sound completely different? Especially since we know they're going to look different again in less than 10 years. Minor upgrades would have been OK to bring the makeup up to contemporary standards, and it's not like the Klingons as shown since ST:TMP didn't look alien enough. Why have so much higher quality technology that seems to have been forgotten prior to TOS - the spore drive, holographic communications, etc.

The Ups
1. Visual Splendour
It's hard to deny that it looks spectacular. The effects are fantastic and its beautiful to watch.
"That the aesthetics don’t seem to fit with the supposed time period of the 2250s, pre-dating The Original Series is beside the point."
I don't have a problem with this. There's no way you could make a contemporary TV series and keep the aesthetics of a show from the 1960's. I never had a problem with the show updating with the times. Even the "retcon" of the Klingons from ST:TMP wasn't an issue. I accepted Gene Roddenbery's explanation that this was how he had always wanted the Klingons to look but wasn't able to do it on a TV series budget. I didn't have any issue believing that the Klingons we see in TOS really look like the Klingons we see in the future, even though DS9 and Enterprise later acknowledged the change in look and provided an explanation for it.
2. Three Cheers For Stamets
Of the main characters, Stamets is probably my favourite so far, but he's still less likeable (for me) than most of the main characters from previous shows.
3. Mirror, Mirror On The Wall
I actually haven't seen the Mirror Universe episodes yet but I confess I am looking forward to them. Especially seeing Michelle Yeoh as her counterpart. It always disappointed me that her character was killed off so quickly.
4. A Rare Positive Depiction Of A Gay Relationship
I don't know that this is particularly rare anymore and its definitely spoiled by having one of the couple killed.
5. Acting Is Top-notch Across The Board
Absolutely agree. Regardless of my opinion of the quality of the scripts the cast is absolutely great. I especially like Doug Jones in his role.
6. Mature Storytelling
I've got mixed feelings about this one. I like the fact that it's highly serialised rather than episodic like many of the previous shows. But too often "mature" storytelling is another way of saying "dark and depressing". While there's a place for that, from the episodes I've seen so far, Discovery seems to go too far in that direction. A bit of light to counter the darkness would be appreciated by me.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Why “Star Trek: Discovery” Was Serialised





Much of the TV run of “Star Trek” has been defined by its episodic nature – the various series boasting individual episodes are driven by different plots and thematical elements. Certainly, there were recurring characters and story threads that would come back around at times, but it was a product of 1960s and 1990s television when serialised storytelling on the small screen was in its infancy.

“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” helped change the game somewhat, a series that started out episodic for its first two seasons before becoming gradually more and more serialised until the back half of its last season was one giant story. “Enterprise” experimented with the serialised format as well with its third season being one giant story arc.

CBS All Access and Netflix’s “Star Trek: Discovery” series changed things up again by being the first Trek series strongly serialised from the very start. In a new interview about the series, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves says the adoption of that heavily interconnected format was a direct result of the network’s decision to put the program exclusively on their streaming platform:

“Star Trek could have gone on CBS, it could have gone on Showtime, it could have gone directly to Netflix instead of just international, for a lot of money. There is a distinction. The Good Fight is a spin-off of a successful CBS show. It is sort of different on All Access, they can be serialized. On CBS we try to avoid that generally. Network television generally works better when it is not serialized.”

CBS of course is famous for being the king of procedural and episodic television and ratings-wise there remains a massive audience for that kind of television even as there has been a big rise in binge-watching fueled by the increase in serialized television which started off in the 1990s in genre shows from “Twin Peaks” to “Buffy,” “Babylon 5” to “Xena” and moved into more mainstream shows by the early 2000s.

“Star Trek: Discovery” is now playing on CBS All Access in the U.S. and on Netflix around much of the rest of the world.

 

[Doctor Omega]

“Discovery” Producers Talk S2 Timeline





As part of this past weekend’s WonderCon at the Anaheim Convention Centre, one of the various panels dealt with “Star Trek: Discovery” with showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts and several other key crew on hand to talk the show.

The series has been set in the same ‘Prime Universe’ timeline as that of the original and spin-off series, as opposed to the ‘Kelvin Universe’ timeline of the Abrams films. However, aesthetically it is incongruous to the rest of the franchise. Harberts was asked about this and says an explanation is coming:

“The idea was to always be in the Prime Timeline. Obviously, there are questions and concerns and things that are different. Our technology is a little different. We have a ship that runs very differently. We are our own show in a lot of ways. Season two is really exciting for us. This is our opportunity to really show how Discovery fits into this Prime Timeline. We are firmly committed to that.”

That, of course, will be put to the test early on as the first season ended with the ship receiving a hail from Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise who, chronologically in Trek lore, was finishing his first five-year mission in the show’s current setting of 2256. Asked if we’ll see uniforms more in line with the original series, Harberts says: “We meet up with the Enterprise at the end of the season and we know what kind of uniforms they wear… so we’ll leave it at that.”

A deleted scene from the finale was also shown, and put online, which has Alan Van Sprang playing a member of the clandestine Section 31 organization which serves the best interest of humanity no matter the cost and aims to recruit Georgiou. It also confirmed the black badges seen in the first season on some crew members were for those belonging to Section 31.

“Star Trek: Discovery” has yet to set a potential second season air date.

 

[Doctor Omega]

This is our opportunity to really show how Discovery fits into this Prime Timeline. We are firmly committed to that.”

Based on what we have seen this reconciliation with Trek past will take nothing less than genius.

Ermmm, there are genius' involved in the making of this thing, aren't there?

 

[Doctor Omega]

THAT scene.....

 

[Doctor Omega]

I wonder if DISCOVERY will be embraced as part of the canon in years to come: a kind of "Was Discovery All That Bad?" reappraisal a decade or two from now - or whether it will always just be too off key to ever really fit into the bigger picture?

Perhaps some people already accept and embrace it now?

It just doesn't gel for me though.

 

[Doctor Omega]

‘We have ten years until The Original Series comes into play.

He honestly thinks they are going to get ten years out of this thing?

The idea of him being right gives me chills though!