Trekkies the world over have been waiting impatiently for nearly twelve years now for a new episode from their favourite franchise. Based on early rumours that put Star Trek Discovery‘s premiere in May of 2017, it seemed as if the long wait would end almost twelve years to the day — Star Trek: Enterprise‘s series finale “These Are the Voyages … ” aired on May 13th, 2005. Sadly, this will not be the case. Like Data’s severed head sitting in a cavern for 500 years, we must wait.
Star Trek Discovery: Les Moonves, More Star Trek
According to an article on deadline.com, Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO of CBS Les Moonves, whom you’d think would know, stated quite vaguely that Star Trek Discovery would air “sometime late summer, early fall we’re looking at probably right now.” Well, that’s reassuring.
Moonves assured reporters at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference that the premiere date was postponed (again) because “It’s important to get it right, and Star Trek is the family jewels.” Hmmm … not sure that’s how I’d describe Star Trek.
Star Trek Discovery: Castrating the Networks
Moonves went on to say, “We’re not going to rush it in. There’s a lot of post production. But I’m very confident based on what I’ve seen so far.” Before he was through, though, Moonves surprised and enraged some die-hard Trekkies when he said, “We know for a fact that the other versions of Star Trek — there were seven other series, some of them were great and some of them were terrible — they all did really well on Netflix. That gave us great confidence that this was the right choice to put the full court press on All Access.”
I suggest that Moonves surprised Trekkies because there have, in fact, only been six other series on top of forthcoming Star Trek Discovery. I suggest that Moonves enraged Trekkies because I doubt that many Trek fans think any of the other six series were “terrible.” Even Star Trek: The Animated Series has its own quaint charm.
If you’re confused as to what “All Access” is, it’s CBS’s new subscription-based streaming service. Startrek.com reports that the series premiere will air on CBS and CBS All Access. But following episodes will only be available in the United States via CBS All Access. Trekkies around the world will be able to watch Star Trek Discovery on Netflix, except in Canada where viewers will have to watch via Cravetv, a Canadian subscription-based streaming service.
Star Trek Discovery: More Casting Announcements
Despite a persistent rumour that Sonequa Martin-Green, most famous as Sasha on AMC’s The Walking Dead, will play a lead role on Star Trek Discovery, there has still yet to be any confirmation of this from CBS or Paramount. As someone who has written articles pertaining to Star Trek Discovery‘s casting announcements in the past, though, I’ve noticed that a resurgence of speculation concerning Martin-Green’s involvement often coincides with an official, and less exciting, casting announcement from CBS.
In that vein, three new casting announcements for Star Trek Discovery were made a little more than two weeks ago. Sam Vartholomeos will play Ensign Connor, Maulik Pancholy will play Dr. Nambue, and Terry Serpico will play Admiral Anderson. Based on the announcement that two out of three of these characters will serve aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou, which was mentioned on startrek.com in earlier casting announcements, it’s likely that the new show will follow events on this ship rather than following multiple ships in multiple timelines — another rumour circulating about Discovery. But if this is the case, one wonders why publicity shots feature the more aptly named U.S.S. Discovery rather than the U.S.S. Shenzhou.
Star Trek Discovery: Not So Boldly Going
If Moonves is telling the truth about Discovery‘s postponement, and they’re just trying to get it right, then no Trekkie could blame him and the corporations he represents for this postponement. But, if focus groups and corporate interests are distorting whatever message Discovery may have in favour of higher ratings, and this is the reason for Discovery‘s delay then I have concerns. After all, I don’t want anyone to be too rough with my family jewels … sorry, I couldn’t resist.
