With casting announcements behind them, CBS and its partners have released the first glimpse of what Star Trek’s newest iteration will look like. And, as one would expect, the fandom’s opinions diverge. One opinion among many observes that the new Star Trek: Discovery trailer is derivative. Surprisingly, though, some find it derivative of the Star Wars rather than the Star Trek franchise.
Aside from the easily defensible choice of starting the trailer on a desert planet (Vulcan, like Star Wars‘ Tatooine, was established as a harsh desert planet early on in Star Trek franchise history), critics of the Discovery trailer also cite the bizarre rendition of Klingons the trailer promises. With a kind of hard-shelled beetle look, again akin to something from the Star Wars franchise, the Klingons do have forehead ridges. But, similarities with other versions of the alien race pretty much stop there. Of course, as any hardened Trekkie knows, Klingons have always had a slightly amorphous look. And, each successive version generally involves more makeup than the last. Time will tell if viewers will learn the reason for this new look, or if we’ll just have to be happy with “we do not discuss it with outsiders.”
Star Trek: Discovery Trailer – Is That A Flare on Your Lens, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?
Still other critics, including MFR’s very own Ruben Diaz, decry the trailer’s use of lens flares, complaining that this camera technique, overused in the most recent trilogy of Star Trek films, shows that Discovery‘s producers are hearkening back to a version of the franchise that alienated many longtime fans.
I found the lens flare effect overused in all three new Star Trek movies. Also, I hated them. But, I found that the bridge of the USS Shenzhou, shown repeatedly in the trailer, had a pretty shadowy look. In fact, it’s much darker than the bridge of any starship this Trekkie has seen yet.
Like any early trailer, this one represents a glimpse into what the show has to offer. But, it is suspiciously vague and stylistically unfamiliar. And that’s strange considering this show is based on a very solid 51-year-old franchise.
That said, it would be shortsighted of me to judge the quality of anything with so brief a look. And, though I’m just as upset as any fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation that this show won’t pick up after the events chronicled in Star Trek: Nemesis, I take solace in the fact that this likely won’t be another boring and unfaithful rehash of the same old characters … like the last three movies.
