“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” as went the last line of dialogue in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and best describes my feelings reading the impressively fun new novel Agents of Influence by Dayton Ward.
Despite the move to a larger format of book in the last year — as well as the re-invention of the 24th century continuity to match that seen in Star Trek: Picard beginning with February’s Last Best Hope, this new Original Series tale could easily have been published in 2016 and would have fit right in.
And if it had been published prior to the renewal of the Star Trek novel license, it might have had a different name — Seekers 5 — because Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise share the spotlight in this novel with Captain Atish Khatami of the USS Endeavor.
Captain Khatami and the Endeavor previously shared top billing on the Star Trek: Seekers line of novels, and the Endeavor crew were recurring characters during the popular Star Trek: Vanguard series.
Indeed, Agents of Influence remains steeped in the 23rd century continuity of the novels that have come before, serving to continue the stories of characters who premiered in Vanguard, were featured in Seekers… and now star in Agents of Influence.
Of course, this is not the first novel since Simon & Schuster renewed their novel license in 2018 to further some of those storylines: Christopher L. Bennett’s The Higher Frontier featured characters he had created for previous Star Trek novels set in the Motion Picture era.
However, Agents of Influence is the first novel of this new trade paperback line that confidently tells book fans that — despite all the change — where possible we may still see a lot of characters, stories, and plot developments we had seen developed in previous novels rear up again for further exploration.
Ward does an excellent job of ensuring that you don’t need to have read Vanguard or Seekers to enjoy Agents of Influence, but having just re-read Seekers 4: All That’s Left, I did find it to be a richer experience… and even though that novel came out in 2015, Agents of Influence picks right up where those characters left off.
Despite the USS Endeavor’s crew having a starring role in this novel, there is still a lot of fun Kirk, Spock, Sulu, McCoy, and Uhura action. The Enterprise is dispatched by Admiral Nogura to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the USS Endeavor, which had been sent to the edge of Klingon space in order to retrieve several undercover Starfleet operatives whose mission on the Klingon homeworld had reached an abrupt end.
Agents of Influence is a spy thriller wrapped in a disaster story, with gadgets, undercover intrigue, a race against the clock, betrayal, and a struggle for survival. The large cast of characters – the crews of both Enterprise and Endeavor – totally works, and provides a lot of fodder for intrigue and machinations (including one big twist I won’t spoil).
Though there is one plot point in the story that matches closely to last summer’s The Enterprise War by John Jackson Miller, it is not a retread and feels fresh and interesting because of everything else going on at the same time. With Agents of Influence, Ward has definitely taken advantage of the longer length afforded to the trade paperback sized books to expand the scale of the story he is trying to tell.
It is also fun to see more about how Starfleet executed its own intelligence gathering operations against the Klingons. We’ve seen a lot of the reverse; both Star Trek: Discovery and the classic episode “The Trouble with Tribbles” include Klingon agents operating in the Federation.
But this is one of the first times we’ve seen Federation agents operating in the Klingon Empire. And we get a lot of Klingon action in this novel, which capably weaves together the various interpretations on the race we’ve seen through the years. Oh, and did I mention that this novel also features the Orions for good measure?
Overall, Agents of Influence is a fun spy thriller, mixed with a disaster movie, and mixed with a good classic episode of the Original Series, which pulls together all those elements into a satisfying tale that will keep you invested from the first page to the last.
And if you spend any time on Star Trek Twitter or are a regular attendee at Star Trek Las Vegas, there are a lot of familiar names in this novel…. a lot of them.
While we’re all awaiting the return of new Star Trek episodes, the third Discovery-era Blu-ray set has just beamed down!Star Trek: Short Treks gets a standalone, spotlight release and provides a unique snapshot of the ongoing evolution of the 54-year-old franchise.
Short Treks were launched in 2018 as a new content platform for televised Trek, with the promise of short films that could touch on any number of Star Trek storylines of the past, present or future — and in any type of format (comedy, romance, animation, etc.).
Craft (Aldis Hodge) and Zora (Sash Striga) share a dance on the Discovery bridge. (“Calypso”)
And regardless of your personal take on the success of the Short Treks anthology, there is no arguing that through 10 episodes and two brief seasons of production, it has hit on its promise of telling truly varied stories across the Star Trek universe.
We’ve seen tales of the far future that tease what might become of the USS Discovery (“Calypso”), an origin story for Tribbles (“The Trouble with Edward”) and an animated Tom & Jerry-esque tale aboard Captain Kirk’s Enterprise (“Ephraim and Dot”), not to mention two Pike-centric stories that now justifiably qualify as prequels for the upcoming series Strange New Worlds series. (“Q & A” and “Ask Not”).
Number One (Rebecca Romijn) gets an assist to escape a stuck turbolift. (“Q & A”)
The single-disc collection of nine Short Treks episodes also includes about an hour of behind-the-scenes vignettes and two impressive audio commentaries along the way. Unfortunately, the super-stylized Star Trek: Picard prequel “Children of Mars” is not included in this release, presumably held back to be part of that show’s Season 1 Blu-ray set later this year.
Let’s take a look at the Short Treks special features now!
The Making of Short Treks (4:25)
‘Star Trek’ executive producer Alex Kurtzman.
This featurette is an interesting, if not enlightening, look at the new Trek format, as Alex Kurtzman describes how the Short Treks were envisioned to be a way to expand the Star Trek storytelling landscape.
Although touched on very briefly here, the overall presentation in this collection fails to get too deep into the way that Short Treks has served Kurtzman’s production team as a proving ground for new and diverse talent for the CBS Star Trek Universe.
Coming of Age (7:30)
‘Runaway’ director Maja Vrvilo.
A look at the making of “Runaway,” the first Short Trek ever produced. It includes informative interviews with director Maja Vrvilo and Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), but not Yadira Guevara-Prip (Me Hani Ika Hali Ka Po), the future Xahean queen that eventually returned in “Such Sweet Sorrow” (an evolution that isn’t addressed).
Still, it is great to hear from Vrvilo on the challenges of the short-form narrative and the direction she received from Kurtzman relating the piece similarly to the film Monsters, Inc.
Shall We Dance (8:51)
‘Calypso’ writer Michael Chabon.
This look back at the much-heralded “Calypso” begins with director Olatunde Osunsanmi discussing the awe he felt tackling Michael Chabon’s script, the first time he had written for Trek. Osunsanmi eloquently details the performance of Aldis Hodge (Craft) and the challenge of shooting a one-person play with the same character in every shot.
The sharp feature also includes Chabon discussing his inspiration for the script, which includes The Odyssey, “A Piece of the Action,” and dancing.
First Contact: Kaminar (5:08)
Erika Lippoldt and Bo Yeon Kim, co-writers of ‘The Brightest Star.’
This one is a pretty thin vignette on Saru’s origin story, “The Brightest Star,” featuring soundbites from writers Erika Lippoldt and Bo Yeon Kim, as well as actors Doug Jones (Saru) and Michelle Yeoh, who has fun discussing her brief return as the actual Philippa Georgiou.
Covered in Mudd (4:52)
Rainn Wilson films a scene from ‘The Escape Artist.’
An incredible behind-the-scenes look at Rainn Wilson’s directing efforts on “The Escape Artist,” featuring his own Harry Mudd.
Although we don’t get to hear from writer Mike McMahon — the showrunner for the upcoming Star Trek: Lower Decks — on his dynamic script, the never-before-seen shots of Wilson directing himself and the extra details provided on the elaborate motion control camerawork that went into the episode’s final shot, more than made up for it.
Ensign Spock’s First Day (10:16)
Ethan Peck prepares for a close-up on the set of ‘Q & A.’
Everything you ever wanted to know about Michael Chabon’s creative writing process on Short Treks, and most notably on “Q & A,” from the man himself.
If you love to hear Chabon wax poetic about Star Trek, this wonderful feature is truly special.
Here Comes Tribble (3:43)
Mario Moreira talks tribbles for ‘The Trouble with Edward.’
Discovery prop master Mario Moreira discusses everything his staff put into creating a myriad of tribbles for “The Trouble with Edward” in this short video — and while he assures everyone that no animals or tribbles were harmed in the process, lots of fun fur in the greater Toronto area was sacrificed.
Score! (6:09)
‘Ephraim and Dot’ director Michael Giacchino.
Another solid special feature highlighting Michael Giacchino’s work directing and scoring “Ephraim and Dot,” an animated Short Trek that serves as a greatest hit’s entry for the beloved NCC-1701.
It’s always good to hear the passionate composer discuss his affinity for Star Trek, which he does here, while also highlighting the inspiration he found in 1960’s lounge music for this score.
Strangely, none of the expanded content released on StarTrek.com in December is included here, which spends time covering the creature design and animation work that went into creating this short story, or the January feature where Giacchino discusses the music of 2019’s Short Treks run.
Bedtime Stories (7:45)
‘The Girl Who Made the Stars’ writer Brandon Schultz.
Actor Kenric Green, husband of Discovery lead Sonequa Martin-Green, breaks down his role as Mike Burnham in this emotional take on “The Girl Who Made the Stars,” the second time he’s portrayed Michael Burnham’s father (after last season’s “Perpetual Infinity”).
Joining Green is writer Brandon Schultz who explains he first pitched the impetus for this story (which came from the script of Star Trek: Discovery’s “Brother”) to be included in a second season episode of Discovery, but when that didn’t work out, was later approached by Kurtzman about writing this epic standalone tale based on the /Xam Abathwa of South Africa.
Like “Ephraim and Dot,” none of the interesting material that was released on StarTrek.com in December or in February was included here, where the animation team had the opportunity to discuss the technology and production work that went into making this animated short.
Audio Commentary: “Runaway”
Co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet take the microphones for this first commentary, and it’s an absolutely superb fifteen minutes.
In much the same way the Short Treks highlight the art of short filmmaking, Kurtzman and Lumet do the same with their time here, covering a lot of ground — including the surprising fact about the original Xahean prothetic makeup design that had to be abandoned about 12 hours before shooting started, forcing a last-minute change of plans.
The two producers also get into quite a bit of detail on the talent of Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), and how Lumet was responsible for casting New York stage actress Yadira Guevara-Prip as Po, who later returned to Discovery in “Such Sweet Sorrow.”
Audio Commentary: “Ask Not”
As for the “Ask Not” commentary, it is a solo effort from Anson Mount (Christopher Pike), and also shines. Mount’s big reveal here is that both he and co-star Amrit Kaur (Thira Sidhu) had to return to Toronto six weeks after shooting for reshoots, because some of the original takes were too smokey to clearly make out the actors.
Mount’s good nature on the reshoots and in his role as Pike shines through on another strong commentary from the Discovery team.
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The audio and video quality of the Short Treks set is up to par with the high-end presentation we’ve seen in the previous Star Trek: Discovery Blu-ray releases — and like the show itself, each short is presented in its original 2.39:1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio.
At under $20, the Short Treks Blu-ray (or DVD, if that’s your preference) is a welcome addition of the Star Trek home entertainment pantheon — especially for those of you in the UK, who haven’t gotten the chance to see most of these shorts on Netflix yet.
Short Treks arrives on Blu-ray in the UK on July 13, but there’s no further international distribution we can find yet — luckily, both the US and UK releases are region-free, so if you’re located in another country and can have the disc sent your way, you’ll be able to watch it just fine.
If there is another round of Short Treks in the future that eventually make their way to home media, we hope that the CBS team will include all of the content from their web features as well to have a more-complete package of behind-the-scenes material.
What is your take on the Short Treks format — and what stories do you want to see as production continues on new stories? Comment below, but, uh, keep it short.
The annual Star Trek Las Vegas convention — held in early August each year — has been a giant question mark for the last several months, as fans wonder if the big gathering of Trek fans was still going to occur during these questionable times of social distancing.
Today, convention organizer Creation Entertainment announced that this year’s convention is still on sensors, but moving to a new date — and a new location — for 2020’s event.
During these challenging times, the safety of our Star Trek convention attendees, celebrities and staff is the utmost importance to us. We have continued to monitor the local, federal and international protocols concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, and while we had hoped that our Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas could take place in August, due to the unprecedented circumstances, we must postpone and move to a new venue.
The 19th Annual Star Trek Convention’s NEW DATE is now December 9-13, 2020 and is beaming into Caesars Forum Conference Center Las Vegas, the brand-new state of the art, $375 million facility located in the heart of the famed Las Vegas Strip! Caesars Forum Conference Center features direct access to our new host hotel, the newly renovated Harrah’s Las Vegas!
William Shatner, Walter Koenig and more guests have confirmed the new date, and we are currently working on more confirmations. Please check the website for updates!
If you wish to hold your same seat or general admission, as well as a la carte autograph and photo op tickets, you do not need to do anything. Your tickets and same seating will be transferred to the new date and updated tickets will be sent to you via the email address you used at the time of purchase within a few weeks. Your original ticket will no longer be valid.
Attendees must cancel their hotel reservations at this time. We will have revised booking links shortly so you can re-book your hotel reservations for the new date.
As for flight cancellations, many air carriers have amended their policies and procedures during this health crisis to accommodate customers. Please contact your airlines directly for information.
If you’d like a refund for the Star Trek Vegas Convention, please contact customer.service@creationent.com. The deadline for refund requests for the convention is June 19, 2020 (please include your invoice number and the convention name/city in your email).
If you do not request a refund by the deadline, your admission passes and a la carte photo op and autograph tickets will be transferred to the new date. Refunds will begin to be processed after the deadline date. Please allow up to 8 weeks from the deadline date for your request to be processed.
We appreciate your patience and continued support and look forward to seeing everyone in December!
Like many of you, we’re still debating if our team is going to attend the Star Trek Las Vegas convention this year — as much as we want to, the ongoing pandemic situation has yet to be anywhere near resolved — so we’ve got a few more months now to make that decision.
Keep checking back for all the latest Star Trek convention news!
Star Trek was born in the civil rights era, and messages of freedom and equality for all peoples have been at its core since the very beginning.
For over five decades, it has celebrated diversity and the fight for justice — from the earliest days of The Original Series into the most recent incarnations of the franchise, Star Trek: Discovery and Picard.
As Gene Roddenberry once said:
‘Star Trek’ was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms.
Recent events have clearly demonstrated that the struggle for this future continues. Joining with our colleagues across a multitude of Star Trek fan communities, we invite you to stand with us in support of organizations fighting to make this future come about right here in this century for Black communities, along with others impacted by the injustice we see on our nightly news.
Roddenberry also said that “until we can value the diversity here on Earth, then we don’t deserve to go into outer space and encounter the infinite diversity out there.”
Together we hope that as members of the extended Star Trek community, we can help move towards Gene’s vision of the future. We ask our fellow Star Trek fans to join us in making $47 contributions — or whatever you can — to one of these great organizations, or to one of your own choosing that can help turn the tide for equality and justice in America.
Star Trek has always represented the hope of a better future for humankind, and we understand that until it's understood that Black lives do matter, that future cannot be achieved 🖖 pic.twitter.com/VNCwmcmyJS
We’re still in the early days of the long wait for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, but things aren’t all quiet on that front as the production team behind the series has been slowly ramping up the publicity machine as part of a campaign for 2020’s Emmy Awards.
Along with virtually every member of the Picard cast and crew in their own respective categories, CBS has begun to push for Patrick Stewart’s nomination in the Outstanding Lead Actor field for his return as Jean-Luc Picard, as the studio launched their 2020 FYC campaign earlier this month.
Also going for gold are Star Trek: Short Treks, which are being promoted as a candidate for the Outstanding Short Form Drama Series category, along with Captain Pike himself – actor Anson Mount – who CBS is pushing for Oustanding Lead Actor in the category as well.
Notably, young Kyrie McAlpin is also being promoted for the Oustanding Character Voiceover Performance category for her work voicing young Michael Burnham in “The Girl Who Made the Stars.”
The official 2020 Emmy Award nominations will be announced July 28.
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A number of behind-the-scenes looks into Picard Season 1 have also beamed down in recent days, as the visual effects, makeup, and other production-based teams are also ramping up their awards-season promotion.
First up is series visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman, who shared with Before and Afterssome of the work that went into creating the complicated “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1” space-orchid sequence.
“The script said, ‘A giant orchid comes into the atmosphere and takes down the cube’. I was like, how are we going to do this? What does this look like? I started asking people and they said, ‘Well, it’s a big flower.’
I was concerned about this moment a lot. Everybody knows what an orchid looks like, but what does it look like when it’s big enough to take down the Borg cube, and how does it behave and how does it move in space? We had a lot to figure out.”
Zimmerman also offered some insights into the creation of the massive Borg cube, first introduced in “Remembrance.”
“Whenever you read in a script something like ‘Borg cube’ or ‘Enterprise’, you really do freak out at first. Luckily, our production designer was Todd Cherniawsky and he’s very, very well-versed in visual effects, and he knows what we need. He and concept artist Johnny Eaves got started on the cube, and we also had our CG modelers in the art department right there with production.
What’s nice about models and miniatures is that they have real practical textures which look so great. So we started there and we really wanted to pay homage to what came before us and look at what they had done. I can’t tell you how many times I googled ‘Borg cube.’
[The] challenge was how compose an image to convey that this cube is kilometers long, and how to compare that to other ships… It was basically a lot of, well, let’s put a ship in the foreground and we see a person in the ship – great – and now let’s put another ship halfway between us. Slowing things down and using scale cues really helped.”
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Akiva Goldsman on the “Star Trek: Discovery” set in 2017.
Before the spring of shutdowns landed on Planet Earth, plans were in place to get Star Trek: Picard back in front of cameras this summer for production on Season 2 — but as has been expected, we know that like pretty much all other film sets these days, the series has been put on hold pending a lift of pandemic restrictions.
Speaking with Collider, series executive producer Akiva Goldsman shared that the original return-to-set plan for June 2020 has shifted until “the world opens” again, and how the current climate has been actually beneficial to the show’s writing team.
“It is, fundamentally, a gift to be able to do all [the episodes] if you can [before filming]. Because unlike previous iterations of television, this serialized ten-hour narrative has setups and payoffs that require a thoughtful view of the object once it is completed. It’s very funny — in the first season of ‘Picard,’ there were all these reviews of the beginning, ‘Oh it’s so dark, it’s so dark, it’s so dark.’
And I kept saying, ‘They’re reviewing the first act of a movie.’ The first act of a movie is always dark. If you stopped ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ at the bridge, it’s a really dark movie! Because fundamentally in a long-form narrative, it’s a redemption story, it’s a healing story, it has to be bad at the beginning so it gets good at the end, otherwise there’s nothing to fix.
So we’re in this weird world now where we create one narrative object but we dole it out bit by bit, which is fascinating. And can be kind of fun. But what you really want is to be able to refine your setups once you’ve written your payoffs… if in fact you could have the time to write 10 hours first, that would be amazing. And maybe we will.”
Goldsman also commented on how much life Star Trek: Picard may still have in front of it; during the show’s development period Patrick Stewart indicated the series may have “three years” to it, Goldsman seems to view the show as a much more open-ended project than we may have thought previously.
“I think we have discussed it as both a three-season show, a five-season show, a ‘let’s just keep going forever’ show…
‘Star Trek: Picard’ in my view will go as long as Patrick Stewart wants to do it… As I’m sure you know, he was not interested in coming back. And we did a lot of… really good collaborative story breaking and talking and you know and I think he’s particularly delighted in a good way about having come back.
And we will rely on that good will until he feels he’s done.”
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Lastly, a behind-the-scenes look at the Narek vs. Synths fight scene from “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2,” was released online this week, showcasing much of the stunt work from that climactic battle.
Keep your sensors locked here for all the latest Star Trek: Picard news!
As life at home continues through springtime — and as more of 2020’s plans begin to fall off the schedule — we’ve learned today of a few newly-announced virtual events will help bring some of Star Trek’s biggest names to you.
Next Tuesday, eight of Star Trek: Voyager’s most recognizable faces will be reuniting for a virtual 25th Anniversary event through StarsInTheHouse.com for an event to benefit The Actors Fund.
Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Robbie McNeill (Tom Paris), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), Roxann Dawson (B’Elanna Torres), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), and Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) will all link up to interact with each other — and with fans viewing from home.
The cast of “Star Trek: Voyager” will reunite LIVE on “Stars In The House” on Tuesday, May 26th at 8 PM ET on the Stars In The House YouTube channel and on starsinthehouse.com.
Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Roxann Dawson (B’Elanna Torres), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), and Garrett Wang (Harry Kim) are coming together to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary and to support The Actors Fund.
Fans tuning in will be able to interact with the Voyager crew in real time as they recall favorite memories of their journey from the Delta Quadrant, and can donate to The Actors Fund for the chance to have their names read on air. And of course, like all episodes of “Stars in the House” – there will be LIVE music!
This Friday, the two biggest names in Star Trek makeup design will come together as legendary artist Michael Westmore will join forces with Discovery and Picard makeup wizard James MacKinnon in a two-hour event called Star Trek: Then & Now, where the pair will discuss the past and present their work with the franchise.
Makeup legend, Emmy and Oscar winner Michael Westmore and Emmy Award winning makeup artist James MacKinnon will take you on a trek down memory lane and discuss both generations of ‘Star Trek’ makeup.
Each educator will discuss their respective shows and offer the class insight about designing the characters, the technology and materials avaialble to create the makeups, and as always, share fun memories and anecdotes along the way.
The class will also feature special co-host McKenzie Westmore (host of ‘Face Off,’ and SAG actress seen in multiple ‘Star Trek’ episodes).
This special event will be held on Friday, May 22 at 4PM ET (1PM PT) over the Zoom video conferencing platform, and registrants for the free session can sign up to receive a link to join the class by signing up at EventBrite.
The following week, Star Trek Beyond makeup artist Joel Harlow will be holding his own session Joel Harlow: Translating Inspiration and Magic Into Makeup on May 30, talking about his work in the industry. While this is not advertised as being related specifically to his Star Trek contributions, it’s likely that elements of his work on the Kelvin Timeline films will be part of the discussion.
Academy Award winning makeup artist Joel Harlow will be discussing how he transforms research, inspiration, and imagination into all of his makeups.
Every job or project starts off with inspiration, which eventually leads to research and imagination. Every true professional should do adequate research before designing their makeup, in order to depict their work accurately.
Joel will discuss this process, how it has benefited him, and how that process has evolved for him over his award-winning career.
This special event will be held on Saturday, May 30 at 4PM ET (1PM PT) over the Zoom video conferencing platform, and registrants for the free session can sign up to receive a link to join the class by signing up at EventBrite.
Here’s hoping one or more of these events helps brighten your stuck-at-home spirits!
Yesterday’s announcement for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds sent the Internet buzzing, with fans who had been clamoring for the return of Captain Pike and company celebrating the news that Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, and Rebecca Romjin will be returning for their own Star Trek series set aboard the USS Enterprise.
Much of the online conversation centered around speculation on the nature of this new show, with many expressing hopes that the Strange New Worlds storytelling format would be more episodic in nature — with distinct stories that would perhaps be confined to an episode or two, compared to the season-long arcs seen in Discovery and Picard to date.
Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and Lt. Commander Una (Rebecca Romijn) during the battle with Control. (“Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”)
Back in November, in fact, Mount told IGNthat he sees Pike as a “traditional” character, one that is more well-suited for one-off adventures:
Being a fan, there’s so many things that pop up in my mind, and in general I’d love to do something episodic with ‘Trek’ rather than serialized, because I think that Pike as a traditional character, it just feels like something episodic would be the way to go.
Because that’s Trek, you know, it’s episodic. Not to say that ‘Discovery’… everything they’ve done I think is something I probably would’ve made the same choices in terms of going serialized and getting deeper into the characters.
But I think I’d like to do something episodic, which actually I’ve never done before as a regular.
‘Strange New Worlds’ producer Akiva Goldsman (left) with ‘Picard’ fellow producers Michael Chabon and Kirsten Beyer.
And it sounds like the actor’s hopes will be paying off in Strange New Worlds, as series producer Akiva Goldsman explained in a new interview with Variety yesterday, who told the publication that he sees Strange New Worlds as being closer in tone to the Original Series — only natural for a show set aboard the original Enterprise.
We’re going to try to harken back to some classical ‘Trek’ values, to be optimistic, and to be more episodic. Obviously, we will take advantage of the serialized nature of character and story-building, but I think our plots will be more closed-ended than you’ve seen in either ‘Discovery’ or ‘Picard.’
I imagine it to be closer to the Original Series than even ‘DS9′ [in terms of serialization]. We can really tell closed-ended stories. We can find ourselves in episodes that are tonally of a piece.
Goldsman illustrated a way that Strange New Worlds would be more serialized than classic Trek by referencing one of the greatest entries in the Original Series:
Kirk is heartbroken at the loss of Edith Keeler in ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ and has to be just fine the next week…
I think what we would want to do is keep the characters having moved through and recognizing the experiences they’ve had in previous episodes, but to be able to tell contained, episodic stories.
Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) takes the bridge. (“Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”)
As for when we’ll see the show come to screens, things are still in flux — for obvious reasons — and Goldsman wouldn’t speculate as to when production would start, but actor Ethan Peck weighed in on his hopes and excitement for the series.
Last year, I basically told myself I was gonna do as many conventions as possible to connect to the fan base and campaign for a spinoff show for Anson and Rebecca and I. We all got along so well, and we all loved the content so much and the message of ‘Star Trek.
I believe so much in what we’re doing. I don’t think that there’s ever been a better time for ‘Star Trek,’ because of its ideology. It’s all about coming together and using the ways that we’re different from one another for the advantage of people as a whole.
He also sees his return as Spock to be a new challenge after his time in Discovery Season 2, where the half-Vulcan was still trying to find balance between his emotional and logical sides.
It’ll be a whole new challenge for me as an actor portraying Spock because you’ve had this transformation; I can’t wait to see what we explore.
Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest Strange New Worlds news as it breaks!
After months of speculation, rumors, and general clamoring for more stories featuring the Star Trek: Discovery-era crew of the USS Enterprise, today CBS All Access made the news official: Captain Pike and company are returning in their own dedicated spin-off.
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsis the next live-action series coming to the streaming service, centered on the USS Enterprise, with Discovery favorites Anson Mount (Captain Pike), Ethan Peck (Spock), and Rebecca Romijn (Number One) returning for more Starfleet adventures.
Number One (Rebecca Romjin) and Spock (Ethan Peck) spend their first day together stuck in a turbolift. (“Q&A”)
The trio were last scene in the late-2019 run of Star Trek: Short Treks, where we saw Captain Pike lead a young Starfleet cadet through a critical training program (“Ask Not”) and experienced Ensign Spock’s first day aboard the Enterprise (“Q & A”).
Here are a few official statements from the leadership team at CBS on today’s announcement:
“Fans fell in love with Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck’s portrayals of these iconic characters when they were first introduced on STAR TREK: DISCOVERY last season,” said Julie McNamara, Executive Vice President and Head of Programming, CBS All Access. “This new series will be a perfect complement to the franchise, bringing a whole new perspective and series of adventures to ‘Star Trek.’”
“When we said we heard the fans’ outpouring of love for Pike, Number One and Spock when they boarded STAR TREK: DISCOVERY last season, we meant it,” said Alex Kurtzman. “These iconic characters have a deep history in ‘Star Trek’ canon, yet so much of their stories have yet to be told. With Akiva and Henry at the helm, the Enterprise, its crew and its fans are in for an extraordinary journey to new frontiers in the ‘Star Trek’ universe.”
“This is a dream come true, literally,” said Akiva Goldsman. “I have imagined myself on the bridge of the Enterprise since the early 1970s. I’m honored to be a part of this continuing journey along with Alex, Henry and the fine folks at CBS.”
Captain Pike (Anson Mount) prepares to take the Enterprise on its next adventure. (“Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”)
While the USS Discovery may have rocketed off to the far future, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will continue to follow Captain Pike and company in the decade before Captain Kirk embarked on the Original Series’ five-year mission.
The series premiere was written by Akiva Goldsman (with the story by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet). Goldsman, Kurtzman and Lumet will serve as executive producers in addition to Henry Alonso Myers, Heather Kadin, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth. Aaron Baiers, Akela Cooper and Davy Perez will serve as co-executive producers. Akiva Goldsman will remain an executive producer and a key part of the creative team on STAR TREK: PICARD as well. The series will be produced by CBS Television Studios, Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.
— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) May 15, 2020
As of this writing, there’s been no specifics made available about either a launch date for the new series or an episode count for the straight-to-series order — or where international viewers will be able to watch the program — but you can be sure we’ll bring you all the latest news as soon as it’s available.
So, tell us, readers: are you excited for the continuing adventures of Captain Pike and crew, or are you wishing we could leave the 23rd century once and for all?
We first encountered Factory Entertainment as a new Star Trek licensee back in early 2019, where they were showing off some prospective new products at that year’s ToyFair expo.
They’ve started to roll out a few products since then — small-scale replicas of Original Series items, as well as a Discovery phaser — and today they’ve announced some more additions to their small-but-growing line of Star Trek barware accessories: new themed bottle stoppers for classic Trek fans, set to ship this summer.
Factory Entertainment: Original Series Bottle Stoppers
1 of 4
...as seen at ToyFair 2020
The first new addition is a set of classic Starfleet delta stoppers, with appropriate departmental colors and division symbols in place; we got to see the three-pack at 2020’s ToyFair event (see the photo above!) and they do have a nice pop of color.
In addition, the first starship stopper has arrived — the original USS Enterprise — which has been produced in a mirror-finish design, representing the classic five year mission of Captain Kirk and crew.
While the Original Series is the theme of today’s announcements, the company showed off several additional barware items in development when we visited them at February’s ToyFair event — which seems like a million years ago! — including starship stoppers based on the Enterprise-D and Klingon battle cruiser, as well as a Next Generation-era Type I phaser bottle opener (to join their already-available Original Series phaser).
A prototype TNG-era Type I phaser bottle opener, seen at ToyFair 2020Prototype Klingon and Enterprise-D stoppers, seen at ToyFair 2020
No news on any of these teased products yet, but once we hear more about them we’ll be sure to let you know!
* * * *
The fine folks over at Factory Entertainment aren’t just announcing new products today, but they’re also giving one lucky TrekCore reader the chance to win a pair of Star Trek bottle openers from their existing line of barware offerings!
This contest has ended and our winner has been notified.
One of you can take home the Original Series Type I phaser and Next Generation communicator bottle openers, just by joining us on social media in one of two ways:
You have until midnight (Eastern time) on Sunday, May 17 to get your entry in — we’ll reach out to the winner via Twitter or Facebook after the contest closes to arrange for fulfillment.
Good luck to all!
The comments section of this article will not be considered for contest entries.
You may have noticed it’s been a bit quiet around these parts, as the last few weeks have moved beyond Star Trek: Picard and into the long, quiet season of social distancing, home quarantine, video chats and general uncertainty about what’s coming next for this crazy world.
(We certainly hope you are all doing as well as can be, but for those of you who have faced challenges and loss in the last few months, please know our thoughts are with you!)
While there’s been a mild bubbling of discussion about the status of Star Trek: Discovery‘s on-the-distant-horizon third season, the truth is that we really don’t know how long it will be until the challenging post-production processes needed to complete the next set of episodes will be finalized, as everyone involved with the show is now working from home — a hurdle that has forced the series to drop from warp speed to impulse power behind the scenes.
Geordi La Forge, Jean-Luc Picard, Data, and Captain Beverly Picard in an anti-time future. (“All Good Things…”)
As a timeline for the arrival of that series — along with the sometime-in-2020 debut of Star Trek: Lower Decks — remains a question mark, we’ve turned our attention to another major project… one that we’ve been hearing about from many of you for years.
Before we expanded into full-time Star Trek news coverage, product reviews, convention reporting, interviews, and all that other stuff you’ve come to know us for, you knew us best as “that site with all the Star Trek images.” (We know that lots of you still think of us that way, even as our focus and reach has widened over the last decade!)
Captain Jonathan Archer on the bridge of the Enterprise NX-01. (“Cogenitor”)
Like many of you, we’ve taken advantage of all these weeks at home to get back to basics. With that in mind, prepare yourself for The Spring (and Summer) of Star Trek Screencaps!
Starting this month, we’re expanding our Star Trek Blu-ray galleries in a big way, as we not only close out the final season of The Next Generation (we know, we know!), but we’ll be rolling out new Blu-ray screencaps from all four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise, images of all the high-definition remastered footage from the 2019 Deep Space Nine documentary…
Ezri Dax arrives on the scene. (“Shadows and Symbols”)
…and we’ll be charting a new course across the mycelial network to launch our long-awaited Star Trek: Discovery episodic galleries as well, starting with a trip back to “The Vulcan Hello.”
As we journey ahead, we’ll still keep you up to date with the latest news on the current Star Trek productions, reviews of the new books coming out over the next few months, and all the details on the Star Trek: Short Treks Blu-ray release hitting stores in June — and we might have a few surprises for our image gallery expansions along the way.
Commander Michael Burnham and Captain Philippa Georgiou explore a desert planet. (“The Vulcan Hello”)
Keep your sensors locked right here for news on every new Star Trek image gallery as they beam down in 2020 — and stay safe, wherever you might be!
Star Trek: DiscoverySeason 1 Blu-ray
Star Trek: DiscoverySeason 2 Blu-ray
Star Trek: DiscoverySeason 3 Blu-ray
