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Paul Giamatti Joins STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY as Season 1’s Recurring Villain

Ken Reilly
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Paul Giamatti Joins STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY as Season 1’s Recurring Villain

After last month’s surprising news that Oscar winner Holly Hunter has signed up to be one of the leading stars in the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series, today CBS Studios has announced another big name beaming to the 32nd century — Emmy-winner and Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti.
 
A known Star Trek fan, Giamatti will be joining Starfleet Academy in a recurring role, set to be the first season’s main antagonist and villain. The news was broken today by The Hollywood Reporter, who describes Giamatti’s role as “a man with an ominous past with a connection to one of the show’s cadets.”
 
Giamatti expressed his love for the Star Trek universe in a 2019 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, sharing his desire to play a Klingon — but today’s news has no information on the character beyond the vague description shared above.
 

 
“Sometimes you’re lucky enough to discover that one of the greatest actors alive is also a huge Star Trek fan, and meeting Paul was one of those miraculous moments for us,” said Trek franchise boss Alex Kurtzman and Academy showrunner Noga Landau in a statement released today. “The sheer delight with which he dove in on Starfleet Academy is only surpassed by the gratitude we feel about him joining our incredible cast.”

Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest Star Trek: Starfleet Academy news — and let us know what you think about this big casting announcement in the comments below!

WizKids Announces New STAR TREK: CAPTAIN’S CHAIR Strategy Card Game

TrekCore Staff
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WizKids Announces New STAR TREK: CAPTAIN’S CHAIR Strategy Card Game

Star Trek gamers, there’s a new strategy came coming from WizKids this fall that will place you in the center seat of the final frontier: the upcoming Star Trek: Captain’s Chair.
 
Announced last week, the new deckbuilding card game includes elements from all accross the Star Trek universe, from the Original Series through The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery, Lower Decks, and the feature films.
 

A game of STAR TREK: CAPTAIN’S CHAIR in progress. (WizKids)

Here’s how WizKids describes the game:

From David Turczi and Nigel Buckle, designers of Voidfall and the Imperium Series, comes a strategic and fascinating deckbuilding game that puts you into one of the most powerful seats in the galaxy: the Captain’s Chair!

 

In Star Trek: Captain’s Chair, you will go head-to-head with an opponent, each stepping into the shoes of an iconic captain from across Star Trek’s galaxy and history. Command ships, crew, and away teams, while you manage resources and alliances!

 

Each of the six captains come with their own unique, asymmetric deck of cards, themed to that captain’s personality strategies, allies, and assets. Each deck creates different strategic directions, based on what common cards are available and what strategy your opponent deploys.

 

True to Star Trek, antagonism will not win every game. You will need to pursue diplomacy, exploration, and science, with different captains excelling at different paths. With hundreds of unique, deeply thematic cards, you’ll want to explore the galaxy again and again! The chair is yours, Captain!

(Wizkids)
(Wizkids)
(Wizkids)

When playing Star Trek: Captain’s Chair, you can choose from one of six starship commanders: Jean-Luc Picard from The Next Generation, Benjamin Sisko from Deep Space Nine, Michael Burnham from Discovery, Koloth the Dahar Master from Deep Space Nine, Sela from The Next Generation, and Thy’lek Shran from Enterprise.

It also includes a great deal of included material to use during gameplay:

– 240+ standard cards
– 32 ship tokens
– 12 automated command cards
– 2 player aid cards
– 6 specialty markers
– 25 latinum tokens
– 30 dilithium tokens
– 9 action tokens
– 6 mission completion tokens
– 50+ glory tokens
– 10 x5 resource tokens
– 1 market strip
– 1 starting player token
– 1 card list
– 1 score pad
– 1 rulebook
– 1 solo rulebook

(Wizkids)

The new Star Trek: Captain’s Chair game can be preordered today from WizKids, and is projected to arrive in the last quarter of 2024. Will any of you be playing? Let us know in the comments below!

The Final Days of STAR TREK Starship Sales at Master Replicas Have Arrived

TrekCore Staff
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The Final Days of STAR TREK Starship Sales at Master Replicas Have Arrived

Fans of Eaglemoss’ The Official Starships Collection have only a week left to pick up leftover Star Trek starship and space station models from the team at Master Replicas — because the products will be removed from their site on June 17.
 
The company’s license to sell the former Eaglemoss inventory ends over the weekend, and as the final day of sales approaches they are running a number of discounts on the remaining Star Trek model inventory, and several items with less than 25 pieces remaining in stock.

But their days aren’t done just yet — as part of the end of Master Replica’s Official Starships Collection program, we’ve partnered with their team to give away one XL-sized USS Enterprise-D ‘dreadnought’ model to a lucky TrekCore reader!

This is the large-size version of the three-nacelled USS Enterprise-D starship, seen in alternate future timeline in “All Good Things…” — and with this year marking the 30th anniversary of the Star Trek: The Next Generation series finale, there’s no better starship to warp into the hands of one of our readers.

Just fill out the form below to enter, and the Master Replicas team will ship the model out to you directly.

The contest closes closes at 8pm ET on Friday, June 15. Good luck to all entrants!

This contest has ended and our winner has been notified.

Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest Star Trek product news!

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Season 5 Hits Blu-ray in August; Complete-Series Box Set to Contain Exclusive Bonus Disc

TrekCore Staff
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0
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Season 5 Hits Blu-ray in August; Complete-Series Box Set to Contain Exclusive Bonus Disc

The final adventures of Captain Burnham and crew concluded less than two weeks ago, but fans of Star Trek: Discovery will be able to bring the show’s final season home on Blu-ray and DVD in just over two months.
 
Paramount Home Entertainment today announced that Star Trek: Discovery — The Final Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on August 27. The four-disc Blu-ray set will contain all ten episodes of Discovery Season 5 — “Red Directive,” “Under the Twin Moons,” “Jinaal,” “Face the Strange,” “Mirrors,” “Whistlespeak,” “Erigah,” “Labryinths,” “Lagrange Point,” and “Life, Itself” — along with behind-the-scenes bonus features typical of past releases.
 
As has become standard for Star Trek live-action releases, Discovery Season 5 will also be available in a four-disc Blu-ray Steelbook edition, pictured below.

There will be one audio commentary track in the Season 5 set — on “Life, Itself” with director Olatunde Osunsanmi, showrunner Michelle Paradise, and stars Sonequa Martin-Green and David Ajala — and there will be six featurettes and apparently just one deleted scene from the season.

    • The Voyage of Season 5
    • Being Michael Burnham – Season 5
    • Character Development
    • A Team Effort
    • Discovery’s Creative Force
    • Gag Reel

In addition, the complete run of Star Trek: Discovery will also arrive in a big 21-disc Blu-ray box set on the same date — with four discs for each season’s episodes, plus an exclusive bonus disc only available in the full-series collection said to contain “a never-before-seen journey through all five seasons with the cast and crew.”

As of this writing, there’s no indication that this special bonus disc will be available in any other Discovery release — an evergreen annoyance that’s sure to annoy those who have already picked up the individual seasons.

You can preorder Star Trek: Discovery — The Final Season on Blu-ray or Steelbook Blu-ray now ahead of its August 27 release, or you can preorder the full-series Blu-ray collection here.

Check back to TrekCore for our reviews of the upcoming Blu-ray sets closer to release date!

WeeklyTrek Podcast #249 — STAR TREK: PRODIGY Returns July 1, a DISCOVERY Finale Roundup, and More!

Alex Perry
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WeeklyTrek Podcast #249 — STAR TREK: PRODIGY Returns July 1, a DISCOVERY Finale Roundup, and More!

On this week’s episode of WeeklyTrek — TrekCore’s news podcast — host Alex Perry is joined by TrekRanks host (and TrekCore’s own) Jim Moorhouse to discuss all the latest Star Trek news.
 

 
This week, Alex and his guest discuss the following stories from TrekCore and around the web:

In addition, stick around to hear Jim complaining about Star Trek fans’ nitpicking, and Alex’s wish that someone, somewhere, picks up the Temporal Cold War storyline again in light of the conclusion of Star Trek: Discovery.

WeeklyTrek is available to subscribe and download each week on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify — and we’ll be sharing the details of each new episode right here on TrekCore each week if you’re simply just looking to listen in from the web.

Do you have a wish or theory you’d like to share on the show? Tweet to Alex at @WeeklyTrek, or email us with your thoughts about wishes, theories, or anything else about the latest in Star Trek news!

The Wand Company’s STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES Tricorder Get a Closeup on Adam Savage’s TESTED

Ken Reilly
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The Wand Company’s STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES Tricorder Get a Closeup on Adam Savage’s TESTED

It’s been nearly four years since The Wand Company announced their plans for a licensed replica of the iconic Star Trek: The Original Series tricorder, following their successful work recreating the series’ phaser and communicator.
 
Following the 2020 public announcement, the company shared a few technical updates from their development during 2021 — and after almost two years of silence, the tricorder moved into pre-production status in the summer of 2023, explaining that their team continued to face significant supply chain issues which required a longer timeline to production.
 

(Image: The Wand Company)

Since then, The Wand Company has also shared that the tricorder will include all of Captain Kirk’s recorded captain’s logs, and that the integrated display screen will feature animated 23rd century-style graphics in several different configurations.

Now, the replica inches closer and closer to the fanbase eagerly awaiting the chance to buy a tricorder of their own, in an update shared by the company last week:

Your patience continues to be appreciated as we complete the tricorder development. Right now we are putting the finishing touches to the software and getting all the regulatory approvals and type testing completed so that we can move into full production. 

 

By now, of course, we have a handful of finished tricorders that we are using, playing with, and generally testing, pushing their functions to see if we can expose any software kinks that need smoothing out, or if there are any last minute improvements we think we can make to the tricorder and the way it feels.

And the TWC team aren’t the only ones playing with those first finish units — former Mythbuster and Tested host Adam Savage has now gotten his knowledgeable hands on the replica for a brand new Tested video released today, where he’s joined by TWC’s Chris Barnardo.​

 
In addition to the Tested feature, the tricorder was also showcased on YouTube channel Your Geek Fix this morning, which also illustrates many of the frankly incredible functions of the replica:

 
Preorders for The Wand Company’s Star Trek: The Original Series tricorder replica are projected to begin later this summer and is expected to retail for between $300-$350. Fans are encouraged to sign up for The Wand Company’s tricorder mailing list ahead of this summer’s preorder window.

As soon as we have more information about when you can order your own Star Trek tricorder, we’ll be sure to let you all know!

Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest on the world of Star Trek merchandise!

All STAR TREK: PRODIGY Season 2 Episodes Hit Netflix on July 1

Ken Reilly
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All STAR TREK: PRODIGY Season 2 Episodes Hit Netflix on July 1

It’s been almost 18 months since the last new episode of Star Trek: Prodigy debuted on Paramount+, back in the days before the animated series got yanked from that streamer and it found a new home on Netflix.
 
Season 1 of the series hit Netflix on Christmas Day, and ever since, Prodigy fans have been asking when the second season — which completed post-production back in December — will be available to watch… especially after some international shenanigans back in the spring.
 
Now we know: July 1, 2024 is when Star Trek: Prodigy will debut new Season 2 episodes on Netflix, according to the “New & Hot” section of the streamer’s own app (at least on Android while having the show on a user’s “My List” entries; your experience may vary).
 

From the Netflix mobile app today.

We are still waiting to learn if this will be a full-season, 20 episode drop all at once, or if Netflix is planning to roll out Prodigy Season 2 in some sort of weekly release strategy; there are even some Netflix series which release on a multiple-episodes-per-week schedule, stretching a season over a three to five-week timetable.

JUNE 4 UPDATE: We’ve confirmed with CBS Studios that all 20 episodes of Season 2 will be dropping at once on July 1, on Netflix in the United States and all other regions worldwide where Netflix has distribution rights.

 

Netflix does NOT have distribution in Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus, or Mainland China. The release schedule for both Canada (on CTV Sci Fi) and SkyShowtime (for the Nordics, Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Central and Eastern Europe) is still unknown.

As soon as we have confirmation of more scheduling plans for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, along with any new promotional images or trailers, we’ll be sure to update this post with that information. In the meantime, mark your calendars for the return of Dal, Gwyn, Rok-Tahk, Jankom Pog, Zero, Murf, and Admiral Janeway!

Keep your sensors locked on TrekCore for all the latest Star Trek: Prodigy news!

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’s Ending Moment Was Planned for Season 6 (Spoilers!)

Ken Reilly
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STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’s Ending Moment Was Planned for Season 6 (Spoilers!)

If you haven’t watched the Star Trek: Discovery series finale “Life, Itself” yet, stop reading now — because this is about to become a heavy spoiler zone for Michael Burnham’s last on-screen moments!

* * * SPOILER WARNING! * * *

After Discovery’s season-long Progenitor story came to a conclusion, and the crew celebrated the wedding of Saru (Doug Jones) and T’Rina (Tara Rosling), “Life, Itself” jumped decades into the future to follow a now-Admiral Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) back to active duty — to send Zora (Annabelle Wallis) and the USS Discovery on one last top-secret Red Directive mission.

That mission? No, not all the hugs! Starfleet overhauls the starship back to its original 23rd century design, and Burnham is tasked to park it out in deep space for 1,000 years until Craft (Aldis Hodge) — a warrior from planet Alcor IV — floats by in an escape pod, beginning the events seen in 2019’s “Calypso.”

One of four Discovery-adjacent live-action Star Trek: Short Treks tales filmed between Discovery’s first and second seasons, “Calypso” (written by noted author and Picard co-creator Michael Chabon) showed viewers a love story between the marooned Craft and Zora, an artificial intelligence who mysteriously “lived” inside the USS Discovery’s computer systems.

Aldis Hodge as Craft in “Calypso.” (Paramount+)

“Calypso” debuted on Paramount+ (then CBS All Access) in January 2019, and over the intervening years Star Trek: Discovery began to slowly integrate elements of the tale into the series — most notably the inclusion of Zora, a nascent AI who grew out of the Sphere Data absorbed by the ship back in Season 2.

When Paramount+ cancelled Discovery in early 2023, showrunner Michelle Paradise and team had a short window to film additional material to turn “Life, Itself” into a series finale, rather than just the conclusion to Season 5 — and in a new interview with Variety, Paradise talks about not just the rush to find Discovery’s ultimate ending, but how the “Calypso” tie-in almost became a central element in the show’s now-impossible sixth’s year.

The [Discovery] production team had only eight weeks from when Paramout+ and CBS Studios signed off on the epilogue to when they had to shoot it. Fortunately, the bridge set hadn’t been struck yet (though several standing sets already had been). And the budget allowed only for three days of production.

 

“We always knew that we wanted to somehow tie [back to ‘Calypso’],” says Paradise. “We never wanted ‘Calypso’ to be the dangling Chad.”

 

So much so, in fact, that, as the show began winding down production on Season 5, Paradise had started planning to make “Calypso” the central narrative engine for Season 6. 

 

“The story, nascent as it was, was eventually going to be tying that thread up and connecting ‘Discovery’ back with ‘Calypso,’” she says.

 

Once having a sixth season was no longer an option, Paradise knew that resolving the “Calypso” question was non-negotiable. “OK, well, we’re not going to have a season to do that,” she says. “So how do we do that elegantly in this very short period of time?”

Admiral Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) prepares to take Discovery on one last mission. (Paramount+)

The decision to focus the final moments of Discovery’s finale explaining how Zora and Discovery got to where Craft would eventually find them has been met with both praise and criticism.

While some fans have found great satisfaction in the connection to “Calypso,” others have expressed frustrations that the show spent these its precious moments looking backwards — to a Short Trek that many viewers don’t even know exist.

Would an entire season building up to “Calypso” been a good idea for a hypothetical Star Trek: Discovery Season 6? We’ll never know — but you can tell us your thoughts on this idea in the comments below.

Keep your sensors locked on TrekCore for all the latest Star Trek franchise news!

Exclusive Preview — INGLORIOUS TREKSPERTS Set to Curate 2024’s STLV Convention with Dozens of In-Depth STAR TREK Panels

TrekCore Staff
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Exclusive Preview — INGLORIOUS TREKSPERTS Set to Curate 2024’s STLV Convention with Dozens of In-Depth STAR TREK Panels

The Inglorious Treksperts, the trio of podcasters whose popular Star Trek podcast has recently entered its sixth year — featuring such guests as William Shatner, Jonathan Frakes, Terry Matalas, Anson Mount and even Marvel’s Kevin Feige — have joined forces with Creation Entertainment to curate 2024’s STLV — Trek to Vegas convention schedule, building out four days of unique and amazing industry-centric Star Trek and sci-fi entertainment programming.
 

 
In a recent Creation Entertainment press release, the convention organizers announced that Mark A. Altman, Daren Dochtermann, and Ashley E. Miller — a.k.a. the Treksperts! — will “bring their unique mix of knowledge, wit and Trekspertise, and will be producing over 35 exclusive panels featuring a mix of legendary Star Trek stars, writers, directors, cinematographers, producers and podcasters that will provide a new dimension of entertainment and Trek-ucation for fans from the around the world.”

Here’s more from Creation’s announcement:

“We couldn’t be more excited to have the wildly successful and beloved Star Trek podcast with their team of veteran industry professionals helping to make this year’s show an even more satisfying experience for Trek fans,” said Gary Berman, co-president of Creation Entertainment. “We’re thrilled to welcome Mark, Daren and Ashley onboard and can’t wait to see what they cook up for us and the fans.”

 

“We are delighted to partner with our longtime friends at Creation Entertainment to produce unique programs that are sure to excite any devoted Trek fan,” says Mark A. Altman (writer/producer, Pandora, Free Enterprise; author, The Fifty-Year Mission), co-host with Daren Dochterman (associate producer, Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Director’s Edition) and Ashley E. Miller (writer, Thor, X-Men: First Class; showrunner, DOTA: Dragon’s Blood) of the Treksperts.

 

“We’re thrilled that Gary and Adam have given us this fantastic opportunity to truly energize this year’s show and bring our unique brand of Trek archeology to Trekkers from around the globe… and maybe even a few from Vulcan, Andor and Remus. I’ve known Gary and Adam for many years and am excited to have the chance to work with them to bring fans a slate of incredible new content at the show truly making it the Woodstock of Star Trek conventions.”

This unique programming track curated by the Inglorious Treksperts spans all eras of Star Trek — from The Original Series through today’s modern incarnations — and will run all four days of the convention (August 1-4, 2024) and feature an array of unexpected and exciting guests that will be sure to keep you trekking all week long — and today, the Treksperts are giving you loyal TrekCore readers an exclusive look at some of what they’re planning for the August event!

“We’re so thrilled by this opportunity,” says Daren Dochterman, Treksperts co-host. “It’s a chance to bring the fun of the Treksperts podcast to audiences live and help Creation deliver an even more in-depth and compelling experience to an even more diverse group of fans.”

Says Ashley E. Miller, “In addition to epic panels devoted to the anniversaries of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (45th Anniversary), Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (40th Anniversary) featuring cast and crew, and a very special look at Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (35th Anniversary) with an incredible array of guests from the film including producer RALPH WINTER and several of its biggest stars, we’re very pleased to share some exclusive news with TrekCore readers about some of what we’ll be bringing fans over the four days in Vegas.”

Here’s just a sampling of what the trio have in store for convention goers this August:

  • SOUNDS LIKE FUN: STAR TREK GENERATIONS 30th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION w/ director DAVID CARSON and screenwriters RONALD D. MOORE and BRANNON BRAGA.
  • KHAN-DO ATTITUDE with Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan producer ROBERT SALLIN.
  • SATURDAY MORNING FEVER where we invite fans to come in pajamas and bring cereal on Saturday morning, August 3rd, as we relive the joys of the original Star Trek: The Animated Series as well as Lower Decks and Prodigy.
  • EXCLUSIVE STAR TREK TV UNIVERSE WRITING & REUNION PANELS including BRANNON BRAGA (TNG, Voyager, Enterprise), RONALD D. MOORE (TNG, Deep Space Nine), ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE (Deep Space Nine), BRYAN FULLER (Voyager, Discovery), DAVID A. GOODMAN (Enterprise) MICHAEL SUSSMAN (Voyager, Enterprise), ANDRE BORMANIS (Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise), LISA KLINK (Voyager), JESSE ALEXANDER (Discovery) and ONITRA JOHNSON (Strange New Worlds).
  • IT WAS A LONG ROAD: ENTERPRISE WRITERS REUNION w/ BRANNON BRAGA, DAVID A. GOODMAN, ANDRE BORMANIS and MICHAEL SUSSMAN.
  • GENE RODDENBERRY’S OTHER GALACTIC FUNK w/ Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda showrunner ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE (Deep Space Nine, Elementary), writers ASHLEY E. MILLER (Thor, X-Men: First Class) and DERIC HUGHES (Arrow, The Flash) and Earth: Final Conflict’s GABRIELLE STANTON (Haven, Farscape).
  • PATRICK STEWART OFF THE BRIDGE w/ Dune: A Masterpiece In Disarray author MAX EVERY as he talks about Stewart’s role in Dune as well as Excalibur, I, Claudius, X-Men and, of course, LIfeforce.
  • RAFE NEEDLEMAN’S QUIZ SHOW. The author of 1979’s beloved The Official Star Trek Trivia Book is back with all new questions pitting Trek celebrities and fans against each other with classic and all-new questions from the Trek quiz master (and Organian) himself, RAFE NEEDLEMAN.
  • TREK TOYS STORIES. Creator/Director BRIAN VOLK-WEISS (The Toys That Made Us, The Center Seat) talks about the history of Star Trek toys and picks his favorites and the most unique Trek toys ever.
  • CHRONICLING THE FINAL FRONTIER. Inspired by “The Book,” The Making of Star Trek, meet the authors of some of the greatest books ever written about the making of the series we love including MIKE & DENISE OKUDA (Star Trek Encyclopedia), LARRY NEMECEK (The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion), RYAN BRITT (Phasers On Stun), PETER HOLMSTROM (The Center Seat) and MARK A. ALTMAN (The Fifty-Year Mission).

In addition on Friday night, August 2nd, the Treksperts will be producing an exclusive staged reading of an iconic science fiction film with sci-fi and Trek stars from across the galaxy which you won’t want to miss.

“And if that’s not enough, to prove we’re all one big happy fleet, we’ve brought in some other great Star Trek podcasters to help us deliver some truly spectacular panels,” adds Altman. “Joining us will be the hysterical MATT MIRA and ANDREW SECUNDA from one of our favorite Trek podcasts, Star Trek: The Next Conversation, SCOTT MANTZ from Enterprise Incidents, and SCOTT HARDY and CAM SMITH from SpyHards doing a deep dive on ‘Our Man Bashir’ and the past and future of Section 31 who’ll also join us for our SUPER SCI-FI 79 TRIBUTE to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Black Hole and Moonraker.”

We’re still two months out from the start of this year’s Las Vegas convention, so keep your eyes on the Creation Entertainment website for more details on guest announcements, special events, and the full panel schedule (which will be available in late July).

In the meantime, you can check out the Inglorious Treksperts podcast which drops new episodes every Thursday wherever you get your podcasts — and keep your eye on TrekCore for more news about the STLV convention as we get closer to this year’s event!

Alex Kurtzman Explains Why STARFLEET ACADEMY is Set in STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’s 32nd Century Future

TrekCore Staff
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110
Alex Kurtzman Explains Why STARFLEET ACADEMY is Set in STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’s 32nd Century Future

The next big Star Trek project coming out of the Secret Hideout empire is the Holly Hunter-fronted Star Trek: Starfleet Academy television series, a new younger-skewing live-action production set in the late 32nd century.
 
That time period — first introduced in Star Trek: Discovery’s third season — is nearly 900 years beyond the more-familiar settings of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Lower Decks, and Star Trek: Picard.
 
An era rocked by a century-long energy crisis after The Burn decimated intergalactic travel and massive destruction by Species 10-C’s dark matter anomaly, the Federation was stretched to a near-breaking point until the Discovery crew arrived and helped Starfleet rebuild its Alpha Quadrant alliances.
 

Alex Kurtzman, captain of the STAR TREK UNIVERSE. (Photo: Paramount+)

We learned in March that the upcoming Starfleet Academy show will be set in that same era (after the events of Discovery’s just-finished final season), and that choice to continue 32nd century storytelling has been a controversial one with fans who might otherwise prefer a return to the Star Trek: Picard-era 25th century.

Franchise boss Alex Kurtzman  — who will be directing the first two episodes of Starfleet Academy — went into detail about why Academy was designed for the far, far future in a new interview with the LA Times published today, explaining exactly why he and his team decided to explore the lives of future Starfleet officers in the Discovery future.

“There’s a specific reason for [the 32nd century setting]. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid.

 

My thinking was, if we set “Starfleet Academy” in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now. It’ll be a nice fantasy, but it’s not really going to be authentic. What’ll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on “Star Trek: Discovery,” where the Federation was greatly diminished.

 

So they’re the first who’ll inherit, who’ll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasn’t room for that during the Burn — everybody was playing defense. It’s an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; it’s a very funny show, and it’s a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.”

In addition to sharing this insight into the show’s timeframe, Kurtzman also reiterated that while the Academy itself will return to the traditional San Francisco setting, the series will be both “Earth-based” and “space-based” as their team is working to design “San Francisco [of] the 32nd century.”

He also concluded the interview without spoiling anything else for the Star Trek Universe’s future… but did hint that there “are a couple of surprises coming up” for the franchise.

Keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest Starfleet Academy news!

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