New RetroZapper Beth Keithly reviews the Star Trek: Discovery first-look trailer.
In the interest of full disclosure, if you had told me a week ago, I would ever get a trailer for Star Trek: Discovery, I would not have believed you. In fact, a week ago, I assumed the next thing I heard about the show was its cancellation. News about the show, scheduled to come out this fall on CBS All Access, is mixed. For every report on quality casting there has been some awful news signaling a show with serious problems. In fact, why the show is on CBS All Access contains controversy. Between this and the network’s handling of Supergirl, CBS has demonstrated a weird attitude towards what they call “genre television” but that is a different topic for a different day.
Besides, a trailer exists and Star Trek fans have a show.
This first look trailer was released on Wednesday, two days after a teaser trailer for The Orville, a FOX series spoofing Star Trek by Seth MacFarlane and John Favreau received enthusiastic response. Among some of the Trek fandom, The Orville may not be the Star Trek fans deserve, but it was Star Trek and fans needed some. Fortunately, despite the timeline, the Star Trek: Discovery trailer does not look thrown together as a response to remind fans of the official Star Trek television show in the works. This is sleek and visually lovely trailer, with a very modern look but still anchored enough in Trek to seem familiar to fans.
Trailer summary
So, what is in the trailer? First Officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green, Walking Dead) and Captain Phillippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) channeling Rey on Jakku (oh, come on, you thought it too) appear first. According to Captain Georgiou, it is time Burnham got her own ship and there just happens to be a really cool one coming out of a sand cloud for them to beam up to. But before Burnham can become a captain, the crew gets into a dispute with the Klingon Empire. This tracks, as it is a decade before Captain Kirk joins the Enterprise, so the Klingons are the Federation’s main enemy. What is happening in those scenes is not clear, but the Klingons look angry and ready to fight about it.
Vulcans among them
Not fighting, but talking a lot, is Ambassador Sarek (James Frain from Orphan Black), best known as Spock’s father. Based on those clips and some of Burnham’s speech patterns, I echo the speculation from Variety that she is a human raised by Vulcans. Based on the line “you will never learn Vulcan. Your tongue is too human,” it seems audiences are going to get a front seat to Burnham’s self-esteem issues. It is nice knowing the cause up front, but I don’t need my main character to be emotionally damaged. As a viewer of Star Trek, I have seen Sarek as a bad father plenty of times. I do not need to see him as an overly critical and dismissive mentor.
There is a lot to see that I did need. The special effects look sharp and they, as well as some of the lightening and camera work, are consistent with the recent films. The starship bridge is high tech and interesting, although there is no view of Discovery or its captain. The uniforms appear Starfleet issue, except they are predominately blue, thus ending the days of the “red shirt.” This is both good and bad.
Discovery’s mixed bag
“Both good and bad” is my overall reaction to the trailer. For all I was geeking out seeing Vulcans, Klingons, warp nacelles, and old-school transporter effects, the entire trailer was darker than Star Trek usually portrays itself. There was a sense of discovery but also a sense of terror. There was a sense the Federation comes in peace (Captain Georgiou explains Starfleet doesn’t shoot first) but a sense peace might be a weak choice (First Office Burnham says it is probably time Starfleet did shoot first).
Science Officer Lt. Saru (Doug Jones, Hellboy) best embodies the trailer’s dark tone. He is a member of an alien species “biologically determined” to sense approaching death. So, I took him off my “crew members to have coffee with” list. The Leonard “Bones” McCoy equivalent character, the emotional heart of the show, is missing from this trailer. I really want that character to be important enough to get screen time.
Final thoughts on Discovery
The trailer ends with the familiar notes of the Star Trek score and the Starfleet insignia. This leaves me with more optimism about Star Trek: Discovery than I have ever had. However, I doubt this is the show that gets my children, and members of their generation, into Star Trek. In the interest of full disclosure, I have always known I was going to watch it. I just think I may be watching it solo.
Beth Keithly is a graduate from The University of Missouri’s School of Journalism and works on grant development at a North Texas university. She is a fan of most science fiction and fantasy, especially Star Wars, Star Trek, Supernatural, DC comics and the Arrowverse, and the Marvel movieverse. When she is not teaching her children about her fandoms and the importance of a quality pen, she is reading, running or discussing fictional universes and their impacts on reality with her husband. She is @beth_keithly on Twitter.