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from the so-many-spinoffs-I'm-getting-dizzy dept.
CBS is launching a new Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds, which will be a TOS prequel set prior to Kirk assuming command of the Enterprise. As in season 2 of Discovery, the new series will feature Anson Mount as Captain Pike, Rebecca Romjin as Number One, and Ethan Peck as Spock. Discovery has been polarizing for Star Trek fans with many fans criticizing the writing of both Discovery and Picard, saying it deviated from the defining characteristics of Star Trek. Despite the criticisms, Mount's portrayal of Pike in Discovery was generally received well. The story for the pilot will be developed by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet, the first two of which are executive producers of Discovery. Because filming of TV shows has generally been halted by COVID-19, it is not known when the series will film or premiere on CBS' streaming service.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Saturday May 16 2020, @02:39PM (1 child)
A better investment in new Star Trek series would be to fund the people who produced the fan episodes [youtube.com] a few years back. They were pitch perfect.
That's the Trek I'd like to see.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 16 2020, @06:19PM
If SNW is done in a similar manner to Continues, it could be quite good. They were filling the gap between Turnabout Intruder and The Motion Picture, so there were well-defined starting and ending points from canon. This is similar, with the starting point being shortly after The Cage and the ending point shown in The Menagerie. Provided they don't go too crazy trying to fill the gap with new ideas that aren't from canon, there is an opportunity for a good show.
TOS Klingons were intended to represent the Soviet Union and, in this series, could similarly represent China now. There could certainly be some interesting stories and some longer story arcs about the rising tensions between the Klingon Empire and the Federation.
Enterprise was providing some backstory prior to the war between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire, first with the cloaked mine field and the bird of prey, then with the drone ships. SNW could do something similar to Enterprise, possibly to explain why a Bird of Prey was sent to attack the Federation outposts in Balance of Terror. As with the drone ships in Enterprise, the characters can't be aware if they're encountering Romulans, but the audience could be aware. Perhaps there could be Romulan spies infiltrating the Federation, which might explain Stiles' paranoia about Spock being a Romulan spy.
If they stick to stories that could plausibly be part of canon, the series could be quite good. The problem is that Kurtzman and Goldsman seem unlikely to stick to canon. A year or so ago when there were petitions for a Pike series, it was reported that Anson Mount was interested, but only if he had some creative control. If this actually happens and it takes away control from Kurtzman and Goldsman, perhaps we'll get something that is a bit more recognizable as Star Trek.