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Star Trek: Discovery Showrunners Reveal Some Storyline

Jason Isaacs as Captain Lorca

Star Trek: Discovery Showrunners Reveal Some Storyline

We’ve seen the trailers and the pictures, but do we really know what CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery is all about? Not really. Until now, that is. Showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg are still keeping a lot of the show’s details close to the chest, but they were willing to part with some of the series’ plot concerning Sonequa Martin-Green’s character, who is a Starfleet First Officer and the first human to attend the Vulcan Science Academy.

“Burnham [has] spent a lot of time on Vulcan, but she’s human,” Harberts said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “Sarek [Spock’s father, played by James Frain] plays an important role in her life, which has been completely planned until she makes a very difficult choice that sends her life on a very different path. When we meet her, she’s the First Officer on the Starship Shenzhou [captained by Philippa Georgiou, played by Michelle Yeoh]. And Burnham’s choice that we’re alluding to is most difficult choice you can make — it affects her, affects Starfleet, affects the Federation, it affects the entire universe. That choice leads her to a different ship, the Discovery [helmed by Captain Lorca, played by Jason Isaacs] and there we begin what Gretchen and I call our ‘second pilot.’”

Burnham, played by Martin-Green is the first Star Trek lead who is not a captain. Yes, I know Sisko in Deep Space 9 is also technically not a captain, but he commanded a space station and not a ship.

“The joy is in the journey,” Berg replied. “The advantage to her not being in charge of the bridge right now is we get to tell stories from a very different point of view. It’s a fresh feeling because we’re not on the bridge all the time. We get access to more parts of the ship.”

Harberts and Berg also confirmed that there will be Klingons. A lot of them. Who aren’t very friendly this season.

When asked which Star Trek movies or series influenced them the most in making Discovery, Berg replied that there is a hint of all them in the mix. “[B]ut in the writers’ room people are so in love with The Original Series and Next Generation, and they talk about the family aspect of those cast members,” Berg said.

“I think Nicholas Myer’s films are a touchstone,” added Harberts, “and not just because he’s been on staff with us. His storytelling is complex and intellectual and yet there’s a lot of room for character voices and character work, he’s done such an incredible job with the franchise. In terms of scope and scale, there’s something about Star Trek: The Motion Picture that really speaks to us as well. CBS has allowed us to find a cinematic language that’s wider in scope — our aspect ratio is 2:1 — and it just lends itself to a very lyrical way of telling the story. And just visually speaking, there’s also a little hint in terms of what J.J. Abrams did, a little bit, in terms of some of the visuals.”

Star Trek: Discovery will debut Sunday, September 24, 2017 first on CBS, and then on the CBS All Access streaming service for the rest of the season. Internationally, the series will appear on Netflix.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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Christina E. Janke

Christina is the co-host of “Intro to Geek” on Shauncastic and Editor-in-Chief at Agents of Geek. Her love of all things Mass Effect knows no bounds. She also carries an obsession with comic books, video games, and quirky television shows. Her heroes are Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Gail Simone. She hopes to be just like them when she grows up.