Are you ready for Star Trek: Discovery to go live? It has been twelve years since there was a Star Trek series on the air. That followed a full eight year stretch of continuous Star Trek television shows. So let us look at seven things you may not know about Star Trek: Discovery to get you fully prepared for when the show goes live on September 24!
7. The Klingons Are Not United
For those of us used to a united Klingon Empire this comes as an interesting point. The Klingons in Discovery are not united under one Chancellor and council as we’ve previously seen in multiple Star Trek shows. They are governed by houses, all of which are in different sectors of space. Very similar to the dynamic of the Japanese feudal lords and European noble houses of centuries past. With no real central government, how can the Federation deal with the Klingons as a whole? This smells like an interesting plot development.
6. We’re In The Alpha Timeline
Many fans were worried about which timeline the show would occupy. A lot of this fear was based on the makeup of the interior of the ships and technology. We know officially that we will see a show that is based on the much-beloved Alpha timeline. The Alpha timeline is the one in which over forty years of Star Trek television and movies are based on!
5. The First Show To Truly Tie-in Comics And Books
Star Trek: Discovery will be followed by a novel and comic series. This is the first time ever that a Star Trek television show will bring together its novel, comic, and TV show in the same story line. The Star Trek: Discovery Desperate Hours novel will take place a year before the events of the show. The comic will focus more on the backstory of the Klingons, who play an important role in Discovery.
4. Klingon Ridges Are Now Biologically Explained
In the past, Star Trek television shows really didn’t go into much detail on the reasoning behind why some aliens looked the way they did. In Discovery, it will be explained why Klingons have their forehead ridges and it all plays to a combat advantage.
Discovery will also most likely explore why Kingons of the 24th century had long hair. Since they’re known for their ability in battle, one cannot help but assume that they would want to minimize any disadvantage possible.
3. Long-form Story Telling
Most episodes of Star Trek, no matter which series it might be, normally focused on single episode story arcs. On the rare occasion some arcs would span multiple episodes. Discovery will be very different. Instead of single episode arcs, we will be seeing storylines drawn out over multiple episodes. You might say the Dinimon War story line from Deep Space Nine had long-form storytelling. Yes, I would agree that it was a type of long-form story telling with an arc that spanned multiple seasons. However, it wasn’t the main format of Deep Space Nine. This is a major departure from other shows within the Trek universe. The goal according to Executive Producer Akiva Goldsman is:
… It’s long-form character storytelling.
2. Ten Years Before Kirk
Discovery is set 10 years before the voyage of Kirk’s Enterprise. This sets the show in between both Star Trek TOS and Star Trek Enterprise. Believe it or not, there is a lot of stories there. There were two major wars, both of which had lasting consequences for all of the past series. Those wars included one against the Klingons and the other against the Romulans. As we’ve seen so far it looks like the war against the Klingons will be a major focal point of this first season.
1. The Lead Actor Isn’t The Commanding Officer!
This is huge. In every Star Trek show and even movie, the lead has also been the commanding officer and normally the captain of the star ship. In Star Trek: Discovery that changes. In this series, the focus will be a female Lieutenant Commander named Michael Burnham. Through her eyes we will get to see a new view of Star Trek and the decisions made by senior officers. From that perspective, we see how the Captains of the USS Discovery and USS Shenzhou work to explore the galaxy.
Star Trek: Discovery airs on CBS All Access, CBS’ brand new streaming service, on September 24, 2017.
What do you think, are you excited for Star Trek: Discovery to go live? What do you think about all these changes? There is a lot for sure! Sound off in the comments section below.