Akiva Goldsman Discusses His Vision For Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Akiva Goldsman, the main creator behind the upcoming Star Trek: Strenge New Worlds series on CBS All Access, recently discussed his vision for the show.
The show is expected to take place in the 10 years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Goldsman spoke with Variety where he explained he plans to take the show back to “classical ‘Trek’ values.”
Related: Star Trek Announces Discovery Spin-Off Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
He stated, “We’re going to try to harken back to some classical ‘Trek’ values, to be optimistic, and to be more episodic.”
However, he does note the show won’t be completely episodic as they will still embrace serialized storytelling. He explains, “Obviously, we will take advantage of the serialized nature of character and story building. But I think our plots will be more closed-ended than you’ve seen in either ‘Discovery’ or ‘Picard.'”
Goldsman went on to explain that he imagines his new show being similar to The Original Series as opposed to Deep Space Nine, “I imagine it to be closer to the original series than even ‘DS9.'”
He added, “We can really tell closed-ended stories. We can find ourselves in episodes that are tonally of a piece.”
Goldsman went on to explain how they will explore a combination of serialized and episodic storytelling citing The Original Series “The City on the Edge of Forever” episode, “I think one thing that we always struggled with [as fans] was that Kirk is heartbroken at the loss of Edith Keeler in ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ and has to be just fine the next week.”
He continued, “I think what we would want to do is keep the characters having moved through and recognizing the experiences they’ve had in previous episodes, but to be able to tell contained, episodic stories.”
Goldsman also indicated they will explore shore leave episodes, “It’s hard to do a shore-leave episode in the middle of a long, serialized arc.”
While the show will spin out of Star Trek: Discovery and will feature the return of Anson Mount as Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock, and Rebecca Romijn as Number One, the characters will have matured says Peck.
He explained, “It’ll be a whole new challenge for me as an actor portraying Spock because you’ve had this transformation. I can’t wait to see what we explore.”
As for what they might explore, Peck was open to the idea of pon farr, “I really have no idea, but I would think it’s a strong possibility.”
For those unfamiliar, Spock explains that pon farr is the time of mating for the Vulcans that is shrouded in secrecy and ancient rituals. There are also some major side-effects to this time as well as Spock notes it rips the logic from the Vulcans. He adds that it “brings a madness which rips away our veneer of civilization.”
Peck also explains this is the best time for Star Trek because of the show’s ideology, “I don’t think that there’s ever been a better time for ‘Star Trek,’ because of its ideology. It’s all about coming together and using the ways that we’re different from one another for the advantage of people as a whole.”
Related: Jonathan Frakes Hints At What Viewers Can Expect From Season 3 Of Star Trek: Discovery
As for when the show might actually go into production, Goldsman admitted he was clueless, telling Variety he has “no idea.”
What do you make of Goldsman’s vision?
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