Star Trek: Discovery

Here's a wild theory: Sarcophagus in 'Klingon Sarcophagus Ship' implies that this ship is some kind of coffin of course, but the word recalls nothing to mind as much as the Pharaohs of Egypt - what if the Klingon Sarcophagus Ship is the tomb of a Klingon Emperor?

In Trek's canon, the Klingons had emperors for over a thousand years, ending in the early 21st century, by which point they'd had warp drive for around a century give or take so it's possible this is the tomb of a late period Klingon Emperor (or an earlier non-warp capable tomb.) If the series was set much later in the old continuity, this could be the tomb of Kahless's clone, the ceremonial emperor who was installed during the Next Generation.

It could of course also be somehow the tomb of the actual Kahless, though that doesn't quite track with what we know of his disappearance he is a sufficiently legendary figure in Klingon lore to befit such an elaborate tomb. It could be the tomb of many emperors (which again makes me think of Lexx, which early on had an entire room of the ship which just had the many still-living brains of past hosts of His Divine Shadow.)

And of course it could be some other kind of Klingon emperor if we assume the canon rulebook's out the window but either way that's my guess.

Further details have Fuller deny the rumour that the show is an anthology, or is set around the Undiscovered Country era.

He also says that the series will have 'new crews' because of its serialised one-story format - which leads me to wonder if this isn't a kind of ship-hopping narrative, like how the first Star Trek movie went from the Klingons to an outpost to the Enterprise dealing with the same problem, but if it divided its time more evenly between the different groups.

He has also not ruled out the possibility of old characters returning, which is pretty awesome.

But what if the new season was called The Star Trek: Ships, and it was like the Cars and Planes movies in that the Starfleet ships were sentient and had faces on the main disc thingy of the ships, and there were no humans or aliens or robots or Borgs or Qs or disembodied hands materialized by the actual god Apollo or other god beings, but just sentient Starfleet ships (and sentient Romulan, Klingon, etc. ships for antagonists), and one of them was voiced by Larry the Cable guy? So it turns out that the ships aren't designed to look like race cars, they were just inspired by the concept behind the Pixar Cars universe. Would that placate your ship-design concerns?

What about if Fuller announced that he'd scrapped the racecar-inspired ship idea in favor of an entirely different series called The Star Trek: Assignment: Earth, which he says in interviews was a decision made solely to save money on the pilot, since he could just reuse the TOS episode "Assignment: Earth" instead of having to make his own pilot, and the series is just about that guy with the cat and his 1960s secretary, and apart from Kirk's TOS Enterprise in the 49 year old back door pilot, no Starfleet ships ever show up at all? Would that preferable to racecar-esque ships?

One open question about the new Star Trek - and one directly relevant to me - is who will have it outside of the United States.

Late last month, the entirety of the Star Trek TV series showed up on Netflix in my country and many others. This has made my franchise rewatch easier (just started season four of Deep Space Nine and season two of Voyager as of this post) but it also gave me hope that it may be indicative of a broader deal with CBS and Netflix.

And I was right.

For everywhere outside of the US and Canada, Netflix is Star Trek TV's new home. Presumably this means the episodes will be available the day after their US release, which is how Netflix has handled such American shows as Better Call Saul, From Dusk Till Dawn and Orphan Black for foreign audiences like yours truly.

Anyway, Bryan Fuller is moderating a panel featuring one star from each Star Trek show (William Shatner, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Jeri Ryan and Scott Bakula) on the 23rd, this Saturday. Presumably, given he has said he will reveal more at Comic Con, that's where he will do it.


The Captain Proton holodeck setting was introduced in an episode co-written by Joe Menosky, and made the subject of a whole episode co-written by Bryan Fuller. It's my favourite holodeck setting in Star Trek. I'm not saying Menosky and Fuller will bring it back, obviously, but this is the kind of mildly self-aware touch to Trek humour I really appreciate.

As you may note from the title change, the name of the show has been revealed: Star Trek: Discovery. Also, the starship:

This bears more than a passing resemblance to Ralph McQuarrie's design for the Enterprise back in the 1970s (including the idea of coming from an asteroid):

I like the name. I support TrekCore's plea for the abbreviation to be DSC.

No real opinion on the ship design. I've never really cared too much about ship design. That's not my area of Trek geekery. I will care a lot more about the interior design, though.

Wait, what? Source? From the Comic-Con panel?

Please, please, please, please, please be true.

I agree, 'DIS' makes me think of Death.

Thanks!

I don't even care if it is set pre-timeline split. I want nothing more to do with JJ Trek timeline.

The registry number of the ship definitely makes it seem like early in the Trek timeline.

Also, yeah, DIS seems a lousy abbreviation. Don't want anything to do with "STD" or DIS". I think DSC" works really well, though.

I'm so happy about everything that is happening right now and that ship is gorgeous and yes primeline and OH GOD SO EXCITED.

Optimistic for a Bryan Fuller series.

Soon to be filming in Toronto's finest warehouses. Though I admit there's a decent amount of outdoor scenery within driving distance, and of course Toronto is nothing if not adept in pretending to be anything but itself. We probably won't ever see that one Star Trek canyon again, though. I do know someone who works as an extra and she says the community in TO is excited for the probable new jobs coming in. She also was an alien in Defiance and a jilted date on Orphan Black, plus she will get cussed out by Tom Jane on season 2 of The Expanse, so she's an old hand in standing in the background of science fiction shows.

Anyway, I'm cautiously optimistic for this new show. I'm feeling put out about the crap streaming situation, but I guess I can hook up my laptop to my TV and watch from the show's website.

Hey, at least Ireland shows up in anime. Meanwhile, goddamn Edmonton gets blown up in Gundam. Dammit, Japan, I thought you liked Scott Pilgrim! Toronto also has soulless urban developments you can destroy!