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Star Trek: Discovery's Season 2 Trailer Teases Spock, Christopher Pike, and Tig Notaro (theverge.com)
CBS has released a "Season Two Premiere" for Star Trek Discovery, offering the first look at the upcoming season of the show on CBS All Access. The first season launched late last year and finished up in February after a brief hiatus. The Verge reports of what to expect from the upcoming season, which is expected to premiere sometime in early 2019: [It] appears to begin with Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) coming aboard and taking control of the USS Discovery after a series of mysterious "red bursts" are detected, simultaneously spread out across 30,000 light years. Burnham later claims "Spock is linked to these signals." New series guest star Tig Notaro makes a very Tig Notaro joke, Pike encourages the crew to "have a little fun," Tilly yells about "the power of math" -- a good time, in other words. (After all, the whole thing is set the tune of Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away," so you know it's real.) Bonus: at the end we meet another, very sniffly alien Discovery crew member, proving Saru and the bridge androids aren't the sole non-humans aboard the ship, as we once feared. At the Discovery panel at San Diego Comic Con's Hall H, a new Star Trek series was announced, called Star Trek: Short Treks. It is "a series of monthly short-form stories that will function like bonus content and air on CBS All Access in conjunction with the larger Star Trek: Discovery series," reports The Verge. "CBS says Short Treks, which will air in installments of about 10 to 15 minutes, is 'an opportunity for deeper storytelling and exploration of key characters and themes that fit into... the expanding Star Trek universe.'"
The youtube video linked is region restricted. A trailer/sneak peek. Restricted. What the actual fuck?
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I was so excited for another star trek. Then I realized the fundamental mistake, the core problem of this (and it was shared by scott bacula's enterprise) THEY DO NOT DO ONE OFF STORIES!
The franchise made its money by having a theme but each story can stand on its own which was what made the after market dvd's etc so worthwhile and what made the re-runs so great.
If you want a story arc, that is what star wars is for, if you want short stories that is supposed to be the domain of star trek.
Beyond the absolute abuse of Star Trek lore that was Star Trek: Discovery, the real problem with Star Trek is the lack of respect for the ideals of the series. I'd say it started as soon as Star Trek: DS9 where the Federation was presented as a cult and something that drives towards homogeny. That's something that Star Trek: Discovery actually gets right, but they ignore the actual reason.
To draw a car analogy, people didn't adopt cars because they were forced on people. Cars (and automotive technology in general) greatly improve the overall happiness and well-being of society because it spurs trade and exchange, not only of goods at the global level but really at every step along the way because it provides a vital link in the network of trade. The same for trains and planes.
By the same metric, the Federations policy of non-interference and cooperative self-defense and advancement inherently encourages the adoption of their policies and a desire to work with, associate, and eventually join their organization. The anti-theses of these, in the form of the Klingons and the Romulans, represent competition, war, and strife as a means to achieving their ends as a FOIL to present how those who engage in such activities will actively take what they feel they need if times are difficult; really no one is willing to simply give up and die when it's shown that working within the confines of their territory with their efforts can fail to meet their needs.
Of course, that which the Federation represents is akin to something like Socialism/Communism/Libertarianism, but it's a TV show and no real serious effort has been put into how you avoid all the pitfalls of empowering anyone to a position where they'd actually manage the resources in a reasonable fashion. At least some effort has been made, though, in suggesting the Vulcans with their logic were at least heavily instrumental in first establishing such a system on Earth and those of Starfleet (except Admirals/Statesmen as story necessary) being pinnacles of virtue which strive to best represent the idles of the Federation not only in word but in action.
And basically, out of some view of naivety shows since DS9 have either went the SJW route to the absurd (Voyager is exceptionally guilty of this) or going the exact opposite route (DS9's Sikso, Section 31, the whole Delphic Expanse part of Enterprise, Discovery, etc). Of course, plenty of technobabble has been used to paper it over.
The necessary evil of it all is used to justify what is done. That's precisely the opposite of the core idealism that is Star Trek.
Full disclosure: I rather enjoyed the first season, certainly not perfect but the strongest season one of any Star Trek series.
I can't understand the wish for the writers to keep linking back so heavily to the existing characters though... Star Wars is having this problem too. The universe just seems smaller when they keep bumping into the same people. Haven't we seen enough of Spock through the decades, the character has been very well explored? The best parts of Discovery have been the new characters, when we spend time with them its interesting and fun. We don't need to keep linking back.