U.S.S Discovery
July 24, 2016 1:45 PM Subscribe
First look at the new Star Trek ship, USS Discovery. Mirror for those who get the unavailable message. [via Reddit Star Trek sub. Threads 1, 2]
Seven things we know about the new Star Trek.
posted by octothorpe at 1:51 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 1:51 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I love most of Ralph's work, but this design is wretched.
(Rest assured I was on the Internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.)
Anyone who griped about the Enterprise in the new films better be apoplectic over this one. If anyone other than Bryan Fuller were in charge of the show, I would be predicting a profound flop. Right now, it's more of "Huh, I wonder how he's going to pull this off."
posted by entropicamericana at 2:01 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
(Rest assured I was on the Internet within minutes registering my disgust throughout the world.)
Anyone who griped about the Enterprise in the new films better be apoplectic over this one. If anyone other than Bryan Fuller were in charge of the show, I would be predicting a profound flop. Right now, it's more of "Huh, I wonder how he's going to pull this off."
posted by entropicamericana at 2:01 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Usually when they unveil a new starship, the music is filled with awe and wonder. This was sort of...foreboding?
posted by cazoo at 2:02 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by cazoo at 2:02 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
I trust Fuller, I just don't want to pay for yet another streaming service to watch it.
posted by octothorpe at 2:02 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 2:02 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
Did someone unfreeze whoever did the first-season Babylon 5 CGI for this?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 2:04 PM on July 24, 2016 [12 favorites]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 2:04 PM on July 24, 2016 [12 favorites]
Hoping that's just an early test rendering.
posted by octothorpe at 2:16 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by octothorpe at 2:16 PM on July 24, 2016
Surely this slightly modified combination of basic polyhedra tells us much indeed about the forthcoming entertainment product
posted by RogerB at 2:16 PM on July 24, 2016 [18 favorites]
posted by RogerB at 2:16 PM on July 24, 2016 [18 favorites]
Awww, yeah. Prime Universe is back, bitches.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:18 PM on July 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:18 PM on July 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
Hm. Not bad, though a bit like what might happen if you rammed the old Enterprise into an Imperial Star Destroyer.
I'm not much of a Trek person so forgive me if the answer is obvious, but does the very low number of the ship (NCC-1031) give any clue to the timeline?
posted by rokusan at 2:19 PM on July 24, 2016
I'm not much of a Trek person so forgive me if the answer is obvious, but does the very low number of the ship (NCC-1031) give any clue to the timeline?
posted by rokusan at 2:19 PM on July 24, 2016
(Also, I'd still like to see what Jony Ive would do with an Enterprise.)
posted by rokusan at 2:20 PM on July 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by rokusan at 2:20 PM on July 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
I feels like they just strapped a saucer section on to an old Bird of Prey model.
posted by Avelwood at 2:25 PM on July 24, 2016 [31 favorites]
posted by Avelwood at 2:25 PM on July 24, 2016 [31 favorites]
Given recent trends, I'm sure it gets destroyed in every episode.
posted by furtive at 2:28 PM on July 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by furtive at 2:28 PM on July 24, 2016 [6 favorites]
It does really look like Bird of prey meets enterprise. Perhaps it's a joint Klingon/human mission! I mean, it won't be but I can dream.
posted by triage_lazarus at 2:29 PM on July 24, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by triage_lazarus at 2:29 PM on July 24, 2016 [8 favorites]
Well, I like it.
posted by Pendragon at 2:29 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Pendragon at 2:29 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Did the Enterprise just mate with a Bird of Prey? Kinda weird looking.
I'm more worried about the tone/feel of the series than the CGI ship, though.
posted by nubs at 2:33 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm more worried about the tone/feel of the series than the CGI ship, though.
posted by nubs at 2:33 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
Needs more Cylon.
More triangle, less circle.
posted by Fizz at 2:40 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
More triangle, less circle.
posted by Fizz at 2:40 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I wish the production designers would borrow a page from auto makers, like the designers of the newish Mustangs, Thunderbirds, Challengers, Chargers, Hemi Cudas, etc. Make a new starship that was respectful and reminiscent of the original lines and color scheme [insert relevant Scotty 'no bloody ABCD' quote here], yet also clearly modern.
posted by KHAAAN! at 2:41 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by KHAAAN! at 2:41 PM on July 24, 2016
Perhaps it's a joint Klingon/human mission! I mean, it won't be but I can dream.
Perhaps? Between the ship design and some of the music cues, I'm sensing some Klingon influence.
posted by nubs at 2:43 PM on July 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
Perhaps? Between the ship design and some of the music cues, I'm sensing some Klingon influence.
posted by nubs at 2:43 PM on July 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
I like it too.
I trust Fuller, I just don't want to pay for yet another streaming service to watch it.
This looks like CBS trying to come up with a tent-pole show to lure people to their streaming service, because seriously, who would pay for a CBS-only streaming service. I assume it's also what they're going to do with the CW shows that are getting pulled from Hulu.
I predict all that will happen is people will torrent the shit out of this and iZombie and the DC shows and call it a day. There is zero chance I'd pay for one network service at a time unless they were like a buck a month each, especially not a network with no real gotta-see shows. I doubt I'm in the minority there. I might buy a season of this Trek on iTunes if others told me it was really worth the money.
posted by middleclasstool at 2:46 PM on July 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
I trust Fuller, I just don't want to pay for yet another streaming service to watch it.
This looks like CBS trying to come up with a tent-pole show to lure people to their streaming service, because seriously, who would pay for a CBS-only streaming service. I assume it's also what they're going to do with the CW shows that are getting pulled from Hulu.
I predict all that will happen is people will torrent the shit out of this and iZombie and the DC shows and call it a day. There is zero chance I'd pay for one network service at a time unless they were like a buck a month each, especially not a network with no real gotta-see shows. I doubt I'm in the minority there. I might buy a season of this Trek on iTunes if others told me it was really worth the money.
posted by middleclasstool at 2:46 PM on July 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
Ralph McQuarrie's concept art for a Star Trek movie in 1976-1977 - check out the asteroid base.
It's a smart choice, I guess - get to use one of the best concept artist of all time because you already have his stuff. It's worked out for Star Wars: Rebels.
posted by Artw at 2:47 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's a smart choice, I guess - get to use one of the best concept artist of all time because you already have his stuff. It's worked out for Star Wars: Rebels.
posted by Artw at 2:47 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Rokusan, I'm sure they can fudge the numbers however they like, but there's a lot of time between Enterprise and TOS ripe for mining. Now that the TOS-era has been reinvigorated by the Abramsverse, retro is cool again. Maybe the clunky look of the starship is purposeful, in that it's supposed to look more primitive than the Enterprise. Given that the producers (in the article octothorpe linked to) are saying all the right things, I'm cautiously hopeful!
posted by rikschell at 2:53 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by rikschell at 2:53 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm not much of a Trek person so forgive me if the answer is obvious, but does the very low number of the ship (NCC-1031) give any clue to the timeline?
Ooh, I like this idea. Memory Alpha list of NCC registries.
The 1000's look like they're mostly around the original series era, but also kind of all over the place.
posted by figurant at 2:54 PM on July 24, 2016
Ooh, I like this idea. Memory Alpha list of NCC registries.
The 1000's look like they're mostly around the original series era, but also kind of all over the place.
posted by figurant at 2:54 PM on July 24, 2016
Why is it so foreboding? The music and grim lighting... aren't these the good guys? Where's the party? There should be a space princess breaking a champagne bottle on the hull, streamers, bunting, families waving at their loved ones at the beginning of their space adventure. Maybe a brass band. The captain giving the horn a jolly toot as they pull out of the drive way.
No. This just seems sinister.
posted by adept256 at 3:10 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
No. This just seems sinister.
posted by adept256 at 3:10 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
The Enterprise-D was an uglier looking ship than this, but we grew to like it.
I like this new ship. I prefer the flat Starfleet vessels where the saucer and engineering sections and nacelles line up with each other, like Voyager and Defiant and those ships from the First Contact battle.
posted by riruro at 3:21 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I like this new ship. I prefer the flat Starfleet vessels where the saucer and engineering sections and nacelles line up with each other, like Voyager and Defiant and those ships from the First Contact battle.
posted by riruro at 3:21 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
So maybe a Klingon ship and a Federation ship from the 23rd century battled, got sucked into a wormhole and tossed into another galaxy where they both crashed into an asteroid, but luckily not before their crews escaped into a habitable nearby planet. After 80 years or so they finally worked together and rebuilt enough tech to stitch together a Frankenship from the debris?
posted by Pryde at 3:35 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by Pryde at 3:35 PM on July 24, 2016
It looks fine to me but it's no Battlestar.
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:35 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by turbid dahlia at 3:35 PM on July 24, 2016
It's Official: Star Trek Discovery Visual Effects Department Uses Souped-Up Frontier Elite Engine.
posted by phphph at 3:41 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by phphph at 3:41 PM on July 24, 2016
The best starship is the refit Constitution-class and if you disagree, may your Engineering section be infested by tribbles.
posted by entropicamericana at 3:41 PM on July 24, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 3:41 PM on July 24, 2016 [5 favorites]
I think "triangle" isn't quite right -- it's an Enterprise merged with a Flying V. Clearly, this is meant to show that it rocks.
posted by Zonker at 3:47 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Zonker at 3:47 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
It looks too simple. If you're advanced enough to build a spaceship, you're probably advanced enough to get past the geometric primitives and start using things like bezier curves at the very least. This design feels childish.
posted by fatbird at 3:48 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by fatbird at 3:48 PM on July 24, 2016
It's kind of funny that lots of fan artists have been borrowing this exact design from McQuarrie for decades.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:05 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:05 PM on July 24, 2016
The Starship Roulette Wheel? Okay, but no holodeck, right? Please.
posted by ridgerunner at 4:05 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by ridgerunner at 4:05 PM on July 24, 2016
I am firmly and entirely on board. I love the design--it feels just enough "off" to me as the Next Gen Enterprise D design did when that show first premiered to feel exciting and strange. I am thrilled to be back in the prime universe, and I trust Bryan Fuller.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 4:08 PM on July 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by UltraMorgnus at 4:08 PM on July 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
I feels like they just strapped a saucer section on to an old Bird of Prey model.
Beat me to it, but this was my first thought. I gave up on the tv series after 2 episodes of Deep Space Nine though, so my opinions are rooted in ancient savagery.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:46 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Beat me to it, but this was my first thought. I gave up on the tv series after 2 episodes of Deep Space Nine though, so my opinions are rooted in ancient savagery.
posted by Devils Rancher at 4:46 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I love how the deflector dish looks really unreal...like some sort of circular double-slit experiment.
posted by sexyrobot at 5:06 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by sexyrobot at 5:06 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
Funny that a ship design can evoke such a range of emotions. As an early rendering, I like it. Very definite Klingon co-design vibe. But have they signed ANY actors to the cast yet, though?
posted by GhostintheMachine at 5:10 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by GhostintheMachine at 5:10 PM on July 24, 2016
If you don't give them a holodeck, the writers will be forced into time travel to do the Victorian Christmas Carol episode.
posted by mubba at 5:10 PM on July 24, 2016 [12 favorites]
posted by mubba at 5:10 PM on July 24, 2016 [12 favorites]
As a design, it's growing on me. And the McQuarrie Enterprise concepts were the first thing I thought of when I saw it.
posted by SansPoint at 5:15 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by SansPoint at 5:15 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
There will be no holodeck. But, every crew member is issued a device that plays The Game.
posted by hot_monster at 5:16 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by hot_monster at 5:16 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm with you, UltraMorgnus! Bold, original, exciting, strange - whatever Bryan does, it's gonna blow our preconceptions out of the water, and I am 1000% ready to strap in for this roller coaster ride and get my mind expanded, especially after reading that article octothorpe linked to. The show's going to be novelistic, unfolding chapter by chapter? Omg. Hopeful, optimistic, returning to old skool Trek's message of progressivism and idealism, a balm and a boon to our shitty xenophobic radicalized reality? Can I get a hell yah. I loved the intense music - my first thought was to hope that Brian Reitzell's involved with the scoring in some way - but I can see why a lot of people thought it was very Klingon, although I also think it could invoke Romulans. I would love if this show were about some kind of long-lost experimental joint space mission, like a US-Russia Cold War-era venture, and we got to see the different groups figure out how to work together, but with way more focus and insight into the cultures and alien-ness of the characters involved, kind of like in Farscape. And why was the ship emerging from an asteroid instead of a space dock? So many questions. I love it. The only way I could be more excited at this point is if Bryan found a way to wrangle some of the Hannibal cast on to the show. Can you imagine Gillian Anderson, Caroline Dhavernas or Gina Torres in the Trek universe? Raul Esparza?? Mads and Hugh??? We can only hope!
2017's going to be a helluva year for quality TV: Trek, BBC Sherlock season 4, American Gods, Ash vs Evil Dead season 2...wow.
posted by the thought-fox at 5:19 PM on July 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
2017's going to be a helluva year for quality TV: Trek, BBC Sherlock season 4, American Gods, Ash vs Evil Dead season 2...wow.
posted by the thought-fox at 5:19 PM on July 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
I also like it
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:35 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:35 PM on July 24, 2016
Bird of Prey
Eh, to me it looks like it was inspired more by a Vor'cha class ship.
posted by MikeKD at 5:40 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Eh, to me it looks like it was inspired more by a Vor'cha class ship.
posted by MikeKD at 5:40 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
They dug the dock into the asteroid. Its good shielding. I'm hoping they move away from the aristocratic dreadnought, cruiser navy of chamber music and amateur theater to a more workingman's tin can navy of frigates and destroyers.
posted by ridgerunner at 5:47 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ridgerunner at 5:47 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Bird of Prey
Eh, to me it looks like it was inspired more by a Vor'cha class ship.
Nah, D7 class If anything.
posted by Artw at 5:49 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Eh, to me it looks like it was inspired more by a Vor'cha class ship.
Nah, D7 class If anything.
posted by Artw at 5:49 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
we'll..someone will wreck it so they'll get a new one....how it goes w/ star trek.
posted by shockingbluamp at 5:57 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by shockingbluamp at 5:57 PM on July 24, 2016
More Star Trek, less Battlestar, please.
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:05 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:05 PM on July 24, 2016
hot_monster: "There will be no holodeck. But, every crew member is issued a device that plays The Game."
Goddammit, now I just lost the Game.
posted by Bugbread at 6:18 PM on July 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
Goddammit, now I just lost the Game.
posted by Bugbread at 6:18 PM on July 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
They probably could have considered the acronym a bit more, but I look forward to people asking if I've caught the latest STD.
posted by ckape at 6:28 PM on July 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by ckape at 6:28 PM on July 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
There will be no holodeck. But, every crew member is issued a device that plays The Game Pokemon Go.
Fixed that for you.
First time I saw someone obsessing over Pokemon Go as they walked down a city street, I flashed to that episode.
posted by Pryde at 6:41 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Fixed that for you.
First time I saw someone obsessing over Pokemon Go as they walked down a city street, I flashed to that episode.
posted by Pryde at 6:41 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I got the early season Babylon 5 graphics vibe, too. On the other hand, the underside shot about 52 seconds in seems to me to echo the IDIC.
posted by a person of few words at 6:54 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by a person of few words at 6:54 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you don't give them a holodeck, the writers will be forced into time travel actually writing.
posted by rokusan at 7:53 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by rokusan at 7:53 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
asking if I've caught the latest STD.
That's what you get for hanging on with Riker on the "pleasure planet".
posted by Artw at 7:55 PM on July 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
That's what you get for hanging on with Riker on the "pleasure planet".
posted by Artw at 7:55 PM on July 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
anyone else catch the blatant Battlestar Galactica drums music toward the end?
posted by eusebis_w_adorno at 8:01 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by eusebis_w_adorno at 8:01 PM on July 24, 2016
It looks somewhat like the Planet of the Titans concept art Enterprise but it's not the same. Looks very Klingon to me. And I do believe the sound effect at the end is a cloaking device...
I'm guess a joint Starfleet-Klingon design with the registry number being a bit of misdirection (the Klingons joined the Federation so Starfleet started the numbering system over?)
posted by Automocar at 8:02 PM on July 24, 2016
I'm guess a joint Starfleet-Klingon design with the registry number being a bit of misdirection (the Klingons joined the Federation so Starfleet started the numbering system over?)
posted by Automocar at 8:02 PM on July 24, 2016
Looking forward to the following:
Hugh Dancy as the Tormented Captain
Mads Mikkelsen as the brilliant yet possibly sociopathic Science Officer
Gillian Anderson as the remote Chief Medical Officer
Crispin Glover as the erratic Chief Engineer
Caroline Dhavernas as the Helmsman
Gina Torres as the bad ass First Officer
Kristen Chenoweth as some alien Communication Officer
Lee Pace as the Pie Maker
It will be the most glorious show ever despite having a wretched ship design.
posted by vuron at 8:18 PM on July 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
Hugh Dancy as the Tormented Captain
Mads Mikkelsen as the brilliant yet possibly sociopathic Science Officer
Gillian Anderson as the remote Chief Medical Officer
Crispin Glover as the erratic Chief Engineer
Caroline Dhavernas as the Helmsman
Gina Torres as the bad ass First Officer
Kristen Chenoweth as some alien Communication Officer
Lee Pace as the Pie Maker
It will be the most glorious show ever despite having a wretched ship design.
posted by vuron at 8:18 PM on July 24, 2016 [7 favorites]
Kid Garak.
posted by Artw at 8:27 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 8:27 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Mads Mikkelsen as the brilliant yet possibly sociopathic Science Officer
Alternately, ship's counselor.
posted by Pryde at 8:39 PM on July 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
Alternately, ship's counselor.
posted by Pryde at 8:39 PM on July 24, 2016 [4 favorites]
Seems weird that the show is supposed to premiere in January but we haven't heard any casting news yet.
posted by octothorpe at 8:45 PM on July 24, 2016
posted by octothorpe at 8:45 PM on July 24, 2016
Starships should not be ugly; they should be beautiful. This one is ugly.
posted by jabah at 9:19 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by jabah at 9:19 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm completely on board with Sci-Fi shows having "sounds in space" for creative reasons. However, I completely lost it when turning on the spotlight showing the name of the ship somehow required a noise like an old-timey stagehand flipping a giant switch.
posted by montag2k at 9:58 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by montag2k at 9:58 PM on July 24, 2016 [2 favorites]
Starships should not be ugly; they should be beautiful. This one is ugly
Continuing with my plebeian sentiment from above. I'd like to see some ships that are butt ugly industrial, form follows function, collections of spheres, cubes, spars and warp nacelles. There has to be some people that would prefer a maximum cubic meter, minimal mass type of ship.
posted by ridgerunner at 10:58 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Continuing with my plebeian sentiment from above. I'd like to see some ships that are butt ugly industrial, form follows function, collections of spheres, cubes, spars and warp nacelles. There has to be some people that would prefer a maximum cubic meter, minimal mass type of ship.
posted by ridgerunner at 10:58 PM on July 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Starships should not be ugly; they should be beautiful. This one is ugly
Engineers design starships, not wedding cakes.
posted by Brocktoon at 12:09 AM on July 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
Engineers design starships, not wedding cakes.
posted by Brocktoon at 12:09 AM on July 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
There has to be some people that would prefer a maximum cubic meter, minimal mass type of ship.
Uh...resistance is futile?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:36 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Uh...resistance is futile?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:36 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Eh, I like the new ship. I also appreciate that they're leaking tid bits like this even though there's a lot of work on rendering and such to do. I'm going to enjoy following all this (casting!?!).
I think Star Trek friends who've been bereaved since the new movies have been coming out are just too afraid to be optimistic about some potentially good new Trek. Fuller seems to get Star Trek though (he's certainly got the pedigree), and the fact that the ship and show are called "Discovery" leaves me feeling cautiously optimistic.
I also enjoyed this tweet from during their panel:
Basically everyone on the #StarTrek50 panel is doing everything but telling us they've come back in time to stop Trump.
— Chris Taylor (@FutureBoy) July 23, 2016
posted by Alex404 at 4:22 AM on July 25, 2016
I think Star Trek friends who've been bereaved since the new movies have been coming out are just too afraid to be optimistic about some potentially good new Trek. Fuller seems to get Star Trek though (he's certainly got the pedigree), and the fact that the ship and show are called "Discovery" leaves me feeling cautiously optimistic.
I also enjoyed this tweet from during their panel:
Basically everyone on the #StarTrek50 panel is doing everything but telling us they've come back in time to stop Trump.
— Chris Taylor (@FutureBoy) July 23, 2016
posted by Alex404 at 4:22 AM on July 25, 2016
So is Trump the cause of WW3 or the Eugenics Wars in the Star Trek prime universe.
I am thinking Eugenics which means Khan Noonan Singh was probably in the audience at the RNC
posted by vuron at 4:25 AM on July 25, 2016
I am thinking Eugenics which means Khan Noonan Singh was probably in the audience at the RNC
posted by vuron at 4:25 AM on July 25, 2016
I didn't see a headphone jack.
posted by srboisvert at 6:01 AM on July 25, 2016
posted by srboisvert at 6:01 AM on July 25, 2016
Maybe it's in the mirror prime universe? I might actually subscribe to their stupid service to see that...
posted by Naberius at 6:09 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Naberius at 6:09 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
That electronic "duuuuu-owwwwww" drop at the end would have been more impressive if I had not heard it over a few dozen times in the last week, perhaps half of them in the Wonder Woman trailer.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 6:36 AM on July 25, 2016
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 6:36 AM on July 25, 2016
And the "foreboding" mood likely comes from the tradition of sending percussion shopping at True Value hardware to create leitmotifs for the villains. (Yes, I realize that percussion instruments that sound like banging railroad spikes together probably cost more than my car these days.)
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 6:43 AM on July 25, 2016
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 6:43 AM on July 25, 2016
montag2k: "I'm completely on board with Sci-Fi shows having "sounds in space" for creative reasons. However, I completely lost it when turning on the spotlight showing the name of the ship somehow required a noise like an old-timey stagehand flipping a giant switch."
Yeah, I laughed at that. That light sound is sort of a pet-peeve of mine, you always hear it when you see a scene where the power goes out in the city.
posted by octothorpe at 6:51 AM on July 25, 2016
Yeah, I laughed at that. That light sound is sort of a pet-peeve of mine, you always hear it when you see a scene where the power goes out in the city.
posted by octothorpe at 6:51 AM on July 25, 2016
Rokusan--
I don't know about the ship number, but judging from the details of the ship's design, it looks like it's a contemporary of the Enterprise A (the Trek movies with the original cast). Possibly the Enterprise B (overlaps with the Enterprise A, but has mostly been unexplored in Trek movies/TV shows).
posted by adamrice at 7:16 AM on July 25, 2016
I don't know about the ship number, but judging from the details of the ship's design, it looks like it's a contemporary of the Enterprise A (the Trek movies with the original cast). Possibly the Enterprise B (overlaps with the Enterprise A, but has mostly been unexplored in Trek movies/TV shows).
posted by adamrice at 7:16 AM on July 25, 2016
Nthing those who say it looks a lot like a hybrid Federation/Romulan design. That triangular bit where the warp nacelle join the main body is just not very Federation at all.
I'm willing to give a bit of benefit of the doubt. Hopefully no totally out of place twangy county 'Murca and God and Apple Pie style intro music like Enterprise had.
posted by sotonohito at 7:34 AM on July 25, 2016
I'm willing to give a bit of benefit of the doubt. Hopefully no totally out of place twangy county 'Murca and God and Apple Pie style intro music like Enterprise had.
posted by sotonohito at 7:34 AM on July 25, 2016
I might buy the service since I'm a cord-cutter the service might be marginally cheaper than buying Discovery and Elementary a la carte through Amazon.
I'm willing to give a bit of benefit of the doubt. Hopefully no totally out of place twangy county 'Murca and God and Apple Pie style intro music like Enterprise had.
Five songs that would have been better than the Enterprise theme:
1. Yakity Sax
2. The Streetbeater
3. The Beastie Boys: Sabotage
4. Sampled slap bass remixed every episode to Phlox's cadences.
5. Too Many Cooks.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 7:43 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm willing to give a bit of benefit of the doubt. Hopefully no totally out of place twangy county 'Murca and God and Apple Pie style intro music like Enterprise had.
Five songs that would have been better than the Enterprise theme:
1. Yakity Sax
2. The Streetbeater
3. The Beastie Boys: Sabotage
4. Sampled slap bass remixed every episode to Phlox's cadences.
5. Too Many Cooks.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 7:43 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I am really really really hoping this will be good. Damn it, why do I have my hopes up?!
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:46 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:46 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I don't know about the ship number, but judging from the details of the ship's design, it looks like it's a contemporary of the Enterprise A (the Trek movies with the original cast). Possibly the Enterprise B (overlaps with the Enterprise A, but has mostly been unexplored in Trek movies/TV shows).
Engage beanplating!
I think I would push it back a bit, chronologically. The saucer looks similar to the Refit/A, but the nacelles have bubble bussard collectors similar to the TOS Enterprise. It has a navigational deflector like Refit/A, so this might possibly fall between TOS and TMP?
posted by Fleebnork at 7:51 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Engage beanplating!
I think I would push it back a bit, chronologically. The saucer looks similar to the Refit/A, but the nacelles have bubble bussard collectors similar to the TOS Enterprise. It has a navigational deflector like Refit/A, so this might possibly fall between TOS and TMP?
posted by Fleebnork at 7:51 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
3. The Beastie Boys: Sabotage
Sadly, Sabotage had already been used as the Battlestar Galactica theme song.
posted by Naberius at 7:51 AM on July 25, 2016
Sadly, Sabotage had already been used as the Battlestar Galactica theme song.
posted by Naberius at 7:51 AM on July 25, 2016
I'd like to see some ships that are butt ugly industrial, form follows function, collections of spheres, cubes, spars and warp nacelles.
I think ships like this are what you build when no unnecessary expense is allowed, when just getting it to work is the goal. For a spacefaring civilization, I would expect spaceships to quite quickly become like large watercraft: routine, standardized, even somewhat economical to produce where they know that a nice saucer is the economical shape to hold the wide variety of things you'll need for long term habitation. You go from "bolt this onto that spar" to "we can add corner-storage lockers every 20 yards around the perimeter so that internal volume isn't wasted".
posted by fatbird at 7:54 AM on July 25, 2016
I think ships like this are what you build when no unnecessary expense is allowed, when just getting it to work is the goal. For a spacefaring civilization, I would expect spaceships to quite quickly become like large watercraft: routine, standardized, even somewhat economical to produce where they know that a nice saucer is the economical shape to hold the wide variety of things you'll need for long term habitation. You go from "bolt this onto that spar" to "we can add corner-storage lockers every 20 yards around the perimeter so that internal volume isn't wasted".
posted by fatbird at 7:54 AM on July 25, 2016
I am really really really hoping this will be good. Damn it, why do I have my hopes up?!
It's okay to be excited for and to like things! I am excited too!
posted by Automocar at 8:39 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's okay to be excited for and to like things! I am excited too!
posted by Automocar at 8:39 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Anyone else think that the speed those connecting arms moved when they disengaged from the saucer made the scale of the thing seem really small?
posted by straight at 8:47 AM on July 25, 2016
posted by straight at 8:47 AM on July 25, 2016
I'm a lifelong Trekkie, which means that even bad Trek is Trek and gets at least one viewing. Even bad Trek is often fun to mock at least.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 8:52 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 8:52 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
If it's really the Prime universe (which is the only real universe, ha) then they need to get rid of that stupid font in the logo.
posted by allthinky at 9:01 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by allthinky at 9:01 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
...even bad Trek is Trek and gets at least one viewing. Even bad Trek is often fun to mock at least.
I used to think that, but then Enterprise season 4 happened.
posted by The River Ivel at 9:31 AM on July 25, 2016
I used to think that, but then Enterprise season 4 happened.
posted by The River Ivel at 9:31 AM on July 25, 2016
It has been said that mankind's only true spaceship built to date, as in a craft designed to take people to a destination but never to travel in atmosphere, is the Apollo LEM. Which I find very beautiful, but it's not SF-beautiful. So many SF spacecraft have so much legacy in atrmospheric aircraft (or aquatic creatures - cf the Vorlons), consciously or unconsciously, that I do wish for at least some that are properly bizarre. Something that looks like an oil refinery/radio telescope chimera, or :Lego-esquely modular and reconfigurable.
posted by Devonian at 9:39 AM on July 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Devonian at 9:39 AM on July 25, 2016 [4 favorites]
I think I would push it back a bit, chronologically. The saucer looks similar to the Refit/A, but the nacelles have bubble bussard collectors similar to the TOS Enterprise. It has a navigational deflector like Refit/A, so this might possibly fall between TOS and TMP?
It feels to me 100% as though the series will be between ENT and TOS. ENT registry numbers are more "primitive" than NCC-1031, the Discovery has some of that NX Enterprise flatness with some TOS-like design attached, and most of all, from a "how do we make this new series Boldly Go" point of view, that's an era with plenty of room to maneuver.
In fact, I wouldn't be shocked at all if it turns out that one of Fuller's (or even the corporate honchoes') objectives was to redeem all the promise that ENT squandered in terms of doing something cool with the continuity. I mean, if nothing else, between ENT and TOS is the time period of the Federation-Romulan war(s). How do they NOT do that.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 9:45 AM on July 25, 2016
It feels to me 100% as though the series will be between ENT and TOS. ENT registry numbers are more "primitive" than NCC-1031, the Discovery has some of that NX Enterprise flatness with some TOS-like design attached, and most of all, from a "how do we make this new series Boldly Go" point of view, that's an era with plenty of room to maneuver.
In fact, I wouldn't be shocked at all if it turns out that one of Fuller's (or even the corporate honchoes') objectives was to redeem all the promise that ENT squandered in terms of doing something cool with the continuity. I mean, if nothing else, between ENT and TOS is the time period of the Federation-Romulan war(s). How do they NOT do that.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 9:45 AM on July 25, 2016
Curiously, I just got to see Close Encounters on the big screen over the weekend, and the "mothership" UFO at the end was based on an oil refinery.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 9:46 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 9:46 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
It has been said that mankind's only true spaceship built to date, as in a craft designed to take people to a destination but never to travel in atmosphere, is the Apollo LEM. Which I find very beautiful, but it's not SF-beautiful. So many SF spacecraft have so much legacy in atrmospheric aircraft (or aquatic creatures - cf the Vorlons), consciously or unconsciously, that I do wish for at least some that are properly bizarre. Something that looks like an oil refinery/radio telescope chimera, or :Lego-esquely modular and reconfigurable.Do you want borg cubes? Because that's how you get borgs.
posted by Devonian at 12:39 PM on July 25 [+] [!]
posted by mccarty.tim at 9:47 AM on July 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
Be pretty cool to see a ship that was the Hubble telescope bolted to a bunch of air-tight double-wide trailers and a couple thrusters, though.
posted by mccarty.tim at 9:49 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by mccarty.tim at 9:49 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Ah yes, I had forgotten about CE3K (well, clearly my subconscious hadn't). Amd fair enough on the Borg, but they were... well, cubic. When I was building Lego spacecraft, they weren't just fractal reiterations of a Lego brick. I'm sure manned spacecraft of the future will be a lot more like our current unmanned probes, which are a standard bus with whatever you need strapped to the frame, the stuff that needs to be all by itself out on stalks, and the long stringy bits being nicely long and stringy. Symmetry isn't a great thing (although you probably want your propuision in line with the centre of mass, not sticking out at a jaunty angle, cough nacelles cough).
posted by Devonian at 10:01 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Devonian at 10:01 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I like the sense of foreboding, actually. There is a lengthy history of real-world missions of discovery ending very, very badly - see, e.g., the fates of H.M.S. Terror and Erebus. I would *love* to see a Star Trek in which unforced errors lead to disaster - choices that seem reasonable at the time, but cascade upon one another to create real tragedy. Again, this would bring sort of the tone of Victorian-era sail - routine, but still dangerous and high-stakes.
Some might argue that this is an inappropriately dark tone for Star Trek - but then again, this is a franchise that's dealt in large-scale brain-rape, genocide, and the murky geopolitics of empire since I was a kid.
posted by Mr. Excellent at 10:03 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Some might argue that this is an inappropriately dark tone for Star Trek - but then again, this is a franchise that's dealt in large-scale brain-rape, genocide, and the murky geopolitics of empire since I was a kid.
posted by Mr. Excellent at 10:03 AM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
CE3K, Interstellar, Sunshine, Mission to Mars, and 2010 are arguably exceptions to the rule.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 10:19 AM on July 25, 2016
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 10:19 AM on July 25, 2016
My wild-speculation fan-theory-hope right now is: post-Enterprise Section 31 sends out a ship to do possibly-immoral sabotage work in Romulan Space to help win the war, crew mutinies and refocuses their mission on pure scientific discovery, crew is now without official support from any Galactic Power.
So redeeming both ENT's concept and Voyager's. Nice.
Your theory also permits the new series to deal with Romulans without refusing to show them, in keeping with the canon that nobody in the Federation knew what they looked like until TOS "Balance of Terror." That could instead be a major early discovery of, er, the Discovery—but kept quiet due to, first, the mission's secret nature, and second, the ship going rogue.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:30 AM on July 25, 2016
So redeeming both ENT's concept and Voyager's. Nice.
Your theory also permits the new series to deal with Romulans without refusing to show them, in keeping with the canon that nobody in the Federation knew what they looked like until TOS "Balance of Terror." That could instead be a major early discovery of, er, the Discovery—but kept quiet due to, first, the mission's secret nature, and second, the ship going rogue.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:30 AM on July 25, 2016
fatbird
What Devonian said, plus part of my preference is artistic. There should be some solarflare pitted buckets for contrast with the pretty cruisers Starfleet loves. I know nobody will pay to put it onscreen, but when a ship comes in system, it should have to give way to a solar sail race, keep a eye on a interstellar tug rotating a chain of barges before braking, steer clear of an in-system tug catching some cargo launched ballisticly sunword from a gas giant, pass a passenger liner, scan an armed merchant for possible weapon's violations and on and on. Many coming from different cultures with different priorities and design considerations, some even retrofitted for new jobs.
Statistically some of them should be built as cheap as possible, and some should be obsolete but serviceable. Even Starfleet should have some old clunkers waiting around to do skutwork. When the Japanese bombed Pearl, BB-36 and 63 were generations apart, the Navada was laid down in the early teens and the Missouri in '41. Both got put to work.
So there it is, I want what I want even if I can't have it.
posted by ridgerunner at 11:09 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
What Devonian said, plus part of my preference is artistic. There should be some solarflare pitted buckets for contrast with the pretty cruisers Starfleet loves. I know nobody will pay to put it onscreen, but when a ship comes in system, it should have to give way to a solar sail race, keep a eye on a interstellar tug rotating a chain of barges before braking, steer clear of an in-system tug catching some cargo launched ballisticly sunword from a gas giant, pass a passenger liner, scan an armed merchant for possible weapon's violations and on and on. Many coming from different cultures with different priorities and design considerations, some even retrofitted for new jobs.
Statistically some of them should be built as cheap as possible, and some should be obsolete but serviceable. Even Starfleet should have some old clunkers waiting around to do skutwork. When the Japanese bombed Pearl, BB-36 and 63 were generations apart, the Navada was laid down in the early teens and the Missouri in '41. Both got put to work.
So there it is, I want what I want even if I can't have it.
posted by ridgerunner at 11:09 AM on July 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Ralph McQuarrie's concept art for a Star Trek movie in 1976-1977 - check out the asteroid base.
It's a smart choice, I guess - get to use one of the best concept artist of all time because you already have his stuff. It's worked out for Star Wars: Rebels.
I am 1000% behind anything which uses McQuarry concept art. See also: The Force Awakens.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 11:43 AM on July 25, 2016
It's a smart choice, I guess - get to use one of the best concept artist of all time because you already have his stuff. It's worked out for Star Wars: Rebels.
I am 1000% behind anything which uses McQuarry concept art. See also: The Force Awakens.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 11:43 AM on July 25, 2016
There should be some solarflare pitted buckets for contrast
Starfleet calls those the Miranda-class.
posted by AndrewInDC at 12:12 PM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Starfleet calls those the Miranda-class.
posted by AndrewInDC at 12:12 PM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'd like to see some ships that are butt ugly industrial, form follows function, collections of spheres, cubes, spars and warp nacelles.
I think ships like this are what you build when no unnecessary expense is allowed, when just getting it to work is the goal. For a spacefaring civilization, I would expect spaceships to quite quickly become like large watercraft: routine, standardized, even somewhat economical to produce where they know that a nice saucer is the economical shape to hold the wide variety of things you'll need for long term habitation. You go from "bolt this onto that spar" to "we can add corner-storage lockers every 20 yards around the perimeter so that internal volume isn't wasted".
Yes, but there's a stage after those two where the technology and manufacturing capability are so advanced that functionality isn't much of a constraint on design and there's no reason not to have the form dictated mostly by aesthetics. And that's probably the stage the Federation is at.
posted by straight at 12:18 PM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think ships like this are what you build when no unnecessary expense is allowed, when just getting it to work is the goal. For a spacefaring civilization, I would expect spaceships to quite quickly become like large watercraft: routine, standardized, even somewhat economical to produce where they know that a nice saucer is the economical shape to hold the wide variety of things you'll need for long term habitation. You go from "bolt this onto that spar" to "we can add corner-storage lockers every 20 yards around the perimeter so that internal volume isn't wasted".
Yes, but there's a stage after those two where the technology and manufacturing capability are so advanced that functionality isn't much of a constraint on design and there's no reason not to have the form dictated mostly by aesthetics. And that's probably the stage the Federation is at.
posted by straight at 12:18 PM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Starfleet calls those the Miranda-class
Don't be dissing the Reliant.
posted by Artw at 12:20 PM on July 25, 2016
Don't be dissing the Reliant.
posted by Artw at 12:20 PM on July 25, 2016
If the show is even halfway average, the ship design will stop mattering by the end of the first episode. I wish they would give us some real information to have a strong opinion about.
posted by vanar sena at 12:21 PM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by vanar sena at 12:21 PM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Half way through the episode being where Encounter at Farpoint spent about 10 minutes of screentime showing us the dumbass "saucer separation" for the first of the two or three times we ever saw it, with the saucerless enterprise being about the ugliest model they've ever fielded.
posted by Artw at 12:25 PM on July 25, 2016
posted by Artw at 12:25 PM on July 25, 2016
Starship design aside I'm a little more cautiously optimistic about this production then I was previously. The "novelistic" take is interesting but we'll see how it works into actuality.
In this Variety article something that piques my interest is this:
"The bulk of Fuller’s questions for the panel of stars from previous series were related to the broader theme running through “Star Trek” of inclusion."
Are we going to see a more radically inclusive Trek series? I hope so. At the very least I hope the crew includes a Cajun.
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:26 PM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
In this Variety article something that piques my interest is this:
"The bulk of Fuller’s questions for the panel of stars from previous series were related to the broader theme running through “Star Trek” of inclusion."
Are we going to see a more radically inclusive Trek series? I hope so. At the very least I hope the crew includes a Cajun.
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:26 PM on July 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Something that looks like an oil refinery/radio telescope chimera, or :Lego-esquely modular and reconfigurable.
I kinda feel like you're describing the Nostromo from Alien. It even towed a refinery behind it. Or maybe the Sulaco from Aliens.
posted by Pryde at 11:06 PM on July 25, 2016
I kinda feel like you're describing the Nostromo from Alien. It even towed a refinery behind it. Or maybe the Sulaco from Aliens.
posted by Pryde at 11:06 PM on July 25, 2016
I am not paying for CBS streaming service so who knows when I will see the episodes but I actually like this ship a lot. I will be interested in seeing the reason for the Klingon-looking design. I do wish the ship had a higher number though, I am one of those that would prefer a setting past TNG rather than before it.
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 4:24 AM on July 26, 2016
posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 4:24 AM on July 26, 2016
I am not so sure the design is part Klingon as it is just klunky. The original klingon cruiser design was swoopy and balanced in a way the Discovery isn't.
posted by jabah at 6:26 AM on July 26, 2016
posted by jabah at 6:26 AM on July 26, 2016
Star Trek Discovery to be set 10 years before the original series.
posted by Artw at 6:04 PM on August 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:04 PM on August 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
BBC reporting pretty much the same. Netflix UK also have Discovery available to add to lists so it may be that it will be the first port of call for UK viewers, avoiding the US need for an additional subscription service.
posted by biffa at 3:44 AM on August 11, 2016
posted by biffa at 3:44 AM on August 11, 2016
Ugh, seriously? You guys are going to get this on Netflix and we're going to have to either pony up for some crappy CBS service or resort to torrenting?
posted by octothorpe at 4:16 AM on August 11, 2016
posted by octothorpe at 4:16 AM on August 11, 2016
Its not confirmed, I'm just going by it coming up. I guess you can only sell to the market that exists, there is no CBS thing here. If its any consolation we get a lot less than you on Netflix generally I think.
posted by biffa at 4:28 AM on August 11, 2016
posted by biffa at 4:28 AM on August 11, 2016
You still get all of the Netflix produced stuff though, right? That's pretty much all I watch on there.
posted by octothorpe at 5:44 AM on August 11, 2016
posted by octothorpe at 5:44 AM on August 11, 2016
You guys are going to get this on Netflix and we're going to have to either pony up for some crappy CBS service or resort to torrenting?
Does a vpn pointed at a $COUNTRY ip not work for netflix?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:23 AM on August 11, 2016
Does a vpn pointed at a $COUNTRY ip not work for netflix?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:23 AM on August 11, 2016
« Older “Can you Yahoo me now?” | Apparently no one in the New Zealand branch had... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by fairmettle at 1:51 PM on July 24, 2016 [4 favorites]