New STAR TREK: DISCOVERY — BLACK ALERT Strategy Board Game Announced

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Here’s the official description from Wizkids’ website:

In Star Trek: Discovery – Black Alert , players divide into teams, and each team represents key members of either the U.S.S. Discovery or I.S.S. Charon crew. Players take turns activating locations on their ship, navigating through the network, and attempting to accomplish missions. One crew is trying to return home, while the other wants to capture their ship. Which team will emerge victorious? The U.S.S. Discovery has traveled into a mirror universe! You must complete missions to discover how to use the spore drive to make it back to the prime universe. But beware, or the I.S.S. Charon will chase and infiltrate the Discovery to capture and study the spore drive. Send your crew members to locations on either ships (if you manage to sneak onto your opponent’s) to advance missions, sabotage the other ship, and repair your own. Play as the crew aboard the U.S.S. Discovery or the mirror universe’s I.S.S. Charon. Players can play one on one, or they can form teams of 1 or 2 with each person playing a different crew member.

Will you be the Discovery’s Saru, Michael Burnham, Paul Stamets, Keyla Detmer, or Cadet Tilly, or the Charon’s Philippa Georgiou, Gabriel Lorca, Captain Killy, Ellen Landry, or the mirror Paul Stamets? Each crew member has their own unique ability to help or hinder the Discovery. Regardless which side you represent, players will activate locations to advance their goals, teleport to the other ship to sabotage it, navigate nodes on the network, and more! Tensions will run high as each team hurries to thwart the others’ plans! Traverse the tile-grid map and stop the Discovery at key mission locations. The Discovery can travel on the spore network, which they can also manipulate by rotating tiles, while the powerful Charon has to move one tile at a time creating a tense game of cat-and-mouse. Crew members can teleport into the other ship for offensive measures! Some locations activate challenges where crew will clash.

Other locations can damage the enemy’s ship or detain their crew, causing them to spend precious time in recovery or risk leaving the location inoperable. If any ship takes too much damage, the other side can quickly claim their victory! Use your time wisely as the Charon advances on the Discovery before they can slip away back to the prime universe. Will the crew of the Discovery return home, or will the crew of the Charon catch them first?

Back in April, one game enthusiast was able to get a preview demonstration of the new game at the 2023 GAMA Expo.

Star Trek: Discovery — Black Alert can be preordered now at the Wizkids website for $54.99 USD, expected for public release in the third quarter of 2023.

Come back to TrekCore for the latest in Star Trek gaming news!

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Star Trek: Discovery
Star Trek: Discovery - Black Alert

Star Trek: Resurgence is a story-driven game from former Telltale devs coming in 2022

Dramatic labs was started by telltale games founder kevin bruner.

By Ash Parrish , a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

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Hot on the heels of Star Trek: Discovery , Picard , and The Lower Decks , the Star Trek franchise is getting a new video game. Dramatic Labs, a brand new studio composed of former Telltale Games developers, announced during The Game Awards that it’s working on Star Trek: Resurgence , a story-driven game reminiscent of Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead .

According to the game’s press release, “Star Trek: Resurgence is an interactive narrative video game that tells an original story set in the era shortly after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Players will control two characters aboard the U.S.S. RESOLUTE as they work to unravel a mystery in order to prevent a galactic war. Spock made an appearance in the announcement trailer and Dramatic Labs has confirmed players will get to meet other “new and returning characters through a variety of dialogue and action gameplay to determine the course of the story.”

Dramatic Labs was founded by Kevin Bruner, co-founder of Telltale Games and, according to some sources, part of the reason for Telltale’s disastrous end . Despite this, Dramatic Labs became a home for over 20 former Telltale Games employees. Star Trek: Resurgence features Telltale’s lead writer, creative director, and cinematic director, which might signal the studio’s commitment to making the same kind of games Telltale was famous for.

As in previous Telltale games, player choice will drive the experience and affect the story’s outcome.

“As fans of Star Trek , it’s truly an honor to be crafting a story which puts players right in the heart of the action, where significant choices and decisions will affect the entire narrative,” said Bruner in the press release.

Star Trek: Resurgence launches in Spring 2022 for Xbox, PlayStation, and on the Epic Games Store exclusively for PC.

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Star Trek Discovery: Black Alert

Purchase options and add-ons.

WORK AS A TEAM ~ Race to return U.S.S. Discovery to the prime universe while the I.S.S. Charon rushes to infiltrate it and claim its unique spore drive in this high-stakes team-based game!
GAME PLAY ~ Play as the crew aboard the U.S.S. Discovery or Charon. Players can play one on one, or teams of 1 or 2 with each person playing a different crew member. Each has their own unique ability to help or hinder the Discovery.
EXPLORATION AND ESPIONAGE ~ Tensions will run high as each team hurries to thwart the others’ plans! Traverse the tile-grid map and stop the Discovery at key mission locations.
WHAT YOU GET ~ Game Board, Rulebook, 19 Network Tiles, 10 Character Standees/ Cards, 2 Ship Standees, 2 Fleet tokens, 6 Mission Cards, 12 Corruption/ Terran Fleet Cards, 49 Command Cards, Character effect tokens, location references.
CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS, EASY TO LEARN, and HIGH REPLAY VALUE ~ Whether playing with a team or against one another, there are many characters and locations to explore. this game offers substantial value with replayability, fun decision-making, and interesting strategies.

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Technical details, additional information, warranty & support, product details.

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 11.85 x 7.17 x 6.1 inches; 2.2 Pounds
Manufacturer recommended age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
Item model number ‏ : ‎ 229622
Date First Available ‏ : ‎ June 7, 2023
Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ WizKids
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C718P2ZM

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Product Description

Race to return U.S.S. Discovery to the prime universe while the I.S.S. Charon rushes to infiltrate it and claim its unique spore drive in this high-stakes team-based game! The U.S.S. Discovery has traveled into a mirror universe! You must complete missions to discover how to use the spore drive to make it back to the prime universe. But beware, or the I.S.S. Charon will chase and infiltrate the Discovery to capture and study the spore drive. Send your crew members to locations on either ships (if you manage to sneak onto your opponent’s) to advance missions, sabotage the other ship, and repair your own. Which universe will prevail? Play as the crew aboard the U.S.S. Discovery or the mirror universe’s I.S.S. Charon. Players can play one on one, or they can form teams of 1 or 2 with each person playing a different crew member. Will you be the Discovery’s Saru, Michael Burnham, Paul Stamets, Keyla Detmer, or Cadet Tilly, or the Charon’s Philippa Georgiou, Gabriel Lorca, Captain Killy, Ellen Landry, or the mirror Paul Stamets? Each crew member has their own unique ability to help or hinder the Discovery. Regardless which side you represent, players will activate locations to advance their goals, teleport to the other ship to sabotage it, navigate nodes on the network, and more! Tensions will run high as each team hurries to thwart the others’ plans! Traverse the tile-grid map and stop the Discovery at key mission locations. The Discovery can travel on the spore network, which they can also manipulate by rotating tiles, while the powerful Charon has to move one tile at a time creating a tense game of cat-and-mouse. Crew members can teleport into the other ship for offensive measures! Some locations activate challenges where crew will clash. Other locations can damage the enemy’s ship or detain their crew, causing them to spend precious time in recovery or risk leaving the location inoperable. If any ship takes too much damage, the other side can quickly claim their vic

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Download Star Trek: Resurgence Demo

Buy star trek: resurgence, buy star trek: resurgence - captain's edition.

“This is the best Star Trek game I’ve played in over a decade” 85 – Gaming Trend “Captures the essence of Trek – or certainly a particular era of Trek – better than almost any other game has” 4/5 – Empire “Star Trek: Resurgence gets Star Trek, embracing the optimism and hope that sets the franchise apart, and celebrating humanity at its best” 4/5 – Screen Rant

About This Game

System requirements.

OS: Windows® 10 64-bit
Processor: AMD FX-8350 / Intel® Core™ i5-3330
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon™ RX 5700 / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 16 GB available space
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT / Intel® Core™ i7 3GHz or higher
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon™ RX 6700 / NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080 or higher

TM & ©2024 Bruner House, LLC. 'Dramatic Labs' and related marks and logos are trademarks of Bruner House, LLC. All Rights Reserved. 'Shape Your Story' and related marks are trademarks of Bruner House, LLC. All Rights Reserved. TM & ©2024 CBS Studios Inc. 'Star Trek' and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Jara wields her ray gun in front of Chovak and the light of a massive sun in Star Trek Resurgence

Star Trek Resurgence understands what makes great Star Trek

Telltale Games veterans veer away from combat and into philosophy

by Dylan Roth

Unlike its esteemed counterpart from Lucasfilm, Star Trek’s history with video games isn’t exactly stellar.

There are licensed Star Trek video games going back 50 years, but there’s never been a truly great Star Trek game, one whose appeal outstretches the limits of its existing fan base. Moreover, even the most celebrated Star Trek games, such as 2000’s Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force , 2002’s Star Trek: Bridge Commander , and the long-running MMORPG Star Trek Online , place an overwhelming emphasis on combat, which is only ever a last resort in Star Trek stories. Gene Roddenberry’s cosmic polemic often contains action, but it’s never about action; Star Trek is about compassion, curiosity, and camaraderie. To truly capture the essence of the spacefaring adventure series, a video game should be as much about talking as it is about flying and shooting, allowing players to explore new worlds, build relationships, and confront complicated moral dilemmas.

This seems to be the aim of Star Trek Resurgence , the debut release from Telltale offshoot Dramatic Labs, and the first Star Trek game in ages to be as character- and dialogue-focused as the television series. Set aboard a new ship and starring an almost entirely new cast, Resurgence is a branching narrative whose balance between interstellar intrigue, interpersonal conflict, and explosive space action hews closer to that of its source material than any Star Trek game in decades — maybe ever. As a game and as a piece of software, it leaves a lot to be desired. But as a Star Trek story, it definitely earns its pips.

Carter speaks to a crew member while she’s at her terminal, and a choice prompt comes up with PlayStation buttons in Star Trek Resurgence

Resurgence alternates between the perspectives of two player-controlled characters aboard the science vessel Resolute, incoming first officer Commander Jara Rydek (Krizia Bajos) and enlisted engineer Petty Officer Carter Diaz (Josh Keaton). The Resolute is recovering from a recent disaster that cost the lives of several of its crew and the reputation of its captain, Zachary Solano. Solano fears that he’s lost the confidence of his staff, and is counting on Academy protege Rydek to help restore his honor as the Resolute embarks on an important diplomatic mission. Over the course of the story, Rydek takes point on unraveling a mystery with galactic implications, earning the trust of the crew while also evaluating whether or not Solano is worthy of her own. Meanwhile, engineer Diaz deals with more of the nuts-and-bolts problems aboard the ship, as well as navigating a romance with a fellow officer.

As in a good peak-era Star Trek episode, the “problem of the week” is tackled from more than one angle, with some of the crew handling a social or interpersonal conflict while others investigate some related scientific or technological puzzle. Teamwork is an essential ingredient to Star Trek, and Resurgence highlights that it takes a variety of skill sets and perspectives to solve complex problems. There is a two-way relationship between the bridge crew handling the big picture and the specialists below troubleshooting the finer points. Alternating between these A- and B-plots also breaks up the story and the gameplay nicely, and introduces the player to a variety of likable, memorable characters with whom you interact differently depending on your protagonist.

Jara and a companion stand on a rocky craig overlooking Tylas Mines, which are being terraformed by ships with lasers in Star Trek Resurgence

The narrative moves along at a steady clip, with the stakes escalating organically from that of a typical Next Generation episode to something closer to a modern season-long arc of Discovery . Crucially, for a video game and for a Star Trek story, the player faces consequential, difficult, and timely choices.

Star Trek has truly reinvented itself

In contrast to the (still far superior) Mass Effect games, which present players with clear-cut Paragon or Renegade paths to pursue, Resurgence ’s dialogue trees don’t always offer an obvious ethical binary. Will you risk a dozen lives to save one? Will you disobey a direct order to follow the advice of an impassioned subordinate? Which member of your crew do you trust more in a crisis, and will they trust you in a pinch? These decisions are all made on a short timer, forcing the player to think quickly and trust their instincts. This instantly makes Resurgence feel closer to the “real” Starfleet experience even than the expansive open world of Star Trek Online , which dictates most of your objectives for you; nearly every path ends with “fire all phasers.”

More than anything, it’s your relationships with the supporting cast that shape the variations in the narrative. It’s not simply a matter of passing each one’s individual loyalty check, allowing you to achieve some 100% “perfect” ending. You cannot please everyone and you cannot save everyone. (Or at least I haven’t yet in my two playthroughs.) Not only does this place the full weight of duty and command on the player and offer an incentive to replay the 12-to-15-hour game multiple times, but it also underlines one of the essential tenets of Star Trek: It is possible for two parties, in good faith and good conscience, to disagree. Sometimes a compromise can be reached, sometimes conflict can’t be avoided, but no one needs to stay enemies forever.

Carter speaks to a crewmate with a bright green lightning-like aura surrounding her in Star Trek Resurgence

On the other hand, commitment to the Star Trek ethos does have its drawbacks. Starfleet’s strict code of conduct means that the players are somewhat railroaded. For instance, when enlisted engineer Diaz’s love interest is caught accessing files she’s not supposed to, you, as Diaz, can’t lie to cover for her. In a move typical of the franchise whose reputation for political radicalism is somewhat overblown, its core political conflict between a colonizing empire and their long-suffering protectorate sniffs of some unfortunate bothsidesism. Some of the sci-fi twists that complicate the plot do so at the price of nuance, introducing an overarching threat that forces all parties to work together without ever actually addressing what drove them apart in the first place. It’s a flaw found in a lot of past and present Star Trek, demonstrating the liberal-moderate belief that we can all just get along without committing to any meaningful change in the status quo.

Resurgence’s interstellar intrigue, interpersonal conflicts, and explosive space action hew closer to its source material than any Star Trek game in decades

It’s in the non-dialogue-driven gameplay elements that Resurgence truly stumbles. While the stealth and cover shooting portions are smooth and fun, a lot of the other mechanics are sluggish, tedious, or both. This particularly applies to PO Diaz’s engineering tasks, which feel less like puzzles or minigames and more like busywork. (Pull R2 to open this conduit, now LS+R2 to remove this isolinear chip, and then the next one, etc.) Fail conditions of certain minigames or stages can be disabled via a Story Mode option, but there is no way to avoid the game’s more mindless chores.

Star Trek Resurgence also suffers numerous technical glitches at the time of release, at least on PlayStation 4. It’s not uncommon for lines of dialogue to start late or cut off early, costing the scene important exposition or flavor. Keeping subtitles enabled can sometimes compensate for this issue, except on random occasions when the subtitles disappear altogether for a line or two at a time. Busier cutscenes, such as the game’s space battle finale, load sluggishly on PS4, creating seconds-long gaps between shots, killing the momentum of what should be a thrilling climax. These issues may be resolved in future updates, but at launch, they’re an undeniable drag.

Jara fires her gun at an enemy taking cover behind a crate on a dock-like platform in Star Trek Resurgence

Despite these glaring flaws, Star Trek Resurgence offers a space-worthy experience for Star Trek fans. Where other titles have offered a more complete picture of the Star Trek universe — letting players explore the breadth of the galaxy, walk the decks of their favorite starships, or build their own — only a rare few have looked beyond lore toward story . Fans don’t love Star Trek merely for the cool ships or deep mythology, we love it for the friendship between Kirk and Spock, and Picard’s growth from stiff loner to proud patriarch; for Sisko’s impossible moral dilemmas and Burnham’s quest for redemption.

Not even Resurgence ’s nearest spiritual ancestors, classic ’90s point-and-click adventures Star Trek 25th Anniversary or Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity , have captured that essential human element that makes for a great Star Trek story. Resurgence ties a worthwhile cast of characters to an interstellar adventure. Does Resurgence qualify as “great Star Trek”? Probably not, but it’s hard to argue that any video game has come closer.

Star Trek Resurgence was released on May 23 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PS4 using a pre-release download code provided by Double Fine Productions. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here .

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The best Star Trek games

The best Star Trek games you can find in this universe. Set phasers to fun.

Welcome to our list of the best Star Trek games on PC. The dream of exploring space, meeting strange new life and new civilisations; cresting the Final Frontier in the next chapter of humanity’s story; kissing green aliens. All of that.

Star Trek’s relation to games has always been… shaky. Unlike Star Wars, which had Lucasarts’ hand on the tiller for at least the 1990s, it’s always been a licensed property and not often a successful one. Some studios tried to squeeze Trek into a genre it's not suited for. Others were just cash-grabs, like Star Trek: The Game Show, which relied on the comedic stylings of Q and his lovely female assistant Q to cover a truly soulless trivia contest. Still, companies keep trying, from early test adventures like The Kobayashi Alternative to the crappy game version of the JJ Abrams reboot.

But we’re not interested in those. What are the Trek games that do Gene Roddenberry’s vision proud? Here are our favourites, a collection of games which at least do enough to capture the Star Trek magic, even sometimes despite themselves.

Star Trek: Judgment Rites

Judgement Rites isn’t the greatest game on this list, but it's arguably the best at putting you into the show. There's an authentic mix of bridge banter and combat and you're doing classic Star Trek tasks, like flying to new worlds and beaming down away teams to sort out their problems. Like its predecessor, 25th Anniversary, it followed the show’s episodic model, pitting Kirk and co against scenarios like Trelane recreating World War I on a distant planet, and a rift in time that promises the end of the Federation within eight days. Unlike 25th, there was also something of a running story involving a mysterious race watching the crew and seeing how they solved these problems, adding a little extra drama to the mix.

Neither the combat nor the adventuring is exactly top-tier, but they made a delicious pairing that was totally in keeping with The Original Series. It’s no wonder that even decades later, many still hold it up as the high point of any crew’s PC adventures.

Star Trek: Voyager, Elite Force 1 and 2

Elite Force is an rare case where it makes sense to turn Star Trek into a shooter. Voyager is lost in the depths of space, surrounded by enemies, and while risking the senior staff for every casual mission works for television, in reality it’s a pretty dreadful idea. Cue the creation of the Hazard Team, just in time for Voyager to get trapped in a spaceship graveyard full of particularly troublesome trapped alien types.

The first level, set aboard a simulated Borg ship, set a great tone, right down to the Borg not reacting to your presence until triggered. Little expense was spared. The whole crew (including, retroactively, Jeri Ryan) voice their characters, and a real effort made to make the Hazard Team feel like a unit. For a while, it was even suggested that the concept might be added to the show. It wasn’t, though something similar would show up in Enterprise in the form of the MACO assault unit. Best of all, as well as fitting the show surprisingly well, it was a very solid shooter and by far the best action game spin-off.

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Star Trek: Starfleet Command

There are two basic ways to make a Star Trek game. Either you try and do everything, or you phaser-focus on one particular aspect. Starfleet Command goes all-in on space battles. Forget simply locking phasers and firing photon torpedoes, Starfleet Command is based on the table-top war-game Star Fleet Battles, and a brutal demonstration of just how hard it would be to lead a ship like the Enterprise into battle. Everything your ship has its at your disposal, from weapons to shields to special equipment, in full 3D.

It’s brutally hard, but satisfying with it. Three Starfleet Command games were released, adding proper campaigns and additional races. Later games would offer somewhat similar looking combat, though vastly stripped down to avoid the Command learning curve. Still, if you have what it takes, it’s a challenge that you won’t find elsewhere.

Okay, this is cheating. EGATrek isn’t an official Star Trek game. However, if you’re of a certain age, it is likely the Trek game that you remember playing first. It’s based on a game called Nettrek, originally the preserve of university servers and the like, and originally simulated the adventures of the Enterprise versus the Klingons and Romulans. After a raised eyebrow and a cough from Paramount, that became the adventures of the Lexington against an invading race called the Mongols. So, totally different!

It’s Star Trek though, right down to the ship design and use of Stardates, and your goal is to travel around and blow up all the Mongols in the system. While not much to look at now, it was definitely fun for the time—and felt a good deal more tactical than it was. It hasn’t aged well, but its place in history means it earns a place here, albeit quietly.

Star Trek: Borg

Borg is one of the most unusual Star Trek games. It’s an interactive movie, and that’s definitely a knock against it. It’s an interactive movie with style though, and some genuinely smart design. You play a cadet whose father was killed by the Borg. As you flee from another attack from the cyborg singularity, the all-powerful force of smugness Q appears and offers you a deal: go back in time with him, and see if you can save your father from his fate.

The result is genuinely surprising. Unlike the other big Star Trek interactive movie, Klingon, this one benefits from Q capering around and not taking anything even slightly seriously. You even get to kick him in the balls at one point. Star Trek games don’t get much more satisfying than that! It’s so good, the Wiki even lists ‘it is possible to punch Q in the face’ as a gameplay feature.

The true cleverness though is how it handles its time-travel premise. Screw up and Q resets time for you to try again, and quite often that’s required for a puzzle—one in particular involves getting some codes from the Borg Collective. How do you do that? Let yourself be caught, read them while you’re a Borg, and make use of them when Q rewinds time. That’s far too clever for an interactive movie, even if the rest of it—the pace, the acting, the depth—is what you’d expect.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew

More than any other game, Bridge Crew attempted to create The Dream. It uses VR headsets to put you and your friends on the bridge of a Star Trek vessel. Largely inspired by Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator, it works by giving each of you a console and thus controls/information that the other players don’t have, which forces everyone to work together. The captain is in charge, but will only know the engines are about to explode if told. The captain order the phasers fired, but it’s the weapons officer who actually pulls the trigger. Success depends on how well the crew integrates and does their individual jobs.

The main problem with it is that once you’ve done this a couple of times, the lack of depth becomes very apparent. There’s not all that much to actually do, and doing it quickly becomes rote. It doesn’t help that for full effect, you need a whole cadre of friends with expensive VR equipment, which is about as likely as the Enterprise crew not using the holodecks for sex. Still, it’s the game that many fans have been waiting for, and certainly a trip while it lasts.

Star Trek: Bridge Commander

Bridge Commander is the best of the ‘command chair’ games. It is less brutal than Starfleet Command, but has more depth than the relatively simple shooter action of the adventure games or the Starfleet Academy game, which almost made the list.

The big clever feature is that you don’t control the ship so much as give orders to your individual crew members, making you feel more like a captain than a glorified pilot. You can jump in if necessary, but you’re mostly intended to sit back and trust your navigator to fly and your weapons officer to handle the combat. On top of that, it’s not just a series of quick battles; there is a full narrative campaign to work through. It is even possible to play with voice control, though not advised. When it works, it offers the full Captain experience. Far more often though, you just get blown up while swearing loudly.

Star Trek The Next Generation: A Final Unity

A Final Unity is a fondly remembered game, though honestly one that’s better fondly remembered than replayed. Creators Spectrum Holobyte clearly set out to make the greatest Star Trek game ever. The game modelled space combat, away team adventure, diplomacy, freeform exploration of the galaxy, and its cleverer features let you you call the entire TNG crew for advice and handpick away teams. In practice, the developers bit off rather more than they could chew, and in trying to replicate TNG’s more serious tone, most of the adventure is honestly sluggish, humourless and slow.

So why’s it here? Primarily because in the moments that it does work, it really captures the TNG spirit, and aesthetically and in terms of story, it’s bang on. It’s just hard not to notice how, for instance, the backgrounds get cheaper and cheaper as the story goes on, or how much of the adventure consists of interminable conversations. Still, it’s easily the best of the TNG-era games, as much as that counts when the competition is the likes of super-primitive shooter Star Trek: Generations or Insurrection tie-in The Hidden Evil. At worst, it’s a game to be admired for what it tried, even if it wasn’t all it could have been.

Star Trek: Birth of the Federation

That’s right, it’s the almost inevitable Master of Orion game in the Star Trek universe, and honestly I'm being a little generous including it here. Played casually, it’s absolutely fine—a fun game of expansion and discovery and scooping up minor races to be part of your growing empire. Over time though the length of turns renders it almost unplayable. Its main hook was definitely the familiar races, and being able to play with the likes of Klingons instead of just some random warlike species. The effectiveness of this shouldn’t be underestimated, and it’s easily one of the better attempts to paste the Trek universe over an existing game. If not for that though, it’s a pale shadow of not just later games like GalCiv, but prior strategy games from its own developer Microprose.

Star Trek: Online

The first time I fired up Star Trek Online, I finished the tutorial, got the freedom of the universe, and immediately flew my ship to Deep Space Nine to see what, if anything, the team had done there. I was expecting to be told to come back in an expansion or two, or maybe to see the 3D model. Instead, I arrived, and was able to beam across and run around the set of the best Star Trek show of all time in pretty much all of its glory.

At its best, Star Trek Online is those moments. It continues stories from the TV shows, and even brings actors back to voice their characters. The game mixes space combot with away team action and gives you plenty of freedom to explore and chart your own path through the game. Unfortunately, since going free-to-play, much of the game pivoted around less enjoyable stuff—grinding, the push for new ships, and levelling up. Between those bits there’s still much to enjoy, including building up your crew and engaging in fun action against other players. It’s worth at least trying out, and playing for a while to enjoy the atmosphere and the satisfaction of commanding a ship in MMO space.

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Star Trek: Discovery

Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien. Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien. Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien.

Bryan Fuller
Alex Kurtzman
Sonequa Martin-Green
Anthony Rapp
4.5K User reviews
104 Critic reviews
22 wins & 87 nominations total

Episodes 65

Photos 1475

Doug Jones and Sonequa Martin-Green in Under the Twin Moons (2024)

Top cast 99+

Michael Burnham …

Lt. Cmdr. Paul Stamets …

Sylvia Tilly …

Lt. Keyla Detmer …

Dr. Hugh Culber

Lt. Gen Rhys …

Lt. Joann Owosekun …

Lt. R.A. Bryce …

Lt. Nilsson …

Cleveland Booker

Lt. J.G. Linus …

Discovery Computer …

Ash Tyler …

All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Stellar Photos From the "Star Trek" TV Universe

Nichelle Nichols and Sonequa Martin-Green at an event for Star Trek: Discovery (2017)

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Trivia The Starfleet vessels seen in the first season, including the Discovery, the Shenzou and the redesigned Enterprise, were all designed by production artist John Eaves. Eaves' work with Star Trek spans three decades. Probably his most notable contribution was the design of the Enterprise-E for Star Trek: First Contact (1996) .
Goofs With Michael being the adoptive sister of Spock, the series has many flashbacks to their childhood and upbringing on Vulcan. Spock's Vulcan half-brother, Sybok, does not appear nor is mention during these scenes. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) , Spock says that he and Sybok grew up together. However, since it's never stated when Sybok joined Sarek's home - only that he did so following his mother's death - or when he was exiled from the family, it's not impossible Sybok moved in after Burnham, and left before she graduated (the two extremes of the flashbacks). Also, since Sybok was never mentioned before Star Trek V, it seems reasonable the family never spoke of him again after his estrangement.
Alternate versions The serif-font legends and subtitles in the "broadcast" episodes are absent from the DVD versions, where they are replaced with the standard DVD subtitles.
Connections Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Female Lead TV Shows You Should Be Watching in 2017 (2017)

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September 24, 2017 (United States)
United States
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Runtime 1 hour
Dolby Digital

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery is the seventh series set in the Star Trek universe. Created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman , Discovery was originally set roughly a decade before Star Trek: The Original Series , set primarily aboard the starship USS Discovery , before jumping from the 23rd century to the 32nd century .

The series was announced by StarTrek.com on 2 November 2015 . According to the press release, " The brand-new Star Trek will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966 . " [1]

It is produced by CBS Studios and Secret Hideout ; the executive producers are Fuller, Kurtzman, and Heather Kadin .

The first series to be developed for the CBS All Access subscription platform, it began airing on 24 September 2017 , with a preview broadcast of the premiere episode, " The Vulcan Hello ", on the CBS network ; the second episode being released on All Access on the same day. In the US, subsequent episodes were released exclusive to CBS All Access. The first season ran for a complete fifteen episodes, being released on successive Sundays, finishing on 11 February 2018 , with a mid-season break between November and January. [2] [3] The second season ran for fourteen episodes, between 17 January 2019 and 18 April 2019 , again released via CBS All Access, this time on successive Thursdays. The third season ran for thirteen episodes, also on Thursdays, from 15 October 2020 to 7 January 2021 .

Outside the US, the series was available on Netflix from 25 September 2017 and ending on 16 November 2021 , except in Canada, where Space and Z carry the series in English and French, respectively. The series was slated to begin a global rollout on Paramount+ in 2022. [4] However, on 24 November 2021 , it was announced that the program would instead release beginning on 26 November 2021 with the first two episodes in all markets where Paramount+ is currently available, with new episodes releasing weekly. In those markets still without the service, it will be made available on the free ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV on the same timetable. [5]

CBS aired the first season of Discovery on terrestrial broadcast, beginning on 24 September 2020 , exactly three years after " The Vulcan Hello " first aired. [6]

Discovery was the first official Star Trek live-action production the former franchise owner, Paramount Pictures , neither owned nor was involved with on any level (although since Viacom and CBS re-merged to form ViacomCBS in 2019 , Star Trek television is once again under the same corporate umbrella as Paramount – a distinction made even less significant after ViacomCBS rebranded itself as Paramount Global in February 2022 ).

On 2 March 2023 , it was announced that the series' fifth season would be Discovery 's last and will air in 2024 . [7] [8]

1.1 Special guest star
1.2.1 32nd century
1.2.2 23rd century
2.1 Season 1
2.2 Season 2
2.3 Season 3
2.4 Season 4
2.5 Season 5
3.1 Writing
3.4 Casting
3.5 Participation interest
3.6.1 Tie-ins
3.6.2 Products
4 Reactions
5 Related topics
7 External links
Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham
Doug Jones as Saru
Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets
Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly
Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber (2019–2024)
Shazad Latif as Ash Tyler (2017–2019)
Rachael Ancheril as D. Nhan (2020)
Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal (2021–2024)
Tig Notaro as Jett Reno (2021–2024)
Callum Keith Rennie as Rayner (2024)
Jason Isaacs as Gabriel Lorca (2017–2018)
Anson Mount as Christopher Pike (2019)
David Ajala as Cleveland Booker (2020–2024)

Special guest star

Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou / Philippa Georgiou (mirror) (2017–2020)

Recurring characters

32nd century.

Ian Alexander as Gray Tal
Andreas Apergis as Xi
Noah Averbach-Katz as Ryn
Avaah Blackwell as Ina
David Cronenberg as Kovich
Orville Cummings as Christopher
Luca Doulgeris as Leto
Shawn Doyle as Ruon Tarka
Oded Fehr as Charles Vance
Rothaford Gray as Tareckx
Eve Harlow as Moll
Ache Hernandez as Kyheem
Chelah Horsdal as Laira Rillak
Vanessa Jackson as Audrey Willa
Hiro Kanagawa as Dr. Hirai
Janet Kidder as Osyraa
Ian Lake as Tolor
Alex McCooeye as Lee'U
Linford Mark Robinson as L'Teis Kardashev
Seamus Patterson as Harral
Katherine Trowell as Bandra
Tara Rosling as T'Rina
Phumzile Sitole as Diatta Ndoye
Giovanni Spina as Sta'Kiar
Elias Toufexis as L'ak
Jake Weber as Zareh
Annabelle Wallis as Zora
Adrian Walters as Taahz Gorev

23rd century

Jayne Brook as Katrina Cornwell
Mary Chieffo as L'Rell
Conrad Coates as Terral
Emily Coutts as Keyla Detmer
Raven Dauda as Tracy Pollard
James Frain as Sarek
Riley Gilchrist as Shukar (mirror) / Shukar
Harry Judge as Gorch (mirror) / Gorch
Mia Kirshner as Amanda Grayson
Patrick Kwok-Choon as Gen Rhys
Clare McConnell as Dennas
Kenneth Mitchell as Kol , Aurellio
Sara Mitich and Hannah Cheesman as Airiam
Sara Mitich as Nilsson
Ali Momen as Kamran Gant
Chris Obi as T'Kuvma
Oyin Oladejo as Joann Owosekun
Ethan Peck as Spock
Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley
Ronnie Rowe, Jr. as R.A. Bryce
Christopher Russell as Milton Richter
Damon Runyan as Ujilli
Sonja Sohn as Gabrielle Burnham
Hannah Spear as Siranna
Alan van Sprang as Leland
Terry Serpico as Brett Anderson
Rekha Sharma as Ellen Landry / Ellen Landry (mirror)
David Benjamin Tomlinson as Linus
Sam Vartholomeos as Danby Connor
Chris Violette as Britch Weeton
Romaine Waite as Troy Januzzi
Bahia Watson as May Ahearn
Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd

Episode list

DIS Season 1 , 15 episodes:

DIS Season 2 , 14 episodes:

DIS Season 3 , 13 episodes

DIS Season 4 , 13 episodes

DIS Season 5 , 10 episodes [9]

Development

William Shatner claimed that a " 3 movie deal and then a new series [has] been in the cards since 2007 - 2008 . " [10] After the release of the Star Trek reboot in 2009 , Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci pitched an animated series to CBS, similar to their series Transformers: Prime for The Hub (now Discovery Family). [11] However, Orci said the success of the first film did not indicate whether a new show would be viable, explaining, " One movie doesn't make a trend. Two movies starts to indicate that there is a trend and it's viable. It will become more real as the year goes on. " [12]

By 2009, Bryan Fuller desired to produce a new live-action Star Trek series. " I told my agent and told the people of J.J. Abrams ' team I want to create another Star Trek series and have an idea that I'm kicking around, " he explained.

" I would love to return to the spirit of the old series with the colours and attitude [...] [of] the '60s fun and I would love to take it back to its origin [...] Star Trek has to recreate itself. Otherwise, all the characters start to feel the same. You always have a captain, a doctor, a security officer, and you have the same arguments based on those perspectives. It starts to feel too familiar. So all those paradigms where it takes place on a starship have to be shaken up. " [13]

In 2013 , after the release of Star Trek Into Darkness , a CBS Broadcasting representative reiterated interest in reviving Star Trek for television, in response to a comment from Abrams that he had heard the studio was not interested. [14] On 19 January 2014 , Fuller stated he "would drop everything" in order to become the showrunner for a Star Trek television series, commenting,

" I think it's finding a philosophy about it [that would be important], and I think there is such an interesting philosophy happening now with our identity as a planet and taking responsibility for what's happening on the planet, and I think I would make it about identity, in a specific way. " [15]

Meanwhile, however, Brannon Braga mentioned "the word on the street" was that " they probably won't do one until the movies have run their course, " while Rod Roddenberry concurred with this by saying he believed there would not be another series until after the conclusion of the films. [16] [17] In an October 2015 interview, comics writer Mike Johnson suggested the Tholians might "cause major trouble for the Federation" in the next Star Trek television series. ("Top 50 Alien Species!", Star Trek: Ongoing issue #50, " Live Evil, Part 1 ") Another idea for a new live-action Star Trek series, conceived by Worf actor Michael Dorn , would have focused on Worf as a captain . As early as 7 November 2015 , Dorn confirmed the newly announced series will not be the concept he had wanted. [18]

Netflix , Amazon , and Hulu all offered money to distribute the show, [19] but CBS Corporation President and CEO Leslie Moonves opted to develop the series as CBS All Access' first piece of original content, anticipating that millions would subscribe to watch the show. He also revealed,

" Our international distribution guy is going crazy; he can't wait to get out to the marketplace and sell [it]. Right away, we're more than halfway home on the cost of the show from international alone. The risk is small in seeing the track record. " [20]

Robert Hewitt Wolfe speculated the decision also " allows for good budgets so it makes sense for Star Trek." [21]

On 9 February 2016 , it was officially announced that Bryan Fuller would serve as showrunner on the new Star Trek series. David Stapf, President of CBS Television Studios, explained,

" When we began discussions about the series returning to television, we immediately knew that Bryan Fuller would be the ideal person to work alongside Alex Kurtzman to create a fresh and authentic take on this classic and timeless series. Bryan is not only an extremely gifted writer, but a genuine fan of Star Trek . Having someone at the helm with his gravitas who also understands and appreciates the significance of the franchise and the worldwide fan base was essential to us. "

Fuller himself said, " It is without exaggeration a dream come true to be crafting a brand new iteration of Star Trek with fellow franchise alum Alex Kurtzman and boldly going where no Star Trek series has gone before. " Added Kurtzman,

" Bringing Star Trek back to television means returning it to its roots, and for years those roots flourished under Bryan's devoted care. His encyclopedic knowledge of Trek canon is surpassed only by his love for Gene Roddenberry 's optimistic future, a vision that continues to guide us as we explore strange new worlds. " [22]

On 26 February 2016 , it was announced that Nicholas Meyer would be joining the show as a consulting writer and producer. [23] In an interview conducted the next day , Meyer expressed hope in getting to write some episodes, but was not yet sure how big the writing staff would be. Still to begin work on the show, Meyer said he was waiting to be notified when to do so. He did, however, have some ideas about what the new show would entail. Meyer elaborated,

" I think it's going to be a different Star Trek . It will go in a different direction. And I think that is probably good. Because the thing that mainly troubles me about Star Trek is the fear of it being maybe re-treads of itself [....] And I think that Bryan [Fuller] – who is a very clever fellow – has ideas – some of which I’ve heard – that are innovative and different. Different is what got me interested. "

Meyer also said Fuller considered Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country to be his touchstone for the new series. [24]

On 3 March 2016 , it was announced that Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth would be joining the show as executive producers. [25]

On 17 March 2016 , two photographs apparently showing behind-the-scenes test shots surfaced, but were later proven to be from an unrelated project. [26]

On 22 April 2016 , Pop Goes The News reported that it would be filmed in Toronto, Canada, saying CBS had booked studio space back in September 2015. [27] According to CBS' VP of communications Kristen Hall, however, CBS hadn't yet confirmed the shooting location by this point. [28]

Also in April 2016, Mark Worthington was confirmed as the series' production designer. Worthington's resume, in addition to confirming his own involvement, also revealed that Alex Kurtzman would direct the pilot episode. [29]

On 30 April 2016 , it was reported that the show would be filmed at Toronto's Pinewood Toronto Studios . [30] On 2 May 2016 , the Toronto location was confirmed in a tweet by CBS. [31] This marked the second time (after Star Trek Beyond ) that a Star Trek live-action iteration was not to be produced physically in Hollywood, [32] in itself a further indication of the diminishing relevance of Hollywood as a motion picture production hub, a trend that had set in in the early 2000s. [33] [34]

On 3 May 2016 , it was reported that the show would be available in weekly installments rather than a whole season all at once. Its premiere would simultaneously air on CBS' TV network and All Access, with subsequent episodes exclusive to All Access (for US viewers). [35]

On 18 May 2016 , the first teaser trailer, along with the logo for the show, was released, simply naming the series as " Star Trek ". [36]

On 6 June 2016 , it was reported that the project's code name might be "Green Harvest". [37] The Canadian industry union IATSE 873 confirmed the working title as "Green Harvest" and dated the filming between 26 September 2016 and 15 March 2017 . [38]

In a red carpet interview at the Saturn Awards on 22 June 2016 , Fuller revealed that the first season would be comprised of a thirteen-episode story arc. Filming was scheduled to take place from September 2016 to March 2017 . [39] This was to be the second season-long story arc in Star Trek history, the first having been in season 3 of Enterprise .

Fuller noted, " We are not subject to broadcast standards and practices. So we can have profanity if we choose – not that I want to see a Star Trek with lots of profanity. But we can certainly be more graphic than you would on broadcast network television. " [40] That also meant episodes could be longer than a typical broadcast show. [41]

On 18 July 2016 , Netflix was announced as the international broadcaster for the series in countries where it is available outside the US and Canada. In Canada, the series would air on Space in English and on Z in French. [42]

On 1 August 2016 , Bryan Fuller suggested that the series would be set prior to The Original Series , stating that the registry number of the Discovery was a clue as to the placement of the series in the timeline. He also stated that it would be possible to read a connection, "or not", to Section 31 in some aspect of the first season. [43]

On 8 August 2016 , Bryan Fuller tweeted a picture on Twitter for a makeup test for Discovery which was possibly a hint for the inclusion of an Andorian . [44]

On 10 August 2016 , Bryan Fuller announced that the series would take place in 2255 . [45] According to Fuller, the basis for the first season would incorporate "an incident in the history of Starfleet that had been talked about but never fully explored." [46]

In a radio interview on 27 August 2016 , Fuller revealed more details. The female lead would be the first officer of the Discovery and referred to as " Number one ", honoring Majel Barrett-Roddenberry 's character from TOS : " The Cage ". [47]

On 9 September 2016 , Fuller tweeted that the events of TOS : " Balance of Terror " would provide the "touchstone" for the series' story arc. [48]

On 14 September 2016 , Fuller announced that the series premiere would be delayed until May 2017, in order to ensure the quality of the show was not compromised. CBS agreed with the move. [49]

Variety reported, on 26 October 2016 , that Bryan Fuller would no longer oversee day-to-day operations on the show, but would remain executive producer. He was to remain involved in breaking stories and providing support for showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts . Sources indicated that CBS, while satisfied with the materials he had created, was concerned that Fuller had too much on his plate with his involvement in other work. This included Starz's then-upcoming drama American Gods . [50] Akiva Goldsman joined the show to provide additional support. [51] Fuller later clarified with Newsweek , on 2 December 2016 , that he was no longer involved with the production. [52]

According to issue #1 of the 2017 Emmy Magazine (p. 21), Star Trek: Discovery has a reported budget of US$6 to US$7 million per episode. [53]

At the CBS upfront presentation on 17 May 2017 , it was announced the first season had been extended to fifteen episodes. Talking Trek (now After Trek ), a post-episode discussion show, was also announced. [54]

The premiere date for the series was announced on 19 June 2017 , when it was revealed that the first season would be split into two airing blocks. [55]

On 23 October 2017 , it was announced that the series had been renewed for a second season, which began filming in April 2018. [56] [57]

On 27 February 2019 , it was announced that the series had been renewed for a third season, with Michelle Paradise becoming co-showrunner with Alex Kurtzman . [58]

The renewal for the series' fourth season was announced on 16 October 2020 ; the renewal for the fifth season was announced on 18 January 2022 . [59] [60]

Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg have said the characters will be more conflicted and not as perfect as characters from previous Star Trek series. Harberts said they would hold true to Gene Roddenberry's idealised view of future Humans with " how we solve those conflicts. So we do have our characters in conflict, we do have them struggling with each other, but it's about how they find a solution and work through their problems. " [61]

Having the female protagonist be given the traditionally male name of Michael is one of Fuller's signature motifs: other examples include Chuck in Pushing Daises and Jaye on Wonderfalls . [62]

In contrast to previous shows, the writers are ready to kill off characters even if their actors aren't planning to leave the series. [63]

Due to Gene Roddenberry 's belief religion would die out by the 23rd century , writer Kirsten Beyer felt references to God should be avoided, quipping to Jason Isaacs when he ad-libbed on set "for God's sakes", that "for f–'s sake" would be more likely. [64] Gretchen Berg later clarified, " I don't necessarily agree with [Isaacs'] quote. On a show about diversity and with different points of view, I feel like you have to accept that some people believe in God, some people want to worship a potato, and some people don't want to believe in anything. I think there is room for that on Star Trek . " [65] Harberts later confirmed that the incident had been taken out of context and was specific to Lorca at that juncture, not the show in general. He also expressed interest in exploring the issue of faith or lack of it in later episodes. [66]

Even when the series was yet to begin airing, a second season had already been mapped out, with a third season beginning to be mapped out. [67]

The writers regularly consult Memory Alpha. According to Harberts, the series' writing team are themselves "fanatical" about fact-checking the information they discover on the wiki. For example, they sometimes rewatch, or ask researcher Anthony Maranville to rewatch, an entire episode based on a single detail from one of Memory Alpha's many entries. [68]

Writing for Season 2 began in January 2018. [69]

In August 2020 Kurtzman said that writing for Discovery had continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the writers' room meeting via Zoom. [70] On 16 October 2020 Season 4 was officially announced.

The teaser title card for Discovery

Bryan Fuller was adamant the Klingon make-up be updated for the show. Aaron Harberts noted, " In the different versions of Trek , the Klingons have never been completely consistent. We will introduce several different houses with different styles. " [71] According to Neville Page , who also designed the Klingons for Star Trek – though the Klingon scenes were cut from that film as released – and Star Trek Into Darkness , Fuller mandated most of them should be bald. [72] Page, and fellow lead designer, Glenn Hetrick continued to identify the baldness as an enduring part of Fuller's intentions for the Klingons, allowing them to reveal what was on their heads (such as in AT : " Lethe ").

The lead costume designer is Gersha Phillips . The Starfleet uniforms were originally similar to those in the original series. [73]

The teaser clip presented at the San Diego Comic-Con on 23 July 2016 was scored by Fil Eisler as an audition for the show. At the following year's panel, Jeff Russo was announced as the series' composer, and it was revealed that he had already completed work on the Discovery theme. [74] Russo recorded the theme, along with the score for the first episode, with a sixty-piece orchestra in Los Angeles on 27 July 2017 . [75]

Russo returned for Season 2. [76]

The show was announced to have a female lead. [77] The first cast member, Michelle Yeoh , was revealed by Nicholas Meyer in an interview on 22 November 2016 . [78] Anthony Rapp and Doug Jones were confirmed the following week. [79]

Bryan Fuller commented that the cast should be diverse. "Star Trek is a show of firsts. And in researching the characters for this new iteration of Star Trek , I've been talking to Mae Jemison , who's the first black woman in space, and who saw Star Trek in the '60s and who saw Nichelle Nichols on the bridge of a ship and said, 'I see myself in space.' So there's something wonderful about the legacy that Nichelle Nichols represents as giving a gift to people who weren't previously able to see themselves in the future. We are going to be continuing that tradition of progressive casting and progressive character work to be an inclusive world. " He also said "eventually, eventually" there will be appearances from previously established characters. [80]

On 24 May 2016 , it was reported that some fans wished to see Castle and Firefly alumnus Nathan Fillion in the series. [81] It was even suggested that this was why Fillion ended his commitment to Castle . [82] Bryan Fuller ideally wanted Angela Bassett and Rosario Dawson ; Bassett declined due to prior obligations, and there is no evidence Dawson was ever approached for consideration. [83]

Star Trek alumnus Tony Todd also expressed interest in working on the new series and even confirmed he is on a casting list of the studio. [84] [85]

In late October, it was reported the cast would feature, in addition to the female lead, an openly-gay male lead, a female and a male admiral , a male Klingon captain, and a British male doctor. [86]

Early news stories of Sonequa Martin-Green's casting in December 2016 identified her character as "Lieutenant Commander Rainsford"; [87] CBS' official announcement on 3 April 2017 changed the name to "Burnham".

On 28 April 2017 , it was announced that Shazad Latif had been re-cast as Lt. Tyler, being replaced in the role of Kol by Kenneth Mitchell. Three other cast members were also added: Rekha Sharma as Commander Landry, Clare McConnell as Dennas, and Damon Runyan as Ujilli. [88]

Wilson Cruz's casting as Dr. Culber was revealed at the San Diego Comic-Con panel on 22 July 2017 .

Participation interest

Marina Sirtis has expressed interest in reprising her role as Deanna Troi in a phone interview with MZNOW , saying, " I loved playing her... It would be interesting to me to go back now, twenty years later and kind of go 'who did she become? Who is she now?' I would find that very interesting, and I would love to do that. " [89]

Both Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan have expressed interest in reprising their roles as Kathryn Janeway and Seven of Nine respectively. In an interview with the TODAY show, Mulgrew said, " I want to be the admiral and I want to boss them around. " Ryan, in an interview with Digital Spy , said, " My understanding is that it's in a very different world from any of the previous shows – but never say never. It'd be fun to just drop in and revisit her – not that I want to revisit her all the time! " [90]

Scott Bakula , Jonathan Frakes , and Nichelle Nichols have also expressed interest in appearing on the series. [91] [92] [93]

In an interview with "Variety", Martin-Green's Walking Dead co-star Andrew Lincoln expressed his desire to appear on the show, possibly with alien make-up on. [94]

According to Michael Dorn 's publicist, brief discussions were held between Discovery producers and Dorn about a possible role on the show, but that there are no plans for him to appear on it at this time. An Orlando Sentinel writer expanded on the publicist's statement by stating that Dorn was offered less than one percent of what he had been paid for his last appearance as Worf. [95]

Robert Duncan McNeill has stated that he had to turn down the chance to direct an episode of Discovery due to being unavailable but that he would "love to do it". [96]

The show's title was revealed by Bryan Fuller at the San Diego Comic-Con on 23 July 2016 with a clip of the title ship, the USS Discovery (NCC-1031). [97] [98] The promo was produced in three weeks and scored by Fil Eisler as an audition for the show. It greatly resembled the Ralph McQuarrie concept art for the canceled film Star Trek: Planet of the Titans , which the staff could not confirm at the time for legal reasons. [99]

Fuller also announced, at a press junket immediately thereafter, the show would be set in the prime timeline, though Fuller declined to say exactly when in that timeline it would be set.

↑ John Van Citters has chosen "DSC" as the series' official abbreviation. [100] This is consistent with the studio's use of "VGR" for Star Trek: Voyager , but MA will use the abbreviation "DIS" for Discovery , for consistency with using "VOY" for Voyager .

On 31 January 2017 , a trailer was released, showing behind-the-scenes footage of early filming. [101]

Ahead of the CBS upfront presentation on 17 May 2017 , the first official promotional image of the series was released, featuring Yeoh and Martin-Green in character on location in Jordan. [102] At the presentation, Martin-Green appeared to debut the first full trailer for the series, which was released online immediately afterward. [103] A trailer featuring the same footage recut was released by Netflix at the same time. [104]

The first official teaser poster for the series was released alongside the trailer, with a second released to accompany the announcement of the season premiere date. Two further limited edition posters were released at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2017 . At the Discovery panel on 22 July 2017 , a second full trailer debuted, featuring the first footage of Isaacs' Captain Lorca and Wilson's Harry Mudd. The trailer was released online shortly after the panel. [105] [106]

The overall first year publicity efforts of CBS Television Studios on behalf of Discovery were coordinated by its Vice President Communications Kristen Hall , [107] which earned her an industry award nomination in 2018, the ICG Publicists Award; she did not win, however. [108]

Season 3 title card

At the Mission New York convention in September 2016 , it was announced that IDW Publishing would produce comics (written by Mike Johnson ) and that Gallery Books would produce novels (the first by David Mack ) tying into the series. Both tie-in lines are coordinated with the events of the series, and are supervised by Discovery writer Kirsten Beyer. [109]

In August 2017 , it was announced that Star Trek Timelines would be updated to include characters and ships from Discovery , including Philippa Georgiou, Michael Burnham, and Saru. [110] [111] In October 2017 , more Discovery characters were added to the game including Gabriel Lorca, Ash Tyler, and Harry Mudd. [112] A month-long event, Discovery: A New Frontier , gave players the opportunity to acquire other characters and ships from the series. [113]

In September 2017 , to mark the start of the series, Perfect World made Discovery 's Starfleet uniform available to players of Star Trek Online for a limited period. [114] In January 2018 , the publisher announced that the " Discovery Lock Box" would be added to the game, giving players the chance to win ships, weapons and equipment based on those of the series, including the Crossfield -class , the Sarcophagus , and the Walker -class . [115] Starting in the autumn of 2018, Age of Discovery allows players to create a character from the Discovery era. [116] Later additions include the uniforms worn by the crew of the ISS Charon and ISS Shenzhou and several weapons used by the Emperor .

Under Eaglemoss Collections ' Hero Collector imprint, Penguin Random House published the Star Trek: Discovery Designing Starships volume of the Designing Starship reference book series on 3 September 2019 . From an in-universe perspective, a number of DIS ships are also covered in the Star Trek: Shipyards - Starfleet Ships 2151-2293 volume from the Shipyards series. Starfleet ships from the show's third season will also be covered in the second edition of the Star Trek: Shipyards - Starfleet Ships 2294 to the Future reference book . [117]

Anovos produced a phaser pistol prop replica in December 2017 [118] and released a phaser rifle late in 2018. It began to retail Starfleet uniforms (replica costumes) in the summer of 2018 [119] and markets upscale "Studio-Scale Filming Miniatures" of the USS Discovery , USS Shenzhou , and USS Enterprise ( as seen in DIS ) along with a number of Eaglemoss and QMx products. [120] [121] Rubie's Costume Company also produces DIS costumes.

In January 2018, Eaglemoss Collections ' Hero Collector brand premiered the Star Trek: Discovery The Official Starships Collection partwork , featuring starship miniatures , dedication plaques , and a figure from the series. Other ships from the series were also released as larger models within the Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection , and polyresin busts of DIS characters were featured in the company's Star Trek: The Official Busts Collection . Following the release of its 33rd (numbered) issue in 2021, the company's DIS starships will be marketed as part of the Star Trek Universe: The Official Starships Collection .

QMx debuted its magnetic DIS Starfleet insignia badges at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2017. FanSets launched its first wave of collectible Discovery pins in August 2017. [122]

Hallmark released a Keepsake Christmas ornament depicting the USS Discovery in July 2018. Another DIS ornament that featured Commander Saru and Michael Burnham was released a year later.

Beginning in August 2018, McFarlane Toys began to retail a series of seven-inch articulated figures which will eventually feature characters from DIS. [123] [124] [125] Toy weapons and accessories for role-play were planned but the production of phaser pistol toys was halted after regulatory issues (and the ensuing retailer reticence) came to light, due to the toys' perceived resemblance to real firearms.

Titan Merchandise debuted DIS "Titans" vinyl figures at a 2018 convention and planned to put them into wide retail release during 2019. [126]

Gentle Giant released a Saru bust in the summer of 2018, followed by figurines of Michael Burnham and the Torchbearer. Its toy division, Gentle Giant Toys , announced that it planned to release Fleet Flyers "starship danglers" in the autumn of 2018 but they did not reach retail and had been placed "on hold" as of February 2019. [127] [128] [129]

Branded as Polar Lights products, Round 2 began to release plastic model kits (and display models) of DIS starships in early 2019. [130]

Ukonic/Robe Factory released a USS Discovery pizza cutter in 2021.

On 13 July 2021 , ViacomCBS Consumer Products and Playmates Toys jointly announced that the latter had acquired new licensing for " action figures, vehicles and ships, role play and other toy categories ", and slated the first of these products for retail release in 2022. Among other Star Trek series and films, this licensing encompasses Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Lower Decks , Star Trek: Picard , and Star Trek: Prodigy . [131]

Rick Berman responded to the new series with cautious optimism. On his Twitter feed, he tweeted, " I wish them nothing but good luck and smooth sailing. Just hope it stays true to Gene's vision. " [132]

Brannon Braga likewise wished the new series well, commenting on his Twitter feed, "Star Trek is a vast canvass with many artists. Constantly evolving. Godspeed to Mr Kurtzman. " [133] Braga additionally remarked, " Hopefully with the new series they can get back to more meditative storytelling. " In Braga's opinion, the new series is vital to ensuring Star Trek continues for another fifty years. He stated, " It's all about making sure the next television show is really good and finds a new generation of viewers to keep it going. " ( SFX , issue 270, p. 68) He later commented, " With Discovery , I am honestly as excited to see it as any other Star Trek fan. I devour each new trailer the moment it comes out. " [134]

Robert Hewitt Wolfe admitted to not knowing anything about the new series, apart from having read about it online, and stated he is currently too busy to write for it. He also commented, " Sounds like it could be great though. " As for the way the new series will be released, he stated, " Subscription streaming is an extremely successful model & allows for good budgets so it makes sense for Star Trek." Wolfe tweeted a "congrats" message to Bryan Fuller, upon him being named as the series' showrunner, adding, " You have the conn. Do us proud. " [135] [136] [137]

David A. Goodman reacted to news of the series by saying, " Hope it's good, will watch it even if it's bad. " [138]

As for whether he and wife Denise Okuda will be involved in working on the new series, Michael Okuda remarked, " We'd love to be involved. Kurtzman already has a talented, experienced team from the last two films, but who knows? " [139] Regarding the announcement that the series will be run by Bryan Fuller, Michael Okuda stated, " Congrats, Bryan! Go boldly! " [140]

Rene Auberjonois dismissed the notion that the new series will feature himself and Nana Visitor portraying their respective Star Trek: Deep Space Nine characters of Odo and Kira Nerys . [141]

On Seth MacFarlane 's Twitter feed, he recommended, " Let's make this new Star Trek series optimistic, eh? I think we're all dystopia'd out. " [142] MacFarlane incidentally, actually put his money where his mouth was, as he is the creator/star/producer of the Star Trek: The Next Generation inspired science fiction series The Orville , adopting the former's upbeat tone and which almost simultaneously premiered with Discovery in September 2017 on FOX TV, thereby de facto becoming a competitor for the latter, as it has inevitably led up to many fans and reviewers making head-to-head comparisons between the two. The overlapping airings continued when the respective second seasons of both series started their run in January 2019.

Former Star Trek , but now- The Orville , science consultant André Bormanis has stated, " When it comes back to TV, I hope they do something more in the spirit of the original. Everybody in Hollywood who has ever had even the smallest association with Star Trek I'm sure has a 'How would you do the next Star Trek ?' answer. I would probably do something a little more like Captain Pike's adventures. Go back to that era where it was a little more rugged, a little more fifties' sci-fi sensibility. " ( The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years , p. 39)

Press reactions to the series' announcement pondered how Star Trek could appeal to a new generation and compete against darker, more mature shows of the 21st century, like Game of Thrones , The Walking Dead , and Ronald D. Moore 's reboot of Battlestar Galactica . [143] [144] [145] [146] National Post felt there was no need for a new series, arguing Star Trek had become a quaint retrofuture series akin to Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers . [147] The Independent was one of the few to argue the optimistic future of Star Trek would make a welcome antidote. [148]

Other articles concentrated on the decision to produce the series for streaming, with some expressing deep cynicism over the idea. [149] [150] [151] Others noted the decision was a win-win in terms of keeping the series going. [152] [153] [154] [155]

Den of Geek and io9 noted most fans would prefer the show be set after The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Voyager instead of in the same timeline as the film series. [156] [157] UK magazine SFX reported that was the most wanted request for the series. Other requests, in order of most desired, included: having the new crew undertake a multi-year mission in a starship rather than having them occupy a space station; focusing on controversial social issues; retaining a sense of fun; and introducing new alien species and technology. The magazine also determined that their readers' "dream cast" for the series included Dan Stevens as the captain, Rooney Mara as the first officer, Gina Torres as the doctor, Nick Frost as the engineer, and Wil Wheaton as the Federation President . ( SFX , issue 270, pp. 36-37) USGamer expressed hope that the series' success could revive interest in Star Trek video games after the failure of the movie tie-in . [158]

During an interview given at CinemaCon (11-14 April 2016), Brent Spiner commented that "looking at such a pedigree" working for the show, he thinks it is going to be fantastic. He also remarked that J.J. Abrams allegedly just became a producer of the show. [159] In an interview with SFX magazine (issue 275, p. 67) that was published around the same time, Spiner remarked, laughing, that all the new series had to do in order to work in the 21st century was simply "to be there." He added, " And just be entertaining [....] And I think there's a good chance it'll work. There's a really great bunch of people attached to that project, really talented people. I have no doubt that's going to be a really huge success. "

A lawsuit alleging that elements of Discovery had been copied from an unreleased video game called Tardigrades was filed on 19 August 2019 , and dismissed on 20 September 2019 . The judge found that Discovery "is not substantially similar to [ Tardigrades ] as a matter of law." Memory Alpha was cited in the finding. [160] The case was appealed, but on 17 August 2020 the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the lower court's decision. [161] [162]

In April 2021 , the third season of Discovery won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series. The show had previously been nominated in 2018 and 2019 for each of the first two seasons. [163]

As of 2021, Discovery has been nominated for ten Emmy Awards , mostly in "technical" categories such as visual effects and makeup. It has won two: "Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Limited Series, Movie or Special" and "Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Single Episode".

External links

Star Trek: Discovery at Wikipedia
Star Trek: Discovery at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
Star Trek: Discovery at the Internet Movie Database
Star Trek: Discovery writers at X (formerly Twitter)
1 Bell Riots
2 Obi Ndefo
3 Past Tense, Part I (episode)

Star Trek: Discovery - The Tardigrade, Explained

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Star Trek: Discovery's Spore Drive, Explained

Star trek: discovery - who is ash tyler/voq, the boys season 4 is being review bombed.

Star Trek: Discovery is unique within the franchise for many reasons, and one of the most important is its ship. The USS Discovery is powered by a system unlike anything else in Starfleet: a displacement-activated spore hub drive. It's an incredibly complex concept, but in an attempt to put it simply, the ship uses fungal spores to travel through a network of mycelium (essentially, mushroom roots) through a discrete level of subspace. This allows the ship to jump from place to place in minutes.

But at the time Michael Burnham joins the crew , the Discovery hasn't been able to jump long distances yet. Because the network is so vast and complex, traveling even a short distance requires massive calculations. The longer the jump, the more potential routes, and the higher the likelihood of ending up at the wrong coordinates. For a longer jump, they would require computational power that they simply don't have. With the Klingon-Federation War taking lives every day, the pressure is on for Discovery to find a solution. And when disaster strikes a fellow Starfleet ship, they find one, in the form of an unknown alien creature.

The spore drive was one of the most sophisticated pieces of technology introduced in Star Trek, but it was also a magnet for major galactic drama.

How Does the Discovery Find the Tardigrade?

In Season 1, Episode 3, "Context Is For Kings," series protagonist Michael Burnham arrives as a prisoner aboard the Discovery. Shortly afterward, the vessel receives horrifying news about its sister ship, the USS Glenn: the entire crew has died. In the exchange between engineer Paul Stamets and Captain Gabriel Lorca, it becomes clear that the Glenn was also a part of the mysterious project that's being conducted aboard the Discovery. A boarding party heads to the Glenn to retrieve equipment related to the project, to keep it out of Klingon hands.

What they find, though, is more than they bargained for. Although the crew clearly died in an accident (later revealed to be a spore drive malfunction), the ship also contains Klingon bodies that were killed by something else. Before long, the team finds the source of these deaths: a monstrous creature that appears to be immune to phaser fire and can easily tear a Klingon in half. Despite the chaos, they manage to secure the life form along with the rest of the science equipment, and get everything back to the Discovery.

What Is The Tardigrade?

As a xenoanthropologist, Michael is an expert on alien cultures and behaviors, so Captain Lorca enlists her help to learn about the creature. She learns that it bears similarities to Earth's tardigrades, tiny creatures that are among the most resilient on the planet. Not only does the creature physically resemble one, but it also shares its resistances to high and low temperatures, starvation, dehydration, and other extreme conditions. The only difference is that Earth's tardigrades are barely visible to the naked eye, while the one found onboard the Glenn is massive.

Despite the discrepancy in size, the name "tardigrade" catches on. Some of the crew members refer to it as "Ripper," a name derived from the brutal way it killed the Klingon raiders. Yet despite its capacity to hurt humanoids, Michael deduces that the creature is not malicious; rather, it attacked because it felt threatened. They may not be able to use it as a weapon (which is what Lorca wants), but there's more to be learned.

How Does the Tardigrade Help The Spore Drive Work?

In S1 E4, Captain Lorca learns that a Federation mining colony is under attack by Klingons. If they take it, not only will hundreds of innocents die, but precious resources will fall into enemy hands, practically ensuring that the Klingons will win the war. The Discovery's spore drive is the only chance any Federation ship has of getting there before the colony falls.

But the jump is longer than any they have tried before. The Glenn had managed to make those jumps, and so Stamets tries to figure out how to get the Discovery to do the same. After a failed jump, he claims they would need a supercomputer to make it successful.

When the spore drive was activated for that failed jump, though, Michael noticed an intense reaction from the tardigrade. From there, she follows the clues to learn that the tardigrade has a symbiotic relationship with the mycelial network. Based on the data from the Glenn, she and Stamets piece together that the tardigrade appeared on the ship by traveling the network. It appeared in the ship's storage, where the Glenn's mushrooms were kept; they conclude that it had come in search of the spores. Michael hypothesizes that the tardigrade may be the "supercomputer" that Stamets is looking for:

This ship's spore drive travels on a network of mycelium that's spread across the entire galaxy. We just can't control where we go. Maybe the tardigrade can.

Stamets works out the salvaged technology from the Glenn, and hooks the tardigrade up to the system. The Glenn's mapping patterns, which were incomplete before, are now fully detailed. The tardigrade was the key to it all, as Stamets realizes:

This is every charted star system. The tardigrade is holding all these coordinates in its head.

The Discovery jumps right into battle with the Klingons, destroying the ships and saving the remaining lives down on the mining colony. But as they make a successful jump, and another one once the battle is over, Michael watches as the tardigrade wails and thrashes. From the deep concern on her face, it's clear she understands that the animal is in deep distress. The day has been won, but now there's a moral question over using the creature to work the spore drive.

What Happens To The Tardigrade?

In the following episode, "Choose Your Pain," Michael proves that the jumps are hurting the tardigrade. After being forced to make one too many jumps, the creature enters a hibernation mode triggered by extreme stress. And it couldn't have happened at a worse time — Captain Lorca has been captured , and the Discovery desperately needs a working spore drive to save him. Out of both concern for the tardigrade and their duty to their captain, Michael, Stamets, and Tilly begin working on a solution.

They begin by examining the tardigrade's DNA. The creature's symbiotic relationship with the spores allows it to incorporate the mushrooms' DNA into its own, creating their unique connection and allowing the tardigrade to navigate the mycelial network. Or, as Michael puts it:

When Ripper borrows DNA from the mycelium, he's granted an all-access travel pass.

The key component is that the tardigrade is alive and sentient; the spore drive needs a co-pilot that can think for itself. All they have to do is find a willing host, compatible with the tardigrade DNA sequence, and transfer it into them. The problem is that time is short, and this small team of scientists doesn't have the luxury of running dozens of experiments.

When push comes to shove and there's no other choice, Paul Stamets ends up injecting himself with the tardigrade DNA. He himself serves as the co-pilot for the spore drive, stepping into the role that the tardigrade had fulfilled. As a consenting participant, Stamets is ready and willing to make the jump, so that the Discovery no longer has to exploit an innocent creature . Naturally, Stamets' reckless experiment results in some unexpected side effects — but those would be explored in later episodes. For now, Lorca is rescued, and the Discovery flies another day.

Meanwhile, the tardigrade is still in hibernation mode. Michael knows that even with Stamets able to fly the ship, their monstrous friend won't get a reprieve if it remains with Starfleet. So together, Michael and Tilly revive it with the mushroom spores it likes so much, and release it into space. As the spores surround it, the tardigrade awakes from its hibernation, appearing to flourish as Tilly and Michael watch from the ship. They are not able to communicate with the creature, to explain their situation, to thank it for its help or to apologize for hurting it. All they can do is set it free, and so that's the choice they make. Michael chooses to treat the tardigrade with humanity, a rare and precious thing in a time of war .

Ash Tyler started off like any Starfleet officer, then Star Trek revealed there was something much more sinister brewing beneath his normal facade.

Movies & TV

'Star Trek: Discoverys Elias Toufexis Reveals Which Alien Species Hed Like To Return As

Elias Toufexis didn't know if his character L'ak would come back, adding uncertainty to filming his final scenes.
He would like to appear in another Star Trek show as a smaller, weirder alien character.
Toufexis is passionate about Star Wars and Marvel, hoping to join those franchises in the future.

As Star Trek: Discovery took its final bow with Season 5 earlier this year, not only did the series wrap up the arcs of our beloved crew, but it also introduced a few new faces that we wish we'd gotten to see more of. Among those faces was Elias Toufexis , who played one-half of the season's antagonist duo, Moll ( Eve Harlow ) and L'ak (Toufexis). The final episodes of the series saw the star-crossed lovers torn apart as L'ak died protecting Moll.

To celebrate the release of Discovery Season 5 on Blu-ray and DVD , I sat down with Toufexis to reflect on his journey in the Star Trek franchise. Yes, I am still manifesting his turn as the new era of Star Trek's Jeffrey Combs or Suzie Plakson- style actor who makes multiple appearances across the currently running shows , and Toufexis has ideas for where he'd like to pop up next. During our conversation, he also revealed that he didn't know for certain that L'ak wouldn't be back when he filmed his final scene. A huge sci-fi fan himself, Toufexis also revealed which other franchises he'd like to jump into now that he's checked Star Trek off his list. You can read our full conversation in the transcript below or watch it in the player above.

Star Trek: Discovery

Taking place almost a decade before Captain Kirk's Enterprise, the USS Discovery charts a course to uncover new worlds and life forms.

Release Date September 24, 2017

Cast Oyin Oladejo, Emily Coutts, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman

Main Genre Sci-Fi

Genres Drama, Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure

Rating TV-14

COLLIDER: I really loved your arc on this season of Discovery . Last time we spoke, it was before L’ak was dead, so can you tell me about how you felt bringing his arc to a close and filming those final scenes with Eve [Harlow]?

ELIAS TOUFEXIS: Well, the funny thing about it is that I didn't know if he was gonna come back or not . Even when we shot the testing. They hadn't told me. I remember lying in that bed, and it was either Michelle [Paradise] or Tunde [Osunsanmi], one of them, and I said, “So is this the end? Because I know that the last few episodes are gonna be Moll trying to get him back. Is he coming back?” They were like, “Well, his corpse is gonna be around and stuff, but we're not sure if he's gonna come back or not.” So, it made it less about, “Okay, I'm dying, but I'm not really dying, maybe ?” [Laughs] I die a lot on TV, so it made it a little less than it normally is where I’m like, “Okay, I'm done.”

But they did have a bit of a clap-out for me, which is when a character’s finished, and then the cast and crew get around and applaud. So, I think we all kind of knew that it was the end. But there was always that little hint, so I was like, “Oh, maybe I'm coming back.” Then they asked me to play his body in Episode 10, and I was like, “No, not if I'm never gonna wake up. Just use a dummy.” So, I never came back. That episode, at least, turned out to be my final days on the show.

You did such a good job with the whole arc. I know we spoke a little bit about it last time, your love for this franchise, and since you were in prosthetics the whole time, I genuinely think it would be so easy for you to pop up in another Star Trek show. It's been so long since we’ve had a Jeffrey Combs or Suzie Plakson situation, and I am manifesting that for you. So if you could jump into any of the other currently running shows, which one would you choose, and what kind of character would you wanna play?

TOUFEXIS: Good question. I would have loved to work on Section 31 , but that ship has sailed. Strange New Worlds is still going, and now there's [ Starfleet ] Academy . Academy takes place around Discovery time, so I don't know — maybe L’ak’s not dead. He is. I'm just kidding. It would be cool if he wasn't. But I would like to go a different way because L’ak is a big, brooding tough guy. What if I tried to play a smaller, weirder alien, like a Ferengi or something? Because I have to be in prosthetics. I was in the first season, obviously, as just me, and then I'm also in a Star Trek video game called Resurgence . I play a main bad guy in that again. [Laughs] So, I’m trying to catch up to Jeffrey. I only have nine more things to go, or something like that, before I can catch up to Jeffrey. So, thank you for manifesting that for me.

Watching the older Star Trek seasons, you see those actors who pop up over and over.

TOUFEXIS: Yeah. I mean, it's different nowadays because you don't have 23 episodes a season, and they don't have to fill. It's not like Law & Order , where you have a judge one week, and then he's a criminal the next. We don't have that luxury, so I'd have to wait a little bit, I think. But if this franchise is going where we all think it's going, maybe in a couple of years , yeah, that'd be great.

One of my favorite things about collecting physical media and getting these stunning box sets that they're making is the bonus content. Can we expect to see you in any of the bonus content? Have you seen the gag reel?

TOUFEXIS: I haven't seen anything. They haven’t shown me. I'll tell you, there's gotta be gag reels because Eve, especially, just bumps into everything . When we were wearing those helmets — man, I hope they put this on there — every take, it was just like, bang , Eve falls over, bang , Eve falls over. Because she was leading, so I would just laugh at her falling over. I hope there's outtakes. I did interviews and things like that. I don't know what's on the Blu-ray set, but I'm a big collector, too, and I always like behind-the-scenes stuff. So hopefully there's a good chunk of stuff that I did on there. And if not, I mean, everything is so fascinating. They have five seasons to talk about.

Star Trek and Star Wars Ignighted Elias Toufexis' Passion For Acting

"is it wrong for a star trek actor to say star wars".

So what's next on the horizon for you? What can fans look forward to seeing you in in the future?

TOUFEXIS: My whole life is NDAs. The things I am allowed to talk about are Blood of Zeus on Netflix most definitely. That’s a really good show. Season 3 just got greenlit. We're doing that now. And like four games that I can't talk about. A lot of my life is voiceover and performance capture. I was just in Serbia shooting a game that I can't talk about. [Laughs] There's a lot of stuff I can't talk about. But of the stuff I can talk about, I would say Blood of Zeus on Netflix.

Excellent. I know joining Star Trek was such a huge career goal for you. I'm interested to know what other dream franchises you want to check off your bucket list.

TOUFEXIS: That's a good question. I mean, Star Trek was always kind of number one for me. I love Star Wars, I love Marvel, I've done DC — I played the Penguin in a game, [ Gotham Knights ], which was really fun. I mean, is it wrong for a Star Trek actor to say Star Wars? [Laughs]

No, not at all!

TOUFEXIS: Of course, I'd love to be on Star Wars. Star Wars was the reason I wanted to be– It's actually really, really interesting because when I was a kid, Star Wars was the first thing I saw and I wanted to be in Star Wars , but I didn't know what that meant. I just wanted to be there. I didn't really know about acting and things like that, and then I saw Star Trek, and then it became, “Oh, I want to know about this.” Then I think that kind of led me to a lot of learning about film and TV because I dove headfirst into the old show and TNG , and stuff [like] that. It took over from Star Wars. But if I'm honest, Star Wars was my impetus to be in this world, so I would actually love to join that franchise at one point. But I still like Star Trek.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. You can stream the entire series on Paramount+.

Watch on Paramount+

'Star Trek: Discoverys Elias Toufexis Reveals Which Alien Species Hed Like To Return As

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery’s captain burnham opening starfleet academy is ironic.

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Star Trek: Starfleet Academy - Cast, Story & Everything We Know

Patrick stewart & star trek legends bring discovery’s sonequa martin-green to tears with touching tributes, one of star trek’s most pivotal 21st century events happens now.

Starfleet Academy was reopened by Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) in Star Trek: Discovery season 4, which is ironic. The next Star Trek series and a spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Starfleet Academy continues the 32nd-century era, with Academy Award-winner Holly Hunter cast as the Chancellor and Captain, while Emmy winner Paul Giamatti plays Starfleet Academy 's recurring villain . The seeds for Starfleet Academy , however, were planted in Star Trek: Discovery season 4.

A hundred years before then-Commander Burnham and the USS Discovery arrived in 3188 and 3189, respectively, a catastrophe known as the Burn crippled the galaxy. The Burn detonated the dilithium in starships' antimatter warp cores, destroying thousands of vessels and making warp travel impossible. The United Federation of Planets broke apart. Becoming an isolationist world, United Earth expelled the Federation and Starfleet, and Starfleet Academy was shut down. But after the USS Discovery solved the mystery of the Burn and restored warp travel, Starfleet Academy was finally able to reopen after a century.

Exploring another corner of the Star Trek universe, the upcoming series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is a brand-new take on the classic franchise.

Why Star Trek: Discovery’s Captain Burnham Opening Starfleet Academy Is Ironic

Captain burnham never attended starfleet academy.

Captain Michael Burnham reopening Starfleet Academy in Star Trek: Discovery season 4 is ironic because Burnham never attended Starfleet Academy. Michael was raised on Vulcan by her adoptive father, Ambassador Sarek (James Frain) , since she was 10. Burnham attended the Vulcan Science Academy , and Sarek pulled strings for Michael to be posted by Starfleet on the USS Shenzhou under Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). Nonetheless, it was Captain Burnham who delivered the keynote speech to Starfleet Academy's inaugural class of 3190:

Today, we reopen Starfleet Academy for the first time since the Burn. And in this moment, I feel like anything is possible. You are tomorrow's ensigns, lieutenants, commanders, and captains. And in this new world, all of you will go where no one has gone before. And you will make the path by traveling it. And from what I see... from what I see... I am honored to be in your company.

Of course, countless dignitaries and luminaries have delivered keynote speeches to educational institutions they did not attend. Captain Burnham was given the honor by Federation President Laira Rillak (Chelah Horsdal) because of her accomplishments in leading the USS Discovery to solve the Burn and restore warp travel to the Federation. Burnham's heroism led to her Captaincy of the USS Discovery. By the end of Star Trek: Discovery , Michael Burnham cemented herself as the most important Starfleet Captain of the 32nd century and a future Admiral.

What To Expect From Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

The next star trek series picks up where discovery left off.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is now in production for a targeted 2026 release on Paramount+. Starfleet Academy not only stars Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti, along with a young cast playing Starfleet Academy' s new cadets , but the series also includes several Star Tre k legacy characters and actors. Star Trek: Discovery 's Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr), Lt. Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), and Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) have joined Starfleet Academy, along with The Doctor (Robert Picardo) from Star Trek: Voyager .

Starfleet Academy's cadets must navigate the social and educational challenges of turning into future Starfleet Officers.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will bring a new perspective to the final frontier, introducing a class of cadets who must face mistakes Starfleet has made while also encountering a new enemy to the Federation . Starfleet Academy's cadets must navigate the social and educational challenges of turning into future Starfleet Officers. Starfleet Academy will be set both in space and on Earth, with the series returning to the school's San Francisco home base and filming on the largest set ever constructed for Star Trek . It's safe to expect that Captain Burnham's words in her keynote address in Star Trek: Discovery season 4 will be fulfilled by Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Discovery

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'Star Trek: Discovery' final season lands on DVD, Blu-ray and limited edition Steelbook

Set phasers to stoked! "Star Trek: Discovery" S5 beams onto home video Aug. 27.

Seven sci-fi characters from "Star Trek: Discovery" against a starfield background.

"It has been a hell of a journey!"

Now that " Star Trek: Discovery " has wrapped up its last cosmic mission this past spring, it's time to clear some space in your video library for " Star Trek: Discovery - The Final Season ." It will hit DVD, Blu-ray and have a limited edition Steelbook release when it arrives from Paramount Home Entertainment on Aug. 27, 2024.

Sure, you can always still stream it on Paramount+ to your heart's content, but the allure of these deluxe 4-disk physical editions for " Discovery's " last run is the incredible array of behind-the-scenes goodies, gag reels, fun bloopers, illuminating featurettes, cast and crew interviews, promotional material, teasers and trailers, special audio commentaries, and plenty more added bonus content.

a trio of images for Star Trek: Discovery's home video release

Here's the official synopsis:

"'Star Trek: Discovery' follows the voyages of Starfleet on their missions to discover new worlds and new life forms. The fifth and final season will find Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well… dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it."

Trailer | Star Trek: Discovery - The Final Season Coming to Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital | StarTrek.com - YouTube

"Star Trek: Discovery - The Final Season" features the ensemble cast of Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), David Ajala (Cleveland "Book" Booker), Blu del Barrio (Adira), and Callum Keith Rennie (Rayner). This final season presents guest stars Elias Toufexis (L'ak) and Eve Harlow (Moll).

Check out the wealth of special bonus features packed into this Final Season set:

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Audio Commentary (Exclusive to Home Entertainment)

Deleted Scene (Exclusive to Home Entertainment)

Being Michael Burnham (Exclusive to Home Entertainment)

Character Development (Exclusive to Home Entertainment)

Gag Reel (Exclusive to Home Entertainment)

Star Trek: Discovery: The Voyage of Season 5

A Team Effort

Discovery's Creative Force

And if that's still not enough "Discovery" to satiate you, "Star Trek: Discovery - The Complete Series" box set will also be available on Aug. 27 featuring all 65 episodes on 21 disks, plus more than 15 hours of spacefaring special content including a bonus disk that transports fans on an emotional, never-before-seen galactic adventure through the events of all five seasons with the whole cast and crew.

In the U.K., the Final Season and Complete Series sets release a week earlier, on Aug. 19.

"Star Trek: Discovery" is produced by CBS Studios in partnership with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. Executive producers include Alex Kurtzman, Michelle Paradise, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Sonequa Martin-Green, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth, with Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise serving as co-showrunners.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Jeff Spry is an award-winning screenwriter and veteran freelance journalist covering TV, movies, video games, books, and comics. His work has appeared at SYFY Wire, Inverse, Collider, Bleeding Cool and elsewhere. Jeff lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon amid the ponderosa pines, classic muscle cars, a crypt of collector horror comics, and two loyal English Setters.

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‘Star Trek: Discovery’s Wilson Cruz on Culber and Stamets’ Future — Are They Truly Happy?

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The Big Picture

Star Trek: Discovery paved the way for LGBTQ+ representation in the Star Trek franchise.
Wilson Cruz reflects on the importance of human connection and self-discovery portrayed in the series.
Cruz reveals his satisfaction with Culber's character arc in Season 5 and is open to future appearances.

Though Star Trek: Discovery has come to an end after five seasons, the series will go down in history as the one that kicked off the latest era of the long-running franchise. When Discovery warped onto the scene in 2017, it also broke new ground by featuring one of the franchise's first gay couples to be a regular part of the series. Wilson Cruz and Anthony Rapp opened new doors for LGBTQ+ audiences, and even actors as Discovery 's earliest seasons inspired stars like Blu Del Barrio and June Laporte to reach for the stars too.

To celebrate the release of Discovery Season 5 on Blu-ray and DVD , I sat down with Cruz to take a look back at his time on the series. During our conversation, he spoke about how he hopes Discovery's legacy is rooted in connection, both with ourselves and those around us. He also explains why he was happy with where his character ended up in Season 5 despite having wanted to return for Season 6, and where he thinks Culber and Stamets (Rapp) are in the flash forward shown in the series finale. Lastly, Cruz reveals whether we can expect to see him pop up in any future episodes of Starfleet Academy . You can read our full conversation in the transcript below or watch it in the player above.

Star Trek: Discovery

Taking place almost a decade before Captain Kirk's Enterprise, the USS Discovery charts a course to uncover new worlds and life forms.

COLLIDER: With the show coming to an end and getting this gorgeous home release, looking back over the last eight years of working on Discovery , what do you hope the show's legacy is as part of this massive and probably eternal franchise?

WILSON CRUZ: That’s a big question, Samantha. The first thing that comes to mind is that while it's important to discover new planets and new species and new universes, and that someday we will, in the end, our connection to each other is still the most important thing about our lives. The way that we choose to connect with people who are different than we are , who may look different than we are, who may feel differently about any given subject, it's important to remember that we need each other . That’s one. Two: that, as human beings, our job is to know ourselves more deeply and better, and that's part of our work here on this planet, or whatever planet we're on. That it's okay, that it's not a selfish thing to want to know yourself , and that to connect with other people is the most important part of our lives. And I think the show really displayed that.

'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 5 Felt Like the End of a Chapter, Not the Whole Story

"i was excited to come back in season 6 and discover what that means.".

This season, you got to go on a really cool spiritual journey, and it allowed you to both relate to Michael more, and even at one point, you got to play a whole other character for a day. How do you feel about how Hugh's story ended, and the full-circle journey for him?

CRUZ: I'm really satisfied because I thought that Season 5 was gonna be the end of a chapter for him . He had been on this journey of self-acceptance, of self-realization, really, a reimagining of his world, of his life, no longer sitting in the background of his genius husband, but stepping into his own genius, but also trying to understand how all of this happened, to come to terms with the fact that he had died and come back to life and created this life and that there were questions that could never be answered about that that drove him nuts, that made him anxious. Like the fact that they're even 900 years into the future, that causes anxiety. You can't really explain that. For a scientist, that's hard to accept.

But for him at the end to finally be moved by the fact that this incredible experience has happened and he can't explain it, but it all worked out was a revelation for him that he could finally trust in the universe again, even though he couldn't explain it. So, I was excited to come back in Season 6 and discover what that means now because, who is he now that he doesn't have that anxiety anymore, right? But it was a nice way to end his series because now it's just one full arc. So, I'm pretty satisfied with that.

In the finale, we get this beautiful flash-forward with Michael and Book and their happily ever after, and we do see the rest of the crew again in that vision scene that Michael has. Where do you think Hugh and Paul are at that point in their journey and their lives in the future?

CRUZ: I think they spend a lot more time at their vacation home in Puerto Rico. I think they spend a lot more time probably visiting their charges wherever they are. But I also think that they are probably helping Tilly over at the Starfleet Academy whenever she needs us. But I think they're happily married and excited about their retirement. [Laughs]

I love that. Speaking of Tilly, now that we know when Starfleet Academy is set, is there any chance that we'll see you guys pop up there in the future?

CRUZ: I don't know. They know that we're more than happy and willing to come back if asked. But we're wishing them every success. I'm speaking for Anthony [Rapp] and I. [Laughs]

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. You can stream the entire series on Paramount+.

Watch on Paramount+

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Interview: Wilson Cruz On Why ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 5 Was The Most Fun; Imagines ‘Academy’ Role

Wilson Cruz - TrekMovie interview - Star Trek: Discovery

| August 25, 2024 | By: Laurie Ulster 8 comments so far

On Tuesday, the fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery arrives on Blu-ray and DVD complete with audio commentarp, deleted scenes, exclusive special features, a gag reel, and more. ( Full details and pre-order links available here .) Before Disco comes home one last time, Wilson Cruz talked to TrekMovie about the biggest challenges of his five-year run as Dr. Hugh Culber, the most fun, the breakthrough moments, opportunities he’d still hoped to have, and his thoughts on what Hugh could bring to Starfleet Academy .

Looking back on all five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery , what arc of Culber’s was the most challenging for you to play?

I’m going to be honest with you: This past season was pretty challenging, but if I was going to pick the most challenging season, the one that I had to get right in order for the rest of it to work was season 2, where we see Culber come back to life, and not necessarily come back and just jump right into the old life. He had to deal with the real ramifications of what happened, sharing the ship with the person who killed him, but also taking stock of his life and trying to understand which parts of it worked for him in the past and which parts he was no longer willing to accept, or at least was willing to question. He questioned his marriage, he questioned whether he wanted to be a doctor anymore. He dealt with Ash Tyler even in a physical way, so making all of that resonate, and real, and set him up for the person he was going to become in season 3, this person who was unshackled from his past and allowed him to step into who he wants to be? That’s that was really satisfying.

Wilson Cruz as Culber and Shazad Latif as Ash Tyler in Star Trek: Discovery season 2

Culber confronts Ash Tyler in season 2

So in contrast, what was the most fun?

I think the most fun season was this past season, season 5. Because he’s still asking big questions. He’s still dealing with some anxiety, with the unknown, with uncertainty, but he’s dealing with it face on, head on. And I was afforded all of these opportunities as an actor to stretch, to have fun, to go big, right? Playing Jinaal was a real challenge, and it was fun, but creating him for two weeks before those cameras rolled was one of the biggest acting challenges of my life, because they literally were like “You can make him whoever you want,” which was like, don’t say THAT to me, right? Like,… parameters. So I was trying on a bunch of different people, and it was, you know, hit or miss. I landed on this version of it that I didn’t even show the other actors until the cameras rolled and they got to see him, because the very first scene we shot was the zhian’tara, where he gets taken over by Jinaal. So when Jinaal comes out, that was the first time that they saw him, so all of those reactions you’re seeing in that moment are very real.

David Ajala as Book, Wilson Cruz as Culber, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery

Jinaal takes Book and Michael on an unpredictable excursion to find the next clue left by the Progenitors in season 5

You did a beautiful job. I mean, we’ve talked about this , but it was incredible. You really embodied this new person.

Also, the scenes with Book was really, were really fun to play, right? That creating that relationship, building that relationship, so and getting to do a scene in Spanish with my grandmother, and honoring our grandmothers. You know, doing a scene in Spanish–I had never in my life, in my career, been allowed to do a scene in my native language. So that was really exciting and satisfying to do. Look, I have chills. [holds up his arm]

Culber (Wilson Cruz) speaks Spanish to a hologram of his grandmother

Culber speaks Spanish to a hologram of his grandmother

And if there’d been another season, what would you like to have seen Culber do? He’s already been through so much, but what else would you like to explore with him?

The thing is, is that I felt, even before we knew it was the end of the series, I felt like season 5 was the end of this chapter for him. You know, because at the end, when we see him in that last scene, he has embraced this uncertainty. He has embraced the wonder and awesomeness of things that he can’t explain in his life, but that have been amazing… have been literally awesome, like in the real definition of the word. And we see him just kind of smile and accept it and be okay with being in awe of it, as opposed to just needing answers for everything like the scientist that he is. I was excited to see who he was going to become now that he had really stepped into his own, into the fact that he wasn’t just a doctor, that he was also the counselor, that he had created all of these relationships with characters outside of Paul. So I really wanted to see him go harder into his counselor role, like I wanted to see him on away missions, and how his being a counselor really helped him bring that kind of understanding to away missions. Because he’s the most empathetic character on the show, he has insight that others don’t, and I wanted to see him bring that more to away missions, and I think we would have probably seen him on more away missions. And I wanted to see him more physical. I wanted to see him… You know, we got to see him fight a couple of times, and it was, I would say, pretty impressive. And I wanted to see more of that side of him too, that he’s no pushover.

Pictured: Wilson Cruz as Culber, Emily Coutts as Detmer, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham and Doug Jones as Saru of the Paramount+ original series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/Paramount+ © 2021 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved.

Culber goes on an away mission to the 10C planet in season 4

So if you get the call to guest star on Starfleet Academy , what would you like to see Culber doing there? Have you thought about that?

Yeah! I think he’s kind of the perfect person to guide the cadets who want to be counselors, to help them lean into their strengths in terms of their own empathy, their willingness, their ability to listen, when it’s appropriate to challenge when it’s not. [laughs] I would love to see him play that kind of role that allows young people who are taking on new challenges to listen to their instincts, which is a hard thing to do when you’re young, because you don’t actually think you know anything. You have this bravura that says that you do, but inside you have the insecurity of like, “Can I do this? Do I know how to do this? Will I succeed?” I’d love to see him do that.

That doesn’t go away for some people anyway.

Yeah. But also, like, leaning into it, right? Like, as a counselor, you know the fact that you understand that that never goes away, how you allow that to guide you, and have that be a strength and not a weakness.

Well, I hope you get to do it, because that would be lovely to see

We’ll see! [crosses fingers]

Wilson Cruz as Culber, Blu del Barrio as Adira, Anthony Rapp as Stamets in Star Trek: Discovery

Culber gives advice to young Adira (with a worried Stamets) before an away mission in season 5

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 comes home August 27

You can pre-order Discovery Season 5 at Amazon on Blu-ray for $34.99 or DVD for $29.99 . The limited edition Steelbook Blu-ray can be pre-ordered for $39.99 .

Season 5 Steelbook Blu-Ray

The complete series box set can be pre-ordered for $59.95 on Blu-ray and $49.95 on DVD .

Box art for complete series Blu-ray edition

DISCLAIMER: When we link to products to buy on Amazon in our articles, these are customized affiliate links that support TrekMovie by earning a small commission when you purchase through them.

Note: The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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Even though DISCOVERY was not overly good, Wilson Cruz was always excellent. He was one of the show’s best assets.

Culber was one of the only characters that they got right from the start.

The only characters I loved from their introduction until the end (not counting the TOS/SNW crew) were Culber, Reno, Lorca, Mudd, L’Rell, Kovich, and Voq-Tyler. I really liked Saru and Stamets before the time jump, but after the jump the writers lost their story and they faded into the background. And while Book and Vance were great in season three, after that they became superfluous.

I couldn’t really connect to any of the other characters. Burnham was beyond annoying, Gray was horribly acted, and Georgiou was boring. Tilly was fun in principle, and there were episodes in which I enjoyed her, but the writers couldn’t seem to decide how to write for her–her character was all over the place. As for Adira, the bridge crew, and Nhan, none of them ever really had a chance to shine. Disco had so much potential, but for me (and others’ mileage will of course vary) it almost never lived up to it. The 23rd-century seasons are the only ones I’ll likely rewatch.

He’s a good actor, given almost nothing to work with. Not sure what was “challenging” for him about season 5, apart from having to put on a voice for one episode.

Yeah, that was kind of weird. He really didn’t have any challenging work in season 5.

The sooner you stop writing about Discovery the sooner we can forget it existed. It’s The Acolyte of Star Trek universe.

I’m no fan of Discovery, but… lol the internet summed up in one post ^

Dr. Culber, Captain Burnham, Suru, and Book… These are my favorite characters from Star Trek: Discovery and in that order. So, I’m really going to miss Dr. Culber and would love for him to pop up in some other Star Trek show or movie. For me he is a dream of Star Trek character. And Wilson is a dreamy human and actor. (Nerdy side note: I’m glad by the end it was clear he is CMO (and Counselor). It was starting to get a little disrespectful for our first queer doctor in Star Trek.)

COMMENTS

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Star Trek: Resurgence is a story-driven game from former Telltale devs coming in 2022

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Star Trek Discovery: Black Alert

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Star Trek: Discovery - The Tardigrade, Explained

Star Trek: Discovery's Spore Drive, Explained

How Does the Discovery Find the Tardigrade?

What Is The Tardigrade?

How Does the Tardigrade Help The Spore Drive Work?

What Happens To The Tardigrade?

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