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Star Trek

After Picard, There Are Two More Secret Live Action Star Trek Shows — But What Are They?

Fri Jan 17, 2020 11:00am 18 comments 2 Favorites [+]

Credit: CBS

As we get ready to revisit the 24th-century future in Star Trek: Picard , and still eagerly await the USS Discovery’s jump to the 32nd-century in season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery, we can’t help but look further ahead in our current timeline to even more Star Trek television…

According to a statement made by Trek producer Alex Kurtzman at the Television Critics Association last week, “There are two more live-action shows that haven’t been announced yet” beyond Picard, Discovery, and the as yet untitled Section 31 series. So what are those two shows? With a dash of speculation, mixed with facts and topped off with a degree of intrepidity, here are five possible live-action Star Trek series that could materialize sometime in the next few years.

Star Trek: Discovery

Could Michael Burnham’s Father Still Be Alive in Star Trek: Discovery?

Mon Dec 16, 2019 11:00am 3 comments Favorite This

Screenshot Credit: CBS

The latest Short Trek takes Star Trek back into the animated realm for a story set during Michael Burnham’s childhood, before the events depicted in the flashbacks of Discovery’s second season episode “Perpetual Infinity.” If you were curious about Michael Burnham’s relationship with her birth-father (and namesake),”The Girl Who Made the Stars” shows that he was just as big of a part of Michael’s early life as her mother, Gabrielle “Red Angel” Burnham.

But wait a minute. Why is there sudden effort spent on developing the backstory of Michael Burnham’s dad? Is it possible that he too survived the Klingon attack on Doctari Alpha? And if so, could Mike Burnham be making a comeback in season three of Discovery? Let’s discuss!

Light spoilers ahead for Short Treks “The Girl Who Made the Stars.”

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Remembering René Auberjonois: 8 Essential Odo Episodes of Deep Space Nine

Mon Dec 9, 2019 4:00pm 14 comments 2 Favorites [+]

Screenshot: CBS

Star Trek fans got some sad news on December 8 when it was reported that actor René Auberjonois had passed away at the age of 79. His career as an actor included starring roles on Broadway, voice acting in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and of course, his memorable role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the shapeshifting changeling Constable Odo.

As fans and colleagues express their love and admiration for the life and career of Auberjonois, Trek fans are probably yearning to rewatch his greatest DS9 hits. Every single episode featuring Odo on Deep Space Nine allowed Star Trek to explore the concept of the Other and Othering in brave new ways. And thanks to Auberjonois’ thoughtful portrayal, Odo was more than just a collection of head-scratching sci-fi metaphors. He was, in many ways, Star Trek’s greatest alien.

Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard Countdown Comic Reveals Will Riker’s Replacement

Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:10am 9 comments 1 Favorite [+]

Credit: CBS/TrekCore

Jean-Luc Picard is back, and he’s got a new starship and a new first officer. The debut of the new TV series Star Trek: Picard might still be two months away, but the official prequel comic book miniseries, Star Trek: Picard – Countdown has arrived, and it’s already revealed the backstory of Picard’s new Number One. Plus, what’s Geordi doing?

Spoilers ahead for IDW’s Star Trek: Picard – Countdown #1.

Star Wars

Why We Need to See Anakin in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Mon Nov 25, 2019 11:00am 34 comments 8 Favorites [+]

Screenshot credit: Lucasfilm

When it comes to Hayden Christensen’s performance as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars films Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, there are, essentially, two popular schools of thought: He was bad in the movies and ruined the already wonky prequels, or, he was bad in the movies but it wasn’t his fault and we still love him. But what if there is a third option? Arguably, for a portion of the population, Hayden’s Anakin was good, but for entirely subjective reasons. And because a specific generation of Star Wars fans still holds a torch for Hayden Christensen, we’ll be devastated if we don’t see him in The Rise of Skywalker. Here’s why.

Michael Chabon Says Wrath of Khan Director Made Him Want to Be a Professional Writer

Thu Oct 31, 2019 1:30pm 1 comment 3 Favorites [+]

The complicated Star Trek timeline and canon will be a huge part of the upcoming TV series Star Trek: Picard, but, the real reason why we’re all excited is that we just freaking love the character of Jean-Luc Picard. Enduring franchises are not a series of Easter eggs, it’s all about great characters. Which is why, if you’re remotely familiar with the writing of Michael Chabon, the fact that he’s the showrunner of Picard is a huge deal. This is a writer who helped humanize Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2, to say nothing of his award-winning genre-defying 2001 novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. In other words, I’m excited for Picard not only because it’s a low-key Next Generation sequel, but because the head writer is literally one of the greatest novelists of the past twenty years.

And in a twist of overlapping fate, it turns out that if it weren’t for another novelist-and-Star-Trek-writer, Michael Chabon may not have become a writer himself. Recently, Chabon revealed to me that a Star Trek-adjacent Sherlock Holmes book inspired him to pursue his own writing career, which by extension, led to the existence of Star Trek: Picard.

Sherlock Holmes

Nicholas Meyer on Sherlock Holmes Tackling Real-Life Hoaxes in The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols

Tue Oct 29, 2019 1:45pm 6 comments 3 Favorites [+]

If you’re a Star Trek fan, there’s more than a passing chance you’re also a Sherlock Holmes fan, too. And though many would point to 1988’s “Elementary, My Dear Data” as the moment when these two famous fandoms merged, arguably, the synthesis of Trek fandom and Holmes fandoms was promoted by one man several years before: Nicholas Meyer. Perhaps best known as the director of 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Meyer’s writing career exploded in 1976 with the publication of his novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, a Sherlock Holmes pastiche in which the famous detective meets and is treated by Sigmund Freud.

6 Big Questions About the Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Trailer: Is this Roddenberry’s Future?

Sat Oct 5, 2019 8:52pm 34 comments 3 Favorites [+]

Pictured (l-r): Doug Jones as Saru; Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou; of the the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Michael Gibson/CBS ©2019 CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

When Star Trek: Discovery debuted in 2017, it was billed as a show that followed “the adventures of Starfleet.” The show wasn’t just about the voyages of the starship Discovery, but also the USS Shenzhou and, eventually, the USS Enterprise. But now, in season 3, it looks like Discovery is all that is left of Starfleet, and the Federation is down to just a handful of member planets. At New York Comic Con, a new trailer gave us the first glimpse of the wilder, grittier Discovery. Now that the crew has landed 930 years in the future (they jumped from 2257 to 3187 in the blink of an eye) the landscape of Star Trek is suddenly very different.

Based on the short trailer, here are the six biggest questions about Star Trek: Discovery season 3, and what the answers to those questions might mean for the future of the franchise.

Trailer spoilers ahead!

Star Trek

6 Big Surprises We Could See In the Forthcoming Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Trailer

Tue Oct 1, 2019 10:00am 26 comments 2 Favorites [+]

Pictured: Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham of the CBS All Access series STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Photo Cr: Lilja J--nsd--ttir/CBS © 2019 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved.

The future of the future has never been more mysterious. In season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery, the beloved and seemingly immortal sci-fi franchise will go where it’s never gone before: 950 years into its own future. This week, at New York Comic-Con 2019, CBS will almost undoubtedly release the first trailer for Discovery season 3, which will certainly cause Trekkies everywhere to freak out. But, what will happen in this trailer, and by extension, the next season of Discovery?

Here are five big surprises that would be amazing to see in the new trailer, regardless of how absurd each idea might seem. So far, Discovery has done a fantastic job of subverting fan expectations, meaning the twists of the next season could be the craziest yet.

The following is all pure speculation. As of this writing, neither the writer nor anyone at Tor.com has any knowledge of what will happen in Star Trek: Discovery, season 3. Nevertheless, accidental spoilers may be ahead. (We’ve been right before! You’ve been warned.)

Star Wars

Getting to Know the Weirdos at the Mos Eisley Cantina

Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:00am 8 comments 2 Favorites [+]

I totally love the fact that the 1995 Star Wars short story anthology Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina bothers to mention the fictional city in which the cantina is located. Like we would be confused if they didn’t say “Mos Eisley.” Oh, that cantina. Got it.

The existence of this book raises a weird question: why are we so obsessed with this low-budget parade of rubber masks and cobbled-together costumes glimpsed only for a second in the original movies? I think it’s because we might identify with these weirdos more than the “real” Star Wars characters.

Star Trek

Picard Probably Likes Coffee Just as Much — If Not More — Than Earl Grey

Mon Sep 16, 2019 1:30pm 20 comments 3 Favorites [+]

Screenshot: CBS

Everyone knows that Captain Jean-Luc Picard loves drinking Earl Grey tea more than any other caffeinated drink, but what this essay presupposes is: maybe he doesn’t? In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Picard certainly talks about Earl Grey tea more than Spock says “Live long and prosper” in the original series, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Picard actually prefers it to other types of caffeine. Instead, it’s very possible that the Earl Grey thing is an affectation, something Picard drinks because it became part of his persona, rather than something he actually prefers—kind of like how Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes is forced to wear the deerstalker cap in Sherlock, because “it’s a Sherlock Holmes hat.”

Doctor Who

6 Doctor Who Aliens That Would Be Great For Season 12 (And 3 That Wouldn’t)

Mon Aug 26, 2019 2:00pm 18 comments 2 Favorites [+]

Screenshot credit: BBC America

In 2020, after more than a year without new Doctor Who, the never-say-die wibbly-wobbly series will return for Jodie Whittaker’s second full season as the 13th Doctor. And while current showrunner Chris Chibnall made great pains to keep familiar Doctor Who aliens and monsters out of the first season of Whitaker’s run, that’ll change in season 12. Back in May, the BBC revealed that the Rhino-faced Judoon—first seen in the David Tennant 10th Doctor episode “Smith and Jones”—will return to face Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor.

For long-term fans of Doctor Who, the return of the Judoon is excellent news, as it visually connects Whittaker’s Doctor with the goofier canon of the Russel T. Davies era back in the early aughts. But now that the monster gloves are seemingly off, what other old aliens and adversaries might return for the next season of Doctor Who? Here are six familiar faces that would be great for the Whittaker Who—and three baddies that we could do without until at least 2024.

(Note: Spoilers ahead for Class, the Doctor Who spinoff that aired in 2016.)

Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard Timeline Updated and Explained: How Hugh, Data, and Seven of Nine Fit In

Fri Jul 26, 2019 9:00am 63 comments 17 Favorites [+]

Screenshot: CBS

The new Star Trek: Picard trailer is perfectly suited for any viewer new to Trek, but it also contains a lot of layered mythology and timeline questions for decades-long fans of the various shows.

If it’s been a while since you engaged with The Next Generation, Voyager, or the Star Trek movies released nearly 20 years ago, some of the references in the trailer might seem a little confusing, or at the very least, very quickly glossed-over. Where was Data the last time we saw him? What is the history of the Borg up to this point? What’s the deal with Seven of Nine again? Is Picard living on a farm? (No, it’s a wine vineyard.) Okay, but why?

So that it’s all in one place: here’s a selected chronological timeline of important stuff featured in the show: from Hugh, to Data, and Seven of Nine; to Picard’s family, to Troi, and a certain supernova.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Timeline and Location Might Be Different Than We Thought

Sun Jul 21, 2019 1:28pm 20 comments 2 Favorites [+]

Screenshot: CBS

Hit it! The future is here! On Saturday, straight from San Diego Comic-Con, new details dropped about season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery and the big news is…the ship may not have ended up in the spot it was supposed to be. Remember when Burnham was really clear about the exact planet and time period in the season 2 finale? Well…it turns out they might not have arrived exactly where and when they planned. So, where are they in the timeline?

Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard Trailer Is Here. Let’s Engage With It

Sat Jul 20, 2019 4:19pm 37 comments 5 Favorites [+]

Credit: CBS

If anyone was worried that Star Trek: Picard will be a depressing Trek series all about Jean-Luc drinking wine and being super-sad, don’t worry. It’s going to be awesome. And the new full-length trailer reveals that this series isn’t just a story about Picard walking around on Earth and feeling sad. This new series is the true — and hopeful — continuation of the story of The Next Generation era of Trek canon. (Which — wow — means Voyager too!)

The trailer will send chills up the spines of humans, Romulans, Borg and androids alike. Let’s very happily make it so.

Trailer after the jump