The 54-year-old science fiction franchise proves it’s in a complete revival with an explosion of new series.
Tell a “Star Trek” fan, even five years ago, that in 2020 there would be six new series in production simultaneously and they would have thought you had overdosed on cordrazine. The latest, announced today at the franchise presentation at San Diego Comic-Con @ Home, is “Star Trek: Prodigy,” a computer-animated series. The program “will follow a group of lawless teens who discover an abandoned Starfleet ship and use it to search for adventure, meaning and salvation.”
“Star Trek: Prodigy” is being developed by Kevin and Dan Hageman from “Trollhunters” and “Ninjago,” under the reach of current franchise architect Alex Kurtzman, and is slated for a release in 2021 on Nickelodeon. The actual animation will be performed by a newly created branch of CBS Television, CBS ‘Eye Animation Productions.
“Prodigy” is the sixth “Trek” series in development since the franchise returned to episodic television with a bang in 2017 with the debut of “Star Trek: Discovery” on CBS All Access. This new animated show will be the first series not directed exclusively for All Access, while another animated series, “Star Trek: Lower Decks”, geared more for adults in the vein of “Rick and Morty”, will be released on August 6. That show is taking a more satirical look at the franchise, mocking the tropes that all fans know and love. The creator of “Solar Opposites” and “Rick and Morty” veteran Mike McMahan is the creator of “Lower Decks”. He had previously demonstrated his “Trek” skills by inventing one of Twitter’s best parody accounts, “TNG Season 8”. who provided false episode loglines for if the series had continued. Classic example: “A roar from subspace disables the Enterprise and blinds the crew. Data and Geordi’s plan to build the perfect girlfriend fails explosively. “
Once the panel launched as a live broadcast of Comic-Con @ Home at 1:00 pm ET, more was shared about “Bottom Decks.” But first, the cast of “Star Trek: Discovery” and the producers came together to give a read of the Zoom table, with the concept art interspersed, from the end of season 2. The full table read for the entire episode will be available on Friday, July 24 at cbs.com, and is intended to raise money for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, with a donation link included. Unfortunately, for some viewers, the live stream of the table read stopped unexpectedly on YouTube, possibly due to the activation of some automatic copyright protection software, Deadline reports. The feeding was dead for 20 minutes until it resumed shortly after the end of the table reading.
Details were sparse about “Discovery” Season 3. For one thing, there were no clues as to the release date. All we know so far is that Discovery found itself 900 years into the future at the end of Season 2 finale, having agreed to leap much further in the future to protect the sacred “Sphere Data” like the Grail that the ship has been leading. It seems that at this time in the 32nd century, the Federation barely exists, and a rebellion against the once-expanding galactic organization has been waged.
One of the most exciting things about Season 3 will be the opportunity to see more of Anthony Rapp’s Lt. Stamets and Wilson Cruz’s Dr. Culber as they resume their relationship after death, resurrection, and then their breakup. Hello, it’s “Star Trek”! It is already the most thoughtful representation of an LGBT relationship in “Star Trek” and seeing how it continues to unfold should be exciting. “For me, the best thing about season 3 is that it explores the family in new and wonderful ways,” says Anthony Rapp, which seems like a fact, since the Discovery team literally won’t know anyone else in the 32nd century. Wilson Cruz says: “Their relationship is more or less the same. I love the new Culber. It is more three-dimensional, in my opinion. As a doctor, you will be more concerned with mental health issues in Season 3.
A small preview of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” was also released. “I think Michael Burnham gives Spock permission to be human,” says Ethan Peck, noting that Spock had been encouraged to be just a Vulcan and suppress his human side in all his life up to that point. The new series will feature more information about Peck alongside Captain Christopher Aike of Anson Mount and Number One by Rebecca Romijn.
The panel later switched to “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” which shows the opening scene of the opening episode, in which Tawny Newsome’s Ensign Beckett Mariner, a “bug,” taunts Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), whom Quad describes her as a Starfleet “fanboy”. She catches him filming his own captain’s records, even though he has a lot to climb on the command ladder. Mariner is so excited about Romulan whiskey and excited about her new battle that she accidentally stabs Boimler in the thigh. Check out the full scene below.
The “Picard” panel that ended the live broadcast was light on details about Season 2, currently written with some pre-production, but with plenty of character. Brent Spiner said that Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman and Michael Chabon really cried as they begged him to return as Data, the tears apparently sealed the deal. And Marina Sirtis, a highlight of Season 1, said: “I was happy, to be honest, that I didn’t have to wear the spacesuit.”
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