https://archive.org/details/CharacterInsightEp238
As covered on a special additional episode of this show last week, the first full trailer for Star Trek Discovery dropped 2 minutes of substantive clips and content for us to finally see last week. This is finally a first glimpse into some of the characters and story that will soon be added to Star Trek television canon.
Two of the bigger name actors case for the show are Michelle Yeoh as Captain Georgiou and Sonequa Martin-Green as the lead, first officer Michael Burnham. So it should come as no surprise that these two are featured heavily in the trailer right off the bat.
QUOTE:
Burnham - "Captain, where are we going? We have no map, and you can't set a course without a star."
Georgiou - "It's hard to imagine you've served under me for seven years."
These two also are seen arguing about Federation policy in conflicts later, as Burnham insists that sometimes the Federation must fire first. Even in just this brief glimpse of a trailer, we can see interesting threads of personality differences developed between what is stated to be a long time captain and officer beneath her.
This is also an interesting allegory for the show as a whole, as Star Trek tries to figure out whether it is an action-based blockbuster as done in the recent movies, or a slower-paced discovery show more typically done in older versions of television Trek. We simply don't know where these 15 episodes will come out, which is up from the original episode count of 13. But one thing is certain, change is inevitable as storytelling and the way TV shows are constructed has changed dramatically in the last decade, let alone over the last 50 years.
With such a limited episode count compared to TV shows from over a decade ago, character development is often handled only in present, with limited back story provided only in lines like the one quoted earlier. It seems likely that we will not have deep dive B-stories into secondary ensemble cast members, as the plot must continue to move forward quickly. Instead, we will have short lines like this one about the most compelling new race seen in the trailer.
QUOTE:
New crewmember - "My people were biologically determined for one purpose alone, to sense the presence of death. I sense it coming now."
That's still plenty interesting, if it's not just used as a repeating trope for upcoming conflict. But it remains clear that modern television, particularly anthology type shows like this where casts may only stick around for one short season, does not have time for character development in the same ways as old Star Trek. It will be interesting to see how that changes our attachment to the crew characters, as some shows like Breaking Bad and Fargo tend to do characters very well, while other modern shows skimp on the premise.
The trailer gives us a good glimpse of the visuals, and they look modern and great except for being a little on the dark side with a side of lens flares. While story is still effectively unknown, we can already see a difference in how characters will be handled and developed, and that's something I look forward to covering more on this segment as the show beams to us later this year. At the end of the day, we all hope it's a great show, but at least Trek will be tried once again with modern TV format and sensibilities, which is a step in the right direction.
If you want to see those lead actors in their other works leading up to Discovery, check out Martin-Green on the last three seasons of The Walking Dead, and Yeoh on the movies Tomorrow Never Dies, and the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon series.
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