Star Trek Discovery Retrospective: Origins

Series Origins

Star Trek Discovery, the sixth live action series in the Star Trek franchise (7th series overall if you count the 1970s animated series) was announced to the public in November of 2015, with a planned release in January 2017. Production began in 2016 "on the heels of" the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. From its announcement Star Trek Discovery was highly anticipated by fans as it would be the first new Star Trek series on TV since the cancellation of Star Trek Enterprise in 2005. Since that show’s ending CBS and Paramount had undergone a corporate split, as a result of which the rights to Star Trek were also split. Paramount had retained the motion picture rights to the franchise (and hence were able to release the three “Kelvin Timeline” reboot movies produced by J.J. Abrams) while CBS as a result of the split got the TV side of Paramount (the TV studios and IPs, and as a part of that, the TV Star Trek rights and properties). The new series would both herald in a new era of the Star Trek Franchise and also serve as the flagship series for CBS new CBS All Access streaming service (later renamed Paramount+ after the 2019 re-merger). Bryan Fuller, who had worked on Star Trek Voyager in the late 90s was the show creator and original showrunner, although as a result of scheduling issues caused by production delays and creative differences with studio brass (for one: CBS president Les Moonves) he would leave the show prior to the production of the first season. Alex Kurtzman, who had served as a producer on the Kelvin timeline films was placed in charge of the franchise, while producers Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts were appointed co-showrunners. On Sunday, September 24, 2017 Star Trek Discovery premiered on both CBS All Access streaming and on CBS network (although the broadcast was delayed over 20 minutes due to an NFL Football game in overtime). Even before the first episode premiered, as tidbits of information were released, many fans expressed not only anticipation but some skepticism. The show would be set in the decade between the first Star Trek pilot The Cage and The Original Series. The series would follow the first officer, not the captain. It would (at least initially) focus on a hitherto unseen incident in Star Trek lore. According to creator Bryan Fuller "There's an incident, an event in the history of Starfleet that has talked about [in previous Star Trek series] but never fully explored." Previews had already confirmed that the look and feel of the show would be radically different than any Star Trek series that had come before it. It would have a cinematic look and feel, making it look much more like a theatrical movie than a tv show. It would be hyper serialized, with each season featuring an overarching storyline and deeply connected characters (as was the fashion in tv shows at the time (HBO’s Game of Thrones for example). In hindsight it seems like some of this skepticism was well founded.