A lot of news has popped up in recent days on both the new Star Trek television series and Star Trek Beyond, which is now less than a month away from its international release.
We’ve heard from Bryan Fuller, Justin Lin, Chris Pine, Idris Elba, the ‘Powers that Be’ at CBS, and… Rihanna!
But first, let’s dive into the new series – something most of us are chomping at the bit to hear more about.
We still don’t know what the full name of the new series is, what timeline it happens in or the name of the starship (or starships) it takes place on. We don’t know the name of any crew, and while meetings have happened with a handful of actors, to the best of our knowledge no one has been cast yet.
We do know, however, that what some of us (myself included) were theorising, is flat out wrong.
Namely, the new Trek being an anthology series.
I’m a little sad about that, and a little relieved… I had really warmed to the idea of seeing Star Trek episodes from all over the timeline, but I was also wondering if that would allow me to develop a relationship with the new crew(s?) – which is something that’s important to me. I enjoy the special effects and challenging story lines, but the thing that keeps bringing me back to Trek are the characters I love.
So what does “new crews” mean if it doesn’t mean a peek into the lives of various officers across Starfleet’s rich history? It could mean anything. A starbase crew and a starship crew, working together to protect the final frontier (a bit DS9 but you never know)? An exploratory fleet led by a commodore? The possibilities aren’t endless, but there are quite a few. All I can say is… “let the speculation begin… again!”
We also learned that the first arc of the season has been plotted, and the first six episodes of what will be a 13 episode season have been broken. That means the major beats have been decided upon and they’re being written into script form. Just as exciting, Bryan has suggested other canon Trek characters will appear in the series, eventually! Though probably not in the first season. That last bit might be the biggest timeline related clue we’ve been given to date, because to me that screams PRIME TIMELINE!
Shooting on the new series will start in September and run through to March, which means you won’t be able to stream the whole series in one big binge, but will have to wait to download it weekly.
Bryan also reminded us that because the new Trek wasn’t on a network, it wouldn’t be subject to network broadcast standards, something that was the bane of Gene Roddenberry’s existence when he created the first series 50 years ago.
To read more revelations about the new series, and to watch a video of Bryan telling us what he can, visit TrekCore here and here.
In news that bridges both the Prime and Alternate Trek universes, CBS has finally given an official name to the timeline created in 2009’s blockbuster hit Star Trek.
That period of Trek history has been called many things, among them NuTrek, the J.J.Verse and the AbramsVerse.
Not anymore. It’s now called the “Kelvin Timeline” after the starship caught in the middle of the Nero incident that brought about the new film universe.
To read more about that development, visit io9 here.
In movie news, the beautiful Rihanna, the popular award-winning mega-star, has recorded a song for the Star Trek Beyond soundtrack! It’s called “Sledgehammer.”
For those of you who didn’t know, Rihanna is a huge Trek fan.
She announced her contribution on Twitter. To the best of my knowledge this has never happened in canon Trek before. Popular (and not so popular) music has been featured in previous films and at least one series, but no artist has done a James Bond on us and recorded a brand new song for us to live long and prosper by. The fanfilm Star Trek: Renegades starring Walter Koenig and Tim Russ went there with Automatik Eden, but that’s it.
To learn more, visit the wonderful TrekCore here.
Rihanna’s song features in the third and final Paramount promo for the film, which is a mix of previously seen footage and new footage. Visit ScienceFiction.com here to see the new clip and hear a sample of Rhianna’s moody and atmospheric tune.
Justin Lin, Chris Pine, and Idris Elba have also shared some information on the new movie via SFX Magazine.
We’ve heard a lot of it before, but there are some new insights.
We’ve also heard from Michael Giacchino, who has released the set list for the Star Trek Beyond soundtrack. In typical Michael fashion, almost every title has a humorous twist! Some people might consider the below to be spoilers, so don’t read on! Just scroll past the chunk of titles listed in italics below.
Logo And Prosper
Thank Your Lucky Star Date
Night On The Yorktown
The Dance Of The Nebula
A Swarm Reception
Hitting The Saucer A Little Hard
Jaylah Damage
In Artifacts As In Life
Frankin, My Dear
A Lesson In Vulcan Mineralogy
Motorcycles Of Relief
Mocking Jaylah
Crash Decisions
Krall-y Krall-y Oxen Free
Shutdown Happens
Cater-Krall In Zero G
Par-tay For The Course
Star Trek Main Theme
To read what Justin has to say about the film, visit TrekCore here.
To read what Chris and Idris have to say, once again, visit the amazing TrekCore here.
Lastly, to read about Michael and the soundtrack, go to TrekCore one more time here.
As more news on Star Trek Beyond and Star Trek Series VI is splashed over the internet, I’ll feature it here at Star Trek: Sentinel.
Star Trek Beyond stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella and the late Anton Yelchin.
scifimojo.com 