In an interview with KERN-FM radio’s Nerd World Report With Hop & Herc, Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Bryan Fuller provided more information on the forthcoming series.
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Discovery is set in the Prime universe instead of the Kelvin universe. “Really, when we developed this story, it could take place in either Prime or the Kelvin [timeline] – the timeline was relatively inconsequential, but there was the cleanliness of keeping our series independent of the films”, said Fuller. “That way we don’t have to track anything [happening in the movies], and [the movies] don’t have to track what we’re doing”.
It’s been 47 years since the original series ended; it’s been more than 11 years since the most recent series, “Enterprise”, ended. I think it would fatigue the show.
Fuller also spoke about “re-imagining” certain aspects of Star Trek, saying: “It’s fun for all of us who have fetishized the look of these species over the years of watching Star Trek, and it’s fun for us to put a new spin on old favorites”. “But time is something that we have the opportunity to play with in uncharacteristic ways”.
This name calls back to the unaired pilot for the original series, when the main cast featured Christopher Pike as the captain, Spock as the science officer, and a woman known only as Number One as the first officer. “We’ve talked about the musical approach to this show, because music is so important to Star Trek, and it’s the voice in many ways”.
That serialised story will consist of just thirteen episodes, though Fuller confirmed that he would rather to lessen that number to ten in order to tell a tighter story. “Building Star Trek” follows the Smithsonian conservation team as they rebuilt the model of the original USS Enterprise bridge using authentic set pieces and props. “When we introduce our protagonist, she is called Number One in honor of Majel Barrett’s character in the original pilot”, he said, referring to 1965’s first episode of Star Trek, titled “The Cage”.
When asked how much progress had been completed on the show so far, Fuller said that the first three scripts had been written, and that the writers “have outlines for [episodes] four and five”.
Ain’t It Cool News’ Hercules also said that while Fuller and “Star Trek Into Darkness” screenwriter Alex Kurtzman wrote the first half of the two-hour premiere episode, the second half was written by veteran “Star Trek” writer Nicholas Meyer.
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“That sense of hope is something that can’t be undervalued, particularly where we are today”, Fuller said. We’ve met with fantastic actors and of course there are people I’ve worked with before that I’d love to see on Star Trek.
