[TRAILER REVIEW] Star Trek Discovery Season 2 Says Goodbye to Mirrorverse, Welcomes Pike
Star Trek Discovery Season 2 Says Goodbye to Mirrorverse, Welcomes Pike
There wasn’t much to say about this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.
Other than the amazing showcase of collectables and cosplayers, there was no big Marvel event to flood the convention centre or steal the crowds.
There was one thing that grabbed my attention – the trailer for Star Trek: Discovery season 2. No matter your opinion on Discovery, a new season of Star Trek is never a bad thing. Note, if you haven’t watched the ending of the first season this report will contain immediate spoilers.
The trailer opens as most Star Trek things do, with a monologue on our connection with space and some artsy shots of gas clouds. Complete with the Discovery flying through them. During this monologue (when they are done reminding you that Star Trek is in space) you see the show’s protagonist, Michael Burnham sitting amidst a burning pile of debris looking up. Shocked, maybe even scared, through the visor of her space suit, Michael looks on at an angel like being with boney, mechanical looking wings that is slowly walking towards her. In typical trailer fashion before anything more is revealed the scene cuts to the season 1 finale.
When we left the Discovery, we saw her warping through space and answering a distress signal from none other the USS Enterprise. The same Enterprise once captained by the famous James T Kirk. As Discovery is set before Kirk’s era you get to meet the Enterprise’s first captain, Christopher Pike,played by Anson Mount. Although he comes in peace, sharing an awkward handshake with Saru, he has also come to take control of the Discovery, commandeering it to investigate seven red bursts. Something Pike says are beyond anything they understand even though he seems to think they are some kind of communication. Does this allude to the monologue at the beginning of the trailer with Michael Burnham where she states there’s a message waiting for those only open enough to receive it? I think it does.
The trailer goes on to show the discovery dodging asteroids and three small craft crewed by Burnham, Pike and another unknown pilot (Probably a redshirt). Going deeper into the debris field losing control. Just like the scene from Star Trek: Into Darkness where Kirk and Khan jump between the Enterprise and USS Vengeance. The pace slows with Burnham looking over a uniform and talking about her foster brother, Spock, who took leave to try and tie up some business that is connected to the appearance of the red bursts. Michael goes on to say Spock is linked directly to the signals. Whether she means the bursts are a means of Spock communicating or something else is unknown.
The rest of the trailer expands on the scene with the three small ships diving through the debris field. Burnham launching from the Discovery, a shockwave launching rocks and lifting the Discovery with a surprising mix of comedy thrown in. This is helped by the appearance of comedian Tig Notaro playing chief engineer Reno of another Starship, that is neither the Enterprise nor The Discovery.
The Discovery trailer is absolutely fantastic and the casting for Captain Pike great.
Not only is Anson Mount similar looking to Jeffery Hunter from The Original Series. He also brings a side that is reminiscent of Captain Kirk showing that maybe Pike did rub off on Kirk’s personality more than we know.
Pike’s uniform is something we haven’t seen before. Like with all the other costuming in Discovery it doesn’t disappoint, It appears more like a dress uniform in a strange mix of the Original series and the reboot universe. They choose this style because he is the Captain of a constitution class Star Ship that literally becomes the icon of Starfleet, I would like to see them jump into Original Series uniforms eventually.
Captain Pike wraps up some of the issues with the first season in this trailer when he says “where ever our mission takes us, let’s have a little fun along the way.” Showing that maybe the show runners realised things were a little too serious first time around. Save the serious Sci-Fi for The Expanse.
Season 2 of Discovery will emphasise the family connection between the crew. With many canon issues being answered even if they do use canon ‘quite sparingly.’ People have also commented on how the red bursts look like the power source of the Emperor’s ship from season one. I doubt they are going to rush in connecting both universes so quickly.
Another bite announced during Comic-Con was Star Trek: Short Treks. Every month up until the release of Discovery there will be a 15 minute episode that ties directly into Discovery. Short Treks will be an Anthology series with each episode being separate. Including characters such as Saru and Tilly. If I could describe it, Star Trek: Short Treks would be what the Clone Wars animated series was to Star Wars.
All in all, I’m loving this trailer. It has me hyped for the next instalment coming early in 2019 to CBS all access and Netflix.
5 Soda cans out of 6!
