Star Trek: Discovery V3.0 (First Trailer Released)

[JDragon]

“This ship is called the Discovery for a few reasons,” said Fuller. “Not the least of which is Stanley Kubrick’s contribution to the Discovery on 2001: A Space Odyssey, NASA’s vessel the Discovery, and also the sense of discovery.” He also drew a connection between the meaning of the word to fans, adding that part of the title comes from “what the word ‘discovery’ means to Star Trek audiences who have been promised a future by Gene Roddenberry where we come together as a planet and seek new worlds and new alien races to explore and understand and collaborate with.” Fuller said that they see this whole show as a chance to “reinvent, re-explore, and reintroduce” the familiar things about Star Trek—especially alien races that audiences would recognize—but also bring a bunch of new ships, aliens, and technology to the Star Trek universe. As for the decision to make the main character not be the captain this time around, Fuller said in the video: “There have been six series all from the captains’ perspective, and it felt like for this new iteration of Star Trek, we need to look at life on a Starfleet vessel from a new perspective.” The new character is “not a captain,” but is going to have a “whole new dynamic” with the crew. Fuller said that this will let them tell “richer, more complicated” stories about life on the Starfleet vessel.

http://www.spoilertv.com/2016/09/the-spoilertv-daily-newsreel-2nd.html?m=1

 

[The Clinch]

The showrunners are trying too hard and seems like they're going to be pushing their own ideologies too much.

While that's okay and all, they're doing it under the veil of Star Trek, and injecting their "story" in the prime universe's history.

Dunno who their target audience is, but it seems to lack those who have kept Star Trek alive, and I suppose a question is, 'Will Discovery last as long as Enterprise?'

 

[JDragon]

Dunno who their target audience is, but it seems to lack those who have kept Star Trek alive, and I suppose a question is, 'Will Discovery last as long as Enterprise?'

Not sure who you are referring to exactly. The Abrams movie folks? If so, these probably are not the target audience. I'd say the target audience is those folks who binge watched Star Trek on Netflix in the past years.

 

[TheRuthlessOne]

Kristen Beyer has taken over the Voyager book series, and has really relaunched that series. She started about 5 or 6 years ago and really recharged a stagnant series and made it one of the most popular book series. She in particular has brought energy into boring characters(Janeway is no longer on Voyager)like Kim and Chakotay and given them some star power.

In addition to being a staff writer, she will be responsible for bridging the comic and book universe, and bringing Discovery into it.


I'm also really excited about David Mack writing the first Discovery book. He is a NYT best seller and has written some incredible scifi, including the GOAT of trek books, Destiny. It really shows they are investing into the series, and are integrating it into the trek canon.

Voyager without Janeway? That sure is something

So who is the captain now? Tuvok? Chakotay? Perhaps the ECH ?

 

[sverre054]

Voyager without Janeway? That sure is something

So who is the captain now? Tuvok? Chakotay? Perhaps the ECH ?

Janeway became an admiral, and was killed taking down the Borg.(She was brought back to life by Q , and is off on non star fleet adventures now)

Chakotay Was promoted to captain after Voyager returned to earth, and Janeway was promoted. He was captain for several years, but resigned after the event in the Destiny series(Read this book if your a trek fan!!!)

Paris was promoted to Lt. Cmdr and made first officer.

Voyager is now captained by Afsarah Eden, a 50ish year old women. She is leading a slipstream ship fleet on a mutli year mission back to the delta quadrant, where the book series now finds them.

 

[JDragon]

 

[sverre054]

DS9 HD CGI test. They really need to give DS9 the blu ray resto treatment....

 

[sverre054]

Here is a great article on whats happeneing with the Axanar lawsuit, and how it could backfire on Paramount/CBS

http://fff.trekbloggers.com/2016/09/06/axanar-enters-discovery-part-1/

It’s time for Star Trekdiscovery! No, not the new TV series. I’m talking about the next phase of theAxanar copyright infringement lawsuit: legal discovery.

Last week, former Axanar marketing director and tech guru, Terry McIntosh, posted on Facebook that he had just been subpoenaed by CBS and Paramount to be deposed as part of the copyright infringement lawsuit against Alec Peters and Axanar. Terry is not in any legal peril himself, as no other defendants other than Alec Peters were named in the lawsuit. Instead, the studio lawyers will probably just ask for copies of all of Terry’s correspondence (e-mails, IMs, chats) with members of the Axanar team, and the studios might set up a deposition to ask Terry some (maybe even a lot of) questions either in person or over the phone.

And this means that the (coincidentally named) DISCOVERY phase of the lawsuit is now in full swing. So what does that mean?


In civil law in the U.S., before a case goes to trial, there is a period known as discovery where both sides are allowed to request evidence from the other party, and all requests must be honored. Failure to turn over relevant evidence at discovery can result in sanctions from the judge or even a mistrial. Discovery can take the form of submitting questions for the other side to respond to in writing, requesting documents, and/or taking depositions during interviews with key witnesses and involved individuals.

It’s only after all the evidence is shared back and forth during discovery that the trial itself happens. And no matter how many legal dramas you watch on TV, that moment when something unexpected is revealed during the trial and everyone is suddenly shocked…that almost never happens in real life. The reason is that both sides know everything that’s going to come out in court because it’s already been covered in discovery. In fact, if one of the legal teams tries to ambush the other side with a piece of evidence that didn’t come out during discovery, the other side can object to the evidence, and the judge will typically disallow it.

Very likely, Terry McIntosh won’t be the only witness subpoenaed. I’m guessing Alec Peters, Rob Burnett, and a host of other Axanarteam members–past and present–are also being contacted by the studios’ attorneys. And it won’t just be the studios doing the subpoenaing. In fact, it’s very likely that Axanar’s team of lawyers from the firm of Winston & Strawn are going to be requesting a great deal of documentation from Paramount and CBS…most probably going back 50 years! And I wouldn’t be surprised if a few top-level executives from both the licensing and legal departments of CBS and Paramount end up having fairly grueling deposition sessions.

The two sides in the case were reportedly in negotiation to settle the lawsuit until recently. For all I know, they might still be in negotiations. But no settlement has been announced as yet, and so, with the sending out of subpoenas, discovery has begun. The trial is scheduled to begin on January 31 of next year (not all that far away!), and two questions emerge:

1) Will the case even make it to trial, or might there still be a settlement (or even a chance of the case being dropped completely) before the end of January?

2) If the case does go to trial, which side is most likely to win?

I know a lot of fans are already debating these questions with all sorts of armchair lawyering, and I’ve read many of the arguments. But the one thing I haven’t seen written about yet is an analysis of this case NOT from a legal standpoint but from a BUSINESS perspective. As things move closer to trial, will it actually be worth it for CBS and Paramount to continue to pursue this case…or will it be safer to settle or even drop the case entirely?

I know there are some people out there who want to see Alec Peters obliterated both financially and professionally by this case in the name of justice, and they’re not going to like what I’m about to write. Others who are Axanar supporters will rally around this article as further proof that Alec is in the right and should never have been sued in the first place.

In the words of Lt. Uhura, “Sorry, neither.”

My goal in this editorial is not to defend Alec Peters or Axanar nor to argue the merits of this case on a legal level. Instead I want to present a different and hopefully unique take on what might happen. Note, I did not say “will” happen. This is just my opinion, mixed in with some perspective I’ve received from legal consultants who are familiar with the Axanar lawsuit (but not working on the case professionally or directly). And I need to state for the record that my wife (who is an attorney) has not been involved with this case, nor has she advised me on the writing of this blog post in any way. In fact, she refuses to discuss the Axanar case with me at all.

So let’s jump into the water, shall we?

As most of you already know, after Alec Peters was sued by CBS and Paramount for copyright infringement in late December of last year, he quickly went out and found a law firm that specializes in intellectual property to represent him, Winston & Strawn…and they agreed to take the case pro bono. That means that Alec will not have to cover any legal fees for the lawyers’ time (saving him literally hundreds of thousands of dollars). Alec will still have to cover certain costs during discovery, such as travel for depositions, court reporters, videographers, and the such. But the lion’s share of the financial burden will not be his.

Granted, Alec could still lose the case, and with 57 listed instances of alleged copyright violations priced at up to $150,000 each, the legal verdict could reach well into the millions of dollars! But it could also be a lot lower, as $150,000 is a penalty level for willful violation of copyright, which is a challenge to prove. Non-willful violation penalties are only $7,500 per instance and can be as low as $200. I’ll go more into the differences between willful and non-willful violations in part 2, but the point is that those expecting a financially devastating verdict (like CBS, Paramount, and certain folks out there with an Ax to grind…get it?) might be surprised by a much, much lower judgment.

And that brings us to a little story of a previous client of Winston & Strawn: a tiny company named Chapterhouse. Not much more than a few guys in a garage, Chapterhouse was being sued by a huge entertainment company called Games Workshop for millions of dollars for—you guessed it!—copyright infringement.

You can learn more about the Chapterhouse lawsuit here (scroll down the page to listen to the recorded discussion/analysis of the verdict). But in short, it was classic example of Goliath trying to stomp out David, and the odds looked heavily stacked against the little guy with a huge lawsuit and a potentially catastrophic financial judgment if the verdict went in favor of the plaintiff.

Winston & Strawn stepped in to represent Chapterhouse pro bono. (Don’t these guys ever charge a client???) Actually, yes, they do. And it’s because they win some very high profile cases. And this became a very high profile case…specifically because the judgment turned out to be the exact opposite of what most experts expected. After years in court, the ruling, while still against Chapterhouse, wasminiscule: only $26,000 out of what could have been millions!

Games Workshop went into this fight expecting an easy win and instead came out with a whole bunch of headaches. Make no mistake; Goliath did still beat David, but only in a very small and nominal way. And after an appeal, the two sides eventually settled matters out of court. But the damage had been done. Games Workshop had to, quite literally, completely revise their business processes for new releases. Product lines had to be renamed and rebranded, resulting in unexpected marketing and printing costs. And shortly after the mid-2013 verdict, the senior legal counsel for Games Workshop, Gill Stevenson, quietly departed the company. (It’s assumed by many that she was fired.)

In many ways, CBS and Paramount are probably going into this case feeling just as confident as Games Workshop did…although things are already likely not going the way the studios had initially expected.

So what did they expect?

CBS and Paramount are used to threatening their way out of going to court in the first place because most people are scared to death of losing their house, their car, and their entire savings in a huge legal verdict. But Alec Peters rents his house. His car is nine years old. Ares Studios itself is just a monthly lease, so even that can’t be liquidated and taken…only shut down. So if Alec loses this case with a big financial verdict, he’ll likely just declare bankruptcy—which he’s done before for a previous company of his—and pay the studios nothing.

Now, I’ve heard some people who are rooting against Alec Peters predicting that he will somehow be “blacklisted” in Hollywood and “never work in this town again.” But Alec was never actually listed, so it’s hard to blacklist him. In other words, he didn’t really have a Hollywood career to ruin, so there’s not much there to take away. Also, no judge can order someone to be blacklisted as part of a legal remedy. So at worst, Alec would simply be the loser of a very public copyright infringement lawsuit. And even losing this lawsuit could be worth millions to Alec Peters. (Say what? I’ll go into that crazy comment in part 2!)

But back to the studios…

Their modus operandi is to try to intimidate the little guy as quickly and thoroughly as possible. It keeps the studios’ legal costs super-low. Just write up a really scary legal complaint (with staggeringly huge numbers) and file it in court. When faced with such a horrifying potential loss from a losing verdict, and looking at sky high legal fees for a protracted trial (lawsuits usually cost around $20K-$25K per month to litigate…or more!), most normal folks will pee in their pants, fall to their knees, and beg for a settlement, promising to do anything the studios demand of them. Unconditional surrender.

Had this happened with Alec Peters (I’m just guessing here), the studio would likely have agreed to settle the suit if Alec agreed to shut down his production completely, close the studio, return all the money collected from the donors, and probably never work on any fan production again. The “Battle of Axanar” would end with only one shot fired, this 15-page lawsuit.

But it didn’t happen that way. This upstart little pipsqueak Trekkie actually lawyered up, and worse, it was pro bono! He began working with a PR guy to get sympathetic coverage of this David and Goliath lawsuit in the press. And then those damn lawyers of his started forcing the studios and their lawyers to actually fight this battle, and fight hard.

The defense responded to the complaint with a motion to dismiss pointing out all the places where the original complaint was sloppy. This forced the studios to file an amended complaint where they had to actually do their homework and list the specific counts of infringement one by one. Alec and his legal team responded again, still seeking a dismissal. The studios then responded again (this had to be getting expensive for the studios), and then the defense came back one last time and actually added a counterclaim!

I can’t even imagine how shocked and pissed off the studios must be with how long this is taking and how much it is costing. Even though CBS general counsel Jonathan Anschel is a salaried employee of the studio, their lawyers at Loeb & Loeb are billing by the hour. CBS and Paramount’s costs at this point are probably already well over a hundred thousand dollars, and they will likely double in the coming months. Alec’s legal fees are only a small fraction of that for incidentals.

But for all that the studios are paying in legal services, added to the productivity lost by their own employees from the time being spent on this annoying distraction, CBS and Paramount actually have a great deal more to potentially lose…even if they win this case! And for this reason, I actually suspect this case will either settle or be dropped during the discovery phase…before it ever goes to trial. Remember, you read it here first.

Why do I believe this? Come back for part 2 and find out!

 

[sverre054]

Part 2


Last time: well, last time there was just way too much to summarize, so justclick here to read it if you haven’t already.

Basically, with a trial date set for January 31, 2017 and no settlement announced yet, the case has entered the discovery phase. (So yes, “Star Trek: Discovery” now means two totally different things to CBS!)

During discovery, both the plaintiffs and the defendant must provide the other side with any piece of evidence they ask for that is relevant to the case. Witnesses are questioned (deposed), documents are collected and shared, and queries are submitted in writing requiring honest and open answers…and all this months before a jury is ever seated and the clerk says, “This courtroom will now come to order.”

The vast majority of civil cases never get past the discovery phase…believe it or not. Most cases are settled at some point before the trial begins because one side or the other either realizes 1) they can’t win, 2) settling for an agreed upon amount would cost less than a drawn-out litigation or a large punitive verdict, or 3) something comes out in discovery that one side or the other doesn’t want becoming a matter of public record.

As I’ll explain shortly, I suspect CBS and Paramount will encounter the third scenario. That said, I need to state up front that I am not a lawyer and I have no formal legal training. And although my wife is a litigator with a large firm here in Los Angeles, she refuses to discuss the Axanar case with me at all. She has simply confirmed to me that, yes, the vast majority of civil cases she handles do, indeed, settle before they reach trial.

Now, this might just be my view from the cheap seats, but Ares Studios and Axanar only date back about three years while Star Trekdates back fifty years. In other words, I suspect Alec Peters’ legal team at Winston & Strawn will be requesting and receiving a LOT more evidence from CBS and Paramount during discovery than the studios request of him.

One thing I suspect will be requested is all documentation relating to the transfer of ownership of the Star Trek copyright over the years from Desilu Studios through CBS…with stops along the way at Paramount, Gulf+Western, and Viacom. As was mentioned inAxanar’s first response to the initial legal complaint:

Which Plaintiff owns which alleged copyrights is critical to Defendants’ investigation into Plaintiffs’ claims, as it could be that the only works that Plaintiffs are actually alleging Defendants infringed are owned by one Plaintiff as opposed to the other. Plaintiffs’ joint ownership allegation is not plausible in light of the contradicting information in the Complaint regarding assignment, presenting another ground upon which dismissal is proper.

In other words, there might be aspects of the Star Trek copyright that are still owned by Paramount and not CBS, or vice versa. This will affect which studio can make money from licensing what elements. Right now, the two studios have it worked out that CBS pretty much owns everything Star Trek except for the three most recent “Kelvin-verse” feature films, which were specially licensed to Paramount by CBS for the purpose of producing movies. If it sounds kind of convoluted and confusing (and potentially messy), it is. But both studios enjoy a “gentleman’s agreement” of sorts where they don’t push the other to grab more than they have. It works for them.

But if documents produced during discovery threaten to upset that apple cart, the studios will have to think very carefully about proceeding further in the case. Any evidence produced during discovery becomes a matter of public record once the actual trial starts. And a judge’s ruling, such as, “Paramount Pictures has no legal standing to remain as a plaintiff in this case because they do not own the Star Trek copyright,” can have a potentially disastrous impact on Paramount’s ability to generate revenue from licensingStar Trek in any form. And right now, Paramount can use all the revenue it can get!

And speaking of disasters, transferring the ownership of a copyright properly is a very well-defined procedure in law. If it wasn’t handled properly along the way (and remember that we’re talking transfers dating back to the 1960s), the judge could actually rule thatneither CBS nor Paramount can claim any legal ownership of the Star Trek copyright. I’m NOT saying that such a thing will happen, but if it does: triple red alert! CBS and Paramount do NOT want such a determination of their non-ownership of Star Trek to EVER be uttered aloud…especially by a federal judge! If the case is suddenly dropped (not settled but dropped) seemingly for no reason before reaching trial, chances are, that’s what happened.

But there are actually a few other things that could go wrong during discovery or at the summary judgment phase. What is summary judgment? It’s basically one side or the other asking a judge to decide an aspect of the case (or the whole case) before the trial even begins. In this way, the court and both parties can avoid the time and hassle of a trial entirely if the ruling is so obvious as to not even require a jury. To use my example above, if it turns out that neither CBS nor Paramount has the legal documentation to prove proper transfer of copyright ownership through the entire 50-year history of Star Trek, then neither party has standing to sue, and the trial isn’t necessary. The judge can make that ruling before the trial ever begins. Similarly, if it turns out that CBS owns Star Trek but Paramount doesn’t anymore, then the trial can still continue, but Paramount is dismissed as a plaintiff. Ah, law…

So what else could go wrong for the studios before the case ever gets to trial?

If you look over the infamous amended complaint from the studios, you’ll see that it lists nearly five dozen separate infringing elements from Star Trek featured in Prelude to Axanar…including the uniforms with a gold shirt, triangular-shaped medals, and the Klingon language itself! Each of these elements could present a separate potential legal damages award of $150,000…or $8.55 million in the worst-case scenario for Alec Peters. Yeesh!

So as you can probably imagine, Alec and his defense attorneys are going to want to whittle this list of five dozen violations down at least a little…and so will the judge, most likely, because each alleged violation will take time to defend separately in front of a jury. Just picture in your head the expert witness sitting on the stand, speaking Klingon, in an effort to explain that it’s actually a living language and not subject to copyright. While it could be fun to have a Klingon testify, with 56 other alleged violations to get through, this could be a very looooong trail, and the judge probably doesn’t want that.

And thus will the defense team ask for summary judgment on most, possibly all, of the five dozen violations listed. And let’s say, for the sake of argument, the judge agrees to dismiss the violation dealing with the uniforms because you can’t copyright clothing.

Stop for a moment and consider what this means. A judge has just said that CBS does NOT and CANNOT own a copyright on Star Trekuniforms! There are official licensees making Star Trek uniforms—from Halloween costumes to the amazing Anovos reproductions—and they pay tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to CBS for that license. Well, not anymore! A judge has just ruled that CBS doesn’t own Star Trek uniforms, and suddenly anyone can make and sell them.

Uh, oh! This trial to sue an upstart little twerp of a Trekkie making a fan film is now not only costing the studios hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, but it’s also just cost CBS hundreds of thousands in licensing revenue! If I’m Leslie Moonves (head of CBS), I’m gonna tell my general counsel that he’s got some serious ’splainin’ to do!

And that assumes just ONE violation is dismissed by the judge. What if there’s more than one? What if it’s 25 different violations that are ruled not part of the Star Trek copyright? Well, now the licensing revenue impact has just potentially climbed into the millions! And this is a bell that can’t be easily unrung once it comes out of a judge’s mouth in federal court.

So once again, if there’s suddenly an unexpected settlement offered by the studios to Alec Peters that lets him off scot-free, or if the suit is suddenly dropped with no explanation, something like this has probably happened.

But what if the case goes to trial?

Well, there are a number of ways that CBS and Paramount could win the case and still lose. The first is in the amount of judgment awarded. Remember the Chapterhouse case from part 1 of this blogwhere the final judgement was only $26,000 rather than millions? What if the same thing happened with Axanar? It’s not as far-fetched as some (including the studios) might think!

You see, that $150,000 penalty per violation is based on something known as willful infringement of copyright. But if the infringementwasn’t willful, the legal damages can be as little as $200! Check outthis web page and this quote (bolding added by me):

In a case where the infringer sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that such infringer was not aware and had no reason to believe that his or her acts constituted an infringement of copyright, the court in its discretion may reduce the award of statutory damages to a sum of not less than $200.

I can hear some of you typing those irate comments already! Please wait one moment and consider something. Before Prelude to Axanarwas released, there were about a hundred different Star Trek fan films and series (I counted!) covering more than 250 hours over the span of four and a half decades. NONE of them was ever sued by anyStar Trek copyright holder…not Paramount, not Gulf+Western, not Viacom, and not CBS. So if those other fan films weren’t sued, why should Alec Peters have assumed that his fan film suddenly constituted an infringement of copyright?

I would expect blog sites like Fan Film Factor and Star Trek Reviewed will be entered into evidence (geez, maybe I’ll get a subpoena!) by the defense. Their goal won’t be to get all the violations dismissed (although that’d certainly be welcome by theAxanar team). Instead, they’ll be focused toward showing that any infringement that happened was not willful (according to the legal definition I cited above, not the definition by fans rooting againstAxanar). Indeed, the burden of proof will likely fall on the plaintiffs to show how Alec had some reason to believe he was infringing…despite him meeting four separate times with studio representatives and not being told by them to stop or alter his proposed film. It’ll be an uphill battle for the studios to get that $150,000-per-violation price tag to stick.

Of course, damages don’t have to be as low as $200 either. Maybe the judge awards $1,000 each for 26 different violations of copyright for example. And that’s $26,000…the same award as was given in the Games Workshop v. Chapterhouse lawsuit. Suddenly, CBS and Paramount don’t look quite as scary. Maybe some Star Trek fan productions even decide to risk a future lawsuit themselves figuring that, with enough crowd-funding, they can likely cover potential minor legal damages. Meanwhile, CBS and Paramount have just risked or even lost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars of licensing revenue for a measly $26,000 judgment and the effective neutering of their new fan film guidelines.

Another thing that could come out in trial is that Prelude to Axanarwas indeed fair use because it was transformative. In other words, a documentary-style fan film would be considered legally permissible because established Star Trek isn’t presented in documentary format. If that happens, expect nearly every major fan film to switch to a documentary style like Prelude to avoid lawsuits in the future. Imagine Tommy Kraft finally producing his Federation Rising sequel to Horizon as a two-hour long documentary about the end of the Romulan War…with no risk of getting sued successfully. If the judge rules fan film documentaries are fair use, then the door is now open to that and the genie is out of the bottle.

So even if CBS and Paramount win this trial, they could still lose. And even with a $26,000 judgment (or even $100,000 or more), Alec Peters could still win. How, you ask?

It’s been reported in a number of places that Alec Peters and Axanardirector Rob Burnett are planning to produce a documentary about this whole saga, from making Prelude to Axanar to raising $1.2 million to getting sued. And no matter what happens in this lawsuit, there’s no way for the two studios to stop this ancillary project, as a documentary about the making of a Star Trek fan film is journalistic and does not violate any copyright. So yes, folks, even if we never see the final Axanar movie, Alec Peters could still have the last word.

Now, assuming Alec and Rob are still planning to make this documentary film, going to trial is actually the best possible outcome…regardless of the verdict. Trials make documentaries even more interesting and dramatic. Without the trial, the documentary ends, “And they settled the case quietly.” With a trial, either David beats Goliath or vice versa—happy ending or heartbreaking tragedy. Either way, there’s an emotional punch, and the distribution rights could be worth millions (or so I’m told by a few people in the entertainment business). So if Alec has to pay a judgment in the five- or even six-figure range, and he makes seven figures for his documentary…well, you do the math.

I suspect that, right now, CBS and Paramount can only imagine one outcome to this case: they win outright, the damages are significant, and Alec Peters and Axanar are totally ruined. (And I’m sure some of you folks reading this right now are fist-pumping a “hell, yeah!”) And that is certainly a possible outcome.

But as this editorial points out, even though there’s one way for the studios to win big, there’s a lot of ways where they win but still lose a little, and there’s a few where they potentially lose big. As discovery goes on, it becomes less about desiring the moral victory and seeing justice done and more about crunching the numbers and asking, “Is this really worth it?”

So before you start typing your comments, complaints, rebuttals, and epithets, please remember that I’m not predicting any specificoutcome here, my friends…only possibilities. And as Spock said, “There are always possibilities.”

 

[sverre054]

Star Trek is 50 years old today. Just watched the Doomsday machine to celebrate...

 

[sverre054]

Interesting... Maybe the series isn't focused on the Klingon war.....

For those who haven't seen the TOS episode, A balance of terror, it is the first appearance of the Romulans.

 

[Cyke_out]

Interesting... Maybe the series isn't focused on the Klingon war.....

For those who haven't seen the TOS episode, A balance of terror, it is the first appearance of the Romulans.

And it's so fucking good. Dealing with racism, xenophobia, and a tight tense stand off between the enterprise and the romulans. Balance of terror is my favorite TOS episode.

 

[Gandzooka]

Interesting... Maybe the series isn't focused on the Klingon war.....

For those who haven't seen the TOS episode, A balance of terror, it is the first appearance of the Romulans.

That would mean they can't use Romulans much since the reveal of their appearance happens 10+ years later with Kirk & Spock.

Unless they go with the "starfleet crew found out about this but forgot to tell anyone else about it"

 

[JDragon]

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Balance_of_Terror_(episode)

 

[sverre054]

That would mean they can't use Romulans much since the reveal of their appearance happens 10+ years later with Kirk & Spock.

Unless they go with the "starfleet crew found out about this but forgot to tell anyone else about it"

I think there will be some altering of some Trek lore. Remember back then, Spock said visual communications were not even invented yet, so some updating will be needed.

They really need to make a TV movie or something for the Romulan war. A couples years ago, netflix tried to get the rights to bring back Enterprise, but CBS wouldn't go for it, so Netflix also tried for a one time 2 hour Romulan war special.

Maybe we will get the some of the war backstory, or discovery is the first ship to explore the neutral zone or Beta quadrant.

 

[JDragon]

@sverre054 : Do you have more Info on the Netflix thing?

 

[sverre054]

@sverre054 : Do you have more Info on the Netflix thing?

There was no official news about it, but there used to be a few large online groups trying to get Netflix to bring back Enterprise once netflix started reviving shows. Several people from CBS and netflix would speak off the record on things. Early on Netflix realized how big there star trek ratings were, and were really trying to get any trek content they could. CBS didn't really know how to react, and by then they were in the early days of the Bad Robot production deal, so were still thinking the whole franchise would be moving to the JJverse. Early on Bakula wanted nothing to do with it, but eventually he was said to agree to come back to the series, because he was so unhappy with how it ended. CBS wouldn;t go for it, so a 2 hour Romulan war movie/condensed season 5 was also proposed but denied due to the Bad Robot deal, plus at the time Netflix making original content was still an unknown.

Now this all could be BS from people making up stuff on the internet, but there were enough people researching and verifying stuff, that alot of the stuff was somewhat confirmed to be plausible.

 

[JDragon]

I am wondering about a couple of timing issues. Fuller said they'd Start shooting in September and end around March. But they want to start the series in January. IMO this does not quite fit with a weekly schedule (was it ever confirmed btw?) and a start on All Access the week after the Pilot.

 

[sverre054]

I am wondering about a couple of timing issues. Fuller said they'd Start shooting in September and end around March. But they want to start the series in January. IMO this does not quite fit with a weekly schedule (was it ever confirmed btw?) and a start on All Access the week after the Pilot.

It seems like its all being rushed, but I guess they have had the wheels in motion for a while, and pre-production has been underway for quite a while. Seems like casting is the last thing really, and Fuller y has stating that he has been contacting people, and has been contacted by some well known actors, and they are just working out the details and seeing about schedules and stuff. Filming is suppose to start within 2 weeks, so we gotta be getting casting leaks soon...

 

[JDragon]

Fuller y has stating that he has been contacting people, and has been contacted by some well known actors

I wonder whether we will have some huge casting news like Whoopie back with TNG.