'Star Trek: Discovery' finally has an actual trailer (!!!)
At the CBS Upfronts Wednesday, we got our first look at the humans (and aliens!) starring in the newest Star Trek entry.
It's real, it exists and it's coming this fall.
After our first look Wednesday morning at the (presumed) humans in the new series, the first trailer for "Star Trek: Discovery" debuted at CBS Upfronts. In addition, it was announced that the series has been expanded to 15 episodes and will be followed by a discussion show called "Talking Trek."
A new poster was also released.
On Monday, CBS Interactive CEO Jim Lanzone spoke with CNET Executive Editor Roger Cheng and teased a "cinematic," "grittier" program, akin to what you'd see on other premium cable channels. (Disclosure: CBS is CNET's parent company.)
The trailer opens in the same setting as the photo released Wednesday morning, with Michelle Yeoh's Captain Philippa Georgiou bantering with Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). The captain tells our protagonist it's time for her to consider her own command. A ship comes out of the clouds and we're off.
The trailer also includes a longer look at a new alien named Lieutenant Saru, who's played by Doug Jones and has a special skill ("My people were biologically determined for one purpose alone: to sense the coming of death"), and Spock's father, Sarek (played by James Frain), who says, "Great unifiers are few and far between, but they do come." (Is he talking about Martin-Green's Burnham? It sure feels like it, adding fuel to the speculation that her character may have been raised on Vulcan.)
Let's rewind and recap, so you can understand the magnitude of this trailer drop. It's been 562 days since CBS announced Star Trek would return to television with a new series.
That day in early November of 2015 brought the exciting news the channel was resurrecting the sci-fi gem, and that it would be the the first original show to premiere on CBS All Access. It was a simpler time -- and fans hoped the series would see the light of day by the end of 2016.
Chris Obi as T'Kuvma.
At San Diego Comic-Con in 2016, we got a brief glimpse of the ship and the name of the show: "Star Trek: Discovery." "So exciting!" we thought. But then came the news of the first delay.
We continued to get news of new cast members, aliens, a lead actress, the Captain of the USS Discovery and even more cast members joining. Some characters got names and we learned Spock's father would be part of the series. But the announcement didn't bring mention of a premiere date. For some fans, excitement began to fade.
Then in January, CBS announced production had officially begun with an in-production teaser.
Until we saw it with our own eyes, some were concerned it would be stuck forever in development (especially after the departure of the original executive producer Bryan Fuller).
Jones as Lieutenant Saru, Martin-Green as First Officer Michael Burnham and Yeoh as Captain Philippa Georgiou.
Which brings us to Wednesday, when we got our first official looks at the show and a premiere season. Fall is only 128 days away, we better start getting ready.
Also, I would like the record to reflect that I have always been a supporter of Star Trek and I never doubted for a moment that it would find its way to my eyeballs.
Crowd Control: A crowdsourced science fiction novel written by CNET readers.
Virtual reality 101: CNET tells you everything you need to know about VR.