Episode 2 officially starts filming. Director named

[cultcross]

The more they keep the "pictures" to simple and innocent things like the back of a stage, or the clapperboard... the more I start to think that they're worried fans will throw a tantrum when they start releasing actual shots...

They're trying to maintain a sense of mystery and intrigue, it's the done thing these days to try to keep your show spoiler free while still marketing it. It's nice really, and I hope they keep things close to their chest a bit better this time. Before Broken Bow was out we had the full leaked script, a long trailer, cast shots, ship shots, all sorts of stuff - you could pretty much piece together the whole show before watching it. I'd like a bit of a surprise, hopefully pleasant, when I watch Discovery's pilot.

 

[Bones]

While I agree to an extent, I do feel that the fandom makes good points.

While I'm a new poster, and certainly don't want to be stirring the pot so early on, I have been a long-time lurker here. That said, I know some folks here don't seem to think canon matters all that much, etc. Some. Not all.

However, my point is simply this; I hope the folks behind ST respect the Prime Timeline's canon to a respectful extent. If they want to change everything, give a new look to everything, then they should have created a new timeline.They could have easily have done that.

However, even if they do change everything up... I'm still going to watch the show for its entertainment value. I'm not going to be throwing a fantrum.

{edit: typo}

There is enough internal inconsistency within the historical series where I'm OK with some contradiction in the new. I agree with you that in the absence of a new timeline canon should be shown respect. I'll give them a small nit in the context of a good plot line. As you say, looking forward to some good entertainment.

 

[Bones]

Like they created a new timeline after changing everything and giving everything a new look in 1979? If they want to refresh the look and bring it up to date, while still having it in the same timeline, well there's already a precedent for doing so.

I loved the new look when I first saw it in 1979. The refit Enterprise is still my favorite ship. (Except for my cabin cruiser )

 

[Number One]

While I agree to an extent, I do feel that the fandom makes good points.

While I'm a new poster, and certainly don't want to be stirring the pot so early on, I have been a long-time lurker here. That said, I know some folks here don't seem to think canon matters all that much, etc. Some. Not all.

However, my point is simply this; I hope the folks behind ST respect the Prime Timeline's canon to a respectful extent. If they want to change everything, give a new look to everything, then they should have created a new timeline.They could have easily have done that.

{edit: typo}

I agree. But if I don't like the show, I'm not gonna watch the show. No way I'm watching it just to nag about it constantly and nitpicking(this is the extreme fan of commenting like "hey the set temperature is XY degrees, when it SHOULD have been XY.0000001!!!!! This is not my trek!!" or the studio apologist of "hey! The set temp is XY! This is not 1960's it should be YZ!!! They should update it cuz its easier for the studio creative people this way!! Or whatever the studio says cause the studio is all-knowing or something!!!!").

It is much better and effective imo, if I will not like it, not to watch it, cause I know they like even the naggers if they watch and discuss(per "any publicity is good publicity") but if it hurts show income, that's when they actually think what is going wrong and how to fix it. Else they have the numbers to display "X amount of viewers, so what could be going wrong??". I will not watch crap just cause it's labelled Star Trek, they have to produce something of actual value and respect.

Also, no way I'm falling for "hide everything till just before it airs so despite the shock they'll be still watching initially and after that we might get them anyway to stay". We're not babies to not see through such psychological scheming I would like to believe. Plus it really is more a sign of mistrust to the product they're making if so.

I'd much rather they reveal as much about it as possible. So if people hate it, they at least hate it for a reason and maybe then it can find its own fans out of people that may like what they see. It's better if a show is followed by people that are positive about it as few as they may be.

I don't like luring tactics, frankness and straight forwardness is the way. If you're going to make it a certain way, be proud of it and support it, whether it fails or not. Unless the makers don't believe in it, and its all studio calls, which would be self-negating, imo.

 

[Number One]

And I have no problem with that- especially considering they're most likely going to do something like that.

All I'm saying, is that if Vulcans are suddenly green, Andorians are red, Klingons look like Independence Day aliens, etc... it's going to be odd.

Does that mean I won't enjoy the show? No. Does that mean it may break the immersion a bit for me? Yes.

There's nothing wrong with staying with canon- or at least making an attempt to do so. Just like there's nothing wrong with giving the show an updated look- even if it is set before TOS.

All I'm saying is what I don't understand are the people who act as contrarian as possible, and shout about canon not mattering.

I couldn't possiby see what it accomplishes, creativity-wise, to swap colors between major alien races and doing stuff like that, which couldn't be accomplished by introducing some alien races made for that purpose(and you can build on the way you like while keeping the established ones for reference or your foundation). Unlike many, I never had a problem with 1 and done races. There are what 180 hours(ENT+TOS) or something like that pre-TNG series time? And considering during TOS there are many episodes that races are introduced, not to mention the enemies... and how many races in the federation? They could easily have been 200-300 of them in various stages of integration with the federation.

I think it laughable to bring back races from future series as tie-ins that don't work, or re-work established ones for the "fake surprise" factor. I think it's cheap and shoddy workmanship. You have supposedly assembled people you respect and think to be creative. If they are in fact as creative as you advertise them to be, they should be able to create their own thing and not just rehash what is already there. Production values of nowadays shows are supposed to be better than this...so I challenge them to prove so.

 

[GeekFilter]

I'm actually surprised the first comment here about all the stage photos was not about how much green screen they are using. I thought perceptive Trekkies would notice how this implies heavy use of virtual backgrounds like BSG: Blood and Chrome. Now Ted Sullivan does say that more practical sets are out of frame but this might be the largest amount ever on Trek.


RAMA

I also think that's mostly the SAME green screen we see over and over again.

 

[Greg Cox]

It was a very complicated 2-hour pilot. This is this first time a star trek show has ever started shooting without any pre-built sets whatsoever. It's also establishing all the parameters of shooting and style. Remember, after STNG all the shows were basically shot with the same team producing them and they already had established a lot of this. This is a whole new production team.

RAMA

Heck, TOS needed two pilots to get the kinks out.

 

[TheSublimeGoose]

Heck, TOS needed two pilots to get the kinks out.

But at least we got the amazing, incredible, utterly fascinating "The Menagerie" out of the footage from "The Cage"!

Idk how this forum feels about that episode as I'm so new... but I didn't like it. Although I don't think it's as bad as some folk claim- I know some fans despise it.

 

[Mudd]

There's a lot of green screen in these photos simply because Sullivan's trying to tease BTS stuff and can't reveal anything - so you get lumber, electrical stuff and green screens.

Put more simply, the absence of sets in these photos is not evidence in any way that a lot of sets haven't been built. Sullivan just can't photograph them.

 

[TheSublimeGoose]

There's a lot of green screen in these photos simply because Sullivan's trying to tease BTS stuff and can't reveal anything - so you get lumber, electrical stuff and green screens.

Put more simply, the absence of sets in these photos is not evidence in any way that a lot of sets haven't been built. Sullivan just can't photograph them.

I can't speak for anyone else, but that's exactly what I had assumed. It would be a pretty big deal if they started showing actual sets- especially sets of Starfleet ships, most especially a bridge set; A devoted fan could glean a lot of information from a ship or a ship's bridge set.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Heck, TOS needed two pilots to get the kinks out.

And part of a season to get it smooth.

 

[RAMA]

RAMA said: ↑
I'm actually surprised the first comment here about all the stage photos was not about how much green screen they are using. I thought perceptive Trekkies would notice how this implies heavy use of virtual backgrounds like BSG: Blood and Chrome. Now Ted Sullivan does say that more practical sets are out of frame but this might be the largest amount ever on Trek.

I also think that's mostly the SAME green screen we see over and over again.

RAMA

Not necessarily...yes there are different angles of the same area, but I'm not just talking about Ted Sullivan's behind the scenes shots, I'm also referring to ALL the sets, in particular, the Klingon sets, which have major virtual set extensions. Regardless, there's never even been a fraction of those virtual set extensions used on Trek.

 

[RAMA]

Heck, TOS needed two pilots to get the kinks out.

Eh, I meant other than TOS of course...STNG used the STTMP sets, and so on.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

I'm also referring to ALL the sets, in particular, the Klingon sets, which have major virtual set extensions. Regardless, there's never even been a fraction of those virtual set extensions used on Trek.

The cost to do virtual sets in the early 2000s would have been so much higher. James Cameron's Avatar (2009) changed a lot with virtual production and now TV series have virtual set extensions all the time to allow a show to shoot in Los Angeles and look like they went to many cities like Covert Affairs on a budget. The same idea is if they shoot on a soundstage and greenscreen exteriors in Toronto for the Canadian tax credits...
The CGI assets built for virtual sets can also be used for (virtual) set extentions. Once built they can also be used and repurposed down the road possibly for a Virtual Reality marketing experience or a videogame or a VR videogame. This also spreads out the cost of creating virtual sets.

 

[JD]

I really don't think the lack of information has anything to do with the quality of the show, they're probably just waiting until we get closer to the release date before they start giving us pictures, trailers, and other information.

 

[Shikarnov]

The more they keep the "pictures" to simple and innocent things like the back of a stage, or the clapperboard... the more I start to think that they're worried fans will throw a tantrum when they start releasing actual shots...

Star Trek fans? Never...

While I agree to an extent, I do feel that the fandom makes good points.

While I'm a new poster, and certainly don't want to be stirring the pot so early on, I have been a long-time lurker here. That said, I know some folks here don't seem to think canon matters all that much, etc. Some. Not all.

However, my point is simply this; I hope the folks behind ST respect the Prime Timeline's canon to a respectful extent. If they want to change everything, give a new look to everything, then they should have created a new timeline.They could have easily have done that.

However, even if they do change everything up... I'm still going to watch the show for its entertainment value. I'm not going to be throwing a fantrum.

Careful, friend... Keep up talk like that and sooner or later folks will start flaming you for failing to recognize and accept that Star Trek is a property with which the producers can do absolutely anything they want -- in the Prime timeline (which doesn't really exist, mind you) or in any other part of the multiverse as they so choose. Red Andorians, frozen Tholians, Wolf 359 a hundred years early, Jamie T. Kirk being female, militaristic Tribbles, and more. And if you don't like it as a customer, well, that's too bad for you.

Like they created a new timeline after changing everything and giving everything a new look in 1979? If they want to refresh the look and bring it up to date, while still having it in the same timeline, well there's already a precedent for doing so.

I think the difference is that TMP took place after TOS. Styles change over time, and that's fine. I don't see a lot of Ford Pintos on the roads, tight butt-hugging bell bottoms on men, or poodle skirts on women these days either.

The TOS-era general style had been around for quite some time, and when the Enterprise came home -- after multiple missions under different captains -- it was just time for one of those changes. I think it would have been very different if the producers had said "Hey, we're going to set TMP in mid 2250s during the same time period as The Cage, but we're going to ignore everything established about that time period and do whatever we want instead." That would have been a reboot.

I never really bought the idea that TMP was a continuation of TOS, in anything other than the broadest of broad strokes.

I think it was -- but the execution was deeply flawed. We had all the right ingredients: A lunatic Admiral taking over and endangering the ship, a weird space alien to get to know and try to defeat, the Enterprise and a crew of well-knowns characters, and more.

The main problems, as I see them, were that James Kirk was the lunatic admiral, that the whole Kolinahr business with Spock replaced a rich character with an almost mindless robot (and stole any chance of seeing some good character moments with McCoy like in TWOK), and that the film went way way overboard with the special effects.

Well they will have to update the look some but I think they will keep enough of the TOS look in to make it gel. I wish they would go the route that ST: Ent. went when they did their mirror episode. They managed to update the look of a 2260s connie but adding a few computer graphics and changing the lighting. The bridge on that episode looked fantastic.

I loved what the ENT people did with the Defiant. I'll grant you that I don't think even that bridge would pass muster as a futuristic workstation and is basically fanwank, but it does show that the potential is there to design something that is mostly consistent and stays respectful to what came before.

There's also no reason why TOS-era ships couldn't look great largely unchanged. @Vektor 3D modeled some fantastic designs, including Franz Joseph's Constitution, and with good lighting and presentation, the old work looks amazing.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

^ Especially in the first couple episodes of TOS.

Kor

They should totally devote a couple episodes to some weird technobabble/augment virus reason for why Vulcans stopped being green (but as we know, it's not easy being green).

(Kidding, in case anyone's wondering).

 

[GeekFilter]

There's a lot of green screen in these photos simply because Sullivan's trying to tease BTS stuff and can't reveal anything - so you get lumber, electrical stuff and green screens.

Put more simply, the absence of sets in these photos is not evidence in any way that a lot of sets haven't been built. Sullivan just can't photograph them.

And now those pictures are gone too :-/ I can see taking down the leaked pics of people in makeup, but his were super benign!

 

[Greg Cox]

I really don't think the lack of information has anything to do with the quality of the show, they're probably just waiting until we get closer to the release date before they start giving us pictures, trailers, and other information.

This is where I channel my Inner Curmudgeon and grumble about the modern expectation that we are somehow entitled to a non-stop stream of updates and behind-the-scenes gossip on works-in-progress, months or even years before they debut. In my day, we just read the Fall Preview issue of TV GUIDE to find out about upcoming TV shows, right before they debuted, and didn't pass judgment on them until they actually aired. (And then we walked uphill in the snow . . . both ways!)

Thank God this mentality hasn't extended to books yet:

"Hmm. Greg Cox hasn't posted any notes or outlines or early drafts of his next book yet. What's he hiding?"

 

[RAMA]

There's also the fact they ONLY STARTED FILMING JANUARY 24th! People need to get a grip.

This is where I channel my Inner Curmudgeon and grumble about the modern expectation that we are somehow entitled to a non-stop stream of updates and behind-the-scenes gossip on works-in-progress, months or even years before they debut. In my day, we just read the Fall Preview issue of TV GUIDE to find out about upcoming TV shows, right before they debuted, and didn't pass judgment on them until they actually aired. (And then we walked uphill in the snow . . . both ways!)

Thank God this mentality hasn't extended to books yet:

"Hmm. Greg Cox hasn't posted any notes or outlines or early drafts of his next book yet. What's he hiding?"