The truth about Discovery and the Prime universe.

With the revelation of the Klingon visual redesign a lot has been made, again, of the supposed commitment of the Discovery producers to setting the show in the so-called "Prime" or old Trek continuity.

All based on widespread overstatement of what was said by CBS and the producers about the show's setting.

What Bryan Fuller actually said about Discovery's setting was this:

Nor was there ever a stated intention to mimic the look of the TOS TV series or movies:

Well, the new Klingons make pretty clear that the designers are "playing with the iconography" and "redefining" the look of the property. One can stretch a point by insisting that Fuller "didn't say they were changing things wholesale," but the fact remains that neither he or anyone else said anything committing them to any of the old designs.

The situation is rather like that of Star Trek (2009), where reading between the lines of what the producers said prior to the first release of images from the movie would have led folks to expect something very different from TOS...but lot of folks just took statements by the producers about their affection for the original literally and as a promise of something or another.

Discovery is nominally in the Prime timeline, most likely, simply by virtue of avoiding mention of things that would tie it to one version or another. That would be pretty much limited to any reference to the Kelvin incident or the Kirk family. That doesn't mean that much of anything in the show will fit the expectations of long-time fans.

 

We don't know the back story of those so called klingons from the picture. They could really be members of the anciant sarcophagus ship as the rumors say it, and we could just as well get "normal" klingons without upsetting what we have seen in the past 50 years. I say let's wait and see, as we come closer to the premiere we will get more and more information, and when we will see the first episode we will know a lot more. Until than everything is just a big guessing game. Nobody should get upset by this new look until we know the whole story.

 

Well, not everyone is upset by the look itself. Lots of folks like it.

What seems to be upsetting, to some people here and certainly a lot of folks on little message boards like that Facebook thing, seems to be a belief that the producers of the show at some point promised an attempt at fidelity to the long-familiar and that the weekend's revelation represents some kind of betrayal. Hence the novel appearance of unlikely hashtags like #BringBackBerman.

 

There is a #BringBackBerman hastag? OMG ))))) I would say #BringBackMannyCoto maybe but not Berman

 

Good topic.

....

Also could this mean "10 years before Kirk's mission" means before Chris Pine?

 

In other words, no matter what is done, it's not going to please everyone.

But, so far, it's pleasing me!

Or, sorry...

I am very pleased. #RickBerman

 

That hashtag was used? Jesus.

Let me get this straight: after seeing the photo leak of the new Klingon make up design, certain fans were so horrified at this "disrespect" for Klingon canon that they have been calling for Berman's return? The same Rick Berman who ignored established Klingon canon to use the TNG Klingon make up on ENT? The moaners truly have taken it to new levels now

Great to see these quotes from Fuller again. He was open from the start about how the aesthetic would be changed for Trek, something many seem to have ignored as soon as he alluded to it being set in the Prime universe.

 

If Discovery is a hit, they could reboot the whole series with their new style.

 

It's a reboot, and that's okay. Just make it good!

 

If it's a reboot than they just should go out and say it so and that's it. We will handle as a reboot

 

"Reboot," "reimagining," etc. are just neologisms that have been adopted by studio PR people to mean whatever is useful to them in promoting their product - in other words, to obfuscate and misdirect as much as to inform. Expecting them to use one such term, in one context, with the intent to clarify a product for a particular subset of viewers who believe that they have a consensus definition of the word is...not logical.

 

They said that. over and over and over. It's a "soft reboot" so as not to upset the delicate sensitivities and stomachs of the rabid fans, but for all intents and purposes it's a reboot.

 

To be fair, the clone of Kahless had already established that Klingons always looked like TNG Klingons, and ENTs later augment story, love it or hate it, covered why TOS Klingons didn't look like that at that time. Which to some extent also covers Kor etc having the full grill and dashboard in Ds9. I dislike enterprise, and recent stuff about Berman in the press kind of puts a damper on it, but he did provide a clear through line and stuck to a clear vision of the Trek continuity that followed through. That is a good thing, even if he was turning into Treks version of Who's JNT by the end.

 

Sweet flying fuck, all this hand wringing about reboots and canons continuities. Everyone is completely missing the big picture:
IT'S A NEW STAR TREK TV SHOW. THE FIRST ONE IN OVER A DECADE.
There that's the only thing we need to concern ourselves over. Prime Universe, new universe, side universe, who the hell cares? Star Trek is back on TV, long may it reign. That's all I care about, and should be all any legit true fan should be interested in either. The priority for this show should be to be interesting and entertaining, and if that means abandoning the chains of canon, then those chains do not have their place here.

For the record, I'm not really all that taken with the new Klingons myself, I just don't consider it that good a look. I could hardly care about the ramifications or implications about which universe or continuity this takes place in now, or what this could mean regarding canon, which is a tenuous concept in Star Trek to begin with, and always has been.

 

Yep.

 

Agreed Wormhole.

 

Anyone who expects Discovery's Klingons to look exactly like the TOS ones will be sorely disappointed. Of the 50 year history of Trek, Klingons have had bumpy foreheads for about 40 of them. THAT is what Klingons look like. No ridiculous virus changed that. They always had bumpy foreheads.

Geez, do we need Sean Spicer to give a presser on this? "Klingons have always had bumpy foreheads. PERIOD!"

 

I think it's pretty clear that Discovery is going to be a sideprebootquel.

 

I seem to recall that fans were able to accept multiple ethnicities of Klingons for several decades (didn't the Great Bird himself jokingly call them "Northern and Southern" Klingons?) so why is this an issue all of a sudden? ENT gave us part of an explanation (after Trials and Tribble-ations made the difference itself canon).

And besides, these designs really resemble the Klingons seen in TMP (which we never saw again either).

The idea of an "empire" generally means multiple groups brought under one group, the idea of different looks doesn't bother me one bit. It's an improvement if you ask me, I'm sick of all aliens looking alike in scifi.

 

I hope they make the Klingons look like the Beatles circa 1964, like the spy from Trouble with Tribbles.