Sci-Fi Storm

Updating a previous report about Quentin Tarantino wanting to direct the next Star Trek film, it appears that this is on a fast track – and that in Tarantino fashion he wants an R-rated film, with J.J. Abrams and Paramount agreeing.

Typical tentpole films try to maximize their audience with no higher than a PG-13 rating, but 2016’s Deadpool blew the doors off perceived limitations of the rating. And while an R rating would allow the franchise to go “where no one has gone before”, it also could be a dangerous move for a beloved franchise that has typically been more family-friendly. I don’t know if this could end up limiting the audience, or blurring the lines of the R rating itself where parents risk taking kids to the film in order to not miss a piece of the franchise.

Time to get caught up after a very busy weekend capping off a few busy weeks around here with school productions…so some tidbits from the past several days…

Director Quentin Tarantino has an idea for the next Star Trek movie…we don’t know what it is, but according to Deadline J.J. Abrams thinks enough of the idea to pull together a writers room to discuss and develop a script. Tarantino typically operates with free reign over his original movies, where a franchise like this might present challenges, so we’ll see how this shapes up.

Disney has blasted the $5 billion worldwide barrier for a record third time this year, following Thor’s Hammer smashing through box offices all over. Thor: Ragnarok has crossed $800 million alone.

The kids from Stranger Things will be back as Netflix picked up a third season of the hit thriller series. No word on what 80s iconic properties might show up this time around.

Michael Green and Bryan Fuller have abruptly left the production of the second season of Starz’ American Gods series. The two brought Neil Gaiman’s novel to the small screen and acted as executive producers/showrunners. No reason so far as been given for the departure, but rumors are that budget cuts were being imposed by FremantleMedia North America’s new head of scripted programming, Dante di Loreto.

The U.S.S. Discovery will get to fly on…CBS All Access has renewed Star Trek: Discovery for a second season. The first season so far as broken all subscription records for the streaming service, following the crew of the Starfleet ship while one crew member seeks to understand herself.

Six episodes have been released so far, with three more to go before taking a break, and the final six to be released starting in January.

Star Trek: Discovery, which premiered last night on the CBS broadcast network (slightly delayed due to football) before it goes exclusively to the CBS All Access streaming service, pulled in 9.6 million viewers and a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demo.

It is expected for those numbers to increase in the Live+7 as people watch it on a delay.

Our impression of the show from a single viewing is that it does seem like an acceptable member of the franchise so far, although there are some issues. Most notably for us there were three things: First, although it supposedly takes place in the original series timeline (not the “Kelvin” timeline of the movies), it takes liberties with the established canon, like Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) being an apparent ward or adopted daughter of Sarek and raised as if Vulcan, yet a seemingly important familial relationship has never been mentioned and stretches the canon thin. The Klingons are yet again changed, and the fact that the U.S.S. Shenzhou is apparently a more advanced starship than the original Enterprise of our childhoods.

And we never even get to see the title ship in the premiere!

I’d like to see more, but I’m firmly in the camp of not paying for yet another streaming service – even for Star Trek.

[Edit: A previous version of this article accidentally transposed the number of viewers]

At last, we have a trailer…

CBS has set the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery for September 24th, 2017 – about 9 months after originally intended. And according to showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg, the primary reason for the delays was building the world in which they explore.

In an interview with EW “There’s is so much artistry and custom craftsmanship that go into every prop, every costume, every set,” Harberts explained. “These things have to be designed and manufactured. We flew a costume designer to Switzerland to pick up the fabric for the Starfleet uniforms. Several items on our uniforms are 3D printed. Some of our sets can take over six weeks to make. CBS has given us the time and the money to make something the fans will find worthwhile.”

Added Berg: “You can’t cut corners or have 95 percent of what’s on screen be completely original and inspired and then have five percent something you bought at a store. It has to be cohesive — and it is. I’m so proud of what’s on screen, it’s so beautiful and it’s taking world-building to a whole new level.”

But this is not something unique to this show. Other shows have to build sets, make props, etc. and that should have been figured in to the production cycle from the start.

The show will premiere on CBS at 8:30pm-9:30pm ET/PT (a strange slot, but it follows a football doubleheader), followed by the first two episodes being available on the pay-streaming CBS All Access. 6 more episodes will premiere on succeeding Sundays through November 5th, after which it will have a short break and pick up again in January for 7 more episodes. The break will allow more post-production time on the later episodes.

CBS dropped some info on the upcoming CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery – not a lot, mind you, but some – and more importantly, the trailer for the show.

Today at the network’s upfront presentations, they announced that they ordered an additional two episodes, bringing up the first season to 15 episodes. In addition, there will be a companion “Talk” series called Talking Trek – a strategy that is becoming increasingly popular with off-broadcast genre shows.

And then there is this…

I still have fears that limiting this series to the CBS All Access pay-streaming service will limit the audience too much to support such an expensive show, but I’m not sure what the All Access subscriber numbers look like currently.

Harcourt Fenton “Harry” Mudd will finally return to Star Trek…one of the franchises most memorable guest characters will appear in the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery for CBS All Access, played by Emmy-nominated Rainn Wilson, who starred in The Office for nine years.

The bombastic criminal/”entrepreneur” Harry Mudd was originally played by the late Roger C. Carmel in the original series episodes “Mudd’s Women” and “I, Mudd”, and he reprised the role in the animated series episode “Mudd’s Passion”.

The Starship Discovery has found its captain…Jason Isaacs, who recently appeared in the Netflix thriller series The OA and played Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, will play Captain Lorca in the upcoming CBS All Access series, which began production a month ago. Although he is the captain, the series will focus on his “Number One” played by Sonequa Martin-Green.

CBS President Les Moonves is hopeful that the series will debut on the broadcast network this Fall, with it continuing on the streaming network afterwards.

Syfy has canceled the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck produced Incorporated after just a single season. The hyped-up show failed to get hyped up ratings, averaging well below Syfy’s other flagship shows. Syfy is lining up pilots with four given green lights so far along with Superstition, which was given a straight-to-series order.

On the opposite side, CBS’ Les Moonves is very confident that the twice delayed Star Trek: Discovery will be ready to debut in early Fall and perhaps late Summer – and he understands the importance of the show to the network.Star Trek is the family jewels,” Moonves says. “We’re not going to rush it in. There’s a lot of post production. But I’m very confident based on what I’ve seen so far.”

Star Trek: Discovery was most recently delayed from a May release last month, given they hadn’t actually started filming yet. Filming started shortly after that announcement, so a Fall debut seems more realistic.