Coming soon to CBS’s streaming service that some people hypothetically subscribe to, Star Trek: Discovery is the latest series to actually set us back in terms of finding new life and new civilizations. These are familiar lives and civilizations. The online-only Star Trek revival is reportedly set about a decade before the events of the original series, and in a separate timeline from the recent films. You probably wouldn’t figure either of those things out from this first trailer, though.
As seen above, the cinematic look of Discovery seems much more informed by the modern movies than by any series that’s come before. That is to say, it too would rather identify as a thrilling, lens-flare-filled space adventure than as a futuristic procedural that involves a god-like presence on the regular. And despite taking place just ten years before Kirk and Spock’s heyday, the costumes look far more akin to the century-prior Enterprise wardrobe. Technicolor uniforms and well-lit bridges were, apparently, a recent innovation in TOS.
In fairness, though, the trailer seems to pull entirely from the series pilot. We don’t even get a glimpse of the new ship—nor its captain, Jason Isaacs. (In the preview, Michelle Yeoh’s captain leads the USS Shenzhou, not the titular vessel Discovery will focus on.) We’ll have to wait until the fall to see whether the latest Star Trek eventually settles into its namesake’s tone. Though, to see that, we’d also need to start paying for CBS All Access, so perhaps it shall forever remain our final, unexplored frontier.
