Here’s what I got wrong — and right! — with my ‘Star Trek 2017’ prediction
About a month back I wrote a rather long post outlining my thoughts on what the new Star Trek series would be about and why. The post largely focused on two main topics: what timeline the show would be set in and when it would take place.
Two weeks after I published the post, we got our first concrete details about the show at San Diego Comic-Con. That day, we found out which timeline the new series will take place. This week, Bryan Fuller was at the Television Critics Association and revealed more about the show, including when in the timeline the show would take place. Which means we can go back to my predictions! Hooray!
I hit the nail on the head with my first prediction. In my post, by breaking down official statements from CBS, its president, and the crew working on the new show, as well as parsing what’s known about the franchise’s legal status, I correctly concluded that Discovery would be set within the Prime Timeline.
I grossly missed the mark on my other guess, though. Using a similar method of deduction based on three factors — Bryan’s admiration for The Undiscovered Country, revisting characters “established in the canon” eventually, and that it isn’t set between The Undiscovered Country and The Next Generation — I figured the most likely time for when the show would take place only led us to one option: post-Nemesis. According to reports from Television Critics Association, Bryan Fuller said Discovery will take place ten years before Kirk’s captaincy of the Enterprise and his famous five-year mission. So, it seems I was wrong.
Seems. Perhaps I will be right — just not this season. In addition to his remarks at the Television Critic’s Association, Bryan has two peculiar responses on Twitter to fan concerns regarding the prequel setting of Discovery and who wanted the show to take place after The Next Generation. In both replies, Bryan says the same thing: “all good things…”.
I wouldn’t blame you for thinking he may have meant “all good things must come to an end.” The biggest problem I have with this interpretation, though, is that Bryan doesn’t seem like the person to deliver bad news in a vague way on Twitter. And anyway, if it was bad news, why say anything at all and hurt any excitement the show has?
He does, however, seem like the person who would tease out good news on Twitter. While at the Television Critics Association, Bryan said the main character’s rank was Lieutenant Commander, but said that this rank came “with caveats.” Moreover, Bryan told AintItCoolNews that our lead will have “many ranks.” Why would her rank have caveats? How could she have many ranks? Will she be serving on an alien ship?
Or will Discovery make a jump in time to somewhere in the future, after Nemesis? This wouldn’t necessarily have to happen at the end of the first season, mind you — it could happen at the end of season two, for example. Such an idea, though, does seem to fit Bryan’s statements, and it would allow for the series to revisit “characters established in the canon”. Eventually.
