Monday 17 December 2018

Final Tease for Season Two?


Another adrenaline-filled trailer has arrived for Discovery's second season making it look even more filled with action and adventure than ever before.

There is a great responsibility at hand

But is that a good thing and should we be getting excited over a season of Star Trek that has the potential to rock out more action, explosions and fast-frame cuts than ever before?

I'm torn between a rock and a hard place on this one because I really want to give Discovery the chance to impress but all we seem to be receiving is something akin to that infamous first Star Trek Beyond trailer that had us all questioning just what direction the Kelvin Timeline was heading. Luckily there were other teasers after that which reassured us it wasn't all Beastie Boys and big bangs but we're now awfully close to that January 2019 premiere date and these previews seem to be horribly devoid of any good, solid character moments - ironically something that the three (soon to be four) Short Treks have actually excelled at on every occasion.

The major additions in here are the discussions around the Red Angel and the appearance of the eight red lights at points in the galaxy which signify some sort of major event which can only be a Bad Thing if ever there was one. Is this the Borg returning? Absolutely not and I would like to think the Powers That Be are intelligent enough behind the scenes not to have to pull something like that - although I would believe that there will be a twist in here somewhere.

What do I have against this trailer? It's full of short quippy lines, soundbytes and pumped action sequences that make it look visually amazing but gives very little idea to the depth or quality of the story. Will this season betray the loss of Nicholas Meyer, Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg and even Bryan Fuller to the nth degree? Will it be clear who was guiding the boat towards the Star Trek philosophy? Will I be proved completely wrong and actually this is all just a damn fine piece of marketing to appeal to (yawn) the masses once again?

Surely Discovery isn't doing too badly with the announcement that season two is extended to 14 episodes plus all these new shows that keep appearing out of the woodwork to expand the catalogue.

So to this Red Angel and rather than analysing every frame yet again I want to pic up on a few pointers that come out of this latest set of sequences. I'm suspecting that the mention of canon and that the second year will answer a lot of questions intimates to me at least that the Red Angel has to be linked into the larger Star Trek universe in some way. Is this a creature from canon that we have already met and if so what is it? Rejac for instance?


Cue too shots of the season one interpretation of the Klingons (including L'Rell) engaged in either combat or a training regime but without any real context in this tease. Spot as well that we have both Admiral Cornwell and Lieutenant Ash Tyler reappearing for season two with the latter ending up back on the Discovery bridge in Starfleet combat gear.

So this Red Angel's appearance means that, so says Chilled Spock, "someone or something is going to end all sentient life in the universe." Now that's a tall order and clearly doesn't happen since everything is still around and lovely for The Original Series ten years later. Now I know this should be about the journey but that's a big ask to make the viewer wonder if the ultimate fate is going to happen or not - and you kind of know it won't. Is it Spock that we see at the beginning of the new trailer scribbling away on the floor of what might be an asylum?

This angel showed me an apocalyptic vision...someone or something is going to end all sentient life in the galaxy.

Also another line in there is Burnham's "looking glass" quip which suggests more universe-hopping for the Discovery but to where? Mirror Universe again or another spur in the Star Trek multiverse?

Also there's some shots hinting at a new enemy for the crew but if you flash back to previous trailers you'll quickly realise that this is Georgiou in full body and head armour. What does intrigue me with all this is how they've resurrected the Section 31 links that were hinted at right back at the beginning of season one and then seemingly left to dangle. What is the covert organisation's interest in the Red Angel and the prophecy that Spock unveils?

Captain; ten sentry ships on an intercept course!

What do these ships have to do with the Red Angel? The Klingons? Anything? What we do know is that they've turned up in every trailer so far is there must be some key point to their inclusion in the show - or maybe they're just in the first few eps...

Again the trailer ends with the smiling Spock but only after we see that there will be conflict between him and Burnham which will only be escalated due to his heightened emotional state which is spotlighted by Pike's closing remarks.

Is that a smile I see on your face?....Welcome to Discovery.

Sunk into the trailer we also have Saru out of uniform in several shots which could suggest more links back to his origins or some away mission that sees him in great peril plus there's a lot more of Tilly and Stamets dealing with a blob-like airborne mass that has appeared in all the trailers to date. At a point this substance seems to be inhabiting the newly promoted Ensign Tilly; might this be a link back to the mysterious blue glowing material that disappeared through her uniform at the end of the first season? Could there be some seasonal continuity going on here and might that have something to do with the micellial network.

Just to close out perhaps the weirdest elements do link into this arc of the narrative with the Discovery appearing through a wall or on some sort of three dimensional viewer in a blink and miss it sequence.

Season two comes across as being a lot more random and "out there" than we received with the first 15 episodes. It seems more experimental relying less on the established Klingons for its setup and this time exploring more intricate lore and characters (still no Sarek...?) from the franchise in a new and I would hope, fascinating storyline.

We have just a month to go until Discovery returns and I'm loving the fact that we have very little substance to what is coming. There are the bones of the story but I like the fact a lot is being left to interpretation to hype the anticipation for the new year.

What do you think season two holds for Discovery? Comment below, like and share!


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