Arming the Final Frontier: Discovery Stuns

In a week where just about anything could happen, the Discovery Twitter account is rapidly becoming the go-to location for new teases of the prequel show.

Not satisfied with the Starfleet delta or the flashy new communicator? Well how about the big guns. Literally.

For their latest two shorts previewing Discovery, we have the (re) introduction of the phaser and the phaser rifle. Let's take a ganders at the more oft-used hand weapon first in the few seconds we've been granted.

To be fair we've already seen a slight glimpse of the phaser in the shot of Georgiou and Burnham on the transporter platform (after a few conversations I'm not convinced 100% that this is the Shenzhou transporter pad) as part of their away team armour. Now though these CBS ten second trailers are giving us a bit more access to the 23rd Century. 

The parallels to The Original Series' weapon of choice are far closer for this item than they are to the phase pistols of Enterprise or the laser weapons of The Cage. The close-up shots mean we can spot the familiar grilled rear and the crystal control at the top of the handle plus the very shape of the weapon harks back to its 1960's Wah Chang origins.

While it does remain obtrusively out of focus you can clearly tell there's a distinctive Type One lump on the back which, for once, we might get to see detached in action. I'm loving the metallic finish on the trigger and the panelling which keeps it in line with canon but also adds the detail that Discovery seems to be lauding into every aspect of its designs. While the bulk of the phaser is immediately identifiable the big change has to be at the business end with the pointed barrel seemingly a thing of the future. Instead there are three different apertures which reminded me of microscope magnification lenses. Could these be for different beam widths or intensities perhaps? There has to be a good reason why they are three different sizes.

The phaser is a weapon that has stretched appearances right across the franchise including the recent reboots which have their own take on it. In that case they've opted for something that melds The Original Series with some of the design elements from the movie era hand phaser plus a nifty reload feature. The new movies from the Kelvin timeline also reintroduced the phaser rifle to the Kirk era.

Now that's something that only made one onscreen appearance plus a few publicity shots right back at the dawning of the Star Trek universe for pilot number two; Where No Man Has Gone Before. 

A very distinct grey and metallic orange, it was wielded by both Kirk and Spock as they attempted to stop a transformed Gary Mitchell. Maybe with the phaser rifle it's more a legendary design because of that singular appearance. Enterprise was a big fan of rifles too with them being the chosen armament for the MACOs. Even The Next Generation dabbled n its later years before the rifle made a strong return for First Contact where two versions were used in the fight against the Borg. Voyager's take on the weapon was somewhat bulky at times before they reverted to the First Contact variant. 

What is noticeable is that the rifle - especially The Next Generation version - echoed the design of its' smaller sidearm version. With Discovery they've opted to return to that concept with a weapon that carries a similar barrel style magnification wheel as well as trigger style. There's also that dial crystal control on the rear grip. Seems they've avoided going for that long, needle-point barrel here, instead choosing something more chunky and functional.

What the pictures echo about this and the phaser is the metallic finish which gives it a harder but yet more solidly crafted feel to it. Again these photos from CBS are a little sketchy but there's a clear forward and rear grip to the rifle plus at the back what appears to be some form of shoulder stock.

Something similar to the First Contact rifle here is the sight/light fitting that is attached to the top. The shape has distinct design traits to the later weapon through this piece but the detail versus any of the weapons of the past 50 years is incredible - just take a look at the drilled out metalwork and then at the main body where there are those vertical slit sections. Now the eagle-eyed will already have noted the homage in the design to that original Kirk phaser rifle - there's even what seems to be an orangey tinge under the skin to hark back to the 60's one-off prop. 

Finally there's another snappy teaser that's dropped which seems to hint at several things. The first appears to be some form of weapon cartridge (above) possibly for the rifle (which does seem to be out of shot) followed by what might be a shot of the new tricorder since there are clearly buttons and a screen on there AND it's definitely bigger than the communicator. Hands up who thinks there's going to be a shoulder strap and a big boxy reboot here?! 

Third is sure to be another shot of the phaser as it's got a slight close up of the Type One locked in place and more detail is displayed on the pistol grip (below). Look and you can see the distinctive side shaping of the palm-sized weapon which then leads the eye down to the pistol shaped Type Two. Seems there's some gold going on there as well as silver and gunmetal. 

These are accompanied by the Starfleet delta shield (seen in the previous ten second teases) before finally there's the gold braid for the uniforms. These seem all a bit random and don't fit together as nicely as the previous four tech ones. I've included some screenshots here but I'm up for suggestions as to what the first few might be and perhaps what you might want to see teased in the near future. Any expectations for Comic-Con for instance?

Again I can't help but be impressed with the overall feel of Discovery. The more I see of the designs the more I am confident that this will be the show of the year and a series that brings Star Trek firmly back to TV. How can we not have faith in a show which has now pulled in Jonathan Frakes to direct an episode?!

What do you think to all the new designs and teases for Discovery?

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First Looks at Discovery Teases

In a week that is locked in major female character/actor reveals (how 'bout that Doctor Who news huh?!), CBS unveiled a first look at a new look Klingon with Battle Commander L'Rell played by Mary Chieffo.

If you thought that the male Klingons looked brutal you're in for a shock because this newest shot of Chieffo alongside Klingon leader T'Kumva (Chris Obi) shows that the female of the species is possibly deadlier than the male. Strong female characters in sci-fi? Look no further than Discovery!!!

I'd say that Chieffo's look has more subtlety and femininity but I'd be lying - it bears all the severe lines of Obi's armour but with styling into some form of dress at the bottom. Colour-wise it is much more neutral yet still echoes the warrior origins of the legendary Star Trek race and I'm convinced there's something very Elizabethan about the style of the clothing - very regal with an element of flamboyance thrown in there. Will it be as practical as the grey armour we're familiar with or are these more ceremonial get-ups perhaps? Spikey.

As for makeup there isn't a great distinction from this angle between the genders nor can I really see if there is any differentiation in the forehead ridges that individualised the Klingons of The Motion Picture and afterwards. Look also to the cathedral style of the Klingon ship on which the pair are framed. Very different to the grim, sparce surroundings of a Bird of Prey!

There was also a new and very generic shot of Burnham and Georgiou out at the same time with some info about how Sonequa Martin-Green's character has been mentored by Michelle Yeoh ahead of getting her first command. Now, given the emphasis on this factor I might push that something happens in the pilot which will delay this from happening - indeed this suitability for a command is stated in the teaser trailer if you recall.  This would then allow for Burnham to end up on the Discovery and naturally the character conflict between herself and Jason Isaacs' Captain Lorca. Was Discovery meant for Burnham? Doesn't this shot look like two pics mashed together into one since those lighting angles look totally off?!

Good to know, according to Alex Kurtzman - a man who cast canon aside for the JJ Abrams movies - that they have been keeping a close eye on canon to ensure that Discovery stays true to the franchise. There has to be some kind of irony in there, I'm certain. 

We are now just TEN weeks away from Discovery. Yes, it's nearly here and with San Diego Comic-Con round the corner, we can expect a slew of info and pics to be coming for the show - there's even a Discovery panel which should help shed the light on a lot of stuff. Just before that though, here are two brand spanking new posters...

While the first of the two shows just a line figure (probably Burnham) spacesuited up, the second has a new reveal of the USS Discovery. Flashback to the original reveal a YEAR ago next week and there's a massive update here. For one, the saucer clearly now has two rings with a distinctive gap between the two not unlike the USS Vengeance from Into Darkness. 

The shape of the Discovery overall seems to have been shaved down and streamlined to another level. Also the warp engines look like they are exactly parallel to the secondary hull plus they seem to have been substantially elongated beyond the rear of the hull. Very big changes here but they still retain the overall impression of the Planet of the Titans design originally dreamt up in the late 1970's.

Did I also fail to mention a couple of new videos to tease the show? No! One shows the new brushed metal Starfleet delta emblem in close up (see top pic) while a second gives us a quick ten second spin around the brand new communicator which includes a rather cool little display instead of a grille speaker (below) but the golden flip lid is still there as is the basic shape of the instantly recognisable classic Star Trek device. Check these out via the official @startrekcbs Twitter feed.

So that's it with the prospect of so much more this week at Comic-Con...we're in for some big stuff I think!

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Three Repaints for Wave 30

For those of us that missed them, this month's Wave 30 releases are a chance at a catch up.

Not one, not two, but three repaints fill out the quota and give us a Federation, Klingon and Romulan entry.

Let's start off for once with the Romulan IRW Valdore. The Class ship of the upgraded Warbird seen in Nemesis, this wife-spanned hunter is one of two released for the game and easily has the best finish. The other, the IRW Vrax from Wave 17, featured a lovely luminescent and translucent green finish making it appear as though cloaking. With the Valdore we can actually see the finishing surface detail from nose to stern without squinting. 

These repaints have been a real win in my opinion. The end result feels cleaner and less rushed and the bonus is the chance to grab one of the earlier ships that are now so hard to find (Excelsior being a prime example). For a ship of this scale the line work on the body of the Valdore is exceptional. The paint is cleanly applied and although it is one solid shade of green it's not overloaded to the point where definition is lost. 

So to the pack and the Valdore is the most powerful basic ship of the wave, coming in at a steady 30 points cost. For that you're getting one hell of a ship; four attack, two defence, six hull and rounded off with three shield points. There are the standard Action options of Evade and Target Lock plus the useful Cloak and Sensor Echo which have helped many a Romulan and Klingon ship dodge a nasty attack. The Valdore also provides players with two slots for Crew and two slots for Weapon upgrades to add to the devastation that the ship can offer up.

The unique action this time around comes into play alongside the Valdore's manoeuvre dial as when you play a green speed you get to add an additional attack die for that round. That will increase you up to five when in the combat zone and definitely give you an advantage. 

Movement is good but there's no reverse options with this one so you'll be ploughing into the action hoping to come out alive the other side. There are a full range of moves at speeds two and three although at speed three the 90 degree turns left and right are red. There's the chance to use the Come About as well plus the Valdore can step up to a forward speed of four if necessary. Not one of the fastest craft in the park so you'll be relying heavily on your firepower options and that six hull score to save your ass.

Over on the generic Valdore Class you lose the unique action plus a shield and a Weapon slot for a mere two point reduction in cost to 28. 

Captaining the Valdore is Donatra as occurred in Nemesis. It's a strong card even with the average skill of six and a cost of four points. Donatra carries the slot for an Elite Action but also allows all friendly ships within range one to gain an additional attack die. Now, imagine sticking Donatra on another Romulan ship and then coupling her in with the Valdore's unique action and that ship could technically end up using six attack dice each round it's in range of this captain.

If Donatra doesn't float your boat then there's The Next Generation's Tomalok. A captain skill of three and a cost of two will make him the more price-friendly option plus he gives you a distinct advantage when attacking from distance as your opponent can't roll an extra die when you're phasering them from range three. No limits on this one so it's repeat-use happy all the way to the bank.

The lone Elite Action of All Forward Disruptor Banks offers multiple use with a disable feature to limit just how much it can be effected. Adding one more die to your attack it can only be directed forward but linked in with some of the ranging options already discussed and you're looking at upwards of a six dice attack that can be repeatedly used in some cases and at distance. Four points is nothing for something that is as potentially powerful as this card alongside the other Valdore improvements.

If the cards so far aren't enough to have you considering the Valdore for your fleet there are two Weapon choices to boost your ship. Both cost five points and use five attack dice but are effective over different ranges. Plasma Torpedoes cost you a Target Lock as well and are disabled to allow you to re-roll any blank results at ranges one and two. Photon Torpedoes is more long range at two and three again with the disable and Target Lock constraints (one of the features of waves pre-16). In this case you can convert a Battle Stations result into a Critical Damage. One to use when those shields are down and you can make harder damage count.

Final card in the pack is Tactical Officer with a cost of three points as your Crew upgrade. When removing a Target Lock to re-roll attack dice, you gain an extra re-roll once per die. That's one to add into the mix of additional attack dice with the Valdore's unique action plus All Forward Disruptors with Tomalok stopping any additional defence at long range.

Destroy the Scimitar is the mission offered up here. As with the Vrax and the Scimitar it's a scenario from Nemesis and played as a three-person co-operative. I reckon you could easily turn this into a one-player game as the Scimitar token has a set movement style set out by the scenario. The end result is a simple one and I'm looking forward to tackling it (but might use my Scimitar instead of the token).

Second is the IKS Koraga. I must have a fleet of Birds of Prey now because there seem to have been that many - and D-7/K't'inga Class ships as well! 

This one is a redo from Wave Two and was the ship Worf was commanding - and lost - before the events of Deep Space Nine's Penumbra. Yep, we never actually saw this one on screen but what the hell here it is for Attack Wing.  

The Bird of Prey paint scheme has gone through a fair few variations since I got my first one. That was Chang's from The Undiscovered Country and in these later waves there has been more precision in paint application and more daring intricate detail particularly around the rear of the scout-size starships (this is actually supposed to be the larger K'Vort Class rather than B'rel). Truth be told, the Birds of Prey have long been one of the better paints and repaints in the series as well as some of the sturdier miniatures. Never a bad thing to have more and it does mean I can recreate the final battle from The Way of the Warrior with a decent size Klingon fleet!

The Koraga offers no surprises when it comes to stats with a four attack, one defence, five hull and three shield point combination (26 points total cost). As with the Valdore we also have the standard Evade, Target Lock, Cloak and Sensor Echo on the card plus two Crew slots and one for Tech and Weapons each.  Each time you defend with the Koraga while closed you gain an additional defence die - not sure how much of an advantage this is since a Bird of Prey will typically defend with five dice cloaked as it is.

Movement is identical in every way to the Valdore including the 180 turn at speed three so I'll refer you up for more details on that. As for the generic Bird of Prey, we lose a shield, a Crew slot and the Unique Action for a cost of 24 points.

With a skill of five, Worf is the strongest captain option here costing three points. He does allow you to re-roll all blank results when attacking however I think you would pick other Klngon captains ahead of this one. His brother, Kurn, is captain option number two with a skill of three and a cost of two. He provides an additional attack die as an Action but will mean you get landed with an Auxiliary Power Token. Maybe useful as a final strike or to get out of a sticky situation.

Advanced Weapon System (five points) is one of two Tech upgrades here and can be disabled to keep your Cloak token from flipping before rolling any dice. It's firing while cloaked if you hadn't realised! Second to that is the four-point-costing EM Pulse. Another disable rather than discard, the ship being targetted rolls one less attack and defence die for the round which will open it up to a lot of attacks if you've got yourself in the right place. I'd say especially useful against capital ships and the Borg!

With Crew you have N'Garen costing four points who can make significant changes to your attack roll, converting one Battle Stations to a Critical Damage and all of the others to normal Damage. That's got to be one to open up a lot of chances and isn't restricted to a discard or a disable which means it's an Action you can play as many times as you want. Nice card and not one I hear a lot about. Definitely one that is worth taking more time to understand effective uses. Also, what's the crack with this one if you have dice to re-roll?

Making the Koraga a family affair we have Alexander for three points. When at least damaged by one point, you can place a Battle Stations token onto the Alexander card and then during the Activation Phase you can move one of those tokens to beside your ship. It's a twist on the Free Action move but offers little option to combo with anything else from this ship.

Last up is the standard Photon Torpedoes card costing the usual five points and usable at ranges two and three. As it's from an older wave this does offer the Target Lock disabling caveat rather than Time Tokens.

With the Koraga you can Patrol the Badlands in a two player scenario which pits the Bird of Prey against the Dominion with the additional hazard of plasma storms. The core of the mission is for the Klingon ship to make it to the Dominion player starting area while navigating the Badlands and inform Command. The Dominion player need only eliminate the Bird of Prey but the plasma storms cannot be fired through...

With the number of storms in the playing field this is one of the trickiest scenarios I've seen for Attack Wing and one with the most obstacles in a two player format. Certainly one that'll make you think!

Finally we have a true classic and the only Miranda Class ship to be released as part of the retail expansions for Attack Wing; USS Reliant. 

No collection is complete without this one and now it bears the slightly pimped up silver paint job that all the later Federation Starships have to carry. Admittedly it's the cards in this one that really drew me to it rather than the horribly under-powered Reliant but the model is still worth a look over. 

Mine did come with bent nacelles but that just means it'll look perfect alongside my movie Enterprise refit (a repaint of this is due in Wave 31) in the Mutara Nebula which also has crooked warp engines - but that was the least of its worries in the movie.

The hull detail is nice and clean with distinct panel edges and for the size it's a decent enough replica. Sadly the 20 point Reliant is a bit of a weakling on the cards!

With just two for attack, two for defence, three hull and three shields, the USS Reliant is not going to be heading up anyone's taskforce. More of a support craft, the science vessel offers the Federation standards of Evade, Target Lock, Scan and Battle Stations alongside two Crew and a single Weapon slot. What she loses at distance however is made up for at close range with range one attacks gaining an additional attack die. Remember at close range you gain one die anyway so this means the Reliant effectively DOUBLES its attack power at close quarters.

As a class ship, that Action goes out of the window and you're left with a bit of a dud, reducing shields to two points, removing one of the Crew slots and costing 18 points. I seriously wouldn't bother. What it does have going is a good, full set of moves at ranges two and three which don't incur Auxiliary Power Token penalties making it one of the better ships to manoeuvre without it costing you the ability to perform an Action. She also has the option of a single speed reverse move but that will incur the token penalty. Still, for the chance to zip around unhindered it might appeal to some.

In keeping with The Wrath of Khan, the ship comes with both Federation and Independent faction cards. That's most evident in the captain cards where you get a pick from Khan Singh and Terrell.

Independent Khan is a strong candidate for the command chair here, allowing you to pick whatever upgrades you want from any faction without incurring a penalty. It's a massive, ridiculous win that opens just about every door whatever ship you stick him on. Add to that Khan will convert Battle Station results into Critical Damage if you spend a Battle Stations token during the round. Again there's no penalty or clause here making him one of the most high-powered captains in the game. Even with a cost of five points and a skill of eight it's well worth the price.

Captain Skill of two, Clark Terrell is the Starfleet captain of the Reliant before Khan gets his hands on the ship. Costing a single point, Terrell provides support to friendly ships at range one, offering them an additional defence die. The ship is all about these close quarter moves with all the advantages seeming to come at the closest distance. 

To the Crew and we have three point Pavel Chekov oddly pictured from The Final Frontier rather than The Wrath of Khan but anyway, he can remove Auxiliary Power Tokens after performing white manoeuvres rather than green which will stop your movements and Actions from being limited each round. Fairly cheap and very useful to keep your craft in the thick of the action and able to act.

Costing one point less (two) is Kyle. Formerly of the Starship Enterprise, he's worked up to Comms on the Reliant and can reinforce your ship by providing an Action that repairs a shield token but will reduce your attack dice by two for the round. Kyle is perhaps better suited to a ship with more than two dice for attack as with Reliant but if you are in close quarters it would mean you could still roll one die while fixing your defences.

While those are your two new Federation Crew candidates, Khan gets his own backup with Joachim for four points. He's a rather meaty upgrade to have on the Independent fleet as he doubles the amount of Damage Cards (two) which are drawn and you, the Independent player, get to choose which one is inflicted. No restrictions here so you could cause a lot of damage and really cripple an opponent for that final hit.

Follower of Khan is a budget card with a cost of just one point. A rare discard from this wave of ships, all remaining shields have to be disabled and a ship at range one/two can be targeteed as long as its not cloaked or has active shields. You can then remove a Crew upgrade from that ship. To be honest that's a lot of effort for a low cost card with not a lot to gain. If you're looking to fill a niggling gap on the cost then it's a good call but otherwise I'd head elsewhere - too many things to tick and remember before it becomes useful and at that point it may be too late to use anyway.

Both of the Elite Actions for the Reliant pack are Independent with I Stab At Thee... being the less expensive. Again a close range winner, it allows a destroyed ship to act out a last gasp of revenge, roll three attack dice and inflict the damage on all ships at range one. Oh - and there's no defence to be rolled against this one so it might be your last. For five points you can take Superior Intellect (but do you think in three dimensions...?) which is a discard option. You can target a ship at ranges one or two that is not cloaked or shielded and can steal one of that vessel's face up upgrades even if it takes you over your points quota.

That's a handy little addition that will up your own abilities at the cost of others and you could grab something very useful and powerful since there's again, no restriction on what you can have. Last up is the Photon Torpedoes card again with the original Target Lock and disable rules. Only a four dice attack here for three points and ranges two to three.

As you would hope and expect, Reliant comes with The Mutara Nebula. NCC-1864 has to be captained by an Independent (hmmm wonder who...) versus a Federation player with 40 points to either side. However, there are no shields in operation within the nebula, Scan and Cloak are useless and only a ship at range one can be Target Locked. All ships can perform Sensor Echo and gain two extra defence dice. No attacks can be made at ranges two or three which means that a lot of the Reliant's close quarters cards will be super-effective.

For a lot of veteran players, Wave 30 will be a waste of time since there's nothing fundamentally new here. For those of us that joined late it's another chance to get some of the killer packs. The Koraga isn't that interesting and is one of those packs that fades in the memory since there are other more prominent Klingon sets worth getting. The Valdore and the Reliant however are just awesome expansions and I can see why these have been re-released. There are some strong cards in here which will open up the game to those of us who didn't grab those important early waves and some of the more powerful ships and upgrades. Valdore is a cracking Romulan ship with some serious firepower while Reliant is almost a polar opposite, requiring clever tactics and quick thinking close up to be at its best.

Wave 31 will follow the same trend as 30 with three repaints - the Cardassian Hideki Class fighters, the movie USS Enterprise refit and the Jem'Hadar 5th Wing Patrol Ship filling its slots. Looks like there won't be anything new for a while then...

Good additions for new players or a waste of a wave? What's your pick from Wave 30?

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The Same As It Was Then?

Back in December 2015 when I reached 400 posts and celebrated three years of writing this site, I wasn't sure where 2016 would be going. Now we've just shy of 600 I have to wonder what I was worried about!

At that time in December I wondered if I'd I said everything I wanted to say about Star Trek. No; not even a glimmer to be fair and I can't wait for all the stuff we're going to get to talk about in the remainder of this year!

Y'see with all this Nu-Trek and the prospects of a substantial amount more in the next 18 months, I wondered if Star Trek has the same impact now as it did during the days when it aired its original 79 episodes? Is it as cutting edge in discussions of race, politics and sexuality (for example) as it was then? Maybe even more concerning, will that voice be evident in the new episodes?

The Original Series certainly packed a punch when it came to the topics of the day. Legendarily Plato's Stepchildren showed that (first) inter-racial kiss, Miri dealt with the tender subject of puberty and to add a third (and I could pick a load more), A Private Little War dared to speak about the terrible cost of conflict just as the US were making a rocky stance in Vietnam. As these show, while there was humour, action and Vulcans, Star Trek never stepped away from the things that mattered to the people at that time and influenced popular culture; Roddenberry wanted to give a social commentary to his series and make it relevant and definitely made it uneasy for the network to stomach.

In fact in repeat it might not be directly addressing issues of the day but it still carries a lot of weight in the subjects the show chose to discuss and represents the viewpoint, a time capsule if you will, of a generation's thoughts on the events that were shaping the world around them as it truly stepped out of the shadow of the Second World War and looked boldly to the future. It wanted to make a statement, Roddenberry wanted to make a statement and nark off the network but he wanted to be the voice of the people through this little sci-fi show that valiantly fought for its life for three tough years.

My opinion of the show's "edginess" does change when it comes to the series of the '80's and '90's. Perhaps a more conservative era, the Powers That Be continued to use the show to talk about different matters but never took it to the extreme grounds that The Original Series dared to wander. In the UK Miri, Plato's Stepchildren and The Empath were all cut from the original run because of their content while The Next Generation had The High Ground skipped from the first run on BBC2 due to a single line referencing Irish reunification in 2026. None of the later shows (Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise) after that suffered episodic removals which either demonstrates a "play it safe" attitude or something else entirely. Look at The Next Generation's first two seasons and you can see that the remnants of The Original Series are still there. Episodes such as Justice might look a bit shlocky but they ultimately had a moral theme at their core. The Voice was still there as the show pitched more on that "anthology" style than looking at the individual people. It looked more at the situation than at the participants. They were merely there perhaps to push events forward. Those early The Next Generation seasons are the closest that latter-day Trek has ever come to embodying the Roddenberry vision through their narratives and scope.

For me the Piller/Berman/Taylor/Braga years that followed those two seasons seemed to play a more audience-friendly game but it might in turn be because we're a more open and accepting society than we were in the 1960's. Roddenberry's old guard were gradually removed and the emphasis turned from situational dangers to a true exploration of the human condition on a more personal level and potentially nodded to a more dysfunctional family environment even though the ship was designed to promote just that factor. Interestingly though does that actually mean it was smoothed out?

Issues that shocked in the 1960's were more freely talked about and the explosion of media certainly means that avoiding touchy subjects has become almost impossible unless you choose to live under a very, very large rock on a very remote island. The crew of the USS Enterprise-D explored issues of gender (The Outcast and to some extent The Host), threats of terrorism, addiction and loss (among a lot of others) but came across as a show which was much more interested in the character and the human psyche than making a fanfare on current global issues. Heck, the doctor was a single mother, the first officer and counsellor were ex-lovers and there was a Klingon (raised by humans) on the bridge firing the weapons. Uhura's appearance as an officer in The Original Series might have raised a few eyebrows in a more close-minded era but no-one really batted an eyelash at any of those from Encounter at Farpoint.

Now that doesn't mean that it too is outdated but its narratives and deeper themes are certainly ones which continue to be very relevant with viewers because it chose to look inwardly more than at a snapshot of events across our blue and green sphere. The Original Series may have those deeper levels too but the shock value and the pressure points they were tapping for inspiration have long since depreciated and the pioneering attitude of Gene Roddenberry hasn't cast a shadow across the franchise in anger since well before his death in 1991.

The same feeling that exists for me around the power of The Next Generation passes into Deep Space Nine and Voyager too. The former did dare to be different and engage openly in religious debate as well as multiple conflicts between its own crew as well as a range of alien races there were only perhaps fleeting glimpses of those more cutting stories that really drilled into deeper material. Certainly Deep Space Nine's Far Beyond the Stars and In the Pale Moonlight nailed home the matters of racial equality and morality between them and off the top of my head Voyager's Counterpoint stands out as a superb exploration of subjugation not too dissimilar to the Nazi "solution" in the Second World War. 

However, you have to consider that the introduction of a catsuit-clad Borg, the arrival of Worf, the Dominion War...were to secure ratings and ensure the longevity of the shows and in today's market that has become more important than addressing the issues. The '60's series was in that same battle for ratings supremacy but Roddenberry chose to battle the network and go for that edge which his counterparts in the '90's perhaps didn't want to risk.

In fact I think Voyager repeated that examination of social division on a number of occasions including Critical Care and Natural Law, both from it's final season. Certainly for a larger proportion of Voyager's time in the Delta Quadrant the emphasis was firmly on the action and adventure aspects of the show rather than deeper personal explorations which were only really tackled through the arrival of Seven of Nine to dive into the "human element" that Star Trek hungrily poked in every generation.

Maybe a critical point on the Star Trek series is that while they do all deal with different issues and relate those specifically to characters within the cast, that perceptive eye has become a little more closed over the years to accommodate the changing audience. While in the 1960's it may have been possible to avoid news by switching on your favourite sci-fi or comedy show, Star Trek managed to bring those issues right back to the doorstep but now that's just not the case because of the "smaller" nature of the world in which we live. 

Avoiding news is near impossible either through a 24 hour news channel, Twitter, Facebook, the papers, just about everywhere you look. The classic series offered escapism but tinged it with relevance while the later shows have maybe tended to look at much more personal points and on a smaller scale, bumping more time towards graphics, space battles and the like which are bigger draws in a more technological age.

Looking to Star Trek Beyond and Discovery, there are a lot of challenges when it comes to storytelling. Beyond was already on the back-foot and while Into Darkness attempted to look at the issues around global terrorism in a post-9/11 world behind the veil of the Khan story it still pushed more for the action/adventure line than the social commentary. Beyond did include a gay character but many saw the inclusion of Sulu's partner and daughter as a bit shoehorned rather than a tip of the hat to George Takei. A mis-step perhaps but one that has attempted to take the franchise in the right direction.

For over 50 years Star Trek has bent the line around the subject and needs to tackle it head on and with dignity; something that Rejoined definitely didn't. The problem is that this won't make it edgy because every series under the sun has a homosexual character in the cast and its part and parcel of today's world so there will need to be a big jump forward to create must-see and must talk about TV.

Discovery meanwhile has hit this challenge head on it seems. They have a gay actor playing a gay character in the form of Anthony Rapp as Lieutenant Stamets right from day one - establishing a new person in the universe with his own backstory and ability to cement a believable character in the Star Trek universe. Certainly another thing that will make Discovery unique within the franchise is the choice to remove the Roddenberry ruling that there cannot be conflict between the characters. This is something that has stifled writers for decades and was a factor in the way that Ronald D Moore developed Battlestar Galactica. This is a huge leap away from the original concept of the show in that humanity has moved past such trivialities but the production team behind Discovery have come to realise that the realism level that exists on TV now is far removed from the way in which Enterprise was written back in 2001. Things have moved on and I think this paragraph has certainly backed that up. 

Discovery may well be more on the nose than any previous Star Trek series if this is the case. Imagine that it will be able to more directly tackle conflict and issues between its main characters rather than having to rely on bringing in guest stars and alien races to create that friction. Whether Discovery will be able to make any comments on current US politics or world issues specifically (ISIS, financial meltdown...Trump?!) I don't know. I suspect that with the way in which the season has been planned it will focus more on a specific storyline that, I would surmise, is more directed at the Klingon Empire. That doesn't in any way mean that there won't be parallels to our current worldly events but Discovery does have to take a firm hold of its place in a very different media world to that of 1987, 1993, 1995 or 2001 even. There is a slightly more "spoon-fed" nature to TV and movies because of the way we consume media around us. I hope that Discovery doesn't "dumb" itself down too much or sink into its own darkness.

What would it need to tackle otherwise to remain relevant, cutting edge and that show that everyone is talking about the day after - and not just because one of the cast got their head blasted open with a chainsaw. The threats of global terrorism and cyber terrorism would be straight to the top of the list. The perspective of a future Star Trek series has to embrace that 21st Century skepticism and uneasiness. But if not for war and terror, what else would it need to speak about? The family unit is much more open than it was in the 60's, we're facing a period of tighter financial controls and distrust for the political system. These are topics that a Star Trek show should relish and would retain the mark of its forebears well into the next decade.

But let's drop back again to the original show. Maybe now it has become so revered for what it produced afterwards that it's relevance is not in the topics it chose but in the nature of the televisual animal that existed in the 1960's. Today dying TV programmes end up as a DVD box set or traded out to one of those channels deep down in your cable or digital numbers. Some of those may even get a bigger audience (notably Babylon 5 did very well on DVD, even better than first run on TV I understand) and some may fizzle away to nothing (Space Above and Beyond - tragic) but with a smaller number of channels and a very much smaller range of media offerings in any form it was a lot harder to escape Star Trek than it would be today. It still exists, it will be reborn but how it will be spun is as yet a mystery. 

Star Trek of 1966 to 1969 now more than anything offers an opinion of the future and a mindset of a decade where the world was finally shrugging off the events of the Second World War and hit very personal and resonating issues head on. Today we're harder to shock, freedom of speech is very free indeed and a new Star Trek series will need to find its own niche in a TV world becoming dominated by superheroes and reality shows - definitely a million light years away from the landscape of the late 80's and 90's. Maybe the show needs to get back to those more personal issues. It doesn't need to be gory, sensationalist but it does need to talk to its demographic about things that matter and be less escapist than, say Legends of Tomorrow.

I look forward to seeing how the new series will comment on this generation and the world as it is and how will be regarded in 10, 20 or even another half century - will it stand the test of time and will it have made an impact? Three months and counting...

Do Star Trek's messages of The Original Series talk to you? Which episodes still have the most resonance in 2017?

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