This week, we’re Trekking Out the creative process of “Star Trek: Discovery”’s behind-the-scenes stars. Then, we hear from plain, simple Andrew Robinson, and William Shatner has some thoughts about returning to the Captain’s chair
In our Star Trek Online and gaming news, there’s some major changes coming to special events in the game, and Star Trek Timelines is launching a new mega event.
Of course, as always, before we wrap up the show, we’ll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages!
This Weeks COMMUNITY QUESTIONS are:
Do you think Star Trek: Deep Space Nine went further than other Star Trek series in dealing with “Hot Button” issues?
AND
What do you think about the changes to special events and future Featured TFO?
Let us know on social media like Facebook, Twitter, or by visiting our website!
by Jake Morgan
With ‘Nomination Round Emmy Voting’ set to begin on June 9th, Star Trek: Discovery is doing one final push for the board’s consideration – and they aren’t just showcasing the talent in front of the camera. The promotion team has rolled out Visual Effects video breakdowns, tweets featuring up-close photos of props – and of course, interviews.
This week, Star Trek: Discovery Lead Costume Designer, Gersha Phillips, sat down with Variety and Forbes to discuss her contributions to the show. When asked about introducing the familiar 23rd century Starfleet uniform, Phillips told Variety //QUOTE//Right away when I knew we were going to do it, I thought the best thing to do was to use our style or cut of what we were doing for “Discovery” and then just re-interpret it in the Enterprise colors. Luckily for us, when we were prepping Season 1, we were playing with the gold and also I believe the red or the blue. […] then it was just a matter of figuring out how to do our compression panels, whether to do them on a different color. Then how to bring it down into the pants, whether to stay with the plain pants, what boots they should wear, how to show the rank on the boots, or if we needed to. All of those things we had to take into consideration.//END QUOTE//
And finally, Forbes prodded about what was upcoming in Season 3 //QUOTE//I would be shot if I told anything. Obviously, everybody knows what happened at the end [of Season 2], so we are gonna be somewhere not in our time where we are now. That’s something that we know. I think that’s all I can say, really. It’s gonna be interesting and different.//END QUOTE//
Gersha Phillips wasn’t the only behind-the-scenes talent to discuss their craft. Star Trek Discovery Composer Jeff Russo talked with Deadline about his approach to – and love of – composing.
On his approach to composing, Russo told Deadline //QUOTE//At the beginning of any project, I like to read a script and then start sketching out thematic ideas. Music for either the entire show or the entire movie. Music for a specific character. Music just to sort of get me into feeling what I think the project is about//END QUOTE//
Russo also said he didn’t like to be //QUOTE//totally on the nose with something//END QUOTE//. Expanding on that thought //QUOTE//I do like to let the story tell itself. I never want to be ahead of the story, or leading. To me, the stakes are always told by what’s on screen. I don’t like to tell an audience member how high the stakes actually are. Because if you’re not getting it on screen, then we’re faking it.//END QUOTE//
On Star Trek in particular, Russo said //QUOTE//There’s a lot of action in Star Trek, and we don’t like to play all the action all the time. Like – why would that be interesting? It’s like, there’s a lot of action, so let’s play a lot of action music. We don’t have to do that. There’s an emotional content in anything that’s going on action wise and what are people actually feeling. If somebody were actually in a fight scene, they’d be scared probably – so maybe you want to play the fear of it. Or they think they’re going to die, so maybe you want to play the tension or the mystery of that, as opposed to just big drums playing along with all the pace that’s going on.//END QUOTE//
Deep Space Nine’s behind-the-scenes documentary “What We Left Behind” – due out on DVD and Blu Ray on August 6th in North America – has catapulted the series back into the public spotlight. This week, Andrew Robinson, the actor who portrayed plain, simple Garak, sat down with Star Trek Magazine to discuss the franchises third installment.
Robinson discussed Garak’s ambiguity, saying //QUOTE//I think […] that whatever the character said is not what he meant. [M]uch of the truth of Garak was like a glacier: you saw only the tip of the glacier, but then, underneath the tip, was the very complicated truth of his life. So, playing that subtext, living with that subtext, presenting that subtext behind a mask of affability, of friendliness, of congeniality, I think that was both the challenge and the pleasure of the character.//END QUOTE//
In discussing the difference of Deep Space Nine, Robinson talked about it’s nuance before saying //QUOTE//There was another episode where Captain Sisko comes to Garak for help with the Romulans and basically it exposes the American innocence, that we want to do these things in the world, but we’re not really willing to take the consequences of our actions. [It shows us that] sometimes we have to do very dirty things, and we have to hurt people, and we pretend that that doesn’t exist, that Americans would never do that. We dealt with issues like that and I don’t think the other shows really went as far as we did.//END QUOTE//
Much like the franchise he helped to create, William Shatner has not let time slow him down. The 88 year-old Canadian-born actor has had an interesting relationship with Star Trek, and if he gets his way, that relationship may not be over.
Sitting down with Komo Newsradio’s Charlie Harger, Shatner discussed his health, co-star Walter Koenig’s “Raw Nerve” appearance, his music, and his interest in returning to Star Trek.
Harger asked Shatner If he would ever consider returning to the role of Captain Kirk, to which he replied //QUOTE//I certainly would. You know? A well written thing? I certainly would. Absolutely.//END QUOTE//
by Anthony Cox
In an effort to streamline events, Cryptic is unifying it’s special events and Featured TFOs in Star Trek Online. Events like Crystalline Cataclysm, Into the Breach, First Contact Day, Kobyashi Maru, Mirror Invasion, and Sompek Arena will eventually be folded into the Featured TFO schedule and will presumably grant TFO commendations instead of their specific event currency. If you had any of those currencies in your inventory before this week’s game update, you may have noticed they’re now gone. However, if you had any event reputation projects queued up, they should fully compete and grant you the rewards. Regardless of the amount of progress you made in them. This change will not affect the anniversary event projects. As for the items from the weekend event store or other special event rewards, those will eventually be obtainable from the Phoenix Prize pack. So be sure to start praying to the RNGesus.
And with no time wasted, the Crystalline Cataclysm is back as the current featured TFO. Along with the T6 ship coupons. Completing the event daily 14 times will earn you the Black Ops Mine Launcher. Which has the ability to launch both black out mines and blade mines. A great addition to any Section 31 agent’s arsenal. The event has already begun on PC and will last for three weeks. Console captains will be able to take on the Crystalline Entity later this year. And don’t forget to keep an eye out for a bonus coupon weekend. Those have a tendency to pop up without much warning.
With last year’s Crystalline Cataclysm running as the current Featured TFO, we wanted to throw out a few tips for any players that may not be familiar with it. The TFO itself can run pretty quickly if everyone remembers these three things. Number One: Ignore the Tholian ships in the area. You’re there to take down the Crystalline Entity. So just focus fire on that. Number Two: Do pay attention to the large Crystalline shards flying around. If they catch you they can dish out some hefty damage. Number Three: When the Crystalline Entity gets to 66% and 33% health it will start an absorption period of about 30 seconds where it will be immune to all damage, followed by an energy discharge. As soon as your bridge officer tells you that it’s absorbing energy, stop firing. If you continue you’ll only be charging up its energy discharge attack. There will be a red circle around the Entity indicating the blast radius. Around 10km. Try to get beyond that when the blast happens. Unless you’re a cruiser, or a sturdy science ship, you probably won’t survive the attack. Once the discharge is finished, go back at it. Bonus tip: Kinetic damage is better against this situation. All damage is good damage, but if you have an extra torpedo lying around, or a kinetic cutting beam that’s not busy, throw it on for good measure.
This weekend Star Trek Timelines is launching its players’ choice month-long mega event. The “Month of Hell” will combine a Faction Event, this weekend, a Skirmish Event starting June 13th, a Galaxy Event the weekend of June 20th, and ending with a Hybrid Faction/Galaxy Event on June 27th. This Mega event also coincides with the launch of the WIndows App for Star Trek Timelines. You can already play Timelines on Android, IOS, Steam, and Facebook.
Elio is a Northern New Jersey Cuban-American and graduate of Kean University, having earned his Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance in 2011. He has performed in internationally renowned performance halls such as Avery Fisher Hall with the New York Philharmonic, as a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and in Beijing, China as a representative for Kean University. Since 2012, he has had the wonderful opportunity to Executive Produce Priority One – the premiere Star Trek Online podcast. Whether recruiting, managing the global team of talented volunteers, arranging interviews with special guests, editing, web-development, finding sponsors, managing crowd funding, or writing content for the podcast, Elio has a hand in it all. A long-time Trekkie, Elio has been watching the series since he was a child and sneaking in late night, back-to-back, episodes of TNG reruns. He finally embraced the Trekdom in college and spent many hours catching up on the entire multiverse…. instead of studying.
This week, we’re Trekking Out “Star Trek: Picard”’s First Official Teaser Trailer! Then we’re trekulating about Picard’s filming schedule, what Marina Sirtis knows about her former Captain’s series, and the […]
JusenkyoGuide on 2019-06-13
Do you think Star Trek: Deep Space Nine went further than other Star Trek series in dealing with “Hot Button” issues?
No, to borrow from your sister podcast, the show with the most bonk-bonk on the head/ you see Timmy moments was TOS. It’s just, 50 years later, we forget just how much of a stand TOS took on some very hot button issues at the time from racial issues to the Vietnam War. That said, DS9 took on issues that are still resonating with us now, today. If it seems the most relevant Trek right now, it’s because its issues have come around again.
seannewboy on 2019-06-12
wonderful show everyone.
DS9 had a lot more leeway due to the number of non federation members in the cast, they were able to do a lot of stories that GRR would not have approved of.
Well other than losing all my shards, it was not too bad.
Tyler Maxwell on 2019-06-09
Do you think Star Trek: Deep Space Nine went further than other Star Trek series in dealing with “Hot Button” issues?
Certainly DS9 has more notable moments and characters that challenge or provide a different viewpoint on the usually vaunted ‘Federation ideals’, as well as parallel aspects of our own society. The existence of Section 31 for example (the shadow cabal, not the ‘secret black ops program where everyone wears not-so-secret black badges’) questions what it “really takes” to protect a free and just society. And outsider characters like Quark, Odo, Kira, and Garak provide an interesting contrast to the other characters who are all in on the ‘Federation dream’. But I think that each of the shows had at least a few moments where they shine a light on some issues in our society that deserve attention: Next Gen had an episode that dealt with drug addiction, Voyager had one with prisons inmates, Enterprise very plainly addressed racial prejudice and even internment camps in our own history, etc.
What do you think about the changes to special events and future Featured TFOs?
So, instead of grinding 14 days for a stack of Crystalline Shards, Mirror Transporters, or whatever themed-thingamajigs depending on the TFO event, I now grind 14 days for a stack of general token-thingys for every TFO event? Sounds like business as usual to me. :p Nice for the folks who got their partial projects auto-completed though.
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