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Everything Star Trek Fans Will Love About Star Trek: Discovery

The legacy of Trek lives on through the new CBS All Access original series.
Posted on Sep 21, 2017 | 02:00pm
The wait is almost over. Star Trek: Discovery, the first Trek series in over a decade, is charting a course to CBS All Access for an explosive premiere on Sunday, Sept. 24.

STREAM: Full Episodes Of Star Trek: Discovery On CBS All Access

The brand-new series is a perfect jumping-on point for newcomers, and diehard Star Trek fans will also find a ton to look forward to in Star Trek: Discovery, including through lines to other Trek series, plenty of Easter eggs, returning characters, guest appearances, and more.

Before the series premiere, find out what longtime followers of the franchise will love about the next chapter in the Star Trek universe...



New life and new civilizations...
Set 10 years before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Star Trek: Discovery has much to explore—and even more to challenge seasoned viewers.

The story follows First Officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), a human who was raised on Vulcan, and later inducted into Starfleet. Now, caught in the middle of a new conflict between the Federation and Klingon Empire, she must come to terms with her own upbringing and place in the universe while dealing with the matter at hand.

Of course, Star Trek wouldn't be Star Trek without introducing new life and new civilizations—and Discovery definitely has that on phaser lock. Already, we've learned a bit about Doug Jones' character Lieutenant Saru, who is part of a brand new Star Trek alien species called Kelpiens. As Saru himself describes them, "My people were biologically determined for one purpose alone: to sense the coming of death."

With the promise of new characters, new ships, and new adventures, the possibilities for Star Trek: Discovery are endless. Space is incredibly vast, after all, and filled with untold mysteries.



Familiar frontier
While Star Trek: Discovery boldly goes where no past Star Trek has gone before, it's certainly not without its mainstays; the new series captures the same spirit and bright outlook on the future that has continued to inspire fans for more than 50 years.

This includes Star Trek's continuing mission to spread a message of peace, tolerance, and compassion for all living things. From the beginning, the franchise has been on the forefront of representation, and Star Trek: Discovery is no different. Featuring a woman of color in the lead role and the first gay couple in Star Trek TV history, the new show fully embraces and expands on its predecessors' ideology of progress and harmony.



Stunning props and costumes
With a title as big as Star Trek, it's no wonder the production went all out on the new props and costumes for Star Trek: Discovery.

From Starfleet badges to Vulcan ears, no detail has been spared when it comes to recreating and modifying the designs of these iconic weapons, devices, and clothing.

The Klingon helmets, for example, are incredibly baroque—especially when contrasted with the streamlined Starfleet uniforms, which hearken back to the simple yellow, blue, and red outfits from Kirk's time.

Meanwhile, objects like the Klingon bat'leth and Federation phasers have been updated with a more modern aesthetic, while still retaining the classic lines of the original props.



Prime real estate
As veteran Trek fans well know, the universe is made up of a number of different parallel universes: the Prime universe—or the original timeline of events as seen on TV, the Kelvin universe, first introduced in the 2009 Star Trek movie, and others.

But as Executive Producer Akiva Goldsman confirmed at the TCAs this year, Star Trek: Discovery will indeed take place in the Prime universe, and added that it will include "components that Trek fans are familiar with," while also making its own mark.

In other words, fans can definitely look forward to seeing connective tissue between the new series and old series. Speaking of which...



Legacy characters
While the vast majority of Star Trek: Discovery characters are new, the show will also include some familiar faces—like Sarek, the Vulcan father of Spock. Played here by James Frain, the logic-minded ambassador was recently revealed to be Burnham's adoptive father, which makes Burnham and Spock adoptive siblings!

Additionally, Rainn Wilson will appear as Harry Mudd, the charismatic conman and intergalactic criminal played by Roger C. Carmel in the original series.

Of course, with Discovery taking place between the events of Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek, the proverbial door is always open for even more cameos and name-drops in the future...



Pitch-perfect theme
Thanks to Emmy-winning composer Jeff Russo and his 60-piece orchestra, the Star Trek Discovery main title sequence is sure to please Star Trek audiophiles with its bookended homage to Alexander Courage's original theme, as well as prominent horns and strings throughout.



Bonus content
One of the many benefits of subscribing to CBS All Access for Star Trek: Discovery is, you get all the other great Star Trek content that goes along with it.

Not only will subscribers have complete access to every episode of Discovery across multiple devices, but they'll also be able to watch all past iterations of the TV property: the original Star TrekStar Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: Deep Space NineStar Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, and Star Trek: The Animated Series.

That's not to mention the Star Trek: Discovery companion after-show, After Trek, which drops new episodes following each new Discovery episode on CBS All Access!

READ: How To Watch Star Trek: Discovery On CBS All Access



Stream the entire first season of Star Trek: Discovery, exclusively on CBS All Access.