Now that Star Trek: Discovery (DSC, or STD for the haters) has been delayed until May 2017, we have four extra months to fret over whether or not showrunner Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) and his roster of talent can rejuvenate TV Star Trek after 12 years off the air.
Except DSC won’t really be on TV (except the pilot), but on CBS’s adorable effort to compete with Netflix, their very own streaming service, CBS All Access. And while the ads and subscription fees rankle, there is one major benefit to having Star Trek on a streaming service: swearing, sex and violence.
And that’s just what Bryan Fuller is considering. At the Television Critics Association’s press tour in August he said, “We’re going to have a broader spectrum to explore those issues, but it’s still Star Trek.”
“We are not subject to broadcast standards and practices, but Hannibal was and we got away with murder. There’ll probably be slightly more graphic content,” Fuller said. “We discuss every day about language and what’s appropriate and how far should we go? Is it appropriate to see a bridge blow up and have somebody say ‘oh shit’ or something stronger than that? We have to feel our way through it. I imagine we’re going to shoot scenes a couple of ways and figure out what feels authentic when we’re in the editing room.”
It’s clear that Fuller’s not planning on turning Star Trek into Starship Troopers, but we might finally be past the days of The Next Generation’s sanitized mouths and 40s Western violence. But could this keep Star Trek from being the family-friendly experience that has inspired generations of young writers and scientists?
Asked directly, Fuller made it clear that he hopes Star Trek: Discovery will be for everyone:
I don't think so. We want young women like your daughter to see the strong female scientists in this show and be inspired.
— Bryan Fuller (@BryanFuller) September 15, 2016
So as much as I might want to see what horrors a sadistic member of the Q Continuum could concoct, or finally have a Star Trek show confess what most people do in the holosuite, it’s heartening to know that Star Trek: Discovery can and will be watched by the next generation of people responsible for building a world closer to Star Trek ’s utopian future.
