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'Star Trek Discovery' won't be ready for May blastoff

We all know the famous saying from the classic Star Trek series: “Where no man has gone before.” Well, you can’t go anywhere if you can’t get the darn ship out of Spacedock. The newest entry in the beloved sci-fi franchise is Star Trek Discovery, and it was set to “boldly go” this month. And then it was May. And now, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, it will be delayed even further.

“Production on Star Trek: Discovery begins next week,” CBS said in a statement. “We love the cast, the scripts and are excited about the world the producers have created. This is an ambitious project; we will be flexible on a launch date if it’s best for the show. We’ve said from the beginning it’s more important to do this right than to do it fast. There is also added flexibility presenting on CBS All Access, which isn’t beholden to seasonal premieres or launch windows.”

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The show’s title comes from the fact that this new ship isn’t a version of the Enterprise we all know and love, but a totally new vessel called the U.S.S. Discovery. New show, new ship, same mission statement: exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations.

When new shows are pushed back, and then pushed back again, it can usually be traced back to problems with the script. If you have no story, you have no show. So there has to be some concern at network level (and Trekkie level) regarding these delays, whether they are script related or not. The press release is exactly what one would expect to hear, and there’s a lot riding on this new effort as well. Besides being the latest entry in a true pop culture phenomenon, it’s also going to get extra scrutiny since it’s launching on the CBS All Access platform.

In announcing the show’s latest delay, the network also revealed that actor James Frain will play the part of Sarek, Spock’s father.

Brinke Guthrie
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The cast of Star Trek: Discovery.

Of all the completed Star Trek series, Discovery may be the most difficult from which to pick out the 10 best episodes. That’s not because it’s the weakest series in the franchise like Enterprise is -- by our reckoning, it’s actually in the low middle -- but because its serialized format makes it tricky to isolate specific chapters to celebrate.
Each season of Discovery followed Michael Burnham and the crew of the show’s eponymous starship on a lengthy adventure with cosmic stakes, but not every hour packed a memorable punch. Still, while many of the chapters tend to blur together, there are some definite standouts spread evenly throughout the show’s entire five-season run.
Ready? Let’s fly.

10. “Coming Home” (season 4, episode 13)
The finale of Discovery’s fourth season is an example of everything that’s great about the series, but also everything that’s lame about it. The Federation’s climactic confrontation with the extragalactic Species 10-C is visually splendid, emotionally intense, and ultimately a story about communication and empathy, the cornerstone of Star Trek’s ethos. Sonequa Martin-Green delivers one of the best performances in the entire franchise, as her character swallows her shock and grief at her partner’s apparent death and steadies herself for duty.
But, by the end of the episode, everything has worked out swimmingly, there are hugs and smiles and no lasting consequences. Popular progressive lawmaker Stacey Abrams makes a cameo as the President of Earth to congratulate the show’s producers Captain Burnham on her inspirational work. That’s Discovery for you -- sometimes amazing, sometimes cringe, often at the same time.

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