‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Showrunners Talk Huge Development And More Exploring For Season 2

Today Star Trek: Discovery executive producers and showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg participated in a panel on TV’s intersection about politics and social issues with EPs from other CBS shows at the Winter TCA Tour. They also talked about where Discovery is going for the rest of the first season and even talked a bit about the second.

Star Trek: Discovery’s Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts (far right) join executive producers of other CBS shows at TCA Winter Press Tour panel on politics and social issues on television

Huge developments for second chapter of season 1

Here is how the AV Club reported on discussion for the remainder of season one:

Berg advised fans to “buckle up,” because the show is “introducing a huge new development.” “It’ll be fun for Trek fans,” Harberts chimed in, teasing a “nice nod to stuff from [The Original Series]. This back half—what happens tomorrow night firmly anchors the back half to the season. It’s definitely again a war story, as far as how it’ll play out, but our characters find themselves in a place where their identities are challenged. It’s an emotionally wrought back half. Very intense. The cast has done some amazing work.”

Berg also offered this hint that we may again see Michelle Yeoh’s Captain Georgiou:

“I’d say, keep watching, because Georgiou is such a huge part of the heart who was Michael Burnham. If that’s something you’re invested in, keep watching because I think you hopefully will enjoy what we’re going to do.”

We may not have seen the last of Capt. Georgiou

Making news in season one

The issue of how the show has sparked some controversy was also discussed at the panel, as noted by Deadline:

Harberts reported his CBS All Access series had been “in the news quite a bit” because people thought that, in this iteration of the long-running franchise, the Klingon’s represented Donald Trump supporters what with being isolationists obsessed with racial purity. Some white male viewers complained they felt “marginalized” by this franchise iteration. But, Harberts told TV critics, their fan base is smart and told those complainers “if you can’t handle it, you’re not a Trek fan and you should walk away.”

And Variety picked up on talk about the same-sex relationship between Lt. Stamets and Dr. Culber:

Berg and Harberts pointed to the breakthrough on “Discovery” with the portrayal of the first gay relationship in the “Star Trek” universe. It was particularly meaningful that the two characters were not first defined for the audience as gay but rather as competent pros — a doctor and a scientist — with key positions on the starship. Their relationship was introduced matter-of-factly with little fanfare when the two were shown brushing their teeth together in the morning.

“We had them lead with competence,” Harberts said. “It was surprising the way the audience embraced them so quickly — it obviously touched a nerve in how people felt gay characters have been presented” in the past, he said.

Lt. Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) in Discovery mid-season finale

Exploring for season 2

There was also some talk about the work that has recently commenced on developing the second season of Discovery (via AVClub):

Harberts pushes the more traditional Trek angle as something the duo “wants to explore more” in the new season, which they just started working last month. He acknowledges the “well-documented” embattled season-one production, but enthuses that “This year, we have a fantastic creative team in place, everybody knows each other. But we also have time this year—we have time to do things like more away missions, newer planets. These are stories that might fall a little bit more into a framework of allegory that people love to get from Trek. But we will always continue to have that overarching serialized thread.” And as for the themes or potential storylines, Harberts teased an exploration of faith and “science versus faith.” And again, there will be much more of the TOS canon that will at least be nodded to in the new episodes, which should temporarily please some sticklers.

Season 2 already being written – new writer added to team

For proof that they are indeed working on the second season, last week Harberts shared this image on Twitter.

And earlier this week it was announced on Twitter a new writer had joined the Discovery team. Vaun Wilmott, formerly executive producer and writer for Fox’s Prison Break and Syfy’s Dominion, has joined the staff.

Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusive in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on the Space Channel and on Netflix outside the USA and Canada.


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Its totally free in HD (minus any ads) on Netflix UK yet even then its still one of the lowest watched shows. I hope Netflix do not waste anymore money on this garbage!

The only information we’ve had from Netflix is that it is one of the most watched family shows. They haven’t provided any other comments or data regarding the show.

By the way – https://trekmovie.com/2017/12/12/star-trek-discovery-one-of-netflixs-most-watched-together-toronto-studio-expanding/

Would love to know how you know this? Netflix don’t release viewing figures.


Wait is Netflix free in the UK? And they publicly release their viewing numbers? Cool!!

In other words, you’re an idiot. Netflix doesn’t release its numbers, and you have to pay for it–it’s not free.

Netflix don’t release- and never have- released their viewing figures…. and Netflix isn’t free in the U.K. (or anywhere else for that matter) so at this point you are simply talking nonsense.

And I will NEVER understand why somebody would waste their time angrily ranting online about a show they clearly detest. Don’t you have a life? Actually, there isn’t any need to answer that. The fact that you have expended time on your little rant tells me all I need to know.

I am likewise baffled at this sort of reaction with each new iteration of Star Trek. Just ignore it. Voyager was not my cup of tea, so I simply didn’t watch it. I didn’t go out on the Internet and bash it wherever I could. I am not obligated to like everything branded Star Trek, not are they obligated to produce only what I like. I also have no problem with having my own head-canon that ignores the bits I don’t like. Also also, I do not have the conceit that my opinion affects the direction of the franchise in the slightest bit. You might as well yell at sun for all the good it will do you.

Paul…stop sounding as uninformed as Trump. Its not free and you have no idea how the show is doing on Netflix.

And if you think its garbage why do you keep wasting your time talking about it? Dude you will be here for literally years hating on a show that doesn’t care if you watch it or not. So move on already. Trust me when I say no one here will miss you. No one.

“stop sounding as uninformed as Trump” Well, referring to the president of the USA in a
discussion on Star Trek is entirely relevant… 🤔

Can’t imagine where people are getting the notion that some in the DSC fanbase are using the show as a soapbox to push a political agenda… 😏

I don’t really care. When you start sounding as uninformed as that buffoon, you don’t do yourself any favors in terms of credibility. And yes Paul sounds just as uniformed. Of course thankfully its just a show and nothing really important.

@Tiger2 how exactly is Trump uninformed? He’s a billionaire who’s been involved with politics for the past 30+ years, I’d say he’s much more informed than the majority of the country.

LOL, seriously? You definitely voted for that idiot. SAD!

How is he an idiot? You don’t have a single shred of evidence to support your claim, you just like to call other people idiots to make yourself feel superior. SAD!

LOL the Secretary of State called him a moron. Many people in his OWN administration has called him everything from a child to an idiot. This guy is an embarrassment as President. Everyday he says something that is either cringeworthy, uninformed or just plain contradictory. He’s an idiot of epic proportions. He makes Bush look like Kennedy.

No one in his administration has said that, none of that has been verified or corroborated. Nothing he has stated is uniformed or contradictory, in fact he says things specifically on purpose to trigger liberals like you and the fact that none of you realize that is hilarious. You haven’t answered my question, how is he an idiot? And lol at the Bush jab you just proved how stupid you are, Bush was a pretty good president, unlike Obama who bent over and took it in the ass from other countries.

LOL now you’re just in denial. Just like a Trump supporter. And my god you just said he has never said anything ‘uniformed or contradictory’, moron he just said something TODAY over the FISA bill which he tweeted he was against it and had all the Republicans in extreme confusion over until someone called him up and said “Uh, hey man, you are suppose to be for this remember?” and then backtracked hours later. Was he trying to trigger Republicans too because yeah, good job lol. This guy can’t even understand his own policies OR opens his fat mouth before he gets the total picture. Why do you think the White House is CONSTANTLY trying to clean up things he say on a nearly daily basis? Get a clue already.

And if you think the President is trying to ‘trigger’ people just proves this guy shouldn’t be President. Talk show hosts triggers people, Presidents are not suppose to act like this.

TM11, you are the reason this buffoon is even in office because you seem to ignore EVERY lie and dumb thing he’s ever said. Just today he called some third world countries ‘$h#tholes’. But I’m sure you will excuse that too. And thats the problem you idiots ignore every repugnant thing about this man. He’s a total disgrace, never should’ve been President and why 2/3rds of the country hate him.

And the fact that you love Bush (hey I won’t lie, after the total disaster of Trump I even miss Bush lol) says it all.

I’m not in denial about anything, I see nothing wrong with anything he’s done. Nothing he ever says or does could ever be as bad as what liberals do on a daily basis. And the fact that you all get butthurt over the things he says proves that liberals don’t have the mental capacity to handle life. Everyday I see liberals wishing death upon people for having a different opinion, spouting out “repugnant” things like hatred and racism, and thinking it’s okay to murder millions of unborn children. None of those things come from conservatives. No liberal will ever hold the moral high ground. Trump is running circles around dumbass liberals and RINO Republicans and the fact that none of you see that is hilarious, he knows what he’s doing.

Also I don’t recall him lying about anything, in contrast the media lies about him every single day. And who cares if he called other countries shitholes? It’s the truth they are shitholes. Why is it so hard for liberals to accept the hard truth? And who are you to say what a President is supposed to act like? People voted for Trump because they knew exactly what he was like and they wanted it. The people spoke, get over it. And why does it matter how many people hate him? He who is hated most speaks the truth. This isn’t a popularity contest and frankly something that is popular or trendy is usually wrong, people can’t seem to think for themselves and like to jump on the hate Trump bandwagon.

In my eyes, unpatriotic liberals who are the antithesis of what this country stands for are disgraces. And since you wanna keep calling me an idiot, what are your policy solutions for this country? Also why do you think Bush was a bad president?

“I’m not in denial about anything, I see nothing wrong with anything he’s done.”

Seriously? This is the problem RIGHT here man. You’re a seriously deluded Trump supporter. Did you go to his ‘university’ too? When will you people stop sounding stop defending this POS. He’s a racist and a disgrace. And now you are defending him on calling other countries “$hi#tholes”???? This is why people like you DON’T need to watch Star Trek if you can’t even call this moron out on THIS! The world is calling out this man and you can’t even admit he said something utterly stupid and disgraceful.

You got some issues man, but sadly not as much as your uninformed and unhinged President that can’t go a DAY without lying or sounding uninformed. Again just today this idiot said ANOTHER uninformed thing saying he’s not going to London for the ceremony of the new American embassy because he blames Obama for the location. Only this idiot didn’t realize it was Bush who ordered the change of the Embassy, not Obama lol. Of course everyone knows he’s just using it as an excuse not to go anyway because the only people who hate him more than Americans are non-Americans and he knows people in the U.K. will boo him if he showed up there. Of course this guy is only adding to the list of places in the world to get booed in.

Trump is like that old crazy uncle that shows up for the holidays who spouts off conspiracy theories and blame the foreigners why no one can get a job. Only sadly he’s now the President of the United States.

This is becoming a complete waste of time and really off topic lol. And I don’t want to spend another paragraph of why Bush was a bad, horrible President but yes getting us into a pre-emptive war where thousands died in Iraq is at the top of the list. But he was still a better President than Trump. I never thought I would say that.

“Also I don’t recall him lying about anything”

What??? LOL, OMG, now you’re either lying or in bigger denial than I thought. TM11 you’re making yourself lok like a bigger fool. Well since you obviously never watch the news or avoid any time the guy has lied fortunately the Washington Post has racked up every lie this fool has said in the last year alone and found out he has lied 2,000 times:


So you are suggesting you can’t recall him lying about anything? Really? No offense, but this is exactly the reason why no one can take you seriously here. I certainly can’t now after this clear delusion. Trump likes like worst than a teenager…and about as good too.

Anyway this is my last comment. The fact that you sound this brainwashed only proves that its a waste of time listening to you. “I don’t recall him lying about anything” says it all man. So I’m stepping out now. I can’t talk to someone with no credibility. Seriously. Anyway I’m done.

You just wrote a book ranting about nonsense still not answering a single one of my questions. I think you’re the one with issues, you seem to have an unhealthy obsession with Trump. Why do you allow one person to affect your emotions that much? You literally spouted off nothing but a crazy unhinged rant and have the nerve to say that I don’t have any credibility (which I have years of political experience) lol, you can’t answer a single one of my questions and haven’t mentioned any actual policy. Also you have this odd notion that people disagreeing with me or not taking me seriously holds any actual weight, why would I care what random people on the internet think? I said it before and I’ll say it again, no amount of hypothetical accusations you hurl towards Trump, conservatives, or Republicans could even remotely approach the magnitude of hypocrisy, corruption, criminality, and immorality of liberals. The fact that you can’t handle having an actual dialogue speaks volumes.


Not a fan of anyone defining who is and who isn’t a fan. Nor do I think, if they are trying to make a point or change folks hearts or minds, that telling them to walk way is the way to do it. Seems like a very “preaching to the choir” mentality.

To be honest those people who have attacked the diversity of the show really shouldn’t consider themselves Treks because their views are the complete antithesis of what Star Trek is about.

I don’t necessarily disagree with what you are saying, but the article says their quote was in response to people feeling marginalized by what they perceived as Klingons representing Trump supporters and not to people who attacked the diversity of the cast.

No, it’s a specific group of white male viewers feeling marginalized — to which everyone else on Earth can say, “Welcome to the club, fellas.”


The captain is a straight white male from the American South. You’d think that would be representation enough.

Clearly not with some of those idiots.

No white male viewers claimed they felt margianized that is complete and utter bullshit. They don’t like Hollywood bashing them and making accusations towards them that are completely false.

It sounded like a pretty arrogant way to address the issue to me.

I agree

They were never meant to run this show.

You mean there’s been a time incursion?

That darn temporal cold war at it again!

No, Fuller was, but le left the show over creative differences. Same happened to American Gods. He left the show after one season over creative differences. Honestly, what good is a showrunner who’s obviously not able to cope with people having different opinions? No accusations, but the show was in trouble when he was running it. But instead of continuing to fight for his vision, he abandoned it. JMS fought an uphill battle with the network for 5 years to get Babylon 5 done the way he wanted. But he didn’t abandon the show halfway through season 1 when the road got a little bumpy. Harbertes and Berg were thrown into this and woke up the next day running the show. They had to clean up the mess, they had to pick up from where Fuller left them and turn it into a working show. I’d say they did one hell of a job.

No they didn’t, it’s a generic hodgepodge with no real voice or compelling direction.

Your opinion; in any case you stand corrected wrt Fuller.

About, what, exactly? Please do quote what I stand corrected about regarding Fuller.

And the whiners and complainers start again… And we are only a few comments in! Wah wah wah.

My feeling is that these two show runners are holding the reins on the passionate and knowledgeable Trek writers that Bryan Fuller originally assembled for this show— Kirsten Beyer, Nicholas Meyer (who seemed to be pretty much pushed aside), and even Joe Menosky.

They seem much more interested in doing their own thing… things they think are cool ala JJ rather than letting the real Star Trek minds create something that fans can finally love and happily pay for. That was the potential a streaming show had and while I like Discovery, the simple things that could be done to make its problems right seem to be prevented by folks who’d rather ignore Trek. Why people like this don’t just create their own shows is beyond me.

Your feeling is being pulled straight from Uranus. I’m sick of this entitled nonsense on here.

A. All they are doing is following what Fuller created.

B. Fuller said all of first season was plotted out before he left meaning they probably didn’t have scripts but they knew where the show was going throughout the season.

In other words, this was always the show. Yeah I’m sure they made some changes but nothing drastic because they didn’t have time to. But I always say if people don’t believe that, then just go back to every Fuller interview where he talked about the show, what the premise and characters would be like and the tone and everything the guy said would be in the show has actually ended up on the show, including that ugly ship (although it looks a little better).

The show runners had a road map and they followed it. It doesn’t mean it can’t be better but they didn’t hyjack the show and did whatever they wanted. They aren’t ‘ignoring’ Trek, this was how it was envisioned by Fuller from the beginning.

Exactly. He even mentioned Amanda Grayson in one interview.

It’s funny that some of the things that some people dislike: the look of the Klingons, the general look of Discovery, the casting of Sonequa, etc., were all things that Bryan Fuller wanted

Interesting tidbits about Season 2. There are some seams showing in season 1 that are probably a result of the staff change over, which I’m guessing affected the Klingon storyline, and also Saru’s characterization. I like that they are talking about doing a more “traditional” Trek season even though the season 1 formula has worked really well. Maybe the writing team will try to merge the two styles. In any case I bet the show will continue to evolve and mature in a nice way. I love the idea of the show dealing with faith, but I’m always suspect when I hear that because it is usually people who don’t have faith that want to push that particular theme. The writing this season has been so mature and thoughtful, hope that continues no matter what topics they chose to take on.

So… do you think the Discovery has entered the Mirror Universe… or are they FROM the Mirror Universe and are now in the prime one?

That would be an interesting twist if they came from the MU but I don’t think it would make much sense because in the mirror universe Starfleet is the enemy. They aren’t out to seek new life, they are there to conquer it. And for all the grief the show gets about the characters, end of the day they still act like Starfleet and not people out to rule over others.

Of course they could just come from a completely different universe altogether but I don’t think anyone on the show wants this to be another Kelvin situation and they been saying from day one it takes place in the prime universe. But yes if they came from another universe it would solve all their problems tomorrow.

Obviously they aren’t on the MU normally because the insignias etc would be different.

I tend to believe they are from the real original prime universe, but… it I have thought it’s a possibility that they are from an altered Mirror Universe that was created during Enterprise’s “In a Mirror Darkly” episodes. Maybe getting access to a Connie with advanced technology explains why everything looks so much more technically advanced. And maybe Empress Sato set them on a course of creating a Federation that looks a lot like the prime Federation and ending the Terran Empire. Maybe they were a bit like the gangsters in “A Piece of the Action,” who used the computer recorded on the Defiant to build a near identical prime universe. I think it’s a long shot, but could be a plausible scenario.

So this universe would basically be a branching off the original Mirror Universe from the events shown in Enterprise? I wouldn’t be against that too much but it would probably be too confusing. It took some people 8 years just to get that the Kelvin timeline actually WAS another universe. It seems like a no-brainer now given Discovery has (sort of) ruled that out, but people were convinced it was really the prime universe, just rewritten after Nero.

Now because Discovery looks so different from the prime universe half the fans are convinced its a different universe altogether.

Why I hate prequels…because of things like this. ;)

That said I believe them when they say its the prime universe BUT I would probably be happier if they said this show took place in another universe like the Kelvin. It would make SO many people happy and yes it would put everything in a new perspective, like why nothing looks or feels like anything from TOS obviously.

Wow, just wow. Did this Harberts guy really just tell half of the country, half of the potential audience to go away? I seriously hope CBS business execs are listening, because this proves the current Trek leadership is not just completely out of their depth regarding the meaning of developments in the world and the history of Star Trek, its inclusiveness, self-criticism and willingness to compromise and extend an olive branch even to enemies whose views we do not share (all excellently portrayed in Star Trek VI for example, which was a much superior discussion of the “homo sapiens club” topic), they are simply bad for business!

If anything it is their complete failure (or hypocritical retreat) to make Discovery that extremist one-sided political vehicle they have tried to erect since their first interviews, and the Klingon angle being resoundely declared the weakest and most disappointing link of the series by critics, mostly sidelined after the first 2 episodes, that the show was a moderate success and is in fact the most watched show by both sides of the aisle. But that is DESPITE the showrunners’ intentions, as we can witness in uncompromising interviews such as this one. If anything their reduction of sceptics of unfettered mass-immigration and open borders to bumbling, violent, irrational slogan spouting idiots is very much a reflection of how the more extremist fringes of liberalism view even moderate, rational positions. Never mind – all these issues will not go away despite wishing millions of fellow countrymen did not exist, and in fact they will only become more aggravated over the next few years due to the complete failure to explore own mistakes, to compromise and to reach an agreement with the other side. As it stands, with the current leadership and writing team (which is only “diverse” in the most superficial terms, but not inclusive of all sides) Discovery in my view now sadly has to be regarded as part of the problem and not the solution.

I had really high hopes for the initially promised “in-depth exploration of the other side and making their point of view understandable” (something which was also promised – and failed – for Beyond), but the mustache-twirling, cartoonish cookie-cutter depiction of people who think differently about these matters really make me lose hope for season two and an allegedly impartial, even controversial exploration of “science vs. faith” from Trek’s traditionally atheistic angle, that is anything more than a tired politically correct repetition and carte blanche for unfettered Islamophilia… As someone above said, there is nothing bold about preaching to the choir.


Nope, you misread. Just white males that feel marginalized by the show. “Some white male viewers complained they felt “marginalized” by this franchise iteration.” You know, because the show is being “liberalized” and that there weren’t enough white males in it… All that “white genocide” BS surrounding the show early on.

If any white males feel marginalized then they should get lost. Because that’s stupid and they don’t get it so probably best to just not watch.

@TUP do you not realize your comment is racist? Also @Cass no white males felt marginalized by the show, they are pissed at Hollywood constantly bashing them for the color of their skin.

No just the racists who seem to think only straight white males can be represented on a show, a show like Star Trek out of all things.

He’s 100% correct, those people aren’t Star Trek fans because they clearly never understood what Star Trek was about and should seriously walk away. They are a complete embarrassment to both the franchise and the rest of the fan base.

@Tiger2 they are not racists, the people attacking white people like you are racist.

Show me one example where I attacked white people?

Go ahead I’ll wait. Meanwhile I’ll stick to my point and that is morons who can’t fanthom the idea the world isn’t any one race, gender or sexuality and that EVERYONE has the right to be represented, especially when the people you moan about as not being represented is not only represented but the MOST represented on the show.

Stop whining about it. If you can’t get over the fact there are minorities, gays and women on this show then you are watching the WRONG show!

Reread all of your posts, it’s pretty clear you have a problem with “straight white males”. Also you and many others are completely misinterpreting the point, no one cares about there being diversity in the show, what they’re upset about is the fact that the showrunners are using that and the analogy with the Klingons as a way to attack half the country, that’s the problem that people are upset about, not the diversity. I could care less who’s represented on the show, but I refuse to watch a show where they generalize an entire group of people and make them out to be the enemy. I haven’t watched Discovery and I have no plans to, I have a ton of problems with it most of which have nothing to do with what we’re talking about but their attitude is just adding more insult to injury.

“I haven’t watched Discovery and I have no plans to”

Then why would you read this article and wander over to the comments?


LOL point out ONE post, just ONE where I have a problem with ‘straight white males’? I have been on TM since 2012 so there are plenty of posts out there and you have apparently read them all so it shouldn’t be a problem for you, right?

Let me guess you reacted to this ONE post which I stand 100% completely by because the ONLY time this is an issue with ‘diversity’ when its not enough white people or men on the show. I don’t see any posts of women saying its not enough of them? Or minorities? Or gay and lesbians? The ONLY complaints that seem to (or use to) drown the message boards is that Discovery is filled with too many ‘SJW’ and all that nonesense.

And they are not attacking ‘half’ the country because half the country doesn’t believe that crap. But yes more than there should be probably in 2018.

And you haven’t seen the show lol, so you don’t even know what you’re talking about. So why are you wasting our time? You’re clearly the one uninformed. Discovery plays just like every Trek show before it in terms of its characters. Please continue to refuse watching it…no one cares.

Wtf are you talking about? The people who complain the most are the SJWs, they literally complain about everything and see problems where there are none. You have it literally ass backwards. And I don’t have to watch the show to know what’s going on with it, sites like this provide more than enough information on that travesty of a show.

Still waiting for you to show me all the threads where I hate white men lol. So you were lying when you said it was ‘clear’ I have a problem with straight white guys? Wow, shocking. Let me guess a Trump voter. Dude, stop wasting our time. You don’t even watch the show and no one is agreeing with your idiot ass here.

So now instead of having a legitimate argument you resort to typical ad hominem attacks by calling my an idiot ass, can’t say I’m surprised it’s typical from the oh so “tolerant” left. Also I could care less who agrees or disagrees with me since I don’t subscribe to groupthink and mob mentality which is something only the intellectually challenged left seem to subscribe to. And as for your example, reread your post that I responded to, you accused fans of being racists that think that only straight white males should be represented which isn’t true at all, then you proceed to say they aren’t Star Trek fans and that they’re an embarrassment. You’re not only missing the point but you’re accusing straight white males of being racist.

You haven’t pointed out ONE post where I attacked white people lol. And you can’t even read my post correctly. There are plenty of straight white males here who are NOT racist. I’m only talking about the idiots who complained about it, which there were in the beginning JUST like idiots who complained about Janeway being a woman on Voyager 20 years ago. Fortunately the majority spoke up and shut those people down. If you can’t even ADMIT those people exist then you’re just stop wasting my time already. And yes they are a HUGE embarrassment to Star Trek. I don’t know how I can make that clearer.

Let me say again, they are an embarrassment to Star Trek and shouldn’t be watching the show. They should all follow your lead and not watch this one either.

I literally just did point out your post. And why do you care so much about people voicing their opinion? Why does it bother you so much?


Hmm. What part of “United Earth Ship” did you not get? (Which, incidentally, is courtesy of TOS, not Aaron Harberts or Gretchen Berg.)

No offense, but I’d be asking the Vulcan Logic Academy for a refund, Mr. Soul.

No, those fans shouldn’t HAVE to walk away. They just HAVE to accept Star Trek for what it is and has always been — a progressive series. And it’s been pretty blatant all along. No one should be surprised by this. I mean, Roddenberry’s politics were far from right wing.

So… complaining about liberalism in Star Trek is like… complaining about too much outer space stuff — Hey, what’s up with all these starships and aliens?!


Its been literally over 50 years now. If they haven’t accepted it by now and yet still moan about it, they never will.

Modern day “liberalism” and “progressivism” are totally different than what the terms originally meant.

How they’re expressed has changed, but the words still mean the same thing.

Yeah they technically mean the same thing but the modern day left has hijacked those terms along with many other definitions, the modern day left is the exact opposite of what the words liberal and progressive mean.

@Vulcan Soul — “half of the country”!? You must be reading the same biased polls they’re giving Trump to keep him happy. It’s more like around 1/3 of the US that supports white supremacy. DISC can afford to lose 1/3 of its potential US audience. Star Trek doesn’t need fans like that. Add to that, DISC is available in almost every nation in the world through Netflix. So 1/3 of the US audience doesn’t even begin to make a dent in the potential worldwide audience.

Such a white, male, privileged, America-first, myopic worldview. SAD!

Support white supremacy lmfao? Are you gonna provide evidence for that accusation? And the fact that you are attacking white males makes you exactly what you claim to be against, a bigot.

Exactly those ‘fans’ aren’t missed because apparently they never got what Trek was about in the first place. We don’t need those people in the fan base, they would only be an embarrassment.

And I always say this, if the internet was around when TOS came around, ESPECIALLY during that time, I can’t even begin to think what those discussions would be like.

@Tiger2 those “fans” only exist in your head, the people complaining aren’t white supremacists.

Yeah they were. Luckily now most of them have left. Certainly most of the Trek boards like here and Reddit. Those idiots were ran off. Good.

No they weren’t. There are barely any white supremacists in this country literally only a few thousand. Just because people were complaining about the show doesn’t make them a white supremacist.

I’m sure you took a poll lol. There are still waaaaay too many but yes much less because those idiots have been shouted down. Sadly they can still spew their hatred over a computer. Luckily its mostly over a computer these days save for an immigration protest here and there.

I didn’t take a poll those are literally the facts. Also from your comment it seems to me like you support censorship of free speech, talk about being a fascist. And if you get so triggered over some people over the Internet voicing their opinion you need to reevaluate your life.

I totally zoomed in onto the tweet to see if I could catch a session 2 spoiler… Ha ha ha! No such luck.

Me too. :D But nice to see that he anticipated it…

I plan to keep watching, but that attitude really ticks me off. “Yeah, it is about you. You’re evil. Get lost, 50% of our potential audience.”

They could have said, I dunno, “We hope people take a good message from our show, whatever they hope to see.” But noooo, we live in an age where if you’re not one of us, you’re the enemy and cannot be associated with.

90% of the criticism comes from butthurt fringe groups who are pissed at something because they understand it in a certain way or because it conflicts with their world view. Within out little universe, it’S Trek purists who think this show should look like a 50’s TV show, TNG Trek purists who only like the Orville because in their world view it better captures the ‘spirit of TNG’, Axanar fanboys who are pissed that it’s not the adventures of Captain Garth. That’s what I see on a daily basis within the fandom. Add to that the “CBS is not getting my money”-folks who probably watch CBSAA anyway.
Outside, in the real world, you got white supremacists complaining about the diversity and progressiveness of the show, bigots complaining about a homosexual relationship… yet all that stuff does add up to one thing: there’s not a single group of people who have valid points of criticism about anything substantial.
It’s just people thinking their opinion matters more that that of others, that their interpretation of things is the only correct one, Sadly the internet is the perfect breeding ground for those. Harberts might be correct, a dialogue with these people would require them to be open for dialogue and different perspectives. From my experience, they are not. They just want to scream out their opinion louder than others, because they think it makes it more relevant or right.

I agree with you completely. I really like the show. I’m just saying that statements like this don’t help.

Fifty percent of Star Trek’s potential audience are white men that believe in racial purity like the fictional Klingons on Discovery? Where did that percentage come from?

Since one of Star Trek’s main pillars has always been to show how humanity has overcome such backwards ideas of racial purity and sepremacy, what exactly is this made up 50% group even getting out of watching a progressive show like Star Trek?

No, but about fifty percent of Americans voted for Trump. Most of them- up to the man himself- are decent enough, non-racists types who don’t like being told to get lost.

Trump called immigrants from poor countries as $h#thole countries. There is nothing decent about this racist $h#thole President. And less then 50% voted for him. And hopefully much less in the next election.

Haha lmfao. First of all no one knows if that’s true or not, and even if it was he said “why are we taking in people from shithole countries” and he’s exactly right, plenty of countries are shitholes. I fail to see how that’s racist, it’s not racist if it’s true.

I’ve been Star Trek fan back when this… Harberts… could communicate only with boos and gurgles. Who is he to tell me to walk away? Get off my lawn! :-P

For the record, I have no problem with Discovery casting. If they weren’t constantly touting the “diverse cast”, I wouldn’t even *notice* there’s less white folks than in a 1970s blackploitation flick. Just like I didn’t notice on the DS9 (and by the time I did notice, I was too invested to actually care).

However, the marginalization of the majority on Discovery is hard to miss once you start looking for it. Let’s see… How many straight white folks we have on the principal cast of Discovery? Two: Tilly and Lorca. And how many homosexuals we have on Discovery principal cast? Also two: Stamets and the black doctor I can’t remember by name… Rutgers? Codgers? How many white people there are in the US and Europe? Well over sixty percent of the populace. And how many homosexuals? Less than ten percent. Which means that the numbers are way off: either there is too many homosexuals on Discovery, or too few straight white people. Basically, the show makes it look like the majority of the populace doesn’t exist. When trying to give enough participation to all the minorities, they actually failed to give the proper participation to the very people who actually invented space flight and computers. What is it, if not marginalization?

But that’s not the point. The point is, if they (the showrunners) kept quiet about it, nobody would complain, because nobody would notice. As the old saying goes: “Show, don’t tell.” Even the “first gay relationship on Star Trek” would be much more interesting AND much more impactful if they weren’t advertising it months before the show was actually aired.

Where are the multiple Asian actors who would be on this show? And The many non-white non-Asian non-blacks? Current demographics should not relate to Discovery.

What counts is story! And in some ways that’s the most important throw down of this series. Do you Care about the story and some of the important characters in it? Will you invest at least six more hours to find out what happens?

What’s wrong with this show is that it is not about war or politics. I don’t think they have told us yet what this show is really about.

I loved the pilot, Asian capt. They killed her
I loved the gay doc. They killed him. I can’t stand the character Michael..yet SHE remains? Sigh

So you’re telling me a group of less than 10 people in the fictional 23rd century is a representative sample for planet earth in the 21st century? Because that’s what you’re implying. Please look up the words “representative sample size” before complaining. So far, the vast majority of the ship’s crew is white, with a 50/50 distribution of male and female crew members.
But you’re right, that’s not the point. The point is reflecting real-world issues, that’s what Star Trek (and all utopian or dystopian SF) is for. And last time I checked, minorities have quite a hard time as compared to straight white males like me, so putting them a little more front and center that in today’s world doesn’t really hurt my feelings. Showing a future these are not issues anymore and everyone works together as equals is exactly the point of an uptopian show like Trek and an inspiration for lots of minorities out there. People constatly complaining about this bullshit are just an indicator of how far away we are from that point.
Besides, why do people complain about blacks and gays and women on the bridge, but not about the goddamn alien that sits right next to them?! I mean, 1 in 10 of the main cast is an alien, a lot more if you count the Klingons in. That’s a pretty big misrepresentation, as we all know the actual numbers of aliens on this planet is even lower than the numnber of homosexuals, right? :)

@2omega — wow, another Breitbart reading, white racist view of the world. Last I checked, white men are actually in the minority on this planet.

@Curious Cadet the fact that you view white men who read Breitbart as racists actually makes you a racist.

@2omega Your completely right, having two homosexual characters in the principle cast just doesn’t work demographically speaking. It would have made far more sense to have just made Stamets left arm gay.


Get some help idiot. OMG, not as many white people on the show as you want, what is the world coming too? Forget the fact the MAJORITY of the cast is still white and still male. But because its not as many as you want, you are moaning about it? Seriously?

And I lol when you said TWO gay people are too many lol. Where do morons like you live? Star Trek is about exploring the GALAXY with a united Earth where ALL people are represented, not just two continents. Stop equating it with your very sad myopic view of the world. Or just stop watching. That would probably make everyone happy.

Isn’t Sulu in the new movies the first gay character in a relationship? They even have a kid. I actually do consider the new movies to be part of the ST universe. Or did he just mean the tv universe. lol!

They probably don’t consider that 5-second scene to be “openly”.

Exactly. That was a cheap cop out and a cowardly move. Especially since it was hyped.

An ambiguous pat on the back, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment so some foreign markets won’t be offended, really doesn’t count.

I do have no interest in Harbarts or Sullivans political views or anyones sexual preferences. Just give us good Trek. Truth is he is correct in a way. If you don’t like it don’t watch. If the stories are not good I will not watch.

I think they are from a mirror or different universe (not the mu we all know) and have now entered our TOS universe, and the reason why they are fired on by the Vulcans is because they don’t look like a federation ship of the prime universe. Could open up some good stories

Speaking as a white male (I guess we now have to use labels). Star Trek was originally about everyone. Regardless of gender, ethnicity, political ideology, and sexuality, Star Trek originally spoke to everyone. Kirk, Picard, Janeway, and Sisko approached the world in a nonlinear fashion. While the Captains developed a conservative solution in one episode, they used a liberal approach in the next adventure. Real Star Trek fans don’t define themselves while using pure left and right linear descriptions. Trek fans think across and around a larger construct of thinking. Infinite collations = infinite possibilities.

I 2nd the motion

Yep exactly. Star Trek never played identity politics, it showed us a future where it didn’t matter what you were.

And how is Discovery not about everyone? From what I can tell its no more or less diverse than the others. No one on the show ever mention being a woman, a person of color or gay either. They just are so what’s the issue?

The issue is that the showrunners are turning it into a political statement by attacking half the country for who they voted for. That’s not a show being for everyone, that’s literally “either think like us or go away” as evidenced by what Herberts said in this article. Also on a side not can we please get rid of the term “person of color”, it implies that white people aren’t a color when every person is a shade of beige. The fact that you had to bring labels into it proves my point about the identity politics, it seems like the only people who like to bring up labels are the left.

Its not ‘half’ the country, its about a third. A third too many.

Star Trek is about an egalitarian society. If someone is moaning over that, then then they are watching the WRONG show.

You’re seriously offended over the use person of color? There are a lot of other terms I would LOVE to get rid of that are actually offensive. But fine we can use whatever you like in this conversation. I don’t care.

And yes with that kind of thinking they DO need to go away. Star Trek is not for them. So yes, stop watching please.

Who are you to say who needs to go away and who Star Trek is for? What makes you think you can say that? Star Trek is for everybody, not just liberals who can’t handle people having different opinions than them. Don’t even get me started cause I can run circles around any self-righteous hypocritical liberal. You are not morally superior in fact very far from it so quit acting like you can determine who watches Star Trek.

Its not for racists. If you can’t stand to watch other people then its not for you. You can run as many circles as you want, I don’t really care. You’re just wasting space here. And since you don’t even watch the show I can care even less.

Where are the racists? I don’t recall any racists talking about it.

Then you clearly were not around when they were on the internet. They LEFT because people shouted them down on sites like here and others. You’re the only one here who doesn’t seem to know this. Either you are playing dumb because you can’t admit to yourself racism still exists or you simply joined the party late. But stop wasting my time if you can’t even do a few minutes of research, jesus.

Most of the racism I’ve seen throughout my life has been from liberals and minorities, not white people. I don’t deny it exists but again I’ve seen it far more on the other side.

All of this discussion and yet no one has remarked that Vaun Wilmott played a Bajoran Security Ensign on TNG.

Star Trek pioneered the concepts of racial diversity back in the 1960’s. How sad is it that over 50 years later we are still arguing over the racial makeup of the crew of Federation Starships. The crew of Discovery is just fine as is.

The freaking Captain of the ship is a white male, yet white boys are complaining about marginalization. How pathetic.

Are you guys ready for Empress Georgiou, somehow a descendant from Empress Hoshi Sato?? That’d be cool.