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The Keeper (Item No. 51203/2) , is a hybrid of two "Star Trek" aliens. This figure shares its name with the Talosian designated as The Keeper (from the episode "The Cage" or "The Menagerie"--take your pick), but possesses a head and robe that bears a striking resemblance to Balok's viewscreen "puppet" from "The Corbomite Manuever." Mego would revisit the Talosian theme in their third series of figures.

The Keeper was a logical choice as his visage appeared in the end credits for Star Trek, he was easily recognized even by those who hadn't seen the episode.

The head sculpt is adequately otherworldly, and, as mentioned previously, is an interesting echo of Balok's puppet. The body of this figure is a standard Type 2 male, but is cast entirely in powder-blue (a body shared with another "Trek" Alien: the Andorian). The figure came outfitted in a white robe with a large collar; the sleeves, collar and hem were all trimmed in orange.

Due to the total lack of accessories, and the presence of only one article of clothing, this Alien is, hands-down, the easiest to find loose and complete. However, since his robe is white, it almostALWAYS has a stain or soiling of some kind.

The Keeper's robe came in two different shades of orange: light-orange (left) and dark-orange (right). The difference is subtle, but they are definitely two different colors. However, it is difficult to tell which shade a particular Keeper has without the other shade with which to compare it.

Generally speaking, the light-orange-robed Keepers seem to come on the "10-back" cards, while the dark-orange-robed Keepers tend to be found on the "14-backs." This further suggests that the light-orange was the first robe manufactured, while the dark-orange was last.

Above we have a Keeper on a "10-back" card. This specimen is wearing the lighter Orange robe.

Above we have a Keeper on a "14-back" card (considerably rarer than the "10-back"). This specimen is wearing the dark-orange style of robe. Note the broken legs; Keeper figures (and Andorians) are notorious for having broken knee joints, even inside sealed packages.

Above we have a Keeper on a UK-exclusive Palitoy package. Noticeably different from its American counterpart, these cards are extremely rare, bold, beautiful, and highly desired--an extremely expensive mixture, to be sure. All four of the second series figures (Neptunian, Keeper, Gorn, Cheron) were available on this card in the UK.

Here Mike Farrence provides us with a shot of the prototype Keeper from the Mego sales reels. Note the wide butterfly collars on the mocked up uniforms.

Look Familiar? The Larami company produced dolls based on the TV Mini Series the MArtian Chronicles and based the clothing on the Keepers Robe. For more info on these and other companies check out our Mego Esque Gallery

'Star Trek: Picard' Season 3 Finale Post-Credits Scene Explained: Ending at the Beginning

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Editor's Note: This article contains spoilers for the series finale of Star Trek: Picard.

After ten thrilling weeks, Star Trek: Picard has, at long last, aired its final episode bringing the final story for The Next Generation crew to an end. The long-awaited final season delivered the even longer-awaited reunion of the TNG cast for one last ride, giving them a more fitting send-off than the one fans had been left with after the last (poorly received) Next Gen movie, Star Trek: Nemesis .

Season 3 kicked off with a distress call from Beverly Crusher ( Gates McFadden ) leading Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) into the greatest adventure of his life. When Picard and Riker ( Jonathan Frakes ) arrive aboard her ship — finding her in dire straits — they're greeted by a son they never knew she had and it quickly becomes clear that Picard is his father. The mystery that unfolds from there brings in some of Star Trek 's greatest foes and most legendary heroes. From a harrowing showdown with one of the most formidable changelings we've ever seen on screen, to the return of Picard's most personal enemy, the Borg , Season 3 is jam-packed with action, Easter eggs, and emotional performances.

The final two episodes of the series play together like a movie, bringing the crew of the Enterprise-D home to the bridge where they spent their lives learning to trust each other and defend the galaxy. In the Picard finale, Jack Crusher ( Ed Speleers ) finally discovers the mystery that has been plaguing him his entire life — Picard's fateful run-in with the Borg has made his son into a sort of human-borg hybrid. As the crew sets out to rescue Jack and save Earth and all of Starfleet from one of the most dangerous attacks they've ever faced, every member of this found family is in fine form. Picard is forced to face his darkest fears to rescue the people that mean the most to him—Beverly, Riker, and Worf ( Michael Dorn ) are action heroes, Geordi ( LeVar Burton ) takes the captain's chair, Data ( Brent Spiner ) is able to rely on his instincts, and Deanna ( Marina Sirtis ) flies the D into the heart of the Borg cube to bring them all home.

Elsewhere, Seven ( Jeri Ryan ) and Raffi ( Michelle Hurd ) serve as Starfleet's last line of defense. And when all is said and done we're left with a profound sense of hope. Flash forward to a year later, and Jack has fully embraced his father's chosen family and is now an ensign assigned to one of Starfleet's most notable ships—the Titan turned Enterprise-G. Woven into the merriment of these final moments is the sense that the game never ends, there will always be new adventures for these heroes even if we never see them again. As we close out the series with a shot that beautifully mirrors the series finale of The Next Generation , we linger with the crew playing one last round of poker. We stay here through the end of the main credits, and we're greeted with a lovely little post-credits scene of Jack unpacking his things in his crew quarters. In this final moment, Picard squeezes in one last infamous Easter egg with the appearance of John de Lancie 's Q . Though humanity's trial has long ended for Picard, Q informs Jack that it has only just begun for him. RELATED: 'Star Trek: Picard's Gates McFadden Talks 'InvestiGates' Season 2, Dream Guests, and What She Loves About Beverly Crusher

The Q Continuum is an omnipotent alien race of godlike beings that can travel anywhere in time and space and do almost anything you can imagine with the snap of their fingers. This particular Q hs appeared to Picard in both the premiere and finale of The Next Generation — as well as several times in between, and he also appeared on both Voyager and Deep Space Nine .

While Q is not exactly an outright villain, he's somewhat of an antagonist, especially for Picard who often found him to be the very bane of his existence. De Lancie has always played the character as a roguish foil to Stewart's more formal Picard, and their chemistry throughout the years created a fascinating sort of love-hate relationship that was a genuine pleasure to watch whenever the two shared the small screen.

Bringing Q Back From the Dead

In the final episodes of Season 2 of Picard , Q assumed that he was dying and fans expected to never see him again. However, it's so extremely like this trickster to rise from the dead upon learning that the son of Jean-Luc Picard has joined Starfleet. Collider's own Maggie Lovitt recently sat down with Season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas to discuss the series finale, including this special moment. During their conversation, Matalas spoke about bringing the series back to where it all began. "Where better to end than at the beginning, right," he told Lovitt. "It was an honor." Q's appearance in this post-credits scene echoes his first appearance to Picard, down to his regal red and black costuming. Getting de Lancie to come back for this special moment was as easy as asking according to Matalas, who told the actor about his plans on his final day on set for Season 2 — "I told John [de Lancie] about it on his last day, and he was like, 'Absolutely, I'll come back. It would be amazing.'"

Matalas also explained that the moment serves as a sort of callback to a moment from the Next Generation finale. "That moment at the end of “All Good Things…” when Q goes to whisper about, 'There's a thing you should know, Jean-Luc,' and then he's like, 'Ah, you'll see.' Maybe that was about Jack," the writer/director told Lovitt. This moment acts as a hopeful cherry on top of the final season of Picard . With the introduction of the next Next Generation alongside so many iconic legacy characters, fans have been calling for a spin-off series . While nothing has been greenlit yet at Paramount, the inclusion of this moment certainly proves that the possibility is there. Whether we see these characters again on our screens, in comics, or in novelizations, Q's return is a happy reminder that these adventures could continue for eternity.

Don't miss Lovitt's full conversation with Matalas on the series finale. All 10 episodes of Picard Season 3 are now available on Paramount+.

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Help - Who is the Screaming Guy in the Star Trek credits?

• Thread starter DisneyBoy
• Start date Aug 23, 2010

Searchin' My Soul

• Aug 23, 2010

There's this crazy alien face in the original Trek credits that has scared me for years, and now I have to know who/what he is. And find a nice clear picture of him without the credits blocking his face. Can anyone help me? Here's the bugger of which I speak.... http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_3coZeukKrUc/SeadMHsQu2I/AAAAAAAAAds/d8TN8P31YPQ/s1600-h/startTREK.jpg  

Ravioli, Ravioli

All the information concerning this character can be found here .  

Aquadementia

That's a lot of mulaney.

But if you don't want to be spoiled, he is from the season one episode “ The Corbomite Maneuver .” Go watch it now! Spoiler You are supposed to be frightened. Spoiler He is a puppet man used by a diminutive alien when communicating with new species to intimidate them until he knows if they are good people.  

Uncreative Hack

• Aug 24, 2010

Aquadementia said: Spoiler You are supposed to be frightened. Spoiler He is a puppet man used by a diminutive alien when communicating with new species to intimidate them until he knows if they are good people. Click to expand...

That puppet scared the pants out of me when I was a child. In fact, I avoided watching the TOS credits because it scared me so much. I only got over my fear by watching the episode which the puppet appeared. Ironic.  

Gatomon41 said: That puppet scared the pants out of me when I was a child. In fact, I avoided watching the TOS credits because it scared me so much. I only got over my fear by watching the episode which the puppet appeared. Ironic. Click to expand...

• Aug 25, 2010

Lord Dalek said: Spoiler I don't know whats more terrifying, the puppet or the fact that "real Balok" is actually Clint Howard Click to expand...

Aquadementia said: Yes. See DisneyBoy, you're not alone. I think it had me too for a while, but since I was always watching Trek I got used to him. It’s one of the scariest creatures from that tv era. I’m sure it inspired plenty of nightmares. Actually, I find Sci-Fi that features some sort of puppet or doll to be some of the most frightening stuff. Spoiler The thing is even though the other alien is jovial there is a whole different creep factor working there once you hear him talk. Click to expand...

Fourteen Years!

Really funny timing. I was watching the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" yesterday with the commentary. Someone (I forget who - David X Cohen?) confessed to being afraid of Balok and would hide his eyes whenever Star Trek would end.  

• Aug 26, 2010

Lord Dalek said: It's deffinetely one of the more effective alien designs they had in TOS, along with the Horta. But is it scarrier than the "giant eye from hell" from the last few Season 1 Twilight Zone's? Probably not. Click to expand...

• Sep 2, 2010

Aquadementia said: The one with the messed up eyelashes? Yeah, that's not something you want to see late at night. I think the doll's eye freaks out plenty of people too. Click to expand...

Mack Kinnon

• Aug 3, 2017

DisneyBoy said: There's this crazy alien face in the original Trek credits that has scared me for years, and now I have to know who/what he is. And find a nice clear picture of him without the credits blocking his face. Can anyone help me? Here's the bugger of which I speak Click to expand...

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In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.

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Published May 29, 2024

The Darkest Treks: Star Trek's Closest Calls with Black Holes

From lost probes to ancient treasure, Starfleet's encounters with black holes require science know-how and faith of the heart.

This article contains story details and plot points for Star Trek: Discovery's "Lagrange Point."

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As the journey of Star Trek: Discovery comes close to reaching its endpoint, the eponymous starship and crew have found themselves at the end of a very long road. In the search for the technology left behind by the mysterious Progenitors , we learn that the technology itself has been hidden at a specific spot, right in a tricky place, between two black holes. In scientific terms, this is called a " Lagrange Point ," which is where the episode gets its name and refers to a location in space between two bodies in which gravitational attraction and repulsion are enhanced, creating what NASA calls "parking spots," in space.

In this case, the two bodies that have created a small parking spot are two black holes, rendered in all their glory, resembling what physicist Kip Thorne posits black holes would really look like if observed from a spaceship. But, Star Trek has been thinking about black holes, long before current science was really sure what they might look like, and, as such, Starfleet's history with this phenomenon goes deep. So deep, you might say, that light can't even escape!

Here's a brief history of Star Trek 's best black hole adventures, and how these wonderfully mysterious phenomena continue to pull us in.

Voyager 6 … I Presume?

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

In Star Trek: The Motion Picture , the crew of the Enterprise learn that a giant machine intelligence known as V'Ger is really a mash-up of an ancient alien lifeform and an old Earth space probe called Voyager 6 . Decker tells us that the probe "disappeared into what they used to call a black hole." In 1979, the same year as the Disney sci-fi romp titled The Black Hole , the actual term "black hole" was still relatively new, at least in the popular consciousness. Although the etymology of "black hole," can be traced to the early 1960s, it was not until 1967 — smack-dab in the middle of the first run of The Original Series — that the scientific term became more widely used. Before the 1960s, referring to a collapsed star with an unbeatable gravitational pull wasn't standardized, and as far back as the 1700s, the term "dark star" was often used instead.

"Beyond the Farthest Star"

This is why Decker says people used to call various gravitational phenomena black holes. At the time, the coinage was still fairly new! In The Animated Series debut episode, "Beyond the Farthest Star," the Enterprise gets into the orbit of a "dead star," which is an imprecise astronomical term, because again, at the time, black holes had just recently become fully codified as black holes.The 1967 TOS episode " Tomorrow is Yesterday ," also mentions that the Enterprise uses a "black star" to create a slingshot effect and travel back in time. In theoretical physics, a "black star" is a kind of alternative theory to a black hole, but, it's also possible that in "Tomorrow is Yesterday," Starfleet merely called it a black star, and it was really a black hole.

In real life, NASA has not lost any probes to black holes, at least not that we know. But, on Voyager I and Voyager II , there is a golden record, containing various pieces of information about Earth, including an audio recording of Nick Sagan saying, "Hello from the children of planet Earth." Sagan is the son of Carl Sagan and was a writer for The Next Generation and Voyager .

Singularity Headaches from Voyager to Enterprise

"Parallax"

Speaking of spacecraft called " Voyager ," the wayward crew in Star Trek: Voyager dealt with more than their fair share of black hole conundrums. In the second regular episode of Voyager , ever, " Parallax ," they encounter an event horizon of a "quantum singularity." In physics, the center of a black hole is called a singularity, the place of infinite density. In "Parallax," the proximity to this singularity the Voyager crew believed there was another ship trapped in the same area of space, but, in reality, it was a time-delayed echo of Voyager itself.

In the episode " Hunters ," the Voyager crew was able to transform a microsingularity into a full-blown black hole, and thus, destroy an attacking Hirogen ship. A few years later in Earth time — but roughly 200 years prior in Star Trek time —  the Enterprise episode " Singularity " found the crew of the NX-01 skirting the edge of a black hole, resulting in everyone becoming obsessed with irritating minutiae. You could say, the proximity to the singularity of a black hole made the crew single-minded .

Real Black Holes Come To Star Trek

"If Memory Serves"

As NASA has pointed out over the years, black holes are not fully understood by contemporary science, an evolving truth that is reflected over the years throughout all of Star Trek , too. This is why, it wasn't until the 2019 Discovery episode " If Memory Serves " that we got our first Star Trek glimpse of what current science thinks a black hole might really look like. When siblings Spock and Burnham take an unauthorized road trip to Talos IV, the Talosians create an illusionary black hole around their planet to ward off the visitors. From this point, all versions of Star Trek have begun using this conception of black holes on-screen. While the red-matter-generated black hole Spock created in the 2009 Star Trek film looks incredible, the version first depicted in Discovery Season 2 is more scientifically up-to-date.

This contemporary version of a black hole also appeared in the Strange New Worlds episode " Memento Mori ," in which the Enterprise crew uses the gravity of a brown dwarf star — tethered to a black hole — to escape attacks from the Gorn. A black star of this nature also appears in the opening credits of every single episode of Lower Decks , in which it appears the U.S.S. Cerritos almost gets sucked into a black hole, but, thankfully, narrowly escapes.

"Lagrange Point"

Because Discovery pioneered this newer look for black holes, it's fitting that two black holes appear in the penultimate episode of the entire series. From navigating the multiverse to the mycelial network, Discovery has had more than its fair share of encounters with the stormy weather of outer space. But, with the double black holes of "Lagrange Point," Discovery proves that when it comes to space obstacles, sometimes, the classics work best.

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Ryan Britt is the author of the nonfiction books Phasers on Stun! How the Making and Remaking of Star Trek Changed the World (2022), The Spice Must Flow: The Journey of Dune from Cult Novels to Visionary Sci-Fi Movies (2023), and the essay collection Luke Skywalker Can’t Read (2015). He is a longtime contributor to Star Trek.com and his writing regularly appears with Inverse, Den of Geek!, Esquire and elsewhere. He lives in Portland, Maine with his family.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and also airs on Cosmote TV in Greece. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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Star Trek: Discovery tore itself apart for the good of Star Trek’s future

And it helped set the tone for where Star Trek is now

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If you were to jump directly from the first episode of Star Trek: Discovery to its finale — which just debuted on Paramount Plus — the whiplash would throw you clear out of your seat like your ship had suffered an inertial damper malfunction. Since its first two chapters premiered on CBS All Access in 2017, the series has moved to a different ship and a different century, and has acquired an almost entirely different set of characters. Moreover, Discovery has received a radical tonal refit, evolving in fits and starts from a dark and violent war story to a much sunnier action-adventure serial.

Though it never won the mainstream attention or critical acclaim of its spinoff, Strange New Worlds , nor the gushing fan adulation of Picard ’s Next Gen reunion , Discovery spearheaded Star Trek’s return to television , the franchise’s maiden voyage into the frontier of premium streaming content. Like any bold pathfinder, Discovery encountered obstacles, suffered losses, and made some major course corrections. But, if you ask the cast and crew, the adventure has been more than worth the tumultuous journey.

Tacking into the wind

“We were on wobbly legs for a long time,” admits star Sonequa Martin-Green, whose character, Michael Burnham, has had the rug pulled out from under her a number of times over the course of the series. In the first season and backstory alone, Burnham lost her parents, saw her mentor murdered, was tried for mutiny, discovered that her first love is a Klingon sleeper agent, and was betrayed by not one but two Mirror Universe doppelgängers of trusted Starfleet captains.

Move over, Deep Space Nine — this was instantly the grimmest canonical depiction of the Star Trek universe on screen. Season 1 of Discovery was rated TV-MA and featured more blood and gore than the franchise had ever seen, not to mention an instance of graphic Klingon nudity. (Actor Mary Wiseman recalls seeing her co-star Mary Chieffo walking the set wearing prosthetic alien breasts and thinking, What the hell? ) The corpse of Michelle Yeoh’s character is cannibalized by Klingons off screen, and her successor, portrayed by Jason Isaacs, turns out to be a manipulative psycho from the Mirror Universe who tries to mold Burnham into his plaything.

The bleak, adult-oriented tone was not the only sticking point with Star Trek purists, as Discovery would take place a decade before the original 1960s Star Trek but have a design aesthetic much closer to that of the 2009 movie reboot, leading to some irreconcilable clashes with continuity. The show’s serialized, season-long arcs were a far cry from the familiar “planet of the week” stories of most previous incarnations of the franchise. Then there was Burnham’s backstory as the never-before-mentioned human foster sister to Trek’s iconic Vulcan Spock , a creative decision that has “clueless studio note” written all over it. Even ahead of its debut, Discovery faced vocal opposition from the fan base for straying so far from their notion of what Star Trek was supposed to be. (Not to mention the revolting but quite vocal faction of fans who were incensed that Star Trek had “gone woke,” as if it hadn’t been that way the whole time.) Many of Discovery ’s detractors flocked toward The Orville , a Fox series starring and created by Seth MacFarlane that was essentially ’90s-style Star Trek with the occasional dick joke thrown in. The Orville offered fans alienated by Discovery ’s vastly different approach to Star Trek a more familiar (but far less ambitious) alternative.

The grim Klingon War story was the brainchild of co-creator Bryan Fuller, who had been a member of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Voyager writers rooms before creating cult series like Pushing Daisies and Hannibal . Fuller would end up departing Team Discovery before production even began, asked to resign after a string of creative differences with the studio. New showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg carried out a version of Fuller’s plans without him, and then oversaw the show’s first major pivot. Discovery ’s second season was immediately brighter, more colorful, and cozier with established Star Trek lore. (This is the arc that would introduce the versions of Pike , Spock , and Number One who now lead Strange New Worlds .) But things weren’t so sunny behind the scenes — Harberts and Berg were fired midway through the season after writers accused the duo of creating an abusive work environment.

As different as Discovery would eventually stray from the HBO-style drama of its first season, co-creator Alex Kurtzman feels that the mission of the series has never changed.

“One of the things that we set up in season 1 is that we knew that Burnham would start as a mutineer and end up a captain,” says Kurtzman. “What was exciting about that is that we knew it would take time.”

Captain on deck

It was after Harberts and Berg’s departure that Kurtzman, who had remained involved but been primarily occupied with the development of the growing television Star Trek franchise as a whole, took the helm of Discovery himself. Before long, he would promote writer and co-executive producer Michelle Paradise to the role of co-showrunner, which she would retain for the remainder of the series. Just as the late, great Michael Piller did during the third season of The Next Generation , Paradise brought a sense of stability and confidence to Discovery , which reverberated onto set.

“I commend Michelle Paradise and the rest of the writers because this show evolved ,” says Martin-Green. “Our initial showrunners, Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg, they made their impact and that’ll never be erased, but landing where we did with Michelle co-showrunning with Alex Kurtzman, jumping farther than any Trek had gone before, I feel that’s when our feet were solid on the ground and when we really established our identity.”

Season 2 fell into a steady rhythm that felt more in tune with Kurtzman’s “movie every week” philosophy, never far in tone from the reboot film trilogy on which Kurtzman served as a writer and producer. The steady presence of Michelle Yeoh’s deliciously amoral Emperor Georgiou was a major boon, essentially becoming Star Trek’s answer to Buffy ’s Spike or Dragon Ball Z ’s Vegeta. However, Discovery was also undeniably borrowing clout from legacy characters Pike and Spock, and the constant friction with established canon wasn’t sitting well with Kurtzman or the audience.

The season ended with a surprising twist that resolved the continuity problems but also changed the entire nature of the show. The titular starship and its crew would be propelled 930 years into the future, past the furthest fixed point in Star Trek’s continuity. No longer forced to tiptoe around the sacred canon, Discovery was free to sprint in a bold new direction. Once again and in a more tangible way, it was a whole new show.

“If the folks who came in had sort of taken us off the rails that would have been a very different experience,” says Anthony Rapp, who portrays the prickly Commander Paul Stamets. “But Michelle Paradise came through as such a shining light and a beautiful presence in our lives. She took the show into this territory of being able to have the heart in its center in a way that felt very grounded and meaningful, and really helped us to make that transition.”

An open sky

Season 3 of Discovery offered Kurtzman, Paradise, producing director Olatunde Osunsanmi, and the rest of the creative team a rare opportunity to completely rewrite Star Trek’s galactic map . Not since the launch of The Next Generation in 1987 had a writers room been able to venture onto such “fresh snow,” as Paradise puts it. In the 32nd century, beyond the furthest point explored in the established Trek canon, the righteous United Federation of Planets has all but collapsed in the aftermath of “the Burn,” a mysterious space calamity. Some longtime friends are now adversaries, and even Earth has become an isolationist state. The USS Discovery, displaced in time, becomes the means by which to reconnect the shattered galaxy. It’s not hard to read this as a mission statement for Star Trek as a whole — a relic from another time, back to offer hope to a bleak present.

Season 3’s 13-episode arc restored a bit of Star Trek’s space Western roots, with warp drive a rare and costly luxury in the ravaged 32nd century and half the galaxy dominated by a vast criminal empire known as the Emerald Chain. Michael Burnham spent much of the season out of uniform, having found a new purpose as a more roguish freelance courier alongside the sweet and savvy Cleveland Booker (David Ajala). This is arguably the most interesting version of the show, as Michael questions whether or not Starfleet — the institution whose trust she has worked so hard to restore — is still her home.

By the end of the season (and right on schedule with Fuller and Kurtzman’s original plans), Michael Burnham finally accepts her destiny and becomes captain of Discovery. More subtly, this altered the premise of the show for a third time, as the central question of “Will Michael ever become captain?” had been answered in the affirmative. But, since she’d already been the central character and a figure of improbable cosmic import, the change was mostly cosmetic. And symbolic — Martin-Green considers her presence “being Black, and a woman, and a captain sitting in that chair” to be her greatest contribution to Star Trek. After three seasons of struggle and uncertainty, Burnham could now be as aspirational a character as Picard , Sisko, or Janeway .

The tone on which the show settled at the end of season 3 would be the one that finally stuck. Where the series had initially been bloody and brooding, it was now squarely an adventure show featuring a cast of characters with a boundless and demonstrative love for each other. The crew would face mortal danger each episode and a galactic-level threat each season, bolstered by very expensive-looking visual effects and a rousing score. At the same time, many conflicts both large and small would eventually be resolved by characters talking through their feelings and finding common ground. This was exhausting as often as it was compelling, but it was consistent. For its final two seasons, viewers could finally know what to expect from Star Trek: Discovery .

Discovering itself

This “feelings over phasers” approach was not for everyone, but it was never intended to be. Even from the outset, before Paramount began pumping out more Star Trek series to target different facets of the fan base, Discovery was never meant to be a definitive Star Trek experience that checked every box.

“You’ll never be able to be everything to everybody,” says Michelle Paradise. “The goal was always to make the best version of Discovery . It’s a different kind of Star Trek. It’s serialized, it’s fewer episodes, it’s a movie every week. That’s a thing that will appeal to many people, and for some people it won’t be their cup of tea.”

Discovery has bounced up and down my personal ranking of Star Trek series a number of times during its run, more than any of its past or present siblings. I have begun each season of the show with great excitement, and that excitement is frequently exhausted by season’s end. Most Trek series have good years and bad years. To me, Discovery suffers from being simultaneously brilliant, innovative, lazy, cringe, inspiring, and eye-rolling at all times, only in different measures. It features the franchise’s strongest lead actor since Patrick Stewart, and a supporting cast that has never been leveraged to my satisfaction. In my career, I have written more words about Star Trek: Discovery than any other television series, and I still haven’t made up my mind about it. For as many cheerleaders and haters as the show must have, I imagine there are many more viewers who feel the way I do — it’s a show that I wanted to love, but never fully fell in love with.

As Discovery disappears in the aft viewport, some will bid it a fond farewell, some will be blowing it raspberries, and some will turn away with total disinterest. But regardless of how well Discovery itself is remembered in the coming years, it has already made a substantial impact on the franchise. It paved the way for every Trek series that followed, including three direct spinoffs. Its second season was the incubator for Strange New Worlds , now the most acclaimed Trek series in a generation. Michelle Yeoh had such fun in her recurring role on Discovery that, even after winning an Academy Award , she was still keen to return for the upcoming Section 31 TV movie . Discovery ’s 32nd-century setting will continue to be explored in the new Starfleet Academy series , leaving the door open for some of its characters to return.

Even the new shows that have no direct relationship to Discovery have benefitted from the precedent it set by being different from what came before. Lower Decks is an animated sitcom, Prodigy is a kid-targeted cartoon , Picard is… a bunch of different things that don’t work together , but they are all different shows. Star Trek was one thing, and beginning with Discovery , it became many things. And for Star Trek, an institution that preaches the value of infinite diversity in infinite combinations, that’s a legacy to be proud of.

Star Trek: Discovery is now streaming in full on Paramount Plus.

Star Trek: Discovery boldly goes where no Trek has gone before by saying religion is... OK, actually

Star trek: discovery is cracking open a box next gen closed on purpose, star trek: discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants, loading comments....

Screen Rant

Alien romulus rating continues the franchise's 45-year-old trend.

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Alien: Romulus Is Already In Danger Of Continuing The Franchise's Worst Trend

Alien: romulus is setting up a heartbreaking twist if a 45-year franchise pattern continues, now this looks like the alien movie i've been waiting for, new alien: romulus image offers best look at classic xenomorph so far.

• Alien: Romulus is rated R.
• All six previous installments in the franchise have been rated R for some combination of violence and language.
• Fede Álvarez's previous movies take full advantage of their R rating, making him a great choice for the new Alien movie.

Alien: Romulus ' age rating is now official, and it continues a 45-year franchise trend. Directed by Fede Álvarez, the upcoming installment in the Alien franchise follows a young crew, which includes characters played by Cailee Spaeny and Isabela Merced, aboard a derelict space station as they face off against a deadly Xenomorph threat. Trailers for Alien: Romulus have already teased a bloody and horror-oriented take on the hit movie series, which began back in 1979 with Ridley Scott's seminal original movie.

Now, FilmRatings.com reveals that the MPA has rated Alien: Romulus R for " bloody violent content and languag e." This R rating continues a trend for the franchise that began in 1979, with all six previous movies have also been rated R for similar reasons. See the chart below for the previous Alien movie ratings and the reasoning behind them:

Fede Álvarez Knows How To Take Advantage Of An R Rating

Alien: romulus will be bloody.

Before taking on a movie in the Alien franchise , Álvarez directed two movies that speak to just how comfortable he is with an R rating . The movie that really put him on the map in Hollywood is 2013's Evil Dead remake. This film is filled with violence and cringe-inducing gore, and the third act features not only a gnarly chainsaw kill, but blood raining from the sky.

Álvarez also directed Don't Breathe in 2016, which, while not as bloody as Evil Dead , takes full advantage of its R rating. The film features inventive moments of genuine terror and disturbing themes. Even though there may not be a lot of blood and gore, Don't Breathe ultimately doesn't need them to feel graphic and terrifying.

Alien: Romulus is an exciting reset for the series, but its premise is already dangerously close to some earlier mistakes in the Alien franchise.

The R rating is arguably just as crucial to the Alien franchise as the iconic Xenomorph, so it's not entirely surprising that Álvarez's new film continues this trend. After Scott's Alien: Covenant was met with a lukewarm reception in 2017, Álvarez has an opportunity to revive the franchise and bring his signature sensibilities to the upcoming film . Many questions remain regarding how Alien: Romulus will make full use of its R rating, but it evidently means audiences could be in for a gnarly ride.

Source: FilmRatings.com

Alien: Romulus

Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.

Alien: Romulus - Release Date, Cast, Story, Trailer & Everything We Know

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'Star Trek: Discovery' ends as an underappreciated TV pioneer

Eric Deggans

Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham. Michael Gibson/Paramount+ hide caption

First, an admission: Though this column will offer a lot of discussion and defense of Star Trek: Discovery as a pivotal show, it won’t spend much time talking up the series’ current, final season or its finale episode, “Life, Itself,” dropping Thursday on Paramount+.

That’s because, for this critic, the last few seasons of Discovery have been a bit bogged down by the stuff that has always made it a tough sell as a Trek series: overly ambitious, serialized storylines that aren’t compelling; new characters and environments that don’t impress; plot twists which can be maddening in their lack of logic; big storytelling swings which can be confusing and predictable at once.

'Star Trek: Picard' soars by embracing the legacy of 'The Next Generation'

The show’s finale features the culmination of a sprawling scavenger hunt which found the crew of the starship Discovery bounding all over the place, searching for clues leading to a powerful technology pioneered by an alien race which created humanoid life throughout the galaxy. Their goal was to grab the technology before another race, ruthless and aggressive, could beat them to it, laying waste to everything.

It's no spoiler to reveal that Discovery ’s heroes avoid that nightmarish scenario, wrapping its fifth and final season with a conclusion centered on Sonequa Martin-Green’s ever-resourceful Capt. Michael Burnham and fond resolutions for a multitude of supporting characters (there’s even a space wedding!)

Still, this good-enough ending belies Discovery ’s status as a pioneering show which helped Paramount+ build a new vision for Star Trek in modern television – breaking ground that more creatively successful series like Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds would follow years later.

And it all began with a singular character: Michael Burnham.

A take on Star Trek for modern TV

Discovery debuted in 2017 on CBS All Access — the streaming service which would become Paramount+ — facing a serious challenge.

As the first new Trek series in a dozen years, it had to chart a path which offered a new vision of the franchise without going too far — carving out a new corner in the universe of Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock not long after the release of Star Trek Beyond , the third feature film produced by J. J. Abrams featuring rebooted versions of those classic characters.

Producers set Discovery ’s story 10 years before the days of Kirk and Spock (originally depicted on NBC for three seasons starting way back in 1966). The new series wouldn’t be centered on a starship captain, but its second in command: Burnham, a Black woman who also happened to be the hitherto unknown adopted daughter of Vulcan ambassador Sarek, Spock’s father (she would get promoted to captain of Discovery much later).

A Black human woman who was raised among the emotionally controlling, super-intellectual Vulcans? Who Trek fans had never heard of over nearly 60 years? Before I actually saw any episodes, my own feelings ranged from cautiously intrigued to cynically pessimistic.

But then I saw the first episode, which had an amazing early scene: Martin-Green as Burnham and Michelle Yeoh as Discovery Capt. Philippa Georgiou walking across an alien planet – two women of color marking the first step forward for Star Trek on a new platform.

People once sidelined in typical science fiction stories were now centerstage — a thrilling, historic moment.

Michelle Yeoh as Captain Philippa Georgiou and Sonequa Martin-Green as First Officer Michael Burnham in the very first episode of Star Trek: Discovery. Jan Thijs/CBS hide caption

And it got better from there. Back in the day, Trek writers often felt hamstrung by creator Gene Roddenberry’s insistence that, in the future depicted by the show, humans were beyond social ills like greed, prejudice, sexism, war, money and personal friction. The writers chafed, wondering: How in the world do you build compelling stories on a starship where interpersonal human conflict doesn’t exist?

But Discovery found a workaround, putting Burnham in a position where logic led her to mutiny against her captain, attempting a strategy which ultimately failed — leaving humans in open combat with the legendarily warlike Klingons. Discovery also featured a long storyline which played out over an entire season, unlike many earlier Trek shows which tried to offer a new adventure every week.

'First, Last And Always, I Am A Fan': Michael Chabon Steers Latest 'Star Trek'

The show’s first season had plenty of action, with Harry Potter alum Jason Isaacs emerging as a compelling and unique starship captain (saying more would be a spoiler; log onto Paramount+ and check out the first season). Fans saw a new vision for Trek technology, leveraging sleek, visceral special effects and action sequences worthy of a big budget movie, with design elements cribbed from several of the franchise’s films.

Later in its run, Discovery would debut Ethan Peck as Spock and Anson Mount as Christopher Pike, classic Trek characters who eventually got their own acclaimed series in Strange New Worlds . So far, five other Trek series have emerged on Paramount+ from ideas initially incubated on Discovery – including a critically acclaimed season of Picard which reunited the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Not bad for a series one TV critic eventually called among “the worst in the [ Trek ] franchise’s history.”

Discovery’s unappreciated legacy

Unfortunately, Discovery has taken some turns which didn’t work out quite so well. At the end of Discovery ’s second season, the starship jumped ahead in time nine centuries – perhaps to remove it from Strange New World ’s timeline? – placing it in an environment only distantly connected to classic Trek .

And while Discovery initially seemed cautious about referencing classic Trek in its stories, later series like Strange New Worlds and Picard learned the value of diving into the near-60-year-old franchise’s legacy – regularly tapping the show’s longtime appeal, rather than twisting into knots to avoid it.

There are likely fans of Discovery who would disagree with this analysis. But I think it helps explain why the series has never quite gotten its due in the world of Star Trek , initially shaded by skeptical fans and later overshadowed by more beloved products.

Now is the perfect time to pay tribute to a show which actually accomplished quite a lot – helping prove that Roddenberry’s brainchild still has a lot of narrative juice left in the 21st Century.

Credits for Star Trek: The Motion Picture

• View history

List of credits as presented in the film Star Trek: The Motion Picture .

Opening credits [ ]

• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• DeForest Kelley
• James Doohan
• George Takei
• Walter Koenig
• Nichelle Nichols
• Majel Barrett
• Persis Khambatta
• Stephen Collins as Decker
• Jerry Goldsmith
• Todd Ramsay
• Harold Michelson
• Richard H. Kline , ASC
• Gene Roddenberry
• Harold Livingston
• Alan Dean Foster
• Robert Wise

Closing credits [ ]

• Douglas Trumbull
• John Dykstra
• Richard Yuricich
• Lindsley Parsons, Jr.
• Robert Swarthe
• Jesco von Puttkamer
• the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Isaac Asimov
• Bob Fletcher
• Linda DeScenna
• Fred Phillips
• Janna Phillips
• Barbara Minster
• Tom Overton
• Phil Rawlins
• Danny McCauley
• Joe Jennings
• Leon Harris
• John Vallone
• Bonnie Prendergast
• Rick Mitchell
• Randy D. Thornton
• Richard L. Anderson
• Stephen Hunter Flick
• Cecelia Hall
• Alan Murray
• Colin Waddy
• George Watters II
• Dirk Dalton
• Joel Goldsmith
• Alan S. Howarth
• Francisco Lupica
• Frank Serafine
• Steve Hanley
• Bill Varney
• Steve Maslow
• Gregg Landaker
• Gene Kelley
• Alex Weldon
• Darrell Pritchett
• Marty Bresin
• Maurice Zuberano
• Michael Minor
• John Rothwell
• Suzanne Gordon
• Kevin Cremin
• Charles A. Ogle
• Anita Terrian
• Al Bettcher
• Michael Genne
• Larry Howard
• Agnes Henry
• Susan Sackett
• Dave Stewart
• Matthew Yuricich
• Rocco Gioffre
• Russ Simpson
• Phil Barberio
• Douglas Eby
• David Hardberger
• Alan Harding
• David McCue
• Scott Squires
• Hoyt Yeatman
• Jim Dickson
• Bruce Logan
• Charles F. Wheeler , ASC
• Jack Hinkle
• Evans Wetmore
• Richard Hollander
• David Negron
• Andy Probert
• Tom Cranham
• Robert McCall
• George Polkinghorne
• Virgil Mirano
• Ernest Garza
• Guy Marsden
• Pat Van Auken
• Larry Albright
• Bruce Bishop
• Al Broussard
• Chris Crump
• Lee Ettleman
• Rick Guttierez
• Mike McMillen
• Robert Short
• Robert Spurlock
• Mark Stetson
• George Trimmer
• Rick Thompson
• Paul Turner
• Don Wheeler
• Thane Berti
• Glenn Campbell
• Christopher George
• Scott Farrar
• Robert Freidstand
• Robert Hollister
• Tom Hollister
• Russ McElhatton
• Lex Rawlins
• Jonathan Seay
• Steve Slocum
• Deena Burkett
• Alison Yerxa
• Lisze Bechtold
• Merllyn Ching
• Elrene Cowan
• Cy Didjurgis
• Leslie Ekker
• Linda Harris
• Nicola Kaftan
• John Kimball
• Thomas Koester
• Deidre Le Blanc
• Linda Moreau
• Connie Morgan
• Greg Pierce
• Greg Wilzbach
• Stephen Fog
• John Gilman
• Jim Goodnight
• Fred Iguchi
• Robin Leyden
• Greg McMurray
• Josh Morton
• Michael Backauskas
• M. Katheryn Campbell
• Nora Jeanne Smith
• Bill Millar
• Mona Thal Benefiel
• Joyce Goldberg
• Leora Glass
• Brett Webster
• Alan Gundelfinger
• Milt Laiken
• George Randle Co.
• Precision Machine
• Dieter Seifert
• Rourke Engineering
• Robert Mayne
• Apogee, Inc.
• Robert Shepherd
• Grant McCune
• Roger Dorney
• Chuck Barbee
• Bruno George
• Michael Lawler
• Jerry Pooler
• John Sullivan
• Harry Moreau
• Alvah J. Miller
• Paul Johnson
• Martin Kline
• Jack Johnson
• John Shourt
• Dick Alexander
• Bill Shourt
• Don Trumbull
• Cosmos Bolger
• Dennis Dorney
• Robert Elswitt
• Phil Gonzales
• Greg Kimble
• Michael Sweeney
• Diane E. Wooten
• David Beasley
• John Erland
• Joe Garlington
• Pete Gerard
• Rick Gilligan
• Richie Helmer
• Michael Joyce
• Deborah Kendall
• Pat McClung
• Gary Rhodaback
• John Ramsay
• Dennis Schultz
• David Scott
• Dick Singleton
• Richard Smiley
• David Sosalla
• Susan Turner
• Chuck Embrey
• Mary Etta Lang
• Angela Diamos
• John Millerburg
• Denny Kelley
• David Bartholomew
• Steve Klein
• Mike Middleton
• Phil Joanou
• Mimi McKinney
• Ann M. Johnston
• Deborah Baxter
• Janet Dykstra
• Philip Golden
• Proctor Jones
• Tut Shurtleff
• B/G Engineering
• Abbot Grafton
• Gerald Nash
• Ron Resch , Boston University
• Magicam, Inc.
• Richard Foy , Communication Arts, Inc.
• Arthur Morton
• Captain Kirk – William Shatner
• Spock – Leonard Nimoy
• Dr. McCoy – DeForest Kelley
• Scotty – James Doohan
• Sulu – George Takei
• Dr. Chapel – Majel Barrett
• Chekov – Walter Koenig
• Uhura – Nichelle Nichols
• Ilia – Persis Khambatta
• Decker – Stephen Collins
• Janice Rand – Grace Lee Whitney
• Klingon Captain – Mark Lenard
• Alien Boy – Billy Van Zandt
• Epsilon Technician – Roger Aaron Brown
• Airlock Technician – Gary Faga
• Commander Branch – David Gautreaux
• Assistant to Rand – John D. Gowans
• Cargo Deck Ensign – Howard Itzkowitz
• Lt. Commander Sonak – Jon Rashad Kamal
• Chief DiFalco – Marcy Lafferty
• Lieutenant – Michele Ameen Billy
• Technician – Jeri McBride
• Chief Ross – Terrence O'Connor
• Lt. Cleary – Michael Rougas
• Woman – Susan J. Sullivan
• Ralph Brannen ( Crew Member 1 )
• Ralph Byers ( Crew Member 2 )
• Paula Crist ( Crew Member 3 )
• Iva Lane ( Crew Member 4 )
• Franklyn Seales ( Crew Member 5 )
• Momo Yashima ( Crew Member 6 )
• Jimmie Booth ( Klingon Crewman 1 )
• Joel Kramer ( Klingon Crewman 2 )
• Bill McTosh ( Klingon Crewman 3 )
• David Moordigian ( Klingon Crewman 4 )
• Tom Morga ( Klingon Crewman 5 )
• Tony Rocco ( Klingon Crewman 6 )
• Joel Schultz ( Klingon Crewman 7 )
• Craig Thomas ( Klingon Crewman 8 )
• Edna Glover ( Vulcan Master 1 )
• Norman Stuart ( Vulcan Master 2 )
• Paul Weber ( Vulcan Master 3 )
• Security Officer – Joshua Gallegos
• Lisa Chess ( Yeoman 1 )
• Leslie C. Howard ( Yeoman 2 )
• Sayra Hummel ( Technical Assistant 1 )
• Junero Jennings ( Technical Assistant 2 )
• Robert Bralver
• William Couch ( stunt double for William Shatner )
• Keith L. Jensen
• John Hugh McKnight

TM & Copyright © 1979 by Paramount Pictures Film Corporation, Inc. [ ]

All rights reserved. [ ].

• Alexander Courage
• Robert Abel & Associates, Inc.
• Richard Taylor
• Digital Equipment Corporation
• Sam Nicholson
• Brian Longbotham
• Polaroid Corporation
• Sutherland Computer Corporation
• Marvin Paige
• Pocket Books
• Panavision ®
• Metrocolor ®

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (The Director's Edition) [ ]

• Robert Wise Productions
• David C. Fein
• Michael Matessino
• Daren R. Dochterman
• Chuck Michael
• Foundation Imaging
• Ron Thornton
• Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz
• Sherry L. Hitch
• Stephen Burg
• Robert Bonchune
• Doug Drexler
• Trevor Pierce
• Lee Stringer
• David Morton
• Allen Hastings
• David Smithson
• Michael Donahue
• Brent Burpee
• Lindsay Adler
• Benjamin Martin
• Wilshire Stages
• Michael McDonald
• Peter G. Parise
• Miles O'Fun
• Apple Computer, Inc.
• Medéa Corporation
• 1 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 Calypso (episode)

The Alien: Romulus Trailer Looks Like The Sequel We've Wanted For A Long, Long Time

In space, nobody can hear you scream ... but even from orbit, you can probably hear the collective buzz unleashed by this heart-stopping new footage for the next "Alien" film. The first official trailer for "Alien: Romulus" has finally dropped , and the reactions are pretty much unanimous: Audiences simply can't wait to watch yet another cast of soon-to-be victims attempt to survive some of the most terrifying, chest-bursting, existential horror they've ever had the cosmic misfortune to experience. Neither Sigourney Weaver's beloved Ellen Ripley nor original director Ridley Scott are part of the action this time around, having passed the mantle down to rising star Cailee Spaeny and "Don't Breathe" filmmaker Fede Álvarez, but the new film sure looks like it's bringing everything else fans have come to expect from the classic sci-fi series. While Scott's divisive prequel efforts "Prometheus" and "Alien: Covenant" have garnered their fair share of supporters and detractors in recent years, all indications seem to be that "Romulus" might be exactly the return to its roots that this blockbuster franchise needed.

The wait until the film's release later this August just became exponentially more difficult to suffer through, but at least nobody has to do so alone. As if the original teaser released back in March wasn't exciting enough , the full-length trailer caused practically the entire internet to light up with hype thanks to plenty of gnarly jump-scares and freaky creature designs, some seriously stunning cinematography, and all the mayhem one could ask for from this series. But don't just take our word for it. Here's what the fans are saying about the impending release of "Alien: Romulus."

Fans are going wild over the visuals of Alien: Romulus

There's always a certain level of risk that comes with new installments of classic franchises, but there's no shortage of reasons to believe that "Alien" remains in safe hands with Fede Álvarez. The filmmaker has said all the right things so far, teasing the old-school aesthetics behind the technology on display in "Romulus," leaning hard on the advice and wisdom of directors Ridley Scott and James Cameron , and even relying on much of the same crew that helped build the original Xenomorph queen . But as far as fan reactions go, the images from the trailer are doing all the talking.

Viewers were quick to note just how gorgeous the visuals of "Romulus" look from the newly-released footage, starting from the very opening shot of raindrops splattered across a gloomy window. YouTuber and video essayist Patrick Tomasso explained as much in a post on Twitter (sorry, that would be "X," according to the Weyland-Yutani handbook), saying, "I stopped watching the new 'Alien: Romulus' trailer right at the opening frame. Raindrops on a window with venetian blinds? Vaguely futuristic city nightscape blurred in the background? I'm in. I'm sold. See you opening night."

The account for the fan-run The Fright Club echoed those thoughts , calling the trailer "gorgeous" and noting the very reassuring influences that "Romulus" appears to be drawing from. As they put it, "Definitely giving off the same aesthetic as both the original 1979 classic and [its] amazing 1986 sequel." This lines up perfectly with what  Álvarez himself recently told Empire , stating that, "To ask an 'Alien' fan to choose between them is a perverse question." Moviegoers can expect the best of both worlds, and that's fully on display throughout this trailer.

Is Alien: Romulus the best trailer of the year?

Here, we have to pause and give a shoutout to the editor(s) of this new footage, as well. If it's true that trailers can be an art in and of themselves, then this one for "Alien: Romulus" might have cemented its status as the best of the year so far. After all, how often do fans end up feeling just as thrilled by a tagline as they are by the actual action? The way these propulsive and tense two minutes incorporate the legendary words from the original film's marketing, however, deserves credit in its own right.

As one fan put it , "I loved how they turned the iconic tagline into their own thing, it's super clever." (Be sure to click through to the tweet to watch the specific clip they're referencing, as it singles out the exact moment where the editing directly homages the original film.) Elsewhere, Twitter user Roybattyforever didn't hold back on this aspect, either: "The trailer for 'Alien: Romulus' is an orgasm for the senses. It has it all: organic photography, action, suspense, and what about the credits, imitating the opening credits of 'Alien: The Eighth Passenger.'" (That last part is actually a reference to the title for the 1979 film in certain international territories, as seen here .) In any case, "Alien" fans clearly recognize a well-made trailer when they see one.

Over on the LV426 subreddit , internet users lavished praise on everything from the moment where a character uses a high-powered light to see the chestburster inside them to the intense sound design of all the gruesome kills to the novelty of seeing a young cast of characters thrown into a situation they're not remotely prepared for. "Alien: Romulus" bursts into theaters on August 16, 2024.

Alex Kurtzman on 'Discovery' finale and how 'Star Trek' has always been a mirror of the times

I n "Star Trek" terms, and in the real world of "Star Trek" television, Alex Kurtzman, who oversees the 21st century franchise, might be described as the Federation president, from whose offices various series depart on their individual missions. Indeed, to hear him speak of it, the whole enterprise — honestly, no pun intended — seems to run very much on the series' ethos of individual initiative and group consensus.

The first series to be launched, " Star Trek: Discovery, " has come to an end as of Thursday after five seasons on Paramount+. Others in the fleet include the concluded " Picard, " which brought "The Next Generation" into a new generation; the ongoing " Strange New Worlds, " which precedes the action of what's now called "The Original Series," from which it takes its spirit and several characters; "Lower Decks," a comedy set among Starfleet service workers; and "Prodigy," in which a collection of teenage aliens go joyriding in a starship. On the horizon are "Starfleet Academy," with Holly Hunter set to star, and a TV feature, " Section 31, " with Michelle Yeoh back as Philippa Georgiou.

I spoke with Kurtzman, whose "Trek" trek began as a writer on the quantum-canonical reboot movies " Star Trek " (2009) and " Star Trek: Into Darkness " (2013), at Secret Hideout, his appropriately unmarked Santa Monica headquarters. Metro trains glide by his front door unaware. We began the conversation, edited for length and clarity here, with a discussion of his "Trek" universe.

Alex Kurtzman: I liken them to different colors in the rainbow. It makes no sense to me to make one show that's for everybody; it makes a lot of sense to make a lot of shows individually tailored to a sect of the "Star Trek" audience. It's a misnomer that there's a one-size-fits-all Trekkie. And rather than make one show that's going to please everybody — and will almost certainly please nobody — let's make an adult drama, an animated comedy, a kids' comedy, an adventure show and on and on. There's something quite beautiful about that; it allows each of the stories to bloom in its own unique way.

Do you get pushback from the fans?

Absolutely. In some ways that's the point. One of the things I learned early on is that to be in love with "Star Trek" is to engage in healthy debate. There is no more vocal fan base. Some people tell you that their favorite is "The Original Series," some say their favorite is "Voyager" and some say their favorite is "Discovery." Yet they all come together and talk about what makes something singularly "Trek" — [creator] Gene Roddenberry's extraordinarily optimistic vision of the future when all that divides us [gets placed] in the rearview mirror and we get to move on and discover things. Like all great science fiction, you get to pick your allegory to the real world and come up with the science fiction equivalent. And everybody who watches understands what we're talking about — racism or the Middle East or whatever.

What specific objections did you find to "Discovery"?

I think people felt it was too dark. We really listen to our fans in the writers' room — everybody will have read a different article or review over the weekend, and we talk about what feels relevant and what feels less relevant. And then we engage in a healthy democratic debate about why and begin to apply that; it seeps into the decisions we make. Season 1 of "Discovery" was always intended to be a journey from darkness into light, and ultimately reinforce Roddenberry's vision. I think people were just stunned by something that felt darker than any "Trek" had before. But doing a dark "Star Trek" really wasn't our goal. The show is a mirror that holds itself up to the times, and we were in 2017 — we saw the nation fracture hugely right after the election, and it's only gotten worse since then. We were interpreting that through science fiction. There were people who appreciated that and others for whom it was just not "Star Trek." And the result, in Season 2, Capt. [Christopher] Pike showed up, Number One showed up, Spock showed up, and we began to bring in what felt to people more like the "Star Trek" they understood.

You're ending the series after five seasons. Was that always a plan?

You know, we were surprised we didn't continue, and yet it feels now that it was right. One of the things that happened very quickly as streaming took off was that it radically changed watch patterns for viewers. Shows that used to go 10, 12 seasons, people would tap out after two — like, "I got what I want" — so for any show to go five seasons, it's a miracle. In ways I don't think we could have predicted, the season from the beginning feels like it's the last; it just has a sense of finality. The studio was wonderful in that they recognized we needed to put a button on it, we needed a period on the end of the sentence, and so they allowed us to go back, which we did right before the strike, and [film] the coda that wraps up the series.

"Discovery" is a riot of love stories, among both heroes and villains.

There's certainly a history of that in "Star Trek." Whether or not characters were engaged in direct relationships, there was always a subtext of the love between them. I believe that's why we love the bridge crew, because it's really a love story, everyone's in a love story, and they all care for each other and fight like family members. But ultimately they're there to help each other and explore the universe together. If there's some weird problem, and the answer's not immediately apparent, each of them brings a different skill set and therefore a different perspective; they clash in their debate on how to proceed and then find some miraculous solution that none of them would have thought of at the outset.

One of the beautiful things about the shows is that you get to spend a long time with them, as opposed to a two-hour movie where you have to get in and out quickly and then wait a couple of years before the next one comes along. To be able to be on their weekly adventures, it affords the storytelling level of depth and complexity a two-hour movie just can't achieve in that way.

It's astonishing how much matter you got into these things. Some storylines that only lasted an episode I remembered as seasonal arcs.

The sheer tonnage of story and character we were able to pack into "Discovery" every episode was kind of incredible. The thing to keep in mind is that "Discovery" was made as streaming was exploding, so what I think you're also seeing there is a lot of writers who were trained in the network world with an A, B and C story applying it suddenly to a very different kind of storytelling in a much more cinematic medium. And when you have that kind of scope it starts to become really, really big. Sometimes that works really, really well and sometimes it was too much. And we were figuring it out; it was a bunch of people with flashlights in the dark, looking for how to interpret "Star Trek" now, since it had been 12 years since it had been on a television screen.

Are you able to course-correct within a season?

Sure. You get people you really trust in the room. Aaron Baiers, who runs Secret Hideout, is one of my most important early-warning systems; he isn't necessarily in the room when we're breaking stories, but he's the first person who'll read an outline and he's the first person who'll read a script. What I value so much about his perspective is that he's coming in cold, he's just like, "I'm the viewer, and I understand this or I don't understand it, I feel this or I don't feel it." The studio executives are very similar. They love "Star Trek," they're all die-hard fans and have very strong feelings about what is appropriate. It then goes through a series of artists in every facet, from props to visual effects to production design, and they're bringing their interpretations and opinions to the story.

Did "Strange New Worlds" come out of the fact that everybody loved seeing Christopher Pike in "Discovery?"

I really have to credit Akiva Goldsman with this. He knew that I was going to bring Pike into the premiere of the second season of "Discovery," and said, "You know, there's an incredible show about Capt. Pike and the Enterprise before Kirk takes over; there's seven years of great storytelling there" — or five years, depending on when you come into the storyline. I said, "We have to cast a successful Pike first, so let's see if that works. Let's figure out who's Number One, and who Spock is," which are wildly tall orders. I hadn't seen Anson Mount in other things before [he was cast as Pike], and when he sent in his taped audition it was that wonderful moment where you go, "That's exactly the person we're looking for." Everybody loves Pike because he's the kind of leader you want, definitive and clear but open to everyone's perspective and humanistic in his response. And then we had the incredibly tall order of having Ethan [Peck] step into Leonard [Nimoy's] and [Zachary Quinto's] shoes.

He's great.

He's amazing, just a delight of a human being. And Rebecca Romijn's energy, what she brings to Number One is such a contemporary take on a character that was kind of a cipher in "The Original Series." But she brings a kind of joy, a comedy, a bearing, a gravitas to the character that feels very modern. Thank God the fans responded the way they did and sent that petition [calling for a "Legacy" series], because everybody at CBS got the message very quickly. Jenny Lumet and Akiva and I wrote a pilot, and we were off to the races. Typically it takes fans a minute to adjust to what you're doing, especially with beloved legacy characters, but the response to "Strange New World" from a critical perspective and fan perspective and just a viewership perspective was so immediate, it really did help us understand what was satisfying fans.

What can you tell me about "Starfleet Academy?" Is it going to be Earth-based or space-based?

I'm going to say, without giving anything away, both. Right now we're in the middle of answering the question what does San Francisco, where the academy is, look like in the 32nd century. Our primary set is the biggest we've ever built.

So you're setting this —

In the "Discovery" era. There's a specific reason for that. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing he's inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it's going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that's a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set "Starfleet Academy" in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it's not going to speak to what kids are going through right now.

It'll be a nice fantasy, but it's not really going to be authentic. What'll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on "Star Trek: Discovery," where the Federation was greatly diminished. So they're the first who'll inherit, who'll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasn't room for that during the Burn — everybody was playing defense. It's an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; it's a very funny show, and it's a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.

And I'm very, very , very excited that Holly Hunter is the lead of the show. Honestly, when we were working on the scripts, we wrote it for Holly thinking she'd never do it. And we sent them to her, and to our absolute delight and shock she loved them and signed on right away.

And then you've got the "Section 31" movie.

"Section 31" is Michelle Yeoh's return as Georgiou. A very, very different feeling for "Star Trek." I will always be so grateful to her, because on the heels of her nomination and then her Oscar win , she just doubled down on coming back to "Star Trek." She could have easily walked away from it; she had a lot of other opportunities. But she remained steadfast and totally committed. We just wrapped that up and are starting to edit now.

Are you looking past "Starfleet" and "Section 31" to future projects?

There's always notions and there are a couple of surprises coming up, but I really try to live in the shows that are in front of me in the moment because they're so all-consuming. I'm directing the first two episodes of "Starfleet Academy," so right now my brain is just wholly inside that world. But you can tell "Star Trek" stories forever; there's always more. There's something in the DNA of its construction that allows you to keep opening different doors. Some of that is science fiction, some of it has to do with the combination of science fiction and the organic embracing of all these other genres that lets you explore new territories. I don't think it's ever going to end. I think it's going to go on for a long, long time. The real question for "Star Trek" is how do you keep innovating, how do you deliver both what people expect and something totally fresh at the same time. Because I think that is actually what people want from "Star Trek." They want what's familiar delivered in a way that doesn't feel familiar.

With all our showrunners — Terry Matalas on "Picard," the Hagemans on "Prodigy," Mike McMahan on "Lower Decks," Michelle Paradise, who has been singlehandedly running "Discovery" for the last two years, and then Akiva and Henry Alonso Myers on "Strange New Worlds" — my feeling is that the best way to protect and preserve "Star Trek" is not to impose my own vision on it but [find people] who meet the criteria of loving "Star Trek," wanting to do new things with it, understanding how incredibly hard it is to do. And then I'm going to let you do your job. I'll come in and tell you what I think every once in a while, and I'll help get the boat off the dock, but once I hand the show over to a creative it has to be their show. And that means you're going to get a different take every time, and as long as those takes all feel like they can marry into the same rainbow, to get back to the metaphor, that's the way to keep "Star Trek" fresh.

I take great comfort because "Star Trek" really only belongs to Gene Roddenberry and the fans. We don't own it. We carry it, we try to evolve it and then we hand it off to the next people. And hopefully they will love it as much as we do.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .

‘Alien: Romulus’ Trailer: Xenomorphs, Face Huggers and Chest Bursters Return in Terrifying Movie From ‘Evil Dead’ Director

By Jaden Thompson

Jaden Thompson

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20th Century Studios has released the first trailer for “ Alien : Romulus,” the upcoming science fiction film in the long-running “Alien” franchise. It is set for a theatrical release on Aug. 16.

Directed by Fede Àlvarez, the film takes place between the events of Ridley Scott’s “Alien” and James Cameron’s popular sequel “Aliens.” Cailee Spaeny, who played Priscilla Presley in last year’s “Priscilla,” is set to star in the standalone movie.

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The original 1979 “Alien” film followed Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, an astronaut whose crew comes face to face with a deadly alien in space. “Aliens” continues the story as Ellen, waking from cryogenic slumber, reluctantly goes on a mission to a faraway space colony to explore another potential xenomorph attack. Subsequent films in the “Alien” universe include “Alien 3,” “Alien: Resurrection,” “Prometheus,” “Alien: Covenant” and the 2004 crossover film “Alien vs. Predator.”

Àlvarez, who is known for directing horror films including “Evil Dead” and “Don’t Breathe,” has already shown the director’s cut of “Romulus” to Ridley Scott , who serves as a producer on the film. In conversation with Guillermo Del Toro at the DGA Latino Summit 2023, he revealed that Scott had a positive reaction.

Watch the trailer for “Alien: Romulus” below.

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