This S2 Star Trek: Discovery Behind-the-Scenes Video Is Serving Captain Pike Realness
Get excited, Trekkies! Star Trek: Discovery Season Two has officially gone into production, and the team behind the show released the above video on social media to celebrate the arrival of the U.S.S. Enterprise and one Captain Christopher Pike.
We know that Discovery has already cast the Enterprise’s captain pre-Kirk. Anson Mount will be taking on the role of Captain Pike, becoming the fourth actor to play the role after Jeffrey Hunter played him in the Star Trek pilot “The Cage,” Sean Kenney played a physically disabled Pike in “The Menagerie,” and Bruce Greenwood has played the role in the Kelvin Universe films.
In the above behind-the-scenes production video, we not only see glimpses of an Original Series-era yellow command shirt being sewn, but we see an actor (presumably Mount) in the shirt from behind. We then have a voiceover featuring the recorded voices of Jeffrey Hunter as Pike in some dialogue from “The Cage” spliced together with Leonard Nimoy as Spock from “Space Seed:”
PIKE: “I’m responsible for two-hundred and three lives. I’m tired of deciding which mission is too risky, and which isn’t. And who lives…and who dies.”
SPOCK: “Insufficient facts always invite danger, Captain.”
That voiceover is a counterpoint to Sonequa Martin-Green’s Burnham and James Frain as Sarek.
BURNHAM: “I was raised to believe that service was my purpose.”
SAREK: “I see an outsider. The child molded by wisdom and human compassion.”
Then we go back to Spock voiceover, from a conversation with Dr. McCoy “The Immunity Syndrome.” He says, “You speak about the objective hardness of the Vulcan heart, yet how little room there seems to be in yours,” referring to the idea that it’s easier for humans to mourn the death of one person than it is to mourn for many.
The video closes, appropriately, with Burnham’s voice: “I’m responsible for forging my own path. We all are.”
One of the things that had me hesitating a bit at the end of Discovery‘s first season is the fact that it ended with Discovery encountering the Enterprise. I was really hoping at least for a completely Original Series-free first season, to allow Discovery to truly stand on its own. Already there was a concession in the inclusion of Sarek and mentions of Spock, but I could appreciate that, because it was a nod to the old while remaining completely related to Burnham and her journey. Now, we’ve got the Enterprise full-on showing up.
While the upcoming inclusion of the Enterprise and Pike (and quite possibly, Spock) concerned me in the beginning, the dialogue they chose to highlight in this production video sets me at ease. Both Burnham and Saru will have to up their leadership skills in Season Two, and so the emphasis on the full spectrum of what the captain’s job entails makes sense.
We’ll likely see Burnham continue to struggle with her humanity and her Vulcan upbringing. What’s always fascinated me about her is that unlike Spock, who is literally half human and half Vulcan biologically, Burnham is fully human, but has been fully adopted into Vulcan culture. Her struggles are similar to Spock’s, yet there’s the added conflict of her actually being human.
And yet, despite Discovery‘s connection to the Original Series, despite Burnham’s connection to Sarek and Spock, the video ends with “I’m responsible for forging my own path. We all are.” It seems that Season Two of Star Trek: Discovery is all about Burnham coming into her own, and I’m here for it.
Are you excited for more Star Trek: Discovery? What are your hopes for Season Two? Let’s talk Trek below!
(via Star Trek: Discovery on Instagram, featured image: Jan Thijs/CBS)
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