Hey! Hallie here!
Comic-Con is one of the largest events where a mass of geeks, regardless of fandom, come together to freak out about new content and nostalgic projects for an entire weekend. Everyone who’s lucky enough to get tickets can’t stop talking about how amazing it is to be there, and everyone who doesn’t get to go waits anxiously for Twitter notifications updating them minute-to-minute on new announcements. There’s tons of things I could talk about that have already been given major panels, many located at the highly coveted Hall H. That said, if you’ve been following this blog recently you know that one of my favorite things to talk about is ‘Star Trek’. (You’ll also know that we’ve been radio silent on Marvel and might remain that way for a while. Marvel fatigue is very real.) There were so many mind-blowing announcements for all three shows they covered at the ‘Star Trek’ panel, and I’m so excited about all of them that it’s really difficult NOT to talk about them. Let’s just get into the reveals!
‘Star Trek: Picard’:
Going in order of the way the shows were presented at the panel, the ‘Picard’ section definitely gave us the most fan-anticipated announcements. First off, we got to see Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden reunited on stage! They’re always so sweet together and spend a lot of time wholesomely complementing one another. Both of them took turns teasing small things about the new season. Stewart told us we’d be seeing the old Enterprise again and that two different Enterprises would be at play in the season. Meanwhile, McFadden said she felt the new season was the most Beverly Crusher had ever been given. I’m really happy she’s getting the screen time she deserves, and I’m even happier that the returning cast of ‘Next Generation’ are all part of the main cast instead of cameos. And then we got the trailer. This trailer gave us a first look at all of the characters we’re going to see take the spotlight in the new series. First there’s our returning cast, Picard, Seven of Nine, and Raffi. Of the cast of ‘Picard’ these three have been by far the most consistent and interesting, so I really don’t have any problem losing the rest of the cast. We also get footage of William Riker and Deanna Troi, who were some of the most memorable parts of ‘Picard’ season one. For the new (or old) faces, we get to see Geordi LaForge looking maybe the best he’s ever looked (I’m convinced LeVar Burton is a fae creature). Of all the small lines each character speaks in the trailer, his is the most interesting because it reveals that he’s now a father! Apparently his real-life daughter will be playing his daughter in the show. Then we get to see Worf! I ADORE Worf, and like many fans, I was concerned they would alter his appearance too much due to the recent Klingon redesign. But Worf looks exactly like Worf, as promised, and I’m so excited to see him in action! Lastly, Gates McFadden appears as Beverly looking amazing with her natural brown hair. ‘Picard’ has been a rough ride since it was released, but this season makes me feel like they could end it all with a story that makes up for all of it.
‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’:
‘Lower Decks’ is one of those shows that I always appreciate, even if the adult comedy style isn’t quite for me. Its charming cast really sells their characters and their love of ‘Star Trek’ is so obvious every time they get to talk about the show. From what we see in the trailer as well as what was said in the panel, the upcoming season, and by upcoming I mean we only have a month to wait, will start with the rescue of Captain Freeman. But it promises to go so many other places. Most notably, ‘Deep Space Nine’. ‘Deep Space Nine’ is my favorite series of ‘Star Trek’, so when I saw Joseph Sisko’s restaurant in the trailer, I was already freaking out. Hell, I was freaking out when the series name-dropped Miles O’Brien and Garak in past episodes. But then we see the Cerritos actually go to Deep Space Nine and the creators promised returning characters! Martok already appears in the trailer and we’ll see more once the season airs! I also love Rutherford in his Jake Sisko sweater. Truly an iconic look. Almost as iconic as the return of Peanut Hamper. I’m really excited to watch this next month!
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’:
If you were hoping for any major news regarding next season, you were probably disappointed. I’m not really surprised, however. ‘Strange New Worlds’ JUST ended their first season, and while season two is already filmed, it isn’t set to come out until later next year. We did get one huge announcement, though. Anson Mount knows about the hair memes and thinks they’re funny! Ok, I’m joking. He did confirm he liked the hair memes, but more important is the crossover event announcement. Apparently an episode of season two of ‘Strange New Worlds’ will feature live action versions of Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler played by their voice actors Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid respectively. The ‘Lower Decks’ characters are coming to Pike’s Enterprise! I don’t quite know how they’re going to do it, or even if Mariner and Boimler will be the only characters making the switch to live action in the show. But given the chaos these two can cause, I’m really looking forward to that episode. Aside from this major announcement we heard from Ethan Peck about how Spock will continue to explore his humanity in the upcoming season, and we heard from Paul Wesley about the younger version of Kirk we’ll see next season. Paul Wesley also received an epic ‘Star Trek’ cake and an enthusiastic “Happy Birthday” sung from the entirety of Hall H. It was really adorable to watch. Really we don’t know much about season two yet, but we do know that the writers aren’t planning on diverging from canon. Which might be interesting for relationships like the one between Spock and Chapel, which is already moving at a fast pace.
And that’s it! There were other smaller ‘Star Trek’ panels I haven’t talked about here, but I do recommend you check them out. From another Anson Mount appearance, to video games, to costuming, ‘Star Trek’ came out to Comic-Con this year with everything a Trekkie could want. I’m especially excited for the video game set to release later this year, ‘Star Trek: Resurgence’. The game is a single player, dialogue-based RPG set in the time period of ‘The Next Generation’ and ‘Deep Space Nine’. It promises returning characters and has already given us a good look at Ambassador Spock, who will be playing a major role in the game and who sounds almost exactly like Leonard Nimoy. If you haven’t heard of this, I really recommend checking it out. Either way, I’m so excited ‘Star Trek’ is making its way back to the center of pop culture. It’s truly one of my favorite franchises and if Comic-Con is anything to go by, there’s plenty more excellent content to see in the future.
Don’t do anything fun until I get back!
Hallie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 