The Star Trek franchise is one of the biggest in the world, and so TV fans everywhere were excited when news broke back in November 2015 that a brand new live action show was in the works, with an intended release date of early 2017. Unfortunately, production has been delayed time and time again. Now, the head honchos of Star Trek: Discovery have revealed a big reason why we haven't gotten the show just yet. Co-showrunner Aaron Harberts had this to say about the delays:
There's is so much artistry and custom craftsmanship that go into every prop, every costume, every set. These things have to be designed and manufactured. We flew a costume designer to Switzerland to pick up the fabric for the Starfleet uniforms. Several items on our uniforms are 3D printed. Some of our sets can take over six weeks to make. CBS has given us the time and the money to make something the fans will find worthwhile.
It seems that the production team at Star Trek: Discovery has been so devoted to making the new show as remarkable as possible that they simply couldn't keep to a timetable. If they were going to kickstart the Star Trek universe back on the small screen, they were going to do it the right way, even if that meant flying somebody in from Switzerland to look at fabric. Kudos to CBS for giving the folks behind the scenes the resources and schedule that will allow them to produce something truly remarkable. We haven't gotten to see any episodes yet, so we can't say for sure how Aaron Harberts' vision for Discovery will look on the small screen, but the trailer (which you can check out here) is pretty amazing.
Co-showrunner Gretchen J. Berg also weighed in to EW about why Star Trek: Discovery is taking so long from a production standpoint, saying this:
You can't cut corners or have 95 percent of what's on screen be completely original and inspired and then have five percent something you bought at a store. It has to be cohesive -- and it is. I'm so proud of what's on screen, it's so beautiful and it's taking world-building to a whole new level.
Given all the effort that is going into the show, it seems that Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts were not willing to hold back on making every element of production look as fantastic as possible. In fact, everything about the time and investment in Star Trek: Discovery points to a TV show unlike anything else available streaming. Something tells me CBS All Access will do pretty well once Discovery premieres.
Unfortunately, we do still have a while to wait before we get our first full look at Sonequa Martin-Green as leading lady of a Star Trek series. Discovery won't debut until Sunday, September 24 at 8:30 p.m. ET. The series premiere will actually air on CBS, with the rest of the first season moving to CBS All Access and (ideally) taking an audience along for the ride. We can only cross our fingers at this point and hope that all the work that has delayed Discovery for so long will produce an exceptional TV show.
We still have months to go before Star Trek: Discovery debuts, so be sure to swing by our summer TV premiere schedule and our 2017 Netflix premiere guide for a look at what TV shows you can watch in the meantime.
