2009’s Star Trek has a lot of problems, but it does something pretty smart with how it creates a new timeline. Because Spock goes back in time and is followed by a Romulan ship that destroys the USS Kelvin, a new timeline is created. That new timeline preserves everything that happened in all of the previous TV shows and movies into its own timeline, and then lets J.J. Abrams’ movie and its sequels play in their own timeline.

I mention all of this because after watching the new Star Trek: Discovery trailer, I have no idea how this show can take place in anything other than the Kelvin timeline. The way that it’s shot, the advanced technology, and the design of the Klingons are all stuff that’s in line with the recent movies. So when this trailer tells us that that show takes place “Ten Years Before Kirk, Spock and the Enterprise”, I have to assume it means the Kirk, Spock, and Enterprise we saw recently, not the 1966 series.

But even if it’s the case that it takes place in the Kelvin timeline, this doesn’t look like a particularly good Star Trek show. Aside from how cheap it looks and how badly it’s trying to emulate Abrams’ style with canted angles and lens flares, you also have a protagonist who’s talking about openly engaging the enemy rather than trying to make peace. I get that the show needs to sell the conflict between the Federation and the Klingons, but for a show with “Discovery” in the title, it looks like it’s cutting to the battle pretty quick.

Check out the Star Trek: Discovery trailer below. The series premieres this fall on CBS All Access and stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh, Doug Jones, Shaza Latif, Clare McConnell, Kenneth Mitchell, Maulik Pancholy, Anthony Rapp, Damon Runyan, Terry Serpico, and Jason Isaacs.

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