This is the kind of night it was: William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols joined the cast and producers of Star Trek: Discovery for a group photo on the blue carpet at the Discovery world premiere, held Tuesday at the iconic Arclight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. Standing on either side of Sonequa Martin-Green, Shatner and Nichols literally passed the torch to yet another generation. Special guests, spouses, friends, TV crews, cameramen, fans… everyone oohed and aah-ed and soaked in the moment, so memorable, cool, fun and historic it was.
For more than 90 minutes before and after that remarkable moment, Trek talent brand-spanking new, classic and everything in between walked the carpet and spoke to StarTrek.com:
Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham)
“The secret is out of the can!” the energetic actress enthused. “Honestly, I’m really excited to talk about the story. We’ve had to talk about a lot of things and sort of tiptoe around it because we don’t want to tease it or spoil it, but now I’m really excited to talk about the story, because I think it’s really courageous.”
Akiva Goldsman (Discovery Executive Producer)
“Discovery is ready to be born. It’s unlike any Star Trek you’ve ever seen, in that it is so fundamentally and essentially Star Trek, in a way that I’m terribly proud of. And yet it brings with it the scope and the breadth of a movie. That’s pretty exciting.”
Doug Jones (Discovery's Saru)
Addressing whether he prefers people recognizing him or the anonymity provided by the many prosthetics-heavy characters he’s portrayed, the actor said, “I’m 57. I’ve been through 30 years of an acting career. I’ve had moments like this. I’ve had moments of going to Starbucks and nobody knows who I am. I’ve enjoyed both. So, when it’s announced who I am and why I’m there, I can do the celebrity thing. It’s great fun, but I don’t count on it. It’s not who I am. I want a minute at Starbucks having my mocha and talking to a friend in peace. That’s me, too.”
William Shatner (The Original Series)
“They asked me to come down and give a little history,” he said. “So, here I am. It’s understanding the anticipation of opening night. Even though it was filmed months ago, and it’s existed now in its final form for a while, it is opening night. Now, you and I and the rest of the world are going to look at it and say, ‘Oh, we like it or we don’t like.’ Opinion is going to be formed this evening as if the curtain went up. And that’s fun to be a part of.”
Kirsten Beyer (Discovery Writer)
“Nineteen months later… it’s totally surreal," Beyer said, "but I’m also so excited for people to finally see it. I think they’re going to be blown away?” By what? “How current it actually feels, while at the same time totally being Star Trek.”
Jeff Russo (DiscoveryComposer)
Acknowledging the challenge of paying homage to the music that Trek fans know and love while creating fresh music as well, “It’s difficult,” he said. “It’s difficult. I did a good amount of research and listening to all the themes, because it’s part of our world and part of our universe. But what I came to, for our main title theme, the importance was to go back to the beginning. And I posed this question to the producers. I was like, ‘Look, I know we want to write a new theme, and I really want to do that, but I feel like I need to tip my hat to Alexander Courage’s original theme.’ And not the middle part of it, which is the main part of it, but the big emotional moment that happens during that theme, which is the big fanfare. Alex Kurtzman said, ‘Absolutely, 100 percent do that.’ So, starting from there I worked backwards. I thought, ‘How can I fit that in? how is that going to work?’ And I wanted to make the middle sound a little more modern, a little more like what we might do today in a movie, but not be like the Star Trek movies. So, it was kind of a difficult thing. Finally, I wrote something and presented it to them, and they loved it.”
Shazad Latif (Discovery's Ash Tyler)
Among the highlights of his Discovery experience so far? Standing on the transporter. “It’s pretty incredible,” he raved. “It’s really weird because it’s all pretending. You know you’re not really transporting. It’s kind of weird acting. It’s actually one of the hardest things to act.”
Alex Kurtzman (Discovery Executive Producer)
“I never could have imagined that we’d be showing this at the Cinerama Dome,” the writer-producer-co-creator said. “We definitely did set out to blur the line between television and movies, which television is doing now anyway. So, in building this universe, in building this version of Trek, we all wanted it to feel like a massive cinematic experience.”
Bjo and John Trimble (The Couple That Saved Star Trek)
“It’s wonderful to be here, amazing,” John told us. “I just wish I had a miniscule piece of the action!” Bjo echoed his comment. “Pretty much that,” she said. “Who knew? No one could have predicted this. They thought we were a bunch of crackpots…” John interrupted. “Well, we were a bunch of crackpots, but we were nice crackpots.” Bjo smiled and added, “That’s true. That’s what we were. But here we are, out in Hollywood, at this premiere. Amazing.”
Ted Sullivan (Discovery Writer)
“I just want people to see the actual show, so that they don’t have to theorize about it, fantasize about it, be conspirator-alizing about it,” Sullivan explained. “I just want the show to be seen because I’m so proud of it. Everyone associated with it is so proud of it. I think when people see it, they will realize why there really needs to be Star Trek right now. I’m so excited to be telling this story.”
Mary Wiseman (Discovery's Sylvia Tilly)
The actress, much like her character, Tilly, is a newbie. “I get to live so close to my own experience,” Wiseman said. That makes it really easy. Some crazy sci-fi thing happens and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God! That’s so cool!’ And that ‘s how it feels. Plus, I have really warm, wonderful, capable people around me, which makes that even better.”
John Billingsley (Enterprise)
“We had a premiere for Enterprise,” he recalled. “It was at the Paramount lot. Everyone was so full of joy… for about 17 days! I would have no advice to give (the Discovery) cast because every animal is so different. You just can’t know, is it a hit? Is it a flop? Just enjoy it, whatever the hell it is.”
Anthony Montgomery (Enterprise)
“I’m rooting for them,” he said. “You know me, I’m always rooting for the best for everyone and for everything. I’ve seen what everyone else has so far, just the trailers. But I think this should be a very fun ride.”
Heather Kadin (Discovery Executive Producer)
“I just want the audience to bear with us and know that because we’re telling this story in a way we’ve never told a Trek story before, one story over 15 episodes, that by the end people are going to feel like, ‘Oh, they knew what they were doing. They tied everything up.’ I want people to know we’ve got them, and I want them to enjoy it.”
Other Favorite Blue Carpet Moments
Discovery's Mary Chieffo (L'Rell) & Kenneth Mitchell (Kol)
Discovery Executive Producers Aaron Harberts & Gretchen J. Berg with The Next Generation's Jonathan Frakes
Discovery's Creature Designers Glenn Hetrick & Neville Page
Julie Nimoy, daughter of Leonard Nimoy
Discovery's Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou) with Executive Producer Akiva Goldsman
Following the blue carpet festivities, it was into the screening, where an energized crowd was introduced to the producers and cast. Martin-Green spoke briefly, noting an inscription on a plaque aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou. “It says, ‘All existing things are one,’” Martin-Green explained. “And we ARE one, and we are here together now.” She added, “Let’s be in it together and enjoy the ride.”
Following the screening, StarTrek.com talked for a moment with Nichelle Nichols. She “loved” the experience of helping Discovery launch and was “proud” to see Martin-Green up there on the big screen. “I felt,” Nichols said warmly, “like that was me up there.” Earlier, on the blue carpet Nichols told Martin-Green, "It's yours now. Enjoy the ride."
Premiere Party
And then it was on to the after-party at the Dream Hotel just a couple of block away. Fans cheered as the Trek stars arrived and entered the event, and StarTrek.com was inside to capture additional moments. Check out our pics:
Discovery's Michelle Yeoh (Philippa Georgiou) with Discovery writer Ted Sullivan
Discovery's Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnhman) & Shazad Latif (Ash Tyler)
Discovery's Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly) & Shazad Latif (Ash Tyler)
Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor
Voyager's Roxann Dawson, Enterprise's Connor Trinneer & Deep Space Nine's Nicole de Boer
Discovery's Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber)
Discovery's Jason Isaacs (Gabriel Lorca)
Discovery's Kenneth Mitchell (Kol) & Mary Chieffo (L'Rell)
Discovery's Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets)
Star Trek: Discovery will debut September 24 on CBS All Access in the U.S. and Space Channel in Canada. The series will premiere on Netflix in the rest of the world on September 25.
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