Discovery Around the World: Blackpool, Fan Expo & More

Star Trek: Discovery news is breaking every day as the show’s premiere approaches. StarTrek.com has you covered with the highlights from the past week:

CAST & EPISODIC PHOTOS

New cast photos and episodic shots were released, including the first solo photos of members of the U.S.S. Discovery crew.

ISAACS BEAMS IN TO BLACKPOOL ILLUMINATIONS

Jason Isaacs and Netflix joined forces on September 1st to surprise attendees at the annual Blackpool Illuminations event in the U.K.. The usual “Switch On” process was going fine, and then suddenly it wasn’t, as the power went on the fritz. Needing some intergalactic power ASAP, the hosts turned to Captain Gabriel Lorca of the U.S.S. Discovery.

DISCOVERY AT FAN EXPO

Space Channel was in the house at Fan Expo last weekend, as the event welcomed much of the Discovery cast and some of the behind-the-scenes crew, and also featured an opportunity to engage in some Trek-themed laser tag. The Discovery actors participated in a panel, answering questions from the hosts of InnerSpace and fans. Among those who participated in the panel were Sonequa Martin-Green, Jason Isaacs, Doug Jones, Mary Wiseman, Shazad Latif, Kenneth Mitchell and Anthony Rapp, joined by Ted Sullivan.

Jones discussed Kelpien and gave a runway model-like demonstration of Lt. Saru’s unique walk. “The boots really inform a lot of this,” he explained. “I have hooved feet, so I walk on the balls of my feet all day, in pain, for you. It kind of threw my balance off. My arms are already way back here, so why don’t I move them sideways instead? So, there was this supermodel thing happening. It’s kind of graceful, but come for me and I’ll kick your ass!” Mitchell, however, didn’t seem concerned. The actor joked that his Klingon character, Kol, “eats Kelpiens for breakfast.”

Asked for their most-exciting moments so far on the show, the actors were not without replies. Rapp explained that his was “Holding a phaser and a communicator at the same time, and saying into the communicator ‘Energize’. I was in the scene with Sonequa, and in between takes, I was literally like, ‘Oh, whoa!” Isaacs, not surprisingly, referenced his captain’s chair. “I try not to get too excited, but then we got onto the bridge there was a chair there, calling my name. It’s going, ‘Stick your ass on me’ and I wouldn’t do it. I spent the first two or three episodes conducting the war, standing like the torpedoes were members of an orchestra. I just put off sitting in the chair. My buttocks where William Shatner and Sir Patrick Stewart and so many others have placed their holy buttocks?! It’s too great.”

The second Discovery panel focused on the production design team. Panelists included Todd Cherniawsky (Production Designer), Mark Steel (Supervising Art Director), Matt Middleton (Art Director), Matthew Morgan (Lead Set Designer), Timothy Peel (Lead Motion Graphic Designer), and Andy Tsang (Graphic Designer).

As for the Trek-themed laser tag, the outfit Laser Quest helped run games all weekend long. With Klingons following close behind, the U.S.S. Discovery arrived at the Space Channel booth. Anticipating an attack, it was up to fans/players to help save the day.

SHENZHOU SHUTTLE

Courtesy of Netflix, attendees at the IFA Consumer Electronics trade show in Berlin last week got the chance to step into a mockup of the U.S.S. Shenzhou shuttlecraft.

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.