Human-Vulcan balance has new twist
‘Star Trek: Discovery’ lead is not captain
“Star Trek: Discovery” boldly goes where no Trek has gone before with two firsts: Its lead character, First Officer Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), is a black woman who’s not the starship’s captain.
But the newest offering in the legendary franchise — which premieres on CBS Sunday night before jumping to the network’s streaming service, CBS All Access, and set 10 years before events of the original series on the eve of war with the Klingons — also is rooted deeply in “Trek” history. Burnham grew up as the ward of Mr. Spock’s father, Vulcan Ambassador Sarek (James Frain), who was introduced 50 years ago in the original NBC series.
“It is a big connection. Sarek and Spock, these are institutions in the ‘Star Trek’ canon. And, so, I’ve been grafted into this family and story in such a courageous yet respectful, gentle way,” said Martin-Green, who anticipates some headscratching by fans. “The fact that you’ve never heard Sarek or Spock mention Michael Burnham is something we will be making sense of.”
The 15-episode “Discovery,” the sixth live-action Trek series and the first since “Enterprise” ended in 2005, is a splashy, pricey attempt to attract subscribers to CBS’ fledgling streaming service and international audiences seeking action-adventure fare.
There’s no guarantee, as interest beyond the core fan base ebbs and flows, and 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond” had the lowest box office of the three most-recent films.
“Discovery” takes a new look at the mix of Vulcan and human identities. Spock is the biracial child of Sarek and his human wife, Amanda, but Burnham is a nature/nurture mix, a human child raised on Vulcan after her parents were killed in a Klingon attack at a site under Vulcan protection.
Burnham has had academic success on Vulcan — she may know something about the famous neck pinch — and she rose in Starfleet to second-in-command on the USS Shenzhou. But the human tendency toward emotion and legendary Vulcan self-discipline can cause internal conflict, said Martin-Green, whose favorite “Star Trek” episode is Sarek’s first, 1967’s “Journey to Babel.”
“The Vulcan way of life is strict. Being indoctrinated with it was difficult, more difficult for (Michael) than it was for Spock, because he is half-Vulcan,” she said. “Being a human, you can see these two species warring within me.”
Frain is “having fun shaping the early version of Sarek, trying to be consistent without doing an imitation” of Mark Lenard, who originated the role.
Martin-Green sees the Sarek connection as one of many intriguing and sometimes conflicting ingredients that lead Burnham to her own trek of lower-case discovery.
“Being a fully human woman who is indoctrinated with the Vulcan philosophy and way of life and who now (is in) Starfleet … there’s quite an identity crisis going on,” Martin-Green said. “Who am I going to be?”