Breaking Down CBS’ Discovery Delay Announcement

Star Trek Discovery will be pushed back to May 2017, but why is the date changing?

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This bit of news could be defined as both good and bad. It would appear that CBS and the production team behind Star Trek Discovery have decided to change the broadcast date from January to May next year. The reason comes from showrunner Bryan Fuller as both he and co-executive producer Alex Kurtzman put out a joint statement:

"“Bringing ‘Star Trek’ back to television carries a responsibility and mission: to connect fans and newcomers alike to the series that has fed our imaginations since childhood,” said executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Bryan Fuller.“We aim to dream big and deliver, and that means making sure the demands of physical and post-production for a show that takes place entirely in space, and the need to meet an air date, don’t result in compromised quality.Before heading into production, we evaluated these realities with our partners at CBS and they agreed: ‘Star Trek’ deserves the very best, and these extra few months will help us achieve a vision we can all be proud of.”"

So it would see the main decision for putting the show back a few months is to ensure that the show delivers and that expectations are met from the fan base. This is why I consider this both good and bad news. Bad because we have that extra two month wait but good because it demonstrates that the team want to make sure that the final product is of high quality and giving that we have had a 16 year wait for a Star Trek TV show means that they want to get it right straight away.

In addition to the statement above, CBS studio president David Stappf said:

"“The series template and episodic scripts that Alex and Bryan have delivered are incredibly vivid and compelling,” said David Stapf, President, CBS Television Studios. “They are building a new, very ambitious ‘Star Trek’ world for television, and everyone involved supports their vision for the best timing to bring to life what we all love on the page.”"

with CBS Interactive president Marc Debevoise adding:

"“We have an amazing inaugural slate of originals for CBS All Access and world-class creative teams behind each of our shows,” said Marc DeBevoise, President and Chief Operating Officer, CBS Interactive. “This line-up and release schedule will ensure we deliver the highest quality, premium series that are sure to appeal to both existing subscribers and new audiences alike, throughout the year.”"

So it certainly sounds like the project was just too big to be done right in the four months left before Discovery’s original January premiere. This sort of thing isn’t uncommon, remember it was two years between when the original Star Trek’s first pilot “The Cage” was filmed to when Star Trek: The Original Series actually aired on television.

We have waited 16 long years for Star Trek to return to our TV screens I’m sure that we can all wait just that little bit longer, especially if it means quality entertainment.

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