Star Trek Magazine

captain's log

If you could serve aboard any Starfleet ship, from any era of Star Trek, which would you choose? The original, iconic Starship Enterprise, perhaps, with its trailblazing captain, frontier-forging five-year mission, and primary interior aesthetic? Or how about the U.S.S. Discovery – all gleaming lines and reality-warping “black alerts”? Although serving under Captain Lorca would have been, ah, interesting… For me, there’s really only one choice, as the picture above indicates. I’ve noted my particular attachment to Star Trek: The Next Generation before, but it’s more than that. The Enterprise-D has always struck me as being just a really nice place to work and play: spacious, welcoming, well lit, with a stern but caring captain, and populated by professional but seemingly un-harried folk who like nothing more than to hang out…

ten forward

FOUR TO THE FLOOR! Disco Season 4 hits the ground running As Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery nears its climax, filming has already begun on Season 4, with cast and crew hard at work at the production’s Toronto base. Widely expected, the news that Discovery’s fourth season was underway was officially confirmed in a video by stars Sonequa Martin-Green (Burnham) and Doug Jones (Saru), and Executive Producers and co-showrunners Michelle Paradise and Alex Kurtzman. Production began on Monday, November 2, with Martin-Green declaring beforehand that she was “so excited to be back on set,” and Paradise tweeting on the first day, “So proud of our [writers’] room – breaking and writing from corners, kitchens, garages, and home offices. And our production team – prepping a new season is a lot, especially in a…

starship mine

Doug Jones is tall, lean, long-limbed, and, in every personal encounter, talkative, compassionate, engaged, and preternaturally friendly. In pre-Covid-19 times, all those adjectives would coalesce over and over again when Jones would meet fans, family, and friends, in the form of a Doug Hug – a maneuver that encompasses a tight, heartfelt embrace, often followed by him wrapping has arms and hands around a person’s face. Jones brings that same immense level of warmth to Saru, his Kelpien alter ego on Star Trek: Discovery, and it’s transformed him – already a genre icon – and Saru into bona fide Star Trek fan favorites. Star Trek Magazine: Obviously hugging is a little difficult right now, but when did you become a serial hugger? Doug Jones: [Laughs] When I was 18 years old. I…

open book

David Ajala and sci-fi, horror, and fantasy seem to go hand in hand. The British actor, who, as Cleveland “Book” Booker, makes the acquaintance of Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) during Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery, also counts among his credits The Dark Knight, Jupiter Ascending, and Kill Command, and such television shows as Doctor Who, Misfits, Black Mirror, Beowulf, Falling Water, Nightflyers, and Supergirl. “I’ve been a busy boy,” Ajala admits with a good-natured laugh. “But you know what? I think it’s pure coincidence that I’m getting employment through those specific genres. Regardless of which type of genre it is, I always perceive character. That’s my anchor into working on something. I have to connect with the character on a very personal level, on a very micro level, and then…

selected credits

FILM Desmond, Kidulthood (2006) Desmond, Adulthood (2008) Bounty Hunter #2, The Dark Knight (2008) Floor Manager, One Day (2011) Baron, Payback Season (2012) Kelvin, Offender (2012) Ivory, Fast & Furious 6 (2013) Tyrone, Starred Up (2013) Ibis, Jupiter Ascending (2015) Drifter, Kill Command (2016) Detective Desmond “Buds” Lynch, Brotherhood (2016) TV Sean Campbell, Dream Team (2007) Flipside, Trexx and Flipside (2008) Peter, Doctor Who, “The Beast Below” (2010) Mark Blakefield, Silent Witness (2011) Jeff Carter, Black Mirror, “The Waldo Moment” (2013) Gavin Dale, Law & Order: UK (2013) Will Van Renseller, Black Box (2014) Rate, Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands (2016) Burton, Falling Water (2016–18) Roy Eris, Nightflyers (2018) Manchester Black, Supergirl (2018–19)…

fleets of engineering

NX Class (22nd Century) Launched in 2151 and powered by Henry Archer’s famed warp five engine, the NX class empowered United Earth with the ability to travel faster and farther than ever before. The NX-01 Enterprise played an instrumental role in humanity’s early dealings with the Klingons, Suliban, Andorians, Tholians, and Romulans. When the Xindi attacked Earth in 2153, Captain Jonathan Archer led Enterprise on a lengthy mission through the Delphic Expanse and successfully prevented the deployment of a planet-killing weapon against his homeworld. Enterprise’s involvement with the factions of the Temporal Cold War culminated in a brief stop in an alternate reality’s version of World War II, at which point its sister ship Columbia was almost ready for its own maiden voyage. At least two more NX- class ships were on…