527 - New York Comic Con 2021

This week on Episode 527 of Priority One: William Shatner returns to earth, NYCC returns and includes some amazing Star Trek announcements, Los Angeles has a new Star Trek destination, and things get spooky in Star Trek Online– Plus our review of the season 2 finale of Lower Decks!

TREK IT OUT

Edited by Jake Morgan and Thomas Reynolds

Shatner Slips The Surly Bonds Of Earth

By Elio Lleo

Space. The Final Frontier. And our first captain, James T. Kirk went on an incredible journey. Well, it was William Shatner who did the journey. On Wednesday, October 13th, the 90 year old broke records by joining Blue Origin for their second human space trip! At 10:30AM ET, all systems were a go and the Blue Origin rocket took off. Thankfully, the entire adventure went off without a hitch and upon exiting the pod, Shatner was visibly moved by the entire experience. 

Photo Via TVLine.com

After-Action Report: NYCC 2021

Star Trek: Discovery

New York Comic Con returned to in-person events this year with phenomenal panels, incredible cosplay, and–of course–sneak peeks into the future of Star Trek. Our focus this episode is on the Star Trek: Discovery and Prodigy panels that took place over this last weekend. First, Star Trek: Discovery and its upcoming fourth season: this was a riveting panel with a surprising in-depth, yet spoiler-free, look into what we can expect from our intrepid characters.

When asked about the general “theme” of this next season, Wilson Cruz had this to say: “I feel like the stakes that we were living in reads in that trailer...the stakes in the story were really high, but the stakes in which we were making and telling the story were also high. And the theme of the entire season is about uncertainty, and about how we come together to deal with it and walk through uncertainty, to lean on each other as we find a way through it. And we were doing that in life as well, so I'm excited for you to see it.”

Showrunner Michelle Paradise followed up by explaining that in this season, “The Federation isn’t quite back together again….it’s continuing in Season 4.”

For our first non-binary and trans characters, much was left wanting in Season 3. So, will Grey finally be seen? Wilson Cruz had this to say, “we find a way to make sure Grey is seen as promised, and we get to see just how vital he becomes to the story and our mission. And I’m just excited about the fact that we have–finally–an official trans character on the show, in Star Trek, in the universe. And he does an amazing job.”

Now, things got a little spicy in the auditorium when Sonequa Martin-Green and David Ajala were asked if we’d ever learn about what happened between their characters during that fateful year. Here’s what they had to say:

• DA: “I think it was just...a period of time where they were in the right place at the right time, to help each other, and to bring out the best in each other."
• SMG: "Mmmhmm."
• DA: "And it was...y'all need to behave yourselves. And...I think there was a lot of growth."
• [Someone saying what we're all thinking–Ed.]: "How much growth was there? And what was Grudge doing when all this 'growing' was happening?"
• DA: "Grudge was minding their own business. The timing was perfect for Michael Burnham to[...]rejoin Starfleet, but to really find her own identity independent [of] Starfleet. And it was also good for Cleveland Booker to be part of a 'family.' Again, these two people met each other at the right place at the right time, and I think Cleveland Booker is a better man for it. And Grudge too–and Grudge says 'wassup,' by the way."