When Captain James T. Kirk talked about “space…the final frontier,” in the opening monologue of the original Star Trek, future history was made. And although those sentences have been updated a few times, Star Trek hasn’t had a new opening monologue since The Next Generation. But, now that might change. The opening-monologue to looks Discovery to be a new spin on figuring out how exactly to boldly go.
On Monday, TrekCore reported on the various new offical Discovery images released by CBS on Twitter. Most of these images spotlight specific characters, but the most recent tweet seems to tease out what very well could be the words that open each episode of Discovery, spoken by lead character Commander Michael Burnham( Sonequa Martin-Green).
Here’s what she says:
As we stand at the edge of an unknown universe, we know our greatest challenges lie before us – that our future is not bound by fear, and that our mission is not to conquer, but to discover. That is our destiny: a destiny written in the stars… and so we boldly go where we have never gone before.
Of course, it’s possible that this isn’t the opening monologue for Discovery, and instead, just something CBS is using in the marketing of the show. But if it does turn out to be how each episode of the show will open, it’s significant. Though there have been five live-action Star Trek TV shows prior to Discovery, only two of them — the original series and The Next Generation — have opening monologues. Both Deep Space Nine and Voyager opened with their own respective orchestral themes, sans voiceover. Meanwhile the opening of Enterprise was set to the sounds of the pop song “Faith of the Heart,” which earned mostly scorn from fans and critics alike.
According to Slashfilm, the opening theme music for Discovery will be more traditional, and features a 60 piece orchestra. The theme song is reportedly a minute and half in length, though it’s not clear if it will be accompanied by an opening monologue or not. Either way, Star Trek has a long history with iconic music, so much in fact, that Trekkies probably all couldn’t agree on which theme best represents the franchise.
Star Trek: Discovery will debut on CBS All-Access on September 24.
See also: Daft Punk Mashed-Up With ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture.’
