SDCC Doctor Who & Star Trek Rundown

With Nerd-mecca (San Diego Comic-Con) over with for another year, I think it is about time we give a “quick” rundown of two of the major franchises we cover a lot here at Phenixx Gaming. We don’t usually cover everything Star Trek and Doctor Who, I do have digestive biscuits to eat and coffee to drink after all, but I do cover both quite a lot. Let’s talk about the exciting and some not-so-exciting, news pieces coming out of Comic-Con 2024.

We’ll start with the crossover and how disappointing that happens to be. Crossing over Canadian Developer East Side Games’ Doctor Who: Lost in Time and Star Trek: Lower Decks – The Badgey Directive, you’ll be bored to death in this crossover event starting this Thursday, August 1st.

The press release states: “The player will experience the story of a mysterious space-time ripple that throws the Doctor onboard Star Trek: Lower Deck’s U.S.S. Cerritos, while Lieutenant Brad Boimler and Ensign Beckett Mariner find themselves thrust into the enigmatic Doctor Who universe. With the ripple disrupting the very fabric of reality, the Doctor must join forces with the resourceful crew of the Cerritos, while Boimler and Mariner team up with the legendary River Song. Together, they race against time to repair the ripple and set things right.”

Sadly no great big crossover with Pike being snogged by Ncuti’s 15th Doctor. We all know this franchise and its constant bonk-on for the pointy-eared one, so it wouldn’t be Pike. Just a stupid mobile phone game crossover with the tired example of “let’s get Tennant, Alex Kingston, throw in a Dalek, and sure, put K-9 in there despite him not being in the show for nearly two decades.” I’m disappointed, not because of what it is but simply what it isn’t. It isn’t about exciting new things, it is about microtransactions and nostalgia.

Sticking with Lower Decks and what would have fallen perfectly in line with the last Doctor Who x Star Trek crossover, there will be a comic of the Cerritos’ crew. In connection with IDW Publishing, which previously published Ryan North’s Lower Decks miniseries, the new series will be debuting on the 13th of November, which I believe is near the end of season 5’s airing.

I’ll move on to something else here in a second to keep you from getting bored. There is a new season of Lower Decks on the way and a trailer dropped during the panel. Starting October 24th, 2024, season 5 will be the crew’s last on-screen adventures together, and it begins with a two-episode premiere.

Speaking of short-lived spin-offs, we’ll talk about The War Between Land and Sea – a five-episode miniseries starring Jemma Redgrave, Alexander Devrient, and two rather major returns. Also speaking of someone having a bonk-on, Russell has once again cast Russell Tovey in something related to Doctor Who. Not playing Midshipman Alonso, Tovey will be joined by Martha’s little sister Tish, or rather just Gubu Mbathu-Raw as she plays someone completely different too. With a title like The War Between Land and Sea, it doesn’t take a genius to realize Russell is salvaging Chibnall’s disastrous Sea Devils return.

The way Russell described it, they actually have a purpose this time instead of Chibnall’s “look, some froggy sea people – oh no, Chinese pirates, where did the froggy people go?” Instead, Russell described them more in an eco-centric story; “There is a race that lives beneath the oceans. They wake up and they see the state of the oceans that we have put it in: We have wrecked the place.” He also notes that filming begins in August and will take place across the world. Another globe-trotting adventure with U.N.I.T.

From good Doctor Who news to terrible Doctor Who news, it was also noted that music will be part of the show going forward. Oh Russell, how American of you. Russell went on to stress, “It’s not a musical episode,” thank Christ “but there’s an episode that’s packed full of songs. I should say no more without giving away too much.” Great, if Murray Gold is involved I’m going to put a saucepan over my head and shoot it with an automatic rifle so I don’t have to hear it. “The Devil’s Chord” was fine, but only as a one-off.

Another thing Ncuti lets slip is “continuing the pantheon.” Yes, it seems we’re not done with Henry Arbinger and the multitude of gods and beings to come. I’m not trying to say one way or the other, but I will also note that the obvious teaser at the end of series 14 was also mentioned: Anita Dobson will be returning soon in series 15. There is part of me that really hopes she isn’t involved with the pantheon though.

However, if you’re not a fan of young Black women seeing themselves in a mermaid, the mention of Jonah Hauer-King might pass you by. The young fella that played Prince Eric in 2023’s The Little Mermaid, Hauer-King has been in a few things including Sky’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz, but he’s joining Doctor Who for series 15. Russell must have felt validated being around Americans calling it “season” every ten minutes.

I’m trying to keep all the Series 15 news in one big block, there’s no point in jumping back and forth on that. Russell also makes note, finally, of who Varada Sethu will play in the upcoming series, becoming a second companion. Sethu was previously in Moffat’s “Boom” from series 14 playing Mundy Flynn, part of the religious warring capitalist group. Instead, this time Sethu will be playing Belinda Chandra, which has sparked debates and theory-crafting nonsense already.

Fans of the Elisabeth Sladen-led spin-off on CBBC, The Sarah Jane Adventures, will remember Anjli Mohindra’s Rani Chandra. Mohindra not only playing Rani but also playing Queen Skithra in Nina Metivier’s “Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror.” Of course, the other connection Mohindra has to Series 12 is her partner, Sacha Dhawan. As I say, the majority of this has been led by theory-crafting folks – people pulling out distant lore from one tiny shred of detail that they have no idea if it is connected. Much like the name Rani or Rose, it could have nothing to do with that.

Looking ahead to something else coming in 2025, Strange New Worlds had an individual panel. In fact, Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds, and yes, even Section 31 got its own panel. For now, I want to focus on the upcoming season of Strange New Worlds as it has a trailer, or rather five minutes of TV to watch 9 months to a year ahead of release. Following the events of “Hegemony” the crew are… fine. I mean, you’d have to be pretty stupid and not have great media literacy to think otherwise, but still.

If you were going to give a teaser or a thing to show from next season, I’d have done a couple of minutes from the first episode. Instead, we get the reverse of those times when Spock was made physically human for a while; Pike, La’an, Uhura, and even nurse Chapel seem fine and unphased from the events we last saw them in. The mid-point of the scene giving very Beastie Boys while surfing the wave of exploding ships vibes. Though of course, that’s not the only Strange New Worlds news we’ve got from the panel.

For the pedants who snort deep cuts on wikis for breakfast like it was coke in the 80s, Cillian O’Sullivan joins the cast as Dr Roger Korby. Kurtzman, Goldsman, and Alonso Myers have a short chat about how romance and relationships are an integral part of how they’re crafting the show. For those that aren’t caught up with 60 years of lore, this is to say Chapel’s husband Korby is in the picture while S’chn T’Gai finally becomes more human, more open. We’re also getting Martin Quinn back regularly, which I’m hesitant about.

Much like Lower Decks, there isn’t much detail given for Strange New Worlds. The latter is more so because it is several months to more than a year away, but we do know thanks to Jonathan Frakes spilling the beans, there will be a murder mystery episode. It seems the creative team feels bolstered by “Subspace Rhapsody” and wants to explore more “far out there” examples of genre.

Though speaking of Lower Decks and a series that goes as far back as Strange New Worlds, Mike McMahan notes that as a result of the creative team knowing the end was on the cards, he played his cards. Which is to say in a roundabout way, McMahan had chats and worked out ways to bring in, as he says on the panel, “legacy stars.” An interview with him back in 2023 notes that he was aiming for Enterprise stars, but I don’t think that’s been confirmed. As long as I don’t have to listen to Russell Watson.

Speaking of shows airing this year (bearly) and guest stars, Russell T Davies had a short clip from Nicola Coughlan, the Bridgerton and more importantly Derry Girls star. Diplomat Barbie and Artist Ken team up once again this Christmas, December 25th. As Coughlan notes, she’ll be playing Joy in Steven Moffat’s “Joy to the World,” and oh Ncuti does get around a bit.

This is how you do it Strange New Worlds. Show something from the first act of the next episode, show your character going to the most joyous of places and times: Manchester in 1940, 1962 on the Orient Express (always preferred Agatha Raisin), base camp of Everest in 1953, and a hotel in what looks like Shoreditch in 2024. That’s meant as an insult and to give some people a geographical idea of where that might be.

It is your typical Christmas special, you know, Ncuti running around offering a ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latte only to walk in on a green scaley fella being threatened with a hair drier by a woman named Joy. What’s not screaming Christmas to you? Right, it doesn’t have the Jebuz bit or the shouting at family because they want to watch Strictly and you’d rather drive over your own head with a combine harvester, but there’s Christmas lights in the street when she gets out the taxi.

Right, fine. Let’s get to Section 31, the thing that’s hung around the neck of Star Trek ever since season 2 of Discovery (“Saints of Imperfection” specifically), the showcase special film to make Michelle Yeoh happy. What has me down on Star Trek: Section 31 is the very thing Chapel said during “Under the Cloak of War,” when she said, “[…] for being black ops, these guys talk super loud.” Call it nostalgia, but I prefer the Dominion War era of this black ops unit – it wasn’t the focus, it had a purpose at the time, and it wasn’t so loud and dirty about its intentions. It had nuance.

Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, known for a few things here or there but largely Discovery, Section 31 is noted to be “Spy-fi.” Taking inspiration from Mission: Impossible (the one you are sadly thinking of), but also Kurtzman has compared it to Clint Eastwood’s 1992 film, Unforgiven. However, Yeoh’s co-star, Omari Hardwick, called Section 31 “Guardians of the Galaxy on steroids.” Going on to say that, under request of Kurtzman and Osunsanmi, “[what the producer and director] wanted from us was to make a messy version of the Star Trek world.” Fantastic! I’ll hate it and hope someone burns to death in their sleep.

Alongside Osunsanmi’s credit as director, Star Trek: Section 31 is also credited to writer Craig Sweeny, who Kurtzman worked with for CBS’ Limitless series. I’m not too familiar with Sweeny’s credits, doing some episodes of Elementary, several of Medium, and creating a military drama that failed on CBS, The Code. It’s not all bad though, as he also worked on 18 episodes of 2004’s The 4400 – For the love of all that is holy in your life, avoid The CW’s 2021 reboot simply titled “4400” like your life depends on it.

The teaser trailer doesn’t give much other than credence to Hardwick’s Guardians of the Galaxy comment. It is very vague and all over the place with garish costume design from top to bottom. There isn’t really a thing to pull from it that you don’t already know: Philippa Georgiou is a horrible psychopath with charisma, Kacey Rohl is Rachel Garret, and everyone else, you need to check their IMDB/wiki. We also know Joe Pingue, Miku Marineau, and Augusto Bitter are part of the cast. Pinguea best known for The Book of Eli, Bitters has been in very little, and Martineau was in lady John Wick film, Kate.

Starring Holly Hunter, Paul Giamatti, and a return of Mary Wiseman, another show is set to hit the small screen sometime around, probably 2026. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy didn’t have a panel but certainly did get a social media post, mostly announcing a lot of the cast. Beyond the three mentioned you have Oded Fehr and Tig Notaro from Discovery; Bella Shepard, Zoë Steiner, Kerrice Brooks, and Karim Diané join the cast; Robert Picardo is in there, and a woman I’ve loved for almost two decades because I like comedy, Gina Yashere is in there too.

The description from CBS (https://www.startrek.com/news/legacy-cast-joins-starfleet-academy-series) notes: “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will follow the adventures of a new class of Starfleet cadets as they come of age in one of the most legendary places in the galaxy. The series will introduce viewers to this young group of cadets as they come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism. Under the watchful and demanding eyes of their instructors, they will discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers as they navigate blossoming friendships, explosive rivalries, first loves[,] and a new enemy that threatens both the Academy and the Federation itself.”

Alex Kurtzman is noted to be directing an episode, he’s also credited as the show’s creator alongside Nancy Drew (2019) co-creator and writer/season 3 story editor for The Magicians, Noga Landau. Absentia creator Gaia Violo is set to write an episode too. Meanwhile, Josh Schwartz, who co-created Nancy Drew and has done a lot of work including be creator of Chuck alongside Chris Fedak, is set to serve as Starfleet Academy’s showrunner. We’ll get to it in the final announcement, but Tawny Newsome is also noted as being a writer for the show too.

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The last announcement (I thought this would be quick and easy) comes from Tawny Newsome and Star Trek panel moderator this year, Justin Simien. Simien is the writer and creator of the show and film Dear White People.

The two are joining together as writers and producers of a live-action comedy within the Star Trek universe. There is nothing to actually say about it, both Newsome and Simien note it is in stupidly early production. The only detail we have is the vague description from a social post: “Federation outsiders serving a gleaming resort planet find out their day-to-day exploits are being broadcast to the entire quadrant.” Truman Burbank? I hardly knew her.

Thankfully, if you would like to watch the whole Star Trek panel segment, you can do so on YouTube, which was professionally shot. You can do that in the video linked above. However, the ever-nice BBC and social team behind Doctor Who are either yet to pull their finger out and upload the professionally shot version of that panel, or just can’t be bothered so suckers like us have to watch third-party, lower-quality versions on YouTube. How dare I want to engage and learn details as a fan of your property?