First look at Discovery transporters and other updates

This week's issue of Entertainment Weekly is out now, including a feature on Star Trek: Discovery they have been previewing all week. Among the new reveals is our first look at a new transporter on the USS Shenzhou, which is gloriously retro looking:

It has been previously reported that the USS Shenzhou is an older ship than the USS Discovery, and Entertainment Earth report will we indeed see something completely different once we board that ship.

For now though I love this look; I assume each dish targets one person for transport, and can't help but feel this will involve a really cool looking transporter effect!

Also notable here are the uniforms, including some sort body armour, suggesting a dangerous mission is about to be undertaken here. A look closely and you can see some very TOS-like phasers too!

TrekCore have posted several quotes from Entertainment Weekly, which also reveal we'll explore some other parts of Starfleet life with Burnham, not a captain, the focus of the series, as showrunner Aaron Harberts describes:

The joy is in the journey. The advantage to [Burnham] not being in charge of the bridge right now is we get to tell stories from a different point of view. It’s a fresh feeling because we’re not on the bridge all the time. We get access to more parts of the ship.

Harberts also outlined Burnham's path through the series:

Burnham’s background is that she was the first human to attend the Vulcan Learning Center and Vulcan Science Academy – so she’s spent a lot of time on Vulcan, but she’s human. Sarek plays and important role in her life, which has been completely planned until she makes a difficult choice that sends her life on a very different path.

When we meet her, she’s the first officer on the starship Shenzhou. Burnham’s choice that we’re alluding to is the most difficult choice you can make – it affects her, affects Starfleet, affects the Federation; it affects the entire universe.

That choice leads her to a different ship, the USS Discovery, and there we begin what Gretchen and I call our second pilot.

Star Trek: Discovery is due to start this September, and it will be distributed almost everywhere in the world on Netflix, except for the US where is will be available on CBS All Access, and Canada where it will be on Bell Media channels and services. To keep track of all the latest details from the new show, visit my Star Trek: Discovery guide page.