A new Television Series
USS Roosevelt is an American television series created for Amazon Prime by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman. It is the first Star Trek series since Enterprise: The Next Generation concluded in 1994. Set roughly two decades before the events of Enterprise: The Next Generation, Roosevelt explores the last New United Systems–Tellurian war while following the crew of the USS Roosevelt. Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts serve as showrunners on the series, with producing support from Akiva Goldsman.
Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, Chief Science Officer on the USS Roosevelt. Doug Jones, Shazad Latif, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Jason Isaacs also star. The new series was announced in November 2015, with Fuller joining as showrunner and wanting to make an anthology series. CBS asked him to make a single, serialized show first, with the prequel to TNG idea further developed. After further disagreements with CBS and struggles with other commitments, Fuller left the series in October 2016, replaced as showrunner by Berg and Harberts.
USS Roosevelt premiered on September 19, 2017, at ArcLight Hollywood, before debuting on Amazon Prime on September 24. The rest of the 15-episode first season was streamed weekly. The series gained very positive reviews from critics who highlighted Martin-Green's and Isaac’s performances. A second season was ordered in October 2017.
Premise
Set roughly twenty years before the events of Enterprise: The Next Generation, the show sees the Tellurian Empire in a war with the New United Systems that involves the crew of the USS Roosevelt.
Cast and characters
Sonequa Martin-Green as Lt. Cmdr Michael Burnham:
A Science Specialist on USS Roosevelt. Burnham is a human who was raised following Vulcanian culture and traditions by Savek, who rescued her after a Tellurian attack on a science outpost as she had no living relatives. Unlike the protagonists of previous Star Trek series, she was not made a starship captain, in order "to see a character from a different perspective on the starship—one who has different dynamic relationships with a captain, with subordinates, it gave us richer context". Fuller deliberately gave the character a traditionally male name, which he had done with the female leads of his previous series.
Doug Jones as Commander Saru:
First Officer of the USS Roosevelt. Saru is the first Kelpien to enter Starfleet. Kelpiens, a new species created for Roosevelt, were hunted as prey on their home planet and thus evolved the ability to sense the coming of death, giving them a reputation for cowardice. Jones based Saru's walk on that of a supermodel, out of necessity thanks to the boots he had to wear to portray the character's hooved feet, forcing Jones to walk on the balls of his feet.
Shazad Latif as Lt. Ash Tyler:
Tyler is Chief of Security for the USS Roosevelt. Tyler was held as a prisoner of war by the Tellurians. Latif described his character as "a very complex and painful and deep character", and noted that "there's a chemistry, a relationship" with Burnham.
Anthony Rapp as Lt. Paul Stamets:
Chief Engineer aboard the USS Roosevelt. He is the first openly gay character in a Star Trek series, and the showrunners "wanted to roll out that character's sexuality the way people would roll out their sexuality in life." Rapp noted that Nogura was portrayed as gay in the film Out of Darkness II, calling that "a nice nod. But in this case, we actually get to see me with my partner in conversation, in our living quarters, you get to see our relationship over time, treated as any other relationship would be treated".
Mary Wiseman as Ensign Sylvia Tilly:
Roosevelt is Tilly’s first assignment after graduating from the Academy. She works under Stamets in engineering. The character was included to represent people "at the very bottom of this ladder" of the Fleet hierarchy. She is "the most optimistic ... has the biggest heart", and showrunner Aaron Harberts described her as "sort of the soul of our show."
Jason Isaacs as Captain Gabe Lucas:
Captain of the Roosevelt, a "brilliant military tactician". Isaacs described the character as "probably more f—ked up than any of" the previously seen Star Trek captains. He plays the character with a slight Estuary English accent, and ad-libbed a catchphrase for the character feeling that all Star Trek/Enterprise captains should have one, coming up with "on my command”.
Episodes
There were 15 episodes in the first season of USS Roosevelt. Seven shown before Christmas and 8 after the New Year.
Development
On November 2, 2015, Paramount announced a new Enterprise television series to premiere in January 2017, "on the heels" of the original series' 50th anniversary in 2016. It is the first Star Trek series since Enterprise: TNG concluded in 1994, and the first show to be shown by streaming. Alex Kurtzman, co-writer of the films Star Trek and Star Trek II: Out of Darkness, and Heather Kadin were set as executive producers on the series, which is "not related" to the 2016 film Out of Darkness II: USS Enterprise.
In February 2017 Bryan Fuller, who began his career writing for Enterprise: TNG, was announced as the new series' showrunner and co-creator alongside Kurtzman. In March, Rod Roddenberry, the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and Trevor Roth of Roddenberry Entertainment also joined the series, as executive producers. Fuller said that working with people previously involved with Star Trek was "really about making sure that we maintain authenticity. An ability to ground science-fiction in a relatable way, and also making sure that we're telling character stories."
Fuller announced in June 2016 that the first season would consist of 13 episodes, though he would prefer to produce 10 episodes a season. A month later, Fuller announced the series' title to be USS Roosevelt, and revealed that it would be set between Enterprise and Enterprise: TNG to keep the concurrent series and films separate, so "we don't have to track anything [happening in the films] and they don't have to track what we're doing". During pre-production on the series, Fuller and Paramount continued to disagree on the direction of the show, which was starting to overrun its per-episode budget, and was falling behind schedule due to Fuller supervising all aspects of the series as well as another new show, American Gods. This caused frustration among Paramount executives who felt Fuller should be focused on having Roosevelt ready for release by the January 2017 premiere date. By August 2016, Fuller had hired Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts, who he had worked with on Pushing Daisies, to serve as co-showrunners with him. A month later, he and Kurtzman asked Paramount to delay the series' release so they could meet the high expectations for it, and the studio pushed the series premiere back to May 2017." At the end of October, Paramount asked Fuller to step down as showrunner, and announced a restructuring of the production: Berg and Harberts were made sole showrunners, working from a broad story arc and overall mythology established by Fuller; Kurtzman and Fuller would continue as executive producers, but with Fuller moving his attention fully to American Gods; and Akiva Goldsman would join the series in a supporting producer role, similar to the role he held on Fringe alongside Kurtzman. Paramount reiterated that they were "extremely happy with [Fuller's] creative direction" for the series, though some elements of the series that came directly from Fuller were dropped, including some designs and "more heavily allegorical and complex story" points. Fuller later confirmed that he was no longer involved with the series, but expressed interest in returning for future seasons.
After the series' premiere, Kurtzman said that the producers wanted to avoid announcing release dates and having to delay those for any future seasons, due to the external pressure that caused with the first season, but that he hoped a second season would be available in early 2019. The second season was officially ordered in October 2017, for 13 episodes.
Writing
"The defining factor of Roddenberry's vision is the optimistic view of the future ... Once you lose that, you lose the essence of what Star Trek/Enterprise is. That being said... Star Trek/Enterprise has always been a mirror to the time it reflected and [the topical question now] is how do you preserve and protect what the Fleet is in the weight of a challenge like war and the things that have to be done in war."
—Executive producer Alex Kurtzman on the balance between classic Star Trek/Enterprise and new elements in Roosevelt
The titular ship was named after Robert Peary’s ship on his Arctic expeditions, in a nod to the naming convention used by the ITC Star Trek (although it is also the surname of two US Presidents undoubtedly helped in its choice). Fuller saw the series as a bridge between Enterprise and TNG—which are set around 100 years apart—but set much closer to the latter to allow the series to "play with all the iconography of those ships and those uniforms". In May 2017, Sullivan described the series as "a genuine prequel" to Enterprise: TNG. The choice to feature a single serialized story throughout the first season was inspired by the general change in television to tell more realistic and serialized stories rather than the "new destination-based adventure each week" format mostly used in previous series
Casting
By June 2016, Fuller had met with several actors, and said that "we want to carry on what Enterprise: TNG did best, which is being progressive. So it's fascinating to look at all of these roles through a colour-blind prism and a gender-blind prism". A month later, Kadin clarified that the series would feature minority, female, and LGBTQ characters. In August, Fuller said the series would feature "about seven" lead characters, and would star a lieutenant commander, rather than a starship captain like previous series, to be played by a non-white actress. He said the series would also include more alien characters than other series, and would feature at least one openly gay character.
Fuller anticipated casting announcements in October 2016, but none had been made by the end of that month. The majority of the series main characters were believed to have been cast by then, but no actress had been cast for the series' lead role. This was a source of "some internal stress" at Paramount. Several African American and Latina actresses were being looked at for the role, with Paramount "not seeking a huge star and [preferring] a fresh face for the part." In October, the cast was believed to include "a female admiral, a male Tellurian captain, a male admiral, a male adviser and a British male doctor", with one of those male leads played by an openly gay actor. The next month, Doug Jones and Anthony Rapp were revealed to be cast, as Saru and Stamets, respectively. The former is a Kelpien, an alien race created for the series, while the latter is the first Star Trek/Enterprise character to be conceived and announced as gay. Sonequa Martin-Green was cast in the lead role in December, which was officially confirmed in April 2017, with the character's name revealed to be Michael Burnham. Also in December, Shazad Latif was cast as Tyler. In March 2017, Jason Isaacs was cast as Captain Lucas of the USS Roosevelt, and Mary Wiseman joined as Tilly, an Ensign.
Design
Mark Worthington and Todd Cherniawsky served as initial production designers for the series; Gersha Phillips and Suttirat Anne Larlarb designed the costumes; veteran designer John Eaves designed starships, along with Scott Schneider; and Glenn Hetrick and Neville Page of Alchemy Studios provided prosthetics, props, and armour. The series also employed seven art directors, over nine illustrators, more than thirty-five set designers, and over four hundred and fifty painters, carpenters, sculptors, model makers, welders, set dressers, and prop builders.
The opening title sequence for the show was created by Prologue using 2D motion graphics. The sequence, which uses a "vivid, sepia-soaked palette", depicts elements from throughout the history of Star Trek—such as phasers, communicators, and the Vulcan salute—and deconstructs them, which was intended to be an homage to past Star Trek series as well as an introduction to the more grounded and gritty tone of Roosevelt.[90]
Filming
Star Trek: Roosevelt is filmed at Pinewood Toronto Studios. Some of the series' sets took over six weeks to create, and new sets were being built up until the end of production of the season. Roosevelt took advantage of multiple soundstages at the studio, including the largest soundstage in North America. Some episodes for the show were filmed solely on existing sets, making them bottle episodes, though Harberts said the series would not do anything "as bottle-y as 'everyone is stuck in the mess hall!'"
Visual effects
Visual effects producers were hired to begin work on the series during the initial writing period, with Fuller explaining that the series would require such things as "digital augmentation on certain alien species" and "the transporter beams". He said, "We're trying to cultivate distinct looks for all of those things that are unique to our version of Star Trek and carry through the themes we love seeing in fifty years of Star Trek, but doing a slightly different approach." The shuttle bay of the Roosevelt is completely computer-generated, with actors performing in front of a green screen for scenes in that environment; using the digital set is more expensive than any other set created for the series, including the practically-built ones.
Music
The first teaser for the series featured music composed by Fil Eisler, which he "threw together as an audition" within three weeks. Before production on the series began, Charles Henri Avelange had also composed and recorded music for the series. Russo recorded the series' score with a 60-piece orchestra. The show's main theme incorporates elements from the original Enterprise theme. Soundtrack albums for two chapters of the first season were released on December 15, 2017, and April 6, 2018, respectively.
Marketing
The first full trailer for the series was released in May 2017. Forbes's Merrill Barr noted that the trailer was a good sign for many who believed the series would never be released following the many production setbacks and delays, saying, "Having a legitimate trailer that can be watched over and over again brings signs of hope, particularly for fans that have been waiting over a year for this moment. USS Roosevelt is real, and now we have proof.”
Reception
Ratings and viewership
According to Nielsen Media Research, the broadcast of the first episode was watched by a "decent" audience of 9.5 million viewers. According to "app analytics specialist" App Annie, the premiere of the series also caused the number of downloads of the Amazon Prime mobile app to more than double.
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 92% approval rating for the first season, with an average rating of 8.07/10 based on 61 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Although it takes an episode to achieve lift off, USS Roosevelt delivers a solid franchise instalment for the next generation—boldly led by Sonequa Martin-Green." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 82 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "generally good reviews".
NOTE: USS Roosevelt is the ITTL equivalent of Star Trek Discovery. It is MUCH better received by fans and is generally thought of as a good but not exceptional addition to the franchise.
