By David MacDonald S tar Trek taught me a lot when I was growing up. Putting aside its optimism in the human condition and its promise of a future where humanity has, in Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s words, “eliminated hunger, want, the need for pos- sessions,” it was through the TV shows and films that I first learned about the Kuiper belt, red dwarf stars like Wolf 359, exoplanets, and Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our own.
And it’s a franchise that keeps on giving into adulthood.
It’s because of Star Trek that I recently learned that the largest purpose-built soundstage in North America is here in Canada.
Star Trek: Discovery, the first incarnation of Gene Roddenberry’s enduring sci-fi legacy since Star Trek: Enterprise which was permanently shelved by CBS in 2005, is currently being filmed at Pinewood Toronto Studios. The 13 episode first season is scheduled to wrap-up shooting at the end of June and will premiere this fall on CBS in the US with remaining episodes slated for their new streaming service, CBS All Access. In Canada, Star Trek: Discovery will premiere on CTV with the remaining 12 episodes set to air on Space in English and Z in French. It’s because of Star Trek that I recently learned that the largest purpose-built soundstage in North America is here in Canada. It’s no secret that production has been plagued by delays brought on by rewrites and casting changes – Star Trek: Dis- covery originally had a January 2017 premiere date – but co-creator and executive producer, Alex Kurtzman is report- edly thrilled with recent additions to the cast and what they mean for the direction of the show. According to the Canadian Press, the cast of Star Trek: Discovery just got a lot more Canadian: From Jericho and Toronto, Kenneth Mitchell; from Battlestar Galactica and Vancouver, Rekha Sharma; Also from Toronto – but more famously, Degrassi: The Next Generation – Damon Runyan; and from Penny Dreadful and London, Shazad Latif. If you’ve noticed that Ontario is well-represented on board the USS Discovery – and other ships in the series, actually – you should know that there’s good reason. In 2015, the Canadian film, television and video production industry saw revenues that topped $4.5 billion CDN with Toronto accounting for nearly half of that figure.
For now, the right to call itself the true Hollywood North rests with Toronto. Sorry, Vancouver!
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MAY 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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