Star Trek: Picard - Amazon Prime [** POSSIBLE SPOILERS **]

Evade

Deleted User wrote: »

All the same as the circumstantial happenings in the books TBH.

You're right. When I need help with something I find a complete stranger instead of calling on someone I have a longstanding preexisting relationship with.


And just as a potential plot contrivance to get the band back together, Picard's 100th birthday is in 2405.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Sad Professor wrote: »

When articles say this "not a Star Trek: Next Generation reboot, [but] will tell the story of the next chapter of Picard’s life", what do they mean?

Does it just mean they aren't bringing back TNG as an ongoing series or that it will literally just be about Picard, perhaps in a completely different timeline a la Spock? Or is it just the case that they have only confirmed Stewart and don't want the rest of the cast putting up their prices because they think they need them?

It’s not a TNG reboot. Or continuation.

My hope is that he starts as an admiral, or semi retired but is forced back into exploration by an event. Maybe he goes rogue.


His ship won’t be enterprise level but serviceable. It will (I hope) be more an arc and or character driven than alien of the week.

pixelburp

Alex Kurtzman is definitely keeping my feet on the ground; fcking up Picard could really nuke fan support for TV trek and Kurtzman seems more than capable at eroding support for this project.

But hey, who knows, we already had Dune Buggy Picard, so perhaps the worst already happened and even a half assed series could redeem the character at this stage (though correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the dune buggy Stewart's own idea?)

Sad Professor

Yes, and Rambo Picard too, though a lot of that was in response to pressure from the studio who didn't see him as a leading man.

Picard was always a challenging character to write. Anytime he was front and centre in the show it usually involved some cerebral narrative (Darmok) or him being emotionally or physically compromised (Chain of Command, all the movies). I'm sceptical that the character can exist outside of the particular context of the TNG writer's room, much of enforced by Roddenberry and later Michael Piller.

If this works it will be because it's 20 years later and Picard is supposed to be different, older, reaching the end of his life, etc and hopefully that gives Stewart and whoever writes it a bit of perspective on the character.

AMKC

IvySlayer wrote: »

I think we're all just a bit excited of (the possibility) seeing the TNG/DS9/Voyager characters(s) being revisited.

No-one is suggesting we have a plot were Admiral Janeway is hosting a Voyager reunion party on DS9 and the TNG crew rejoined on the Enterprise who just happen to be docked there :P

What could be the main focus? Post-war rebuilding, a weaker Federation/Romulan Empire/Klingon Empire dealing with their issues, rebuilding Cardassia, a weaker Dominion, a possibly more xenophobic culture etc

I think if it set 20 years down the line all that will have been done by now.

I also hope it has nothing to do with being xenophobic. We have enough of that we trumb, his cronies, his idea of his new world order and his so called friends. It should not be dark, it should have stories about the human condition and how we can better ourselves. We live in dark times at the moment we need a show that can give us hope for the future. That is what Star Trek is about. That's what TNG was about.

Cookie_Monster

Was there not something somewhere about him eventually becoming ambassador to Qu'onos? or was that just one of the books?

AtomicHorror

20 years after Nemesis puts it around 2399- 12 years after the destruction of Romulus. Picard should be about 94 years old. But he was happily commanding a starship at the age of 74, so I guess that age wont mean that much.

It might mean more for the Enterprise E though- at 27 years, she could be up for decomissioning, if she's not already lost.

AMKC wrote: »

It should not be dark, it should have stories about the human condition and how we can better ourselves. We live in dark times at the moment we need a show that can give us hope for the future. That is what Star Trek is about. That's what TNG was about.

I think Stewart sees it the same way: "I feel I’m ready to return to him for the same reason – to research and experience what comforting and reforming light he might shine on these often very dark times."

TomSweeney wrote: »

Great, now if they can just keep identiy politics bull**** out of it ....

Then it wouldn't be Star Trek... so puzzling the people who call themselves fans but have never seen an episode.

TheValeyard

It could be centred around the destruction of Romulus and death of Ambassador Spock. Maybe its when the Klingon invasion of Romulan Empire happens in the All Good Things timeline.

Was never too fond of the ENT-E so wouldnt mind if that ship goes into retirement.

TomSweeney

pixelburp wrote: »

Whining about racial/gender/sexual/identity politics in a Star Trek show is hilariously redundant. It's STAR TREK. I look forward to there being LOTS.

No, the point is in a real Star Trek world they wouldn't go on about it.
They wouldn't care, individuals are individuals.

Did they go on about Jordi being black in TNG ? or about Picard being bald ?

But this new Discovery is a crock YES WE GET IT ... she's "Transspecies" with a male name ... stop harping on about it.

TomSweeney

Inviere

Deleted User wrote: »

All the same as the circumstantial happenings in the books TBH.

The books can be prone to taking things to actually stupid lengths though.

TheValeyard

Im pretty sure the Destruction of Romulus and Romulan civil war is canon.

Inviere

Murray TheDemonic TalkingSkull wrote: »

Im pretty sure the Destruction of Romulus and Romulan civil war is canon.

It is. I'm talking about the usual..

"Admiral Chekov meets Seven of Nine at a Voyager reunion party, and together, they learn of a plot to destroy the Federation by a new unknown danger. Admiral Chekov reaches out to his friend Ambassador Sulu, to gather up a secret, unofficial band of rogues who can tackle this new menace in the shadows. Sulu finds Thomas Riker, who has been drifting since escaping from a Cardassian/Dominion internment center. Thomas, togehter with Ro Laren, plead with Will Riker over subspace, to convince B4 to come join in their covert mission. B4, with all of Data's memories and abilities, reasons that to truly succeed, they're going to need help from two people; Worf, who can bring some Klingon Muscle to the table, and Ejeb, who has become an expert in the field of Borg Nanoprobe technology. And so the adventure begins..."

Sad Professor

TomSweeney wrote: »

No, the point is in a real Star Trek world they wouldn't go on about it.
They wouldn't care, individuals are individuals.

Did they go on about Jordi being black in TNG ? or about Picard being bald ?

But this new Discovery is a crock YES WE GET IT ... she's "Transspecies" with a male name ... stop harping on about it.

Is this spoilers for next season? Will Burnham be surgically altered to get pointy ears and green blood because she identifies as Vulcan?

Also if Burnham is "transspecies" just because she was raised Vulcan, does that mean Worf was too since he was Klingon raised human? They went on about that quite a bit as well as I recall.

pixelburp

TomSweeney wrote: »

No, the point is in a real Star Trek world they wouldn't go on about it.
They wouldn't care, individuals are individuals.

Did they go on about Jordi being black in TNG ? or about Picard being bald ?

Real Star Trek dealt with those themes ALL THE TIME. Seriously. In fact it was one of the key flaws of Trek was that it wasn't even subtle sometimes - it had all the nuance of a hammer and could be insufferably pompous: whether it was those half-black, half-white guys in Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, those goddamn Space Hippies; or those hilariously pompous episodes in TNG like Riker falling in love with the androgynous person in The Outcast, or when they had to relocate an entire colony of Native Americans :rolleyes: Oh wait, wasn't there also an episode about a planet where women were the super-dominant gender and it ended with Picard & co. lecturing women about tolerance? Good lord you had a whole race of rampant monster capitalists in the Ferenghi - but no, you want to get steamed 'cos they might want to tell a story about sexual discrimination. We could spend pages talking about Trek episodes that were obvious, crude allegories about sexual/racial/identity politics - it was there. It was gave Trek's own identity.


Oh sure, the Federation wasn't concerned with such things, but again - that was the point. Stories were written around Random Planet #424, that had some obvious, plainly allegorical connection with modern politics, whereby Trek crew could learn and teach these people about tolerance, acceptance - whatever. Sometimes Random Planet #424 was a planet of 1930s mobsters, so it was a mixed bag

It's totally disingenuous to just ignore Trek's obvious, well storied history about telling tales of a Utopian society, where that society frequently got to compare itself against other civilisations. It's kinda the key point of drama there - conflict. Trek wouldn't have got very far if it was 50 minute episodes of people sitting around the room talking about how much they like Early Grey. Hot.

And that's been the point of Science Fiction since the days of Mary Shelley: holding up the Human Condition through the prism of some fictional conceit beyond the realms of current science. If you think SciFi writers haven't used those conceits to tell tales of discrimination or politics, then tbh you're being a little naive.

TomSweeney wrote: »

But this new Discovery is a crock YES WE GET IT ... she's "Transspecies" with a male name ... stop harping on about it.

Dude, you're just making stuff up now: that literally NEVER came up in Discovery, not her name or even whatever 'transspecies' is supposed to be. You're just tilting at windmills here She was an adopted child of a Vulcan and all that came up from a dramatic point of view was the obvious human / vulcan conflict that came up. Burnham lived a life suppressing her very human emotions and if there was an arc in Discovery, it was about her learning to be human again.

And as for the name: that was a leftover from original show helmer Bryan Fuller, who has a writing eccentricity of giving his female character male names. That's it.

noodler

Think most will be disappointed.

Sounds like a low budget character driven idea taking place almost entirely on one planet.

Inviere

noodler wrote: »

Sounds like a low budget character driven idea taking place almost entirely on one planet.

How do you infer that? There's virtually nothing been announced other than "We'll see Jean Luc Picard once again"...

Optimus Prime

Haha there is absolutely no way to tell from that announcement what it’s going to be. But I can’t wait for it. Even Judging from the activity of this thread alone more people seem excited about it than discovery. I’m just happy we are finally getting a series that isn’t a prequel.

noodler

Inviere wrote: »

How do you infer that? There's virtually nothing been announced other than "We'll see Jean Luc Picard once again"...

Probably the same way people infer the possibility of intergalactic developments and cameos.

The fat the press release was so focused on the story of Picard or his "next chapter" rather than the show itself makes me think it tho tbh.

Sad Professor

noodler wrote: »

Probably the same way people infer the possibility of intergalactic developments and cameos.

The fat the press release was so focused on the story of Picard or his "next chapter" rather than the show itself makes me think it tho tbh.

As I suggested earlier, that may be a negotiating tactic to stop the other actors looking for too much money because they think they are needed. It means the studio can enter salary negotiations on the basis of "this story is just about Picard, we don't really need you".

coffee_cake

pixelburp wrote: »

Dude, you're just making stuff up now: that literally NEVER came up in Discovery, not her name.

the only thing i remember is tilly going 'oh the only woman i know of called michael is ... ha... oh wait'

Someone on reddit was saying they hope he doesn't get luke skywalker'd, so i hope that as well!
having wes back would be great. watching tng it's so sad the amount of SHUT UP, WESLEY

TheValeyard

bluewolf wrote: »

the only thing i remember is tilly going 'oh the only woman i know of called michael is ... ha... oh wait'

Someone on reddit was saying they hope he doesn't get luke skywalker'd, so i hope that as well!
having wes back would be great. watching tng it's so sad the amount of SHUT UP, WESLEY

I agree, bring back Wesley.

His funeral is long overdue

Inviere

Wesley is grand, I never got the outright hatred for the character.

pixelburp

bluewolf wrote: »

the only thing i remember is tilly going 'oh the only woman i know of called michael is ... ha... oh wait'

Someone on reddit was saying they hope he doesn't get luke skywalker'd, so i hope that as well!
having wes back would be great. watching tng it's so sad the amount of SHUT UP, WESLEY

Indeed, and even then it was less than a statement than a moment of "oh, that's an unusual name ... whoops". Season 1 by all accounts was the least overtly socially / politically versed Trek show yet when you get down to it - bar one fleeting "make the empire great again" comment in the parallel universe, and that was a bit of a cartoon.

Anyway. Picard. I myself worry this could be Star Trek: Logan rather than the Last Jedi: at least Luke went out standing up, some amount of dignity restored, not the miserable, nihilistic capper the Wolverine XMen era got. God that film was brilliant but soul crushing.

Inviere

pixelburp wrote: »

Indeed, and even then it was less than a statement than a moment of "oh, that's an unusual name ... whoops". Season 1 by all accounts was the least overtly socially / politically versed Trek show yet when you get down to it - bar one fleeting "make the empire great again" comment in the parallel universe, and that was a bit of a cartoon.

I think the general zeitgeist has changed too, which is contributing to a general 'moralistic fatigue' of late. Back when Trek was in its prime (TNG/DS9), the general and overarching tone of those shows was to quite simply, "do the right thing." Through its exploration of moral dilemmas, the viewers watched as someone like Picard wrestled with the ins and outs of a decision, weighed up its consequences, battled his own morals at times, and through that storytelling, we all took something from it. There was little else on TV at the time that I can recall, which showed or taught us how and why to do the right thing. Ultimately, we lapped it up, and many of us genuinely took lessons from those shows, and those lessons contributed to us growing, learning, and bettering ourselves.

Today it's different. The Internet has given loud voices to those who would be silenced, and while this is a great thing, it's also given voices to those who would twist values like equality, and rather than endeavor to set the scales of equality even, they seek to tip the scales from one side to the other. If anything, society can at times feel more fractured today than it did in times recently past with all the various groups and splinter groups shouting about how bad straight white males are. Therefore when a show like Discovery comes along, and tries to do what ALL of its successors have done, people get the slightest whiff of politics from it, and immediately think "aw here we go, ramming more of this crap down our throats."

It's a shame really, because Discovery has done nothing that previous shows haven't done. I think we're hyper sensitive to it these days though, and sadly, many will have had their fill of media giving us an angle for further equality.

Goodshape

If I were to guess now, I'd say it's an Starfleet academy show with Picard in a Dumbledore sort of role - a wise, old, moral compass for the young adventurers.

It would suit Stewart's age (although damn he looks almost as young as ever in that announcement video), would lend some class, dignity, and the maximum of fan-service to the already rumoured academy series, and basically kills two birds with one stone - PStew for the old guard, cadets for the younger fans.

But that's, obviously, a guess based on not much at all.

Gbear

One good thing about Patrick Stewart being quasi-immortal is that you would expect people to live a lot longer in the 24th/5th century.

"80 is the new 40"

Sad Professor

pixelburp wrote: »

Indeed, and even then it was less than a statement than a moment of "oh, that's an unusual name ... whoops". Season 1 by all accounts was the least overtly socially / politically versed Trek show yet when you get down to it - bar one fleeting "make the empire great again" comment in the parallel universe, and that was a bit of a cartoon.

This is so true. Tbh if giving a female character a male name and having a gay couple is Discovery's big provocative political statement, then it's extremely weak compared to TOS, which in the middle of the Cold War and the civil rights movement had a black woman, a Japanese man and Russian on the bridge and implied they were all part of an egalitarian socialist society.

By 2018's standards, Discovery's political values are standard centrist-liberal stuff that even centre-right politicians profess. That's actually my big problem with the show. They've totally rowed back on the radical utopian ideas.

AMKC

Just a couple of quotes from CBS All Access president Marc DeBevoise and executive vice president of original content Julie McNamara during an extended interview with Deadline as they joined Stapf to chat about ongoing and future projects for the streaming network. However, most of the questions surrounded CBS All Access’ growing Star Trek franchise. On the heels of the announcement that Sir Patrick Stewart would be reprising his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in a new standalone series—as well as the news of Star Trek: Short Treks, the Discovery shorts that will air before the next full season--the executives shared that more Star Trek projects are on the horizon.

However, one thing that isn’t being considered (for the time being) is another series based on a former Trek franchise. As of now, the only one in development is the one featuring Stewart, which will take place 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, the final film in The Next Generation series. During the interview, Stapf shared how they got Stewart to sign on for the show, considering how he’s previously said he wasn’t interested in returning to the character unless it was for a Quentin Tarantino-led Star Trek project:

So it will one a new show maybe on show based on the academy as well or maybe one with Picard and him doing something else just incase people think it might be TNG part 2.

The whole interview is here,

https://io9.gizmodo.com/cbs-all-access-is-laying-the-groundwork-for-non-stop-st-1828131470

AtomicHorror

The best concept for a Picard show that I can think of is one covering his diplomatic career as Admiral or Ambassador. Picard and a small core staff, always on the move, mission arcs over several episodes, different planets, different host ships. Lots of room for thoughtful stories as well as action and drama. There might be an Enterprise arc, and cameos from familiar faces, but not restricting the story to one planet or station. I can't imagine Picard would ever retire to stay in one place anyway.

I do wonder how they'll address some of the consequences of the Discovery aesthetic though. The instant Klingons come into a story they have some tricky story and production design decisions to make, one way or the other.

AMKC wrote: »

So it will one a new show maybe on show based on the academy as well or maybe one with Picard and him doing something else just incase people think it might be TNG part 2. [/url]

The Starfleet Academy film/TV show concept is one of those ones that surfaces almost like clockwork. I hate it.

It feels like some needy attempt to pull an imagined sci-fi/highschool drama crossover audience. It makes me cringe to think of Star Trek trying to bottle the essence of Dawson's Creek, The OC or One Tree Hill (to cite the contemporaries of the various and many times this completely dumb idea has come around), or whatever 2018s closest equivalent would be.

The early rumors about ST2009 had a strong Academy element to the story and I'd really hoped they'd got it out of their system with that one.

To think so many fans scream and shout about Discovery but seem so chill with this abomination of a concept.

Have I said it enough? I don't like the idea.

I can't say it enough. No. Bad. Awful. Yuck.