Well it seemed like you were saying the good stuff was thanks to him and offloading the bad stuff on the much hated Kurtzmann.
Matalas CV isn't exactly perfect after making PIC 2 which is close to being the worst season of Star Trek ever. But I have seen the bad bits of that blamed on everyone else too.
Certainly not, especially as when all's said and done we just don't know the extent to which influence came from the outside - if any. But I'd be surprised if there wasn't some kind of executive direction given. Especially when it came to structural "requirements" for any given show, it does happen. Especially when it comes to what money's available episode to episode.
Who knows; I liked what Matalas achieved with 12 Monkeys; and what he did with that show, and what happened in Season 2 of Picard doesn't gel with me.
And like you, I do think Season 2 of Picard was the worst season of Trek ever. Heck, I think it was one of the worst TV series of that year or in years. I just always automatically assume "Shenanigans" when something goes that wrong, helmed by otherwise ostensibly talented enough people.
Luckily Strange New Worlds doesn't have these possible "structural requirements" and neither did PIC 1 which I think should have just ended with Picard properly dying.
I wonder then was Matalas told he had to use the previously blown up Enterprise D which was rebuilt for a museum with full weapons and shields for some reason. Cause that was an awful heap of sht decision.
Awe no it was not. It was great to see the old girl on the screen again but ye maybe the fact it had full weapons and shields was silly. They should have had to improvise that somehow even if that meant using the deflector ad there energy weapon and maybe having to stop at a weapons station or something for torpedoes and a tube activator or something.
They could have just used the Enterprise E but the D is more recognisable so was used despite being blown up.
It's the definition of cheap fan wankery.
Being installed on Tuesday?
All true, but after the absolute hogwash of season 1 and 2, I welcomed the fanservice. We actually deserved it for enduring that previous horseshit. Could they have done better? Sure. Could they have done worse? Oh you bet. I seen S3 as a love letter to TNG and the final sendoff for the crew, and at that, I was happy with it.
Season 1 was easily better than season 3. I can't think of a single bit of season 3 that I remember fondly outside of Shaw.
All I remember are a ship full of dark dusty rooms and corridors, a Discovery level panto villain, Jacks stupid obvious dragged out dreams and a phaser shot gun. The whole thing was actually like Discovery dressed up with some TNG cameos.
..
I'm sure the presence of photon torpedos et al might have sat better had the entire sequence not turned into the Death Star run. TBH I didn't even think on the Enterprise's full weapon systems, and I Wasn't even that wowed by the nostalgia of it all given TNG was never "my" Trek.
Oh no way. How could you say a season with not even a proper Federation ship in it is better than one with an Enterprise the Enterprise D at that in it and not in a dream? Season 1 started out great with Picard at the winery and all but went down hill quick. There is some good parts in it alright like the Romulan Warbird but elomo or whatever you call him certainly was not one. Still better than season 2 do but season 3 is the best season.
It's better because I don't want new Star Trek to have old blown up ships. If I want the D and it's crew I'll watch some TNG. Having the Enterprise was one of the things that made 3 worse not better.
Oh I disagree. Anyway only half of the D was blown up the other half only crashed so was repairable. Anyway we all have our different likes but for me I preferred Season 3. I will agree to disagree with you.
Star Trek: Picard Eliminated Starfleet’s 3 Biggest Enemies From 3 Quadrants (screenrant.com)
The Romulans, the Changelings, and the Borg have been enemies of the Federation since their introductions, but by the end of Picard season 3, all of these threats have been neutralized.
Starfleet's triumph at the end of Picard season 3 simultaneously put an end to the Federation's greatest threats from the Delta and Gamma Quadrants.
They will have to invent new threats for Legacy, if it gets green-lit.
Hey, still plenty of antagonists out there: the Cardassians haven't really had much of a sniff since the return of Trek since Disco; or they could pick and run with someone like The Breen (and that'd have the advantage of all those extras you wouldn't have to pay as much for the masks they'd wear!)
My knowledge may be a little rusty, but didn't JJ nuke the Romulans as a threat (indirectly)? Weren't the Changelings from Pic S3 the ones who were kept after the war ended, leaving the Gamma changelings still out there? And the Borg, well, they were defanged a long time ago...
A definite case of being careful what you wish for. Nothing wrong with wanting a franchise to move forward for a change, but it's been proven time and again that so many franchises nowadays are just shadows of what they were (or could have been.)
I submit a version of the Typhon Pact as candidates... though the CGI bill would be challenging.
Spoilers for the Trek novels:
The pact consisted of the Romulan Star Empire, Tzenkethi Coalition, Breen Confederacy, Gorn Hegemony, Tholian Assembly and the Holy Order of the Kinshaya, all of which had hostile relations with the Federation and/or Klingon Empire in their previous history and all of which had typically previously maintained xenophobic and isolationist policies.
https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Typhon_Pact
In Star Treks case it seems it can't move forward only backwards.
Even Lower Decks which I love is tied to nostalgia and in a sort of prequel time period.
Didn't Tholian silk get mentioned in DS9? I seen it fairly recently. Someone gives it as a gift.
So relations between the Federation and the Tholians in the 24th Century must not be that bad.
Yes but that was before a lot of water under the bridge in terms of wars and challenges to the Federation.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Tholian_silk
The book series timeline has been displaced, but another event, or natural disaster could be used to weaken the Federation and see a banding together of an anyone but the Federation Confederation.
No disputing that nostalgia has done a LOT of the heavy lifting up to now yeah, and even at that, they messed that up more often than not.
Discovery is an absolute embarrassment of a show, it couldn't get nostalgia OR progression correct. Subjectively, I felt Picard binned it up until it's final season, whereby I was so happy to that at least got the nostalgia element right.
SNW is a bit of an exception. Sure, it's yet another prequel, BUT, they've kinda nailed it. It's what Discovery should have been. Just honest to goodness episodic storytelling, with a great cast, and writing I enjoy.
Lower Decks is class. For me it's too zany and slapstick to fit into the canon bracket, but I think the writers are exceptional. It balances comedy with strong nostalgic references too, and really is a breath of fresh air.
I'm a bit jaded when considering future new shows though tbh. I'd be happy with SNW getting a good long multi season run, Discovery ending asap, LD continuing on as long as it wants, and that's really it for me. I really enjoyed seeing Seven back in Picard, but I'm not overly excited about a new show on the new Enterprise or anything, I just feel it'd be more of the same.
There’s certainly plenty of room for a good antagonist in Trek. I feel that the Cardassians are pretty much done as a villain, and are akin to what the Klingons became by the time TNG came. We’ll probably end up seeing Cardassians in Starfleet.
With a enough creativity and care a good threat could be created that would be interesting, but that care would be nessisary. It can’t just a generic war-like alien, it needs to have a certain theme or hook to it. The Klingons and Romulans were an analogue for Cold War adversaries of the 60’s. The Borg were almost a commentary of how technology was consuming humanity, and the Dominion was an interesting take on an “Anti-Federation”.
Since then we haven’t had much in the way of a good new villain in Trek. Voyager recycled the Borg to death in the final seasons, but they did take a stab at making a new recurring villain in the form of the Vaadwuar. Alas they seemed to just be yet another war-like alien with interesting makeup, and I suspect they knew this villain wasn’t very good since we never saw them again. The horror of the Vidians might have been interesting to have as a threat to the Federation, but I feel that Voyager might have gotten as much out of them as you could without ruining them. (And apparently they’re cured thanks to the Think Tank, so possibly not a threat anymore)
The Earth Confederation in Picard Season 2 had sparks of a potentially good villain, even if a little too similar to the Terran Empire. It’s a bit of a tired trope, but would an interesting villain in future Trek be the Federation itself? That being bloated and satisfied with the fact of themselves being the only remaining power in the Quadrant, the Federation sleepwalk into a authoritarian nightmare, kind of like how the Galactic Republic became The Empire. That the new Seven show features an Enterprise F fighting to hold onto what good is left in the Federation.
I'd like to see some use being made of the Sheliak. A non-organic, non-humanoid species, they'd be as uncaring and brutal as the borg, but not as mindless or predictable. A chance for something genuinely alien, and not a guest star in a nose prosthetic.
Wasn't the Federation president lady in Discovery a Kardashian?
They're plastic enough to last that long, alright
Human, bajoran, cardassian hybrid apparently.
There was a Lower Decks character who I thought was Cardassian but don't think so as when they depicted Cardassians in Mariner's holodeck simulation, they were much more obviously grey. Could be good for some Stax character development if they actually introduced one to the crew.
For anyone playing Star Trek Online, you claim a free USS Resolute in the in-game store to promote Resurgence.
I always thought these chairs were really cool
Colm Meaney will be popping up on the Sky History digital channel presenting documentary series "Scary Tales of New York", seems to be more about murders than supernatural stuff - Monday 30th October.
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