Star trek academy series

LambshankRedemption · 31-10-2025 01:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123951219#Comment_123951219

Over the years we've gotten to meet various ancestors of Noonian Soong, all bearing a significant resemblance to Brent Spiner. Instead of bringing Robert Picardo back as the EMH, why not have him play a descendant of the original Starfleet Officer the EMH was based on?

Having a 72 year old EMH makes zero sense to me.

~Rebel~ · 31-10-2025 01:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123951237#Comment_123951237

I absolutely hate that thing they do with all these identical ancestors. It's the dumbest of all solutions. But they generally did that cause they wanted the actor involved, when their previous character's presence was impossible in the story - here they have the easiest get-out, which is that The Doctor is basically immortal. So instead of just some ancestor of the original Doctor's designer, who somehow looks identical to his great great great great great great (you get the idea) grandda, they get to actually have the same person. The same character everyone loved on Voyager, who can bring those experiences into the storylines etc.

A fully sentient and long since recognised as completely independent - no longer just an EMH - Doctor who himself decided to tweak his visual programming a bit over the centuries is a far better solution imo. Maybe as a Professor at the academy now, he wanted to look more distinguished… whatever personal reason they decide upon for him. They did exactly that with John De Lancie in Picard, and it worked a treat.

TheIrishGrover · 31-10-2025 01:59PM

Jesus, for a moment there I thought you were gonna say bring back Spiner. Nothing against the guy but every time they brought him back as a Soong or Singh or whatever, it got campier and campier.

But yeah, having an descendant would make a lot more sense. You could throw in a casual line about how he looks EXACTLY like the original EMH from 900 years earlier. Having him as the human descendant would also allow him to play slightly different if he wanted. I seem to remember that the person he was based on was a bit of an assh*le?

I'll give it a look. I try to go in with an open mind but I'm afraid that it looks like more of the same Disco stuff. I mean I do hope to be surprised. SNW had a poor season 3 but I do believe they will rebound in the remaining series.

BUT, if this is more Discovery TNG then I think it would be time for Paramount to take a break with Trek and come back with something new after a couple of years. No relation to any current or previous series. Time to be brave and try a show like DS9 again or a totally different genre but in the Trek universe. Cop show or something/ Think of "The Expanse" grittiness and "Low lever" characters (Not flagship captains) but in Trek universe. Smugglers in the Delta Quadrant maybe 50 years after DS9. Shifting politics post Dominion war.

~Rebel~ · 31-10-2025 02:05PM

I think the reasoning here has gone a bit backwards — I don't think they started with Robert Picardo, and said "we want him in no matter what!", I would guess they were looking for some tangible connection to the older shows rather than just all Burnham-Trek, and someone said "oh, the doctor's a program, so he's immortal — he could be carried over as a lineage tie in to the past shows - let's see if Bob Picardo would be up for that".

fritzelly · 31-10-2025 02:35PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123951348#Comment_123951348

My thinking too!

LambshankRedemption · 01-11-2025 12:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123951348#Comment_123951348

I think thats pretty much exactly what happened.

So they invited Picardo over for a chat, pitched the idea to him and he was all for it.

But one thing did not happen. After the chat with him, no-one said "You know, he looks a lot older than I was expecting. Is this still a good idea?"

They did exactly that with John De Lancie in Picard, and it worked a treat.

Qs age in time spans measured in millenia not years but it makes sense that they do age and so showed an aging or aged Q. Which makes perfect sense and as you said worked a treat.

Holograms do not age. So the EMH appearing old doesn't make sense.

I know its only a tiny thing to get annoyed about, but it indicates a lack of attention to detail. If the writers and producers are willing to overlook that and are hoping the audience will over look it, you have to wonder what else will they over look and hope we will over look as well.

~Rebel~ · 01-11-2025 01:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123953444#Comment_123953444

That's not what happened with Q - he popped up for a few seconds looking exactly as he always used to, using de-aging. He looked at Picard and said something to the effect of; "Oh you're very old - hang on a sec" and then he popped into his (John De Lancie's) own normal age. He simply chose what he wanted to look like to fit his mood and the situation (obviously in a way that facilitated production).

The exact same thing easily works here, and to be honest - for me at least - fits in perfectly with his character progression. He's specifically not just a holographic tool anymore. He's long since outgrown that, ever since he got the mobile emitter, and they put in rules that he was no longer to be switched off without his consent, etc. Like, in canon he won a legal battle for personhood, and got a commission as Lieutenant Commander. He's very much a singular individual, rather than just 1 of thousands of identical EMH's. And in this show, he's specifically not an emergency medical hologram at all, he's just a sentient, individual hologram — and he's a professor, and a senior figure of experience. So, all that being said, it makes total sense to me that he might choose to express that individuality in different ways over time, given that he sees himself as (and is legally) a total unique individual, and has total control of his own appearance. An extremely easy fix to be able to feature a classic character.

LambshankRedemption · 01-11-2025 01:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123953474#Comment_123953474

OK, to be honest, I could not remember what happened in ST Picard. I would say maybe it's time for a rewatch but there were some things that really annoyed me in the first and second season.

I get what you are saying. I just hope they explain it as eloquently as you have "in program".

~Rebel~ · 01-11-2025 01:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123953497#Comment_123953497

Oof, yeah, that Q season (Season 2) ended up being a very rough watch. Not sure i'll ever bring myself to revisiting it to be honest! The Q appearance had such potential too, and John De Lancie's always great, but it was all kinda squandered.

Good entry scene though;

https://youtu.be/9mtV-L7lHy8?si=-FQmk6yOq8ck1vj_&t=167

There are a lot of things I'm uncertain about with this new Academy series, but I think the Doctor element is grand, and is an easy couple of lines to make sense of - though I do hope they treat him as a major character, and touch upon what he's been up to over the centuries. His grounded surliness could be a good antidote for all the CW-style teen drama we're bound to encounter.

LambshankRedemption · 01-11-2025 02:26PM

Yeah there was lots squandered. Not to bring the thread off topic, but in Season 1 of Picard, when Picard is in danger on the planet with the giant flowers, how cool would it have been for Hugh to arrive in the reclaimed Borg cube to rescue him? That would have been awesome! But no.