Alex Kurtzman Talks Canon And Patrick Stewart’s Influence On Star Trek Picard Show

It’s 2019, which means the new CBS All Access Star Trek series featuring Patrick Stewart’s return to the role of Jean-Luc Picard is coming this year. We still don’t know a lot about the show, but we are now learning more about how it came to be and how involved the star of the show is in his return to the 24th century.

Stewart wants to protect Next Gen legacy

In a new interview with DigitalSpy, executive producer Alex Kurtzman acknowledged that it wasn’t easy to convince Sir Patrick to return to the role, saying, “…getting him to say yes was its own amazing thing.” The man in charge of expanding Star Trek for television also gave some details on what motivated Stewart’s change of heart:

“Patrick needed to make sure that we were coming from the right place and that we wanted to protect what Next Gen means to so many people, and what his character, specifically, means to so many people. And that was really about several conversations back and forth, exploring his instincts, our instincts. Ultimately our job is to make him feel comfortable and safe and to protect the show and shield it from anything that would break it in the wrong way.”

Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation

Stewart is hands-on

Sir Patrick is also an executive producer on the new show, and from the way Kurtzman describes it, the star is very much involved in crafting this Star Trek: The Next Generation follow-up series.

“He was there [in the writers’ room] for two weeks at the beginning of the experience, sitting with the writers. Everybody was talking together about what they wanted this show to be, and that’s very special. Patrick will send us beautifully written emails about what he feels about Picard and where he feels Picard has been. That’s so inspirational.”

Patrick Stewart and the Picard show writers’ room in September (Photo: Twitter/Patrick Stewart)

Exploring how to connect new show with established canon

The new series is expected to be set 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, which would put it in the year 2399. Getting a continuation of the Star Trek story after Voyager and Nemesis is something many fans have been hoping to see. It is an open question as to what the new show will be like, especially in relation to what was established in 21 seasons and four feature films set in the 24th century. Kurtzman spoke briefly about how they are approaching this issue:

“It’s fun to think about how to connect to canon while freeing yourself from it technologically. We’re still exploring that, that’s a deep dive. That takes literally a year to figure out.”

The bridge of the USS Enterprise, as seen in Star Trek: First Contact


Stay up to date on all the Picard show news here at TrekMovie.com.

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I just CAN’T wait! Disco 2 is going to be awesome. But….I reckon most Trek fans are itching for September 2019 for the Picard series.

You better believe it! The Picard show is the most excited I been about new Star Trek since Voyager ended and I imagine a lot of people feel that way.

so you genuinely liked Voyager….. I HEARD THERE WAS ONE OF YOU PEOPLE OUT THERE!!!!!!

A lot of people like Voyager, but no it’s not my favorite either. What I’m saying is it was the last thing I was most excited about when it was ANNOUNCED at the time. I loved the premise and being able to explore another part of space we never saw before with a new crew and ship. Also, our first woman Captain and on the first ship not named Enterprise. It was all very exciting to me. I just didn’t care as much when they announced others after it like Enterprise, the first Kelvin movie and Discovery because they were all prequels even though I was certainly curious about them and was naturally going to watch. And I was a bit fatigued of Star Trek when Enterprise and the first Kelvin film were announced so it didn’t really matter what they were going to be then although by the time the first movie actually got here I was ready for more Trek.

But the Picard show is the first one since that I am genuinely excited about happening and has renewed my imagination about the franchise in general. It can be anything again.

Voyager was a bit like TNG lite, but I absolutely enjoyed it.
I know some guys who even state that VOY is their favorite trek.

I liked Voyager as well. Was it fantastic Trek? Not at all. But it was fine. What carried it for me was they came up with some interesting characters. I appreciate what TNG did to bring Trek back into the popular culture. But the TNG characters never felt organic. They all felt “forced”, for lack of a better word. There was just something off about them all. It was fun to see new Trek and new sci-fi concepts. But the characters weren’t anyone to really become invested in. Not like TOS had. And to Berman & Co’s credit, they learned when they created DS9 and Voyager. The casts and characters got better.

While I thoroughly was excited by the concept of Enterprise, the characters on that show, for the most part, fell pretty flat to me. And Bakula was just out of his element as the lead. Which, for me, what the main failing of that series.

Not me, I never lieke Picard. Trek fans are sicu hypocrites. They hate that Spock is on Discovery but love that Picard will be on this show.

Well its a bit different though, Discovery isn’t about Spock, its about completely different characters. And yes Burnham is Spock’s sister so it makes sense to at least show him but people have an issue with that too since we know he never had a sister and it was just a ploy to get Spock on the show in the first place which upsets a lot of people in itself. But that’s a different thread lol.

In Picards case, the show IS about him, so there is nothing hypocritical about it. Its like the Kelvin movies, you expect to see all the TOS characters because its directly about their universe and stories just like I wouldn’t be shocked to see more TNG characters showing up on the Picard show. Frankly it would be weird NOT to see other TNG characters since they all came from there and part of Picard’s life.

Now if Discovery was about Pike’s Enterprise then yeah no one would blink about seeing Spock. See the difference?

Three must have guest stars: Gates McFadden, Whoopi Goldberg & John deLancie

Q and Guinan, I don’t know, but they always just been guest stars in the first place but yes it’s definitely possible. But Crusher is more likely because she is a huge part of TNG and especially to Picard. I would find it odd we would never see her (unless the character is dead or something). Maybe they will try and keep TNG characters away in the first season but after that I suspect there will be tons of TNG appearances once they establish the new characters but won’t be shocked we see a few first season either.

I can be COMPLETELY wrong on this but I really suspect Discovery is going to use that show to rotate in more TOS characters (based on its first two seasons anyway) and the Picard show will naturally bring in other TNG characters. And I’m guessing VOY and DS9 characters will also show up in time as we saw them in the TNG films and all the shows have done crossovers with each other in the past. That’s the beauty when you had three shows set in the same period.

I don’t think Q will ever stop messing with Picard. He’s an omniscient troll.

Maybe not but in terms of the actor he has aged out of the role so I wouldn’t be surprised we don’t see him again because of that. But same time (and I always say this generally) if somebody really wants a character or actor back, they will be back no matter the circumstances. That’s why I know they don’t have a real interest in bringing Shatner back, they would’ve moved heaven and earth by now to bring him back as Kirk if they TRULY wanted him back like how badly they wanted Nimoy back after TWOK. And its science fiction, so yeah there are always explanations they can use with an aged Q. But I’m not holding my breath until we at least hear what the show will be about and who they are considering bringing back.

The other must have, Worf. Please.

I’m hoping we don’t see them.

Guinan is like a timeless creature that doesn’t change over time. Whoopi looks like shit so they’d have to recast. Same with Q (he doesn’t look like shit, but he doesn’t look like he did 30 years ago) I hope they spend some time with Voyager characters too, really like to know how they made out once they got home.

Yeah… To me Voyager was screaming out for an epilogue of sorts. We never got one. Now it might be a bit late but I’d be curious to see what became of those folks.

The year is 2399, Ensign Harry Kim mans a transporter station at Spacedock.

All is well.

I really disliked Endgame. It was so underwhelming. I guess the damage is done regardless of if they did a Voyager spin-off series.

Q and Guinan are both not necessary. However I think a certainty that the rest of the TNG cast will show up at least once if not more than once. The possible exception is DATA. But they could fabricate some bogus “I’m intentionally trying to look older” babble if Spiner really wants to show up for the gig.

I would be impressed — because it would be a nod to continuity — if Whoopi Goldfarb showed up on Disco, even as just a cameo.

There is no difference. Season two of discovery is about Spock, atleast in part. The Picard show is about Picard. It seems hypocritical to say it’s ok for a show about Picard, but Discovery cant have a season that Includes Spock. We only saw Spock in 3 seasons of TOS and 7 movies. We saw Picard in 7 seasons of TNG and 4 movies. PICARD seems to be so played out compared to Spock.

wow, are you being dense on purpose? A retcon ratings ploy inserted into a show is a lot different than a new series that is a direct continuation of the next gen era shows. One is a RATINGS PLOY featuring a character that we’ve seen included in the Kelvin timeline. The other is a beloved character that we haven’t seen in almost twenty years getting his own show and being a direct continuation from three beloved series. So how is it hypocritical to reject obvious fan pandering from a show no one really asked for while being excited for namesake show set in an era that Paramount has neglected since Nemesis? The Picard show is what is going to save CBS all access, and it’s because its something fans have been clamoring for for a long long time. I like to think Discovery is just another alternate timeline because its just not my cup of tea, its cool if you’re into it, but no one’s a hypocrite for not liking it while still wanting new next gen stories.

No need to be insulting. Your argument Carrie’s no Weight must because you like TNG and Picard more than TOS and Spock doesn’t mean the Picard show isn’t pandering and fan service. They clearly got Patrick Stewart to please fans without a clear vision for the show. Atleast with discovery they made a story and choose to use Spock, unlike the Picard show. They just went with the biggest name is trek and decided to build a series around him.

What are you talking about that it doesn’t have a ‘clear vision’? You don’t even know what the show is about yet.

And I like and watch both btw, but I still agree that Spock is mostly being used for pandering because we all know they didn’t even WANT Spock originally for next season and said he wouldn’t even appear on the show MULTIPLE times. Here is evidence from this very site:

https://trekmovie.com/2017/09/26/spock-not-likely-to-appear-in-star-trek-discovery-plus-martin-green-talks-premiere-aftermath/

And here:

https://trekmovie.com/2018/02/11/star-trek-discovery-producers-talk-finales-big-reveal-and-hint-at-season-2-story/

Best quote:

“[W]e realize how incredible Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto’s performances were and what [Star Trek movie director] J.J. Abrams and the original series were able to pull off with that character. Finding another actor that could even come close to what Leonard Nimoy did with the original portrayal, we’d never want to go down that road.”

Until they did. ;)

Now the guy will be there nearly all season. Crazy huh? So you were saying? They literally did exactly what you’re accusing the Picard show of doing, getting Spock because someone clearly thinks having him will get more viewers or they wouldn’t have said over and over again for a year the guy was never showing up. He’s there for fan service, period. So you can drop that argument now.

Eric is claiming the show doesn’t have a clear vision, despite the fact that he has NO IDEA WHATSOEVER what it’s about. This is why people make fun of Star Trek fans–because they’ve got issues.

Eric, it’s YOU who are being insulting. You’re calling people, hypocrites. The insults only started because of YOUR post.

“Season two of discovery is about Spock, at least in part.”

Yes and THAT’S the problem for some people. Discovery the show ISN’T about Spock and yet in season 2, the entire story line feel like its revolving around him when it should be revolving around the actual main characters of the show. It may not be, but so far that’s what we mostly know since all the promotion has been around him and Pike although clearly all the characters are getting an arc of some kind.

I think you’re misunderstanding what I’m saying, if the show was actually about Spock like Picard will be, you would get less push back. The show isn’t about him and to be introducing him this soon (or at all) basically just feels like its being shoehorned to do more TOS stories when it should be about DISCOVERY stories, that’s all. It would be no different IF Picard showed up on Discovery and then season 2 is about him. Again, it’s apples and oranges between the two shows.

And if you don’t want to watch the Picard show, no one says you have to. Problem solved.

Your all just a bunch of TOS haters. There is no difference having Picard be the center of Hosnown show and having Spock be an important role to discovery. I bet you all loved when Worf was shoe horned in to DS9.

Eric, don’t take this the wrong way, but grab a glass of tea, sit down somewhere and relax. These posts aren’t doing you any favors. It’s been explained to you over and over again, you’re coming off a bit silly and childish now.

Either one of these shows can do whatever they want in terms of both guest stars and storyline.

And again, Eric, you simply don’t understand the meaning of the term “hypocritical.” You’re not using it correctly.

No, i hate BOTH ideas. re-visiting what already worked IS NOT what ST is about. seems at odds with seeking ‘new life and new civilizations.’

move the story on already…..

Revisiting what already worked is not what Star Trek is about? Seriously?

ST:TMP is “The Changeling.”

ST:TWOK is a sequel to “Space Seed.”

The past four films keep retreading the same ground as TWOK.

Q has appeared in 14 episodes.

The Borg were all over Star Trek.

Revisiting what already worked is EXACTLY what Star Trek is about. It’s what ALL successful franchises are about.

Honestly, sometimes I think fans just like to bitch.

I’m no fan of Picard myself. But your comment doesn’t make logical sense. The two things, (the Picard show and Spock on Discovery) are two different circumstances.

I’m not trying to be insulting but I don’t know if Eric is just being obtuse or playing dumb because this isn’t exactly hard to get.

The Picard show is being developed completely around the character so the show is going to be more organic as its literally about him, from his past to his future. Throwing in Spock in a show thats NOT about him but yet his story will be a huge part of season two is obviously shoe horning a character that was literally never meant to be there.

But of course it doesn’t mean the story line or character won’t be good and I think many people are really excited about seeing Spock, which is literally the entire point, it’s for fan service. And yes so is the Picard show! Let’s not kid ourselves we all know these additions are just a ploy to get more people to watch and subscribe to AA, which is nothing wrong with that. Giving the audience what it wants is an age old adage in every business entity, especially in entertainment. The question is will they live UP to the fan service? Hopefully they will although many also doubt it given they haven’t been happy with Discovery or the team behind it. I personally have faith though.

I hate Discovery because it retcons and basically destroys Star Trek Cannon. The Picard series will at least further the prime timeline instead of the Kelvin or just muddling up the two. Discovery not only ruined the look of the Klingons but also introduced characters that never existed in the TOS timeline. The discontinuity between Discovery and old Trek demonstrates that Kurtzman doesn’t give a shit about the canon.

I think discovery honors canon more than TNG didm yes it changes the look but otherwise they are spot on. People claim they violated canon by giving Spock am adopted sister. No where in canon does Spock say he doesn’t have a sister.

People also conveniently forget it took Spock 20 years to tell his two best friends that he had a brother! Some people just want to complain for the sake of it.

That is my main apprehension…it’s a Picard series…cobbled together and produced by the same talents responsible for Discovery. Can they pull it together? Hope so.

Apparently, Eric has no comprehension of what the term “hypocrites” means, since that is not an example of it.

Isn’t that actually the bridge from First Contact?

Actually, the last image is the bridge of the Enterprise as seen in Star Trek: First Contact. The give away is Lt. Hawk.

On the cusp of the 25th Century…

Going forward again and into a new century for Trek! A great moment for the franchise and creates immense possibilities for future shows years to come! I never thought I would be this excited for Star Trek again. :)

I love the idea of it, starting the new show at the turn of the new century. it feels like we are finally advancing star trek and getting away from the reboot, retread, retconning of the last two decades and finally getting true original content that will actually be a continuation of the timeline. the kelvin timeline and discovery just feels like the writers have been stuck on a mobius strip creatively.

Exactly!

I still remember people (wrongly) saying the 24th century was dead and we would never see a post Nemesis show ever. I thought A. what drugs are they on lol and B. why would people NOT want to see a franchise advance with new ideas and concepts???? To this day it makes no sense to me since literally every franchise out there advances and Star Trek is literally about the future. So I want to see them go farther into it and not just regress with boring prequels and reboots every few years.

And they can still do that stuff. I’m happy Discovery will still be going even if it doesn’t excite me as much. If they finally make another Kelvin film before the year 2040 and Chris Pine becomes as old as Shatner was when he last played Kirk I’ll definitely watch that too, but the franchise should always be thinking forward IMO. How many versions of Spock do we need to see????

I love Picard, happy he’s back, but I will be just as happy the day we get a 25th century show (or beyond) that doesn’t rely on him either because Trek only expands with new ideas and characters and not by having people related to someone on the Enterprise. That’s just thinking (very) small IMO.

Now the sky is the limit again! Can’t wait.

Bring on 2399!

Literally a year to figure out which 25% of TNG canon should be shot out of a cannon? Golly!
Well, we know they can’t use space tardigrades anymore, since they’ve been sued for plagiarism. So it will have to be something else. Maybe make all surviving Romulans blue and blame it on the lack of the natural Romulus sunshine. Also, give Picard an afro and say that he stopped shaving his head after he left Starfleet. Also, Earth… Earth now has rings and slanted poles, and it is two times larger to put it in scale with Discovery.

Come on… we already got rid of Moonves, so why is *this* clown still aboard? :P

Lol yeh… I liked Moonves until i read that it was his decision to axe Enterprise. They deserved a 5th season. I’ll watch but my faith in the current powers that be is… so so.

Enterprise definitely deserved a fifth season. And sixth and seventh as well. But I can’t blame Moonves, it was the costliest show at the time and UPN just sucked as a network. It was definitely a much better show and if it was doing better in the ratings, it would’ve stayed. It’s funny now since my guess is WAY more people watched Enterprise in its last season then people are watching Discovery now. But welcome to AA, which is even WORSE than UPN if you can believe that lol.

I doubt Moonves remotely cared about Star Trek one way or the other, it was simply a business decision for him, but it made sense at the time.

As much as I liked the turnaround Enterprise had their 3rd and 4th season, I fully understand why the show was canned. Even though it was unfortunate for fans. The show was on life support and got a pardon to live one more season. The viewing numbers did not improve so it was not likely it was going to get another go at it. And yes, more people almost certainly watched Enterprise than saw one episode of Discovery. But that is streaming for you. Things are different. Had Enterprise been on a cable station it probably would have had a better chance than on a standard over they air network.

Why? Because Kurtzman makes tons of money for CBS with Hawaii 5-0, and now with Star Trek. But why, oh why, should they listen to you instead? What do you do for CBS better than Kurtzman to have a more sympathetic ear from the powers-that-be? I’d love to know the answer to that…

There is no need to be insulting.

Enterprise E bridge doesn’t look anywhere near as cosy as Enterprise D.

The movie bridge always looked so small and generic.

The D looked like a hotel. Including the bridge. All that was missing was a water fountain.

I would say Kurtzman is at least saying all the right things here. He wants to keep TNG sacred as it should be and not damage its legacy by having a subpar follow up. I think everyone has the best intentions and so I have faith we are going to get a decent show at least! I know people are still VERY divided on Discovery so I can’t blame them if they are still hesitant on this show but I really think everyone is trying to get it right.

I just feel better knowing Stewart has some influence and that people like Beyer who seems to understand the 24th century the most out of anybody is also there and leading it. This show will probably be in her wheelhouse more than Discovery is. I’m just excited to finally be back in that era so I’m going to give it a wide berth like I’m giving Discovery.

Stewart’s influence got Picard mamboing and racing dune buggies.

Hopefully there will be 90% less dune bugging lol!

I’m actually good with more mamboing though.

What’s mamboing?

Type of Cuban ballroom dance!

My point exactly. Stewart was the one who wanted Picard to be more of an action hero. This goes back to even in the series some.

This is exciting that means that this series will be more like the Movies most likely.

To be honest, the fact that Stewart is wielding influence gives me pause. I always get nervous when actors get too much say in what happens to their characters. Yes, they played them but more often than not they do not know what makes for better drama. I am also not excited about the Picard show, not just because Picard was a dull boy for over a decade. But more because Discovery was such a colossal failure to me. And now many of those people are involved in the Picard show. So you will forgive me if I will hold the excitement until I actually see the finished product. Discovery has made me skeptical now days.

Yeah no worries! :)

And I’m not too concerned about Stewart having say over Picard, he’s certainly going to know more about him then the people writing him for the first time, but it sounds pretty collaborative and he’s not just stomping his feet about everything. Again we’ll just have to see but I’m cautious but hopeful mon capitan will be just as interesting as he was before (well to people who thought he was interesting).

I’m in the same boat. I’m no fan of TNG but I acknowledge Stewart is a fine actor. The devil is in the details. Good creative original writing with top-shelf production and a great supporting cast can make this new series a winner. Treat it like Discovery and it will be a dismal train wreck, regardless of who is in it.

“… how to connect to canon while freeing yourself from it technologically.”

Not to put too much stock in a single quote, but I think those words reveal part of the problem this team has with writing for Trek: They’re too focused on the technology.

Why can’t they just accept ray guns and teleporters and hyperdrive as a “given” in this universe and get on with telling stories about … oh, I don’t know … the human adventure?

Because really, the technology of the shows is one of the main ways they denote the passage of time given that the whole series is set hundreds of years in the future.

Yup it’s been 20 years the galaxy has changed

It’s actually 140 years between Discovery and the Picard show, so yes it would be a BIG difference in the technology.

And thats why its just more fun to go forward, they can go as big as they want now as Kurtzman basically said since they aren’t tied to technology like a prequel show. But as Discovery proves, that doesn’t really matter anyway lol.

I’m really excited to see what kind of crazy tech we are going to get for this show! We already got a freakin spore drive in a period that shouldn’t even have it, so the more magical technology the better IMO. Go crazy with it, it’s Star Trek!

I think it would be great if the show kept the TNG-era narrative faithfully going while kind of re-imagining what would be possible technologically in that century. It seems like it could be a good thing creatively that this show has to look 150 years more advanced than Discovery. If it were me, I’d shoot for finally depicting how huge and advanced the Enterprise and the Federation were implied to be in early TNG, though they couldn’t film it with the constraints of the time. Depict ships, AI, and civilizations of enormous size and technological sleekness, maybe something with the flavor of the Culture novels.

I agree completely! And I never heard of the Culture novels until someone here turned me on to them. But yes that’s exactly the sort of thing I like to see as well.

In Discovery’s time, the Federation is obviously smaller but certainly powerful and highly advanced. Some people claim the opposite but I have a hard time believing that if two of the biggest (and older) foes in that time, the Klingons and the Romulans, are held back as much as they were and didn’t swallow the Federation whole unless they were a big enough force to at least compete with them on both a technical and hardware level, ie America and USSR during the cold war.

But in TNG’s time, it seems to be a lot more massive and obviously more advanced, which makes sense given its a century ahead. But it’s still not invincible either as both the Borg and later Dominion proved. But I would love to see a much more advanced Federation on the new show, at least where things like A.I. is used a lot more than previously. Again I don’t expect it to be sentient star ships or anything but seem like holograms and androids like Data would be in a higher mix then we saw on the shows.

And yes more sleek civilizations and living shown as well, which is what Beyond did with the Yorktown base. That’s the kind of stuff I love and oddly we saw that in the 23rd century. But Beyond had the budget for it lol. But it proves this stuff DO exist in the Federation and not just small colonies on isolated planets. So show it!

I just hope it’s nothing like Startrek Discovery, that show ONLY relies on old used plots like the parallel universe, Harry Mudd etc etc and nostalgia. It’s cheap. I can only hope the Picard series uses fresh plots and doesn’t rely on the lame wow moments of seeing an old character walk in. It’s just so pathetic and lazy.

Huh.

To be fair ALL the shows relied on old plots to a degree, I don’t have a problem with DIS doing that. It’s fine to do things like the MU because that’s a part of what Star Trek is. You can argue how much it fits into canon considering the time period but I won’t get into my tired prequel rant lol.

Now what I WILL say is that it’s disappointing they didn’t really bring anything new to the table like the other shows did their first season. Yes it looked different and was designed different but in terms of stories or new elements like aliens or mythology it was pretty bare. They probably relied on too much from the other shows (ie Klingon war) without doing anything that is completely unique to Discovery outside of the spore drive and introducing Saru. But next season maybe they will do more original stories and concepts at least like the Red Angel story story line is shaping up to be.

Yet you’re still watching it along with millions of others around the world.

But where are the viewing numbers? I would like to know, but since it is not a broadcasted show we will never know how popular it really is. With previous shows, I could see the hard (independent) data per country, but now you can simply shout: “It is the best viewed ST show ever!” And nobody can back it up with data. Welcome to the new fact-less world.

“especially in relation to what was established in 27 seasons and four feature films set in the 24th century.”

There are only 21 seasons set in the 24th century.

Yep, fixed.

I don’t have high hopes for ST-Picard, after the abomination which is ST-Discovery. CBS should cut their losses, hire Alec Peters, and produce Axanar. It is a better quality concept and more in keeping with Gene Roddenberry’s vision.

ST Discovery is fantastic.

Who is Alec Peters? Is he the guy who played Admiral Cartwright? I think he’s dead.

He’s the guy who tried to produce a fan film called Axanar, only he tried to make a profit off of it so CBS shut the production down. As well they should.

They should have kept going after him, according to a ton of reputable reporting the guy is professional scam artist and should be criminally prosecuted. His Propworx fleeced tons of money from auction sales and Axanar fleeced well over a million from investors, and he is still supposedly trying to make Axanar under new cbs guidelines, but if you check out Carlos’ Axanar page, you’ll get a real idea about the guy’s shady operations.

Discovery may largely suck, but compared to Peters’ operation, it is CITIZEN KANE times SE7EN times CHILDREN OF MEN, cubed.

Why would anyone want a fan filmmaker to produce real Trek? Even the best Trek fan filmmakers would acknowledge they’re not in the same league. They do what they do out of love and passion, not because they think they could make real TV.

Besides, wasn’t Axanar the one that was a dark, gritty, BSG-style war drama? The exact kind of Trek that DSC’s critics DON’T want?

I think why so many like Axanar because it was already based in canon and something fans been wanting to see for a long time even before the fan film.

I however, don’t! I’m hoping DIS gets away from the dark and war stuff and try and be more about exploration or, yeah, discovery, even if it’s still going to be an action adventure show which I have no issues with since they ALL were. But less war stuff and more philosophical/scientific stuff which it looks like season 2 is more about thankfully and where Trek thrives.

Star Trek Continues is worthy of being called season 4 and 5 of TOS

This premise carries my interest tremendously. The fact that in this new era of television, Patrick Stewart is so adamant about preserving Picard’s character and the feeling of TNG, it really has me excited and curious about what that could mean. As just one example, this’ll be taking place a few years after the “future events” of TNG’s last episodes, so I’m interested to see how much of that setting will be retained, even if the focus is away from starship adventures.

Alex Kurtzman should kindly leave this franchise alone.

Im sure CBS are firing him now solely based off of this recommendation.

Honestly, with the way DSC seems to have capitulated and made changes based on random internet commenters it wouldn’t surprise me.

But yeah, I think its commenters like this that should leave the show alone. I’m not sure why fans think the series is THEIRS to decide what’s best for it.

I bet, in the first episode Picard will make a travel in the time before Kirk and will never return to the 24th century…

I’ll take that bet.

“how to connect to canon while freeing yourself from it technologically”. What exactly is this supposed to mean? The same visual disaster as DSC?

I think he means since its much farther in the future from TNG they can make the tech whatever they want but they still want it to feel familiar enough to connect to the old show and not just a completely radical makeover. At least what I got from it.

Honestly after seeing what they did with DIS vs TOS I don’t think they are thinking that hard about it lol. But then again they don’t need to because A. its set farther in the future already and B. Nemesis was only 15 years ago and not 50 like TOS is so it won’t look that radically different anyway because the movies were already being updated. And Discovery basically LOOKS like Starfleet post Nemesis now lol. That’s the crazy part. If there was no Discovery show, they could literally just use that look, style and tech on the Picard show and it will probably fit right in the 25th century. ;)

Yep. The issue with the 25th century in Trek lore is that almost every problem has a technological solution established for it. It’s hard to build tension when you have technology and science that can do almost anything. For example, even in existing episodes i’m constantly wondering why they don’t just use a site-to-site transporter to get out of sticky situations. And it makes the ships look poorly built when in EVERY crisis the transporters, main power, warp engines all go offline, and even the most minor of nebulas interfere with their systems.

So the problem they face is coming up with a problem that isn’t easy to solve. It can be done, and I look forward to their creative solutions to this dilemma.

The best thing that could happen to Trek is a hard reboot that allows it be rebuilt from the ground up. No more Prime or Kelvin – nothing that has any kind of baggage attached to it. The franchise is still extrapolating the future based off a 1960’s notion of what it would look like, and the mythology is so dense, particularly in Prime, that it inhibits what writers can do. Blow it all up and start over. It solves a multitude of problems.

Discovery in all honesty should’ve been a hard reboot and I bet what Fuller had in his head when making the show. He was clearly making it more in his image and less of what came before. And I think that’s FINE because as you said it would’ve less inhibited the writers if he got to go all the way with it. That’s obvious watching this show and is now stuck between ENT canon and TOS canon.

To me, it seem like now would’ve been the time to restart Trek altogether since it hasn’t been on TV in ages and separate it from the Roddenberry/Berman era completely for a completely new generation, sort of what the Kelvin movies were meant to do but NO attachment to the Prime universe at all. Just make the show as futuristic as you want it without having to worry how much it corresponds with TOS vision of the future or even TNG’s. There are people out there who still want the original Enterprise to look like the 1960s version on the show because in their mind it should. This is the entire problem. Just wipe out that part of the era completely and do something different altogether.

Put it in a separate universe from Prime, call it whatever you want, Trek has clearly established a multiverse so that’s all this will be and the Prime is still it’s own thing. But this could be a complete reboot on day one and everything could be as different and modern as they wanted.

I am a huge Star Trek fan and had hoped for a hard reboot. That would have been wonderful. A new Star Trek universe with all the familiar elements (philosophy), but with new designs, new stories, new characters, new ships, something truly fresh. But Discovery is neither here nor there. I love Rick Berman era, but I was ready for a fresh take on Trek. I think that is what Roddenberry had wanted: build on his ideas and universe, but bring it into a new era with new insights.

I can get on board with that. It does feel like this would be a good time to do a hard reboot of the franchise. No need to even involve Kirk and Spock at all. Just do a reboot and set it on a different ship. Maybe they could reference them but a hard reboot could solve a lot of the issues plaguing Discovery. Save the poor plotting and writing, of course.

Your response had absolutely nothing to do with mine lol. It’s kind of weird.

And your point, while certainly valid to a degree, doesn’t really matter what century its in, only based on the writers themselves. I have said this more times then I can count. Example, STID cured Kirk from dying by giving him magic blood. That didn’t take place in the 25th century but the 23rd. Voyager used tons of technobabble stuff to get them out of jams going directly to your point, but DS9 didn’t and they were both made at the same time in the same era. Why? Because different teams of producers had different attitudes about it.

So I don’t think it matters that much. Yes you’re right they CAN lean on technology to get them out of jams more but we’re watching a show right now that has a spore drive that can teleport the ship out of danger anytime it wants and has been done. And that takes place in the 23rd century which had no magical technology like that in the past. But the writers who created it didn’t care what century the show took place in and just thought it would be cool to have, which goes back to my original point.

I am happy to hear that Sir Patrick will keep a tight rein on the storyline. Tech is as key to Star Trek as the human adventure. Don’t you remember being mesmerized by the cool things they had on the Enterprise? Frankly, the ship was always the thing I loved as much as the crew. Each ship was freakin’ awesome including that feisty U.S.S. Defiant ( badass!!). Troublesome transporters, phaser power, whacked warp nacelles and highjacked holodecks are the gateways for much of the ‘canon’ everyone harps about. I for one can’t wait to see what new Star Trek influenced tech will drift into real life when we look forward and let the writers have at it. BTW, nice to see a Black female in the writers’ room picture. Just sayin’

I think the Picard show would be about an old man retired from the starfleet trying to settle down ,it would be like a soap opera in a good way ,maybe he is alone trying to find a purpose and starting even now a home ,can he be active in a way with the starfleet among the younger stuff?What about aging and and all this thing a man in his 70s have…and dont tell me that people Live 150 years old…i dont think we gonna see action space or other…maybe a love story some times and trying to find his footsteps in civilian life..it would be interesting cause space in star trek the last couple of years doesnt work and we all know it although we dont want to admit it…

“Ultimately our job is to make him feel comfortable and safe and to protect the show and shield it from anything that would break it in the wrong way.”

So I guess Kurtzman wants to break it in some other way?

I don’t have a ton of concern about the writing… my main concern is the production design and how well it meshes with what might be logically expected of design evolution since Nemesis. I also have a dash of concern they’ll muck about too much with alien make-up designs.

Story wise, I don’t think they can screw it up- it’s moving forward, after all, not backward or between other established things.

This is going to hurt.

While I love Patrick and obviously Picard. At the same time the creative team behind it as well as the new direction of Trek with STD doesn’t inspire and confidence in me…..It actually inspires a hell load of dread instead.

I hope he is an ambassador for the fed or maybe the head of a small group archeologist the moonlight as spies/smugglers.

Or maybe we’ll find out the Picard we’ve always known was from the Mirror Universe!

I just rewatched Gambit the other day and your idea sounds exactly like that lol. Maybe in this case Picard just turns bad and not faking it.

I think it would be safe to say that “some” of the material developed in the novels will be used for the Picard series. Some of it is just a given, but there are plot lines, and characters that would play well.

For example?

Why is it a given? The books were read by maybe 6 or 7 people. 5 of whom are dead.

In Encounter at Farpoint Tasha Yar had Sideburns but in all good things when Picard went back to when he first went in the Enterprise D in all good things Tasha either covered them with her hair or took them off so why the Difference? I think Picard traveled to a parallel Timeline version of Encounter at Farpoint.

That last quote still makes it sound like it’s just going to be a show revolving around Picard sitting around a fireplace telling stories to someone. I want to be wrong.