Picard Show Director Says It Isn’t Titled ‘Star Trek: Picard’

The most anticipated project in the world of Star Trek right now is the upcoming series starring Sir Patrick Stewart, returning to his Next Generation role of Jean-Luc Picard. While the show is shrouded in much mystery, there are a few new tidbits to share.

Not titled ‘Star Trek: Picard’ and maybe not ‘Star Trek: Destiny’ either

One of the biggest mysteries regards the title of the series. Last month Patrick Stewart said that a title has been chosen. Both “Picard” and “Star Trek: Picard” have been used as a shorthand for the show, although last month, Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green indicated that the show could actually be called “Picard.” But according to director Hanelle Culpepper, who has been tapped to helm the first two episodes for the show, this is not the case.

Responding to a fan on Twitter, Culpepper revealed that “Star Trek: Picard” was just a placeholder and “not the official title.”

For what it’s worth, the issue of Production Weekly released this afternoon still uses the “Star Trek: Picard” placeholder. What’s more noteworthy is Production Weekly no longer includes “Star Trek: Destiny” as a potential title for the series, as it had done earlier this month. As we have reported, “Star Trek: Destiny” is one of a number of titles that were trademarked by CBS last year.

Production still set to start in mid-April

Today’s issue of Production Weekly still shows the Picard series is set to start production at Santa Clarita Studios in mid-April, although it isn’t clear if the date is April 14th or 15th, as both are indicated. The first season is expected to have ten episodes, and production is still set to run through to mid-September.

Writing for the show is still ongoing, as indicated from a photo shared yesterday by writer and executive producer Michael Chabon. The Instagram post shows him and executive producer Alex Kurtzman on a couch at Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout Productions office in Santa Monica. His caption reads “Pondering the mysteries of Picard with Captain Kurtzman.” It has yet to be revealed who pens the premiere episode, but Chabon and Kurtzman are likely candidates for screen credit, either story or screenplay.

No premiere date yet, but December is a good bet

Another fan asked about the premiere date for the show on social media, and Culpepper confirmed a date has not yet been set.

CBS has been saying the Picard show will arrive at the end of 2019. As recently as last week, the CEO of CBS talked up how the Picard show “buttons the year up” for CBS All Access. As the service is striving to have new content every month, December seems like a good bet.

Keeping her lips sealed about any TNG costars

While Hanelle Culpepper has responded to a couple of tweets, don’t expect her to start spilling the beans on social media. Before you go bombarding the director for spoilers, she has already shown that she knows how to stick to her NDA, as this response from earlier in the month indicates, saying her “lips are sealed until the premiere,” when asked if other TNG cast members will show up on the Picard show.

Speaking of Next Generation stars, shortly after Culpepper was announced as director for the premiere episodes, she got a nice tweet from Worf actor Michael Dorn welcoming her to the family.


Keep up with all the news on the Picard show and other upcoming Star Trek TV shows here at TrekMovie.com.

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Star Trek : Four Lights Man. You heard it here first =3=

Based on the show’s description so far, I’m guessing it will be called “Star Trek: Gambit” since it sounds just about like that season 7 two-part episode.

Star Trek,
The legacy continues……

Star Trek: Federation would make a lot of sense, *if* it’s a show about politics in the Star Trek universe.

It riffs neatly on The Next Generation.

Rumours don’t align with that premise though. I guess we’ll see.

I like it like that more than Star Trek: Picard to be honest.

Me too.

I want to see Picard as President of the Federation.

No, he would sit around in the office for a whole season ;)

Star Trek: Monologues

It should be something broad like that. Star Trek: Federation (which I think was the title of a novel before) gives us a broader meaning and yes possible story.

Edit: Yep, just checked it was indeed the title of a novel from Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens published in 1995.

The Picard title just feels too limited to me. If this was a mini-series or something I would probably be OK with it but it would suggest the show is about Picard only and I think that would be the WRONG way to go. Sure we expect it to be revolve around him obviously but the story should have a bigger subtext because not every Trek fan just want a show based solely around Picard. It has to be more inclusive sounding. I love Picard but I don’t want a show where everything in it comes down to him. I still want something broader.

Tiger2, Star Trek: Federation would be a great title, but Patrick Stewart has publicly said he can’t even reveal the title *because it gives too much away about the storyline*. That makes me think it’s more likely to be Star Trek: Revolution — one of the names that CBS trademarked last year.

That would have interesting implications. Given the (admittedly limited) information revealed so far, I suspect it either involves President Picard getting overthrown in a coup, or — maybe more likely — someone else is POTUFP, something has gone badly wrong with the Federation’s political administration, and Picard is part of the fightback to set things right.

In the case of Star Trek: Revolution, I would think it more likely that it refers to a Romulan Revolution, and/or reunification with Vulcans.

“In the case of Star Trek: Revolution, I would think it more likely that it refers to a Romulan Revolution, and/or reunification with Vulcans.”

Good point, Sara. It could be something like that too.

I would love a story line like that but I always loved Federation politics, betrayal, conspiracies, etc and why TUC was so good. It doesn’t have to be about those things but I would be fine if it were. And it would be interesting to see Picard go from this influential leader to losing it and becoming a rogue agent to save it.

I have a feeling we are going to get the premise and title of the show before shooting begins so hopefully in a few weeks.

Oh and btw, I FINALLY started reading one of the Culture novels!

I started with the original book, Consider Phlebas! You had suggested one to me and I was going to read that one but I couldn’t remember it lol. I tried to look for that post but I didn’t know where we talked about it so I gave up and just started from the beginning although that might’ve been what you suggested anyway.

Anyway, so far so good! I will admit, the beginning of the book started pretty graphically to say the least lol. I wasn’t sure this was going to be the right story for me. But once I got over that and got to learn about the main character, the Idiran–Culture War, the massive world building, etc it’s great so far. It’s more like a space adventure but I know the other books are different from this one in their approach. I really do like the main character and his hatred view towards the machines. It’s not perfect of course. It throws at you a LOT of detail at you so it feels a bit tedious at times but its really creative.

I’m only into the first third of the book so I still have a long way to go. I don’t want to get too off topic but wanted to let you know I finally got around to reading one and I will definitely let you know my thoughts when I finish it.

Pleased to hear this, Tiger2 ;) “Consider Phlebas” actually was one of the books I recommended. “Look to Windward” was the other one; along with being widely regarded as the best novel in the series, it’s also a semi-sequel to Consider Phlebas, especially some of the things mentioned in CP’s epilogue chapters.

I haven’t read “Use of Weapons” yet, but apparently a lot of readers think that’s one of the best Culture books too. Good for people who like the idea of Section 31/Starfleet Intelligence black ops stuff.

CP was a bit different to what I expected, but if you find yourself wavering at any point (I sure did), it’s definitely worth sticking with it and reading the whole book. The payoff is very good, the Idiran-Culture War casts a long shadow on future events in the other novels, and CP’s multiple epilogues also contain a lot of broader epic “world-building” stuff that you’ll absolutely love. The book is intelligent, subtle and hard-hitting too.

It might just be a coincidence, but there were also a few themes in CP that made me wonder if one of the writers on DS9’s later seasons had read the book. You may notice several conversations or lengthy “internal monologues” that were subsequently echoed on DS9. Special Circumstances may also have been the inspiration for Section 31 to some extent.

Yes, do let me know your thoughts when you’ve finished CP. Ditto if you read LTW.

Wow great to hear and it was the one you originally suggested! Yes I’m definitely enjoying it but there is a lot of minutiae too. But of course its the first one so I know writers want to build their world as much as possible. It’s really interesting though and that it is very AI/machine focused story. I don’t read THAT much science fiction but enough and this is probably the most heaviest when it comes to AI stories. And I didn’t know it would be a war story so even more interesting.

And you’re right I can definitely see some of the DS9 writers reading this series. I know they read the Foundation series as well to help inspire them and its the reason I started reading that series because if the Dominion war was partly inspired by it, it must be a really great series. ;)

SC definitely smells like Section 31 lol. How secret its activities are and basically does all the immoral stuff but justify it in service of Contact. It’s almost the exact same organization from what I can tell.

But yes when I finish I will give you my thoughts (without derailing the entire thread lol). I just wanted to thank you for turning me on to the series and always planned to get to it. And if I like this one I’ll definitely read the other one too. I’m excited now that they are turning it into a TV show!

I could go with Star Trek: Federation, it certainly sounds better to me than ST Destiny. And Picard was always more of a diplomat than a soldier, so the title seems like it fits.

Great idea!

I’m calling it. Star Trek: Riker.

Dorn is such a sweetheart! I really hope we see Worf again.

And thank Kahless it won’t be named Picard. And why would they have to keep that secret if it was? A lot of silly build up for nothing. I think it will be something more general. Maybe something like Destiny is too generic (and sound like a Kelvin movie) but I would be fine with it.

Agreed and agreed!

Thank God Picard is not the title. That’s too lazy even for Star Trek standards.

You mean like “Logan” was too lazy as well? It would make sense that it was called Picard since it is centered around him. But since that is not going to be the title, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Logan was different because it WAS all about him. And that’s fine, it was basically saying goodbye to that character so it worked. There was a reason we didn’t see any other X Men outside of Xavier.

We know this will be centered around Picard but I don’t want it to be Logan either. I don’t want a show where he’s just trying to have a relationship with his estranged son or something while fighting off the Irumodic Syndrome. People still want a bigger Star Trek story although I guess you can include that stuff as part of it. But the story should be something bigger in general IMO. At least for a Star Trek show. If it was a mini-series that would be different.

How many stories has worf left to tell, he’s been in trek for 10 seasons and 5 featurefilms. His arc is complete
New characters new stories please

They found a way to keep doing Spock. And his story was FAR more complete than Worf ever will be.

Season one established that the audience isn’t looking for a Klingon space opera just now (regardless of the redesign).

From other postings by Dorn, it sounds as though he is aware of this.

That doesn’t matter as more Worf stories don’t mean Klingon space opera. They would be focused on Worf. Someone we already know and care about. For many the most interesting character from the TNG cast. Further, as I said, what Discovery is doing to the Spock character is really bottom scraping in a desperate attempt to find some undiscovered nugget from an already fully fleshed out character in an embarrassing attempt to bring in a popular character to a show that was in desperate need of saving.

A Trek series with Michael Chabon as writer and Executive Producer. All these months later and I still have to pinch myself.

Why is that? Can someone point me to why this guy gets so much premature laurels based on one competent Short Trek? I don’t care about Pulitzer prizes, sorry. And the Bryan Fuller fiasco that is Discovery (still recovering in season 2, slowly) goes to show that just because someone has produced critically acclaimed work elsewhere (Hannibal) , or even previously written for Star Trek, does not make them good creators or showrunners for new Star Trek shows. I’ll deem the pudding tasty once I’ve eaten it.

Honestly VS, I feel the same way as you do. BUT if you are a fan of his and actually read his work then of course I can understand it. I haven’t, I only know about some of the films he worked on and of course Calypso. But people highly praise him here (and I did like Calypso) so trust the people here who sing his praises.

But I will agree with you, being a successful sci fi writer doesn’t automatically mean you will be a great Star Trek writer. But I think you will also agree people are more reassured about someone like that instead of the show runners in season one where their resume was peppered with mostly night time soaps and why Discovery’s first season felt like it was written as one with all the crazy twists and melodrama.

I’m hoping we will get back to the same type of introspection and philosophy like old Trek did so well and he at least says all the right things.

Alright, and I also don’t wanna knock this guy unfairly before seeing the result. Just color me more sceptical again since seeing the casting sheet, whether they can and actually want to deliver on “introspection and philosophy”. We have been burnt too many times with lofty announcements that did not turn out true at all, and needed major course correction after fan backslash (remember Discovery season 1)?

Of course, don’t prejudge something that isn’t done, but we can say the same thing about Patrick Stewart. We haven’t seen him in this show, so we don’t know if he’ll be good in it. However, everything we’ve seen up until this point would indicate he’s going to do well. The same goes for Chabon. I was skeptical until I saw Calypso, and then I went and read some of his books. He’s an amazing writer, and if he puts the same effort into this show, it’ll be wonderful.

No prejudging, but it’s looking good.

Good Lord, what twaddle. Of course Chabon’s pedigree isn’t any guarantee that he’ll do great work on this show. But his novels have been consistently good-to-great; he’s tried his hand with both fantasy and speculative fiction to critical success; and while his Pulitzer prize-winner “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” isn’t a genre novel per se, as a fictionalized history of the comics industry it’s steeped in affection for both the literature of the fantastic and those who are fans of it. And, he loves Star Trek. Are you seriously suggesting that the assets he brings to the table — he’s literally the first writer with a real literary background to work on the franchise since TOS — aren’t a valid reason to think that he’ll probably do a good job on this show? Or are you just here to argue?

“Are you seriously suggesting that the assets he brings to the table — he’s literally the first writer with a real literary background to work on the franchise since TOS — aren’t a valid reason to think that he’ll probably do a good job on this show””

Nope. He may do “a good job” but the show still not turn out good for a myriad of reasons, which do not have to be the Bryan Fuller syndrome even. He is just one piece of the puzzle and we don’t know how much of the vision (such as reflected by the casting sheet) is actually his or if he is (big titles aside) more of a figurehead for the fans and the media a la Nicholas Meyer who was once introduced to us as a Discovery writer and producer – so claiming that the show must rock because he is involved is premature at best. Speaking of TOS, the bitter Harlan Ellison feud shows that not all literary writers adapt well to the limitations and pressures of television, and that doesnt even have to be those writer’s fault!

I understand your excitement, I’m just sceptical to commit myself to worshipping an unfilmed show based on one writers’ credentials in a completely different medium.

And yes, the point of a discussion forum is to argue. There are quite a number of people who don’t seem to understand that fact.

“Speaking of TOS, the bitter Harlan Ellison feud shows that not all literary writers adapt well to the limitations and pressures of television[…]” Uh, Harlan Ellison had a long career in television besides Star Trek. Episodes of Route 66, Ripcord, Burke’s Law, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Cimarron Strip, The Flying Nun, The Young Lawyers, Circle of Fear, The Starlost, Logan’s Run. Tales from the Darkside, The Twilight Zone, The Hunger, Babylon 5….

I don’t see anybody “worshipping an unfilmed show.” I see people who admire and enjoy a writer’s work, and who also love Star Trek, excited that that writer is going to work on Star Trek. Surely you can understand that?

VS, if you’re honestly curious why people are excited about Michael Chabon’s contributions to Star Trek, you really should just read one of his books. If you like Golden Age comics, try “Kavalier and Clay”; if you prefer alternate histories or noir detective stories, try “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union”. I’m sure your local library will be able to get hold of a copy of either for you.

I do take your point that excellence in one medium does not always translate to competence in another. But honestly, what you’re seeing is not “premature laurels”; it’s genuine excitement from people who have read and loved his novels that he’s going to be bringing that talent into the Star Trek sandbox.

I just like the fact that Trek is returning back to literary people to write episodes like TOS used to do back in the day with Robert Bloch, Harlan Ellison and Jerome Bixby.

Star Trek: The Next Evolution!!

Star Trek: The Next Geriatric

Star Trek: Enlarged Prostate

Star Trek: The Dogs of War

Star Trek: The Next Phase of Life
Star Trek: Viagra
Star Trek: Before the Nice Farm Upstate
Star Trek: Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Lamp, Goodnight Romulus, Goodnight Room

Star Trek: Die Hard
Star Trek: At Last a Sequel in Original Timeline
Star Trek: All Good Things Come to a Revival Series

Damn Kids: Get Off my Star Trek Lawn!

Jean-Luc Picard in the 25h Century.

Space: 2399
Battlestar Picardia

I’m glad the title is not Star Trek: Picard or Star Trek: Destiny. 10 episodes sounds like a really short season for me. It premieres in December, I will check it out before Christmas. Maybe some TNG characters can be on the show. CBS should make a show on Captain Pike and the Enterprise crew before Kirk.

I’m starting to think this guy may not actually be a professor…

No sh!t, he may not be Spock either! For me however you get exactly what the package labeling says!

And my apologies that Tilly’s vulgarities are rubbing off on me (same as Pike).

@Vulcan Soul

Riker swore more than Tilly ever has.

A 10 episode order is the standard order for most streaming and cable series.

I bet the new series would be titled “Star Trek: The Picard Chronicles.”

We already have The Burnham Chronicles in all but name, so no. As much (more) I appreciate Picard, but even in TNG he was not the be-all-end-all at the expense of other major characters, the way as Discovery has been written so far.

I’m putting my money on Star Trek Revolution

Michael Dorn: You know that this show needs? More Worf!
Que the cowbell….

Nice reference!

Ugh just give us the frackin title! Who cares?! (My desperate frustration belies my final sentiment.)

I tend to agree. I’m not concerned about the title all that much. I think people are wondering about it because supposedly the title will tell them something about the plot of the show. I can wait but then I’m not jonesing for this show like some are.

Bald Trek. Facepalm Trek. Actually the title should just be the LLAP emoji 🖖

Judging from the casting sheet (drug addicts and thieves), it’s titled Starscape :P

That was season 10 of Stargate: SG1

Star Trek: Picard, Reforming Youth
(At his age, everyone else is “youth” including the lady in her 40s-50s.)

Ah, Farscape. Really miss that show.

Can’t believe its actually celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. How time flies.

Vulcan Soul good guess.

Don’t forget, Alex Kurtzman wrote ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’, the biggest turd ever! Do you actually expect him to come up with something original and creative THIS time?

I loved Into Darkness. It made me a Star Trek fan again.

Star Trek Into Darkness is pretty good but not the best Star Trek movie ever. Benedict Cumberbatch had a mediocre performance as Khan in the film. The Wrath of Khan is the best Star Trek movie. I like First Contact too.

Season 2 has been WAY better under him than season one was under the other guys IMO. I know technically he didn’t take over fully in episode 6 but he was much more involved from the beginning of this season. Now if you hate this season too, OK then, there is nothing to convince you.

Let’s not get too comfortable, with Kurtzman called upon to helm the empire and a new showrunner coming in, season 3 may be entirely different yet again! Although judging from her debut, I’m not too hopeless (50 minutes of actual in-series lore compared to Chabon’s 15mins of free-wheeling scifi short)

If Zora ends up saving the universe in Disco this season it wouldn’t just have been “freewheeling sci-fi,” although it is a short.

“If Zora ends up saving the universe in Disco this season it wouldn’t just have been “freewheeling sci-fi,” although it is a short.”

Maybe so, but nothing to do with him, any more than Michelle Paradise is responsible for the lack of Airiam development before her episode. As Matt stressed before, Chabon is not connected to Discovery the show. For good or bad.

I’d place Into Darkness at the middle of the ST movie spectrum, perhaps in between First Contact and The Search for Spock. I even thought it made for a better movie than Beyond. I can’t take seriously any hyperbolic notion that it’s the worst in a series that includes the likes of Nemesis, The Final Frontier, Generations or even Insurrection.

I agree. It’s my favorite of the Kelvin movies, but none of them can compete with First Contact or The Voyage Home for me. (Yes I’m one of the weird ones that loves the whales one… even more so than Kahn.)

I’m right with you on The Voyage Home.

I don’t hate STID like so many in the fanbase either, but it definitely had problems. It probably fall somewhere in the sixth or seventh favorite film. FC is my third favorite and TVH my fourth.

Regarding Into Darkness, I agree with Nicholas Meyer:

“In my sort of artistic worldview, if you’re going to do an homage, you have to add something. You have to put another layer on it, and they didn’t. Just by putting the same words in different characters’ mouths didn’t add up to anything, and if you have someone dying in one scene and sort of being resurrected immediately after there’s no real drama going on. It just becomes a gimmick or gimmicky, and that’s what I found it to be ultimately.”

And I would add, all the Kelvin Trek movies have this problem. They aren’t about anything other than flash and spectacle. They feel gimmicky. They are gimmicky.

STID would have rated higher with me had they, not used Khan, not involved Section 31, NOT killed Kirk and worse, echo the Spock death scene from WOK and have Spock scream KHAN!. But I continue to say that their goal for the film, to have Kirk realize the magnitude of the responsibility that goes with the chair was the right call. They just were flawed in how it was executed.

Into Darkness was essentially three movies. First was Star Trek 101-B: WHAT Are These People?, further establishing the world of Starfleet using the lens of America’s obsession with domestic terrorism. Second movie was Kirk (finally) Gets His Comeuppance, establishing that the writers were in fact listening (perhaps too closely) to the complaints of fans. And the third movie was “KHAN!”, essentially an unmade chapter in Orci’s and Kurtzman’s series of Ongoing comics which Kelvinized a lot of popular ST classic episodes.

Any two of these ideas for a movie could have mixed into an effective film. Three was pushing it. Using Khan is also problematic if you’ve likely only got three contracted movies (as in actual movies this time) with which to present a big screen representation of the entire ST mythos. I knew this at the time and couldn’t believe they were doing it.

Agreed, I think STID is a decent movie. The first half of it is pretty darned good, especially showing the repercussions of Kirk’s cadet-to-captain silliness of the first movie. It went off the rails more or less when Cumberbatch said his name was Khan. I don’t hate the movie even after that, but it could have been much better if the final act had deleted the TWOK homage business. And seriously, since we saw the Enterprise undersea at the beginning, they really should have had the movie come full circle and have the Enterprise rise out of the sea to take down the Vengeance at the end.

I just watched TVH the other night. Good call!

They’ll never make a ST like it again.

Thank goodness for that. And thus far it has been true. At least on the movie side.

Personally I rate STID as possibly around 10 on the list of the 13 Trek movies. Obviously Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country are top two. Bottom two are Voyage Home (yes, that goes against popular opinion but there were so many facepalms associated with that horrible non Star Trek movie…) and Insurrection.

Come on, Harry, you’re starting to sound like Cygnus now. STID clearly wasn’t the franchise’s best effort, but there are still people out there (myself included) that think Generations is still the biggest turd ever, and I have no desire to crucify Ron Moore for that. The streaming version of the franchise seems to have found its footing, lets see where it goes….

Phil, I’m not going to rehash why STID is an abomination. It just is. Even Benedict Cumberbatch, one of the best actors in the world, couldn’t save that shit show.
Boy, they’re right when they say, “if it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage!”

@ Harry. Yeah, that is beating a dead mule at this point. BC does seem to hook up with stinkers, I had to turn off Dr. Strange after about twenty minutes, horrible movie.

As sequels go, Into Darkness was a lazy way to approach a follow up to the 2009 film. You don’t successfully reboot a franchise with a blank slate only to immediately recycle and reimagine another Star Trek story. It was a missed opportunity.

I agree Denny C,

I wasn’t really a big fan of seeing TOS rebooted but I understood why they did it. But yes my biggest fear was they were going to just rehash familiar stories instead of coming up with something new and STID sadly confirmed those fears. It is definitely its own original story but the WOK stuff was just not needed, certainly not in the second freaking film. But overall I still think its a well made and entertaining movie. I understand why so many hate it since I didn’t like those parts that much either but overall I still liked it.

star trek: make it so!

I’m putting my money on Star Trek: Federation as the title. If I’m wrong…

Or “Star Trek: Starfleet Command”

Anyone who actually thought it was Star Trek Picard needs a good look at themselves in the mirror. That was never the title going to be a title of what will be the flagship show on CBS. Not a very marketable title.

And Dorn still trying to get his foot in the door by the looks of it…please pack it in! #nomoreWorf

Bit greedy the lad, after he got half of Deep Space Nine on top of TNG! Let’s have some more Bev the fiery redhead instead!

Star Trek: The Next Next Generation

I would love it if the first season is about an Iconian artifact Picard needs to hunt down,… Heh any artifact would do it, I just want my Indiana Jones / Picard show :D

Iconians would be the awesome sauce of Star Trek: Picard!

I suspect we’ll get something along those lines.

Because Picard the action hero has always worked out so very well!

ML31, unfortunately that is the image Patrick Stewart likes to see all the way since Starship Mine and Captain’s Holiday (bit of an antidote to his Shakespearian persona, I suppose). Which is why above poster’s comment that we don’t know if even Stewart will be good in this one, is quite correct.

I think many are well aware of Stewart’s desire for Picard to be more like John McLane.

That’s a shame, because that naming system would’ve sounded awesome by the time they reached Star Trek: Archer.

Which, strangely enough, is about Deanna and her love of archery.

I really hope that somehow they manage to slip in the appearance of a Starship called Enterprise that we all know and love! Hopefully still the Enterprise E.

I highly doubt it will be the E, even if the Enterprise appears. I think the more likely scenario would be the appearance of Titan with Riker in command, unless Riker has been promoted to admiral in the 20 years since we last saw them. Then they can still involve Jonathan Frakes as a talking head admiral, perhaps cameoing in the episode he is set to direct.

“Then they can still involve Jonathan Frakes as a talking head admiral”

He could take turns with Ted Danson in that role ;)

More likely the Enterprise F. The E would require a licensing fee to Paramount – and it’s twenty years old (by Admiral Morrow’s standards, that’s old). Enterprise-F with Fleet Captain Riker in command would be just fine.

Those licensing claims have no basis in fact. CBS owns Trek. Paramount licenses the rights to create the movies. Besides, First Contact (and the E) were created in 1996, long before the CBS/Paramount split. Stop repeated unfounded nonsense.

While I’m generally unopposed to that, I would prefer that they don’t lay on too many of those nostalgia moments. Like having a reunion with an “old friend” every other episode would be too much. One or two cameos would be okay for a 10-hour series.

Star Trek: The Last Crusade

I feel like they will go with a less esoteric title like “Picard” or “Federation” that is mostly targeted to the fan base, and opt for something more thematic and general like “Discovery” was intended to be. Perhaps “Frontier” or “To Boldly Go” or “Revolution”—something more along the lines of “Destiny.”

“To Baldly Go” :-)

Michael Dorn I know you occasionally drop in here…so if you read this ..with all due respect #nomoreWorf.

You’ve had more than enough time in the Trek spotlight. Please also pass that message on to Marina Sirtis as well who also attempts to shoehorn herself in to opportunities. (There is a reason you guys don’t get acting gigs elsewhere).

What Discovery does well is that the bar is very high for the quality of lead actors they have on the show, almost as high as DS9 which probably had the best ensemble.
TNG with exception to Stewart, Burton, Spiner, De Lancie had a wealth of poor actors who were only held up by the great performers around them. Only reason the rest would get a pass on the Picard show is for nostalgia purposes.

Time to move onwards into the future.

I think you are being too kind to TNG. Stewart, of course, is arguably the best actor to ever be a Trek regular. But after him on TNG then comes Spiner, who at best is above average. The rest of the cast was really not very good at all. Not even Burton is all that good. Just being honest here.

I for one think Spiner did a Fantastic job of playing Data. There’s a reason he played second fiddle to Stewart in every single TNG movie.

He was fine. “Fantastic” I feel is overkill. But the reason he was 2nd fiddle to Picard is because Data WAS the 2nd character in the show. He was Spock to Picard’s Kirk.

Perhaps I am, I think Spiners work outside TNG is pretty good, playing the villain in outcast being one example.

I haven’t seen him a lot but I do recall seeing him in a very small and recurring role on Night Court that required a little bit of comic timing that he was very successful at doing. But I honestly do not see playing Data as a huge acting stretch. Suffice to say, Spiner is the 2nd best actor on the TNG cast. I think we can agree on that even if the level of which is debated.

burton had to act through that visor but still gave us a character with depth, especially after he was promoted in season 2.

The visor only made it harder for Burton to act through. And since he was not a very good actor to begin with it sure didn’t help. I would disagree that there was any depth at all to LaForge. The only thing he ever did it seemed was sigh.

Sorry I really would love to see Worf back. I think many would. And I think you’re being a little harsh on Dorn, the guy just wished the director of the pilot good luck, I don’t think he’s trying to get on the show or anything. And I liked most of the TNG actors who I thought were good, especially Dorn.

And while I like the Discovery actors, outside of a few I don’t think they are anymore better or worst than other Trek actors. SMG is the lead and she’s one of the worst (but still decent). But this is why they are called opinions.

I think SMG as a series lead has a tough task regardless, especially when you compare her to other contemporarly series leads, Stewart, Brooks, Mulgrew and Bakula who were all well established in their field. She makes a good fist of it though but not in comparison to those who have gone before her

Commander dicK

In other news, a bus crash did NOT occur on Interstate 95 this morning.

If they took the name of destiny to make something based on the destiny series of books that would be f..king awesome.

My money is on ENGAGE or ENGAGED

MAKE IT SO

I hear the argument for a 26 episode season here and there, and I have to say, that’s a really bad idea for a couple of reasons.

1. Budget. A network will not give this show a lot of money, so you either have 26 cheap episodes or 10 expensive ones. In a post-Game of Thrones world, 10 expensive episodes are going to win out.
2. Story. By making only 10 episodes, it limits the writers to tell a tight story in a short amount of time, and writers thrive in limits. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, and pacing can be an issue for some, but I think Disco can go down to 10 and it’d be tighter.
3. Lack of filler episodes. I love Star Trek, but one in four episodes can be cut from any series and they’d be better for it. Ferengi episodes in TNG and DS9, Will they get home episodes in Voyager, any episodes that spend more than a minute in the decon chamber from Enterprise, the third season of TOS (except for Enterprise Incident) were written as padding in a time where you needed to get to syndication as fast as possible. Without that external incentive, writers aren’t forced to drag out stories longer than they need to.

Let’s not always think in black and white extremes. Too long seasons are not good for many of the reasons you list, but too short seasons are not good either as Discovery with its perpetual rushedness has conclusively proven. Shall we agree on 15 or 16 episodes as the sweet spot?

I think Disco’s problem is poor writing, honestly. They need to plan better and not be afraid to take a breath every once in a while. That’s where we fall in love with characters. 15 or 16 would be nice, but less episodes with more breathing room towards the beginning, with ramping tension towards the end would make for better story structure.

I think we can all agree that a good show can never have too many episodes in a season and a bad show can never have too few.

Personally I think a show is better served to have 20+ episodes in a season. Sure the budget will be smaller but that forces the crew to get creative. I’d rather have a good story with a lower budget than a mediocre story with a huge one. More episodes give the writers more time to create the story arc. Which can only be a good thing. With more shows you don’t have any episodes that try to do too much because of the time restraints. As Discovery as been very guilty of. The idea that “filler” episodes don’t exist in shorter seasons is a myth. They do. Season 1 of Discovery had some. Filler shows are unavoidable no matter the length of the season. And for the record, any TNG episode that dealt with the holodeck, Wesley, Mrs. Troi (or anything having to do with the main character’s families), Data trying to be human or Q (save for one moment in one episode) were terrible.

I would like a longer season too, especially with the Picard show but I’m guessing we will never see a 20+ episode Trek show again, especially being on a streaming site.

But I think a 15-18 episode season would be just right. Enough to tell a complete arc but also gives them a chance to do other alternate stories. But I also agree filler stories can happen no matter what you do. I will say Discovery has done a great job this season of making practically every episode relevant to their story but still having stories all feel different and interesting enough on their own. They also feel almost standalone in themselves too so you can watch them separately.

The Next Geriatric

I suggest, Star Trek: Stargazer double meaning from the literal recounting ones past as Picard travels from Star to Star to the obvious connection to his time aboard the Stargazer.

Oh, I like that.

Just like “Enterprise”, he he he.

This show needs to avoid repeating the same mistakes as Star Trek: Discovery season 1. I trust the people working on this show. I have faith in Patrick Stewart and his crew. New starship Enterprise needs to be on the show.

I’m still banking on it just being called “Picard”, like the first seasons of ENT were just titled “Enterprise”. No “Star Trek:” prefix. The tweet would still hold true.

Hope not. That would be horrible. Why limit the show like that? And they changed their tune on just calling it Enterprise after two seasons.

Star Trek Destiny never made much sense to me, considering how closely it sounds like Star Trek Discovery. Maybe it shouldn’t be titled “Star Trek” at all.

They tried that with Enterprise, it didn’t last long. And the entire point of getting Stewart back is to get people to know more Star Trek is coming. Getting rid of the main title would do the opposite of that.

..it should be called, “star trek: we are cbs and desperate for a real trek series so we paid whatever he asked for to save our pay network” !!

They should follow us Brits and call it “Trexit.” Therefore they can keep moving the airdate schedule back and back. IMO LOL

If they can’t come up with a better series title, just call it “The Inner Light” ya think?