The Star Trek Las Vegas convention isn’t the only big event generating Star Trek news this week. Another is the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, held in Beverly Hills. During a couple of panels with CBS executives and producers working on Star Trek, a few new details about what they have planned for the Star Trek Universe and the CBS All Access platform were revealed.
Discovery crew not looking to come back, will get a captain
After the season two finale, Star Trek: Discovery executive producer and co-showrunner Michelle Paradise told TrekMovie the USS Discovery’s crew saw the jump forward 930 years as a one-way trip. At a panel at TCA Paradise confirmed the show is staying in the 32nd century, saying (via Slashfilm): “Correct, we’re there and we’re living there.”
Paradise also confirmed they will address the hanging issue of who is the captain of the USS Discovery:
I will remind that in our finale, as Pike was leaving, he said, ‘We are going to need to choose a new captain…’ Saru said, ‘Let’s put a pin in that and see what happens.’ Discovery will need a captain. The pin will need to come out. We will need to address that in story.
Michelle Paradise (right) at Women in TV panel at TCA Summer Press tour 2019 (Twitter/CBS)
How Picard is a Discovery/TNG hybrid
At an executive session at TCA with CBS EVP of Original Content Julie McNamara, the subject of Trek came up again. Slashfilm asked McNamara to compare and contrast the upcoming Star Trek: Picard show with Discovery and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
In the past, much has been said about how Picard is different than Discovery, but McNamara did point to one similarity:
I would say that it is in production, sort of size and scope, [Picard is] probably more similar to Discovery.
But she also noted how the show is similar to TNG:
In terms of the characters and the nature of the storytelling, [Picard is] probably more like Next Generation. But of course, we’re a number of years later now so there are some shifts in the storytelling style but I think it’s a really nice hybrid of the two.
Coordinating the timeline of the expanding Star Trek Universe
During the CBS All Access executive session, it was confirmed that Star Trek: Picard will premiere in the first quarter of 2020. As for the third season of Discovery, CBS President and COO of CBS Interactive Marc DeBevoise said it will premiere “later” in 2020. For the other shows in development, DeBevoise said there was “no timeline at this moment.”
At her earlier TCA panel, Discovery co-showrunner Michelle Paradise reconfirmed that production on the previously announced Section 31 series is tied into Discovery, pointing to how that’s the only way it can work with Michelle Yeoh, who will lead the Section 31 show, but is also part of the third season of Discovery, adding: “After [Discovery] wraps, she could go into production [on the Section 31 show].”
With the expanding Star Trek universe, there are shows set all over Trek’s prime timeline, including Discovery in the 32nd century, Lower Decks and Picard at different points of the 24th, and Short Treks back in the 23rd century and a bit of the 24th as well. And that’s before you even get into some of the other shows in development, such as the Section 31 show and the Nickelodeon animated series.
At her TCA panel, Paradise noted how Alex Kurtzman—who is her Discovery co-showrunner and is in charge of the Star Trek Universe—is ensuring the various shows mesh:
I would say every iteration of Star Trek we want to be aware of and we want to honor. It’s important to us to do that. Alex [Kurtzman], as he works on that and works on our show, he lets us know if there’s anything that we need to be aware of in terms of history… We’re also aware that all of the iterations of Star Trek, so we really want to make sure that we’re not doing anything in [Discovery] that directly contradicts something that we’ve seen established or that is being established on another spin-off,” she said.
CBS All Access expanding, execs see more potential in Star Trek
As reported by Variety, the executives from CBS say they are committed to having a total of 12 original series by 2020, “…with additional plans to expand programming into sports, movies and nonfiction titles, and series acquisitions.” This expansion includes World Series of Poker events, an original documentary titled Console Wars about Nintendo and Sega, and the acquisition of off-network streaming rights to Nancy Drew, which debuts on the CW in the fall.
With so many subscribers attracted to All Access via Star Trek, the streamer continues to lean into genre programming. To that end, CBS also announced a series order for The Man Who Fell to Earth, based on the original 1963 science-fiction novel (which was previously adapted into the 1976 movie starring David Bowie). Star Trek honcho Alex Kurtzman is developing the series along with Discovery and Short Treks writer Jenny Lumet.
Speaking to Variety, Julie McNamara talked about the growing Star Trek Universe as part of All Access:
We feel like any show that we add to that franchise needs to carve out a unique niche in the world of ‘Star Trek,’ and needs to be a very good, high-level execution. I think we will collectively know when it feels like we actually should take our foot off the gas a little bit…We love the upside of this franchise [and] we feel like there’s kind of a limitless interest and appetite. That said, we have to curate carefully and only put the shows on when it feels right.
Keep up with all the news on the Picard show and other upcoming Star Trek TV shows here at TrekMovie.com.
Yay! Glad they’re leaving the 23rd Century behind (well, until Section 31, but does anyone really want that show?).
An Enterprise-F/G show would be cool, with a new crew/possibly galaxy to explore.
I do. Section 31. Count me in.
TBH I don’t. like DIS, but I hate how open Section 31 is and how aware of it everyone is. This is supposed to be a shadow organization. I wish DIS never touched it.
They’re openly aware of it on-board Discovery because the USS Discovery is a science vessel, so top secret to begin with. We saw Section 31 on-board the Discovery as far back as episode 3, when they introduced the ship. If 134 people can keep the Mirror Universe a secret from the wider cosmos, they can certainly keep Section 31 secret.
yeah section 31 can be interesting… hoping it takes place in picard time… though i wish they would involve ira behr who created them for ds9
Getting Ira Behr to do more Star Trek would be a dream!!!!!
Don’t forget Manny Coto or Ron Moore.
I’d love to see the Okuda’s brought in in some capacity too.
I hear you Lukas! I would love to have any of those guys back. They really got Star Trek and would love for them to have them on board again.
Putting old people in charge of Trek is never a good idea.
Having trolls who were banned once from this site to come back is also not a very good idea either and yet here you are!
So that would be you?…
Leave me alone troll.
You remind me of that guy from the movie Split. Great movie.
Why? They had their time. Let new people have a chance.
While I was never a fan of Section 31 to begin with, it totally feels like it belongs in TNG era.
I agree as well. We’ve had the 23rd century since the Kelvin movies and first two seasons of Discovery, its time to go forward again and happy to see just how much they are doing that. But yes Section 31 could end up back there which I’m fine with but we really don’t know when that show will actually take place. Many are considering there might just be a Section 31 in the 32nd century as well. And its not like Georgiou has any special times to that era since she came from another universe and been there maybe a few months so she could land anywhere.
And would LOVE an Enterprise F show. I actually would love to see Riker on the Enterprise F in the Picard show but hand it off to someone else if they made a new show (but I won’t have a problem if he stayed lol, but don’t see that happening).
Meant ‘special attachment’.
The advantage of doing it in the 23rd century would be that Voq/Tyler could return as part of the main cast.
I like Tyler and I hope he shows up again in some form, but I’m not exactly distraught if we never saw him again either. And I can say that about most of the characters on Discovery minus 2 or 3 of them. At least right now.
But yes I wouldn’t mind if he came back and I wish they left him on the ship to the 32nd century UNLESS the point is there will be a Section 31 show in the 23rd century of course. I’m more than sure it WILL be in the 23rd century but one thing I will give these guys if nothing else is they aren’t predictable. ;D
I wouldn’t get broken up over the loss of any Discovery characters. With the possible exception of Reno. Saru was in that category until they completely changed his nature. And gave him super abilities.
Same here. Their lousy stories and weak writing have left me with zero emotional investment in any of these new characters. The ship could blow up with all in board and I would be indifferent.
LOL harsh man, harsh!
I’m personally not interested in S31 show at all. In fact I would gladly trade it for a Pike show.
A Section 31 show could be interesting, but I agree with Xon: a Pike show is really what I’d want to see.
If the choice was Section 31 or Pike, then obviously the answer is Pike. But I just wish the Section 31 show did NOT involve Yeoh (unless she is playing a different character) and would prefer it be set in Picard time.
I for one am looking forward to Section 31.
“Welcome to Section 31, officer, the most clandestine operational group within the Federation. Now here is your black Section 31 badge, wear it proudly everywhere and in front of everyone.”
@Dan – I’m with you, I don’t want to see Section 31 at all. Not just no interest but negative interest: It literally pushed me away from Discovery and other new Trek because I so deeply loathe the idea of Section 31, much less a show about it.
But seeing the far future on DSC? Yeah, I’ll give that a chance. :)
A new Enterprise show E+ is what everyone really wants.
Not me actually.
I’ve read 15 years of Simon & Schuster TNG Relaunch novels. As good as those were, I’m ready to move on.
Picard will advance the Prime Universe into the 25th century and incorporate familiar characters as appropriate to Picard’s story. That’s enough for me.
erpa, if you don’t want folks here to big foot you, please don’t take it on yourself to say “what everyone really wants” .
More Enterprise-E may be what you’re hearing from your group of friends, but there are folks who are enthusiastically supporting Discovery, S31, Lower Decks, Picard and campaigning for Pike’s Enterprise. Not all those are as strongly represented here on TrekMovie’s board, but they’re definitely vocal at cons.
There’s room for lots of different preferences in a multi show approach like the one that Kurtzman and CBS has adopted. Please don’t make it a sibling rivalry.
I actually agree TG47 (but we do agree on practically everything lol). I certainly wouldn’t mind an Enterprise E or F show, I may even be giddy in fact lol, but I don’t think its NEEDED either. I like what they are doing with the Picard show and if an Enterprise can make an appearance in it that’s enough for me. I have the same feeling with the Pike show as well. I would love if they make one, but I don’t feel its personally needed, but yes I can see more of the appeal of a Pike show since we never had any real stories with that character until now.
So open for both, but not bother if we ever saw either (although I DO want more stories with Pike, it just doesn’t have to be a full on show either).
As for Picard show, I’ve always just said I just want a continuation of the 24th century in any form and now we got it! We finally got it! Bringing a lot of these characters back is just a big bonus. :)
I wouldn’t be surprised if Picard’s Short Trek is set on the Enterprise E, and we may see it show up on Picard with a new captain. I don’t think we need a TNG relaunch though.
I’ve heard that only from a few myself. The one that has the most traction among the fans would seem to be a Pike show.
Myself, I really am tired of Enterprise with letters. That is yet another annoying thing that came from TVH.
Hopefully we can still get our Pike show. I personally have no interest in a Section 31 show. Especially if its lead is an evil genocidal dictator from opposite land.
How can Michelle Yeoh be a part of Discovery season 3 (other than flashbacks)? Or if I should’ve forgotten about her coming along to the 32rd century, then how can she be a part of the Section 31 show? Time travel? Please no…
Cartoon villains shouldn’t be a part of ANY Star Trek series.
Huh? She’s live action. Obviously the Trek cartoons will have cartoon villains, but I’m sure they’ll be fine.
She’s an over-the-top, comic book type villain; as realistic as the Loch Ness monster and with zero character depth. I cannot fathom anything remotely captivating about the Georgiou character, so I’m astonished she’s getting her own show.
The way they portrayed Section 31 in Discovery has really been disappointing. And I don’t watch Trek for morally deprived, black ops villains and their nefarious plans. We have the real life CIA, et al. for that.
It’s because it’s Michelle Yeoh. She’s a very big actress internationally, so it makes sense that they’d want to capitalize on her in the ST franchise. I do enjoy her character, but I agree with Sully that sometimes they get carried away with her character, and she needs more depth.
It’s not the late 90’s anymore. Her star, even in East Asia, is not that bright anymore. But she IS the biggest name in the Discovery cast. That undoubtedly has more to do with it than anything.
This. A thousand times this.
Your post is so emotionally dramatic, I’m kind of shocked you don’t like her? Pot calling the kettle black? ;-)
Don’t sweat it. Sully is a cartoon fan. :-)
She’s no more over the top than Khan or Dukat. Sometimes the most fun villains are ridiculous. She may be nuts, but its always a pleasure to watch Georgiou being evil.
Khan and Dukat were played by really good actors though. I like Yeoh, I was excited when we heard she was coming on this show and first one announced IIRC. But as MU Georgiou it just feels too ridiculous. I was hoping there would be more of a balance in the second season but she came off just as hammy as before.
I think this might have to do with English not being her native tongue. I watched most of Michelle Yeoh’s Hong Kong and Chinese work and her characters really come off well there, with all the emotions and everything intact. I think she might just be having some difficulty showing the same emotions in English. I am not a native English speaker myself and I can understand how difficult this can be for people like us.
If that is the case, and there could be some truth there, then isn’t it obvious that she was monumentally wrong for the part?
I think what they could have done was to at least have some part of the character speak in her native tongue with subtitles. Since we have the universal translators I don’t think other characters would have a problem understanding her.
Not sure how well that would have gone over. A lot of fans were unhappy reading subtitles for the Klingons. Further, I don’t think Yeoh is a bad actress. She just needs the right parts. This one does not seem to suit her at all. But to be fair, the character of cartoony evil genocidal maniac dictator is a tough one to pull off when the show is more drama oriented.
Both Khan and Dukat may have chewed some scenery pretty good. But they weren’t presented with all the characterization and depth of Snidely Whiplash, as evil Georgeau was.
She’s way more over the top than Khan and Dukat… Dukat only went insane in Season 7.
Khan is a character from the 60s/80s, of course he’s going to be a touch more melodramatic, especially considering he had to compete with Shatner!
Well, she is the only Star Trek character I can recall who has literally hissed like a snake. “Cartoonish” isn’t much of a stretch.
TNG Ferengi and TOS Klingons just called to say hi.
Yeah, those were low points as well…
Fortunatelly DS9 and especially Quarks gave Ferengi more depth.
Why don’t they take DS9 as the minimum quality they have to aim at. Instead their goal is to create more TNG Ferengi villians. Why? Aim high, not low!
The Ferengi backfired on TNG because they were built up to be the new big bads and when we finally saw them they were more annoying than anything. They didn’t hold up to audiences expectations of a future formidable federation foe! Personally I liked that they looked more alien than anything we have seen before. A huge part of that was their inability to sit still. They were crawling over each other like baby hamsters trying to get at mama’s teat. I found it weird and unsettling but it was alien. But it did not scream “scary new Federation antagonist to take the place of the Klingons”! And so… Quark.
Unless it’s a cartoon, I guess.
Either she’ll travel back to the 23rd century, or Section 31 will be set in the 32nd century.
They’ve already said it’s supposed to be about the development of Section 31 prior to DS9. So most likely, she’ll somehow go back in time.
I hope beyond hope it will be set in the 32nd century.
May she becomes a Member of S31 in the Future or kind of Temporal-Agent.
Quantum Leap in Space xD
A series based on The Man Who Fell To Earth? That could be interesting.
Nice to see they’re giving the guy they fired more work…..
kurtzman wasnt fired… he’s running trek… he was at comicon… he oversees the whole thing and is working on all the shows. or are you saying he was fired from something else?
He was being ironic. The only guy in the world that is fired and gets more work from the employer that supposedly fired him.
Unhappening, I see I failed to use the sarcasm font…
I don’t know if he is fired or not, but he does seem to be biting off more than he can chew if he indeed is going to showrun two different shows at the same time. He is probably gonna leave most of the work on Discovery season 3 to Michelle Paradise.
He has a whole production company to develop this. Says nothing about him being the showrunner.
There was another article that definitely stated he was the showrunner on “The Man who Fell to Earth”.
Variety reported that Kurtzman will be executive producer, showrunner and director of The Man Who Fell to Earth.
Why are the so obsessed with this Section 31 idea? They were mildly interesting on DS9 and completely boring ever since then.
They were very interesting on DS9…but I don’t know about a series either…I’ve thought about it many years ago…how it might make a good series concept…now that its’ actually happening and not just in my imagination it feels kind of old…probably because I’ve been thinking about it for so long.
Agreed. The S31 role was managed really well on DS9. It felt a bit shoehorned in on ENT. To have a S31 focused series though serves only to further remove the intrigue from them, just as DIS managed to do.
YEah thats the problem, Discovery killed all the intrigue with them in just one season. I can only imagine what a full series would do. I admit I’ve always been curious about their operation and how it worked but now that I’ve seen some of it, I no longer am.
David Mack, who wrote the S31 novel sequence and is now a consultant for both animated series, has (shamelessly) tweeted that he’d love to join Bo Yeoh Kim and Erica Lippoldt in a writers room for S31.
If Mack can envisage a way to reconcile all the things people want out of that series, and has faith in Kim and Lippoldt as showrunners p, my view is that we all take a deep breath and wait to see what the show actually turns out to be.
His books can be dark for Trek, but he gets aspirational Trek values, and his protagonists wrestle making value choices with incomplete information. Even early in his career, his two DS9 co-wrote stories that made it to screen dealt with with human struggle. I trust his instincts on this.
Or… As a consultant in the new Trek universe he doesn’t want to say anything to ruffle any feathers.
Maybe as antagonists. Let’s see what happens when they are the protagonists.
why not wait and see what happens?… they clearly are trying to carve out different takes and looks so a section 31 series can be good and has lots of potential (or not)… we arent making the shows so we cant know what it will be about, what it will look like, who they will cast… the tone, the themes etc… all we can do is imagine the worst case scenario if you’re a negative trek fan or the best if you’re a positive one… but none of that is reality. and that’s so far off… i cant believe we have to wait 6 months or longer for picard and then months after that for discovery… a section 31 show would be probably 2021 earliest
The thing is, people are now able to extrapolate based on what we saw of Section 31 in Discovery Season 2. There is crossover in staff between the two. So it is not unrealistic to think that a Georgeau led Section 31 show very well could look like what we saw already. I, and a lot of others I suspect, are REALLY hoping different. But that is what we have at the moment.
So no sign of a Pike show for the foreseeable future it seems. I was saying that this was going to be the case. I don’t think they will consider a Pike show until at least Discovery finishes its run. I wonder what they are going to do with that Enterprise set in the meantime though? Also I have Kurtzman doesn’t have a burnout while trying to run two different shows at the same time.
I been saying this for awhile. Yes something could still happen but I have a feeling they want to focus on the shows they have now and maybe think about Pike show down the line. In reality Star Trek isn’t going anywhere, they have plenty of time to do it in a few years and maybe wait until after Discovery is done.
I’m still hoping for at least a movie or mini-series though.
Kurtzman is co-running Discovery with Michelle Paradise, and Michael Chabon is running Picard. I expect that if things go well in this season of Discovery, Kurtzman will hand the reins completely to Paradise, and retain a more supervisory role over both/all shows.
As I and others have said before, when the dust settles it will probably be like the mid-90s, when Rick Berman was in charge of the overall franchise, Ira Steven Behr was running DS9, and Jeri Taylor was running Voyager.
The unfortunate thing is that I would have been absolutely delighted with the news about The Man Who Fell to Earth being ordered as a series had I not been looking for some major Trek news this weekend.
I actually saw Roeg’s film with David Bowie as a teen in first run – one of my parents leaned into art films.
It was odd, and rambling, but it left a lasting impression. I know that they aren’t going to try to imitate Roeg’s adaptation or Lowe’s performance, but again it’s strategically brilliant (as we should now expect of Kurtzman) and well aligned with the CBS brand and CBSAA’s target audience.
STLV sounds like it’s been a great, classic CreationCon, with a full day of tiered Discovery panels on Sunday, but I was sincerely hoping that they were closer to announcing a Go on Pike. It’s unfortunate that the bigger strategic communications around CBS and the merger have put a priority on competing announcements.
Kurtzman seems to be building a business case for it — otherwise we wouldn’t have 3 Pike’s Enterprise Short Treks or his encouraging teasing question at SDCC. Tomorrow seems to Discovery’s day at STLV, I’m doubtful that they would take away the focus with a Pike announcement.
Unfortunate as they have a beautiful set, the Enterprise looks fantastic and awesome actors / actress ready to go. And Pike / Number One / Spock was the best thing to come out of Discovery Season 2…. a shame they are wasting the opportunity.
Agreed. It’s a shame they don’t strike while the iron is hot. I’ve been suggesting for a while there is no real reason why Section 31 and Pike shows can’t be developed at the same time. But I now think it is possible resources could prevent it. My thinking now is they have been working towards Section 31 for so long they have no intention to take precious resources (perhaps a limited overall Star Trek budget? Maybe?) But still want to keep Pike around for down the line. Hence the short Treks. We may be seeing more of those.
I also think they may want to keep the Pike series in their pockets until Discovery finishes its run and release it after that. As it currently stands I don’t see Discovery going past 5 seasons (I could be wrong of course) so its replacement could be the Pike show. So While we have Discovery and Picard now, after a few years we could have Pike and Section 31 year round.
I would put the over/under for how long Discovery will last at 4 seasons. And I might be tempted to bet the under.
I used to work in a bookstore and one of my coworkers would chide me about being a fan of science fiction. (He was into Sylvia Plath and such).He said that going to other planets and galaxies made it too easy on the writers and it was like cheating.
I have followed Star Trek from day 1 of TOS into TNG but after that my access to TV was intermittent so I missed a lot of episodes from DS9 and Voyager. ST Enterprise was excellent but when they got into the going back in time thing and changing history and the newer movies in the Kelvin Timeline it made me a little dizzy and I wonder if my old coworker had a point. No matter, I will always be a Star Trek fan.
Actually, I think the exact opposite of your coworker. The ability to travel to other planets should actually make the writers more creative and imaginative (imagine you are creating an entire world and species from scratch).
Saw the headline…
CBS Execs Talk Coordinating ‘Discovery’ And ‘Picard’ And “Limitless” Future Of Star Trek
and thought the series “Limitless” was coming back for a second season or a reboot. Then realized…
As for DISCOVERY, leave it. It’s a dead trek. Section Zzzz………
I love hearing about the potential for all kinds of Star Trek! I really hope they eventually make an optimistic show about intelligent professionals exploring a bright and dynamic future. Seems like that *should* be able to fit into some tiny corner of the “Star Trek Universe.”
WELL SAID
OK, I thought optimism meant the belief that things will turn out fine. I never doubted that would be the case in Discovery. You know, it is called drama. You have to have bad things happen so that you can overcome them and feel optimistic.
Besides, I think one thing not even the haters would say is that Burnham, Stamets, Saru and Tilly are not very intelligent professionals.
But maybe what you’re looking for is pollyannish entertainment with perfect characters. Nah, that sounds boring. And that’s why since TOS we’ve been dealing with klingons, romulans, con men, psychopaths running psichiatric hospitals, genocidal shakespearean actors, vulcan mutineers, mirror universe, and so on, and so forth.
@Salvador – Either you’re trying to troll or you’re simply too caught up in your own love of DSC to be able to read or think clearly. Nothing I wrote suggested a desire for “pollyannish entertainment.”
If you care to reply in a non-sneering, rational way, I will be happy to chat with you.
If you’re going to post more such nonsense, save us both the time and just…don’t.
Being a fan of Discovery doesn’t make you a troll.
@A34 – I didn’t say it did. In fact, I literally wrote that he’s EITHER a troll or an excessive fan.
You should try reading what people actually write before replying. Otherwise, you’re wasting our time as you did here.
You’re 100% right Salvador. The kind of Trek that some people here clamor for would end up chasing away new fans and would ultimately kill Trek. The last thing we need is 90’s Trek again.
No one would watch that.
@A34 “No one would watch that.” Um…50 years of TOS and 30 years of TNG prove you wrong, but you’re not interested in facts.
Times change. TNG wouldn’t cut it today.
They did make it. Its called Star Trek TOS. And TNG. And Voyager. And Enterprise. And even DS9 and Discovery. That’s what every Star Trek has been about.
I’m just going to voice my support for a Pike show… I like Discovery fine, and will be hopeful about Section 31 (although I tend to think that less is more with that organization). I really want a Pike Enterprise show.
I don’t think the Pike show would work. I really doubt the lead actor would do it long term.
And I happen to think a PRE-KIRK PIKE/SPOCK/ENTERPRISE show would work wonderfully well. A lot depends on Anson Mount of course.
But like all the other ‘Star Trek’-franchise shows they are throwing at the wall at the moment, it’s the ones with the interesting storylines and characters/actors which will stick best with viewers.
While I’m not begging for a Pike show, CLEARLY it would be really popular to do. And now that Discovery is no longer in the 23rd century then it would be a good idea to replace that show with this one to cover this period. I never really cared about a pre-TOS show and even now not exactly begging for another one but it was the second season with of DIS and having Pike that showed me they can make it a bit more interesting at least.
I still think they should’ve just did a Pike show instead of Discovery. It probably would’ve been immensely more popular from the start.
I’m guessing my reaction would have gone from “A Pike show? Been there. Done that.” To, “Wow, Anson Mount makes a great and interesting Pike! These people and situations are way more interesting than I thought!”
That is, if the show was done by the right people. ;)
‘Limitless’ really worries me. Please don’t yank the teets off the cow.
I applaud them for their ambition. This is the first time since TNG that there have been multiple eras of Trek playing out on screen simultaneously, and then the TOS movies only came out every few years. But now we’re all over the place in terms of timeline, and I wonder if it will make it easier or harder to bring new ppl into the franchise
I grew up on 90s Trek and have been a fan since then. Even I have no clue what the hell is going on with the timeline…a new person will be even more lost. It used to be simple, and now since JJ, it’s total chaos.
But it’s entirely possible knowing the timeline isn’t super relevant to following these shows. Like, even if Picard, Section 31 and Disco all took place at the same time, their stories could be self-contained enough that it doesn’t matter that they’re actually set centuries apart. I guess we’ll see in the 20s just how well they pull off this timeline juggling.
All I can say is that I can follow the Trek timeline a whole lot better than following the Avengers: Endgame timeline.
Once again milking the Star Trek cow will lead to zombie type viewing.
Bring it all on section 31 all of it.
Ignore the critics and the know it alls, they are the ones that kill shows off.
Over analyzing complaining never anything positive to add.
Im just glad we are seeing so much life being put back into star trek.
New movies will come from this (canon).
I support these projects fully
Don’t agree, I think in life, as a species our biggest problems arise because we don’t analyze stuff enough. Sometimes analyzing and criticizing something, even if it is something you love, would help make that thing better. I just don’t get why people automatically assume criticisms as something bad, I think it is the manner of criticism that should be the problem, not whether we should criticize something or not.
It’s with you alphantrion.
Constructive criticism is a valid way to show care and love.
While I can get caught up in enthusiastic cheering at a con or a watch party, this needs to be balanced by analysis and thoughtful discussion.
I get that for some anything less than total stanning is indulging in negativity, but my sense is that the franchise is better for the discussions.
As soon as more of us can get on board with the concept that IDIC also means different Trek offerings for different market niches, I am hopeful that Trek fandom will become more civil.
I love much of Star Trek dearly, but I have to disagree that there is a limitless interest in it and appetite for it. Also, based on writing quality alone, it’s current handlers are 0-1 in terms of “very good, high-level execution”. Simply my opinions.
Agree agree. They’re trying to turn Trek into Marvel with its 7 shows and 7 movies a year, but at least they’re all happening at the same time, i.e. the present, not scattered over centuries or millennia
0-1 is a harsh assessment MORG.
By your measures, TNG would never have had a third season, and that would have been the end of Trek.
I’m glad that Paramount didn’t listen to the naysayers back in 1989 and kept going and expanding the Trek universe through a syndicated model that was groundbreaking for its time.
Trek had more than sufficient audience in the 90s for 52 episodes a year over 2 series, both targeted at the same age group and with significant overlap in market niches.
I don’t see that the market potential is smaller now.
CBS and Kurtzman are shrewdly planning for enough new content to cover 52 weeks a year on CBSAA. CBS realizes that without new product, subscribers will come and go, and the churn is costly for the firm$
With streaming series having a normal 10-13 episode season, and frequently hiatus of more than one year due to long pre and post production requirements, this means that 4-5 Trek series are needed to cover a full year on a sustainable basis.
Series targeted at kids need to be distributed differently.
So, that means 4-5 + kids shows on Nickelodeon.
Not exactly the same comparison, TG. I find it inherently unfair to judge the shows in that way for a few reasons. Discovery has had only 29 episodes. At 29 episodes, TNG was a mere 4 shows into season 2. And many do not think the show found it’s footing until after some 37-40 episodes were in the can. Also, as a season long story it is difficult to really rate individual episodes as they are all woven into a larger fabric. How often does someone say, “Man, Chapter 21 of that book was just the BEST!” Yes, there were a couple of episodes that had some stand alone qualities. But those were few and far between.
Good points ML31.
But they support my point.
It seems very premature to make the kind of judgment that MORG has made about Discovery.
It seems to be a general risk for the short serialized season streaming model.
Discovery must be doing enough for CBSAA that they are going forward.
I’m very glad Netflix isn’t in the driver’s seat on Trek offerings as they have a track record of cancelling shows after 1-2 seasons.
I was mainly addressing your earlier point where you said “By your measures, TNG would never have had a third season,” because that is not exactly true. TNG had the near equivalent of three full Discovery seasons before many felt they found their way. By that standard, Discovery is on par with TNG at similar points in their run. That’s all.
The question is how big a piece of the pie will all this Trek content capture? The thing about media in the 80s and 90s is that there were the big network stations and some cable stations and movies — no video games, no internet, no smartphones. It was a lot easier to capture an audience in those days when people’s attention wasn’t fractured across a million always-on screens.
There were video games in the 80’s and 90’s. They just weren’t connected to the internet and the graphics were much more pixel-y. I know. I played many of them!
For a Section 31 show, Georgiou would have to come back in time. But probably to the Picard era. What’s a bit of time travel when you’ve swapped universes?
So far nothing about CBSAA besides Star Trek holds any interest for me. This includes what they mentioned about their future in this article. There is more original content on Amazon that I personally am interested in. Yet I do not find it worth while to subscribe to them. Shows how much of a Trek fan I am in that I buy CBS only for the Trek product. When they have no new Trek, I’m out.