Season 1 of ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Wraps Filming; Frakes Directs Episode 303 Of ‘Discovery’

(source: James MacKinnon/Instagram)

Updates on the various CBS Star Trek Universe productions after Las Vegas have been slim because everyone has had their collective heads down making shows. But cast and crew have started poking their heads up to share status updates on Picard and Discovery.

Star Trek: Picard season 1 has finished filming

Showrunner Michael Chabon took to Instagram to tell the world that shooting on season one of Picard had officially ended on Friday.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B111A_hgOBi/

Hugh the Borg, Jonathan Del Arco, weighed in with his gratitude and picture from his first script read-through.

https://twitter.com/JonathanDelArco/status/1167629484054450182

Visual Effects Supervisor Ante Dekovic showed off the swag the cast and crew got after wrapping up filming, including a nice note from Sir Patrick Stewart and the producers thanking everyone for their hard work. (Scroll/swipe through images to see more.) He also reminded fans that Picard is hardly done, and there’s still lots to do in post-production.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B115ZZ3FSom

Costumer Christine Clark showed off a label from a costume for Picard with her name credited as designer.

View this post on Instagram

That’s a wrap! Every wild adventure deserves a team so wickedly talented as I was fortunate enough to have by my side. Grit and Grace. You all rock socks!!! @casey_alexandra, #anthonytran, #mitchellkenney, @marilyn.j.madsen, @rotundabun, #ivorystanton, #tyrayouland, @ceshaventre, @n_roms, #mattjerome, @amydeluxx, @valeriescateyescream, @greghops, @blackbearuwandi, #lesliemiller, #klarafarberov, #ninabadrak, #luisjiminez, #sarabacon, @hilaurawong, #alicegarland, @ewenrick, @sav.pdf, @therealcarolineskubik, #carmendavis, #shaylynogrady, #monicachamberlain, @chrissycallan, @acgirardet, #gloriamaron, #arianamarciano, #andersjansson, @themythofseanan #startrekpicard #picard #costumedesigner #thatsawrap🎬

A post shared by Christine Bieselin Clark (@christineclarkdesign) on

Makeup wizard James MacKinnon praised his team on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

Today, on our last day shooting, I can’t say enough about this team! Five months ago we started this amazing journey together, and we have created one cool ass new Star Trek!THANK YOU to the incredible hair, makeup and prosthetics teams for kicking ass and creating perfection with me 👽 Get Ready for a Alien & Action packed Star Trek Picard show!. . . #spfx #prostheticmakeup #makeupartist #bts #prostheticmakeupartist #startrek #startrekmakeup #Prostheticmakeup #makeupfx #makeupfxartist #creatures #local_706 #makeuplife #fxmakeup #startrekmakeup #startrekprosthetics #startrekamazon #2019emmys #makeupartist #startrekcbs #emmyawards #makeupfx #specialeffectsmakeup #makeupeffects #makeup #sfxmakeup #sfxmakeupartist @startrekpicard @lasunnybuck @vincentvandykefx @sasha_camacho @aftonaly

A post shared by James Mackinnon (@jrmackinnon) on

Star Trek: Discovery season 3 continues filming

The cast and crew of Discovery just went back to work in July. After filming the season premiere in Iceland, they got down to business in Toronto. Co-showrunner Michelle Paradise has been sharing some little behind-the-scenes images of the Discovery set along with praise for her Disco team.

Frakes wraps episode 303, will be back for 308

Frakes told TrekMovie when we interviewed in April that he’d be directing episode 3 of the third season of Discovery and then a second one later in the season. Thanks to a tweet from the official Destination Star Trek convention account, we now know he will come back to shoot episode 8.

To celebrate fan and cast favorite Frakes returning to direct, CBS put out a video of the cast talking about working with him in season 2.

Cast snap pics from Toronto

Back in late July, Doug Jones snapped a selfie with his razor as he got ready for all his Saru prosthetics.

Just last week, Wilson Cruz snapped a photo of himself in his medical uniform from the sickbay set.

Michelle Yeoh’s Instagram account showed pictures of a fun dinner out where she, along with writers Erika Lippoldt and Bo Yeon Kim, celebrated Jonathan Frakes’ birthday during the filming of episode 303. Frakes’ Next Generation co-star Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar), who also happened to be in Toronto for her role on the USA Network series Suits, dropped in on the festivities. (Scroll/swipe through images to see more.)



Star Trek: Discovery is available exclusively in the USA on CBS All Access. It airs in Canada on Space and streams on CraveTV. It is available on Netflix everywhere else.

Star Trek: Picard will be released in early 2020. It will be available on CBS All Access in the USA. Space and CraveTV in Canada, and on Amazon Prime Video for the rest of the world.

Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard news at TrekMovie.

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Love it.

That restaurant is in the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto. I wonder if that’s where Frakes is staying while in town.

I’m assuming they have restraining orders in Canada….
Just kidding, of course.

Gotta get me some Frakes, Phil!
Just kidding, of course.

Jonesing for Jonathan….

Is anyone else really digging that t-shirt?

Me! I’m really hoping those shirts – or anything with that design, really – will be available for purchase eventually.

Wow.. ‘Trek got big again. I hope it’s another renaissance and not just big for the sake of big.

You may be right on both counts.

OMG SO EXCITING!!!! :)

Crazy the first season (hopefully one of MANY) of Picard is now done. Just think the show was just announced a little over a year ago and season one is now in the can. Nuts.

Love that T-shirt of the Starfleet insignia over the Borg image. I still can not believe this is really happening? Star Trek is BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And so happy Frakes is directing two episodes of Discovery again. IN FRAKES WE TRUST!!! :)

Oh and he made a bit of news over the weekend at a Trek con and said Discovery is going to be more optimistic next year. That’s music to a lot of people’s ears I think, especially people like me who was very put off of it in season 1. I did think it felt a lot more optimistic in season 2 though especially with Pike around (who just felt like a younger Picard) but it does sound like these guys are really trying to make Discovery work and feel like traditional Star Trek again. It doesn’t have to be TOS or TNG but I do think they can have some stories in that vein as they did last year.

And maybe that means the Federation won’t just be destroyed in the 32nd century as so many are assuming. Maybe it still is thriving and Burnham and company become part of their Starfleet.

Who knows obviously but 2020 can’t get here soon enough. I’m super excited for all of it. We are getting tons of new story lines in multiple eras from the 23rd through the 32nd century (when you include the Short Treks for 23rd century stories) with a bunch of new and returning characters (that I’m really excited for)! This is the Star Trek franchise I always dreamed of!

I was digging Discovery season 2 until the last third of the season when it turned into a bizarre galactic Terminator rip-off and weird things like Tilley mostly disappearing from the show happened. I hope that they finally hit a consistent groove of quality story telling in season 3.

Oh yeah me too! I was really enjoying it up until episode 10 or so when it became the usual ‘advanced A.I. bot wants to destroy all life’ shtick. Thats when I became disappointed again but overall still enjoyed most of the season. And I’m just happy it will no longer be a TOS prequel. Never had any interest in that but as season 2 proved, they find the right kind of story I can certainly get into it, but am happy they are thinking bigger and more ambitious in season 3.

Well, it was the run of tearing emotionalism from Project Daedulus through Perpetual Infinity that put my spouse right off.

If I had a message for TPTB, it’s that they are really losing people if they go too melodramatic or lurid in episode after episode. Even if Discovery is a bullet, toning it down a bit would avoid losing some audience.

Instead of being caught up in Burnham’s story, my spouse felt emotionally beat up / manipulated with 3 episodes like that in a row.

So, they stopped watching with me, saying they needed a break from Discovery, and I ended up watching the rest of the season on my own.

I got company to rewatch with our kids, but we skipped a couple of the emotionally heavy episodes.

My spouse eventually watched some of the late season episodes, but the 2 part finale had aged out of our PVR by the time they were willing to watch it. Perhaps they’ll catch it with me when Space replays the season before S3 launches.

Yes, two of the problems I still have with Discovery is that its too much ‘gogogogo!’ and the overwrought melodrama. Crazy enough I actually rewatched Perpetual Infinity a few days ago. No particular reason just turned it on. And I still feel it was a mistake to make it all about the Burnhanm family because it not only makes the galaxy feel infinitely small its also too much melodrama with the whole thing. It feels like something more out of a soap and less Star Trek. Especially when you already had the Spock and Burnham thing this season and then the really awkward Georgiou and Burnham relationship as well. Its just TOO MUCH!!!! I don’t have a problem developing Burnham of course but for everything to revolve around her or her family felt a little overboard.

I suspect we will see her mother again next season but I’m also hoping the next crisis of the universe isn’t all about them, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it was. I just hope they slow it down a bit at least.

I agree that after the tiresome concept of “evil AI wants to destroy everything” foolishness… The way EVERYTHING revolved around Burnham and her family, along with the overdone melodrama, was just too much. But then, while there was an attempt to improve some things in season there was still a ton more they messed up on. So just fixing one or two of those issues really wouldn’t have improved the season much.

i cant imagine the discovery crew just arrives 1000 years later and joins the future federation… that’s like someone from the 14th century joining tng or picard… discovery would be so outdated… wherever they end up one thing is for sure it’s gonna be dramatic

No I don’t either. I don’t think they will just show up and be handed new Starfleet badges or anything (wow new badges!!! :)). It will probably be a process or they will help the new Starfleet in some way that ultimately earn their way in. And while it wasn’t a thousand years into the future it was implied Dr. Taylor at the end of TVH was at least studying in Starfleet and she obviously came from a time it didn’t exist at all. So who knows?

Of course this is assuming there is a Federation and all of that. And I have a feeling Discovery is going to get major upgrades. It’s going to now have THREE spore drives. ;D

did you see calypso? makes me think we’re not gonna get what we expect… but if i don’t expect it then we might get it

One thing I will say about Discovery is that we never get what we expect lol. Yeah, who knows? Exactly why I’m so excited about next season. I’m going to give it the same attitude I’m giving Picard, just a wide berth and open to everything! At the moment the sky is the limit. :)

Calypso was a spectacular Short, but it suggests to me that TPTB have permission to riff off of Roddenberry’s concept for Andromeda.

As I noted above, I rather prefer the idea of a whole crew from Starfleet going forward in time and trying to restore Federation values than just one hero (male) captain and his AI ship (female). Or to any of Roddenberry’s other jump to future post-Armageddon pilots with ‘Dylan Hunt’ (i.e. Genesis II and Planet Earth).

While I am somewhat troubled about the idea that the Federation might fail at some point in the future, it may be that in our current period where many feel that humanitarian values for just societies are challenged and climate change raises the spectre of collapsing civilization, audiences may need a Trek series that shows how to be optimistic and uphold values even when the social structure to support those values has vanished or collapsed.

Roddenberry was very determined to find a vehicle for his post-Armageddon ‘man out of time’ story about restoring values of human rights, peaceful cooperation and diversity. It may be that a Trek on this plan makes sense now.

More: Andromeda just didn’t quite reach its potential when Mabel finally got it produced. Our kids aren’t willing to watch it.

For one of them, it’s crucial that Discovery’s crew made a choice to go forward while Andromeda’s Captain Dylan Hunt was thrown forward by chance and couldn’t get home to his own time. For them, Andromeda is the downside of the Voyager and Discovery premises without the upside.

Yes. I would like to see that

Yeah, jumping ahead a thousand years is going to be much trickier then most people imagine. Trek has established in the 23rd/24th century that time travelers from the future do seem to pop up with disturbing frequency, what’s to stop this crew from deciding to go back? Now that you’ve decided to park an antique starship a millennium into the future, TPTB are going to have to decide what they want that to look like. It’s very doubtful that Discovery’s arrival will go unnoticed, at a minimum.

It should be interesting either way, Discovery introduces themselves to Starfleet/The Federation of their new present, but because they were so highly classified after the events of season 2 no one believes their story and they get treated with a lot of suspicion.

Are those baseball caps for sale at Star Trek store online? I most definitely want one or two!

Those caps are end of season gifts to the production crew so they won’t be on sale commercially. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of similar consumer products post launch though.

Looking forward to all of it. Now, announce a Pike series…..

Wish they would just can-X STD and make STP! I think that is what real fans want!

But as long as you are still getting Picard, why does it matter if they cancel Discovery or not? I don’t disagree too much though, most fans seem much more excited about Picard, but I think more interest will come for Discovery when they show a trailer…and hopefully its good.

@ Alcazar – Does that make me a fake fan?

So who is going to tell the hundreds or thousands of fans that went to the five-day Star Trek Las Vegas convention, wore Discovery cosplay, and enjoyed meeting actors from all of Star Trek that they aren’t real fans?

Nobody has to tell them. When Discovery is over, most of those hundreds will simply move to another flavor-of-the-week fandom. Twenty years ago, I’ve seen it happen with Voyager – another borderline unwatchable show that managed to garner loud support from people who wouldn’t touch the rest of Trek with a ten-foot pole. When Voyager was on TV, they were wearing communicator pins, gluing Borg implants on their eyebrows, painting Chakotay tattoos on their temples… and then, after Endgame end credits rolled, most of them were gone as if it never happened. Star Trek was never the thing for them; they were only interested in Voyager because it was new.

Considering that Discovery is even more different from Star Trek than Voyager was, I don’t have much hope for it to be a gateway into real Star Trek for new fans. (Though admittedly, retro is a big thing these days, which might somewhat help.)

Get off the high horse.
For a lot of my generation, Voyager is the Star Trek series that got us into Star Trek. I had seen bits of TNG before that with my Dad, and one or two TOS episodes, but I’d never seen DS9 so Voyager was the first series I watched “live” as it aired.
I can see why people aren’t as keen on Disco, but I enjoy it. My favourite series is DS9 which a lot of people hated on when it launched because it “wasn’t Star Trek”, but see how many fans backed the documentary about it! For something that was so hated at the start, it’s certainly as big a part of Star Trek as any that came before or since.
The answer is, if you don’t like it, don’t watch it…but stop implying that if you like Discovery you’re not a “real fan”.

I’m with you admiralross2400.

DS9 and Voyager showed that there is room for a diversity of Trek series.

Different shows appeal to different tastes, and some are more accessible at different ages.

Voyager wasn’t my favourite in first run, but I’ve come to appreciate it’s strengths in rewatching it with our middle-grade kids. They really like it, and for one it was the favourite Trek show, and Captain Janeway their role model.

They haven’t really been captivated by either DS9 or Enterprise, but that may change as they mature.

We let them see Discovery season 2 with us, and one of them really took to it.

I saw no evidence of the kind of ‘fair-weather fandom’ for Voyager that Boze claims was an issue. Voyager is reportedly the most watched Trek series on Netflix, and the Voyager Relaunch books by Kirsten Beyer are very popular.

If one’s talking about cons, let’s keep in mind that the end of the 90s series was also the end of the regional CreationCons that built fan engagement.

Some of the local fan clubs carried on, but if they were led by people who felt only TOS and TNG were ‘real Trek’ and told newcomers that they weren’t ‘real fan’s it’s no surprise they didn’t hang in through the years without new shows. Gatekeeping indeed.

I wish some people on these boards can stop all the ridiculous gate keeping. It gets so eye rolling to read a post where ‘so and so Star Trek is what matters’ but ‘this show or movie I don’t personally like should be forgotten and never mentioned again’. Maybe because I spend most of my time on this board than others I just notice it more but this place seems to be the worst. I mean you CAN hate a show or movies no problem. No one is forcing to like something you don’t. Nor cares. But constantly trying to dismiss them as not ‘real’ Star Trek is where the line should be drawn!

And yet from TNG to now DIS, you still hear it from one person or another. ALL these shows matter. And what’s crazy is Voyager, that many DO try to still dismiss here, is oddly one of the most popular Trek shows 20 years on. You already mentioned how rewatched it is on Netflix. It still also gets novel treatments and came out with its own MU comic book story just recently. I can catch the show here in L.A. on two different network, BBCAmerica where it has weekly all day Voyager marathons along with TOS and TNG and a local channel that airs all the Trek shows six nights a week. If no one cared about the show today, it wouldn’t be constantly aired or having new stories present.

And I think the hoopla of having Seven showing up in Picard proves those characters are still every bit popular today as all the others. I don’t mean every single one, I just mean in general. I’m personally excited to see more of them show up on Picard and most likely Lower Decks. And its only smart business for CBS. If they are trying to convince new fans to watch the Picard show then it only makes sense they bring on characters from the other shows to get them to watch those older shows too.

After all, since its all canon then yes it ALL matters and a big reason why all the shows have managed to stay relevant within the fanbase today. It doesn’t mean everyone likes them all, but it does mean that they all have loyal fans and they should be respected. There is SO much Star Trek on for everyone, especially in the next few years. If you think Discovery truly sucks and won’t improve, fine, don’t watch it. You think DS9 is not ‘true’ Star Trek, don’t waste your time with it then. Thought Enterprise failed as a prequel show, that’s fine to think that. The Kelvin movies are just pew pew action movies and doesn’t speak to real Star Trek values, then just focus on the other films.

But end of the day its ALL Star Trek and it ALL matters! Period. And I give all the past directors, producers, writers and show runners credit for knowing it all matters because even if they don’t go out their way to include all of it, they always find ways to constantly reference these shows and films! It makes the franchise feels whole. And my guess that’s going to feel even more so now with so many new shows coming and a LOT of past characters also returning! If you thought Voyager would just one day quietly disappear, well it looks like that won’t be happening anytime soon lol. I suspect we will be seeing more of those characters in the next few years now since the show been off the air. I on the other hand can’t wait!

Voyager was never my favorite, but it is just as much Star Trek as TNG or DS9 or Discovery. Enough with the gate keeping.

Star Trek’s an IP, my dude.

Apparently Boze is here to remind everyone who the fake fans are. Been watching the show since the mid 70’s, bought my very first Trek souvenir a month ago in Vegas. A tee shirt that says ‘Disco’ on it. Apparently I’m to stupid to know the difference. Must be old age, because if I ever turn into a grumpy old @$$hole, you all have my permission to shoot me.

Phil, I’ve been watching since I was a kindergartener in the 1960s

I share your frustration with those who feel that only the Trek shows that work for them are real Trek.

I’ve seen every series in first run, and most of the movies up to First Contact on opening day.

I really am getting tired of the sibling rivalry.

Discovery has had more than its share of challenges in its first two seasons, and the serial format is more unforgiving.

I’m hoping that Discovery will find its place in the 32nd / 33rd century. It may be that they’re taking it a bit in the direction of Andromeda, but I think I like the idea of a whole crew going forward more than just one captain and a sentient ship.

And I really hope that Kurtzman can convince the ‘folks with MBAs’ that Pike’s Enterprise will be viable. It’s a much better premise for a prequel, and with a room of writers who are comfortable with working in the constraints of canon, it would be a solid hit for CBSAA.

By that criteria I’d have been shot years ago. I’m especially grumpy these days, though for reasons that have little to do with a TV space opera franchise.

Why do we need to sort fans? My enjoyment of Star Trek doesn’t depend on how or that other people enjoy it (in fact, from what I read here, it’s often *in spite of* how other people enjoy it.)

Please speak for yourself and not other fans.

Personally, I don’t want Discovery cancelled. I just want it to be better and stand on its own.

I know there are fans who love Discovery as is. That said, I’m not endorsing it’s cancellation unless its existence hinders other BETTER Trek projects. Not saying it is. But, for example, let’s say for the sake of argument the reason for no movement on a Pike show is because Discovery is in full swing. In THAT instance, I would want STD canned. But I’m pretty darn sure that is not the case. From what I can see there is no reason CBS cannot start preliminary work on getting a Pike show off the ground even with the other Trek projects underway. Regarding Discovery, I just want it to continue to get better. It still exists in the ‘sucks’ category. But season 2 did lift it from ‘unwatchable garbage’ to merely sucking. So it’s moving up.

If I had to choose between a Pike show and Discovery, I would pick Discovery. I like Captain Pike, but I like Burnham more. A show that follows Burnham in the distant future also just sounds much more interesting than a fourth Enterprise show.

That touches on my point. I trust that we don’t HAVE to choose. That there is room for all. And believe me… I originally had no desire to go back to see Pike on a new show. But what Discovery did in season 2 completely changed my mind on that. Not only did they show that a Pike show is workable, but with the actors they hired it has the potential to be fascinating.

Given the overwhelmingly positive fan feedback I’m still fairly convinced we’ll at least get a Pike miniseries eventually, as we’re getting the Short Trek Pike adventures now. That would be fine by me, since I’m not sure I need another series of multiple seasons’ duration set on the USSE, with yet another actor (good as he turned out to be) playing Spock on a long-term basis.

I am convinced we will probably get a Pike miniseries as well Michael. Maybe even TV movies. It doesn’t just have to be a show, but will be open to anything they do. It can still be a show as well but that’s probably a few years away. I just love that Short Treks is a nice compromise because while they are short stories they are also very immediate. The way things are now, it wouldn’t be feasible to get even guest shots with them anytime soon since all the other shows are post Nemesis, so a few Short Treks every year can work until they can get something more permanent.

No matter what people think of Discovery, one thing we can all be happy about – the new show created enough of a stir at CBS for brain trust to commit millions towards the production of Short Treks, Picard, Lower Decks and who knows how many other iterations of Trek. For that alone, I am pleased and can’t wait for 2020!!

Agreed.

You don’t get the be the gatekeeper who determines what a ‘real’ fan is, or what they want. Please desist going forward. Thank you.

Hopefully there’ll be an announcement soon on the Short Treks release schedule.

I keep thinking that the first one needs to come out soon if they’re going for one a month in the run up to the premiere of Picard.

How about October 14th?

Columbus Day in the US and Thanksgiving Day in Canada….

i appreciate the production values of these shows… clearly it takes so long to release discovery and most likely picard because of the feature like quality and amazing special effects but i hate waiting…

star trek is a giant family. i love it.

Well we now know that the android is indeed Commander Data, at least if we can believe the name tags haha. Also, since Crosby was at the dinner, I wonder if there is any chance Tasha Yar’s daughter will be making an appearance?

It would be cool to see Sela, especially since the first season of Picard seems to be very Romulan heavy. It sounds like she was just visiting while she was in town for another show though.

It really bothered me we never got any wrap up with Sela. Not expecting it but yes would LOVE to see her on Picard too! :)

That’s the beauty of this show now, anything and basically anyone is possible to bring back!!

Since that birthday supper was evidently in Toronto, it looks as though Kim and Lippoldt wrote Discovery 303, and that perhaps Denise Crosby may have a role a new role…???

Would Denise play a new character?

Or….would Tasha Yar or Sela have for some reason jumped forward in time…

If the destruction of the Enterprise C is a fixed point in time, who knows what timey-wimey stuff may yet unfold, especially with time crystal enthusiast writers holding the pen.

I note that Michelle Yeoh was there too. Perhaps the foundation is being laid to get Georgiou back to the 23rd century.

This isn’t Doctor Who. There are no fixed points. Time travel can be used to change any event, and any change can have profound consequences.

No, Dr. Who wasn’t what I was thinking of regardless of the ‘timey-wimey’ reference …

Actually, time crystals are a real scientific theory describing a fixed point across all manifold time (Google it…Kim and Lippoldt have referred fans to the literature).

Discovery Season 2 introduced physical time crystals. These aren’t based in current science theory but can be concecptualized for Trek as a physical manifestation or matrix for a fixed point in time.

I wouldn’t over think Crosby about being there. They said she’s also working in Toronto doing the show Suits and probably just stopped by to see Frakes. If this was the Picard show, then maybe I could see a connection. I have no idea how she could be connected on Discovery.

Crosby’s face has gone to shit. I’d like to think that Romulans with Vulcanoid lifespans are better known for taking care of their health.

That’s just gratuitously nasty Sam.

Do you just drop in here to make shaming comments about women?

I wonder how you’ll look in a snap in 30 years?

That’s about the most out-of-the-blue thing I think I’ve ever been accused of doing. That was not my intention at all. I’m sorry if it really did decode that way.

As for just dropping in, I’ve posted regularly on here.

Apology accepted Sam. And appreciated.

Just felt I had to speak up because the humour about male aging (e.g. Frakes’ bald spot) seems to have a meaner edge when folks talk about Sirtis or other aging women of Trek.

You’re probably not wrong. Although I’m not aware of having read any such comments about them, I can kind of imagine. Sirtis admits she smoked at the time of TNG because of the stress. Frakes’ appearance has reportedly gone south and then come partway back, but it now seems awkward to say I haven’t really noticed what he looks like today (I mean we’ve certainly seen his picture in Trek updates often enough). Whatever I felt was funny about my no-filter attitude at the time I fat-fingered the above via this phone I can’t even reliably say.

I’m excited about Picard but, truth be told, once the Enterprise went to warp my interest in Discovery pretty much went with it. More likely than not I’ll be able to wait until the season wraps to watch.

Ditto.

lol… or you could watch it like a normal star trek fan

I wonder if frakes see’s the irony of calling picard “old baldy” now

Well Frakes still has most of his hair, he just has a bald spot. Stewart lost pretty much all of his by his twenties.

Is the Walter Mosley n-word story going up here, or in a new article perhaps?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/walter-mosley-quits-star-trek-discovery-using-n-word-writers-room-1237489
Had no idea he had been hired.

Some of the stories say:
1) Kurtzman recruited Mosley
2) Moseley left after 3 weeks.

Really sad to hear that the woes of Discovery’s writers rooms just don’t seem to let up.

Does this mean STD is in for yet another mid-season shake up? I’ve largely lost faith after last season, but that would still be really unfortunate.

Sounds like it couldn’t be helped though under the circumstances.

Losing one writer who had only been there for a few weeks doesn’t sound like “yet another mid-season shake up” to me.
Two aspects I find a little strange about all of this: 1) The fact that whoever felt uncomfortable with the use of the n-word went directly to HR instead of voicing their concerns in the room. But maybe this has something to do with the history of what went down with previous showrunners Harberts and Berg. 2) That, apparently, Mosley just left without talking to anybody from the production first. Instead, he published this op-ed. Just seems like a lot of people having communication issues.

You’ve caught my thoughts quite precisely DIGINON.

it’s an insane story but not sure it needs to be here…it makes sense with all the language police and snowflakes in the world now. it just doesn’t feel like a big deal for the show as he was there just 3 weeks and wasn’t fired but instead left. plus was more a cbs thing not trek thing… and sounds like it happened a while ago. it’s more a modern day pc HR story than anything else… i mean it’s a black man saying the n word relaying a personal story about a racist cop and someone felt threatened? so silly. lots of interesting themes in this… they actually told him he could write the word in a script but not say it out loud even though it was an event that happened to him. love that he just left and didn’t come back. like kurtzman was like where did wally go? maybe it does need to be here…

Unhap,
I think it is very specifically a trek thing, as it was trek personnel — presumably creative personnel — that reported him. This speaks to the level of maturity that was in the room and remains in the room, which also tells me that these people better not get within a mile of the QT Trek project or their ears and souls will get blown out — not by his rudeness/nastiness/crudeness, but from exposure to free expression from an artist (and I say that even after only really liking three of his movies.) I’m imagining a similar thing happening if Harlan Ellison were still alive and relating a story about cops talking about k*kes.

This guy Mosley has been a helluva writer; I’m sure he can do better than DISCOVERY.

tone down the hate

And replace it with what, rage?

how bout trek love?

unqualified tribble love, or KSM all men are brothers love? The first is almost lemminglike, the latter significant. Context is, if not everything, then way ahead of whatever is in 2nd place.

Having Walter Mosley as a Trek writer is a big deal. He is a very well known and respected writer and would have been a prestigious and newsworthy addition to the Trek creative team. The fact that nobody knew he was part of Trek until he left means something went way off the rails.

Maybe they wanted to try out how he fit into the writers room before publicly announcing his involvement. And then he left after only three weeks.

Unhappening, we only have Mosley’s version of what went down.

First rule of good critical judgement in human resource resource problems is to fact-find.

For all we know, the other writers in the room expressed their discomfort at the time the language was used and Mosley ignored them. He may have been told that after last year’s problems, the Discovery writers were particularly sensitive to language and felt it didn’t apply to him because he was black himself.

Given using the n-word is a fireable action, corporate had to have some follow up or they would not be able to fire others that aren’t people of colour when they use the word.

It sounds like whoever called Mosley to discuss what happened was on track in terms of 1) not rushing to judgement in terms of firing, and 2) making the company policy language on language clear.

What is weird is that this was a phone conversation with someone Mosley did not know rather than one of the management of the show. It seems problematic that it wasn’t Paradise or Kurtzman having this conversation, but it could just be one of the problems with having corporate HR duties with CBS. One industry source noted that Kurtzman was not informed when the complaints about abusive language happened with the previous showrunners in season 2.

As for Tarantino, one wonders why anyone expects that he or other filmmakers should get a pass on policies to uphold a respectful workplace.

what did Tarantino do?

Not specifically saying Tarantino did anything unhappening —

— the last was responding to kmart’s aside speculating that a diverse set of folks from CBS-side Trek would take offence at Tarantino’s language. I should have been clear that I was referencing them and not you. Regrets.

That said, the culture of CBS Trek writers, production, and talent seems very far away from Tarantino’s mode. e.g. Check out Anson Mount’s recent Twitter post on his view that production should be ‘play’ and not ‘suffering’.

ah (regarding tarantino)… and yeah… agree with mount… that’s why he wants to come back because he had so much fun… you can tell when they all talk about it… mount and peck and the discovery crew… this mosley thing just seems to be part pc culture gone amuck (or amok lol)… though we have to remember dude wasn’t fired it was just a phone call but he felt like he was now being spied on… it’s all ridiculous. but doesn’t point to any issues with the writers room. it’s everywhere… all tv shows at this point. and maybe they are over sensitive since the previous showrunners were abusive. i think it was some snowflake writer’s assistant in the room. a tarantino movie though i think would not run into those issues… he is in control of everyone who is on his set… he may write the n word in some of his scripts but he’s not known to be abusive on his sets. but he’s never stepped into someone elses yard for a movie… JJ had trouble dealing with paramounts nonsense and that was one of the reasons he ditched us for star wars.

Agree with a lot of what you said there, un, but not the JJ stuff, not at all. He was the guy with the nutso ideas, like suppressing ALL TOS merchandising from books to models and especially computer games, in favor of just a 09-going forwards line, which he thought he’d clean up on like GL with SW toys. Way too much like John Byrne getting DC to renumber SUPERMAN with his first ish as #1, like nothing that went in the decades before counted. That’s the kind of delusionary thinking that can unravel a pretty big entity … maybe even a whole country, if it happens at the top and nobody steps in and says ‘enough already, you’re full of it bud.’

(and I think Abrams leaving is the best thing to happen to trek this century. 2nd place would be Berman leaving. Then again, except for parts of BEYOND, the last trek movie i loved was 30 years ago, and there hasn’t been any trek on tv this century I found remotely watchable. Just TOS and DS9 for me, with a few dabs of TNG — the rest of the TV fare can go hitch a ride on a comet moving on an extremely elliptical orbit. )

Well, if true, that’s some pretty screwed-up zero tolerance nonsense. Doesn’t sound like he was being verbally abusive to anyone. He was telling a story… in a WRITERS room.

Hey, if you’re “uncomfortable” with the word and the story, that’s fine. But then don’t be a writer on a science fiction series. It’s your job to explore uncomfortable subject matter. Remember “Far Beyond the Stars”? Yeah, a tough subject. And that’s what we’re here for.

Sorry, but you don’t need a tough working environment to explore tough subjects. In fact, I would say that someone will be more much willing to immerse themselves in a tough subject matter while they themselves feel safe.

Good point DIGINON.

And to TechNoir again, we don’t know how it all went down.

Mosley has taken a media platform to express his grievance, his colleague(s) seemed to have been trying to go through channels. Mosley doesn’t seem like the kind of coworker who tries to resolve differences without escalation.

Hearing someone tell a tough story isn’t a tough working environment. Aside from that, how do you expect to tell tough fictional human stories unless you hear the real ones first? No one said being a writer is easy, or safe.

You don’t use the N-word at work. He could have told the story by saying “the N-word” instead of using the actual word. It doesn’t even sound like he got in trouble. He was just told not to do it again.

Federation and I believe Klingon & Rom types seemed to use the ‘Spoonhead’ word at work a helluva lot.

You don’t use the n-word at work if you work at a restaurant or a bank. If you are a writer on a(n ostensibly) socially-relevant television series, you *might* use it in the way Moseley describes if you are doing so instructively. Whether that is actually how it went or not, I have zero idea. But my gut reaction is to be on his side until I hear a good reason not to be.

Also? Pretty weird that they hired Walter Moseley and didn’t announce it.

You don’t use it in any job. He could have told the story without using a word that he knows can be uncomfortable to his colleagues. They won’t get their best work out of anybody who feels uncomfortable.

Maybe you should not be a writer if words make you uncomfortable or fearful. Or as Uhura said: “You see, in our century, we’ve learned not to fear words.”

Words do cause harm odarek…

there is a good deal of scientific research evidence that has come out since those words were written for Uhura that demonstrates that harm is done.

Denying the harm doesn’t seem to stand up to Trek’s IDIC values.

If Trek is going to be a viable franchise for a wide audience, it needs a diversity of writers.

Mosley was evidently hired to be part of that diversity, but he wasn’t the only person of colour of minority representation in the room. With such a diverse writers room, everyone would need to take care to be respectful in use of language so that everyone’s creativity could flow.

As somebody pointed out on ilmfan.com, Dave Chapelle would not have fit into the DSC writers room going by all this. But that’s more evidence your ‘you don’t use it in any job’ is too inclusive to be true.

Perhaps this is a topic that can get Avery Brooks to talk trek again.

The ironies of a respected writer not being able to share a true story has been illuminated through Mosley’s op-ed and put to good use in our discussion here.

I have experienced more racism this year because people think I am “of their X” than my entire life put together. I wrote out a few of them to share with everyone here, but I’ll leave it to your imagination that when I wrote it all out, I did feel like I was talking about a mirror universe.

I thought America was about building the future, but now I am not so sure. I bet others are having similar experiences.

Cafe,
I’d like to hear a couple of those examples, if you should choose to share them later on. I think that is very indicative of how things are going, and that any supposed slow-moving coup is now moving at flank speed, it’s just that everybody is too seasick to notice.

I’d like to believe we’re in the ‘two steps back’ part of ‘three steps forward, two steps back’ but I think it is a lot more retrograde than that.

Chabon wrote the story for the Hanks MAJOR MATT MASON movie, which is alive again! Unfortunately, AKiva for the screenplay, so no matter how good, it will be trashed. They really needed to talk with me, I had the greatest MMM idea years back.