Tony and Laurie start off with breaking news about Kalinda Vazquez being hired to write a new Star Trek movie—which happened AFTER the podcast was done, so they jumped back on the mics to add it. They also cover the latest on the Voyager documentary, Robert Duncan McNeill’s lobby for a Captain Proton show, the upcoming Lower Decks Blu-ray/DVD set, Jonathan Frakes’ latest hint-not-a-hint about Star Trek: Picard, and the not-so-new-looking launch of Paramount+.
Then they dive into today’s main topic: the state of Star Trek movies, looking at the big options that had all been on the table last year, and what might come next.
They wrap up with a look at Star Trek stars speaking out about the current rise in violence against Asian-Americans, and a walk through Jonathan Frakes’ early acting career in the 1970s.
Links to news topics discussed in the pod:
BREAKING: Paramount Pictures Taps ‘Discovery’ Writer To Pen Original Star Trek Feature Film
Paramount+ Launches With Free Episodes, A Star Trek Marathon, And Free Month Offer
Did Jonathan Frakes Just Drop A Big ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 2 Clue?
‘Star Trek: Voyager’ Star Robert Duncan McNeill Lobbies Paramount+ For ‘Captain Proton’ Series
Interview: Garrett Wang And Robert Duncan McNeill talk Captain Proton series
Shuttle Pod 90 – David Zappone And Joe Kornbrodt: Making Star Trek Documentaries
‘Star Trek: Voyager’ Documentary Kicks Off Crowdfunding Including Digital/Blu-ray Pre-Orders
‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season One Arrives On Blu-ray And DVD In May
Mentions during movies discussion:
Noah Hawley Star Trek Movie Paused, Paramount Still Considering ‘Beyond’ Sequel With Chris Hemsworth
Star Trek Beyond [Box Office Mojo]
Chris Pine Hopes To Get Back To Work On ‘Star Trek 4’
Screenwriter For Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek Movie Says They “Had So Much Fun” With Kirk
Noah Hawley On The Challenge Of Making A Star Trek Movie With So Much Trek On TV
Alex Kurtzman Readying Production For 3 Star Trek TV Series, Wants Unification With Paramount Movies
Interview: Ron Moore On Why Star Trek Is An Uncomfortable Fit For The Big Screen
Brent Spiner Thinks A ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Big Screen Reboot Would Be “Cool”
Trekbits:
Tony: Star Trek Stands With Our AAPI Community and George Takei responds to rise in anti-Asian violence on CNN
Laurie: Jonathan Frakes’ 1978 Welcome Back, Kotter audition and his short shorts appearance as Brad in the Charlie’s Angels episode “Angel on My Mind”
Let us know what you think of the episode in the comments, and please post your suggestions for topics we should cover in the future as well as guests you’d like us to have on.
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I so agree with Tony’s assessment regarding Paramount+ platform. It feels just like CBS All Access. I thought for sure they would overhaul the platform. I actually had to switch to Amazon Prime Video and get CBS All Access because the closed captioning was skipping on the CBS site vs Amazon site.
Same. I switched to Amazon because of the app AND the color quality. I was having issues with the hue shifting while I was watching shows through the CBS AA app, it was so distracting. They suggested a few things to try to fix it but nothing worked and it wasn’t happening on any other platform. When I switched to Amazon, no issues! I’m hoping P+ has solved that problem.
from a feature point of view you are better off using P+ via Amazon, Apple or Roku. Especially if like me you want to create lists.
Probably from an EVERYTHING point of view until they upgrade the app!
Agree with both of you. :-)
Are you guys still going to be called All Access Podcast?
And yes “a dogs breakfast” is a real saying.
For now yes. When we launched we knew the name would change but we thought All Access said both that we cover the new Star Trek Universe and that we aim to give fans an “all access pass” to what’s going on with Star Trek. But we may look at it later.
RE: Dog’s breakfast. Thank you. A Brit friend of mine tried to tell me it was “dog’s dinner,” but I remember it both ways and looked it up and dog’s breakfast is a thing.
Haven’t had a chance to listen to the podcast yet, so don’t know the context in which it was used, but a “dog’s dinner” refers to doing a very sloppy/untidy (i.e. poor) job of something…
“They made a right dog’s dinner out of it”.
Not heard ‘breakfast’ before, but as it all stems from the messy visual of a dog eating ravenously from a bowl, the metaphor can likely be stretched to any meal eaten by the dog.
From a Star Trek perspective, maybe ‘a Klingon’s dinner’ might be the best fit. Eating Gagh sure looks like a messy business :)
Certainly, have only heard “dog’s breakfast” in Canada, including among expat British.
Both the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries list “dog’s breakfast” as informal UK English. “Dog’s dinner” is offered as an alternative.
As a UK resident the phrase “dogs dinner” and “dogs breakfast” are both used and they are used interchangeably as they mean the same thing i.e. when you make a mess of something.
According to the OED, “dog’s breakfast” and “dog’s dinner” are both the same thing, a mess.
Which Star Trek movie had the highest profit to budget ratio? I seem to remember it was STII Wrath of Khan, but I might be wrong. And TWOK had a low budget and is still considered among most as the best Trek film. Hawley loved the scene where Kirk put on his glasses to lower the shields, my favorite was at Kirks apartment between him and Bones. I think a mid or moderate budget could really work for Star Trek film. It doesn’t need to make big money to do well, and many people would see a smart, character-driven Trek movie. You can still have action but just keep it to ship-to-ship so it’s cheaper. No giant set pieces.
As Tony said, look no further than DC’s Joker movie. That was a pure character study in a moderate budget movie that made a ton of money.
good questions. Hard to say what movie made the most net profit percent for Paramount, perhaps STIV. These things are always very complicated and can’t always go off of box office and theatrical budget, especially these days and going forward. In future years most films will only be in theaters for a few weeks before they hit PVOD, soon to be followed SVOD, and then on to TV, AVOD, etc.
But yes I do think Paramount can find a way to make money off a biggish (but not huge) budget tentpole Star Trek action movie, and a more moderate, more character-focused movie. But getting it right isn’t easy or we would already talking about the 2 movies that came out after Beyond and the next one in production.
I think if Paramount ever lets an Anthropological Forensic Accountant, dig through their old books, and end the hiding of – what was it? – the cost of 2? 3? 4? other separate false movie production starts on its ledgers that they would find TMP generated a ton of money for Paramount. First with the blind bid, second with the worldwide BO, third with the toy tie-ins and lastly with the corporate Trek branding/tie-ins (including restaurant chain).
Lots of interesting thoughts as usual.
I hadn’t considered how rolling out made-for-streaming movies ahead of another tent-pole big cinematic Trek feature could close the door on features. It’s an important point, even in a post Covid market context.
If it wouldn’t create problems for the coherence of the multiverse, I’d like to see the Noah Hawley movie happen eventually too, even as a made-for-streaming one.
Last, I agree that the newly announced script in development is likely to have a female protagonist. I’ve been wondering if it could be a film with Michelle Yeoh’s Georgiou in the lead. If the goal is to build audience outside North America, this seems a logical step.
I’m thinking that MU Georgiou could land in the Kelvin Universe, if only for the duration of one movie. In fact, bringing the Guardian of Forever into the movies would be fantastic, and could lay a foundation for further timey wimey GoF facilitated plots in future.
Having Georgiou team up with Uhura, and some of the male KU leads might be a viable feature that could tie the Kelvin fans back into the current Prime Universe shows.
thanks for the feedback. I have had similar wild speculation about Georgiou. Maybe we will do another theory article on the subject if it isn’t so wild a theory.
I’d be keen to hear your thoughts, wild or not.
Emma Watts message about “curated” use of the franchise keeps echoing.
My take away is that Kurtzman can declare victory on waking CBS, now ViacomCBS, to the value of the franchise.
The next 5 year strategic plan for the Trek multiverse has to hang together and promote the brand, but also not break the toys for future creatives.
Kurtzman’s line in the promo video about Discovery bringing the style of Star Trek movies to streaming television may be more than just positioning. It may tell us that TPTB want to connect the movies to Discovery.
Who can do that? Georgiou…
Vasquez Rocks.
I see what you did there. But of course, her name has two Zs. So, Vazquez Rocks.
Not so much a topic for a future episode, but a question about what could come to Paramount+: What will happen with CW properties that are shared ownership between ViacomCBS and Warner? Or is the IP solely with the production companies?
I noticed that CW set up for streaming in the US now, and that the new Superman and Lois series is streaming quality. Does the Warner has the relationship with DC mean that those CW series will come exclusively to HBO in the long-term?
What Paramount and CBS produced CW series are then likely to revert to Paramount+?
What will happen to joint Warner-CBS productions like Reign?
Anyway, this does make one wonder how much longer the CW will work as a joint venture cable channel.
Would ViacomCBS buy out Warner’s share? How much longer will the CW serve as a development ground for CBS writers and producers?
Interesting question. While VIAC owns 50% of CW, that is just the network itself. All of those Arrowverse shows are produced by Warner Media and of course, DC owns all the characters. In addition to the CW apps, Warner has licensed Arrowverse shows to Netflix, but new shows are now set to go up on HBO Max. I doubt they will ever appear on Paramount+. Reign is also on Netflix, not sure where its future lies being a joint production.
In recent years, and mostly because it needed the cash, VIAC has been happy to license its content to other streaming services. Including some exclusive deals like South Park or Yellowstone. But they say moving forward they are going to be focusing more on moving stuff to Paramount+.
One big question is for popular “classic” shows like Cheers or the five pre-CBSAA Star Trek series. They have been licensing all that kind of content to anyone who asked. As those contracts dry up will they claw them back to Paramount+? Could it someday be the only place you can stream Star Trek, I Love Lucy, etc. It’s a tough call because right now they make more money off licensing then they do via subscription revenue. But I suspect 5 years from now every studio will be streaming their own stuff and little from others.
Yeah. When Netflix loses all the Star Trek shows to P+ that’s when P+ will gain a bunch more subscribers. And HBO will get all the Arrowverse shows eventually. It’s just annoying that right now you can’t get all the types of shows you want at one streaming platform. The CW app is nice and free, but annoying. I’m so behind on shows like Batwoman.
I have to say that the Disney+ is nice to have all Star Wars and Marvel content (with Disney stuff) at one place.
Suggested topic: Inside-inside baseball Star Trek! What was the “Big Bang” for each show and movie?
I love the “inside baseball” stuff about Star Trek. I would suggest a really deep dive into the history of each show as much as you can find. I know such a topic could take hours to discuss, but perhaps in small chunks for each show. What was the spark of creation for each Star Trek show/movie? Who were the main players? I just read Inside Star Trek: The Real Story by Solow and Justman. I know it’s been out for awhile, but I absolutely loved that deep history.
Another topic could be the science of Star Trek. From Roddenberry’s initial insistence that the Rand Corporation and NASA be involved in the first few episodes to give the show some science street-cred to how current Trek plays really fast and loose with the science. Could also discuss how Star Trek inspired people to have a career in science (such as me!), inspired innovation, and “techno-babble.”
Inside Star Trek by Solow and Justman is my #1 favorite Star Trek memoir. Riveting! What is your career, by the way?
Astrophysics teacher (among other courses, but mostly astro). Undergrad and high school levels
If you have not run across this Oscar Katz interview and/or its transcript before:
https://www.facttrek.com/blog/oscarkatz
I would imagine that you’d find that it enhances the memoir experience?
Interesting to see the movie question put back on the table again…
I think a lot has been said over the years about the sort of budget that the next film should receive, to give it the best chance of success, and I’m not really sure whether I can add anything new to that debate at this point.
I think it all seems to come down to how much mainstream appeal Star Trek has, or how much appeal the studios THINK it has.
The Kelvinverse movies were clearly an attempt at reaching the mass market and were probably pretty successful in that regard. I know quite a few people who weren’t Star Trek fans but yet went to see most of these films anyway.
I personally feel that the new takes on the original characters worked well and that these movies were all entertaining in their own right, having enjoyed each of them on the big screen.
In trying to reach a larger market though, the films very much embraced the action-oriented approach taken by the likes of the MCU or the Mission Impossible and Fast & Furious films, which centered around defeating a villain. This is something that the TNG films did too, to a lesser extent, but has not really been traditional (TV) Star Trek territory.
The fact that the Kelvinverse movies were reboots, existing separately from the prime universe, is likely what has made this approach and any liberties taken (such as Kirk’s speedy promotion to Captain) more acceptable. I know that’s certainly why I have always felt able to enjoy them on their own merits, but separately from my enjoyment of traditional Star Trek.
Personally, I would be perfectly happy to see something that ties in with the prime universe on the big screen again. If the studio feels the need to keep the style of previous films though, then I would actually prefer that they confine this to the Kelvinverse, which by now feels like the perfect place for that sort of approach.
As a result, I am not particularly looking to see the two ‘crossover’ in any way. But, who knows, maybe they can come up with a really interesting way of doing it.
This is all assuming that they don’t just go with the obvious choice and make that Sheliak movie, of course :)
As for the Kalinda Vazquez news; good luck to her. I do like the idea of a (relatively) new writer being entrusted with a film script. When so many different ideas have been put forward yet not (so far, at least) gone any further, perhaps something new might be for the best.
Hopefully KV can come up with a compelling story and will get to see her idea taken over the line and put into production. Fingers crossed, it will even be something that proves to be popular enough across the board and can lead to more…