All Access Star Trek Drinks To Guinan On ‘Picard’ And Dives Into “Anomaly” From ‘Discovery’

All Access Star Trek podcast episode 67 - TrekMovie

[Discovery review starts at 25:08]

Tony and Laurie start with the good news that Star Trek: Discovery season 4 will be debuting in multiple international markets this week, despite last week’s removal of the series from Netflix overseas. Then they celebrate the confirmation that Whoopi Goldberg will definitely be on Picard season 2 as Guinan, thanks to a Cameo video made by Michelle Hurd (Raffi). They talk about Mike and Denise Okuda being honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award, what to expect from the upcoming 4K Director’s Edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and what’s happening with a newly funded Star Trek theme park.

They wrap things up with a look at interviews both new and old about Star Trek: First Contact on its 25th anniversary, and a custom-made Starbucks cup with a classic Janeway coffee quote.

Links:

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 4 Debuting Internationally On Friday On Pluto TV And Paramount+

Michelle Hurd Talks About Raffi’s Challenges And Working With Whoopi Goldberg In Star Trek: Picard Season 2

Mike And Denise Okuda Being Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award From Art Director’s Guild

INTERVIEW: Mike and Denise Okuda Talk ‘The Roddenberry Vault’

INTERVIEW: Denise and Mike Okuda Discuss Latest Version of The Star Trek Encyclopedia

New ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Director’s Edition’ Images Hint At Potential Changes

Paramount Theme Park In China Featuring Star Trek-Themed Area Moving Forward

The Ready Room feature on new AR Wall virtual set

Trekbits: 

Tony: First Contact Turns 25

Laurie: Custom-made Starbucks/Janeway/Laurie coffee cup / Kristen Brant’s Etsy store

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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Thankfully Prodigy is a great Star Trek and SNW is coming as Discovery in my mind seems to have run out of gas.
Feels like someone had a plan to put it all together Marvel style and then got pushed out – TMP remastered with V’ger wanting to merge with life, First contact with the Borg only sending one Cube and being defeated in 15 minutes by Picard “hearing something” only for them to go out of their way to capture Data, then ST: Picard where he acted odd and isolated, obsessed with AI only to become an AI himself and then Discovery with the Federation having fallen and there being little AI.. seems like someone was setting the stage for a big story on the Borg farming the Federation for tech only to finally decide to finish it all off and get the synth Picard tech that they can become the evil V’ger without the need to assimilate. You’d then have a ban on AI similar to Dune after the Butlerian Jihad.
Would have a big arc on what is life, what is special about innovation/imagination/etc and finally do a real Borg invasion some were waiting for since Best of Both Worlds. Given the Federation is known to collapse, could have been a real consquential page turner.
That being said, I think someone has been pushed out that the pieces aren’t making sense anymore. Discovery in the short Trek Calypso where the ship AI waits for a thousand years for her Captain for instance seemed to be indication of some great arc that then never really happens (or is the Discovery Federation still doomed??).

I noticed an interesting comment made by Burnham. When she and Book were arguing about him going on the mission. Book says she would fight like hell to go on the mission if the roles were reversed. She replies that Hugh would say no and he´d be right. One would think she´d mention her first officer saying no but in this case it´s the doctor/counselor.

I agree with Laurie about Gray Tal. The character just isn´t that interesting yet. Of the two new characters Adira is much more interesting. And I was a little annoyed that Gray just interrupted Adiras moment at the end.

I think it’s great that they cast a trans actor, but I agree that the character’s not interesting yet.

It’s too bad, because some other recent shows have had well-rounded characters played by trans actors (ex. Dreamer on Supergirl).

It’s also tough, generally, to fit in non-Starfleet characters (going back to Neelix). I like Book, but I still don’t fully get why he’s there.

Book’s the rogue element, the Han Solo, Becka Valentine of the show.

Neelix is a good example of how not to do it. He was just too sweet, too good-to-be-true for an outsider from a perilous region / era.

I still want to see “The Book of Book” as a spin-off show :-)

I’ve been doing a rewatch of Voyager (keeping up with the Delta Flyers podcast) and my views on Neelix have changed a lot. I used to find him too sweet and too much in general, but my chronological rewatch has changed my mind. They did soften him up too much, too fast, but he was a better and more complex character than I remembered.

I vividly remember first seeing him in the original trailer and the pilot.

He had the potential to become a very enigmatic, shady character, someone like Garak, Tyrion Lannister or even Farscape’s Rigel XVI. Not a bad guy but also not that supernice bloke who happens to be an enthusiatic cook and whose only weakness is his constant fear of death…

I love VOY but Neelix is so much wasted potential…

I like both… Adira and Gray… They are such an adorable couple. And Gray revisiting the synth plot from PIC is also a essential decision. Sure, it limits the options any post PIC series would have in that field but maybe that’s on pupose…

If that synthetic transfer hasn’t been achieved on a large scale, an old theory of mine has just become mute. I used to believe that Admiral Vance was a synth, that all future humans actually are. I just believed “Ad. Vance” was a telling name, a hint at him being an “ad-vanced” synth.

I have a bold theory about the nature of the Anomaly. There is a theory about the very nature of the universe that has become quite “fashionable” in recent astrophysics: the holographic theory. In that theory, our entire universe, our four-dimensional space-time is a simulation emmitted from a two-dimensional holographic surface.

If they are about to explore that theory, the Anomaly may be a malfunction in that simulation, huge from our POV but relatively small on a cosmic scale. Maybe Disco has to travel to the edge of space-time to repair that glitch in “God’s” holodeck.

Thematically, a lot of micro mirrors have been woven into the narrative: Burnham’s easy-going new holo, programmable matter that may be a simulacrum of actual space-time, Grey getting an artificial new body and Book’s continuous visions of his nephew who may still be a “shadow” in the matrix of space-time…
The rite of ascension also mentioned a system of roots spanning the whole planet, maybe a foreshadowing of the big reveal, that all of the universe is a system of interconnected gravitational fields.
The mycelium network and Culber’s return from the dead may also be a thematic mirror or actual part of that premise.

I know it’s a very bold theory but Trek has always played around with current theories of astrophysics. The MU plot derived from early multiverse theories.

It has been stated that S4 would deal with scientific concepts instead of your standard villains.

Picard himself also sort of foreshadowed that concept in The Ship in a Bottle when he acknowledged that all of us maybe inside a simulation on the desk of somebody.

I’ve just looked for the exact quote: “In a sense, who knows? Our reality may be very much like theirs. All this might just be an elaborate simulation running inside a little device sitting on someone’s table.

Maybe this is the biggest reveal in all of Star Trek yet.

Trek has also time and again dared to question the nature of God. They wanted to explore that theme even back in the 70s. I wouldn’t be too surprised if that happens right here and now on Disco.

I forgot to mention that this common theme of universal interconnectivity is also contemplated by Saru on Kaminar as well as that “Round Table” of Federation and Non-Federation peoples. So there is strong evidence that this may actually be the theme of the season.

Relaunching / fixing the butterfly people’s navigational satellite system may also hint at something essential to be fixed… The more I think about it, the more I believe in my theory…

But then, I was way off on the Burn last year, having interpreted the lullaby as a classical rendition of Sabotage from another quantum reality, with Pine-Kirk being trapped inside the Verubian Nebula :-)

So no, don’t trust my instincts just yet…

Interesting speculation Garth Lorca!

I agree it is topical, but I’m wondering if the powers that be would be willing to go there.

It certainly holds potential for some serious clash with more traditional fans. But then, the holographic theory and a potential “godlike” Kardashev-scale Level 7 civilization outside known space-time fits with and echoes previous Trek themes like the Q, the Nexus, the Prophets and even “God” in TFF… Trek has done that time and again, just not on such a radical plane…

I personally believe the holographic theory / Kardashev scale is a lot more compatible with both science and religion than an isolated Big Bang Theory.

On the other hand, all of Star Trek being inside a giant universal matrix certainly makes this universe a lot “smaller”… The downside of it: if you’ve already seen “God” and repaired the essence of the universe, there probably is no meaningful place to go next…

Thanks again for the round up and thanks for the alert earlier in the week regarding Pluto TV which has resulted in my now being back in synch with your podcast, which is great, as I like to hear your thoughts. I must say that I’m impressed that the powers that be “listened” and came up with a solution for international viewers as quickly as they did. Fair credit to them!

Really enjoying Discovery so far and as ever it’s gorgeous to look at (even in SD via Pluto) and I look forward to watching again in all its glory when P+ becomes available in the UK.

It’s always gorgeous! So glad you can watch it now.

As usual, great talk guys!

I will mention two things from it mainly, Synths and Zora!

One of the major reasons I wanted to see Star Trek go forward again is because I wanted to see A.I. become more advanced. Sure Data is very advanced for an Android but I do love the Synth idea and the fact they are basically made human which we got in Picard. But it still bothers me that apparently they all died out centuries ago when it really should be the opposite in my mind. Maybe that’s not the case, but why are you using 800 year old technology? Or I guess you can sort of argue Synths still exist, just the idea of adding consciousness of others never became much of a thing. And I’m glad they made that clear in itself and why we don’t have a 800 year old Riker running around (but I wouldn’t mind that too much ;)).

The other mention is Zora. I always liked the idea of her and I am happy that they are keeping to it. But again, it’s the 32nd century, shouldn’t there just be more sentient A.I. computers in general? Maybe after what happened with Control they clamped down on computers just being too advanced, but then what about Synths themsel—just forget it lol. And of course what really frustrates me about Discovery is why not just TALK to her and understand how ‘conscious’ she is? DIS does this a lot, just ignore asking the obvious to keep the mystery/tension going. But yes if your ship computer is now randomly giving itself a name, maybe you ought to have a chat with it and understand it more, especially issues that the discussion brought up and it if can act autonomously or not? Again, seems like after EVERYTHING that happened with Control and why they are now in the 32nd century, to protect the Sphere Data from it, this was a reason why Control wanted it so badly. Their entire mission was to basically protect Zora; maybe now is the time to figure out what she really is and how sentient she is. Amazing how NO ONE is discussing any of this lol.

Oh last thing, thanks for explaining the holodeck/Vulcan scene more. Yeah it looks like she can just emit images in her room, which is really cool! I also imagine they can’t walk around or anything. This seems more like a 32nd century 4-D 360 degree postcard type of situation (or a super advanced AR wall ;)). It can project images of feeling like you are somewhere else but just peer into it mostly like we do a TV. Just how I perceive it of course. And we know they installed some holodeck rooms last season already.

I completely agree about the handwavey bit about her naming herself. They definitely need to have a conversation with Zora, and maybe have some specialists take a look at her. I like that she has a name (think of all the people using Alexa and whatnot), but absolutely there should be a bigger discussion about that! Hopefully it’s coming.

I hope if it does it comes this season. The funny thing is normally something like this would be discussed for an entire episode and build a direct story around it to completely understand it. But here, everyone is so nonchalant about Zora to the point it’s bizarre. She was the same one who helped save the ship in last year’s finale by putting herself in various Dot-23s to work with them. This is not what a ship computer can normally do and definitely not decide to on their own accord. But after it happened, everyone just shrugged I guess and no other discussion after it happened.

Seem like curiosity alone, you would want to know more about her but I know this is sort of how Discovery just does things. But it’s very frustrating because this is not how normal people would react even if we lived in a universe as bizarre and trippy as Star Trek is.

I feel like the lack of Synths is something that would need to be addressed in Picard. Making the Discovery crew chase the answer doesn’t really make sense. However since Michael knows Zora chose her name it does make sense that they are working with Zora and her(?) consent. The fact that the ship’s operating system had to be rebooted entirely to get rid of the Chain tech has to be a concern right? I hope this issue and the lack of a Security Chief is addressed at some point this season. Even if in a passing comment as they like to do or a flashback. That said I still hold out hope Nahn gets invited back!

Another vote for Nhan over here! And a security chief in general.

Nhan and La’an… Two security chiefs in two epic series :-) I’d really like that to happen…

Add me as another vote for Nhan, and I agree they need a chief of security in general (just like they officially need a chief engineer and chief medical officer too).

I’m not saying any show has to give us an ‘answer’ about it so much as Discovery has kind of opened the door to discuss it since they are using it again and directly suggested Synths no longer exist in that era, so I would like to think they have a reasoning behind that (unless someone from Picard GAVE them that reason).

And I think it would be difficult for Picard to answer it because they literally just made Synths legal again. It would be odd they just disappear in another 2-4 years in terms of how long the show lasts. I’m thinking the answer could be years, if not centuries into the future which is why it’s easier for Discovery to bring up since its now the show that can look back on every single piece of Star Trek lore. It’s the only show that can do that being so far ahead into everything else. But no they don’t have to answer it of course; but I hope SOMEONE does lol.

And maybe they DO exist in the 32nd century, Culber could simply be saying their life span doesn’t last forever like a lot of people assumed.

I completely forgot Discovery doesn’t have a security chief anymore lol. But according to this show, we still haven’t seen the chief engineer yet either. People are suggesting it’s Jet Reno now, but yeah who knows? I do like the show, but it is a very odd show at times.

Hi,

Great analysis! I love this season being a big sci-fi mystery. I enjoyed the Red Angel mystery of S2 and I’m happy seeing the mysteries of space return to Disco.

I’ve started to like Adira too. I love their position as a science officer/whiz kid on the ship. Their character is growing on me. Reminds me of Wesley Crusher …

But, I just can’t get interested in Gray’s character at all. How are they going to transfer Gray’s consciousness to the synth body? Don’t they have to separate it from the symbiote? I’m not buying it. And it’s not working for me. But, we’ll see….

Overall, I enjoyed the podcast.

I really like Adira, although I don’t get a major Wesley Crusher vibe as Adira seems to be less wide-eyed and more independent. Maybe slightly later Wesley but pre-The Game Wesley. I agree about Gray. I don’t really get this whole “Gray is still alive and can be put in a body” thing… so far it feels more like magic than sci-fi. Hoping they come up with something that makes sense.

Agreed! Im hoping whatever they do, it’s super cool sci-fi, and not well….magical.