[Terry Matalas interview starts at 19:34]
Missed part 1? Listen to it here.
Anthony and Laurie start with a preview of The 56-Year Mission in Las Vegas, covering venue capacity, Covid procedures, guests, and panels, including one on Thursday from TrekMovie. They cover the Saturn Award nominations for Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and Lower Decks, discuss fan reactions to SNW showrunner Henry Alonso Myers’ comments about his pitch for the show, round up more San Diego Comic-Con interviews from the SNW cast, and talk about the latest comics, books, and games coming our way (with some surprising tie-ins).
Then it’s time for Part 2 of the epic interview with Picard showrunner Terry Matalas, going back to talk a bit about season 2 and taking an even deeper dive into season 3 and the return of the TNG crew, and how he had to keep his inner fanboy in check on set. He also offers up some hints about what kind of Star Trek show he would like to do next, talks about how he just can’t help responding to critics on Twitter, and more.
The podcasters wrap up with Kate Mulgrew’s promise to avoid causing temporal anomalies by visiting the Janeway statue and some surprising history about what’s probably the most important scene in The Wrath of Khan.
Links:
Interview: Gary Berman Previews The 56-Year Mission Las Vegas Star Trek Convention
‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,’ ‘Lower Decks’ And ‘Discovery’ Pick Up 6 Saturn Awards Nominations
Saturn Award nominations – full list (Deadline)
Watch: ‘Strange New Worlds’ Showrunner Says Series Pitch Was “What If We Just Did Star Trek?”
See Mirror Picard And Riker Face Off In Preview Of Final Issue Of ‘Star Trek: The Mirror War’
Comic And Novel Tie-ins Coming For ‘Star Trek: Resurgence’ And ‘Star Trek Prodigy’ Games
Trekbits:
Anthony: Kate Mulgrew tweets> about upcoming visit to Janeway statue, promises not to cause any temporal anomalies; Aaron Waltke follows up
Laurie: “The Tholian Web” co-writer Judy Burns talks about adding that crucial scene to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on the Enterprise Incidents podcast.
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Great interview with Matalas once again!
And I really love the idea that season 3 is about passing the baton and that a spin off would be the next, next generation! I won’t speak for every fan but this was always what I wanted after Nemesis ended, that we go to the next era of Trek passed TNG/DS9/VOY and start anew in a way. Now I don’t think Matalas is saying that, he made it clear if there is another show it will take place right after Picard, but it sounds like a mix of old and new characters would be setting up a new direction and that’s really exciting.
I was very happy when Patrick Stewart was coming back as Picard but in all honesty I was hoping it would be setting up a bigger universe in the 25th century with new characters aboard another starship since we knew Stewart wasn’t doing seven seasons or anything. It sounds like that’s what they are setting up now. But I still suspect Seven of Nine and/or several TNG characters will still be part of any new show as he also alluded to. But I am hoping we get a new set of characters and really set up the 25th century with a different drive than what the 24th century shows gave us. Let’s see Star Trek continue to expand in new situations, characters and time eras and not just nostalgia for what came before (but I am loving all the nostalgia too ;)).
I’m really excited about where all of this can be going now!
I feel your excitement!
However, I think if I get three or four more interviews like this with him giving up more and more info, I’ll feel like I’ve already watched the season.
This dude’s like “you’re spoiled baby brother” who could never keep a family secret Lol
No offense, but I don’t get your hang up about this at all? I think I’ve seen you post this in other places, but it’s really odd to me why it would bother you? For me it’s the complete opposite. A few reasons.
For one, Matalas hasn’t revealed anything about the actual story. Can you lay out one scene from it? Can you tell me a plot line? What we see one character doing? What other legacy characters shows up? So how has he ‘spoiled’ anything? He’s just framing the basics of the season, but he hasn’t said one thing about the story itself. Anthony said it in this interview, he’s really good at teasing us but not giving anything away. He’s not dropping any big details but he’s not vague either. The only TRUE spoiler that has been given away is that we know the Enterprise is showing up, but Patrick Stewart broke that first at Comic Con, not Matalas.
Secondly, this is what EVERYONE does, Matalas isn’t doing anything remotely different. You seem under the impression that Matalas has talked up his project more than other producers or writers and trust me, not even remotely true lol. I don’t know how long you been here, but I been here a long looooong time. Not at the very beginning but back in 2008, just lurking then. But guess who else was here? Bob Orci! That guy was on the boards talking up the 2009 movie 18 months before it opened. He was throwing out bits of info and updates to anyone who had a question every week lol. And then on top of that he was giving Trekmovie exclusive interviews just like this one every few months. And THEN would still jump in the comments section to elaborate more. He was giving constant updates and story hints while the guy was still writing both movies lol. In fact that entire team of Orci, Abrams and Kurtzman was talking up the first movie at least a year before it came out but you can even go as far back as 2006 giving statements and interviews on it. I’m not joking.
And how is that different from what the show runners of SNW are doing? They been throwing out just as much info about their show. TM just posted a new interview talking up season 2 and mentioned Scotty showing up in the future and Kirk and Spock’s first meeting. So what’s the difference??
Lastly (and man this was only suppose to be a few lines lol), you have to remember this is probably just as much about damage control as it is about promoting the next season. Matalas has made it very clear he knows how much people have hated the first two seasons of Picard. There are a lot of people out there just very down on this show, me included BTW. And there are many who just stopped watching. He’s probably trying to convince THEM that season 3 is different and in a great way. People like us are going to watch no matter what but it’s the others he’s trying to convince who isn’t. Not everyone is going to just watch because he dragged in all the TNG characters back IF they were really down on the first two seasons. In fact I’ve seen people say all season 3 will do is just ruin those characters. He’s trying to make it clear we are getting a true TNG season and not just an extension of the first two.
And frankly for people like me, I NEED more of this, not less. Yeah I’m going to watch but I still hesitant about next season. But the more I hear the more my mind is changing!
And lastly dude, don’t take this the wrong way, but if you don’t want to hear any more about next season, you can simply not click on the link like this one. Done.
I’m going to wait and see how much more we learn before the season starts, because I really think this is trending to much more information at this point before a season begins then any other series to date. You can feel free to disagree of course. If this season turns out to be underwhelming, I think this may end up being one of the reasons why, but we’ll see.
And we will also see how much more he gives away both at the convention next week and on Star Trek Day. My bet is he won’t be able to help himself but to again provide some more major info, but again, we’ll see.
And yet no one else seems remotely bothered by it. As said, he hasn’t actually spoiled anything. He’s only talking about the season in broad terms. Again, how is that any different than what they are doing with SNW right now? I don’t see the difference at all. The show runners there has been open about what we will see, what characters will show up again, their dynamics, etc but hasn’t given away any story details other than the LDS crossover.
Again, look at the Kelvin movies. They were talking up those movies for years. Obviously its different since its not a TV show and you have years between a film, but I don’t understand how talking up a 10 episode season every month is different from a 2 hour film?
That’s not true, Lorna Dune agreed with me when I brought this up on another article on Matalas recently, and about two months ago a different person (I can search back to see who it was if you want me to dig it out?) also concurred with me on this. I am not the only one who has noticed this.
Dude, I don’t recall the Kelvin movies having near the level of advance talk like this from it’s creative lead nearly every week for like starting nearly a year before their release? Only when the full trailer came out did we start to get this kind of access and info at this regularity. And that’s kind of my point here — this is really a lot of talk way early in comparison to other seasons, movies, etc. It’s flunking Marketing 101 for TV/Movies in my opinion.
Again, this is all just my opinion.
OK, I guess I missed that discussion with Lorma Dune lol. No problem. But the MAJORITY seems fine with it, agreed?
Look, only advice I can give you if it bothers you this much, don’t click on it! If you see a thread with Matalas discussing his views, just ignore it.
But for me, and assuming most others are fine with it because I want to know as much as possible without any big spoilers and completely fine with it. I mean this is why we come here lol. And I still don’t see any difference between him and the show runners giving info for SNW. But OK, let’s just move on.
I will even give you that it’s the VAST majority that is fine with this! :-)
I’ll live with clicking on it, but I will reserve my right to share my opinion.
Let’s see how much more info he gives up next week at the big convention and on Star Trek Day. If he doesn’t give up anything major, I will be the first to admit I jumped the gun on this.
You responded to me about it first, not the other way around. I was giving my thoughts on something else but we ended up here. ;)
To be clear: this isn’t something I’m actually bothered by. :)
LOL, good to know! I’m personally loving all the info about season 3 so far! I think most of us are.
I’m really hoping so as well. I love SNW and that needs to continue but with the exception of that the era of prequels needs to die. Time to move forward in all shows. I remember like a decade or so back when someone pitched a 25th century cartoon show with a descendant of Kirk being the next captain, of the Enterprise at a time when the Federation was falling apart or something. Glad that didn’t happen
I have NEVER really been a fan of prequels of any kind, Star Trek included. It was a big reason why I had trouble getting into both Enterprise and Discovery. But Enterprise really won me over eventually and DIS was actually getting very interesting in season 2 as well until they moved forward in time (which I prefer). SNW is really the perfect prequel setting though so I was 100% for it from day one. And I wouldn’t mind a post-TUC/pre-TNG era show. That could be interesting too and bridge elements between TOS and TNG more. This is ultimate fanboy stuff but I think it would be cool to see a now Captain Saavik in charge of the Enterprise B after Captain Harriman steps down. That’s really the only other prequel time period I’m interested in personally.
But yeah I will always prefer to go forward. For me, anything in the post-Nemesis era is going forward. It doesn’t have to all be in the 32nd century lol, but as Matalas said the 25th century is a good era for NuTrek because you have all the legacy actors you can bring back but also do something completely new too. I’m really happy we are seeing the remnants of the Dominion war next season but a new show could give us an entire new species that could be a threat to the Federation. And most fans seem to want this era the most, certainly on Reddit at least.
And the show you are thinking about is called Star Trek: Federation. And it actually took place in the 30th century. I read about it here. It sounded interesting to me, but the idea of the Federation turning stagnant seem to put off some fans.
Oh yes. I remember now. I read about it here too! And the federation going stagnant or belly up is exactly why I don’t like discovery still even tho now it is a sequel forward and not a prequel. It’s feels like everything Kirk and Picard and Sisko and janeway fought so hard for was for nothing because one day a baby cries and everything blows up.
Man, I wish this guy would just can it now until we get to the season. I want to be somewhat surprised – I don’t need so much of this spoiler stuff fed to me way in advance. We are getting way too much info in advance for this one – much more than for any other Star Trek series recurring season that I can remember.
This risks a huge let down when we actually see it given we will know know a lot of what’s happening, and this it won’t be as exciting or fun as it could have been.
Kurtzman and CBS marketing need to have a talk with him and kind of shut him down for awhile (at least after the convention next week where I’m sure he’s going to tell us a ton more spoilers…lol) – my opinion.
he’s not really giving anything away. It’s shocking to me, really, how very little we know about the story. For all the things that have been teased (or leaked), we genuinely don’t know what’s happening.
Yeah that’s the thing, he hasn’t dropped any actual spoilers. I don’t think saying Riker being really funny next season is exactly something you can make an article about.
I do like that he has denied things which I don’t count as spoilers like making it clear Sela or Sisko isn’t returning. Or that we won’t see DS9. I think he’s trying to just manage expectations in that case because, per usual, people’s imaginations out there are going wild and will be disappointed when they don’t get the thing no one ever promised them.
Exactly. I think people consider different things spoilers. To me even hearing X or Y is coming back isn’t much of a spoiler. It’s a franchise. That is sorta expected. What I do consider a spoiler is how or why people show up. To me, the little teases about Worf or Geordi or Crusher add intrigue and fun speculation. But if there was a leak that outlined storylines or plot, I’d avoid that.
Perhaps. Let’s see what he says at the convention next week and on Star Trek Day next month. I hope I am wrong, but my bet, based on his pattern to date, is that the dude won’t be able to help himself from giving a lot more info away.
I haven’t watched this interview.
But if you absolutely want to know nothing about season 3 of PICARD before watching it, surely the best course of action is not to read any of the publicity materials or teasers at all?
Speaking of people we wish would can it…
Yep!
Terry’s excellent in these interviews, and Anthony and Laurie are great interviewers. A pleasure to hear.
Thanks so much! He was a great guest.
re: Spiner, it’s gotta be either Lore or B4.
Also, great interview! You’re both fantastic podcasters and interviewers!
I think it’s going to be Lore aged up. I think that’s what he means by an ‘old new character’. He’ll be Lore but just not as we remembered him because he will look older which is probably what he means that people will have so many questions if they see him in a poster.
I would have to think if that’s the case the reason why he’s old is that Dr. Soong originally programmed him to age like a Blade Runner android, but because he was deactivated for so many years, that aspect of his programming didn’t really have a chance to kick in when TNG audiences saw him. Then again, that’s the first thing that popped into my mind, and I’m one of the dumbest people who ever lived, so, it will probably be more interesting than that.
I wonder if it will be both… That Lore will have stolen or absorbed B4 and Data’s “subroutines” – to finally become “fully human.” But not necessarily Picard’s friend.
LOL, but I actually think that idea sounds pretty plausible. Soong made Lore to be more human from Data from the start, so it’s not inconceivable he was meant to age as well. He may still live to be over hundreds of years old but still age.
And it’s been nearly 30 years since we seen him last. Man where does the time go???
I’ve sometimes wondered if maybe after “Descent” there should’ve been a trial episode with Lore, or at least his head, ha, in the courtroom being prosecuted by the Federation. I mean, it might’ve been interesting to see Picard and Data struggling with whether or not Lore should be permanently deactivated or disassembled for study. Sort of like a twist on “Measure of a Man.” You fought for their rights, guys, but what if they’re psychotic?
Brilliant!
That would’ve been a great idea and a fun twist! It’s easy to side with a benign A.I., what if its one that can be provoked to kill you like a biological life can?
Thanks. Yeah, I think I could’ve traded a season 7 episode like that for… I don’t know, was “Masks” in that season? Or maybe one of those dull dream episodes.
Anyway, it felt to me like Lore’s story was over a little too quick. Data mentions in passing he’s going to be deactivated or something and that’s it. But, hang on, can’t you get a moral dilemma out of this?
I don’t know, kind of an odd way to end it, and part of me does wish for some kind of resolution in ST:P.
What if he’s the voice of the computer? Like a Data ringtone.
Then he would truly be his father’s son by becoming Often-On Soong.
I think Season 1 of PIC settled B4. My guess is that Spiner is human Season 1 character – Altan Soong.
Ohhhhh like he froze himself a la Khan and is resuscitated? As a payoff to that project file at the end of last year
Thank you! Terry is indeed a great interview. We could’ve done a whole interview about non-Star Trek things and he still would’ve been fascinating.
Given what we’ve seen of the Soongs, it is safe to assume everyone after Arik Soong is a clone.
Through cloning and AI, he ensured no one would ever forget his face.
Agreed. I actually think that was some of the more brilliant aspects of Pic S2
Sounds like there’s a chance we’ll see Ro Laren.
The YouTube video (which I thoroughly enjoyed and mostly agree with) that Terry has been referencing is this one:
https://youtu.be/qKufJoRSr6c
Honestly, it was refreshing to hear him say that he’d prefer to have the Eugenics Wars set in the 90s, and that its half-baked retcon into the 21st century is just corporate wanting Star Trek to be “our future”. Actual history has diverged from Star Trek ever since we passed 1968. Paramount/CBS needs to get over that way of thinking, especially with First Contact just four decades away now.
I saw that video a week ago. Not only do I agree with it, I made several comments of my own in the comments section. I am getting more excited for season 3 but season 2 was just a mess.
And yeah, others need to stop pretending Star Trek is about ‘our’ universe. Maybe at one point that could’ve been argued but too much time has passed and things are just too different from Trek’s history and our real history. And retconing dates is NOT the answer because now you’re just confusing Star Trek’s fake history. A few people got on my case a few weeks ago when I said Star Trek is just a TV show. This is another example of what I mean. Stop treating it like it’s suppose to be reality or at least OUR reality. I think while the idea is cool, we can all accept aliens landing in Montana 41 years from now because an alcoholic engineer managed to build a FTL space vehicle out of a missile silo has zero chances of that happening in our universe.
But my guess in another 30 years someone is going to retcon that date to the 22nd century instead.
You know ever since *certain* events of the past decade my own head canon says the Star Trek timeline of the Eugenics Wars did actually happen. But we are not in that universe. We are the mirror universe 😢. Heck instead of Braxton’s ship being found by Ed Begley Jr maybe he was found by Roddenberry and that caused the divergence LOL!!! J/K
Having said that, as blissful as the 90s seemed to be in the real world, it also directly caused all the turmoil, death and destruction and economic downturns in the 21st century that we never ever really recovered from. Fictionally (as the Eugenics wars novels elude too) one could make the argument that the Wars did happen in the 90s but the general public just wasn’t aware.
I have heard fans cite us actually being in the mirror universe. That actually would make sense lol. But pretty dire obviously. I would prefer to think we are still part of the big Star Trek multiverse, just a different universe from what we seen in the Mirror and Kelvin universes. So if you want to get really nerdy about it to enjoy fictional entertainment, Star Trek still exists for us, but its prime universe is simply not ours. Maybe we will go on to also make some form of Starfleet/Federation in the next century but the events will have shaped differently since we didn’t have the depressing hellhole known as Star Trek’s past lol. And maybe we will still have an Archer, Kirk and Picard in this universe, just a bit varied from Prime.
I know about the book you’re referring to, but if you look at the Eugenics wars, it’s practically impossible to really happen here, at least the way it was described in TOS. One guy being able to subjugate 40 countries is pretty absurd for today’s geopolitics. I know the Eugenics war was really suppose to be WW 3 (until TNG retconned it later to once again try to keep ahead of real world present day), and I guess the idea was suppose to be similar if the Nazis and Japan won WW 2 and colonized most off Europe and East Asia. So from that perspective you can KIND OF buy it.
But today it would be unheard of, even in the 90s. Look at Russia and Ukraine. Russia is spending all its resources to subject just one country and fortunately they are having a really hard time at it. As for the Eugenics war, the irony is no one seems to ever want to show it on screen because they know how preposterous it would feel for audience today and yet they won’t shut up about it lol. It’s fraught with so many problems, changing the date doesn’t solve anything except in the most superficial way. I wish they would just ignore it completely, say it happened and move on.
Well the problem with Russia and the Ukraine is that Russia is doing it surface level, for all to see. With assaults and tanks and stuff. Don’t think of Khan like that. Think espionage. Think hacking. Think quiet wall street take overs. Think Edward Snowden type stuff. How much did we know about Bin Laden before 9/11? Because he had a LOT to do with the US prior to that.
as for the Trek multiverse (which existed longer before the MCU, deal Marvel lol) there is actually a universe in DC comics where Superman and Batman et al are actually comic book characters. So we could totally exist in the Trek multiverse where Trek exists for us but in our Universe Trek is a franchise
Tightening the gap between 1st contact and founding of the Fed would make a lot of sense to me, since exploration-wise, we have humans pretty much twiddling their fingers in one corner of a sandbox up until Archer era, so far as I can tell. And that is when all the changes are supposed to happen.
I could not disagree more. I’ve always thought of Star Trek in the hope that it represents our future, and knowing that the Eugenics Wars never happened in the 1990’s was irksome and irritating to me at the level of Klingons being portrayed as “blackface” in TOS until they were retconned correctly in TMP — so I was so happy to see it get included with WWIII now in the mid-21st century.
The Eugenics War retcon was a great decision by Kurtzman!
It’s FICTION, there is NO eugenics war on our planet, not in the 1990s and probably not in the 2090s. According to Star Trek, WW 3 is suppose to start in just 4 years and last two decades. How do you get around that if we don’t have a world war in a few years. Do we just retcon that too?
Yea, you continue to retcon as you move forward. I get why you and some don’t like that approach, and that’s fine. But I like my future sf to be theoretically possible in our future — that’s why it is science fiction, and not fantasy like Lord of the Rings or Thor.
And if you read The Making of Star Trek and some of the other histories/bios of TOS, this approach is what GR intended, in fact that’s why he retconned TMP, and that’s why that movie is the “hardest” sf of all of the Trek movies/series.
It seems that, instead of continuing to retcon firmly established events as we move further into the century, it’s better either not to reference them or to do so in a way that’s not specific to the dates. That’s a reasonable middle ground. Lots of fans like me don’t want Star Trek to have a fluid continuity like The Simpsons, but also I get why some fans like you care about it being an imaginary possible future.
As a side note, Enterprise, which aired in the 2000s, was comfortable referencing the Eugenics Wars as having occurred in the 90s. But, if Paramount doesn’t want to continue that “alternate history” approach going forward, then it would be better not to be date-specific than to break continuity.
I think some day there will be a eugenics war. Just like I think some day there will be a Cylon war. It’s not even really about Trek or BSG for me but rather that our scientific advancements are outgrowing our own ethics. We are moving faster in our knowledge than we know what do do with.
To quote Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should”
If you think about it, in a way that day is already here. True AI doesn’t yet exist. But we are already having serious arguments about whether current day AI such as that which exists in Tesla cars should be allowed to function because it is causing accidents all over and causing the deaths of human lives.
I’ve already posted a reply to you about this before I saw this one so I won’t elaborate more other than maybe it can happen in SOME form, I don’t buy it could ever happen the way it’s described in Star Trek. Sure when the episode was written, it was the 60s and you had real tyrants literally trying to take over half the world not that long ago in that period. But that scenario would just be too difficult today. But sure I can buy genetically advance freaks at least trying I guess. ;).
Yeah. I agree that it won’t happen the way it happened in Trek. Genetic supermen won’t rise up and take over the world like it’s the X-men in reverse. But there will be wars over it imho. I think it’s just inevitable. For instance many today agree if we can detect an abnormality ina fetus like blindness maybe we should correct it. But that goes directly against that TNG ep with Geordi where he saved that genetically enhanced civilization with his visor tech.
Great interview! Great part 2. If only all Trek interviews could be as detailed and knowledgeable (and long).
Can’t wait for PIC season 3, and I hope Matalas’ vaguely described intentions are true and we get a “next next gen” show. Maybe some Voyager crew (Commander Kim anyone?) as senior officers to some new juniors? (Still hoping for a 3-season DS9, or more, follow-up too.)
What a great time to be a Star Trek fan.
I am sad that because I will be on vacation next week, I won’t get to check out Friday’s podcast covering LDS’s premiere and will have to wait till the following week. Always the highlight of Fridays. Speaking of LDS, were the winners of the LDS season 2 DVD sets announced? Did I just miss hearing?
Yep this idea excited me more beyond season 3 itself. To get a future show with new characters carrying on with maybe some of the old legacy characters leading them. That would be, sorry, the best of both worlds. It would keep all the fans happy who want to see old characters to be part of these shows but we’ll still get something new out of it and not just a retread.
I’m sure plenty of fans right now would love to see a ship with a bunch of legacy characters on it like Riker, Tuvok, Worf, Dax, O’Brien and so on. And I won’t lie to you, I would watch the hell out of that show lol. But I think it’s better to use maybe 1-2 of them and create new characters around them. It’s actually kind of what Prodigy is doing now with Hologram Janeway, but in a very round about way since those characters aren’t part of Starfleet obviously.
So maybe not flood a show with all those legacy characters, but they can all show up from time to time though! ;D
Commander Kim anyone?
OMG, please just: Make it NOT so! Lol
Aww come on. The dude deserves it. Lol.
LOL
Thanks so much! We were lucky Terry gave us so much time! A limit on that is usually what gets in the way of long and detailed interviews.
Maybe data is the new computer voice/ai for the enterprise?
i really really hope the 3rd season has a backdoor pilot for a new star trek with the new enterprise and crew.
Assuming that Terry has had a good experience with Kurtzman and Co., I wonder if he would want to return and produce/show-run/write another new Trek with Kurtzman and Co.
And if so, what would that be?
I am sure that those talks either have happened or are happening between him, Kurtzman and the powers/money at P+. It would be wonderful to know what sort of show ideas they would be talking through.
Looking forward to PIC S3….
I want to see him deliver on S3 of Picard first. Talk is cheap, so let’s please watch S3 first before giving him another set of keys to the franchise.
Very fair. Very True.
Ok. Let’s see if he can bring it.
I for one am glad Akiva Goldsman’s bad writing fingers are not in Season 3. This one might not be horrible? Fingers crossed!
It’s so weird, SNW first season was good but DIS and PIC was so bad under him. Maybe the other show runner has more influence or he’s just not good with serialized stories? Maybe both.
Akiva Goldsman and Terry Matalas both share writing credits on the first two episodes of Picard season 2 (the ones that most fans seem to enjoy). The only other writing credit Goldsman has on season 2 is for the finale. The whole middle part that fans seem to hate most was written by people who had never worked on Trek before (except for Kirsten Beyer who’s a co-creator of the show and who co-wrote episode 8). So neither Matalas nor Goldsman wrote that middle part, but both of them were probably in the writer’s room when they developed the season.
This is a stark contrast from season 1 where Michael Chabon had writing or co-writing credits on most episodes.
No script for an episode of television makes it past the showrunner without a rewrite. The buck stops with them (or, in this case, Goldsman).
It’s too bad some of the stuff Matalas discussed here about Jurati’s Borg journey didn’t make the Season 2 finale. Even if they couldn’t have done a full scene, a few extra lines of dialogue would have added a lot. His comments about the writers room are also interesting, and it sounds like he would have made some different decisions.
Yes, I was fascinated by this as well. Such a huge setup! There’s a lot of story potential there.
What bothers me is that, like the S1 finale, I don’t think we are going to get a wrap up the the S2 finale. What was that threat the Jurati queen was hinting at that she needed Picards help for? If the story is so fundamentally switching for S3 I seriously doubt they will have time to resolve that.
You can also guess from the fact that they’ve dumped most of the cast from the previous seasons that there probably won’t be any wrap up except for maybe a throw-away line by one the few remaining characters.
I also wonder: Terry Matalas has said in interviews that he left in the middle of season 2 to focus on season 3. Is he talking about the middle of production? Or is he saying he left while they were still in the middle of developing season 2? It wouldn’t really make sense to work on season 3 before they even knew where season 2 was going to end. Based on what he said about this extended Borg story that ended up getting discarded, he seems to have been involved at least somewhat in the writers’ room discussions for the end of season 2.
There are points in this interview and the previous one, where he openly admits he wasn’t involved in certain decisions, or would have done things differently. Like where he discusses the points of resolution for Jurati that were dropped/cut out. Since it has been said there’s a one year time jump, it probably will be just a few lines of dialogue. Maybe it will be something like Seven or Raffi lamenting that the Jurati collective was destroyed while closing the anomaly. Maybe S3’s villain comes through the anomaly before Jurati sacrifices herself and her collective to close it? Obviously I’m speculating but since Allison Pill isn’t in S3 it wouldn’t make sense for the Jurati collective to be there either.
That makes me sad. I wish he had way more input.
Back in season 1, Michael Chabon also talked about certain decisions that he would have done differently. As much as some fans would like to have one clear person to lay all the blame on, there is rarely just one person calling all the shots. As Matalas mentioned about retconning the date for the Eugenics Wars, some decisions are even coming from outside the writers’ room.
As you say, it doesn’t make sense to have Jurati’s collective if Allison Pill isn’t involved. However, I would say they owe it to the audience to give some explanation what happened to all the characters who are suddenly gone. Not everybody reads all the interviews and know about the behind-the-scenes details.
That’s why I agreed there will likely just be some throw away dialogue regarding Jurati. We don’t need anymore explanation on Rios – Guinan already provided it. Raffi could easily mention Elnor in a line or two of dialogue. If the Soong Brent Spiner is playing is Altan Soong, he could provide an update on Soji. My guess is Elnor is probably now an Ensign on a Lt. Jr Grade on his current assignment, and Soji is either continuing her ambassadorial duties or went back to be a doctor.
Yikes. That happened? In what ever what it did it would explain so much. I was so expecting a 12 monkeys season 2 and we totally didn’t get that. Practically everyone guessed from the trailers that Jurati would be assimilated and that she was under the hood from ep 1. Uugghh. That sux.
Well, it’s ironic that the season Matalas apparently wasn’t fully involved in featured the time travel story, while the season he took over as the sole showrunner won’t be a time travel story.
Yeah that is totally ironic.
Tony and Laurie,
What a great interview! I’m sold on S3 Picard. He seems very enthusiastic and I can’t say no! Worf looks terrific! I can’t wait to see Michael Dorn again.
After reading the fifty year mission, I am more appreciative of the work, the hours, the sweat and anxiety that goes on in making a trek series. I am happy for SNW and the other shows who got nominated for an award. Will I always agree with their creative decisions? No. Do I understand S2 of Pic? No. However, do I believe that S3 of Pic will be great? Yes. Because, the excitement that Terry brings to his interviews is infectious, and I’m on board and my enthusiasm is through the roof!
LLAP!
A “new old character.” We know that several of Data’s brothers are still out there.
Great interview. Here are a couple of things I noticed
–Matalas did not like some of the decisions made with seasons 1 and 2 that were also heavily criticized. He did question the lack of humor, the decision to make Picard an android (he stated he is just moving on from that), and some of the time-travel “rules” in season 2. Matalas was very careful in his wording, but that is the impression I got.
–I also don’t understand why the new image of Worf is causing some controversy. He looks absolutely amazing. The white hair is cool! I support Matalas questioning the people that state is doesn’t match up with “Klingon canon.”
–Spiner is playing an aged-up Lore.
–He keeps saying how Season 3 is the TNG movie he wanted to watch. This is great news and I am filled with hope!
–Slightly off topic, but the guys at Inglorious Treksperts podcast stated that episode 5 from season 3 of Picard is one of the best Star Treks of all time, and this is from a guy that hates all the “Nu-Trek” including the Picard show. I don’t know how he watched it already, but that’s very high praise. I have a strong feeling we are getting something great with this season.
It’s because Klingons live for centuries, and at this point Worf isn’t even middle-aged yet. By Klingon standards he’s still very much in the prime of his life. So technically Worf isn’t anywhere near old enough yet for his hair to have started going noticeably grey, let alone for all the hair on his head and face to have gone completely white.
Of course, it’s possible this is part of the story. Maybe Worf suffered a major emotional trauma in the previous 20+ years — Alexander may have unexpectedly died, for example. The shock resulting from sudden loss of his only child certainly could realistically turn Worf’s hair prematurely white, especially since DS9 showed Worf and Alexander eventually reconciling; presumably they continued becoming close afterwards.
But I’m just guessing here. Perhaps it’s another reason, or maybe it’s just a canon-contradicting aesthetic choice on the part of the showrunners.
Even if Klingons live longer than Humans, who is to say that they display signs of aging in a similar sequence as Humans?
Also, has it occurred to people that Worf’s hair may have turned white by choice? Humans certainly know how to dye hair today. In the future, you probably don’t even need to wait in the chair and smell the chemicals.
Alexander was walking and talking when he was a year old, and he was serving on a starship when he was about ten. Clearly Klingons do age faster than humans at some points in their life. Who’s to say that they don’t grow old at a similar rate to us, and then stay old for longer. Besides, didn’t Worf also have grey hair in All Good Things?
I genuinely hope Spiner is not playing Lore. How did you glean that from the interview, from the “new old character” hint? I was hoping we’d see him return as Altan Soong from S1 so there would be some cohesiveness. But you’re probably right – it’s probably Lore and I’ll just have to trust Matalas came up with a good story to justify that.
Matalas was asked what quintessential Star Trek was to him and he replied the space navy against all odds in a highest-stakes battle with a larger-than-life villain. Are you not entertained?
I’m starting to think that Spiner is B4, but he is almost an entirely different character now that he has Data’s memories. He’s an old character, in that he’s a combination of Data and B4, but he’s also something entirely new.