‘Picard’ Showrunner Talks Villains And Why Season 3 Is A Game Changer For Star Trek Universe

Only three weeks away, yet how the multiple villains fit into Star Trek: Picard season 3 remains a mystery. Now showrunner Terry Matalas is opening up a bit more and also talking about the stakes for the Star Trek Universe.

A Villain with a point

At New York Comic Con, Terry Matalas revealed season 3 has three different villains. But in his new extensive interview with in the February issue of SFX Magazine, the showrunner added some nuance to this:

They are certainly villains in the way that you would know them as villains, but they’re not traditional villains, meaning I don’t know that they will all fulfill that specific role … We really wanted a major villain for Vadic that she should be a larger than life, classic Star Trek villain who had her own reasons for doing what she does. And when you heard them, you’d say, ‘You know, she might have a point.’

Matalas mentioned Vadic, played by Amanda Plummer, as the main villain for the season. At NYCC, he said she is “a bit of a mystery,” adding she has a “deep-seated yet sympathetic reason for wanting vengeance against Picard and the Federation.” In his SFX interview, Matalas said he always saw Plummer as right for the role of Vadic because of how she brought a “certain unhinged quality” to some of her performances, mixed with “sympathetic qualities.”

Amanda Plummer as Vadic

The other two antagonists for season 3 are Daniel Davis, returning to play the holographic Professor Moriarty from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Brent Spiner as Lore, Data’s nefarious twin brother. Matalas didn’t have much to say about them in his new SFX interview beyond saying that when watching season 3, fans will see how “organically they fit into the story.”

Daniel Davis as Moriarty in the Picard NYCC trailer

Changing the game

Terry Matalas has previously talked about how season 3 of Picard will be “game-changing” for the Star Trek Universe. The showrunner elaborates on this with SFX:

There is definitely a major event in the Star Trek universe. But not in a way that undoes it in any way. People hear game-changing like, oh god, we’re gonna undo some of Star Trek so it no longer feels like that. That’s certainly not what it is. But it will feel like an event in Star Trek history. For instance, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, you know what I mean? That would be a moment in Star Trek history that everyone would remember. And that’s certainly true here.

There is much more from Matalas as well as interviews with Jonathan Frakes and Gates McFadden in the February issue of SFX Magazine.

Reminder: Final trailer this weekend

There is one more trailer coming, which will premiere at halftime during the NFL AFC Championship Game on Sunday, January 29th. The game starts at 6:30 PM ET on CBS and Paramount+. An extended version of the final trailer will likely be released later online.

The third and final season of Picard premieres on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., with new episodes of the 10-episode-long season available to stream weekly on Thursdays.

Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S.A. It is distributed concurrently by Paramount Global Content Distribution on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories, and in Canada it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.


Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.

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I just remain unconvinced on the primary revenge seeking baddie for this season — the character looks like a meth junkie, and the more I watch that trailer, the sillier she comes across.

And more of Matalas puffing up his chest on this…now it’s a “game changer” for the entire franchise of course. Good grief, the level of ego here.

It’s standard big franchise PR, all showrunners do this. I can’t count anymore how many Doctor Who showrunner interviews have a similar sound bite. Much of the time it’s an over-promise, but I think we’re so used to it only the most pedantic and petty of us would come back to this later with cries of, “You promised us a game changer! You *lied* to us!”

I’m sure you remember the promotional rounds for “Insurrection.” Sound bites from Frakes saying things like how the Collector set was worth the price of admission alone or Patrick Stewart saying the exodus of the Bak’u rivaled the scope of the epic migration of the Jews in “The Ten Commandments.” The kernel of truth was buried in Stewart’s appearance on The Late Show. Letterman asked him point blank if this was the best Star Trek movie ever and Stewart dithered just long enough to make plain there was a doubt.

I say we just let the work speak for itself, the promotional rounds are what they are, showrunners have to be hype men and Matalas is living his dream. PR snippets are omnipresent these days, but can be ignored easily enough.

Well, I will say this — if Matalas really delivers and this is as awesome as the Kool-Aid drinking in all of these snippets he’s given us, then this nearly daily marketing campaign of his will fade into history and he will beloved by nearly all. If the season sucks though, then because of his unprecedented nearly daily marketing of this to the fans, well then he’s going to join the “jerkweed greatest hits” of Trek history, which includes Fred Freiberger, Leonard Maizlish, Alec Peters and Stuart Baird, among others.

I say we just let the work speak for itself”

Whoa whoa, sir or madam. This is the internet. No room for that kind of talk here.

But that’s the truth and irony of it all. If you want to let the work speak for itself, any fan can do that, regardless of Matalas’ comments.

Yes, exactly.

ok

Thumps up, glad you’re my best pal.

He’s not puffing up his chest, he’s a showrunner selling his show and he’s very excited about what they’ve managed to accomplish for season 3. Also, he goes on to clarify what he means by game changer.

He better deliver then given his near daily hype machine.

That’s not on Matalas, but on Trekmovie. This article and the article from yesterday are based on the same SFX interview.

Also, every show is hyped before its release. That’s not anything specific to Matalas and Star Trek Picard.
Season 2 of SNW is being hyped as bigger and better than season 1.
Every previous season of Discovery has been hyped as a game-changer and as being better than anything they had done before.

What is different about Star Trek Picard is that they started promoting season 3 before season 2 was even over but that was probably due to the bad reception of season 2.

It’s true that yesterday’s article was not direct from Matalas. However we have never had a show runner/series leader who month after month, week after week, gives the several mini spoilers per week directly to fans. If you’re trying to claim that happens for every Trek series pre-marketing effort then I am forced to call BS on that.

The only thing somewhat comparable was when Bob Orci use to post here during the Kelvin movie period. However he was much less likely to give away spoiler information than Matalas, and much of his communication was discussing unrelated Trek topics with fans, as well as promoting all of his crackpot conspiracy theory stuff

So what Matalas is doing is NEW here. You’re not going to be able convince me otherwise with a platitude that ‘this is the all way they always do it.”

I’ve known you long enough to know that there’s no point in trying to convince you of anything if you’ve set your mind.

The truth is: We’re in the final stretch of the promo campaign for season 3 so it’s safe to say that we will hear more from Matalas and the actors before the season starts. If anything, there will probably be even more interviews than there have been over the last months. If you’re going to throw a fit every time you hear a quote about the show it’s going to be some very exhausting 3 weeks.

Nah, I’m running out of gas on this one. In my original post above, it was actually not my primary point, but you and others seem to get all bent out of shape when I dare to suggest that this has been too much, so it’s not all on me on dragging this out. :-)

And people here complained nonstop back then that they weren’t promoting projects enough – gripes like “it’s only eight months away and we don’t have a synopsis. This thing will tank!”

So, what Matalas is supposed to not promote the show? Stay silent in interviews? I don’t think much of this is particularly spoilery — and unless folks are coming here or googling Picard news daily, most aren’t going to see ALL of this stuff from Matalas.

He could dial it back just a little. However at this point the damage has been done and even dialing it back would not be enough. Also he very well could be required to go out and drum up business. Which I think is likely.

Agreed, especially since he can’t handle ANY criticism. That has me worried the most about S3. If you’re so convinced of yourself and can’t take any feedback, that is a warning sign.

(this was meant as reply to @Jack)

You need to get offline more.

That’s a great idea. There’s been sooo much info about Picard lately I’m avoiding all articles about it(just about)

I’m not even going to watch the final trailer.

I can handle it, while at the same time commenting that this is not a great idea on how to pre-market a Star Trek series. Because I hope Kurtzman and P+ Marketing staff are reading the comments of those of us here who do not think this is a great idea — so that next time they won’t let a show runner go so overboard like this.

This coming from an internet troll. The irony.

Dude, avoid the Picard stuff like I’m doing. Just wait for the premiere, just 3 weeks time, you will have fewer migraines and ulcers I’ll wager.

Yeah, I may do that by next week. There’s even some blowhard super-fan on YouTube (you know, one of those fan shows where there’s five guys wearing cheap T-shirts who look like they haven’t had a shower or shaved in a week…lol) who’s claiming he’s seen season three twice and that it’s the best Star Trek series in decades (and then he says SNW is the worst new show…lol). First of all, I don’t believe for a second that that curmudgeon got to see the series, and secondly, I wouldn’t trust anyone’s opinion who also has previously said that Enterprise was an outstanding Trek series, while SNW was one of the worst…lol, give me a F’ing break.

Well to me, the opinion that Enterprise was good while SNW was not is a good sign. However given the precedent Secret Hideout has set I find if VERY hard to buy the idea that this upcoming Picard season will be better. Time will tell of course but one cannot be blamed for being skeptical.

Things really went downhill in the Alpha Quadrant following that referendum to legalize Ketracel-white.

Lol

I will never understand fans. I appreciate Matalas’ daily musings. If you get your hopes of because of them, and are then let down, that’s on you.

People don’t have to pay attention to his twitter. Fans can just, i don’t know, just watch it when it comes out and judge it for themselves.

I’m enjoying his little teases, his transparency, but i’m not getting overly excited because as others have pointed out, we’ve been through this before: the chest-thumping is part of their job.

Can you imagine if when interviewed by SFX he said “eh, we wrote an OK story, I guess. nothing special. Maybe you’ll like it, I don’t know. I highly doubt anyone will remember it in 20 years.”

C’mon now.

With all due respect, you are denying an accepted principle of psychology 101. High versus low expectations really does affect how a viewers enjoys new media offering. And those expectations are largely defined by the amount of information provided to the viewer ahead of the premiere — and that level of pre-release info is on the studio, NOT the viewer.

Well… He could say something like “We made what we think is a very good finale for the Picard series.” Of some variation on that.

The thing is, I suspect that such a comment would be frowned upon by CBS suits. He may be forced to overhype.

What a boorish comment. Amanda Plummer is an accomplished thespian who has won the admiration of her peers. And as Christopher Plummer brought the original cast to their conclusion, now his daughter will do so for the TNG cast. Terry Matalas has our gratitude.

So you’ve seen the season then? You KNOW this?

I’ve seen enough movies and television series over the years to know that just because they use a very good actor doesn’t mean that the part is going to be great (try Robert DeNiro in Bullwinkle, for example). Based on the trailer, I think my concerns are legitimate — so far, from the trailer, that character looks like a cardboard joke bad guy to me…hopefully I am wrong, but I have concerns. And if you look at others posts here on this, you can almost hear the collective worry about her revenge/bad guy character.

I don’t think I am being boorish, just like I don’t think that you are being clairvoyant. ;-)

Did you also think Christopher Plummer was silly in star trek VI?

Amanda Plummer aside from being the daughter of one of the best trek villain actors of all time, is also one of the best actresses of her generation. and everything we have seen of her performance so far in teasers and footage looks like she took a hint from her dad and just dove in and had fun with the role.

People who have already seen the show (many of whom vocally criticized seasons1&2) have said this is a return to form, and really feels like TNG season 8 so maybe just give the season a chance and wait till it starts airing before bashing it. Is it really necessary to insult someone calling her names and saying she looks like a junkie.

WTF? I am saying a FICTIONAL CHARACTER looks like a meth junkie, not the actress.

And the Trek 6/Christopher Plummer comparison is nonsensical. Different writer, different actor, different director, different etc. etc. etc. Makes no sense. That’s like claiming a new western is going to be great because Scott Eastwood is in it…lol

PS: Yeah, actually STVI has not aged well, and all the quoting Shakespeare lines now when I watch Plummer do lean towards silly. Not his fault though — he did his job.

I’ve always had a crush on Amanda Plummer.

Ego? He’s literally doing his job. I think your perspective on this has gone a little out of whack.

Yeah. I tend to agree. I don’t see Matalas as the “savior” for Secret Hideout many hope he is. His fingerprints were on season 2 to some degree. Yes, it was an improvement and the goal was laudable. But the execution of it was tiresome and mishandled. The entire time travel/alternate time line/Q thing never worked. Many claim he was pulled off S2 to focus on S3 but the fact remains he did have a lot of control of S2 heading in. So he must bear much of the blame for that season’s failure. And by extention, Kurtzman for hiring him and the writers. So forgive me if I just don’t believe a word of the pre-show hype out there. There is just no reason to buy it whatsoever.

Comments like this are exhausting. You can’t funnel this negativity into anything useful or non-obnoxious?

I’m going to stay as open minded as I can but honestly nothing about Vadic interested me in that trailer, in fact almost the opposite.I just wish Star Trek can stop doing all these uber-villains who wants to destroy the Federation trope. That’s why fans got bored of the Kelvin movies and stopped caring about them when you do it for every single film. (sigh)

That said, I’m really excited to see Lore and Moriarty back! And Matalas keep suggesting Vadic will be different so we’ll see. And it is interesting no one has said if all three are working together or not. If so I can’t want to see how they all manage to meet lol.

I’m all for game changing stuff in Star Trek! I assume he means story wise and not things like the Kelvin movies being in another universe or a show taking place in the 30th century like Discovery. I thought we were getting a game changing moment in season 2 when the Borg showed up and said they wanted to ally with the Federation but didn’t quite turn out to be the case. But yeah I’m always up for shaking up the universe in some way!

Amanda Plummer is a fascinating actress, I am at the very least quite intrigued to see what she does with what she’s given.

Yeah I like the actress. I’ve only seen her in a few things but no complaints about any of it. But I will say she comes off a little too hammy in the trailer but you know me, I do try and stay open mined as possible….until it’s no longer possible lol.

All in the Trek tradition. Khan and Chang left tooth marks on the scenery too. XD

Khan had already been earned though with a classic episode. Chang was great no doubt. I think the main concern is the turning the format of Trek tv into just a long movie so the stakes have to be so high to justify 8 episodes. You won’t get something small and introspective anymore like Measure of a Man or Inner Light. It’s just a different time and that’s kind of unfortunate.

And what made Chang great is that he wasn’t a stereotypical villain. He was much more like Gul Dukat and had nuance and a bit more grey. Yes once he revealed himself to be a conspirator he chewed up the scenery real good lol, but he wasn’t trying to take down the Federation. He just wanted to keep the status quo going. That’s why TUC is such a great film (still my second favorite in the franchise) because it was the first real conspiracy story we got in Star Trek and between two former enemies at that. We would get more conspiracy stories after that, especially on DS9 of course but TUC was basically the first. And Chang, like Khan before him, just felt so different because at the time he was different.

In fact, if they have to do the villain route every season on these shows, it would be fun to do a big conspiracy type story where we don’t know who the villain really is but pulling the strings. They sort of did that in season one of Picard, but it was all the Romulans and we knew that the first episode and no they weren’t remotely subtle about it lol.

Vadic was my favorite part of the NYCC trailer. I love those hammy classic Star Trek villains, with their stilted dialogue and their devilish smiles (eg. Khan, Chang, Dukat). If that trailer is any indication, looks like she is going to chew the scenery, spit it out, and act circles around Patrick Stewart and co.

I love all those guys, but only one of them was out for revenge. And that is the real irony, it was Khan that sort of kicked off this trend but A. It was really about Kirk for obvious reasons and B. it was over 40 years ago now. We don’t need it done yet again.

And if I’m being honest, I’m just kind of tired of villains in general. It’s another reason why shows like LDS and SNW felt like fresh air, they didn’t rely on a season long villain. Sure will pop up in an episode but that’s it. LDS season 3 had a villain but he didn’t drive the season and we really didn’t see him become one until the finale. But I guess being a comedy makes it harder to have them more which I say GOOD! ;)

I see your point. It is getting stale. Still, I am looking forward to seeing another Star Trek villain in the Plummer family, taunting our heroes from her captain’s chair as she gleefully fires torpedoes at them. I can’t speak for her character, but I think her performance will be one of the best things about this season.

And I hope you’re completely right. As I said I’m still looking forward to the season and I have faith it will be the best one (but that’s not exactly a high bar lol). So hopefully everything Matalas is saying will bear fruit and we’ll get someone who will become the next Chang or Dukat and NOT the next Shinzon or Nero. :)

I’m guessing Chang makes the most sense lol.

She seems to me inspired by Lotte Lenya’s Seeräuber Jenny:

Und sie wissen immer noch nicht, wer ich bin. Aber eines Abends wird ein Getös sein am Hafen Und man fragt: Was ist das für ein Getös? Und man wird mich stehen sehen hinterm Fenster Und man sagt: Was lächelt die so bös? Und das Schiff mit acht Segeln Und mit fünfzig Kanonen Wird beschiessen die Stadt.

and old Lucy Brown

No, really… Her father played Arturo Ui after all. There is a connection. I wonder if I should call her character: Space Arturo Ui ;)

I, too, am sick of villains. My favorite Star Trek movies (TMP and TVH) don’t even have villains in them.

That’s a good point about LDS and SNW. Even Disco has tried to move away from the big bad villain. Why they decided to go back to that well for Picard’s final season remains to be seen.

Yeah and I did appreciate that about Discovery in season 4 as well. There was a ‘villain’ but at least it was something different for a change and they tried a little more grey and nuance. Now I can spend endless posts telling you why I thought he ultimately sucked and dragged the season down lol, but at least it was something different even if it was still totally ridiculously on its head.

I’m starting to get the impression that, sure, she’s not happy with the Federation but that the focus of her revenge may be a bit more focused and intimate.

I truly hope you’re right Denny C (and you are usually more than I am ;)). I just wish they didn’t have go down this path at all but maybe it will be something nuanced and worth telling.

Star Trek since the 90s has been about some power wanting to cripple/destroy the Federation. To destroy paradise: I don’t see why people have a problem with this… because this is what sells and what delivers… what else would you want a movie to be about?

Again it’s the whole revenge angle that makes it feel more tired. We understand you have to have conflict but usually it’s for a bigger purpose like a war or politics. Some idiot trying to basically declare war all by themselves because they have an issue with one its citizens is just dumb. Look at the real world, how many people out there is single handily trying to take out a country or an organization because they feel they been personally wronged by it in some way? How common does that actually happen?

And then what’s so eye rolling in these movies and now apparently Picard is the ridiculous notion you’re going to destroy something as big as the Federation with just one ship to begin with. It’s so silly on its head. Again, to apply real world standards, if you wanted to take out say America, how far do you think they will get with one of anything no matter how advanced or deadly it is? And then these stories always tell us just how ridiculous it is because they always get destroyed lol. And usually by one other ship. So maybe trying to conquer an entire space force with it is what Tony Stark might say is not a great plan. At least make it a bit more realistic.

And yet they keep doing it.

It worked in TWOK for a reason, Khan was trying to only take out one ship with one purpose. Maybe he wanted to take the Genesis device for more destruction but even that could only be used once so it’s not like he could go around wiping out planets with it. Now we got people in a single ship and bioweapons who wants to wipe out an enormous organization with a fleet of tens of thousands of ships at their disposal. And because one of them is upset someone didn’t stop a freaking supernova in time or was left stranded on a planet; so let’s try and take out entire systems one by one because apparently they have endless weapons and resources on them too.

We don’t know why she hates Picard and wants to dissolve Earth, Betazoid and Trill over it with her cruiser, but I just think you can come up with something less ridiculous.

Whoa did they say that was her goal anywhere because 😬

No, just throwing it out as an example. It would be refreshing to just not have someone trying wipe out entire planets for a change, but…

Again it’s the whole revenge angle that makes it feel more tired.

I agree, although trailers can sometimes be misleading, especially if they involve deliberate misdirection. We obviously don’t know yet if that’s the case here too, but it may well turn out that way.

Matalas’s claim that Vadic is actually justified in wanting revenge has interesting potential. Maybe she was assimilated at Wolf 359 and blames Picard. Or maybe she’s secretly a Romulan and, as I’ve suggested before, the Romulans have found out about Sisko’s “Pale Moonlight” plot that tricked them into joining the Dominion War and probably got millions of Romulans killed. Or — another of my previous suggestions — it turns out that Starfleet Intelligence and/or Section 31 either deliberately allowed the Romulan supernova to happen or they actually triggered it. Matalas has made comments about fallout from the Dominion War continuing to cast a long shadow, so there are quite a few options here.

PS. Earlier this week I did reply to your own reply to me on the other thread; I’m sorry I didn’t respond sooner, but I usually go offline during the weekends. Thank you very much as always for your friendly words. To answer your questions, yes I’ve posted a handful of comments on Trekmovie over the past 6 months, but they’ve mostly been fairly brief and usually on threads where I was very late to the party. No problem about the UFO videos; hopefully you enjoyed them. HOTD-wise, the gap between that storyline and GOT is meant to be around 170 years at the start, with a series of (I think) 5 and 10 year time-jumps that are a bit jarring and involve the younger characters being repeatedly recast. But the show takes off after that. Makes some very accurate points about human nature, especially the way that misunderstandings and paranoia can cause things to escalate. The two main actresses in the grown-up versions of their characters are really good, and so are Rhys Ifans, Matt Smith, Paddy Considine, and a couple of the regular secondary actors; a lot of great acting and charisma. Still early days — it’s only Season 1, after all — but the showrunners have mostly learned the right lessons from GOT derailing. So far so good.

Just to respond to comments you’ve recently made on other threads: The overall tone of Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” is a somewhat simplified version of his excellent movies “Hell or High Water” and “Wind River”. I’d hesitate to use the term “dumbed-down” because that’s not entirely accurate. Perhaps better to describe it as having around 80% of the nuance and complexity of those films. I haven’t seen the prequels “1883” or “1923” yet, but apparently 1883 in particular is noticeably “deeper” and the reviews have been glowing. The Stallone starrer “Tulsa King” is entertaining and more sophisticated than it initially seems. Basically, Sheridan’s stuff is like an R-rated version of Christopher Nolan’s films; a lot of the same themes involving male psychology, machismo, gravitas, and philosophical aspirations. (For these reasons, I think Sheridan could be very suitable in charge of a Klingon-focused show too). Also, I wish the new Star Trek shows should could get the kind of big-name stars Sheridan can clearly get; his track record is incredible.

Me again just to say do you remember how Garak said that the plot in Pale Moonlight was exactly what the Romulans would have done? So for that reason I really don’t think it’s that still.

1883 was absolutely fantastic, Jai. About to give the season a re-watch. And I agree, Hell Or High Water and Wind River are two of my favorite films in recent years. Indeed, if Trek could draw the caliber of actors Sheridan can, it would be a game-changer. In fact, if Trek had any writers of Sheridan’s caliber, who knows where the franchise could go.

1883 and 1923 are rock solid. More so than Yellowstone these days which is a little too Dallas for my tastes. But Paramount should cling to that partnership as long as it can.

HI JAI,

It’s great to hear from you. I was surprised to see you responded to me in that other thread. I just thought you called it a day here and moved on. When it’s such a tiny community in general as it is here and people who at lest post once or twice a week stop posting, especially after years, you do notice. But certainly glad to see you are still around at least. And I’ll answer your post in two posts, the first to stay on topic and the second one to NOT stay on topic lol.

As far as Vadec and her motives,, of course I agree. There could be solid reasons why she is doing it and if so, great. I just feel in general I wish they just went a different way altogether, but yeah it can be good and interesting. And I didn’t see your theory before about a continuation of the Pale in the Moonlight episode. Yeah that would be very interesting, but unfortunately when it comes to both Picard and Discovery, fans usually have better and more layered ideas than the writers running the show so I wouldn’t hold my breath on that (can you tell I’m a little bitter ;)). Would love to be surprised we are getting something more than she’s mad at Picard because he put her family on some colony 20 years ago and never checked up on her when the Breen invaded or something, they all got wiped out so now the Federation must pay for it.

And yeah, we’re just responding to the trailer obviously but I will say this and that other people who say seen it is saying there is more to it, so that gives me hope. In fact I don’t know if you know who Robert Meyer Burnett is but he is pretty known in the geek movie and Star Trek circles because he did the Free Enterprise movie (which I never seen) and a few documentaries on the TNG DVDs back in the day.

He’s one of the few people who saw the season already and apparently seen it twice. There are a few others too but he’s actually known in the Trek community. And not only has he seen it, Matalas himself confirmed it a few months ago he did. And actually the reason I am bringing this up specifically because when the trailer dropped he did a live stream hours after it premiered, which I literally watched live, and he praises both Amanda Plummer and her character. He has only nothing but good things to say about her. And about a month after that he brought both Matalas and Doug Drexler on his show and it was about an hour interview with them discussing the trailer together.

And I’m more hopeful because I been a fan of Rob’s for years now and he’s even responded to me a few times on his videos and I don’t agree with everything he says either. He’s very much NOT a fan of NuTrek lol, I’ll put it that way. He’s been trashing it since the first Kelvin movie and he hasn’t liked any of the new shows, ESPECIALLY Picard. So the fact he’s so much more positive about the season is a great sign.

Now of course being the internet, some of the bigger NuTrek haters is now calling the guy a shill and that he’s only saying these things because Secret Hideout paid him blah, blah, blah. I really like Rob because he DOES have integrity and say what is on his mind. If he didn’t like it, he would’ve just kept his mouth shut until it came out. The fact he’s gushing so much tells me he does generally like the season. Yes it’s only his opinion and everyone can still hate it but it gives me a small hope and I guess that was the point. ;)

I would post both videos here, especially his interview with Matalas and Doug Drexler. They do a pretty big deep dive about the trailer. But I don’t know what is considered ‘spoilery’ so I don’t although it’s nothing Matalas himself hasn’t said already as he does there. But I encourage people to find and watch that one at least.

OK a slight error on my part. The RMB video he does with Drexler and Matalas actually came first. That was on Star Trek day and they discussed that trailer with Riker and Picard coming aboard the Titan A. And the video is actually two hours (Matalas leaves after an hour or so) and yeah lot of season 3 talk obviously but not too spoilerish. Just a lot of RMB telling him how much loved it while slagging off the rest of NuTrek lol.

So it gives me hope the season will at least be decent if not amazing. Dude, I would be just be happy with decent right now. ;)

Now on to your other point, yes LOVED the UFO videos lol. Thanks for turning them on to me. As far as GOT, like I said I always planned to watch it and I watched the first episode. I wasn’t too excited it being a prequel but it was fine and planned to keep watching. But for some reason I just never watched the next one and I kept saying I will and then the season is over lol. But I also have to stress I was never a big fantasy fan in general and I didn’t even start watching the original show until it’s sixth season even though people kept raving about it. I was like ‘naaaaaah’. Once I finally broke down and gave it a chance I was hooked pretty quickly. And I didn’t hate the last season as so many others did. Disappointed by the finale but it wasn’t the end of the world either.

But because you are so positive about the new show I’m going to watch it soon. I’ll rewatch the original episode and just binge the season. For some odd reason I recently decided to watch The West Wing again although I’ve watched it twice already lol. So I’m going to take a break from that and watch GOT instead.

As far as Taylor Sheridan and his 35 shows airing on Paramount+ and other places, I have not seen a single minute of any of them and yet there is FAR more hype and marketing surrounding them than Star Trek is getting, so apparently there must be something about them.

I see commercials about Yellowstone, Tulsa King, 1923 and the new season of Mayor of Kingstown daily on actual TV. This is how you know those shows are bigger because I can’t get away from them to save my life lol. There is always commercials for them. Sadly I can’t recall the last time I seen an ad for a Star Trek show on TV? We’re all here discussing Picard that is out less than a month and yet I have not seen an ad on TV for it anywhere (although we’re getting a big one soon ;)). I’m not talking about the generic Paramount+ ads that shows clips of the all shows I’m talking a bonafide ad hyping Discovery, Lower Decks, SNW, etc, they don’t show up on TV, at least in my area. Maybe they are showing up in other places but I live in freaking L.A., it seem like they would show up here a bit more.

So those shows must be pulling in a viewership on a serious level if they keep hyping them and especially with the big star talent they keep pulling. And I never seen Wind River but I have seen Hell and High Water a few times now and I love that one too. So I might try and watch Yellowstone since you at least like that one even if it’s not as good as that. I’m paying a whopping $1 a month on Peacock where it’s airing so it’s time to put that money to good use. ;D

And I agree, it would be nice if a Trek show or movie got real star power like his shows are getting. If Harrison Ford decided he wanted to be in a Trek movie, that would give that dead franchise real movement IMO but that’s another topic. ;)

Anyway always like talking to you Jai! So good to see you whenever you’re around. :)

You pretty much answered your own question. Some people have a problem with this because it’s been done since the 90s. That’s thirty years. There are other plots and themes.

Nothing about Vadic has to interest you, they’re just another disposable villain in a very long line of Trek disposable villains. It’s like all this whining about a revenge driven season. What did the complainers think they were going to get, a season long arc of android Picard reminiscing about the good old days while his android body fails? It’s a reunion show, it’s 100% fan service. Sit back and enjoy it for what it is. If I want entertainment to explain the meaning of life to me, I’ll go watch Monty Python….

I disagree, but that’s a brilliant post!

I love reading comments explaining what 100% of a show is by a commenter who hasn’t seen said show.

I get your point Phil but that’s the OTHER irony, some fans thought because it was mostly a reunion (no matter how many times Stewart says it isn’t lol) is that the main villain would in fact be someone from the show as well. The biggest contender being someone like Sela or even Tomalak. And I don’t just mean on this board specifically just in general.

Now we are getting Lore and Moriarty and it’s nice Matalas made it clear all three are the villains of the season. I’m really excited to see them in fact. So it’s not just having villains obviously. And unfortunately with the serialized shows it’s always a given now we’re going to get a villain regardless and be a driver of the season. I think everyone expects that either way at this point.

In for the penny, in for the pound, with biological or mechanical bad guys? Look! A whole fleet of doomsday machines, laying waste to the universe! I suppose those little brain pincher bugs could have finally responded to that signal, and maybe they’d make the Jem’hadar look like poodle puppies in the dog park by comparison…..how do you suppose the fan base would react to a real game changer, having zombified the entirety of the Trek universe with those annoying little brain bugs? If we’re going to read between the lines on the vast majority of the comments here, we like our villains entertaining, but weak.

LOL, not the butt bugs! That would freak people out. ;D

As far as villains being weak, I hear you but that’s not a Star Trek thing, that’s just western story telling basically. MCU has had over 20 movies and multiple TV shows now, the villain has won a total of once and that was undone in the next movie.

James Bond has fought every diabolical villain out there for over 60 years now, who has done everything from trying to melt the Earth’s core to trying to wipe out the global economic system with an EMP and yet Bond comes out on top every time (OK, the last one more of a draw ;)).

In fact I remember responding to a post of yours in some thread a way back where you said it was no point to bring back I think the Borg because they will lose. And I remember responding when has the Federation lost against anyone in it’s 200+ year existence? The Federation has gone toe to toe with every major foe in and around the alpha quadrant from the Romulans to the Dominion and it’s still standing. Which is why once again, these uber-villains trying to take down the Federation with a dramatic menacing speech and a bioweapon is so fucking ridiculous on its head.

Sure, there was a multi-year war against the Dominion who had vast resources, men and ships while aligning themselves with the Cardassian and Breen who still ultimately lost, but I’m sure the lunatic with his set of drones and his bio-mcguffin will have better success than them and cripple it in a matter of days. (sigh)

But I agree it would be interesting to see if the Federation actually loses a war for once but that’s like trying to kill off Superman for good, it’s practically impossible it seems.

But if that’s what Matalas is suggesting, a real defeat of the Federation, yeah that would be interesting, but not holding my breath.

Yeah… To me the fact that they are recycling Lore and Moriarty is not a good sign. To me it really shows a lack of imagination that the best they can come up with is old Big Bads who really weren’t good characters in the first place. The Vadic thing doesn’t entice me either for the same reasons you gave. At this point she looks like a typical one dimensional ‘I hate the Federation’ bad guy. We’ve only seen trailers so at this point we don’t know for sure but that is what is being presented at this point.

I guess the good news is I’m heading into this with amazingly low expectations so it’s possible I might end up being impressed. But I still think the likelihood of that is low.

I know I’ve said this before, and I’ll likely say it again after today, but Star Trek’s reliance on revenge plots is getting annoying. Star Trek is supposed to be about exploration, boldly going where no one has gone before. But these days, it rarely every does that. Instead, we keep getting one vengeful villain after another. I want to love Picard season three. I really do. I want there to be at least one season of Picard that is great, and this one has the best shot. But revenge? Again…? It doesn’t bode well.

Yep! I just don’t get it either? It’s gotten so bad, Lower Decks made fun of it in Crisis Point (but fortunately steered away from it in Crisis Point 2 ;)).

And I also really want to love season 3. I was disappointed in season 1 and practically angry about it in season 2 but this has to be different, especially if they are going to do a spin off and set it up in the season. And this does sound like a real TNG show again which many fans been wanting for 20 years now. So I’m really hoping everything Matalas is saying is true and a few people who seen it seems to agree but that’s still doesn’t mean the masses will love it.

It’s as though the writers are flipping a coin:

Heads – Vengeful Villain TM

Tails – Galactic-civilization-destroying Threat TM

If Discovery manages to pull off something else in season three, I’ll stand up and cheer.

LOL! What DID they do in season three anyways,I forgot. Where they in the future by then? Was that the first season in the 32nd century?

Yeah it was the first season in the 32nd century.

I meant season five (with the upcoming Indiana Jonesish action adventure).

Season three did in fact actually attempt something different (the search for what caused, past tense, galactic civilization to collapse) but because they actually followed through on the an oft-used trope, most fans complained that it wasn’t the kind of trauma that resonated with them. I was one of the few here that got behind it here.

My thoughts exactly. Every movie since Nemesis it’s been ‘the villain’. I bristle every time I hear it because it always seems to mean not only that they have no better ideas but that they don’t see the need for better ideas. With all the hype Picard S3 has been giving itself, hearing about yet another vengeful villain doesn’t make me optimistic.

What’s ironic is that they say that season 3 has 3 villains: Vadic, Moriarty and Lore. But it has also been reported that the actor playing Moriarty basically only had 1 day of filming. So he can’t be a big presence in the season. It seems they are just hyping Moriarty because they know that some part of the fanbase can’t get enough legacy characters returning.
It’s unclear whether Vadic will actually bring anything interesting to the table or whether it’s basically just a pretext to get the TNG crew together again.

A whole lot of great Star Trek isn’t about that. There’s a lot of Star Trek that it shouldn’t just be about one thing only.

This is all so exhausting. Another villain who wants vengeance against the Federation (and our main character). This is been done to death and while they can hype it up as much as they want by insisting that it’s different and a game-changer, in the end, I’m almost positive it will just come across as hollow.

One of the reasons I love Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks is that they don’t stray into this territory at all. The s takes don’t have to be so high every damn season.

I think there is a distinction to be made. So far, no NuTrek show has had a big bad seeking revenge against the protagonists. The closest we have gotten to a main antagonist since 2017 are Kor, Ossyra and Oh, and none of them were on a mission of vengeance.
As for it being exhausting, no arguments there.

The first season of Discovery is about the Klingons seeking revenge for the death of T’Kuvma. But otherwise, yeah I’d agree with you.

I don’t think the average Klingon really cared about T’Kuvma. It was really just an excuse to go to war.

exhausting

Whew, that one word really encapsulates my whole feeling about Picard in general. Just once I’d like the hype and ambition it reaches for to match what actually ends up on screen for more than an episode or two. The show has talent in droves on and off camera, with all the tools to make good on it.

But for whatever reason they’ve yet to be able to construct a 10-episode story that actually clicks. Plenty of good moments in them (Q’s goodbye to Picard is quite poignant and memorable, even if his entire involvement in the overall plot is nonsensical).

There’s hope, though: Matalas’ has partial story credits for the first two episodes of Season 2 — arguably the strongest entries in the season before it all went off the rails. And now he’s the showrunner, with multiple writing credits, including the finale. So maybe we’re looking at an “Enterprise Season 4” here, and this will be the one we’ll rave about.

Skeptical, but under these special circumstances I’m willing to at least keep a tiny flame of hope lit. :)

I agree with all of this. I was one of the people praising Matalas just for being hired because I really really liked 12 Monkeys. It was sort of the way everyone jumped on the Ryan Johnson bandwagon with Star Wars because many really liked Looper and then TLJ premiered. And for the record, I didn’t hate TLJ as so many others and I would watch that anytime over Picard season 2, but yeah.

But I also agree the first two episodes of the season was great and those were the ones he wrote. And according to Doug Drexler who worked on it and people like Robert Myer Burnett who apparently loved the season he’s seen it twice now, season 3 is basically a season long style of episode 1 in season 2.

So that reason alone I keep an open mind too. And I been very honest about this, if it WASN’T for the fact the TNG cast came back, I’m not even sure I would even watch the next season right away. I would obviously watch the first episode or two but if it wasn’t gelling I would just wait until its over and binge it. I have never been SO frustrated in any season of Star Trek like I was with season 2 of Picard. There was just so much wrong with it, the biggest being it was just boring throughout a lot of it.

So I’m really torn as well but yes, per usual, cautiously optimistic.

Imagining your post in the voice of Javier Bardem in Skyfall works really well… 😃

I’m looking forward to seeing Daniel Davis again. He’s a great actor.

good to see Gary Oldman was able to reprise his role from Fifth Element

Thank you! Now I know who Vadic was reminding me of.

Sorry, I didn’t see this comment earlier. Didn’t mean to be a copycat.

I knew her look reminded me of someone in sci-fi but I couldn’t remember where. Thanks!

Haha I’m glad someone else made this connection. It’s Zorg!

Cry Vadic!

Vadic must be a Fifth Element fan.

Four Stones! Not 1 or 2 or 3, but 4 Stones.

Am I the only one who gets the chills from Rikers “This is the end my friend”? Its something about his tone that makes it sound very creepy. It was mentioned that Riker and Picard are not gonna be exactly of the same opinion this season but this makes me kinda suspect that we are gonna have four villians. And the shocked look on Picards face…

Only if Rikers phaser is set to vaporize.

I seriously hope this will be decent. I’ve been burned twice now and just want it to be over and done with now. My excitement is maybe at a medium level.

Villains wanting REVENGE have become such a ridiculously stale trope in Star Trek. I find it symptomatic of weak writing from the offset. It also just doesn’t have anything interesting or relatable to say to me (honestly, which sane human being is motivated by REVENGE in real life?)

I hope I’m wrong though and the season has a lot more thought put into it.

Matalas comes across like a used car sales man, does his posturing and pitching and if you turn the car down he will give you the death eyes and tell you to f off….i will however take all this back if he makes the best trek ever as some ‘early viewers’ of the season have already said.

i would also expect this villain would be better suited to pantomime, the cringe level is off the charts with her evil laugh and death stare.

Exactly

When writers have either no idea, no creativity or competence they resort to destroying iconic planets, killing off key characters, throwing the story to the far future because they don’t know how to write within canon, or they use villains. All this to add effect that their lacklustre script can’t otherwise bring to the story. And the more they talk, the more BS it is.

And here I thought I was the chief buzzkill artist here lately?

Nah, you’re moderately annoying but I’m the real deal…

No doubt, having Amanda Plummer twirl her command chair around like her dad did as Chang was probably too hard for them to resist. It might not have even been scripted, I can imagine Amanda doing that to honor her dad and they go, “That’s a great moment, let’s use that !” …. And to be honest, as a fan, it works for me! I don’t mind a little of that here and there.

I’m hoping the villains’s motivation comes out of something that happened in a TNG episode. Like maybe when Picard and crew let Hugh go back to the Borg Collective, instead of infecting him and the Borg when they had a chance. What if two days later, that same Borg ship destroyed her home world? Couldn’t the Enterprise crew be considered accomplices, from her and her people’s point of view?

I hope so as well. The fact we are getting Lore and Moriarty back and they have not been seen since the show would make sense. I always like when the movies/future shows pull from the series: TWOK based on Space Seed; First Contact based on TBOBW, etc.

I did not see any Borg references in the trailers so far, so it might be something else. Matalas referenced the Dominion War, but that is DS9 territory. Maybe it has something to do with Cardassians? The Maqui? Vadic seems human, but her eyes are fairly dark like a Betazoid’s, so maybe she’s Betazoid? Was it something Lwaxanna Troi did with the Enterprise’s help?

I think after using the Borg for two seasons straight, they will probably take a break on them next season.

But I do agree, I hope Lore and Moriarty are there because of a story line based on TNG itself and not just a new idea (but would be OK with that too). But since everyone keep saying this is basically TNG season 8 then that’s probably where its going.

I’m truly excited about finally coming back to the Dominion war. Sure it only took 24 years but better late than never. And I don’t expect a huge arc or anything but it would be nice to see something about it at least. I still think it was a mistake not to include it in the first season but I assumed we would get there at some point.

Technically having the antagonist trying to serve “justice” because the Enterprise crew was complicit in her planets destruction isn’t another Borg story. It would just be the off screen reason why she is hunting each of them down.

OK fair enough.

Let’s talk Moriarty. Didn’t Daniel Davis say he’s in just one episode? OK; cool (I’m glad he’s back), but is he really a season-long villain if he’s just in one episode?

Cameo. Lore’s back, too. I’m assuming the location of his “off” switch didn’t get lost in a Federation data bank purge….

that’s a shame because Moriatry’s turn in The Light Fantastic book would make an excellent short series. Or the Cold Equations trilogy. Or Destiny trilogy. It’s a crime that none of those fantastic Trek continuation stories are being used, instead, they are making boiler plate CW material.

Destiny would have been fun to see.

TNG Into Darkness

The previous comments here have generally covered my reaction to all of Matalas’ promotion of season 3…I only have one thing left to say…It had better be good.

Looking forward to episode one!

You know what would be a game changer? NOT having a ‘revenge seeking villain that wants to destroy the Federation’ character. It’s so over-used now in live-action Trek (Nemesis, Kelvin films, Disco, PIC 1-2). I am still very much looking forward to this season, except for Amanda Plumber’s story arc. In fact, the more I learn about it, the less I want to know.

Also, Terry baby, we love you and we know you will do right by us in Se. 3…but please just shut up already! We’ll get to see what’s going on in just a few weeks.

It’s so over-used now in live-action Trek”

It’s certainly overused if you apply it to some of the instances you applied it to, yeah.

Soooo……just, exactly, what does “game changer” mean? The Federation abandons democracy? Non humanoids are now considered game stock, regardless of intelligence? Jesus actually does return? Starfleet reintroduces the mini skirt and go-go boots for female staff? Is this “game changer” event permanent, or just another plot twist that’ll be fixed at the end of this season?

Means nothing, hence my reference to BS in my post above…

The funny thing is this what really bothers me about this show specifically. In both seasons now they set up these HUGE game changing revelations that really felt there was more story they needed to be fleshed out but were just dropped in the end. Season one was so frustrating because now we have human based synths walking around (remember no one even knew they existed until Soji/Dahj showed up who themselves didn’t know they were synths) and turned Picard to one in the process and it’s completely ignored. And with Picard it’s barely even acknowledged he is one now. They made 2 or 3 offhand references about it in season 2 and that was it.

And on top of that the Romulans were just outed for destroying Mars and there was absolutely nothing about it in season 2. I mean shouldn’t they be at war with the Romulans or something? How do you wipe out an entire planet the show spent all season talking about and it’s simply dropped?

And we already know all the big story lines in season 2 has been forgotten by season 3 just looking at the trailers alone. Some people who seen the season says you don’t have to watch season 1 or 2 at all to watch season 3. They wrap up some of the story lines like Laris but basically this story is more of a sequel to Nemesis than anything since it’s telling us what’s been happening with both the TNG characters and the universe since then.

So we’ll see whatever this big story twist is if it will change the universe in some big way but if it’s like the last two seasons I’m not convinced it will stick either, especially if people don’t like it.

Yes to all of the above. What Star Trek has been terrible at over the last few years is any attempt at world building or plot consistency. I’m not expecting anything mind blowing from season 3 but I’ll still be watching. I just need to manage my expectations here and expect that some plot points won’t carry on from earlier seasons into this season and the same post season 3. At least Star Trek prodigy is good, right?

This has Maje Kullah’s fingerprints all over it, am I lying

Also, are they going to Synth-esize Tasha Yar because she went out like the guy at the end of Creepshow 2

Does she have flippers for hands? That’s what I want to know.

Still waiting for a dead cat bounce for the TNG era stories post-Nemesis, but I let myself get suckered into seasons 1 & 2, so here we go again.

Sorry for commenting on people’s comment tone, but the Matalas backlash on here (referring to comments below) is weird. This will be the first time in the history of Star Trek: Picard that somebody who has actually run a TV show before will be running the show. I point this out because it’s refreshing to know that somebody who has actually made TV before finally gets the job. In seasons 1 & 2 there were too many times when it felt like “Baby’s First TV Show” — talking from a story and production standpoint. He represents the steady hand ST:P hasn’t had before.

Also, there are three groups he has to navigate at all times: CBS TV Studios (or whatever it’s called now), Paramount+, and Secret Hideout (not necessarily a group on his side even though he works directly for them!). Each group has its own idea of what Star Trek is which informs how they think the story should go and what part of it they want to sell. That’s an extra layer of sometimes adversarial b.s. shows from the Berman era never had to navigate (and even in the Berman and Roddenberry time, there were people at either the network or Paramount who actually liked Star Trek). I point this out because the mere notion of Vadic — or an uber-villain — and language or galactic, “gamechanging” implications might be part of the conditions he had to operate under. It’s not 100% true, but it’s more true than we might want to believe that whenever something’s bad in a Trek it’s because of a network note.

If people don’t like the Music Man quality of his pitch or his general effort to drum up interest — which you have to believe has been compelled at least in part by the generally negative reception of seasons 1 & 2 — I guess that’s fine, but it comes off a lot more like people with grievance energy who are desperate for a target.

oh we got trouble

LOL. Wish I could just “like” this.

Was thinking the same.

Matalas is in a difficult situation.

As I noted in the previous thread related to this interview, the legacy actors and even Kurtzman got out of hand at recent panels in terms of creating some kind of fan expectation that a 4th season of Picard is still possible.

Meanwhile, Matalas has done his best to deliver a 10 hour proper send-off that provides meaningful closure for all the major characters while building in a back door pilot for a ‘Next Next Generation’ show.

I don’t envy him the task of wrestling back the messaging to avoid core fan disappointment that the recent comments from Stewart and Kurtzman might be setting people up for.

Picard season three may end up being a great show that isn’t the one we thought we were getting. If so, as with SNW, I hope we can love it for what it actually is rather than our preconceptions of what we thought we’d like it to be.

Trouble (oh we got trouble)
Right here in River City (right here in River City)
With a capital “T” and that rhymes with “P” and that stands for PARAMOUNT

Preach!

Ditto!

Yeah, it seems a little silly to be so punitive toward someone for drumming up interest in his own show. He’s doing exactly what he is expected to do just prior to a premiere. I appreciate the slightly higher degree of specificity he brings to his PR as well. Previous interviews with other cast members or show runners typically amount to, “I can’t talk about anything, but you’re gonna love it!” Much different vibe with his interviews and more substantial reveals. It’s peaked my curiosity!

Both Matalas and Paramount knows fans generally thought the first two seasons of this show sucked. Sure some people liked them but the consensus is pretty obvious at this point. The show has a 40% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The only other Star Trek show below that one is Discovery. So this is not exactly a show coming from a place of strength.

And unlike Discovery which frankly was divisive from the day it was announced, Picard had HUGE expectations by literally everyone.It was hyped beyond belief. It was finally bringing back an era that hasn’t been around for nearly 20 years in canon and many fans were begging to see back. And it was all being done on the back of a single, but very iconic character. And then we got the season one and the overall response was ‘meh’. Then season two showed up and like season one, started off strong but got even a worse response than season one did.

Now here we are with season 3, supposedly the final one and most fans are pretty bitter about this show and Matalas has to make it clear this is different, apparently very different than what we got before. If the the first seasons were loved or at least had well liked as the first two seasons of Lower Decks were, then yeah maybe it would be different. There is a reason why every time Mike McMahan talks about Lower Decks in interviews that guy usually has a huge smile on his face.

If Picard was a beloved show the way SNW is, then his job would be easier. And of course we know plenty of people will be watching now that the TNG cast is back, but as I always have to remind people, there are probably way more casual fans who turned the show off in the first and second season he’s trying to convince. If you’re reading this, you’re watching it anyway regardless. And of course he still wants those people to have a different perspective because he still wants them to like it and not shit all over it as it’s been done for two seasons now.

It’s easy to say let the work speak for itself as someone said, but they are still missing the bigger picture, he’s trying to convince people who has simply given up on the show and turned off in the middle of season 1 or 2, not just the people who already paid for the season without hearing a word about it. Sometimes people forget not everyone is in the bubble in all these franchises and once you lose someone it’s harder to get them back.

Edit: I just went and checked the Rotten Tomatoes score to make sure I was accurate and it has now fallen a point lol. Now it’s at 39%. Two months ago it was at 40%. This is exactly why Matalas is drumming up the season, he’s clearly on defense and knows it.

The straight facts that this third season is being sold as a show about the entire TNG main cast, with a prominent role for Beverly and that Riker is in every episode, tells us that the powers that be have rejected the premise that the character of Picard is enough to carry this series.

Picard has clearly underperformed in its first two seasons despite being a very expensive show to produce in LA.

Whether a better more coherent show about Picard’s personal journey could have been successful is pretty much moot at this point.

Despise having the entire first year of the pandemic to lock down scripts for the second season, in the end it was reworked repeatedly such that Patrick Stewart only saw the first five scripts in early 2021. What was written for season two by Goldsman and Chabon initially was evidently abandoned, so we have to ask what it was that the suits felt they needed to reject given how unpolished was what we got in the end.

Also, the fact that the suits allowed, by early 2021, Matalas to already be retasked from corunning season two towards creating effectively a soft reboot of the show towards something closer to TNG, tells is that season two had been written off.

And people are surprised Matalas has been cleared (or told) to hype the @&*% out of it or that Paramount is using a major sports event to get eyes on the final trailer?

Just want to push back a little here: because of the California tax credit, Picard hasn’t been that big of a cost for P+. The show would look a lot better (and the VFX would be even better) if they had more time, which they don’t because of how much the non-working producers on the show take from each episode’s budget.

Well, it’s definitely an issue, but the Trek franchise isn’t the only one that’s got it.

The EP listing in the titles of the last “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” was about the same.

100%. It’s pretty staggering (why would studios fund waste? Until you realize it’s all a relationship business and there’s some degree of money laundering going on here), and I’ve never heard of that being a positive or neutral situation. It’s always a net negative for the people actually making the show.

I hear you. The actual credited writers get a pittance per script. It’s the hierarchy of producers that get residuals — that if there’s any net profit.

Hollywood accounting is best described as interesting. The Roddenberry’s have been on both sides of this, but having two Roddenberry estate EPs on every single show has got to be a significant drag.

Brave talk comparing it to TUC. Particularly as we know it won’t come anywhere near it.

I’m so excited!!! I can’t wait to see our TNG family back together and in action. What a time to be a Star Trek fan! I’m here for it!

The sheer volume of new Star Trek material is something to behold that I would never have imagined 15 years ago. In that sense, it truly is an unparalleled time to be a Star Trek fan!

The funny thing is: They may have more TV shows but they aren’t making more episodes per year than they used to during the 90’s when TNG/DS9/VOY ran in parallel. Two of the current shows even have a much shorter runtime per episode than the old shows.
It’s more the variety of shows we’re getting that’s kind of unparalleled.

That Vadic fellow looks like a mental patient

Her haircut is pretty terrible, as though they really went out of their way to make it just that bad.

And , for the love of all, please turn up the lights. Classic Trek is lit so well, very warm colors, and newer stuff all the walls and floors are black and drab and dull lighting.

maybe the groundbreaking reveal will be that this has all been in the mirror universe. That’s the only explanation for the lighting lol

I agree on both these counts. It’s too late to fix her hair or improve the lighting, but maybe they’ll consider it for the future. SNW is much better lit than Disco Season 1 for instance..

To me, SNW is the least cinematic-looking of the Par+ series. It doesn’t look bad, it just doesn’t look epic. It might be due to COVID or it might be by design, I don’t know.

It’s because, unlike Discovery, there are more colours on SNW than just blue and orange. Discovery’s colour grading is so over the top to those two colours it makes it look cinematic, and in my opinion, ugly.

I remember watching Discovery first season and something about the show put me off aesthetic wise. I couldn’t figure it out until I watched an episode of TOS and yeah it was the lack of colors. First season they seemed obsessed with the color blue and it really does make the show feel bland looking. It’s a little better now but only a little.

I have a bad feeling about this………

I think someone could write a pretty good academic thesis about how modern Star Trek is actually a creative medium which has evolved to focus solely on the human propensity to exact revenge. It could be pretty interesting, and they would definitely have a lot to draw from and different variations on that theme to delve into.

Anyhow, regardless of that I just really want to know something very important, and something I havn’t seen anyone else mention, which is truly shocking.

WILL SPOT BE IN SEASON 3?!
If this is a true TNG reunion then surely it can not be complete without everyone’s favourite little ginger four legged icon. And if so, will they somehow be involved in this game-changing event? I sure hope so. I know in some novels that Work took her in after Data died and grew to become very fond of her because of her natural warrior ways and expert hunting skills, so if Worf bites the bullet in this season maybe Spot will have to … you know … seek revenge for that?

And while I’m at it, I think we’d all agree that Star Trek: Spot would be the best direction for this to go in terms of spin-offs. Do you think she’d be captain yet? I’m not sure, maybe first meowfficer.

If Amanda Plumber’s character is seeking revenge against anyone, it ought to be…her hairdresser.

LOL!

Disgruntled commenters are exaggerating the importance of plot novelty. There aren’t that many plot archetypes in the annals of drama and fiction. As for “revenge isn’t Star Trek” — well, seeing another rehash of Devil in the Dark wouldn’t be inherently captivating either. The problem with the Pine-Trek films is less that they were driven by Vengeance Villains and more that they were revenge plots done poorly — either muddled or thinly developed. Like my mentor Gert Fröbe used to say, it isn’t what you say but how you say it. (This is hyperbole to make a point.)

All the more reason they might want to take a break on the revenge stuff for a while. They don’t seem to be very good at it. Also, they would do well to remember that Wrath of Khan was largely lightning in a bottle. Because lord knows they’ve been trying, and failing, to catch it again for far too long.

Having said that, Matalas bringing up Undiscovered Country gives me a glimmer of hope. I mean, at least they’re choosing a different movie to make comparisons now. I’ll call that a bit of progress.

Yeah i was already sick of the Khan remakes with Nemesis. It is beyond tired by now. With the entire Kelvin trilogy and now seemingly Picard season 3. It is one note. Time to explore strange new worlds and civilizations. How about some science fiction and sense of wonder.

Edit: this comment was for the OP not a double post. Sorry.

The only time i think they did it well in the TNG movies was First Contact, and Picard had to learn not to be Ahab. Other than that when it has been about recapturing Khan they’ve failed every single time. They even ruined Data’s poignant death one of the good things of Nemesis with Picard.

with Frobe in GF, it isn’t how you say it as much as who they get to dub you when you appear to be saying it.

I am looking forward to this season, but I have to admit I’m getting weird vibes from that picture of her staring at us at the top of the article…like a demented Squiggy looking for Lenny.

Haha, or Fran Lebowitz looking for her cigs.

Amanda Plummer starring in Star Trek: Grease!

RIP, Annie Werschimg.

You were the best thing about Picard season two.

So sad and of course unexpected. I hope her wonderful work on this show helped her to cope and find some joy and satisfaction during a difficult time.

Yeah. Sad to hear that. We have been rebinging Bosch and she’s really good in that. RIP.

I’m guessing Vadic was assimilated by the Borg at one time given the facial scars and bad toupee.

I’d like you all to particpate in a little experiment, if you woulld.
Pretend “STAR TREK VI: The Undiscovered Country” is about to come out.
Now read what this so-called “showrunner” has to say ….
Listen to how he talks, as if explaining some generic sci-fi show to children.
THIS ISN’T “STAR TREK”!!!
I don’t know what it *is*, but I know it isn’t “Star Trek” ….
😢