The last person to walk the purple carpet at the Hollywood premiere of Star Trek: Picard season 3 was the titular star himself, Sir Patrick Stewart. TrekMovie was able to catch him for a last brief interview before he went into the screening where we talked about the message of the season, and why he changed his mind about bringing in all his TNG co-stars.
As an executive producer, I know that you have instilled some issues and themes you wanted the show to address in previous seasons. Was there a theme you wanted to include in season three?
Yes. It was the quality of hope. And how trust and generosity would be rediscovered because there are tough elements in this whole season. And it is very gratifying to me where it finally closes.
Patrick Stewart as Picard, Jonathan Frakes as Riker and Jeri Ryan as Seven
How hard was it to convince you on bringing in all the TNG characters? because I know you originally didn’t want to do another Next Generation.
It was about not wanting a reunion. And although there is kind of a reunion right at the very end, it was about doing our job.
And you’ll do it again?
Yes!
More exclusive Picard coverage
There are more interviews from the Hollywood premiere event coming. Check out previously released Picard purple carpet interviews plus a post-premiere chat with Terry Matalas:
- Michele Hurd
- Gates McFadden
- Terry Matalas
- Jonathan Frakes
- Todd Stashwick
- Terry Matalas post-season premiere breakdown
The third and final season of Picard premieree on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., and Latin America, and on February 17 Paramount+ in Europe and elsewhere, with new episodes of the 10-episode-long season available to stream weekly. It also debuted on Friday, Feb. 17 internationally on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. 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.
It seems pretty obvious Stewart is more interested in doing another season. And honestly if this season is a big hit I don’t think it would be completely out of the question either. I would still prefer to to go the next next generation direction if a spin off happens, but as someone once said, the sky is the limit!
It’s just great to see this show finally having the potential many were hoping in season one and to get more fans on board who hasn’t been happy with Star Trek since Enterprise ended. I just hope it lasts. ;)
Yep this is the Star Trek I been wanting since Voyager ended. Never cared about the other prequels or the JJ reboot movies. I just wanted a continuation of the 24th century with so many amazing characters, aliens and story lines.
It sounds like Matalas has finally hit the pulse of what I think has been missing from Trek for the last 20 years, in live action I mean since I love the animated shows too.
I can’t wait to see what’s next!
As someone who just think Trek should always go forward and not focus on the past so much (but really enjoying SNW at least), this is definitely what I prefer as well. I think most fans frankly. But yeah it still has to be done right.
I think Picard had huge potential at the beginning and sadly it dropped the ball before making it to the end zone. In season two, it almost feel like they stopped playing after the first quarter and just ran out the clock after that (OK, no more football analogies lol).
But I think Matalas, like Mike McMahan, is a huge TNG era fan first and foremost and wanted to create that spirit for the fans who grew up watching it and really missed it. It’s sad it took this long to even do it. And it helps Matalas actually worked on Star Trek starting with Voyager, so he really gets it. And what’s great about these guys are while they want to add their spin to it, they don’t want to reinvent the wheel either and feel like we are really back in that era again.
Again, I always rolled my eyes hearing so-called fans saying there is nothing more you can do in a post-Nemesis period. Well, the four current shows begs to differ with LDS and PRO being big hits in the fanbase and hopefully Picard finally will be too. Jury is still out on Discovery but it’s so far in the future, it doesn’t carry the same weight as the other shows or have the same impact canon wise; but I love it’s forging in an entirely new time period even if the results are very mixed. I just want it to be better.
But I honestly think we’ll be getting a lot more shows in the 24th and 25th century assuming there will still be multiple Trek shows on like now. You can just build so much in this era with so many legacy actors around and of course new characters.
It’s an exciting time to be a fan! :)
Also you can tell just how much more excited people are about this season with the gluttony of YouTube videos made for the first episode alone. I don’t think I’ve seen this many videos discussing any of the shows since the first episode of season one. And it’s all uniformly positive so far. People who said they have given up on the franchise since 2009 are now excited about the future again. Of course it can still turn out bad (and a lot of these same people will begin the hate campaign again) but it’s fun to see a real unity in the fanbase. How long it lasts will obviously depend how good this season actually is of course. But when some of the biggest haters are praising the entire season, it bodes well for the rest of us.
Bro I kid you not, the guys who seen the entire season, the Popcast created a petition to send to Paramount for more Terry Trek in the future. And yes I signed it! 😆
I don’t want to jump the the gun, I remember thinking both opening episodes of season 1 and 2 was some of the best stuff we got since TNG, only for them to both be as bad as Discovery by the end. 🙄
And while I thought season 4 of Discovery was some of the worst Star Trek created, it was still twice as better as Picard season 2. So I agree it could still be bad, but RMB and others have given me hope I haven’t felt in a long time.
So I’m being as positive as ever!
LOL, that’s hilarious they created a petition. I don’t give much weight to those (and thanks to the internet, it’s really really easy to see where a trend is going one way or the other), but whatever helps! ;)
The Popcast guys like RMB has turned over a different leaf since they watched this season. They weren’t AS negative like he was. They definitely hated DIS and PIC but thought LDS, PRO and SNW was at least OK. They just weren’t gung ho about those shows either.
This is different for obvious reasons but they love that it feels the closest to classic Trek with so many legacy actors back. They even made a 20 minute video pushing for Matalas to lead future Trek shows. Here it is if people want to look at it but it’s a call to arms type of video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TpN36EwW_s
Again, who knows where this will all lead, but if everyone is excited about this season as they are, then I suspect we will see more of it and with Matalas leading this era.
I’ve seen the first six now, and I gotta say, I’m very surprised to admit that nearly every ep is as good or better than the one before it.
This is a total reversal of expectation for me … a lot of the surprises are actually kind of clever, and sometimes well-thought-out, so this must be what happens when a writer’s room is actually working properly. This must be the case, because when something hinges on an idiot plot turn (and there are a few of those), it usually is enough for my inner critic to roll eyes and stop engaging. But they are doing a pretty skillful job of skating past some of those, and the ‘hits’ they deliver are sometimes emotionally effective rather than just failed attempts at same, like previous seasons and other contemporary Trek shows (except for a few SNWs that worked.)
This season is easily the best stretch of TREK I’ve seen since DS9 ended, and that’s even with VFX that I hate and cinematography that veers all over the place depending on which DP is shooting an episode. I will buy the physical media for this season when it is available, because I know I will be revisiting this. I think I might liken it to nuBSG in a way, because I hated the cinematography on that show too, but the storytelling made up for it and I still engage in rewatches.
Shoot, after watching 5 & 6, I even rewatched FARPOINT and a late season 7 ep, each probably for the first time in decades. (and no, FARPOINT is still an unintentional laugh riot when it isn’t boring me silly, so it didn’t do anything to change my take on things. It was just that watching these shows made me WANT to watch some TNG, which is something that just doesn’t occur to me.)
Signed,
The Guy who traditionally hates everything with Goldsman’s name on it (and that goes double for Kurtzman.)
Great to hear!
Yeah, Farpoint was one of the biggest letdowns I ever had in terms of looking forward to a new series/movie, and then having the letdown of watching (well intentioned) crap. The other one like that was David Lynch’s Dune.
PS: Where should I be looking to read the article your are writing in Picard S3?
International Cinematographers Guild magazine. Like nearly everyone else, they’ve stopped the print edition since covid (not that you could find it on many newstands anyway since Tower Records died off.) Trekmovie usually puts in links to relevant stories, I think they did for at least one of my BEYOND articles and also for my PICARD s1 vfx story for another mag.
Just between the two cinematographers and Frakes, I’ve already got over three hours of interview material to transcribe, and that’s not counting the other folks I still have to talk with, so I have a feeling there will be lots of leftover goodies after I cut the article down to size (a tear.)
My two big positive takeaways on FARPOINT back in 87: Stewart nailed it right out of the gate … I wish my opinion had held, but by s2 he seemed tired of it already and I wondered if he had a perpetual cold or a Heather Thomas style drug problem for about half a season, which is when I gave up on the show and didn’t come back till early s3 when I heard about the open submission policy.
#2. I loved the scene everybody I knew back then hated … when Wesley, standing in for all of us, enters the bridge and looks at the chair. I was in my late 20s, but felt like I was 12 years old again.
Thanks — looking forward to your article!
I didn’t really mind the Wesley scene either. I have never jumped on the Wesley hate bandwagon. I loved the McCoy little scene as well.
I had to check the handle three times on this post before I was convinced you wrote it lol. That is pretty incredible that even you liked this season! Wow, that is saying a lot since I don’t think you been much of a fan of any Star Trek, old and new outside of TOS, DS9 and a few of the movies.
But it’s even more positive when someone like you is now saying it’s a good season. That’s why when Robert Meyer Burnett started praising this season, he turned a lot of heads. I remember his first remarks on the season back in August. He was playing it more coy at the time but he was very very positive on the new season and said back then it was going to change a lot of people’s minds who hated NuTrek.
He was just one guy at the time, but it still said a lot considering how much he has railed against the new shows and movies. And he likes waaaaay more Star Trek than you do lol. He loves all the classic shows and most of the movies I think. But you have liked much much less. So when two people, who I disagree with their thoughts over certain shows and movies at times but still highly respect have came to the same conclusion about this season being really good, then it makes you pay more attention.
I’m glad it impressed you as much as it did. And I actually rewatched Encounter at Farpoint along with a few other TNG episodes and movies before season 3 started and yeah still the weakest pilot by far but not as bad as I remembered it. I rewatched it in 2021 as well for my grand rewatch of the franchise and it was probably two decades since I seen it. I literally forgot certain scenes in it, but I always liked most of the characters from the start. And we did get Q out of it as well!
Tiger2, the thing that leaps to my mind whenever I here this line of argument about ‘truly capturing’ what fans are missing, is that this disconnect problem was the complaint of old TOS fans that dogged the entire Berman era. And it was NEVER solved.
Space was too tame. Where were the Vulcans? Why wasn’t there more fisticuffs from the captain and first officer. It looks wrong visually, so boring in style.
It was in the Star Trek club complaints to the powers that were, the mimeoed fanzines It was all over the earliest BBS. It was at the cons.
It’s just that social media was primitive, slow and niche. And by season four TNG was a mainstream hit.
BUT…. the unhappiness, dissatisfaction of old TOS fans was a factor as the 90s went on, especially after DS9 provided a rough frontier environment but not a starship.
Every time a new show launched, there was a clear pitch to try to satisfy the old fans. Voyager would be going into a new quadrant. Enterprise would get that exploration is new feel.
Fans of the Berman era who were in the know found this exasperating, felt that that contingent would never be satisfied. And in fact they weren’t.
We also felt that both Voyager and Enterprise were made weaker out of the gate because the suits at UPN wanted those shows to quiet the complainers and bring them back to the fold.
Sound familiar?
I’m going to weigh in here to say that it may be that Terry Matalas has achieved for Kurtzman what no one was able to for Berman. Matalas has found a way to satisfy the TNG old guard.
Goldsman and Meyers have though, satisfied something else that old, old TOS guard never got in the 90s. We hear it from some of the TOS-focused fans on this board.
So TWO live action shows satisfying different preferences and unmet demands of boomers vs Gen-Xers.
That still doesn’t mean that the fans for whom DS9 or Voyager defined ‘their Trek’ are satisfied.
Or that a new generation of younger viewers is getting pulled into the franchise.
Last random point, our teens still have a nostalgic fondness for Encounter at Farpoint. I don’t get it. I just know it is.
I don’t disagree with any of that, but end of the day you’re just not going to get some people on board no matter what you do. Yeah there were definitely people who didn’t like what came after TOS, but most of them were in the minority. I was a TOS fan too, I had no problems with any of the new shows. Most people I met in real life didn’t either. Sure some will always see TOS as their favorite, but they can accept other entities of the franchise.
And it is funny, when Berman was gone and Abrams showed up, a lot of those TOS fans treated it like it Star Trek was now going to be reborn (ironically the same way fans rejoiced when Disney took over Star Wars from Lucas and Abrams was in charge of that). After all, Abrams was going to ‘honor’ TOS in a way Berman never did even though the irony is the man bent over backwards to keep the look and feel of TOS intact every time it was shown in some way. But Enterprise ‘proved’ how much he was spitting on TOS grave apparently because it didn’t acknowledge the era enough for a show that was still 100 years prior to it.
But Abrams was the new keeper of the Star Trek flame and the second movie into his reign he gave us British Khan. You could not be anymore tone deaf as that. And the first movie was already divisive for hadcore TOS fans, but STID just confirmed to many he was a hack after all who didn’t have a clue what Trek fans really wanted. And I like Abrams, but yeah he should never direct a Star Trek film again.
And yeah we saw what happened with DIS which oddly put both TOS and TNG fans off, but for different reasons (the biggest being it’s just not very good to many). But all the shows after it is better in terms of perception at least, but ironically by new show runners who grew up or worked on the Berman shows.
But I think MOST fans are reasonable and will give anything a chance. It’s why the Berman era ran so long, most people were happy, even if some were less happy by the time VOY and ENT arrived, but that was still 11 seasons of shows.
Wow! Hi praise coming from you kmart. I”m even more pumped up for the season.
I’ve already rewatched those first six like 4 times now. I’ve been vocal about not hating Seasons 1 & 2, but the one thing they never did was ever prompt a rewatch.
Except for s2ep1 of DSC, I don’t think I’ve rewatched anything out of the current batch of shows. No, wait, I rewatched at least 3 of the last 5 SNWs, too. I’ve got the screeners for pic s3 for a little while longer, I think I will definitely treat myself again.
Wow, really?! We seemed, more or less, to agree on the the first ep, but I take it that you’re saying I should stick with it.
Hi Michael Hall, Alpha Predator isn’t the first or only reviewer to say that the season premiere is one of the (relatively) weaker episodes of the season.
It had a stage and context setting job to do to pull in older TNG fans who haven’t watched previous seasons of Picard or other newer shows.
It did it, but some of the scaffolding was quite transparent as you critiqued. Exposition, call backs etc that may have been clunky at points. From what others have said, this may be in response to specific direction or ‘notes’ from the executive level at the streamer or CBS Studios, as it cuts across franchises.
So, if that’s the kind of thing that grated for you, it’s worth hanging in.
Matalas and his writers from 12 monkeys have already proven than they can map out and land an intricate plot without losing the viewer along the way. All reports seem to confirm they’ve pulled it off again. This has quieted my cynicism.
And as many of us have said here, if you haven’t yet tried 12 monkeys, do. The first season is weakest, again as they work to reconcile with the Gilliam film, but then it takes off strongly and nails the landing.
Understood, thanks for the reply.
The Popcast guys on YouTube said that the first episode was the weakest of the season in their opinions as well. If that is considered the weakest, then we should have a pretty good season!
Absolutely. By ep 3, you’re going to wish you held off to watch it with ep4 back-to-back, because suspense may well be killing you (plus those 2 eps largely look better than the first two.)
I’m not promising the world (for context, I watched a DS9 last night that was still clearly superior, even with the lousy video resolution), but I think you’ll find PICARD hitting more than missing, and hitting solidly.
Fortunately, Paramount + is cheap enough to be well within my budget, so I had no intention of bailing-out after one episode in any case. And in the end, of course, story is what it’s mostly about. I can live with the drab cinematography and color grading, though I’ll never learn to like it.
I’ll say this, though: with one episode already under my belt and the only real hint at what’s to come being the previews with Amanda Plummer’s hissing out-for-revenge-villain, if this turns out to be as good as you indicate all I can say is that Terry Matalas has certainly hidden his light under a bushel basket pretty damn well.
I hope I’m not overhyping it; I remember after seeing THE BREAKFAST CLUB telling everyone at work that the ultimate high school film has arrived (duh-geez, it arrived years earlier, with FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH.) There were a couple of somewhat disgruntled employees the next weekend who did not find the film all that enchanting.
My view on “The Next Generation”: in a word, it’s expository. It will either rise or deflate based on how the rest of the season goes. I give it an 8/10; it’s not at the stratospheric level of (say) “The Inner Light,” but it’s whetted my appetite for more, so in that sense, mission accomplished.
I’ve actually seen that video before as well but that’s exactly how I fee too l. Everything they said is exactly on point. I want classic Roddenberry/Berman Star Trek again. That hopeful future and where science and intelligence matters. Where exploration is part of the mandate and not an afterthought. Where they are not trying to change it to be some version of GOT, Star Wars or BSG. That’s where stuff like JJ verse and Discovery lost me and exactly why LDS, PRO and SNW got me back. The first two was trying to follow trends. The others was trying to be Star Trek again. There is a huge difference between the two.
And maybe if it was better written then OK I can at least enjoy it more even if none of felt like real Star Trek to me.
That’s why Picard was so weird. It felt more like Star Trek to me than Discovery and JJ verse because it at least looked like Star Trek of old again but it still trying to be ‘trendy’ and something a bit different. Again, if it was just better written I probably would’ve been fine with it.
But I don’t hide behind my fandom. I don’t want Star Trek to change. I love the 24th century shows. I love that style of the show. And I have no problem saying that because you still got old Trekkies who wanted JJ Trek to look like TOS lol. People were angry because they got the Apple bridge instead of the TV show look. People complain now the Enterprise on SNW doesn’t look like the original enough and so on.
That’s how I feel about the 90s shows too. I’m not saying they can’t be updated but they should still feel like those shows, at least a little. If not then just call it something else.
But everyone working on these shows now, they all get it. JJ Abrams and Kurtzman never got it. Orci got it but he still wrote awful movies. But they wanted to redo Trek. Ok fine, but can’t keep using the prime universe if you’re just going to trash it with beer brewery engineering rooms, white Khan, Orc Klingons, out of place uniforms, ridiculous 23rd century tech like spore drives, giving genocidal maniacs their own shows, incest Romulans and all this other nonsense and still call it Star Trek.
Now I understand many people didn’t have problems with these things but many did for a reason.
Because they tried to change too much too fast and it all backfired. That’s why the Kelvin movies died after just three movies, they dumped Discovery 900 years in the future, the Section 31 show became DOA before it started and Picard was reset to TNG again. They got the message loud and clear.
Now the question is is it going to be a full circle now? Is Matalas going to continue to set up Trek that will be a true continuation of the Roddenberry/Berman Trek era that most fans are now becoming jubilant again?
And I’m not saying that’s the only Trek that can exist. Maybe before I die we’ll get another Kelvin movie or the Section 31 show. Matalas said there could be more than one type of Star Trek and he’s right. But no one is pushing for any of that for a reason and why they keep stalling. Most Trekkies are old fashioned. They want stuff like
PRO, SNW and Picard season 3 for a reason. And hopefully everyone at Paramount will continue to listen once this season is over and fans deem it a hit.
I think Star Trek has been doing a lot of course correcting as of late and we’re seeing the results. We talked about this in another thread, but DIS and PIC were being made by new people and a time Trek was back on TV in over a decade while trying to do new things with it. And that was fine, as long as people thought it was good. And the results have been very mixed on that to say the least.
But yeah, now that they been doing it a few years, listened to fan feedback and hired show runners who are just good writers in general and let’s face it, fanboys themselves, then we have seen how it’s been shaping up lately and most seem to think for the better.
For me, I DO want Star Trek to change and every entity is different from the last. I was never gung ho about the Kelvin movies for instance, but I thought it was great they were going to go their own way. I had no issue with DIS or PIC doing something different either as well. But yeah, you’re right, the problem is most Trek fans are traditionalists.
That’s been the case literally since TOS and while Trek as a entity preaches change and growth, as a franchise some fans have always had a harder time with that. I have heard people who hated the Kelvin movies and Discovery because they see TOS as a ‘period piece’ and that they should represent that.
Now people like that are a tiny minority, but when you have attitudes like that, no wonder why there is so much push back against them. TOS was never meant to look like a 60s version of the future, it was simply made in the 60s. That’s exactly why it was given a huge refresh starting with the movies in the 70s and TNG rebooted it completely in the 80s. This show was always meant to represent the era it was in, but some people just didn’t see it that way and some still don’t lol.
For the record, I had issues with how DIS looked as well, but that was never an issue in itself. I would’ve been completely fine with exactly how it looked (yes even the Klingons although I hated the look personally); It just made no sense putting it both in the prime universe and before TOS that was the real problem. It was no different if Nolan decided his Batman films were in the same universe with the Tim Burton films. It would’ve just felt too jarring. That’s why he put them in their own universe and where DIS should’ve been. Some even argued that with Picard but I disagree with that personally.
But they didn’t want to do that so that so the moaning never went away.
Now things are better overall, certainly with the later shows, but yeah they had time to make those more inline with the prime universe, in look, tone and in spirit. The jury is still out with Picard season 3 but it sounds like it’s the biggest course correction so far, but we won’t really know until the masses has seen the season for themselves. But if so, I think Trek is finally on the right path many felt it wasn’t back in 2017.
Frankly, I always wanted more prequels, since ENT wasted its best dramatic potential. Was kind of bored with the 24th century, and while S3 of PIC is doing a good job, i’m not sure what going further into the 25th century does that can’t be done better at any point in Trek’s past.
I think the most narrow minded notion is that “going forward” must mean moving linearly in time forward. Ok, we go into the 25th century, but how is continuing to follow Picard, Riker, and Geordi really going forward?
As much as i’ve been unimpressed by Discovery, I like that it’s a new ship and a new crew. It’s time period was never my issue.
But that’s what I mean, going forward really matters if you want to see certain aliens, characters and storylines again while also expanding them.
I fell in love with Star Trek thanks to aliens like the Borg, Cardassians, Jem Hadar, Trills, Bajorans and so on. But in prequels you can’t even show some of these species because they haven’t been introduced until the 24th century.
I want to know what happened after the Dominion War because we don’t know. I don’t care about seeing the Romulan war because we already know how it ended long ago. We can’t even see the Romulans in pre TOS shows, another one of my favorites because they don’t show up full time until first season of TOS.
I didn’t care about how the Federation was founded, it’s already been around for 200 years now. Or first contact with the Klingons. We know they will be enemies, have a war, have cooler relations when it’s over and ultimately become allies after the Khitomer Accords.
And we’re going forward with Picard and Riker because their story is not over yet. We don’t know if Riker will die at the end of the season, if he and Troi will stay together, does he command another ship because his story is still being written. That’s what going forward means, their stories are still continuing, those characters are still be shaped and changed.
Now contrast that with Kirk and Spock. They are both on SNW now but we already know the end of their stories literally 100 years into the future. Kirk is going to die on Veridian three 100 years into the future in 24th century via the Nexus. Spock is going to die 100 years into past in the 23rd century in a parallel universe. Is it cool we get to see how they become best buds, for some people sure, but their entire lives has already been written. What other major achievement will we see either of them do that they have already done decades into the future?
Prequels don’t do it for me for these reasons. I’m not saying they are bad, some are amazing in fact. But I want to see the universe expand and characters change. And I just want to see how past mythology continue to morph as well with species I want to see more of.
But I know others like them, but I want to see more 25th century Trek because it’s all new and exciting. We don’t know where any of it is going and according to RMB the end of the season goes somewhere that will excites fans. I already know the deal with the 23rd century stuff. I really like SNW but when we get to the end of season 2, I don’t see anything really different because you can’t change that much to start with… it’s already been written. We know what happens to half the characters on that ship already.
I agree it was nice to have Discovery be something new but it interest me much more in the 32nd century than it did the 23rd, but I think that show still sucks in any century sadly. 🙄
the romulan war was one of the key moments in the development of the Fed and starfleet as it was a savage time but both came through with their principles intact, its legacy carried on by pike and kirk and their respective crews
it would be great to see how that happened, how archer and co were able to set that example to a next generation
If they go back to Enterprise and do the Romulan war I will happily watch it. I’m not saying I wouldn’t want to see that, I’m only saying new conflicts are more interesting because we don’t know the outcome and they can do whatever they want with it like the Xindi and Dominion War.
But I do have a feeling the Federation will always win though. 🤣
I know what you mean about prequels. This is why I’m happy SNW is episodic. I love the show, but long-term story arcs would fall flat. Tell some great one-off stories … maybe they can fill in a few pieces here and there … but there are limits to what they can do.
The only other era I’d be interested in visiting would be what the novels referred to as “the lost era.” I mean, yes we know what happened to Captain Garrett, but a lot of story potential. I’m not sure I’d want a whole series in that era – maybe if Fuller’s original vision for DSC were implemented for a live action series we could spend A SEASON there exploring.
Otherwise, yeah let’s move forward now in the early 25th century. How are relations with the Dominion? I assume as long as they stayed away from Dominion territory, the Federation and Bajor resumed colonization in the Gamma Quadrant? Did Bajor join the Federation? How far along are the Cardassians in their rebuilding efforts? Did the Federation offer assistance of any kind? Is Martok still the chancellor of the Klingon Empire? Whether he is or he isn’t, did the Empire take offense at the Federation helping out the Romulans (and possibly the Cardassians)?
LOL these are questions I want answers to.
As much as I would love to see some of that, none of those are questions I ever needed answers to. Every story has to end at some point, and I was happy with how DS9 ended.
Exactly man! It’s just more interesting going forward because I’m already invested in these stories, characters and politics. I like seeing the universe change and what’s the next big threat or event.
That’s why I first hated Enterprise because I didn’t care about the first Captain and warp 5 ship. When the Xindi war happened that’s when I got really invested in the show. But for me TOS and ENT was in the past. Those people were already dead. Their stories were told centuries ago.
But if those periods excite others fine. I just never cared about any of it because the 24th century is the Star Trek I became a fan of like I’m guessing people who like the TOS era watched that first. That’s usually how it works.
But for me after Voyager I didn’t care about ENT, JJ verse or Discovery. Now I really like Enterprise today and I like Discovery more that it jumped to the future but I still don’t care about that show because it’s still bad and I still care way more about 24th century Trek. I don’t even care about going more forward I’m just invested in that period specifically just like TOS Trekkies are invested in that period.
So I been happy with having LDS and PRO because they are back in that period. If I just had TNG, DS9, VOY, LDS and PRO that’s all the Trek I even need to be honest. But I’ll watch it all of course because I’m a fan of the franchise in general.
But Picard I wanted to love the most because it’s live action and we can see characters like Picard, Janeway, Kira, Tuvok, Seven ‘today’.
So it’s an exciting time we’re getting this show now since people say it’s actually good this season and Matalas is bringing elements many wanted to see since Nemesis.
So I’m excited bro to see where it all goes, more than I been in 20 years! 😎
The short-sightedness of fans never ceases to amaze me. 25th century is all-new but less exciting to me. Oh boy, fancy new quantum pherometric dazzle-doozie drives and interphasic spasmatic zepton emitters!
Short sightedness? Like 90% of shows and movies go forward. The only three prequels I watched in the last year was SNW and two of the Star Wars shows. That’s it. Star Trek was going forward for like 35 years until Enterprise showed up. A big reason why Discovery is in the future is because a lot of fans didn’t like it being a prequel.
And I didn’t even mention technology lol. Not once. I made it clear it was because I wanted to see aliens and characters I fell in love with in the first place. My first show was Voyager, not TOS or TNG . I haven’t been watching the show since the 70s or 80s like a lot of people here. So I really only cared about the 24th century shows because that’s my focus. And why I love Prodigy and LDS.
I never watched Enterprise or TOS until years later. I still not seen all of TOS because it just doesn’t interest me that much because is no Borg, Trills or Cardassians on that show. If there was it might be different. Get my point?
And Discovery introduced ridiculous things like spore drives and Iron man time travel suits in the 23rd century and beyond stuff we are seeing in the 25th century now. We were already getting super crazy tech 200 years before so what are you are you talking about? 😆🙄
Didn’t JJ verse introduce personal transporters that can transport you from Earth to the Beta quadrant??? That’s also based in the 23rd century and not the 25th.
The entire issue with NuTrek is that it already are introducing dazzle drives and super duper sonic emitters a century before any of it supposed to show up lol. So what’s the difference man? In fact what has Picard introduced in 3 seasons that’s been more advanced than we we seen on Discovery or JJ verse?
You don’t have to care about the 25th century and going forward. Me and others do…is that Ok with you? 😎
Yeah the technology thing is such an odd disconnect. Discovery has some of the most advanced stuff we have ever seen in Star Trek lol, like what???
And that’s the irony of it all, when people were constantly arguing why going backwards is more enticing for some, they argued that the 24th century shows were becoming too advanced and things were becoming too easy and wanted something more ‘grounded’ and frontierish. And then Discovery shows up with one of the most advanced ships we’ve ever seen before with a freaking spore drive that can get them to any part of the galaxy within seconds. I think Janeway would’ve loved knowing if Starfleet had that technology sitting in their basement somewhere, brushed it off and would’ve got the crew home in about 10 minutes once they found them.
And for the record, I loved the spore drive, it was the most interesting thing about the show in the first season, but it just didn’t remotely belong in its period. And everyone knew it except apparently the people making the show. And then others kept saying that they would find a way to get rid of it or some excuse why it couldn’t be used anymore to keep it straight with canon. But the opposite happened. They wanted to keep it SO much they just moved the show to the future lol. Now not only can they keep using it, they now live in a period where frankly every ship should just already have one. What’s funny is Discovery is a thousand years old and it’s still one of the most advanced ships in the fleet. It not only has a spore drive, but the most advanced A.I.ship computer we ever had in Star Trek as well with Zora.
So I don’t think the 25th century is really going to introduce crazy tech when we now have a show currently 800 years ahead of it. We’ve already gone past all of that now. ;)
I’ve ALWAYS said this, the period or era doesn’t matter, I wish people stopped telling themselves this, it only comes down to the writers, period. The irony is Enterprise, Discovery and yes the Kelvin movies have all found ways to introduce tech that has gone way beyond the 24th century thanks to time travel, Section 31, meeting advanced aliens, etc. I think if the Section 31 show happens, its going to go into tech overload just based on what we seen of it in STID and Discovery. Hell Section 31 invented time travel on Discovery lol. That’s why they were able to jump to the 32nd century in the first place, right? That was all 23rd century tech we also never saw in the 24th century.
Writers actually want to make really crazy tech, that’s why they are writing for a science fiction show in the first place. And as DIS and the Kelvin movies have showed, the era hasn’t slowed down any of it.
That said, they have been more constrained with SNW (again, another difference between it and Discovery), but I give that show another season before it comes up with some crazy stuff as well. But we did get the automated battle drones though, something else that was never introduced in the 24th century.
And as I said before, I’m very excited about more 25th century Star Trek and I been a fan since the 70s. Yeah I just want new things. That said I don’t have a problem with more prequels, just as long as they have shows going forward too.
That was really the biggest issue with Enterprise, the Kelvin movies and Discovery for fans who wanted to move forward again; it was the only thing around each time. Today that’s no longer the case and a big reason why people are not as bothered by SNW. Besides the fact it’s just generally a good show, it’s not the only one either. If we only had TOS prequels, people would be still moaning about it even if they liked it.
I think Trek has proved you can just do both and everyone is happy (well most lol). But most of the fanbase wants to go forward, a huge reason why there was so much hoopla for Picard in the first place and even more so now because everyone wants to know what comes next. And Matalas is very much in sync with that since it sounds like this entire season is basically setting up what comes after it.
It’s obvious that he wants to keep working, but I wonder if he can let go of being the title/principal character and having a creative veto.
He’s acknowledged that TNG was always about the ensemble, but it seems he hasn’t understood that some of his creative control has come at the expense of the other characters and actors, both for the movies and the first two seasons of Picard.
My concern is that, like many, I would like this to morph from Picard season four into the next show with legacy characters as it makes sense for the story.
All great points! I think this season will actually tell us that and that Matalas was just able to create the story he wanted without any real push back from Stewart anywhere. The way Matalas talks, it basically sound like Stewart was onboard to everything he wanted to do and we are getting a real ensemble season this time.
We know the first two seasons, Stewart added things like the political angle in season one (which I didn’t mind at all and did what Trek is known for, allegorical story telling) and season two wanted the domestic abuse angle from his real life which was more of a red herring in the story. But so far I haven’t heard anything that he added to this season other than I guess being more hopeful as he said, but that’s kind of what Star Trek is anyway.
But I also agree end of the day, I would prefer focusing on new characters with a mix of legacy characters and ultimately that will probably happen. I still have my doubts there will be another season of this show or Stewart will actually do another, but I don’t think you can just count it out anymore, especially if this season becomes a big of a hit as people who seen it are saying it is.
My concern is that, like many, I would like this to morph from Picard season four into the next show with legacy characters as it makes sense for the story.
Exactly!
If it’s as good as reported, and Patrick wants more, I’m sure there will be more.
It’s great to see Picard acting like Picard again. Another bonus for an amazing start to the season. Hopefully this season will make Star Trek great again for people who has been sour on NuTrek for the last 14 years.
Agreed. J.L. must have updated his OS.
If there is a follow-on, I would prefer that Stewart/Picard make a couple appearances per season, but not be the lead or a weekly regular.
Any follow-on should be a mix of legacy and new characters. And I am fatigued with the annual shoehorned-in Spinner roles, so I think we need to move on from that finally.
I agree.
At least establish that all Soongs are clones and be done with that narcissistic family.
It’s not a reunion…..but it’s a reunion.
Jesus christ, Sir Pat….
LOL, yeah I think it’s all semantics at this point. I get what Stewart is saying, they are not all back on the Enterprise like they were making another movie, but it’s still a reunion. And I think everyone can agree if you brought them all back, this is how it should be done anyway. Even when the show was first announced and people were hoping to see the other TNG characters, I don’t think anyone expected it to be 20 years later and somehow Riker and Worf was still going to be on the same ship taking orders from Picard.
No one ever expected that. People actually want to see characters grow and develop. What they are doing here is great and we get to see how much they all changed and doing their own thing until something forces them back into the fold again.
I can’t imagine what Patrick Stewart thought it would be, but whatever frozen-in-time concept he had, it squandered a great deal of potential.
Yes, Tiger2, I know I’m down on him, but his continuing patent obliviousness, in joint interviews, to Gates Mcfadden’s longstanding frustration with the limited scope of her character, have reinforced my exasperation.
My comment got flagged because there was a link inside, but there are interviews with Stewart acknowledging McFadden’s frustration and that he wished she was used more like she is this season. It was during the TCA event last month.
In the future, if you want to add a link, post the comment first and then add the link as an edit, it works every time.
And that’s good to know. I might go and look for that interview myself now, thanks.
You guys write: “There are more interviews from the Hollywood premiere event coming, including one with series star Sir Patrick Stewart.”
I say: “Isn’t that what THIS is???” 🤷♂️
Thanks for fixing it!
The most difficult thing is letting go. If this season is truly the ultimate high of trek in the last 15/20 years it shouldn’t be diluted to make more seasons. As much as I want to see them forever, it’s time to boldly go onwards with a new crew after this season. They seem like they will be exiting on a high.
Agreed, but once you see this season, you’ll realize that this cast still has more left in the tank. Which is absolutely SHOCKING to say, because 20 years ago they looked like they had nothing left. They seemed old, tired, and their characters seemed lifeless and boring.
Amazing what a little rest and good writing will do.
After watching the season premiere, I’d have to agree. This group clearly has more to give, and it would be nice to see them mix it up a bit with some more new characters.
As much as I love it, and as much as the child in me — who sat on the couch watching TNG as a kid with my dad — would love to see more of Riker, Worf, Dr. Crusher, and Geordi, part of me is dreading it.
Like CK says, the hardest part is letting go. I hope this is the end for them. Don’t let them stick around until it goes flat again, and our final FINAL goodbye is another lame one.
I mean, it was just a week ago that a lot of fans wished that this entire series never happened because it “ruined” Picard and Stewart’s legacy.
Go out on a high note. Be done.
If you had told me in 1994 that in 2023 we would be getting more “TNG” set in the ‘All Good Things…’ era (albeit a different timeline) – I would not have believed you.