Michelle Yeoh Wins Academy Award For Best Actress, Nichelle Nichols Remembered

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Star Trek: Discovery’s Michelle Yeoh has been having a big couple of years since starring in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Going into tonight, she had already picked up numerous critics awards as well as the Spirit Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award, and now she can add an Oscar to that list. The Sunday telecast also included some Star Trek stars presenting as well as others being remembered.

And the Oscar goes to… Michelle Yeoh

Michelle Yeoh won Best Actress In A Leading Role at the Academy Awards for her role as Evelyn Wang in the multiverse movie Everything Everywhere All at Once. Her fellow nominees were Cate Blanchett (Tár), Ana De Armas (Blonde), and Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie).

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Everything Everywhere All at Once went into the Award show broadcast live on Sunday night with the most nominations, 11 in total. The film was the big winner for the night, picking up 7 awards including Best Picture. Yeoh’s co-stars Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis both won Supporting Actor and Actress Awards, and Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert also won both for directing as well as their original screenplay.

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Starting with the inclusive message to “all the little girls and boys who look like me watching tonight, Yeoh called the award a “beacon of hope,” which is also a very Star Trek message. You can watch her speech via an official Academy tweet below…

Yeoh joins a short list of Oscar winners who have appeared in Star Trek, along with Whoopi Goldberg, Christopher Plummer, Joel Grey, Louise Fletcher, and F. Murray Abraham.

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Paramount announced development on a “Section 31” series starring Michelle Yeoh in 2019, and last year executives from Paramount along with Alex Kurtzman were still teasing the series. As Yeoh was doing publicity for Everything Everywhere All at Once, she told EW: “I hope, as Alex [Kurtzman] has promised, we are going to do Section 31.” This win for Yeoh could help push the project forward, however, Yeoh’s busy schedule along with new cost constraints at Paramount could impact the project, possibly changing it into a mini-series or Paramount+ exclusive movie.

Paramount did take the time to offer their congratulations to Yeoh on Twitter.

Star Trek movie stars present

Star Trek movies also had some representation at the Oscars with Zoe Saldana and John Cho both presenting. Zoe appeared with Sigourney Weaver.

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And Cho presented with Mindy Kaling.

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Nichelle Nichols remembered

The “In Memoriam” segment also honored late Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols. Star Trek guest stars Kirstie Alley (Star Trek II) and Louise Fletcher (Deep Space Nine) along with model maker Greg Jein were also remembered. You can watch that in full below.

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Go Yeoh! :)

Tahniah la, Michelle! Congratulations!

Huge Congratulations to Yeoh on her deserved success. I’ve seen EEAAO now four times and it is definitely something special. So great for the industry as a whole for something like this to be recognised by Hollywood’s most prestigious body.

Hopefully this is a sign of the changing attitudes towards sci-fi, and genre stories in general, and of those types of productions being taken more seriously as credible cinema.

Well said!

This is a really embarrassing night for all the immature, Discovery hating fans (those cats know who they are) who criticized her performance constantly and kept calling her character Space Hitler. I’m calling an epic fail on those fans — this award an international recognition eliminates that entire narrative for all time!

Wholeheartedly disagree. IMO, Georgiou was badly written, and (possibly as a result?) acted like a terrible caricature most of the time. In contrast, Yeoh’s character in EEAAO is terrifically written, and well acted. And there’s no reason why these different thoughts couldn’t simultaneously be true. 🤷‍♂️

Congratulations, Michelle Yeoh! The award is a well deserved honor! And I’m so happy for everyone else involved with the production to have been recognized either individually, or with the Best Picture award, as well! 👏😃

Agreed. Georgiou was a badly, badly written character and just not a great fit at all. That’s not really against Yeoh, just given a poorly thought out role that they didn’t even bother to develop for three seasons until it was time for her to leave. She thankfully got to do much better things since leaving Discovery although I heard the Witcher prequel she did was also considered bad. Never seen it or the main show to know personally.

EEAAO was actually good!

Tiger2, we’ll have to disagree on Georgiou.

I think Kim and Lippoldt did some great writing in seasons two and three to move the character along from the caricature that any MU character would be long term in the Prime Universe.

There were some season one choices (like eating sentient beings in the MU) that went too far, but that seemed to be just one among many ‘determined to be Netflix-like’ writing decisions in Discovery’s first season that I think we just have to let go of.

But generally, I found both the writing of MU Georgiou and the portrayal of the MU characters much better in Discovery than in DS9 for example.

Georgiou is complex, and she’s already been on a two season journey to evolve from assuming her universe’s Terran Empire social norms and values are superior to recognizing they are destructive then trying to change her society and accepting its impossibility.

That’s a pretty huge arc.

If she’s balanced by the a good mix of new and legacy characters in the main cast, a Georgiou helmed spy action Trek show would be a great complement to SNW and whatever 25th century Matalas new show is offered.

And yes, if Yeoh will give them a limited series, they’ll pay whatever to do it.

If it says anything, I don’t remember much about Mirror Georgiou, other than how delightful Yeoh was as a comic book villain.

“…how delightful Yeoh was as a comic book villain.”

Exactly!

But even though I didn’t bother to watch it myself, my sister’s-uncle’s-best friend’s-roommate also says she was bad in The Witcher, therefore it proves the point that she wasn’t good in DSC, right? LMFAO!

I like to think maybe in all the universes Evelyn travels to in the movie she goes to one where both Discovery and MU Georgiou are actually good. 😂🙄

Georgiou is one of the worst characters in Star Trek to me and badly played by Yeoh. If others like the character, that’s cool of course but I thought she was a total embarrassment and probably would get a Razzie award for the role if they handed out bad TV performances.

It made the show halfway more watchable once she was gone.

“I like to think maybe in all the universes Evelyn travels to in the movie she goes to one where both Discovery and MU Georgiou are actually good.”

LOL!

No, it absolutely doesn’t. The two have nothing to do with each other. Are you sure your this “old dude” you claim to be, because honestly that post sounds like it belongs on TikTok.

I’m hoping your reference TikTok has nothing to do with the major China control and disinformation issues with that platform — given Yeoh is an Asian actress and made her original stardom in Hong Kong cinema — and is hugely popular in China?

No that would be lame. TikTok was in reference to your judgmental attitude towards people who don’t like Discovery. Like you never miss the opportunity to throw a jab. You do that for LDS too. You get pissy whenever people disagree with you. Get over it. So that was it. Also it’s been a while since I’ve been on your case so I figured why not.

:-)

Tom Hanks got Razzie awards for Pinocchio and Elvis. That doesn’t mean we don’t think he’s a good actor. Just bad in Pinocchio and Elvis. Same with Ms. Yeoh in Star Trek: Discovery.

Who is also wonderful in Discovery. She was one of the few highlights.

“Who is also wonderful in Discovery. She was one of the few highlights.”

We’ll put.

Yes she was actually. Not her fault the script was written by macaques. She did the best she could with what she was given.

Hanks was great in Elvis. Thanks for unintentionally kind of partially proving my point. And this is reinforced by Hanks pretty much making everything he’s in better than it would be without him.

…well, I don’t think that’s what Thorny was saying at all, and it’s kind of disingenuous of you to imply otherwise, isn’t it? 😉

To reiterate: You steered this discussion into the negative by speaking to the fact that a good number of us fans are feeling that this horrible character’s terrible portrayal was one of the factors that made an already badly constructed show even worse, not better. 🤷‍♂️

What’s your reason, or your need, for trying so hard to call “an epic fail” on those among us that feel that way, or for using phrases like “a really embarrassing night for all the immature, Discovery hating fans”? If you’re attempting to somehow invalidate our opinions, good luck with that! 😂 Why not instead be happy that quite a few of us who couldn’t stand Discovery’s Philippa Georgiou, are actually professing an opposing, quite positive viewpoint about EEAAO’s Evelyn Wang?

CELEBRATE Yeoh’s achievements, but don’t try to USE them to (illogically) prove us wrong! And maybe ask yourself, ultimately, which one of these two is the more “immature” path here? 😜

Says the dude who needs to have emojis in every paragraph to make his point, lol

But, seriously, I think it was a really embarrassing night for some of the DSC haters here, especially the middlle-school-level contingent who have routinely belittled her performance on DSC and who constantly meme call her, “Space Hitler” (which doesn’t even make sense if you understand history). If you don’t think so, fine. But I’m not backing off my opinion on this one iota. No worries if you disagree.

“Dude,” we both know that disagreeing isn’t the issue; it’s the basic nature of a message board. And even others have openly noticed, as of late, that creating discord isn’t something that you’re too unfamiliar with either.

Unfortunately, it was also you who so dramatically tried to assert that her (well deserved, I do admit!) Oscar win “eliminates that entire narrative for all time,” and as much as you lose your sense for logic when you get so worked up, that’s just not how reality works. Even if you don’t like it, ALL opinions in a fandom are valid, and your attempts to distribute embarrassment or shame are what’s problematic. Passing judgment on the use of emojis in order to further support your name-calling doesn’t really help you, either. 🫵😉

Please do yourself a favor; and stop all of this gate-keeping! ✋️😊 Maybe you just don’t care to be respectful of differing opinions (the irony with Trek fans!), but if historical terminology is as important to you as you proclaim, you might at least want to attempt to “play nice with others” in order to avoid continuously coming across as some sort of opinion nazi. 🤷‍♂️

You’re talking to a 70 year old man who comes off like a angry and hurt teenager because people disagree with him over a fictional character he happens to like and then created a silly fight over it that no one here was having while trying to insult people’s opinions in the process. It’s so odd to see someone so insecure over a TV show and then trying to control people’s thoughts on top of it. This guy seem to have some major issues.

And yeah stop gate keeping. Some people think Space Hitler sucks as a character, that won’t change for anyone just because the actress won an award for a different project and has zero bearing on why people hate Georgiou. If you disagree, fine, no one is trying to change your opinion over it. Stop trying to change theirs. It’s gate keeping and pathetic.

Thank you! 🙏😊

You are talking to somebody there who made me agree to not address him in any post or through any other poster but who is now attacking me through you, and so he violates the agreement – and who also lowers himself to ageism personal attacks (and I’m in my 50s anyway, lol) — that he himself suggested again — and he violates this agreement whenever he feels like it. That highlights his immaturity and shows doesn’t have any self control or integrity.

You and I may disagree on things, but I certainly respect your opinions. Mine differ at times, but IDIC. :-)

If I was trying to do any gatekeeping here then I must be the most piss-poor gatekeeper of all time given all the blow back…lol

Say whatever you want to say, but I’m standing by EVERYTHING I have said in this thread, with no apologies or revisions. So sue me! ;-)

So, you think that those of us who have been vocal about our negative feelings towards this fictional character had “a really embarrassing night” and you’re “calling an epic fail on [us]”, which in essence reads like you’re attempting to be publicly shaming us. But at the same time you claim that you “certainly respect [our] opinions,” while you’re being vague about “trying to do any gate-keeping,” simply because you’re “piss-poor” at it. And yet again, you’re “standing by EVERYTHING [you] have said in this thread, with no apologies and revisions.”

Holy Vulcan brainfart, Batman!!! 😵‍💫💫

Here I was thinking that your logic was temporarily impaired because you were a little worked up before. Looks like it wasn’t just a temporary malfunction after all…

…IDIC, and all that jazz, of course. 🥴 Be safe out there! 🫣

So, you think that those of us…

Yes, I think that — my opinion, and totally subjective. You don’t think that, which is fine, and yes, I certainly respect that.

…and you’re “calling an epic fail on…

Yes, it’s a subjective call I am making on this. You are perfectly fine to reject this call, and yes, I certainly respect that.

I am not quite getting why you seem so defensive regarding my opinions on this — these are my personal opinions, and you disagree. Your continued repeating of these same issues might leave some to believe that perhaps I have made some points here that are not that far off (otherwise, why do you keep going on and on about this)?

But see, claiming to be respectful, and using derogatory language against the people whose opinions you don’t agree with, do NOT go hand in hand; which is why I was questioning your logic. You started this whole discussion, employing the opposite of respect.

But since you, admittedly, still aren’t getting it: I am not defensive regarding YOUR opinions. I am defensive regarding MY (and others’) opinions, because YOU have, preemptively, gone on the attack about them in the first place with said language. Are you genuinely not able to understand that?

And to answer your last question, even though I have to reiterate in part: I have been going on about this in hopes that you might UNDERSTAND that you’ve not only been disrespectful from the start (apparently having felt emboldened to do so by something entirely unrelated — the Academy Award), in my understanding you’ve ALSO violated a few of this message board’s rules. Recently, you have:

• put down, insulted, and picked on other commenters, even preemptively (!)
• tried to “gatekeep” other commenters, while admitting being “piss-poor” at it (setting your own definitions like “immature, Discovery hating fans” for true Trek fans critical of aspects that you disagree with, attempting to invalidate opposing opinions, misconstruing other commenters’ intent, even trying to shame other commenters by proclaiming embarrassment, ultimately policing comments that you don’t agree with)
• used derogatory language (dispersing jabs like “middlle-school-level contingent,” while elevating yourself, and others that agree with you, as “students of history”)
• broken Wheaton’s Law (it’s really OK if we don’t like certain aspects of a show, and if we express those opinions in both subjective and lighthearted ways; but that doesn’t mean that just because you don’t like us voicing our dislike in those specific terms, that YOU should then be a dick about it!)

You just can’t constantly put people down, and then finish your posts pretending to have “respect,” or close with catchphrases like “IDIC” in order to whitewash your insults. So, feel free to check out the general rules under “About > Comments and Moderation” if you’re open to actually SHOWING the respect that you like to CLAIM!

So you really think that name-calling Georgiou “Space Hitler” is an accurate analogy between that character in her context and environment with Adolf Hitler’s context and environment? And do you also really think that’s mature for fans to do this? Perhaps I am not the greatest student of history, but I know enough to know here that name calling Georgiou Space Hitler shows a gross and moronic ignorance of history… and yes that certainly comes across as middle school-level to me — and I’m not the only one who has commented similarly on this on the past when we have to see that crap from the same fans who are always trashing the series.

Also, I have been posting on this site for years, and those of us who are
DSC fans have taken our share of insults and derogatory comments — and much worse than “middle school-level” — and you know what, I don’t recall seeing you ever step in and post a critique on any of those posters like you have for me above? Quite the contrary, I’ve seen recent posts from you basically celebrating DSC’s cancellation – saying “Finally!”, “The (BAD) writing was on the wall. (Literally, from the beginning!,” (in response to another’s comment) basically celebrating (“100%” agree) that Michelle Paradise is out of a job, also saying, “I DO care that it’s ending — to spare us from the abysmal writing,” and also belittling the fan effort that others and I are involved with to try to get a petition to reverse the series cancellation. So do you know what I think of all these comments of yours? I’ll tell you what I think — these are middle school level immature, comments.

The above being said by me, I of course realize that I can come across as a dick sometimes — and I do now see that I overdid it here — and so I apologize for that.

Discovery isn’t my favorite ST show, but I can tell you one thing, Michelle Yeoh’s Georgiou character was my fave on that show. I loved her and the show is missing something special now that she has been written out. Michelle Yeoh is all shades of awesome. I’ve liked her in every single thing I’ve seen her in, starting with Tomorrow Never Dies. I’m glad she got the Oscar. I haven’t seen her latest film yet, but everything I’ve heard about it has been positive and I intend to.

I wonder if this will kill the possibility of that Section 31 show now that Yeoh’s profile has gone up considerably. Initially, before I saw Discovery, I was skeptical about such a show, thinking it was too far afield from ST’s tried and true formul, but after seeing Yeoh and the guy playing Tyler in seasons 1 and 2 of Discovery, maybe it can work. I’d rather she’d never left Discovery though.

Yeoh was fantastic in an underwritten role in SUNSHINE, but didn’t work for me in Bond or Trek, probably owing to the lousy writing in each. This new best picture winning movie is something I tried to watch streaming and couldn’t get into, kept falling asleep (tho my blood sugar was running high, so it might just have been me and not the film.)

I will say if the Bond people know how to catch lightning in a bottle, they should hire Yeoh and Ana D to do a ‘Bondless in Bond universe’ movie together, ASAP, even before they hire a new Bond.

“Yeoh’s Georgiou character was my fave on that show. I loved her and the show is missing something special now that she has been written out.”

Yeah, she elevated the series significantly!

Agreed, Yeoh and her character were fantastic and sorely missed when they departed. The Discovery haters are so…exhausting.

“Yeoh and her character were fantastic and sorely missed when they departed. The Discovery haters are so…exhausting”

100% Agree!

I don’t think moniker “Space Hitler” had anything to do with the quality of Michelle Yeoh’s performance, rather it was her character who was the leader of a racist, despotic empire with whom we were asked to sympathize.

This woman ate her slaves. Adolf is a disgusting character and it’s still mind boggling to me someone thinks she should be the face of a Star Trek show.

Just can’t stand her as a character and one played so badly at that.

What’s even funnier is how ignorant the “Space Hitler” moniker is. Whoever uses that term is kind of showing an admittedly lazy interest in history. Hitler started an evil empire that did horrible things, whereby Giorgiou was just another in line of successive leaders within an evil regime that she was brought up into. She never created the evil.

That’s a huge difference, and it just makes the term Space Hitler inaccurate and silly. It was such a lazy, immature response which shows that the person doesn’t even understand basic history.

If we must have a silly nickname for that character, at least look at a successive Roman leader, say “Space Augustus”. That would be much more applicable and won’t show how ignorant the person is who uses the Space Hitler term

“Space Augustus” would be the obvious choice… Georgiou literally has Augustus in her full name. Georgiou is more like any other cruel Roman emperor or even Genghis Khan than Hitler.

Personally, I love Georgiou (and I’m sure there are many fans who love her too, there’s literally a tea room in Portland named after her) and I think Michelle Yeoh did an amazing job portraying her — a lot of times, the Discovery cast weren’t given very good lines, but she really made it work for the character.

” ‘Space Augustus’ would be the obvious choice… Georgiou literally has Augustus in her full name. Georgiou is more like any other cruel Roman emperor or even Genghis Khan than Hitler.”

Exactly. it’s so refreshing to see that another fan here is student of history. Those using the “Space Hitler” nickname are highlighting their complete ignorance of world history – they are embarrassing themselves over and over and over.

“I love Georgiou (and I’m sure there are many fans who love her too, there’s literally a tea room in Portland named after her) and I think Michelle Yeoh did an amazing job portraying her”

Well said!

It’s also pretty silly to suggest an Oscar is some sign that an actor is unable to turn in a bad performance or be given terrible material. The woman who presented Yeoh her Oscar immediately went from winning one herself to playing the titular character in 2004’s Catwoman. And Jared Leto went from Best Actor to playing trailer trash Joker in Suicide Squad, then Morbius, then the most embarrassingly stereotypical Italian in House of Gucci (and probably a bunch of terrible roles in between).

I have always resisted the notion that Yeoh turned in a bad performance in Disco. I saw the writing for her as being cheap and ill-suited to her talents, full of sarcastic snarky lines with technobabble that were a bizarre fit for her. Georgiou also didn’t get a meaty character arc until literally her last episodes, which was beyond frustrating. Once she was given a role with some real depth and a belated redemption arc, she ran with it and turned in her best performance since season 1. So frustrating.

But having said all that, I absolutely agree in principle that an Oscar does not absolve an actor of being terrible in another project. Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, Jared Leto, Eddie Redmayne, Nicholas Cage, Sandra Bullock, Cuba Gooding Jr, Kim Basinger, Jon Voight, Catherine Zeta-Jones… They’ve all been led astray once or twice.

“Once she was given a role with some real depth and a belated redemption arc, she ran with it and turned in her best performance since season 1.”

Agreed!

Summed it up beautifully. Adolf was just a bad character they didn’t seem to know what to do with beyond make cringing jokes but wanted to give her her own show?

She didn’t win the Oscar for this show lol, but something different entirely. You can be good in some things and suck in others. She was good in EEAOO. She sucked in Discovery. Not hard to work out there, especially given how bad Discovery usually sucks on its own.

I’m just happy she was gone after season 3 at least but as said it didn’t make the show better in the end.

Exactly! Again, no one is completely blaming Yeoh alone. I thought she portrayed her badly but that was partly on how she was was written and as been pointed out because they never took any time to really develop her. Many of us thought she was going to get an arc of some kind beyond caring about Micheal. A redemption arc seemed obvious but they constantly ignored her many many war crimes and being responsible for billions of deaths. Cracking jokes and having cringing swagger may have won over some fans but others can’t overlook the disgusting character and everything she represented.

I’m glad she’s gone too. Yes if the S31 show happens before 2035 I will give it a fair shot but no one is begging for this show and character to show up again and probably a big reason why it got delayed in the first place.They should’ve did a better job making the character more likable after three seasons and not wait until literally her final episode to do it in. Too little too late for some people.

I’d go even further: not only was Yeoh good as Georgiou, she was excellent. If fans would step back for just a second, they’d realize they often praise Montalban for almost the exact same performance.

Those haters have always been losers. Congratulations Yeoh.

Yeah since I will go out on a limb and say everyone here are 100% sci fi fans, it is great to see more of it being honored like this. I do have a feeling it won more for being unique on it’s own versus the genre but I’ll take whatever. ;)

I believe the Trekutopia’s point is that, up to know, science fiction movies have not been considered on their own merits. Even when they are unique or tell great stories.

With there having been such a strong unconscious bias against them as a genre, it hasn’t been possible for them to get fair consideration for acting, writing or best picture awards.

My hope is that this kind of recognition will enable more character-driven and cerebral science fiction cinematic features to get made, not just tentpole action flicks that happen to have sci-fi elements.

(Good to have you back Tiger2 BTW. Still curious to know what you thought of Picard S3E4.)

I will disagree slightly that sci-fi has never been judged on its merits. When sci-fi has been truly awe-inspiring cinema, it has been recognized by the masses, if not the Oscars.

But there’s definitely a sentiment among “true artists” that sci-fi needs to be better than great just to get its due. It’s like there’s this additional layer it has to poke through because it’s sci-fi, to be recognized, that a gritty drama doesn’t.

Yeah that was exactly my point, thank you TG47. Wholeheartedly agree with your hope that the success of EEAAO enables more productions like it to go ahead, which may have been seen as too much of a financial risk before.

OK, I agree with that for the most part although I also agree with AlphaPredator and say sci fi movies definitely gets lot of attention and box office by the audience when it’s good. It’s no doubt people love science fiction stories in general. And then you look at some of the bigger directors like Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, James Cameron, Denis Villenevue, Ridley Scott, etc who became acclaim directors mostly due to their science fiction movies. But yes maybe this will give them more attention at the Oscars themselves and make more intimate stories and not just big action movies.

It’s ironic that’s the entire issue with the Star Trek movies. On TV, the shows can be cerebral and character focused as you said (and we’re getting tons with on Picard this season) but then when they make the movies they turn them into slick and over the top action movies to make money from the masses and probably why most fans aren’t losing sleep we haven’t gotten another one in ages but I digress.

Oh and I thought episode 4 of Picard was fantastic, best of the season so far. There were some minor issues but nothing that really bothered me. I loved all of them minus episode 2 (but still really liked it). I was going to write up my thoughts in the thread but when it was already over 300 posts, it had all been said lol.

But yeah this season of Picard is easily some of the best Trek we gotten in over twenty years. This is what a lot of us was hoping we were getting in season one and just happy to see how many people are loving it so far! I haven’t seen the fanbase this united in literally decades. And I think it really bold well for the 25th century spin off show if the show is still a hit at the end of the season.

So very happy for her, it was a tight race with Blanchett, but EEAAO was the little movie that could!

No idea what this means for Section 31. It adds prestige, she still cherishes her time in the franchise, and Discovery ending may add some more impetus to its development, but her dance card is going to be even more full now. Just like with Georgiou on Disco, I think they’ve squandered the unusually long amount of time they had her on the hook.

I agree Ian.

The S31 show really suffered from rolling changes in Paramount streaming senior leadership, and their strategic push to expand their streamers’ offerings to broader appeal.

I also suspect that after the problems Discovery and Picard had with their early showrunners, the suits were risk averse about having (then) two newbie showrunners Kim and Lippoldt helm this show.

Kim and Lippoldt have taken over at Netflix ‘Sweet Tooth’ in the meantime, so perhaps Yeoh isn’t the only one with scheduling constraints.

This is spot-on. From my perspective, it was a case of Paramount not even knowing what they wanted to do with Trek, then freaking out when they saw Fuller’s wild ideas, panicking, pulling the plug too late on his concept, rejiggering what was already done with a new showrunner, then firing them because of bad behavior… then overhauling when they saw some angry fans online.

Poor leadership and indecisiveness can be worse than bad writing. Behind the scenes it was just a mess, so of course the show was sloppy and all over the place as a result.

I’ll speculate that if Worf and Raffi are being primed at S31, that Georgio is going to surface as the lead. I’ve taken grief on this forum for a while now, that S31, fronted by Ms. Yeoh, is still aimed at the international audience. The Kurtzman haters can come here and rant all they want about Trek’s shortage of straight white men, and the show will do well for the audience it was intended for.

Phil, I’m thinking along the same lines as you are.

This show could wander across time between the 22nd and early 25th centuries, protecting the Federation and the Prime timeline.

I’d add in Shazad Latif as Ash/Tyler. I don’t see his long delayed Captain Nemo project as a constraint.

With Worf and Ash/Tyler there’s lots of reason for support and entanglements with the monastery on Borath and their time crystals across eras.

Also, Siddig sounds as though he’s ready to reprise Bashir, and a Toronto-based production might be more welcome after his post 9/11 experience as an Arab male in NYC.

Georgiou, Worf, Bashir, Raffaela & Ash/Tyler sounds like a strong main cast of characters that would do well in appealing globally while drawing in much of the base.

And, if they want to draw in a younger character, Miral Torres-Paris could be a time scientist engineer as she was in the Voyager finale. (Dalila Bela – of Anne with an E – would be a great Miral.)

And don’t forget Jack Quaid as “new” S31 recruit William Boimler! ☝️😀

I think a S31 show is still a terrible idea but if they had Worf, Bashir, Paris daughter and Boimler on it with MU Georgiou I could get excited about that. 👍

And Garak as a liaison from the Obsidian Order

Ok gang, sounds like we have a concept that will attract all by all but the most intransigent old guard fans!

From our devices to TPTB’s brains – at least we can hope.

Anyone want to do a change.org petition?

I’m ready to support that (as well as the one for a Shaw&Seven Titan show).

I’ll sign that in a heartbeat!

That’s why I’m not dismissive of any idea that Kurtzman has been floating around about potential shows.

Even the Academy idea can turn into something great. If the show is set into an educational institution, doesn’t mean we will be getting bunch of teens partying and worrying about exams.

Harry Potter and Wednesday are both set into an Academy of sorts, and they are doing some cool stuff even for me who is evidently not their target audience.

If you set it in the 25th century you have a big pool of legacy characters who can drop in from time to time as guest teachers (like Future Janeway did in Endgame). Maybe Meaney can be convinced to star in the show as a regular character.

As for Shaw&Seven show, it feels like we are going in that direction, but I’m getting less excited about it. I like the new bridge crew from the 4 episodes we saw, but Shaw and Jack still haven’t won me over. That being said I’d much prefer if it was Riker&Seven show. That dynamic will work much much better than Shaw&Seven.

I disagree about Riker and Seven.

As a character, Seven seems to need someone to have friction against. This was a key element in the dynamic with Janeway, and held interest in Voyager. She doesn’t have that wi to Picard or Riker, and her friction with Raffi in season two fell flat. Having her in a buddy movie dynamic with Shaw has a lot of potential. (I think one of the pro reviewers noted this.)

Shaw’s been a favourite for me from the start, but I was primed by Deacon’s arc in 12 Monkeys. I admit that it took until season three of that show before I liked Deacon though so I understand why you remain to be convinced (even if Shaw started in a much shallower hole of offensiveness).

Jack thought is completely uninteresting to me. The casting is part of the problem, but the entire idea of a unknown son was a negative from the start, and pushing him forward as a dynastic chosen one hero just grates in my aspirational Trek values.

That’s precisely the reason why I think pairing her with Riker would be the best approach.

His laissez faire style, sense of humour, fun vs efficiency and so on can create amazing storytelling opportunities. And his love for music can be the basis for finding a common ground with her. They are completely opposites as characters. She will truly shine that way.

With Shaw I feel that they come from the same school of thought. Order above all. At least that’s what I’m getting from Shaw at the moment. I definitely don’t want to see the main friction point with them to be Shaw’s hatred about the Borg.

As for buddy cop pairing, that’s what was done in S2 between Seven and Raffi and that failed miserably. Granted, you can argue it didn’t work for other reasons, but Seven as a character can shine either as in a mentor-mentee relationship or pairing her with a completely different personality.

With Riker, it will essentially be the Kirk-Spock dynamic.

Not only a Riker/Seven pairing will be great for them, but the opportunity to add Deanna as a counselor who can help Seven with her journey and adding Kestra in the mix, which could be Seven’s new Naomi is I feel an opportunity that shouldn’t be wasted.

I think you’re mistaking Seven of Voyager for the rebellious, independent, used to doing things her own way Seven we have now.

Riker and the current Seven are definitely not opposites.

What I can buy into is Riker as Commodore or Rear Admiral who puts his flag on Titan from time to time.

Those qualities were always in her and still are. Janeway on multiple times had to call her out because of those qualities.

We have to agree to disagree, but I’m just not sure where the “Riker and Seven are definitely not opposites” statement is based on. Sure, they maybe working on same goals, have a mutual friend in Picard. But character wise, I can’t find a more opposite person than Riker in the current roster of PIC.

To get back on topic, I think the Oscar win will solidify the chances that a Yeoh led S31 show is happening. The EW interview was from last month, and she is saying that she wants to do it and hopes that Alex comes through.

No suit will ever say no to the biggest actress at the moment wanting to star in your TV show, especially in a franchise that’s not Marvel or Star Wars, a franchise with the goal of bringing new audience to P+.

Money won’t be a consideration, because the potential upside is much bigger.

My point is, I think the Oscar win won’t change her desire to star in a ST show, it just changed Paramounts considerations. Now they’ll want it even more and may be moved faster than a potential Titan show.

She may well continue to have the desire, but what happens with an Oscar win is that you get inundated with offers, and she might suddenly find half a dozen projects which she loves the idea of even more.

No doubt about it. But if Paramount comes with everything she wants from this show (like was the case with Stewart) than I don’t see her turning it down, especially since her statement was done very recently and she was a frontrunner for the Oscar.

We’ll wait and see. But if I were a betting man, after the Oscar win, I bet a Yeoh led S31 show is definitely happening and not only that, it is moved ahead of the potential Titan show and given bigger resources.

That will probably piss-off NuTrek haters who are turning around now with S3 of PIC, but that will be a clear message from Paramount to them that they are not the only segment of the audience they are interested in and that they won’t allow them to dictate the future of the franchise, a message I definitely endorse.

On Yeoh still wanting and getting her Trek show, I think you and I are parsing the possibilities the same way.

I’m seeing this as increasing the likelihood.

In fact, I am wondering if Paramount was smart enough to already have a deal in place with salary level contingent on which awards she won.

So weird to me how everyone thinks this is the nail in the coffin of the show. I’m with you: I think it increases the likelihood. At worst, it changes nothing.

Just awesome! Congratulations Empiress! I really want to watch this movie.

This is awesome!!! Finally a sf movie gets an Oscar, and this is also way overdue for Asian actors.

Seriously folks, the Academy needs also to give a career achievement Oscar to Jackie Chan soon.

Perjalanan bintang-bintang menyokong anda dan mula-mula mengajar anda cara realiti alternatif. Ketawa. Tetapi yang paling terang daripada semua bintang ialah awak, Yeoh Choo Kheng.

I saw this movie opening weekend nearly a year ago now and I was telling everyone to see it. I saw it twice in theaters and about six times total now. While I think Yeoh was horrible as MU Georgiou on Discovery she is amazing in this. It’s definitely well deserved both the film and her win.

Exactly!

I watched it for the first time a day ago. I been meaning to sooner since it got on Showtime but kept putting it off. But yeah agreed, a fantastic movie and Yeoh did a great job. Unlike Discovery where it’s like watching a cartoon character at times, she’s playing a three dimensional character in this movie and where she can show off her acting chops and it paid off.

All Hail her most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Kronos, Regina Andor, All Hail Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius!

So very happy for Michelle, even if it does sadly pull the Section 31 show deeper into the gravity well.

The chances of the show happening already seemed very slim even before the win. It may still happen but I’m guessing with Discovery now cancelled and probably a hold of any future Trek projects at the moment until they figure out its overall future going forward on P+, it could be even farther away now.

I’m not holding my breath, only because Paramount is agonizingly stupid at ignoring the low hanging fruit. If they pull their head out of their collective backsides, Matalas is setting up Worf and Raffi as S31, Georgio slides in as a Nick Fury type as the head of S31. It’s an unpopular opinion, but I’m still of the belief that a show fronted by Ms. Yeoh has the international market as its intended audience. We shall see…..

Yeah the Worf and Rafi storyline this season on PIC seems perfect to integrate into a Georgiou/Section 31 show. But it seems about as likely as Kelvin 4 at the moment.

This comment has aged like a fine wine, in that it proves how fans always leap to the wrong conclusions. Paramount looking at budget cuts = fewer star trek projects. Discovery canceled = Trek is dying. Yeoh wins Academy Award = no Section 31.

Within days, we get a Starfleet Academy series, renewal notices on three shows, and a Section 31 movie. Chef’s kiss.

Congrats to Yeoh! She did an amazing job.

I have to say this is well deserved. Michelle Yeoh is an amazing actress!

I think with her win S31 may actually happen now because TPTB will want to capitalize on her award. I have to admit I don’t think it will be a series any longer though, unless it’s a miniseries, but I think it more likely to be a film now that is an exclusive to Paramount+ or Showtime.

I have thought for a while now that if the S31 project does move forward, it would probably be a mini-series.

Her career is on another level now and her price just went up. I doubt we’ll ever see her in the Franchise again.

1923 cost $23 million per episode largely because of the pay rates for Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren along with Timothy Dalton.

Yeoh wouldn’t be the first Oscar winner to decide to do Trek nonetheless. I suspect it really depends what other kind of work she is offered and whether she finds it fun and challenging.

Agreed. The bigger problem is whether she’ll want to make time for it now, she’s about to be FLOODED with big time offers, and she was already very busy and in-demand.

I tend to agree, at least in the near term: she’s going to have a lot of prestige projects to choose from. And although Yeoh’s price has just gone up, fee increases for female Oscar winners are not all that substantial as it turns out. A Colgate University economics master’s degree candidate studied this for their thesis and discovered:

The regression proves that winning an Oscar [for Best Actor] increases a male winner’s salary by 81% holding all other variables constant…Female winners do not experience this same clear boost in their salaries. Depending upon the specification of the model used, women experience significantly lower salary increases…In such cases, winning an Academy Award did not have a statistically significant effect on women’s salaries in the sample.

The data from a few years ago indicated that the average Best Actor Academy Award winner saw a $3.9mm pay bump, while Best Actress winners saw a mere $500k increase.

That all may be true, but I’d like to think she’ll get the same pay as any male superstar. If Harrison Ford is deserving of $1M an episode, so is she, at this point.

Congratulations to the great Michelle Yeoh! I’m watching her classic martial arts films on criterion right now. She’s amazing! Everywhere Everything all at once was a masterpiece. I want her to return to the trek family soon with a new show or miniseries or movie. I didn’t care. I love her.

I just watched The Stunt Woman there for the first time. My goodness, what a bizarre film – I’ve seen HK films veer around a bit with tone, but never as much as this one!

Congrats to Michelle Yeoh and the cast and crew of her crazy multiverse movie. Also, funny to see the Short Round Indie reunion on stage during the best picture presentation, about 40 years after Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!
My latest thinking is some form of post DS9 Section 31 show with stories featuring Bashir, Raffi, Worf and Yeoh’s Georgiou – although Yeoh’s price is higher than its ever been!
And yeah, I agree with those who say her Discovery character was just so badly written and ill-conceived but as we all see with Raffi in Picard S3… it’s amazing what better writing can do for a character!

I agree with much of this DeanH.

I would go further to say that Discovery season 3 went a long way towards setting Mirror Georgiou on a transformative path.

It did the work of showing us that she could learn that the Terran Empire could never be salvaged in the MU. And it left Mirror Georgiou with the knowledge that the Prime Timeline was valuable and the Federation worth protecting and preserving.

I really liked how they handled it, and feel they have a strong launch point from there to rework the character.

My issue was that they left it so late to give her the redemption arc. Even in early season 3 you would have no idea that’s where this vamping and snarky character was headed; the only thing we knew was that she cared about Michael. They rushed her arc through in her last two episodes and did a typical Discovery thing of having unearned moments like the rest of the crew she terrorized hugging and sadly missing her. It’s a wonder that her exit went fairly well, which is a testament to Yeoh as much as writing that finally figured out how to use her.

We know Worf has a handler… Who could it be? Agent “G”?

If she really wants to demonstrate loyalty to Trek as opposed to merely loyalty to Paramount employers, she’ll use her momentary heft to demand s31 teleplays or a screenplay that really delivers on the potential of such a project. In my mind, that means someone not too costly like Terry M or Ira (assuming he isn’t retired), or some super prestigious type like an alum from THE WIRE.

If Ron Moore wasn’t ensconced at Disney, he’d probably have been the ideal choice.

They’ll never afford her for Section 31 now

My thoughts exactly. Her pay rate just shot up. Maybe an unpopular position but I would prefer a section 31 show set in picards timeline with Bashir the head of section 31

But so did her starpower. If she carved out time in her schedule, and demanded $750K per episode (which is what Stewart is getting), or even a million (what they’re paying Harrison Ford), they might do it.

Additionally, her higher profile might bring new attention to Discovery, and get them rethinking the S31 spin-off as a real possibility.

Oh, darn.

I know this is sarcasm, but there are people who like her as an actor, who liked her character, and want to see more of her in Trek. But I guess your opinion is law, and nobody can have a different one /s

I don’t think being able to afford her is any more of a problem now. Paramount has shown they’ll shell out for big names. They paid Patrick Stewart nearly $1M an episode, and are paying both Ford and Mirren $1M each for 1923.

The real question is if she’ll actually care enough to make time in what will surely be a much busier plate.

>“I hope, as Alex [Kurtzman] has promised, we are going to do Section 31.” This win for Yeoh could help push the project forward, however, Yeoh’s busy schedule along with new cost constraints at Paramount could impact the project, possibly changing it into a mini-series or Paramount+ exclusive movie.

Short Treck’s anyone?

I would LOVE to see a return of Short Treks. I know they were only done to quickly and cheaply put out new content in between seasons, but they are one of the rare instances of a studio capitalizing on the lack of limits of a streaming service.

Shorts, mini-movies, etc. Remember when shows like BSG and LOST were doing webisodes? Bring those back on steaming!

S31 wouldn’t work as a Short Trek. A limited run series, or direct to streaming features, yes, in a heart beat. The Short Treks were basically character studies.

Congratulations! Georgiou was honestly my favorite character on Discovery, I personally thought that it was a great performance that made the character felt consistent despite how inconsistent the writing on Discovery often was — there were many lines on the show that often feel out of place for the characters and there were also lines that simply felt so random sometimes (and I mean that for every character… like Tilly’s “this is the power of math, people!” or Spock’s “I like science”), but for Georgiou, the lines were delivered in a way that feels very much like Georgiou, even though, the dialog itself actually isn’t much better than what any other character got.

Personally, I also do not think that the character doesn’t belong in Star Trek. I think the character is very much an allegory that fits into Trek’s values.

I really hope we get to see more of Georgiou, so bring on Section 31!

I’d say she just became unaffordable to the Star Trek production team.

I really all depends. Trek is paying $750K per episode to Stewart. If they feel it’s valuable to have a hot, Oscar-winning actress who’s already in the franchise return and lead a series, especially if she’s already expressed a desire to do so, I don’t see why they wouldn’t do it, even with the so-called “spending cuts.”

End of the day it will be about financial viability. Spending upwards of $1M an episode for her be worth it if it gets them buzz and attention. They could, for example, film all her scenes in a month or two, and pay her a flat fee, and then use those scenes across a 16-episode run split into two halves of 8.