Animated television writers are in another guild, one that signed a new contract over a year ago. Neither the WGA or SAG-ACTRA strikes have impacted them.
As much as most of us have long had any remaining interest in a fourth Kelvin movie long exhausted by the endless repetition of hype and failure, there does seem to be more confirmation of significant creative differences on the script that was in development in 2022....
While there was an announcement shortly before the WGA strike, and Alex Kurtzman confirmed the writers room is back up and at work during an NYCC panel, Paramount+ is moving forward on promotional information about the forthcoming new ‘Starfleet Academy’ show....
We don’t know what be developed or not for the 25th century, but getting a new show developed and greenlit by Paramount is a long haul, and if they don’t like the initial draft pilots, they’ll keep at it.
Starfleet Academy has been in development as a show since at least 2018, with several changes of leadership in the team of creators. The original idea goes back decades to Harve Bennett. It’s finally got through the maze, let’s cheer that.
So, even if the senior executives are open and enthusiastic about an Enterprise G show:
don’t expect a formal greenlight announcement in less than a year after Picard S3’s finale (which is how long it took for SNW) and then another year to 18 months for production and post;
don’t assume that there won’t be major reworkings and/or changes in prospective showrunners from initial indications (as there was with Michelle Yeoh’s S31 which also changed showrunners),
Here’s some positive points towards Starfleet Academy
most fans were super sceptical about both Lower Decks & Prodigy but they are both well loved across generations;
“reopening the Academy after a hundred years” strongly implies this is in the 32nd century, post Burn, with a cast of largely new characters. Yes, we may see Tilly, some of the Discovery officers or (hopefully) David Cronenberg back as the mysterious Kovich, but that won’t be the principal cast of cadets;
the EP and coshowrunner Noga Landau was a senior writer with Henry Alfonso Myers on The Magicians. Yes, she took over running Nancy Drew for CBS Studios for the CW, but that was better rated when she did, and better than the usual CW teen targeted shows.
the other creator, and writer of the greenlit pilot was the head writer of the thriller Absentia (which has good ratings)
Tawny Newsome is a writer in the writers room.
So new time period, new characters, new team that has done good work for the target demographic. I’m hopeful.
We know from Kurtzman’s messaging at NYCC recently that Michelle Yeoh put her Academy Award star power towards ensue that her Section 31 ‘movie event’ moves forward on Paramount+....
LoglineWho knows? They never released one. Edit: They finally released one - how novel to release the actual episode first! Captain Freeman assigns the Lower Deckers an overly safe mission to try and keep a self-destructive Mariner out of danger....
It’s not an urban myth at all that Tom Paris was a renaming of Nick Locarno.
Kirsten Beyer (now a senior producer in the Secret Hideout shows) verified this point with Jeri Taylor (creator of Voyager) back when Kirsten was writing the Voyager Full Circle Treklit books. It’s covered in an afterward. Doubt that would have been cleared for publication if not true.
That said, whatever the meta situation, onscreen canon can be whatever the current EPs want. So, I’m curious where they’ve decided to take this.
There are some super rare elements, structures and materials that cannot be replicated.
These unreplicatable ones become the most valuable. Likewise, the value of original or unique sentient-being created artifacts.
Conversely, the value of things that can be replicated is effectively reduced to the energy cost, give or take transportation costs for items that can only be replicated in large industrial replicators.
Energy cost becomes the key value. Not a problem generally, but in a constrained environment like a starship at maximum warp over long periods (e.g., Voyager’s first years in the Delta Quadrant), it can require rationing of replicator usage. (Holodeck had a separate and incompatible power source.)
The most widely known example of an element that can’t be replicated is latinum, which replaced gold as a measure of value. Gold is replicatable but latinum is not.
Other examples include dilithium crystals needed to regulate warp core reactions and benamite crystals needed for the quantum slipstream drive.
Some materials that cannot be replicated in the 23rd century can be otherwise created in the 24th century. The technology progresses through time in-universe.
I believe there was a post or file at the old place that listed all the canonically identified unreplicatable materials. It might be one to bring forward to c/DaystromInstitute. @khaosworks can you weigh in please?
As others have said, we haven’t seen many of these kind of recounting experiences episodes, but in this transition season it feels like we’re owed one.
While we could have just seen more of the main four leading others in B & C plots, this allowed them and us to take stock of their progress as leaders - except Tendi, but I think we saw a different angle on leadership from her on Orion.
It would have been a year had the third season gone into production May 2nd as originally scheduled. But with production on hold until the actors contract is settled, and a year for post after, we’ll be lucky to see it in late 2024.
I hadn’t considered Pelia still being alive, but it’s a cool idea.
They could even do a story arc with the cadets joining Kovich and other familiar faces in tracking her down. Bryce and Reno, both engineers, would have certainly had her as a prof at the Academy. Might be a great season two story once Pelia’s moved on from SNW.
There was a court case over this. The court found that it wasn’t true that DS9 was based on Stryczynski’s pitch.
I was at a con in the early 90s shortly after DS9 had its first season. Rick Sternbach came out. He did an entire slide show of all the production design evidence they’d submitted to the court. They’d working on developing models for a space station for a show for a long time before. He had huge numbers of drawings. The big thing was the decision to switch from a Federation built mushroom shaped station to an alien design.
More Star Trek is good, & like Lower Decks and Prodigy, which are also designed to appeal to different, younger audiences, the old fans might just find they love them too.
Many of the old TOS fans were unbearably resistant to anything but the original crew and ship, even though movies were being made about them. (They had done the same thing when TAS was in development.) It was really difficult to come to a convention between 1987 and 1990 as a TNG fan.
Not every Star Trek show needs to be made for you or your (our) age group. We need new shows to appeal to younger viewers and keep the franchise fresh.
I’m an old thing who watched TOS in first run in my primary grades. I have absolutely zero patience with the position you’re taking. I watch it all and don’t need to see people my age as the principal characters anymore than I did when I was six.
Shows aren’t made for the mass audience anymore, and even TNG was a bit beyond our kids when they became franchise fans as middle graders. They loved watching Voyager reruns though, demonstrating to me why it was the most successful Trek show on Netflix.
Gaia Violo who wrote the pilot and is coexecutive producer was co-creator and senior writer on the thriller ‘Absentia.’
Noga Landau (sharing showrunner credit with Kurtzman) worked as a senior writer with Henry Alonso Myers (coshowrunner of SNW) when he was the showrunner of The Magicians. Then she went on to write the became showrunner of recent Nancy Drew show, giving it some supernatural vibes and storylines.
So, with those two, I was expecting a more mysterious, even thrillerish. Putting Tawny Newsome in the room will definitely lighten it up somewhat.
If Discovery is any benchmark, once the show is in production, Kurtzman will leave the day to day show running to Landau and whomever will be the supervising director EP in Toronto. He’ll review and approve scripts and be more involved in post.
At this point one has to question whether Paramount is unwilling to have women showrunners take the helm on their own. Kim and Lippoldt ended up having a guy tacked on as a 3rd coshowrunner for S31, then with all the delays, they moved on to run things successfully on their own at Netflix with ‘Sweet Tooth.’
Just pointing out that any & all of these dates may have slipped due to temporal incursions in the Prime timeline by Romulans and others.
Temporal War leaves its artifacts in terms of non critical deviations - the river of the Prime timeline is very resilient. They key events will happen give or take a few decades.
This instance and community it doing well, but is far from the half million base on the old place.
The mods have been really positive towards establishing new communities as volumes pick up. Many of us would like to see the one for Treklit (books and comics) split of, but we just don’t have the numbers to make those kinds of communities viable yet.
Also, there’s really benefits to a crosscutting discussion. Things are civil enough here that it’s working.
We see a lot of people here finally becoming persuaded to give shows they’d passed on a try, including Lower Decks.
Weird that it’s excluded in Canada - since it won’t be streaming on Crave as well as broadcast on CTV Sci-fi.
Up to now, Netflix has been able to get the streaming rights to CTV Sci-Fi Channel shows if Crave doesn’t take the complementary streaming portion of the Canadian market.
Paramount and WB, unlike Disney, never gave up on releasing physical media.
It was a billion dollar business in 2021 despite ideas that it’s dying out, and the advent of 4k releases is boosting that.
I saw an article in the metrics industry press last year saying that it was a major source of revenue for both, one that doesn’t get sufficiently taken into account on metrics for movies or television (whether originally linear or streaming) when making greenlight decisions.
Paramount Home Entertainment is a significant revenue generator and seems to know its marketing. Perhaps the people at the top of the firm should take them more into account.
If they are giving a special showing of Lower Decks S4E8 at NYCC, will it get the early release on Paramount+ and appear as a ‘special event on CTV Sci-Fi Channel?
Also, if they are promoting ‘news for Star Trek fans in attendance’, what do we hope to see?
For those not subscribed to Master Replicas email notifications of releases of Eaglemoss Star Trek models, this Tuesday October 10th will be the launch of a special ‘signature’ release with plaques signed by Nana Visitor, Adam Probert, & William Shatner.
One of the things that I consider most important about these sales is that the discount is being borne by the retailer and the publisher.
The contracted tie-in writers still get their full (if small) payment per book. Author @DavidMack and others have confirmed this point in social media posts.
So, it’s your opportunity to get Treklit content at affordable prices while still ensuring creators are compensated.
I’ve been watching the Next Generation for a while but on my dad’s recommendation I started SNW and I love it. I’m getting through it really quickly and thought about jumping straight to TOS after....
Be ready for mid 20th attitudes, special effects and theatrics style production…and camp.
At nearly 60 years old, TOS is actually more bearable for me again than it was watching it in the 1990s - 30 years in it seemed cringey.
But what it does have is wild and trippy Star Trek energy, the kind of vibe SNW is recapturing for modern audiences. Lower Decks too.
TNG was going for a more professional cerebral vibe, and less fun. It was a nice contrast to TOS, but it’s nice to have something new with that vibe. Voyager really leaned into the weird in its journey across the Delta Quadrant, but played it straight more often than not.
I rather like that they’re following the current Canadian naval custom of naming warships after major cities. The real life HMCS Vancouver and Toronto are currently serving Halifax-class frigates. The HMCS Toronto’s registry number is 333.
Is there anyone else here that feels that Patrick Stewart is violating the spirit of the SAG-AFTRA strike with his book promoting interviews?
While it’s likely his publisher wanted a fall release for the Christmas gift market, it seems really inappropriate that he’s out pitching how he wanted his show to end (with his real life wife getting another voice credit) or stories about TNG behind the scenes.
SAG members have been constrained from talking about the franchise in convention panels, or promoting their new shows, but he’s out there selling his book based on his career in the IP and distracting from Lower Decks which needs all the boost it can get.
It’s not making me admire Stewart, and settled any question of buying his book for the negative.
When is Lower Decks Season 5 Starting?
Does anyone know when the new season starts?
James McKinnon confirms creative differences likely a factor in Kelvin 4 failure to start production in 2022 ( trekmovie.com )
As much as most of us have long had any remaining interest in a fourth Kelvin movie long exhausted by the endless repetition of hype and failure, there does seem to be more confirmation of significant creative differences on the script that was in development in 2022....
Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Lower Decks | 4x10 "Old Friends, New Planets"
LoglineTop Secret, again. Edit: well, this was certainly worth waiting for: Mariner faces her past in the season four finale....
Paramount+ confirms series order for 'Starfleet Academy' ( www.startrek.com )
While there was an announcement shortly before the WGA strike, and Alex Kurtzman confirmed the writers room is back up and at work during an NYCC panel, Paramount+ is moving forward on promotional information about the forthcoming new ‘Starfleet Academy’ show....
Ensign Ro And Dr. Gillian Taylor To Return In ‘Deep Space Nine’ Prequel And TOS Movie Era Novels ( trekmovie.com )
Yeoh's S31 movie preproduction complete? ( www.dgc.ca )
We know from Kurtzman’s messaging at NYCC recently that Michelle Yeoh put her Academy Award star power towards ensue that her Section 31 ‘movie event’ moves forward on Paramount+....
Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Lower Decks | 4x09 "The Inner Fight"
LoglineWho knows? They never released one. Edit: They finally released one - how novel to release the actual episode first! Captain Freeman assigns the Lower Deckers an overly safe mission to try and keep a self-destructive Mariner out of danger....
Aw sweet! The Cerritos made it into the ships of the line! ( m.media-amazon.com )
No Discovery, Protostar, or La Sirenia… but I’ll absolutely take what I can get.
Question - Star Trek Explorer Presents short story collections from Titan Bookstores - are they simply compilations from the magazines or new content? ( startrek.website )
I’ve been enjoying the very short stories by Treklit authors in the recent issues of Titanbooks Star Trek Explorer magazine....
If you could have either a holodeck or a replicator, which one would you pick?
Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Lower Decks | 4x08 "Caves"
LoglineThe Lower Deckers go on a classic cave mission....
God damn it! I hate this season ending cliff hanger! ( lemmy.ml )
NYCC: Alex Kurtzman Gives ‘Section 31’ And ‘Academy’ Updates, Teases “Exciting” New Star Trek Projects ( trekmovie.com )
I just finished DS9, and I'm sad to know that we'll never get anything like it again ( sh.itjust.works )
It was so good, I am sad to have finished it....
NYCC Starfleet Academy confirmation ( collider.com )
StarfleetAcademy ‘will be funny’ according to Alex Kurtzman....
How Tom Polce and Kay Hanley Took Star Trek To Broadway, And Beyond ( observer.com )
Are you ready for the upcoming 2026 2nd American Civil War?
Another spoken word album is coming from Bill Shatner ( www.udiscovermusic.com )
Not sure we needed another album from Shatner but you have to admire his indefatigable creativity....
Is there a Lower Decks community?
I’ve searched every way I can think of and can’t find anything.
‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Finds New Home At Netflix After Paramount+ Cancellation ( deadline.com )
Anyone up for a Prodigy Supernova Soirée? ( www.msn.com )
Looking for news about saving Star Trek Prodigy, I came across this shameless paid promotional piece on MSN from Paramount Home Entertainment....
The Star Trek Guide to New York Comic Con 2023 (Oct. 12-15) ( www.startrek.com )
First Look: The Evil AIs Of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Return This Week In “A Few Badgeys More” ( trekmovie.com )
NEW - Master Replicas offering XL models with Signed Plaques ( www.masterreplicas.com )
For those not subscribed to Master Replicas email notifications of releases of Eaglemoss Star Trek models, this Tuesday October 10th will be the launch of a special ‘signature’ release with plaques signed by Nana Visitor, Adam Probert, & William Shatner.
October 2023 Star Trek ebook deals ( www.simonandschuster.ca )
Here’s the Simon & Schuster listing of ebook deals for this month. $0.99 in the United States....
Did anybody watch TOS for the first time AFTER Strange New Worlds?
I’ve been watching the Next Generation for a while but on my dad’s recommendation I started SNW and I love it. I’m getting through it really quickly and thought about jumping straight to TOS after....
Master Replicas Drop Includes Picard Inquiry-Class Variants and Lots of Star Trek Reference Books ( blog.trekcore.com )
Annotations for *Star Trek: Lower Decks* 4x06: “Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place” (SPOILERS)
The title is a pun on the 2004 British horror parody television series Garth Merenghi’s Darkplace....
Patrick Stewart: Why I Stormed Off the Set of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ ( www.hollywoodreporter.com )