LoglineAn accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the USS Enterprise to break uncontrollably into song, but the real danger is that the field is expanding and beginning to impact other ships—allies and enemies alike....
They also didn’t have a great deal of time to record. They did their studio work over weekends.
For those who weren’t musical theatre performers (Gooding, Chong, Romjin) earlier in their careers, getting a clean run through or even portion of a song would be a difficult challenge. Just the stress of getting it done in a single day or two of sessions would be likely to put them out of tune.
Some interesting reflections on how the live action writers’ strike may improve the marketability of Prodigy to a new platform, as well as enable work to begin on a third season....
There was a writers strike for most of season one. A provision in the contract permitted one episode to be written for an animated show if the writer had no previous animation writing credits. So, DC Fontana reached out to TOS live action writers, to science fiction authors (Larry Niven!) and Walter Koenig (who played Chekov) to see if they would be willing to take on an episode.
As far as I know, TAS season two is the way it is because the show was canceled, but 6 episodes had already been greenlit.
I’d say your assumption that the writing is generally poor on tie-fiction is unfair and unfounded. If you like reading science fiction, particularly space opera, you’re missing out on some really great books.
Yes, there are some books that are clunkers, and some to-be-avoided tie-in writers, but at its best Star Trek novels are just straight up excellent science fiction.
I read extensively in the genre and I can’t say unequivocally that the quality in non-franchise science fiction is generally higher. There are regrettably a high number of unreadable but books in each crop of new and recommended Sci-fi offerings.
What I can say is that the ‘put all the toys back where you found them’ books written while shows are running are constrained by that. While it’s a genuine problem for some, books by DC Fontana, Diane Duane and Vonda McIntyre are all worth your time.
The post-Nemesis Relaunch novelverse provided a complex set of tales that were allowed to take 24th century characters and societies forward. It’s been overwritten by Picard, but there’s still a great deal of high quality content for those of us who are voracious readers. There are also some 23rd century books, including the Vanguard series, that have continued.
It seems the top executives get it, but Paramount Global communications seems to be deeply United States focused.
Simon & Schuster - a Paramount Global subsidiary that they are trying to sell off - does have distribution outside the US, but only ever includes the US on its webpages.
Some other licensed tie-in publishers will even claim that their products are available for all of North America via the US Amazon.com platform and that’s it.
It looks people in Canada like me can get the download through both Amazon.ca as well as the US site in this case. It’s not posted to Amazon.uk yet but it may be lagging a few days.
The cast includes a Grammy winner from a successful Broadway musical, another Broadway performer, and another who toured with a Gilbert & Sullivan company.
The songs were written by alternative music musicians who have successful songs in a motion picture soundtrack and have done the same for other shows.
The preconditions for them pulling this off exceptionally well are there.
For those who happily purchase Spiner’s ‘Old Yellow Eyes’ but believe that no other forms, musical or animation, are sufficiently respectful of the dignity of the franchise, we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
The timeline is more robust than that. We’re not in the Marvel or DC comic or EEAAO infinitely branching universes concept of a multiverse.
There can be branching events like the one that established the Kelvin universe but they are rare and take something of the order of the Romulan Supernova to create.
This is the prime universe of TOS and the other shows. It’s the same wide river of time, but the layers of temporal incursions - both seen in shows and movies and reported by temporal agents - accumulate changes. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow confirmed this.
The key events and their sequences do not change. The kind of differences that are discernible only by deep study are not sufficiently material to be necessary to protect against.
Or, if you mean that McCoy should be unchallenged in his dominance of saltiness…
In either case, as with Kirk, there was and is no reason to rush any of their introductions for at least a couple of seasons. While some legacy characters draws seem to be something dictated from Paramount above, they are crowding out the development of the original characters in the show.
Adding Uhura to a crew that already had young Spock was already a heavy legacy character load. Fridging a great character and performance to advance her growth is a lazy writer’s shortcut, and doing it with the first main cast person a disability is unworthy of Trek values.
I really hope they cast Bruce Horak in another role if we’re not going to see Hemmer brought back to life.
In an exclusive interview with MovieWeb, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth identify Prodigy as the best entry point to the franchise. No official comment on the cancellation on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon, but positive energy nevertheless....
So the ending of Prod was basically the same as Pic. It’s a little annoying to basically see the same plot in two shows that aired like a year apart....
Given the very long timelines in making an animated show, Prodigy’s storyline for the season would have been done, and in this case the dialogue was recorded, while Picard seasons three was still being developed.
We know that Kurtzman instituted monthly meetings to short out plots and use of legacy characters sometime while Prodigy was producing the first season because there were mentions in interviews about sorting out the use of Okona between Lower Decks and Prodigy.
Asking why Picard was able to go forward with a very similar storyline is reasonable. One inference is that somehow those in charge hadn’t really taken into account the overlap in audience between a live action adult targeted show like Picard and Prodigy as a family oriented offering.
She’s a more seasoned pilot by far than early Tom Paris.
But she’s exactly what I expect and know experienced combat pilots to be like. Some are sober and subdued like Sulu or Detmer, but the in your face types are common and tolerated.
If you’re in the US, there’s a social media linked version.
Otherwise, the ones on the official StarTrek.com should be region free. They may be locked outside the US and Canada until the episode drops tomorrow though.
LoglineCaptain Pike and his crew welcome a Klingon defector aboard the USS Enterprise, but his presence triggers the revelation of some shocking secrets....
I love the TNG Technical Manual but anything onscreen has to trump it.
I’m much more fussed about rapid organ fabricators and dermal regenerators being a thing this early.
I think we’re going to have to buy into 23rd century technology being ahead of were we expect from TOS - but not necessarily ahead of some of the wild claims (and therapies) Bones had access to in the movies.
For me, this is in many ways a less dark and cynical take than DS9 In the Pale Moonlight and certainly the Section 31 references.
What was critical here was the difference between the journey of individual traumatized officers who had been forced repeatedly to take actions in wartime that compromised their values, and brought out capabilities they never sought to own, vs Starfleet leadership taking cynical action. It’s also a direct outcome of Starfleet’s cynical actions in having M’Benga develop the serum and then use it.
Starfleet’s postwar directive, and Pike’s insistence on pressing it with his senior officers, created the immediate crisis.
However, we need to take account of the fact that it was the ambassador’s own repeated insistence on confronting, engaging and attempting to recruit M’Benga to assist in his mission that led to the break.
M’Benga seemed to be processing his trauma and managing it as well as he could. He wasn’t at the point of exposing the ambassador’s deceit although he appeared to have been contemplating it.
It was the ambassador’s decision to seek M’Benga out again, in his own safe space, his private office, and own refusal to take M’Benga’s rejection that seemed to take the contemplation to action.
The cover up by Chapel and M’Benga is serious, and in the case of M’Benga this is the second case of his hiding something of significance from his captain. He’s an understandable but grey character, and we will have to see where the show takes him.
In Chapel’s case, we have been shown that her bright effervescence hides much darker experiences. It’s now easier to imagine how she will evolves to the very restrained version of herself in TOS.
I feel this is a very authentic portrayal of the chronic legacy unaddressed of trauma in individuals, how a military service and society will need to move on after a society-wide war when its individuals are not yet ready to do so, and how disasterous the potential outcomes when the divide been societal and individual needs in healing are ignored.
It’s not the 24th century Starfleet we’re seeing where there has been a long period of peace and officers can be treated effectively for trauma before returning to duty and it locks in with chronic effects.
I agree that it does not show Pike’s leadership in a positive light, but I find it realistic. What it does show is the gulf between war veterans and those senior officers who, while veterans of other kinds of conflicts, were not involved.
Starfleet needs senior officers, without direct personal history, like Pike to lead the peace and move forward, just as the western allies needed to find a way with some German leaders and scientists after WW2. But not every individual at the front can withstand the stress of that direct engagement with a former enemy.
Starfleet’s order to force veterans into direct contact with a former enemy was psychologically unhealthy and unrealistic, but a value-focused officer like Pike would not have the insight to see that.
This gulf was underscored at a personal level by Chapel’s conversation with Spock, when she could not share her experience with him and he could not ease her pain. The scene between them was an essential confirmation.
What I found interesting is that Number One had the best read on the situation. She saw the pressure the ambassador was putting directly on the veterans in the crew.
As the executive officer, it’s her job to manage personnel, to assess readiness, to deliver a functioning ship for the captain’s command. She accurately saw the problem and recommended action to mitigate the situation by reducing the time to deliver the ambassador to Starbase 24.
What she was not able to do however was to convince Pike to stand down a bit on Starfleet’s toxic order to require veterans of the war to show acceptance of the ambassador. Nor did we see her attempt to try to convince Pike. He was leading from his values and unable to really take measure of its impact on the individuals.
I find it interesting that this show is giving us episodes that show the negatives of Pike’s command style as well as the strengths. While we’ve seen the negatives in Kirk’s and Picard’s temperament’s and command styles acknowledged in the movies and in Picard, this seems to be the first time we’ve had it done with a hero captain in an ongoing television series when he’s in active command of the ship.
David Brin’s book ‘Kiln People’ explores this idea.
The problem is, as we saw with Tom Riker, the duplicates have their own existence and experiences. Should they just be destroyed like Tuvix in order to restore the originals?
That Klingon headpiece and wig combination was evoking bad clown makeup.
The shininess of the prosthesis and lack of significant colour grading of the ridges made it appear all the more fake. I am not getting why so many fans think this is an improvement.
A mix of Klingon types is a very compelling situation and I’d really welcome seeing it in a live action show.
I understand why the EPs wanted, practically to pull back from the full face printed prostheses that have been the norm on Discovery for all aliens. They very much impede expression. It takes a lot for the actors to project their performance through.
However the Klingons in SNW aren’t quite working. Somehow, depending on lighting, they have a very plastic quality that does not give a natural skin effect in UHD.
The ones we saw in the season premiere varied in this to some degree, but under the brightness of the lighting on Enterprise it was extremely evident in some scenes. The kind of airbrushing that was done for Worf on the latex prostheses back in the 90s likely wouldn’t work in UHD, but what they’ve got just isn’t working on our OLED.
On the other hand, I found the Andorian special forces officer to be the best Andorian of the current era.
The removal of Star Trek: Prodigy from Paramount+ has ruined any plans for a sequel to Star Trek: Voyager in the immediate future. Paramount recently announced the cancelation of Prodigy, despite season 2 being partly completed. Production will continue on season 2, while work continues to find Prodigy a new home on an...
Legacy could be many things but the proposal presented in the finale of Picard wouldn’t really serve as a Voyager sequel in my view.
What’s was pitched in the backdoor pilot embedded in Picard and in post-season interviews was for the Titanprise to engage on a nostalgia tour. The hero’s journey however was clearly set up to be Jack’s and not Seven’s. This could give us cameos of Voyager characters, but it would be beyond a stretch to see it as a sequel to Voyager or DS9.
On the other hand, if the idea that Kurtzman floated in a magazine interview this spring were greenlit we would get a loose Legacy anthology of one-shots, limited series and direct to streaming movies that could tell stories focused on legacy characters and ensembles - presumably including one focused on Janeway.
As a vehicle to serve legacy characters and locations, I believe Kurtzman’s proposal is superior and won’t limit us to just the early 25th century.
I do nonetheless see that there’s strong interest in some kind of new early 25th century show that moves forward from Picard season three. I just don’t think that it can be all things to all nostalgic fans in a 10 episode season without again sidelining Seven and the other Titanprise officers.
The backdoor pilot in seasons three of Picard is very much Terry Matalas proposal.
The mix of one-shots, direct to streaming movies and mini/limited series for legacy characters across all the eras is something that Kurtzman described in an interview this March with SFX Magazine. TrekMovie recovered the key messages in an article that’s not behind a paywall.
By the way, even individual characters – I think we could absolutely continue to tell stories about individual characters that are set up on the show in other contexts. That’s the beauty of having a universe now is that, in a perfect world, we’re not just doing seasons of television, we’re doing event series [miniseries], we’re doing single events that could be two, three hours long [TV movies]. I think that we are now at a place where that’s really possible.
If there was an interview with Akiva Goldsman describing something similar to Kurtzman, it would be great to have that report.
As a kid i loved watching the next generation and deep space 9 with my dad. Ive always liked sci fi, more of a (stargate fan) and wanted to get back into star trek, but Im just so lost on timelines and whats going on. There are like 6 kirks and I have no idea how/where to get started with watching this again.
Many of us feel the impulse to recommend whichever Trek first pulled us in. Others are completists or like to get everything in release or chronological order.
I see lots of recommendations starting along these lines here. That might not best for you OP. I’ve had the personal experience of watching everything in first run in release order, but I don’t know if I would attempt that if I were wanting to break back in after a long hiatus.
If you liked the original 1960s show (TOS) with Kirk, Spock and McCoy, Strange New Worlds may be your best entry point now. It takes place on the original Enterprise under an earlier captain, 10ish years before the time of the original show. Kirk and Spock are the same people you know but younger, and necessarily played by new actors. It’s designed to be a gateway show for fans who’ve never seen any Star Trek so you won’t be lost trying to figure out where things fit in. (The movies with Chris Pine as Kirk are set in a separate universe.)
If you were a Next Generation fan, then you might wish to start with Picard season three or Lower Decks.
The Original Series and Next Generation movies are in the Prime Universe, the new movies (2009, Into Darkness, Beyond) are in what’s known as the Kelvin Universe.
There are some major events that lead to a branching into two timelines around the time Jim Kirk is born.
There were media reports last week noting that a new CBS Studios production, under the pseudonym ‘Dovercourt’, had been added to the Rumour section of the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) Ontario hotlist....
Yes, American productions in Canada have US writers and actors under WGA and SAG-AFTRA contracts.
Local Canadian actors belong to ACTRA, the Canadian guild. The production and art creatives are in another union IATSE.
DGC is a sister organization to the Directors Guild of America (DGA). Their accredited members can work in either country. DGC is likely now sanctioning the work since DGA has settled in the United States.
It’s got to be tough to be the VP at Paramount responsible for brand management of one of its two largest streaming franchises, and be told to manage the fallout of a business decision that flies directly in the face of both the Star Trek brand strategy and firm’s streaming strategy.
Half of Paramount+ demand is derived from the Trek and Yellowstone franchises. Their streaming strategy, as pitched to investors, is ‘franchises, faces and fandoms.’
Yet, they cancel and write-off one of only two successful digital animated originals from one of the key franchises, helmed by a legacy captain who remains one of the most beloved in a key demographic?
I just wish the newly announced animated vignettes with 90s legacy characters were actually going to be done in the Filmation style. I wasn’t at all impressed with the main character designs that were released at SDCC.
I am the kind of person who enjoys “big weird” scifi like Stanisław Lem. Stories about trying to relate to and find common ground with something so alien that the prospect of even understanding is basically hopeless. Star Trek usually doesn’t do stories that, which makes sense as it often uses alien races as allegories or...
If you’re not familiar, every month the main publisher of Trek fiction, Simon & Schuster puts out an offering of more than a half dozen ebooks for $ 0.99 in Canada and the US and at a similar low price in some other countries....
There were a number of ‘event episode’ adaptations around that time, including the ‘Day of Honor’ ones for Voyager.
It does seem to be a specific niche of Treklit. I always saw it as a bit of a marketing stunt to draw in established fang to become new readers of the tie-in books.
I generally prefer original stories, and welcomed the Relaunch novelverse taking legacy characters and new ones forward.
Ok, I’m putting it out there that I just don’t get the appeal of Fansets products.
This has been one kind of tie-in merchandising that is a bit of a head shaker. I know there are certain countries in Europe where collecting fandom pins is a huge thing. Who actually wears badges and pins in North America however unless they are usable in cosplay?
(Meanwhile my spouse and I are trying to figure out how to score a Cerritos in the Master Replicas sale this week, and are ignoring the lack of remaining display space in our home.)
That’s the way I see it. The sets with images of characters etc just don’t seem like something I would ever wear.
This collection turns out to be mainly insignia pins based on costumes which seems like a more viable niche. Our kids would have loved to have had these when they were tweens. I spent an entire con with one of them looking for naught at every vendor for a Discovery-style communicator pin.
Not sure why signal boosting graphics on clothes feels different. I’m happy to wear my t-shirts and hoodies, and our family has many independently-designed licensed ones from teepublic.
This one could be surprising. We haven’t really actually got that much of a heads up about what’s coming.
We see a lot of production stills with M’Benga and some with Chappell. We’re not seeing Ortegas so it’s not seeming likely to be our promised ‘Moretegas’ feature episode - except that it’s the only remaining one other than the musical before the season finale.
However Klingons may be a tie back to the war for all three officers established to be veterans - Ortegas as well as Chappell and M’Benga. This may be an A-B-C plot episode with flashbacks.
It will good to get some more insight into the Klingon War. In Discovery it was the launching point of the first season, but much of it was offscreen with other Starfleet ships, while Discovery was in the Mirror Universe and Enterprise was left on a deep space exploratory mission.
I suspect scheduling is the reason that we’re seeing new officers on the bridge.
Oyin Oladego who plays Owosekun is the lead in a Nigerian-Canadian indie film. Here’s the Hollywood Reporter story. She’s previously also been managing around a couple of seasons as main cast on a Canadian tweens show called Endlings as well theatre work in Toronto.
Most of the Canadian actors in the Discovery bridge crew have other Canadian-based work. Ronnie Rowe Jr who had played Bryce (Communications) is a lead on the BET+/CBC historical drama ‘The Porter’ which is why he’s been replaced by Lt. Christopher.
Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x09 "Subspace Rhapsody"
LoglineAn accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the USS Enterprise to break uncontrollably into song, but the real danger is that the field is expanding and beginning to impact other ships—allies and enemies alike....
Analysis - can Prodigy benefit from the writers strike the way TAS once did? ( www.cbr.com )
Some interesting reflections on how the live action writers’ strike may improve the marketability of Prodigy to a new platform, as well as enable work to begin on a third season....
'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: A Stitch in Time' Audiobook, Narrated by Andrew J. Robinson, Now Available ( startrek.com )
This article features a message from Andrew J. Robinson, along with an excerpt from the audiobook.
Paramount+ Becoming The Streaming Home Of Star Trek In Canada ( trekmovie.com )
New Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Photos — “Subspace Rhapsody” ( blog.trekcore.com )
Jim Kirk on Pike’s Enterprise - Inverse dives into an analysis of canon constraints and lack thereof ( www.inverse.com )
A fairly thorough piece....
"Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 2 - Subspace Rhapsody (Original Series Soundtrack) Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 2 - Subspace Rhapsody (Original Series Soundtrack) by Various Artists ( music.apple.com )
Cast recording for this week’s episode is up, I’ve only listened to one early track to avoid spoilers but sounds like they’ve nailed it.
[Spoilers] Just started Strange new worlds s1 Gorn episode
I’m not happy with how the episode with the gorn ended. I really really liked Hemmer as a character and his arc was cut short way too early....
Roddenberry Enterprises weighs in with support for Prodigy ( movieweb.com )
In an exclusive interview with MovieWeb, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth identify Prodigy as the best entry point to the franchise. No official comment on the cancellation on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon, but positive energy nevertheless....
(Spoilers for Prod and Pic)Just finished Prod and have a thought.
So the ending of Prod was basically the same as Pic. It’s a little annoying to basically see the same plot in two shows that aired like a year apart....
Strange New Worlds 2x08 was one of the best Star Trek episodes ever ( i.imgur.com )
cross-posted from: lemmy.zip/post/792370...
The Ready Room: "Under the Cloak of War" (Babs Olusanmokun and Melissa Navia interview) ( startrek.com )
Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | 2x08 "Under the Cloak of War"
LoglineCaptain Pike and his crew welcome a Klingon defector aboard the USS Enterprise, but his presence triggers the revelation of some shocking secrets....
The cancelation of Star Trek: Prodigy has halted any immediate plans for a sequel to Star Trek: Voyager, disappointing fans of the show. ( www.msn.com )
The removal of Star Trek: Prodigy from Paramount+ has ruined any plans for a sequel to Star Trek: Voyager in the immediate future. Paramount recently announced the cancelation of Prodigy, despite season 2 being partly completed. Production will continue on season 2, while work continues to find Prodigy a new home on an...
Can someone give me adivice on how/where to get back into star trek?
As a kid i loved watching the next generation and deep space 9 with my dad. Ive always liked sci fi, more of a (stargate fan) and wanted to get back into star trek, but Im just so lost on timelines and whats going on. There are like 6 kirks and I have no idea how/where to get started with watching this again.
Master Replicas Launches Next Wave of Eaglemoss Star Trek Starships Stock Sales on Friday, July 28 ( blog.trekcore.com )
‘Dovercourt’ (likely S31 movie) moves up to ‘Preproduction’ in the DGC Ontario hotlist - more details ( www.dgc.ca )
There were media reports last week noting that a new CBS Studios production, under the pseudonym ‘Dovercourt’, had been added to the Rumour section of the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) Ontario hotlist....
Anyone else out there who actually really loved Discovery's S1 style of Klingons?
I am the kind of person who enjoys “big weird” scifi like Stanisław Lem. Stories about trying to relate to and find common ground with something so alien that the prospect of even understanding is basically hopeless. Star Trek usually doesn’t do stories that, which makes sense as it often uses alien races as allegories or...
‘Lower Decks’ Headed To The Big Screen For Star Trek Day; Interactive Novel Coming In 2024 ( trekmovie.com )
‘Planet X’ TNG crossover and more! Last week for July Star Trek ebook deals. ( www.simonandschuster.com )
If you’re not familiar, every month the main publisher of Trek fiction, Simon & Schuster puts out an offering of more than a half dozen ebooks for $ 0.99 in Canada and the US and at a similar low price in some other countries....
FanSets Unveils New Star Trek Badges and Pins Ahead of Las Vegas Convention ( blog.trekcore.com )
Preview “Under the Cloak of War” With New Images & Clip From ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Episode 208 ( trekmovie.com )
Star Trek: Discovery | Fifth and Final Season - Extended Clip | SDCC 2023 ( startrek.com )