'Star Trek: Picard' Official Thread

Mandarin collars!

Please get naked, Harry Treadaway!

r2 Also add Evan to that list...

A bunch of Charlie Nobodies to star with Patrick!

You know what, let's add Santiago to the naked list as well while we're at it.

My brain can't decide whether that's Michelle Hurd or Gina Torres in the voiceover. They have similar voices and Hurd would make more sense as she's in the main cast but... that clarity of voice is so very Torresian to me. Though Gina has her own show on NBC now so why would she be doing promo voiceover work for CBS?

Also, notice that the wine bottles say "Chateau Picard, Bourgogne, Franche-Comté, – 86".

[quote] CBS All Access

Bleehhh....

r7 All new Trek content (apart from the animated Nickelodeon show) is going to be on that platform. That's just something Trek fans will have to come to terms with and is probably the main reason why we're even getting this show and other Trek projects in the first place, as CBS wanted year-round Trek shows on there so people would remain subscribed.

Oh, and this show will be available on Amazon internationally, not on Netflix like ST: Discovery.

Would the unthinkable be the destruction of Romulus?

Because the destruction of the Enterprise wouldn't have killed the entire crew, as Riker and Troi were off on their own ship.

r9 I'm not sure. She says he "commanded the greatest rescue armada in history, [bold]then[/bold]... the unimaginable." Which makes me think something else happened after the destruction of Romulus.

First poster looks sweet.

As has been mentioned in the Discovery thread, today marks 25 years since TNG ended.

Here's my take from the trailer:

The narrator sounds Romulan: "15 years ago today your led us out of the darkness" assuming this means a rescue mission to Romulus.

The next interesting cue "then the unimaginable" after she says that the sun in the background flickers and he hear a faint boom and the hands in the shot mimic an explosion. Referring to the Romulus supernova.

However, the next phrase "what did that cost you, your faith? " suggests something massively tragic happened during the rescue mission.

"Your faith in us? Your faith in yourself" Picard blames himself for whatever happened?

"Tell US, why did you leave Starfleet, Admiral?" So, Picard was promoted after Nemesis but whatever happened on this resume mission ends with Picard leaving starfleet.

Take away from this: Basically we're getting a hero turned tragic hero story (so Picard is kind of going Luke Skywalker as I expected). Since the Picard show was announced and it was clear non of the TNG cast was returning, I have said I bet you in an unexpected twist they're all dead. I suspect that the supernova happens sooner than expected and destroys a huge chunk of the Federation fleet.

R12 Yup, someone on a Trek reddit pointed out that Picard's vinyard looks like a military cemetery with rows of crosses.

r12 Great breakdown! For some reason, I imagined the woman being an Earth reporter or a historian asking him these questions. Although that doesn't explain why she says he lead "us" out of the darkness.

On the other hand, doesn't her voice sound too soft and warm for a Romulan?

Makes you think that the crew has died. probably why other cast members haven't been called for this series yet.

Also, since this is, I think, set at the time Future Picard was in "All Good Things," does Patrick Stewart look older or younger than they made him up to be?

In this show...

... and in All Good Things.

So the beard is gone and of course his facial structure has aged in these 25 years.

What bothers me about the idea of a Romulus destruction by supernova is that it essentially puts into motion the Kelvin Timeline - which essentially wipes out TNG and Picard's timeline.

They seem more concerned about validating the Disco and Kelvin timelines.

DISCO is in the same timeline so that's a non-issue.

Kelvin splits off as soon as Spock travels back in time and that still remains the case. We're just witnessing what happened in the non-Kelvin timeline now. Such a huge disaster seems like a good starting point for any story so why come up with something else.

Losing Romulus would be a disaster for the quadrant--basically there's been a detente among the Romulan and Klingon empires and the Feds because of the power of each of the three, and it would be a problem for one to go. Also, suddenly there will be multiple star systems freed from Romulan rule now--where will they go for leadership?

[quote]Kelvin splits off as soon as Spock travels back in time and that still remains the case. We're just witnessing what happened in the non-Kelvin timeline now. Such a huge disaster seems like a good starting point for any story so why come up with something else.

That is not how time travel has ever worked in Trek. Timelines don't "split off" and create alternate realities in Trek - City on the Edge of Forever and Yesterday's Enterprise clearly demonstrate that, not to mention the existence of Sela.

You either don't buy into the notion of canonical timelines or you do. If you do, then Disco is not on the ToS timeline. If you don't, then it's fine and we can all move along. But, DL has another entire thread dedicated to Disco.

The concern I was identifying is that we want a Picard who makes sense with all that we know that reflect a character development and story arc unique to him, not one engineered to validate other contentious Trek offerings.

[quote]That is not how time travel has ever worked in Trek. Timelines don't "split off" and create alternate realities in Trek - City on the Edge of Forever and Yesterday's Enterprise clearly demonstrate that, not to mention the existence of Sela.

Spock (Kelvin Spock) has a line in the first Kelvin film that everything that happened in the Prime universe still happened, it just wouldn't happen again in their universe.

[quote]The concern I was identifying is that we want a Picard who makes sense with all that we know that reflect a character development and story arc unique to him, not one engineered to validate other contentious Trek offerings.

This IS that Picard. That's why they've always specified that the Kelvin timeline and the Prime timeline are different things. Because otherwise Prime Spock couldn't have existed in the Kelvin era.

Or, as Chief O'Brien famously said, I HATE temporal mechanics.

[quote]This IS that Picard. That's why they've always specified that the Kelvin timeline and the Prime timeline are different things. Because otherwise Prime Spock couldn't have existed in the Kelvin era.

We have no way to know that this IS that Picard. What we have is a setup that seems to rely heavily on a very contentious premise (the destruction of Romulus).

"THEY" have never specified that the Kelvin timeline and Prime timeline were different. It was fans who labeled it the Kelvin timeline and set it apart to distinguish from the prime timeline. "They" only adopted it after fighting it for a long time.

As for Spock prime existing in the Kelvin timeline, no instance of time travel prohibits it. However, explanations in the JJverse are dubious, just look at using the transporter to beam across the galaxy. While the Gamesters of Triskelion were able to do it, as well as a few other advanced races, starfleet has never been able to do it, yet Spoke Prime tells Scotty he invested it, so, there's that for dubious explanations.

So how soon will this be canceled before it airs because Michael Chabon wants to shoehorn explicit gay sex in, just like he tried with the ill-fated movie version of Kavalier & Clay?

R25, explicit gay sex is always welcome.

R12 Following on the TNG crew are all dead except Picard, people have noted that Picard's vineyard looks like crosses you would see in a military cemetery. Also when the narrator says "tell us why did you leave starfleet admiral" There are five bottles of red wine on display suggesting one for each Riker, Troi, Beverly, LaForge, and Worf harking back to Nemesis when the 6 remaining TNG crew drank a bottle of Picard's red wine to toast Data.

Is someone [italic]on Datalounge [/italic] actually complaining about explicit gay sex on TV, shoe-horned or otherwise? Please tell me you just worded that awkwardly.

Also, this is streaming, so just about anything goes. It will be up to the showrunner / exec producers to decide on the tone and the limits.

Mehhh, CBS All Access. Pure shit.

LeVar has aged in reverse!

Apparently the voiceover in the trailer was Merrin Dungey. I had assumed it was Michelle Hurd.

Merrin Dungey, wtf? Another entry in the "___ Is The Poor Man's ___" thread right there, at least when it comes to her voice. I'd've bet my left nut that was Gina Torres' voice.

[quote]Following on the TNG crew are all dead except Picard, people have noted that Picard's vineyard looks like crosses you would see in a military cemetery. Also when the narrator says "tell us why did you leave starfleet admiral" There are five bottles of red wine on display suggesting one for each Riker, Troi, Beverly, LaForge, and Worf harking back to Nemesis when the 6 remaining TNG crew drank a bottle of Picard's red wine to toast Data.

Whoever spotted this has an extremely good eye for easter eggs. Even if it's not correct, it's still a brilliant catch.

The loss of all his old friends and shipmates would certainly break Picard and see him leave starfleet. Can you imagine all of them dying because he gave an order during the evacuation of Romulus - all except Worf would have been either in command of starships or on them (Troi would have been with Riker on USS Titan).

Also, what sounds like the Ressikan flute playing the Trek theme at the end - it lends a bittersweet tone to the whole trailer.

I love this full orchestral of that tune Picard played in Inner Light.

Honestly, I cannot imagine that the rest of the crew is all dead. That type of sorrow doesn't ring true to me for a TNG / Picard story. It's imaginable if 'everybody lives' at the end of the story. Otherwise it would be quite a blow.

I hope for a political story. For example, Picard lead the effort to save Romulans, and in return they sacked the Federation. That might be a good reason for Picard having lost faith in himself and others having lost faith in him.

If Wesley Crusher isn’t there I won’t be either.

I think the theory that all the TNG crew except Picard are dead is a possibility. R27 pointed out the 5 wine bottles. If you watch the trailer in HD you can see the date on the bottles is 2386, the year before the Romulan supernova suggesting that was the last time they were all together?

That being said, I'm not willing to believe the writers/CBS are willing to risk the wrath of TNG fans by killing everyone off. That's a massive gamble and given the fact CBS now seems to be going out of its way to please fans now.

The narrator says something about did that cost you? Your faith in us, faith in yourself. I'm going to say Picard was the champion of the rescue mission to Romulas, possibly at the behest of Spock. Something happens and a lot of people end up dying that day. My hunch is that Romulans do something like attack the Armada or destroy Vulcan or something massive because they' believe the federation caused the supernova.

If they kill the rest of the TNG cast off, I’m going to be doing some serious rage posting. I don’t think they would do it, though. Unless they plan on using time travel for him to bring them back.

Another thing to keep in mind is that we know based on things Kurtzman and leaked casting sheet, that the story does involves Picard on some kind of mission but not with any active Starfleet offers. The question is, what is this mission? Is it something Picard feels will rectify a "mistake" he made?

Does no one do shows on TV anymore? It maybe a show that I am interested in, but I ain't going to see it bc it is on paid cbs. Who the fuck pays for CBS?

It is possible that the other TNG crew might be dead, but I also would not count out some of them not making an appearance, regardless of what they have said or what has been reported. If any of them were to appear on the new Picard series, I would expect it to be kept completely hush, hush, until the episode is released. It would be like how with the Norman Lear special this week, they kept Marla Gibbs' appearance a secret until she walked through the door, and twitter erupted.

[quote]Does no one do shows on TV anymore?

r40 Shows, yes. Trek shows? No, that time is over. Discovery would have bombed on CBS, people overseas wouldn't have seen it and it wouldn't have become an international hit, which also means no Picard, no Lower Decks, no Section 31, no Short Treks, and no Starfleet Academy. There's just no way to replicate the era of Voyager and DS9 airing at the same time on TV anymore.

[quote]Who the fuck pays for CBS?

Trek fans who want more Trek content? Paying for a month of AA to binge the show once it's aired seems like a small price to pay to have five new Trek projects concurrently in production. In the past, people supported Trek by going to conventions, there were fundraisers for fan-made shows etc. Seems like a non-issue when you really think about it.

Judging by the replies, this thread is going to be a right mess when they kill off the old crew in a single line of dialogue in the first episode. Which I'd be perfectly fine with. I just want to know Lwaxana is alive and happy somewhere.

If the crew is all dead, then is it too much to ask that Picard be reunited with Dr. Pulaski for an adventure.

I bet Patrick would love that.

Gates McFadden looks like the cryptkeeper in that photo.

By this time Alexander should be the Emperor of the Klingon Empire.

Bitch, we all on the cryptkeeper trajectory.

r44 I think she's pretty much retired at this point. This photo was taken seven years ago, btw.

She also loathed working on TNG.

Wow, I just checked and her last acting credit is in 1993! She been retired for a hot minute, y'all.

r46 That is one possibility...

[quote]Since leaving the screen, however, Bonsall has had several run-ins with the law. In 2001, he was convicted of driving under the influence, and in 2004, he was arrested under suspicion of drunk driving. On 28 March 2007, Bonsall, who lives in Colorado, was arrested for charges of second-degree assault and false imprisonment after an altercation with his girlfriend. In a plea agreement, Bonsall pled guilty to third-degree assault and the other charges were dropped. He was then sentenced to 24 months' probation on 31 August 2007.

[quote]In June 2008, Bonsall was accused of violating the conditions of his probation by failing to pay for domestic violence classes, missing daily Breathalyzer tests, failing one Breathalyzer test, and walking out on a urine test. He was due to appear in a court hearing scheduled for 16 July 2008 to answer for these alleged probation violations. Bonsall failed to show at the hearing, however, and authorities issued an arrest warrant for the former actor, coupled with a $2,500 bond.

[quote]On 5 December 2009, Bonsall was arrested in Boulder, Colorado, for allegedly assaulting his friend with a bar stool. Bonsall has since been sentenced to two years probation.

Klingons expect their leaders to be nasty. This little bastard easily qualifies.

[bold]Interview: Kate Mulgrew On The Legacy Of ‘Voyager,’ ‘Star Trek: Picard,’ AOC, And More[/bold]

[quote]Q: Patrick Stewart’s doing a new show, playing Picard 20 years after the events of the movie, Nemesis, which you were also in. And what interested him about it was that it was this exploration of what he’s done and who he is 20 years after all of this. So, if someone pitched to you, “The character of Janeway 20 years later,” what about that character would you want to explore and where do you think she would be?

[quote]M: I did it on Voyager. I played at the admiral, I did it. I think I did it.

[quote]M: I don’t know. It surprised me when Patrick came out on the stage—I was there that day—and announced it. It surprised me that he wanted to. But I think he knows it will probably have a shot at being quite a hit. And there’s no one who likes to work as much as Patrick Stewart. And for him it will probably be very successful. Picard was beloved. Yeah, it’ll be interesting. I don’t know what to say about Janeway. Seven years is a long time to play a character. I’m not sure that she would enjoy resuscitation. She was a very, very vibrant person, while she was.

I liked Dr Pulaski, she had personality, something that was sorely missing in TNG characters, certainly in the beginning. She would have worked on DS9. Just imagine Pulaski against Quark and Dukat. Always got a dykie vibe from Muldaur. She could have been the female equivalent to Garak, the out-in-the-open hidden gay character on DS9. In a way I guess Kira took some of those traits.

I like Pulaski a lot more as an adult than I did as a gayling.

r54 Right there with you. Saw her as a party pooper back then but now I AM her.

R54 When I watched season 2 after it came out on bluray, I came around to Pulaski. She's basically a bitchy old queen. She was a far more interesting character than Crusher and Muldaur was a much better actress. About Diana Muldaur, she originally planned to retire from acting shortly before she was ask by Gene Roddenberry to join TNG. She and her husband had bought a home in Arizona when Gene asked her to come on the show as a personal favor to him. She has a miserable time on the show and Patrick Stewart loathed her because she had trouble memorizing the medical jargon in her lines. In both the blurays and Shatner's TNG documentary, Stewart hints at his dislike for her. Indeed, when they were doing the blurays for season 2, she refused to give an interview until about a week before the deadline. She agreed to do it after they assured her they would keep her appearance positive. After TNG, she went on to huge success on LA Law but shortly after her run on that show, her husband was diagonsed with cancer and she retired to care for him. After he died, she moved back to Martha's Vineyard, where she grew up, and had lead a very low key life. It's been rumored for some time that's in declining health.

Shatner got her to agree to an interview for his TNG documentary. I get why she wouldn't be fond of talking about her experiences, but she kind of cunted it up.

[quote]In both the blurays and Shatner's TNG documentary, Stewart hints at his dislike for her.

In other words, r44 was being facetious when they said Stewart would love working with her again? That one went straight over my head, though I've never been a TNG expert.

[quote]It's been rumored for some time that's in declining health.

She's like 120, of course she's in declining health!

R57 She worked with Shatner twice in TOS and has always spoken highly of him so I'm guessing she did it as a personal favor. I believe some of her cunty vibe in that documentary came from they way it was edited together. The season 2 TNG blu-ray interviews do her far more justice and she is much more upbeat and positive in that one. Side note, apparently when the blu-ray producers filmed their interview with her, she had just been released from the hospital a day or two before from complications due to pneumonia. but in her defence she was treated terribly by most of the TNG cast. Her interview with the Television Archives (which is on YouTube I think) she says, without saying it directly, that the only person who was chummy with her was Michael Dorn.

In the Shatner documentary, Stewart says his relationship with Muldaur was "awkward"

I think Stewart was one of the key players in getting Gates rehired after that producer who disliked her left. Gates and he probably got along because they were both theatre actors.

I agree with liking Pulaski way more as an adult than as a kid. I honestly barely remembered her until I rewatched the series because I was so young when her season first aired. I can’t imagine why the show runners thought viewers would be receptive to her character (has an older female curmudgeon ever really gone over well with male viewers?)

That said, I still enjoyed Crusher. Sure, there wasn’t anything interesting about the character, but I think I just liked her as a gayling because she was intelligent, subdued, and because Gates was beautiful in a sophisticated way (unlike Troi, who I knew, even at a young age, was there mostly there to show off her tits in her revealing loungewear).

[quote]Is someone on Datalounge actually complaining about explicit gay sex on TV, shoe-horned or otherwise?

Yes, R28 - there's a strong paid troll presence here - Russian, alt-right, etc - and they're straight, 'tho they occasionally masquerade as gay... poorly.

R62 Honestly, I dislike explicit sex of any kind in most shows, because it is rarely done correctly and turns out about as hot as ice cubes.

I don't think the TNG crew are dead. Riker and Troi had their own ship, Georgi was promoted and probably transferred to another ship to be Captain, Worf was off doing whatever after DS9, Crusher was at Starfleet medical...

[bold]The Next Generation star Marina Sirtis recalls having to "win over" the Star Trek audience[/bold]

[quote]"The fans hated the fact that we were on," she told Graham Norton on his BBC Radio 2 show today (May 25). "I mean people assume because we became so successful that it was always that way. But no, I would go to conventions where there were like 30 people and they'd all be sitting with their arms crossed going, 'how dare you take the place of our heroes.' So we really had to win our audience."

[quote]TNG's lead, Sir Patrick Stewart, is due to revive his character Jean-Luc Picard in new spin-off show Picard, though Sirtis admitted she had "no idea" if the rest of the original crew are involved in the show. "It's being guarded better than Trump is guarding the nuclear codes right now," she joked, though did reveal what she does know about Picard.

[quote]"I know that it's 25 years into the future, and it's not like hearts and flowers as TNG was," the actress continued. "Apparently Patrick, when he told us he apologised for doing it without us... he said it's a little more dystopic, a little more reflective of how society is now."

[quote]I think Stewart was one of the key players in getting Gates rehired after that producer who disliked her left

Didn't like her? The thing he didn't like was that she wouldn't fuck him.

Yup, she refused to get #MeToo'd, which back then of course translated as "the producer didn't like her, she was difficult to work with etc..." Good for her for holding her own.

[quote] Didn't like her? The thing he didn't like was that she wouldn't fuck him.

The same situation arose on rival show Babylon 5. Patricia Tallman was cast as the station telepath for the pilot episode. She brushed off some UPN network executive who told the producer they needed a different actress. The show was halfway though its arc before they could get her back on the show.

[quote]The Next Generation star Marina Sirtis recalls having to "win over" the Star Trek audience

I just re-watched the pilot of TNG and she was completely shit in it. No wonder it took time to win over the crowd.

Oh, come on, the TOS pilot (both of them, actually) was shit as well when it comes to acting. VOY and ENT probably had the strongest acting right out of the gate.

[quote]The show was halfway though its arc before they could get her back on the show.

That was also a function of Andrea Thompson being a total cunt and getting fired and/or quitting.

I personally don't think they'd kill off the TNG characters without at least giving the actors a courtesy notification and no way Marina Sirtis would not freak out about. She's still bitching that her character was dead in the alternative future shown in "All Good Things." Also Marina's interview posted in R65 claims that Stewart apologized to the other for their not being in the new show which make me think he would not have agreed to do it if they killed off all the characters or at least would have asked their permission.

With that in mind, it's likely Picard feels heavily responsible for whatever happened 15 years ago, and in the process he's basically cut himself off from everyone he knew, including his old shipmates and friends.

Seems like most fans on the Trek subreddit would like to see Q in the Picard series.

Who the hell is Vash and why isn't Lwaxana on there?

Vash was an Indiana Jones type archaeologist Picard fell in competition with and also into the sack. However when last seen by me she ran off with Q.

Very hot lady back in her day. She's probably a little old great grandmother now.

No Q. DeLancie is a big baked ham, and the character makes no sense.

No Q.

No Gash.

[quote]why isn't Lwaxana on there?

Because Majel Barrett died almost 10 years ago?

I like John DeLancie, but would rather they not use Q. While it's true that any sufficiently advance science is indistinguishable from magic, I'd still prefer that they not use actual magic. I like several of the things they did with Q like sending them to meet the Borg or Tapestry, a little goes a long way with the Q.

[quote]Vash was an Indiana Jones type archaeologist Picard fell in competition with and also into the sack. However when last seen by me she ran off with Q.

She got dumped in the Gamma Quadrant and made a pitstop at DS9 before she went back to scheming.

I can't remember a damn thing about Nemesis.

[quote]Because Majel Barrett died almost 10 years ago?

And, unless you want to really incur the wrath of Trek fans, you would NOT recast that role. Majel Barrett was and will always remain The First Lady of Star Trek. I went to a local Trekkie club meeting, once as a child, because I was such a huge TNG and DS9 fan. I never went back because it was so strange. The meeting started with a member being dismissed, for disrespecting "The First Lady of Star Trek" Majel Barrett and disrespecting the memory of "The Queen Mother of Star Trek" Lucille Ball, those were the titles that that club used, I don't know if others call them that or not.

"First Lady of Star Trek" is used frequently. "Queen Mother of Star Trek" is something I've never heard before, and am frankly kind of creeped out by.

Rebecca Romjin's Number One was well received, tho.

R81 Yeah, they were a creepy bunch, it is why I never went back, and why I consider my self a Trek fan but NOT a Trekkie.

Trek fans do owe Lucy a debt of gratitude, because if it wasn't for her TOS would have never gotten made. As head of Desilu, she overruled her board twice to finance both the original and second pilot. I was happy when ENT did the episode about Vulcans coming to Earth in the 1950s, they mentioned one of them liking I Love Lucy. But, calling her the Queen Mother of Star Trek is just crazy.

Vivian Vance was really a Romulan surgically altered to appear human.

It was The Face of the Enemy in reverse!

Producers of the Picard series as well as hints from Stewart and others is that the show is going to use present day events to influence much of the story line. I believe that the series will be directly influenced by the refugee and immigration issues happening around the world. My guess is Picard spearheads the mission the save Romulan refugees displaced after the destruction of their home world. At some point the some of the refugees Picard saves, actually turn out to be "extremists" and commit some kind of terrorist attack against the federation. As a result, the Federation creates something a kin to refugee centres where the Romulans are forced to live. Picard feels betrayed by all sides and resigns and basically goes to lead a reclusive life on his vineyard.

[quote]Producers of the Picard series as well as hints from Stewart and others is that the show is going to use present day events to influence much of the story line. I believe that the series will be directly influenced by the refugee and immigration issues happening around the world. My guess is Picard spearheads the mission the save Romulan refugees displaced after the destruction of their home world. At some point the some of the refugees Picard saves, actually turn out to be "extremists" and commit some kind of terrorist attack against the federation. As a result, the Federation creates something a kin to refugee centres where the Romulans are forced to live. Picard feels betrayed by all sides and resigns and basically goes to lead a reclusive life on his vineyard.

It probably is something along those lines.

So, the kicker becomes what is the inciting incident or key event that draws Picard and his ragtag crew of young hotties back into the mix.

That doesn't really sound like the touchy-feely Federation, though.

Granted, DS9 showed that people would do a lot of non-Federation things if they were afraid or desperate.

[quote] I believe that the series will be directly influenced by the refugee and immigration issues

Whether Picard is a good show or not I still won't subscribe to watch CBS but I do hope it won't be yet another political soapbox show. Did they learn nothing from the Murphy Brown reboot.

[quote] DS9 showed that people would do a lot of non-Federation things if they were afraid or desperate.

One of my favorite scenes.

Does anyone here remember the episode of TNG where a Klingon tries to kill Worf's son Alexander only for it to be revealed that this Klingon man is Alexander from far in the future who is trying to kill himself because he somehow causes Warf's death and can't live with the guilt? If they do kill Warf off do you think they'll pay enough attention to their own canon to have Alexander involved somehow?

It wouldn't surprise me if they killed off the entire crew. Modern sci-fi series all seem bound and determined to destroy canon and ditch fans in favor of all new, glossy, mass appeal shows.

Doctor Who did something very similar by destroying Gallifrey and all the Time Lords. And don't get me started on them making the Doctor a woman.

Canon needs to be shorn and adapted when it's grown to such an extent that it's interfering with quality storytelling. This is the business of entertainment we're talking about, not religion. You can always turn to scripture if canon gets you off.

Nothing about the The Doctor's character ever flowed from him being of one particular sex - he is an alien, after all - so him being a man has nothing to do with canon, and everything to do with societal attitudes of the era when the show first started. Thank the gods someone eventually questioned that. Who knows, perhaps one day some brave soul will question his sexuality and race as well and we'll get a Latino gay Doctor. But whatever, this isn't the proper thread for that discussion.

One last thing about Doctor Who: Gallifrey and the time lords can come back any time. If memory serves me right they only have been tugged away during the time war. But they could - and I think have been - brought back any time.

Personally I don't think they need to be as drastic as that in Star Trek. But maybe I am biased. The frame work for the Federation isn't that elaborate imo that they need to discard it. But who knows. I am curious.

My actual pet peeve is spoilers. I try to learn as little as possible about the plots and stories, so I can be genuinely surprised. It's a really tough challenge. And I probably don't make it easier on myself by following this thread or watching trailers. CBS is the worst offender itself. They have been revealing way too much about DSC. And even if I am really diligent, some stupid 'paid content' crosses me on a totally un-related website saying something like 'Star Trek Picard: The writers explain why everybody had to die in the pilot.'

[quote]Canon needs to be shorn and adapted when it's grown to such an extent that it's interfering with quality storytelling. This is the business of entertainment we're talking about, not religion. You can always turn to scripture if canon gets you off.

Yes and no. There is nothing about canon that interferes with good storytelling, per se. Lack of imagination and poorly drawn characters does that. The decision to go back to a pre-ToS era and give Spock and adopted human sister created continuity problems because they wanted to take a short-cut, rather than go through the quality storytelling necessary to create their own unique mythos within the Trek universe.

It is the love of details and the endless debates about whether a Vor'cha class starship can outgun a Galaxy class ship or whether the Organian Peace Treaty covered certain events that has kept the diehard fans of some shows like Trek alive. When there were no new shows or movies, it was the fans' love of details and trivia that kept the show alive.

More than fan service with adding Spock to the story or Pike (albeit, everyone loves Anson Mount's Pike), they want the continuity to create as seamless a tapestry as possible. Even the discrepancies drive canon-based debates about why they are or are not discrepancies. At a basic level, if someone doesn't like the Trek canon, why bother with Trek at all. If you don't want to work within the boundaries of established rules of the universe, why not create your own.

Also, it's not a scripture-like love of canon and devotion for devotion's sake that bothers people. If you read a bad book that has all sorts of details and internally inconsistent and contradictory details, you just get irritated. Good storytelling requires that established in-universe rules and backgrounds to remain constant - sci fi and fantasy don't work if the rules of the technology or magic systems are not internally consistent and always true.

The real long-term value of the Trek franchise is in the diehard fans who stuck, and stick, with it through good and bad. Without the core base of fans, it's not going to be nearly as lucrative financially as it could or should be. I get the irritation that some of these diehard fans have - it's like the producers are basically saying, "shut up and give us your money."

Well, I of course disagree with your points completely. Canon obviously restricts you in all sorts of way, consciously and subconsciously, and naturally leads to staleness in time. It should always come secondary to storytelling and character development. But we watch Trek for different thing and we'll never get to the bottom of this debate. We've tried it numerous times in the DISCO thread already and never came very far, so perhaps it would be best to focus on something else.

r92 I didn't make it clear in the opening post but this thread wasn't meant as a spoilers thread. I post casting announcements, teasers, trailers, and stuff about the costumes and props. I hope people won't start posting detailed plot descriptions or anything like that.

Having said that, the questions of the old cast returning and the Romulus catastrophe are so big in this instance, that the discussion around that is pretty much unavoidable. Personally, I find such speculation the most exciting part, although of course I understand your no-spoilers preference as well.

[quote]But we watch Trek for different thing and we'll never get to the bottom of this debate.

I don't want to debate the issue of canon. I want to understand something much more basic.

Why bother with Trek as a writer (or viewer) if the basic universe that it creates is not appealing (other than for financial reasons which is seemingly CBS's purpose with All Access). Without the in-universe details, it's just science fiction in space - and any well-told story should suffice.

Without the specific details, it's not Trek - which is perfectly fine. There are plenty of sci fi shows I've enjoyed that aren't Trek that created their own mythos, operating rules, and details.

[quote]Canon obviously restricts you in all sorts of way, consciously and subconsciously, and naturally leads to staleness in time. It should always come secondary to storytelling and character development.

Storytelling and character development and canon are not contradictory. I'm not sure what you see as canon, but to me, it's simply established story details on how the world works, including personal histories. If you don't operate within established parameters, you end up with a lot of poor storytelling from silly plot devices, deus ex machina, and out of character reversals that come from left field. You end up with melodrama, not story.

So what do we think the odds are of us getting a gay character? There are four male characters listed in this character breakdown, not including Picard. One of them is an EMH, so that (probably) doesn't count. I bet they'll switch it up and give us a lesbian, as DISCO already has two gay guys.

[quote]One of them is an EMH, so that (probably) doesn't count.

I don't know - if he's a sentient EMH like the Doctor form VOY - I'd count it. The Doctor had a virtual hard-on for Kes and Seven, so why not.

I'd say the odds are 50/50. They had both Reno and Stamets on Disco, so it may make sense to go easy. Even in the nonchalanet-about-the-gays 24th century, we're still not going to be more than 10% of humans running around the Federation. If they were to do it, it would be purely to make up for lost time, rather than a realistic portrayal of gay people.

R95/Op, I actually didn't have this thread in mind, or any other specific thread. I was more thinking about the general challenge avoiding spoilers. Understandably every website wants to post any info available. And it's hard to filter through articles you want to read, like general announcements on air dates for example, and those you don't want to read because they remove the surprise elements. And nowadays websites don't try to make it clear anymore in advance if they include spoilers or not. Also: Sometimes it's your own standard what counts as spoiler and what is just general info. A couple weeks ago, they published who got cast for what character. I don't want to know that. Just tell me who got cast, and let me find out their characters when I watch the first episode.

[quote]Also: Sometimes it's your own standard what counts as spoiler and what is just general info.

I think that's unavoidably always a subjective standard. Some people consider even a trailer or a casting announcement to be a spoiler, while my standard only includes major plot points and the final episode of the season. Even then, I'm much more curious about how the story is written and shot and lit and acted, so wouldn't care if I got spoiled accidentally. It really is different from person to person.

Is Jonathan Frakes hinting at something?! This comes on the heels of Marina's appearance on Graham Norton's radio show that she is filming something in LA later this summer that she cannot talk about.

I can see her "counseling" Picard.

R101 I'd say yes. It would be crazy to make a Picard show and not feature some of the old crew in at least a limited basis. And, it would unnecessarily piss off fans.

To add something about the Muldaur background. Most of the TNG cast were seriously pissed off that Muldaur was the second highest paid cast member after only Stewart. The most vocal being Frakes & Sirtis. Muldaur needing cue cards and her special relationship with Roddenberry (previous fuck buddies) & management only inflamed the situation.

Maurice Hurley was the producer that wanted to fuck ol' Beverly, which she declined. Though Production had a lot of problems with McFadden's hair (another Trek hair debacle). It was thin and needed constant attention, which required re shoots and continual adjustments which in turn cost time & money. McFadden also had the habit of complaining and making suggestions to the writing staff about her material and wanting more lines and screen time, so she was seen by execs as problematic. Also the execs simply felt the character hadn't worked as they had intended, so it was a few reasons why McFadden was fired at the end of the season. If McFadden hadn't have been fired it would have been Sirtis, who missed blocks of episodes and had little screen time in season one because the writers simply didn't know what to do with her. Having lost all three women would have looked bad, even in the eighties, so she was kept on. Sirtis will say that her fan campaigning saved her, but that had no affect at the end of the day.

Muldaur had no intention of doing season 3 (hated the atmosphere and prosthetic make up from filming an episode), though she informed execs rather late in the day. Some of the writers wanted to have the chief medical officer character change every season, other execs hated the idea. They also had reservations that what if the third change of character ultimately failed they'd be back to square one. So with a major change of staff behind the scenes (Piller & Berman in, Roddenberry (finally) & Hurley out) and the prevailing theme being better the devil you know and Steward campaigning for McFadden; McFadden came back (now with wig).

R104 Most of what you say is true but just a couple of minor tweaks. Gates McFadden used her natural hair in "Encounter at Farpoint" but following that she wore wigs until early season 6 when she switched back to her actual hair. Marina Sirtis also used her natural hair in the pilot but then wore wigs until First Contact.

Muldaur was indeed paid more than everyone except Patrick Stewart since she was a fairly well respected TV actress by this point in her career. There is an interview with her somewhere (I tried googling but couldn't find it) done when she had just joined TNG. It's also rumored that Muldar was originally supposed to be credited after Jonathan Frakes in the opening credits (it would have been starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes Also Starring Diana Muldaur, Levar Burton etc.) apparently the cast had a fit and she settled on being credited as "Special Guest Star"

Muldaur's departure was a mutual decision. She hated working on the show and the character didn't work out the way producers had hoped. Gates returned because Stewart and the fans had been campaigning for it.

Today marks half a century since TOS ended. Feels longer somehow.

I had no idea Sirtis and McFadden wore wigs, though it seems obvious in hindsight - Sirtis' hair was too bushy to be natural (for a white woman) and Beverly's was always the same and dry af. Though both of the wigs looked seamless, which is a nice achievement for that era.

I can totally believe McFadden's thin hair was a nightmare to shoot in the first season. It's completely front-loaded at all times and if she turned around in this shot, there'd be nothing there but her scalp.

Why did they take Marina out of her snazzy Starfleet mini in the pilot and put her in that God awful burlap jumper the rest of season one?

Occasionally, you'd also see Yar move from the pants to mini until they killed her off but you never saw McFadden in the mini. Too old?

I missed seeing the hot guys in the mini, too. Very sexy.

Too bad we never got to see Riker or Wesley in the mini.

r107 Because she looked like a girl in that mini, when she was supposed to be the ship's councillor. The catsuits that followed weren't much better, though, and I can't believe ENT was still using them. I'm so glad we've moved on from those. About the only thing that sexy about Discovery's uniforms are the padded male butts, and that's exactly how it should have been from the start.

The wigs they gave Gates to wear were very well-made.

The wig Marina originally wore, however, looked like it came from the clearance bin at KMart. They put her in the miniskirt because she was "the hot chick" on the show, but by today's Hollywood standards she would be considered a little fat.

What is a councillor?

r110 Those bands were a lifesaver for the hair department. You literally just clip on a wig and wrap a band around it.

r111 I don't like correcting my mistakes after someone has already made another post as it just clogs up the thread. But if you're interested:

[quote]A "councillor" is a member of a local government council.

There. You learn something new every day, don't you?

I have an odd obsession with the hair in Star Trek for some odd reason, so here's some "useful" knowledge I've amassed over the years.

As others have stated, Gates McFadden wore her natural hair when they shot the pilot partly because Gates was doing at play in NYC while they were filming the pilot. She was only available for a few days during the shot, so they didn't have a time to stylize her. Apparently her hair looked thin and the heat from the lights cause it to go flat (this was the 80s where volume was in). Starting with the "Naked Now" she wore a wig. She wore her natural hair once in Season Three's "The Enemy" but it was in season six's "True Q" they switched permanently to her natural hair.

R110 The picture of Marina Sirtis you posted is not a wig, it's her real hair. Marina has stated that the only time you see her natural hair in TNG is in "Encounter at Farpoint" As she said "yes that overgrown brillo pad was my hair." Gates wore synthetic wigs during season one as did Marina. When Gates returned in Season Three, she was given expensive real hair wigs while Marina was stuck with the cheap ones. According to Marina herself, this was a bone of contention between Gates and Marina for a period of time. Marina did get real hair wigs in season six when they switched her to a regular uniform. Marina uses her real hair in First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis.

Kate Mulgrew also wore wigs for her whole time on Voyager except for most of Season Four and in Season Seven's "Workforce." Mulgrew wore her natural hair for a week of filming of the pilot "Caretaker" but apparently Paramount Executives worried it made her look too youthful and so was born the infamous Janeway bun. If you watch Caretaker, you can see her hairstyle and color changes several times throughout the episode. They started her off as more redheaded and curly, then brown and straight. Mulgrew hated the focus on her hair and in Season Four they cut her real hair into a short bob but Mulgrew loathed it. IN season 5 to the end of the show, Mulgrew wore wigs.

I hated Nana Visitor's short, dykey cut in the early seasons of DS9 along with that bulky uniform. When she went to the one-piece uniform with longer hair, she looked so much more beautiful.

r113 Thanks for that. Love, love, love hair trivia!

VOY is my favourite Trek and I've worshipped Mulgrew since forever, and yet I had no idea she wore wigs, especially later on. So I'm kinda shocked right now.

I'm just wondering why Julia Roberts' wig in Homecoming looks so bad and obvious in 2019, while all these Trek wigs look perfectly acceptable. Is it HD to blame?

So this was never Kate's real hair, but a wig?

What Troi's hair almost was to be, but they chickened out.

r116 That's so crazy to me; the hairline is virtually unclockable!

Although I've been googling her now and this particular hairstyle does seem exactly the same in so many episodes that it's now really obvious it was a wig. And it looks super shiny, almost plastic-y.

[quote] before she went back to scheming

We loved scheming.

Who watches this shit? Patrick Stewart should retire already. But I guess he wants the money, even if he does have to do the stupid Star Trek thing again.

R117, that looks awful on her.

And the puke green eyeshadow! Ugh!

[quote] Marina did get real hair wigs in season six when they switched her to a regular uniform. Marina uses her real hair in First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis.

She also didn't get her own custom uniform once she finally got to wear it. She was stuck in one of the stock pieces they had for the extras.

There used to be a video on YouTube of her at a convention talking about filming a holodeck sequence wearing an outfit from K-Mart the same week that Nana Visitor was debuting her $4K custom leather mirror universe catsuit.

[quote]I hated Nana Visitor's short, dykey cut in the early seasons of DS9 along with that bulky uniform. When she went to the one-piece uniform with longer hair, she looked so much more beautiful.

I didn't mind the look of the second version of the uniform, but I didn't like the heels. It pissed Nana off, but she eventually decided that even if they were going to make the character more sexualized, she wasn't going to let it change her performance. Of course, these were the same producers that wouldn't allow Kira to get promoted until the final season because they didn't like the alliterative sound of "Colonel Kira."

I really liked the bob she had in the pilot. I don't think Nana was wrong when she said that Kira wouldn't give a shit about doing her hair, but she definitely looked better when it was longer and shaped.

Surprised no-one has noticed this yet...those bottles of wine are supposed to be from Burgundy ("Bourgogne") but they are clearly not standard Burgundy red wine bottles - someone has filled up some Bordeaux bottles instead. Guess it's hard to find Burgundy bottles in SoCal. Also, no-one in Burgundy calls their wine "Chateau" X.....again, mixing up with Bordeaux.

R105/R113 Sorry, but you're wrong. Gates wore her natural hair all throughout season one. Notice her hair is a darker shade of red compared to later seasons and the amount of flyaways and lack of continuity between shots should tell you. Plus it always looked flat and had no volume.

Marina also wore her natural hair for the first few episodes of season 6. Notice her hair is a completely different style compared to those episodes that just preceded it and just after it. This was confirmed in the Next Generation companion.

R110 She was considered too fat by executives back then too. Producers called Marina to tell her to lose weight and that's why her skant was retired after the pilot.

R114 Nana Visitor herself got the dykey cut because she thought it matched her character better than her hair in the Pilot. Some execs were pissed because, like you said, it made her look dykey and unnattractive.

R124 I was at a convention in Toronto in 2012 where Gates talked about having a dozen wigs the first season of the show.

Not calling you a liar R125, but Gates is obviously misremembering facts. It was written about and Gates herself talked about it in conventions in the early 2000s. You are right though, she did use her real hair in some season six episodes due to how uncomfortable the wigs were, but ultimately the wigs were easier to fix and more manageable and looked better on camera due to her thin hair.

She had a dozen wigs in later seasons and would use one each day of production filming. She is getting on so I could see how she could be confused.

Her hair issues in season one were used as one of the reasons to have her fired at the end of season one as well.

Gates as Mrs Jack Ryan

The wigs were uncomfortable? Initially I thought 'oh good, she gets to wear wigs, that cuts down on her prep time before filming.' Shouldn't an actress be happy about that? You put on your wig, powder your nose and off you are to the soundstage. If a wig is a little bit of a drag she probably couldn't complain to Michael Dorn about it.

R128 I find that interesting too because Marina Sirtis has always said the reason she stuck with wearing a wig was it meant that her hair could be done when she wasn't in the room.

R118 The reason why Kate's hairline looks so natural is because they probably used part of her natural hairline and blended it into the wig. When I worked in theater this was a common method of making a wig look more natural. Gates twitted once that what we saw on TV was a mix of her natural hairline and a wig.

I still can't get over the fact that Trek characters in the '90s rocked better wigs than an A-lister in 2018.

I was just about to say that you'd never find hair/wig conversations on the official Trek subreddit, so I decided to verify that and lo and behold - there was a question about the wigs on TNG just yesterday! Hair is so interesting to me and - get ready now - more important than any damn canon. Yes, I said it.

Even if they don't have a lot of the older characters doing much, I sort of wish that they had used Tom and B'Elanna's daughter or Miles and Keiko's daughter or son for at least one of these new, young characters.

I mean, who wouldn't want to see someone like Alex Landi as Miles and Keiko's son...

Hardly anyone is clamouring to see the B-list characters' crotchfruit. Either bring in the main ones or don't bother as it'll just come across as an even harder slap in the face for the old cast.

On the topic of Kate Mulgrew's hair: I actually think it's a partial wig rather than a full wig. If you look at her hair in this picture, the top seems to be her natural hair (her hairline is too real looking to be fake) but then if you look at the right side of the picture, you can see her real hair being tucked behind her ear and likely tied into a bun at the back. The bob from the end of her part is "partial crown wig" which they bend into the front of the hairline to give it a more natural look.

r134 Fascinating. Is it just me or are wigs not used as often anymore on TV? I don't think anyone was wearing a wig even in ENT, let alone in the new DISCO. Hair extensions, sure, but outright wigs?

For example, there's so much hair action going on in this BLL season 2 still, and yet no one is wearing a wig. Shailene looks the most wiggy but that's her own hair that was intentionally distressed for some narrative reason, probably to differentiate her from her more affluent friends. Maybe hair care has gotten so much better these days that there's no need for wigs anymore? I bet keratin treatment would have done wonders for McFadden back in the day.

[quote]I don't think anyone was wearing a wig even in ENT

Seriously?

[quote]Hardly anyone is clamouring to see the B-list characters' crotchfruit. Either bring in the main ones or don't bother as it'll just come across as an even harder slap in the face for the old cast.

It's not an issue of "clamouring" to see B-list characters' crotchfruit (Miles was main cast on DS9 and probably had a lot more to do than Beverly, Deanna, and probably even Riker in most episodes since DS9 was more ensemble than TNG. Obviously, Tom and B'Elanna were main cast on VOY.).

It's a question of continuity and the idea that even if the shows ended, the stories and lives - the world they shows created - continued. All the Trek shows inhabited the same world. If they're going to have characters who aren't the older ones, then I'd argue that having at least on of the kids would actually make sense and would be somewhat interesting to see them trying to live up to the reputations of their very famous parents, giving them a solid story arc.

I'm much more interested in story and world building that the egos of actors and whether it's a slap in anyone's face to be included, or not, in a new series.

The story and the worldbuilding can be done without including those elements. The galaxy is a large place, after all, so it seems weird he'd encounter the kids of those B-list characters. And like I've said, no one is clamouring for that.

r136 I'm on my fourth ENT rewatch right now and while it looks natural in motion, the wigginess is kinda unmistakable in stills.

[quote] And like I've said, no one is clamouring for that.

Yes, and simply repeating it makes a more compelling point.

R135 Sonequa Martin-Green wears a wig on Discovery because she has long hair in real life. They also gave Michelle Yeoh terrible hair extensions in season 2.

Alex Landi is too hot to play Miles O'Brien's son.

r140 I had no idea! So the lesson here seems to be that Trek has some of the best wig game on TV. Wish their makeup department was just as good because they did not handle the transition to HD well at all. They still struggle at times.

Speaking of hairlines, Romijn's was (heavily) digitally blurred in every closeup to hide the lace. I saw the original one in a couple of behind the scenes photos and it looked fine, but I guess they wanted a cleaner look, with zero fake flyaways.

Not to derail the thread, but Alex Landi's dog content on Insta is truly amazing. He annoys that spoiled little bat with kisses the exact same way I do my parrot. What do we know about his personal life?

Sorry for the corny music but this montage from Voyager's Season 7 episode "Workforce" is Kate's real hair and then the wig is on in the final shot. Her real hair is a thinner, but I think it makes her look younger, the wig doesn't flatter her face as well.

r144 Incredible, her hair at the very end changed during that cut and yet the vast majority would never notice it. Agreed that her real hair is pretty nice and healthy and bouncy. The wig just looks flat in comparison.

Kate's real hair was lovely, I don't know why they made her wear wigs.

"Why did they take Marina out of her snazzy Starfleet mini in the pilot and put her in that God awful burlap jumper the rest of season one?"

Maybe because mini skirts were considered sexist? Looking at the old original Star Trek episodes the fact that all the female crew members wore mini skirts looks ridiculous. Oh I'm sure it was considered fine back then; it was the sixties after all. But women serving on a star fleet ship wearing minis, showing that much skin? They weren't stewardesses, for God's sake!

r147 Exactly. We might find it snazzy out of context but it is completely inappropriate for any serious workplace environment. There are so many shots in TOS where one of Uhura's buttcheecks is falling out and she's just sitting, not even moving or bending over! So demeaning. And of course people like to point out that men wore mini skirts as well, but we never saw those asses exposed to such an extent.

On the other hand they didn't make a habit of Uhura and Rand going topless.

I mean, there is a different standard for male and female tits even today, let alone back then. But that's a separate discussion.

R147 TNG was at least a bit more progressive: both women and men wore the miniskirt uniform in the first season.

TNG looks pretty dated now, especially the first couple of season. VERY late 80s/early 90s.

Yes, and they then got rid of them and introduced the catsuit for Deanna and the onesie for Wesley, which was even worse in some ways.

How do people piss and shit on the Enterprise or Voyager?

No toilets.

Wouldn't all that matter get turned into energy?

R147 No, Marina was specifically called up by a producer after the series was going into production after the Pilot had filmed and told she looked too chubby in the skirt and told to lose some weight. The skirt variety was only retired from Sirtis for that reason until the finale in the past segments. Crosby only wore the skirt/skant for a scene in Encounter at Farpoint. They were phased out after the first season.

Here is Mulgrew's real hair and length. From the Pilot 1994.

Here is Mulgrew's real hair for the season five publicity stills circa 1999.

How do you watch this show? How much does it cost?

r157 Hysterical that a promo shot for season FIVE looks like it was taken in an office somewhere. Her hair looks nice enough.

r158 Depends on where you are. In the US, it'll air on CBS All Access - $6 per month with commercials and $10 without. It'll air on Space Channel in Canada, and on Amazon Prime internationally.

Kate Mulgrew's hair saga: 3 & 5 are Kate's real hair the rest are wigs. Number 3 only appeared in two episodes of the first season but it's the exact same hairstyle that 7 of 9 would wear for her whole time on Voyager.

Number 5 is the season 4 cute which is Kate's real hair. Kate later said she had been pushing for years to be allowed to use her real hair and once producers finally said yes, the gave her a terrible haircut and she was so upset about it that she went back to wig the following season.

The ponytail was my least favorite.

#3 is Seven of Nine's exact hairstyle.

My favourite bad Janeway wig was from Parturition in season 2. Hideous.

Mullet style Janeway

R161 Funny enough Mulgrew has said a couple of time at conventions that the ponytail was her favorite.

R163 OMG yes I forgot that for one episode in season 2 she wore her hair short! Damn that's a TERRIBLE wig! Paramount must have been clearing out its old 80s wigs or something.

It's interesting because I always thought there's a marked difference in Janeway's characterization once the hair comes down. I think Mulgrew felt a bit freer and that translates into Janeway as she becomes more sassy in a way. Avery Brooks had the same thing when they let him shave his head in season 4 he seemed to own his character after that.

My favorite Janeway hair is early season 5 (this a bad picture) but the fuller hair works better with Mulgrew's face.

I'd like to know what Dawson was thinking wanting Torres to have a perm in season six. She did not look good.

Side note, thank god they got rid of Belanna's Kyle Richards eyebrows.

They got on Marina to lose weight yet had zero problem with Frakes getting as big as a house?

I never paid that much attention to Janeway's hair. However, right with the pilot I thought how 20th century her hairdo looked. In various Star Trek shows they tried occasionally to find a future spin on hair. But Janeway was as contemporary as can be. Troi's hair at least was a classic style that ancient greeks already had. So I buy that it's still around in 400 years. But Janeway's hair was always 1990s and nothing else.

r168 And what exactly was futuristic about any of the women's hairstyles in TNG? Or DS9? Voyager was simply following that established pattern.

I'd rather they didn't experiment with that (on female leads) too much as it ages badly and can easily come across as goofy, like your attached photo demonstrates.

r167 Didn't he get the bloat later on? What are you going to do about it when you're six seasons in? Marina was admonished in the first season when you can still boss the actors around a bit.

[quote]They got on Marina to lose weight yet had zero problem with Frakes getting as big as a house?

Esp. since he was supposed to be the dashing lady killer. Wasn't trying to hide his weight gain one of the reasons they switched from one piece to two piece uniforms? Still I liked the actor and character.

I think his weight gain started by season 2. He might have trimmed down a little by the last two seasons, but never was season 1 thin again.

r161 Hated that ponytail so much. She looked like one of those early American (Canadian?) pioneers in the colder states.

r166 Even as a gayling, something inside me resisted that perm. I just didn't understand the change. Why not at least address it in some organic way?

[quote] But Janeway's hair was always 1990s and nothing else.

It actually reminded me more of old movies from the 50's would have a woman wear her hair up (usually with glasses) to show she was smart (or repressed).

[quote]They got on Marina to lose weight yet had zero problem with Frakes getting as big as a house?

He was so hot when he was thin.

Such a double standard - if a thin, hot actress had porked out like that, she probably would've been run out of Hollywood.

R166 oh gawd I hated that perm! I'm guessing that actress wanted something different. Anyone else love the side braid B'Elanna sported for one episodes only in season 3 called "Real Life." Sadly Roxanne Dawson who played B'Elanna is a Trump supporter and became a born again Christian after the show went off the air. According to some of the Voyager cast over the years, Dawson was allegedly a lot like her character very moody, and overly hostile at times. Garrett Wang has strongly suggested he didn't like working with her and interestingly since 2016 she's been largely ostracized by her former cast mates.

R168 rather than being "90s" looking, I always though Janeway's bun style for the first two season actually looked dated as if they got Jane Seymour's hairstylist from Dr. Quinn and got them to do Mulgrew's hair. I tend to prefer Janeway's hair from season 6 and 7. However, one great thing about the bun was you knew how much shit they where in by how messed her hair became. Once the buns starting coming undone you know the ship was in serious trouble hahaha!

Brent Spiner Will Reportedly Return As Data For Star Trek: Picard

Rumor all over the interwebs right now.

Though it has to be B4 and not Data given his death in Nemesis.

The Voyager set was full of conflict. Lots of bitching and in-fighting.

R176 This was originally posted as an exclusive by a site called Revenge of the Fans which has since taken it down. So it appears to be nothing more than a baseless rumor.

R177 Out of the spin-off casts, the Voyager one appears to be the one with the most drama. TNG cast loved each other, still do. DS9 was a far more serious set and the cast was more professional than friendly (except Nana and Siddig who had a kid and were briefly married together). ENT cast got along but all hated Linda Park.

Voyager gossip is: Kate Mulgrew/Robert Beltran had a fling at some point between season two and three and this ending badly with Beltran openly dissing Mulgrew in the press towards the end of the show. Kate treated Jeri Ryan appallingly. Roxanne Dawson miscarried a number of times during the show's run which probably explained her moody behavior. Garrett Wang was hated by the producers.

Yup, that Revenge of the Fans article was taken down almost immediately "at the request of a third party." So make of that what you will.

[quote]Garrett Wang was hated by the producers.

Garrett is so dramatic and such a blabbermouth, do we know if he's family?

He dated Margret Cho. I’m not sure if that’s an argument for or against.

[quote]He dated Margret Cho.

WHAT?! That's straight-up crazy, I'm sorry.

You can't really blame Kate Mulgrew for being pissy and bitchy with Jeri Ryan in the beginning. Kate was the star of the show and four seasons in, here comes this hot chick in her 20s with big tits and a round ass, in a skin-tight catsuit. I think any actress in Mulgrew's situation would've been like "WTF is this shit?" Apparently, things got better as the show went on.

r183 Not only that, Mulgrew had to battle it out with five(?) other actresses and wasn't even the first pick for the role. Meanwhile, the producers begged Jeri on the phone to join the show, even after she had declined and told them the show is garbage after catching a random episode on TV with her mom. Imagine being Mulgrew and hearing that shit on the set.

Voyager lasted past season 4 primarily because of Jeri Ryan's boobs.

Yeah, Mulgrew had to fight for the role (she allegedly had money problems too, and the show saved her financially. Allegedly.) so on top of Ryan being hot with big tits, she actually thought the show was a piece of shit ad they actually begged her to take the part. That must've pissed Kate off to no end.

"Brent Spiner Will Reportedly Return As Data For Star Trek: Picard"

I think that's wishful thinking rumors. Spiner hated playing Data. He refused to do the last ST:TNG movie "Nemesis (a stinker that he co-wrote)" unless the character of Data was finally killed off. But maybe he's considering playing a version of Data because he's in so little demand as an actor. I think all he does is conventions. At the end of "Nemesis" there was still Data's "brother", a kind of retarded version of Data who was warbling "Blue Skies" at the end of the movie (Brent Spiner thinks he can sing). So maybe he'll play Data's retarded brother.

I loved Yeoman Rand's golden basketweave do. It was so ridiculous, and yet so fabulous.

Did Spiner hate playing Data because of all the time it took in makeup?

[quote]WHAT?! That's straight-up crazy, I'm sorry.

Remember her story about the boyfriend who dumped her when her kidneys failed? That was him.

[quote][R183] Not only that, Mulgrew had to battle it out with five(?) other actresses and wasn't even the first pick for the role.

I think Lindsay Wagner was actually their top choice. IIRC, Linda Hamilton was in the mix as well.

I'll say this for Mulgrew. After being pushed aside for four years, they made her the centerpiece for the finale and she knocked it out of the park.

Did Spiner hate playing Data because of all the time it took in makeup?

Maybe that was part of it. He's also said he was too old to keep playing an ageless robot, but it's been said that Data could have been given an "aging chip" to simulate the passage of time. But it also irks him that he is known for one thing and one thing only: playing Data. He says he hates it when fans see him and exclaim "Data!" , the name of a mere "fictional character." Whenever fans would complain of Data being killed off, his excuse was always what's the big deal, it's just a "fictional character." Strange for someone in the Star Trek franchise, he cannot comprehend that there are fictional characters who mean a lot to people.

Playing Data made Spiner rich, he should be grateful.

[quote]But it also irks him that he is known for one thing and one thing only: playing Data.

Literally no one else's fault but his own and his agent's.

[quote]He says he hates it when fans see him and exclaim "Data!" , the name of a mere "fictional character."

I hate when actors say that. Anya from Buffy used to do that shit all the time and actually bullied fans on Twitter over it. It's just such an ungracious attitude. He probably doesn't complain when that convention check comes in the mail. You know, because of a mere fictional character.

[quote]Strange for someone in the Star Trek franchise, he cannot comprehend that there are fictional characters who mean a lot to people.

He said he just saw one or two episodes of TNG and decided it was garbage, in so many words. He simply can't wrap his mind around the fact that something in this genre can mean so much to so many, especially those who grew up watching it.

Data is an Android, so can he ever really die? There was the suggestion that B-4 would become Data at the end of Nemesis. I believe the post that he would be returning to the Picard series, because Data is one of the most popular TNG characters. They probably asked them to take it down because they want it to be a secret, and bought the site off with some other inside information or the promise of some sort of exclusive.

I kind of got tired of the Data - Pinocchio wanting to be a real boy stories or looking at things in child-like wonder. Spiner did a decent job, but would be OK if he did not return.

[quote]ENT cast got along but all hated Linda Park.

How does someone like Jolene Blalock not cause drama on and off the set constantly? Explain to me that one, please. Is she just a super chill person?

On the other hand, there were a lot of episodes with a focus on her, so there really wasn't much for her to complain about. She was a model as well, so she certainly wouldn't start bringing up the issue of the sexist catsuits. I guess it was a cushy gig for someone who hadn't acted much before.

Jolene Blalock married the CEO of Livenation during the Enterprise run. They're still married, and she's never had to work again.

r195 They're trying to rebrand him as a stand-in for aspies these days which... fine, I've got no dog in that hunt. Others argue that it's offensive to compare him to those people as it implies they're robots.

There was also a messy racial component to his role, but we'll crack that one open when we're desperate.

r197 So she snatched him up even before ENT. How very... enterprising of her.

[quote]The two met when he booked her for a beer commercial in Los Angeles. He lived in England and while working on Star Trek: Enterprise, she found conducting a long-distance relationship difficult, running up an "astronomical" phone bill. She proposed to him and the two married in Negril, Jamaica, on April 22, 2003. They have three children.

Couldn't stop with the fillers, I see.

R199 Damn, she was so beautiful in ENT, but those fillers do nothing for her.

I bet it's a perspective thing. You get so used to your new enlarged lips that you eventually don't even notice how large they are anymore. And then you get some additional fillers, thinking the old ones deflated. Your surgeon, your husband, and your friends sure aren't going to stop you, as the only ones who dare point out the truth are bitches on anonymous boards such as we.

R178 They all hated Linda Park? I’ve never heard that before. Any idea why?

Speaking of Park, she has aged very well (despite having Lupus, which often takes a toll on the looks). She seems to be acting more often in recent years, which probably means she has the disease under control at the moment.

I asked about Linda Park in the DISCO thread and I don't think I got an answer. Then I watched an ENT panel with her, Phlox, and Malcolm, and she talked and talked and talked. And talked some more. I swear she took up more than 95% of the time. So the picture of why the cast might have hated her became clearer after I saw that. Maybe it's that AA thing of wanting to please people and fit in with the cool crowd, so both her and Wang overcompensate? Am I being terribly out of line here?

On the other hand, it didn't help that Dominic Keating looked like he'd rather be anywhere else, and Billingsley is such a space cadet anyway. Don't know if it's his personality, weed, medicine, or something more serious, but he is just permanently on a different plane of existence. Another one who just played himself in that role.

Isn't Brent Spiner closeted? He has no sexual chemistry with women whatsoever. He's been involved for years with someone named Loree McBride. She's his wife. Or his girlfriend. It's never been made clear. Anway, they have a son named Jackson. At conventions and on his Twitter page he mentions his son fairly frequently, but never his wife/girlfriend, except on Mother's Day. That seems the only time he acknowledges her. He never even says her name. At a convention he was asked if he was "single" and he said one word: "no." That's it. Just "no." It seems very strange.

I need a Brent Break.

R204 Maybe she just really doesn't like the spotlight.

I just found out there's a YouTuber who is obsessed with Loree McBride, saying she's a sociopath and "Deep State's genocidal leader" with her own army of Jesuits. Probably just a Spiner stalker.

[quote]At a convention he was asked if he was "single" and he said one word: "no." That's it. Just "no." It seems very strange.

Perhaps he just doesn't want to share more than the bare minimum about his personal life with Trek fans. Which is a valid attitude.

^^ Oh, god, she calls chemtrails "Loree McBride bombs". So a veritable loon. I wish I hadn't brought her up as she's definitely going to find this thread now. Eurgh.

Totally went down that stalker's rabbit hole and found this quote from Spiner in 2008 on her website:

[quote]“My ugh. . .girlfriend has this. . .ugh. . .I call her that ’cause we can never think of anything else to call each other, since we’re not married. We’ve been together –forever. Um. . .She. . .ugh. . .she really gets irritated with me, if I, if there’s even the hint of being surly when somebody comes up and says something nice to me– or recognizes me. She really has no patience with me rolling my eyes or anything. She doesn’t get it. . .I like being an actor, but being a celebrity is a whole other thing. . You never get quite used to being treated as if you’re something special. . ..She really doesn’t have any patience for that, whatsoever, and she lectures me and says, ‘You should be really happy that people recognize you.’

So his girlfriend seems nice and he has the same position as me - namely, that at a certain age, you're just too old to be calling someone your "girlfriend/boyfriend". "Partner" is awkward for some people as well.

To try and answer some questions that have been posted on her.

Despite being something of a "bitchy queen type" Garrett is most certainly straight. He totally got around in the early years of Voyager (one of the reasons he was set to get fired until he was named one of People's 100 most beautiful people and UPN ordered he reamin so they fired Jennifer Lien instead). He now lives with a woman and is stepdad to her daughter.

Brent Spiner, shockingly, is also not gay has been with the same woman since the later years of TNG and they have a son together.

Michael Dorn is the only one whom the jury is still out on....that and rumors that Patrick Stewart wings both ways.

Linda Park - the word was she was a diva on the set and it drove the other cast nuts. Even Scott Bakula couldn't stand her, and he's like the nicest guy in Hollywood (well hung too allegedly).

Jolene Blalock allegedly highly introverted and very low key not a shit disturber in any way. As others have said, she married rich and after Enterprise she basically retired from the business.

Kate Mulgrew was furious when Jeri Ryan was added because she took it as a personal insult. Here she was the first woman captain and that's supposed to mean something that the franchise has evolved to the point where woman can be leaders over sex objects....then the ratings falls and they bring in 7 of 9 who is a great character but all T&A. Mulgrew should have been pissed with producers but she took it out on Ryan instead.

"She. . .ugh. . .she really gets irritated with me, if I, if there’s even the hint of being surly when somebody comes up and says something nice to me– or recognizes me. She really has no patience with me rolling my eyes or anything. She doesn’t get it. . .I like being an actor, but being a celebrity is a whole other thing. . You never get quite used to being treated as if you’re something special. . ..She really doesn’t have any patience for that, whatsoever, and she lectures me and says, ‘You should be really happy that people recognize you."

He said his GIRLFRIEND said that? He said the exact same thing at some convention only this time it was his son was the one who got irritated at his eye rolling and surly behavior. At any rate, he seems like a real douchebag. I've heard a lot of stories about his stuck up, nasty behavior at conventions.

It sucks to hear Dawson is a Trumper I've seen her in interviews when she was directing and she definitely came off as a cranky humorless bitch.

It seems that Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan eventually made up and are on good terms now. I really can't blame Mulgrew one bit for being pissed at Ryan joining the cast. However, Ryan really did save the show.

Ryan made 7/9 one of the most complex and compelling Trek characters ever. The writing helped, of course, but she played the role to perfection. I'm always shocked someone like her pulled it off when she seems a bit ditzy in real life. It takes real chops to play a character on screen with depth that you yourself don't possess in real life.

Oh, and I guess I'm thankful to her for giving us eight years of Obama, too.

Are they gonna do one with Captain Safeway, too?

Who's Captain Safeway?

....

....

Why Safeway? She got her crew stranded in the Delta quadrant instead of taking the easy way out. That seems the exact opposite of safe to me?

Captain Harmsway, it is!

R210 Enterprise was Linda Park’s first significant role and she was only the second female lead, so I find it hard to believe she would have been much of a diva. She was also cast in a number of regular roles on series right after Enterprise. That would have been very difficult to do if she had any kind of reputation, especially since starring on a ST show is already a strike against an actor.

Park was probably just chatty and hyper and then got stuck with a "difficult woman" reputation as a result.

I always fall into the same trap with ENT where I get the impression it was made only five years ago because it's shot in HD and is closer to our times than other Trek shows. I'd be enjoying the show and then suddenly there's a bit of dialogue featuring casual sexism, homophobia, gay panic... and those bits are in some ways even more egregious than in TNG, VOY and DS9. I'm immediately reminded than no, this actually premiered in 2001, so even before Lawrence v. Texas.

Still think it's the most rewatchable of all the Trek shows, even though VOY is my favourite. But man, those dated lines sting like hell. It's like hanging out with your best buddies and having a good time, and then they suddenly mention they don't support gay marriage. I'm so glad today's kids who are starting with DISCO don't have to go through that.

There's a conspiracy theory circulating among the usual suspects on YouTube right now that the test screenings for Picard were so bad that Kurtzman was fired on the spot by the network execs. However, he is allegedly refusing to give up the title, but there are three producers who have taken over as showrunners. I mean, these people are just a step away from the Pizzagate loons at this point.

I've only noticed this rumour because it keeps getting posted on r/television as they're banned on the Trek subreddits, what with the new rules about fake news in effect.

[quote]However, he is allegedly refusing to give up the title, but there are three producers who have taken over as showrunners.

How does someone who has been fired "refuse to give up the title" to the job from which they've been fired? That doesn't make any sense. Sounds like conspiracy loons in overdrive.

I want the Picard show to be good. There has been nothing release that could possibly say one way or another, unlike Disco when people went ballistic over the pizza cutter, Ralphie McQuarrie concept ship.

These were the same people who stated that Discovery was canceled before S2 even aired, so...

Yeah, but I still believed Stewart was an untouchable sacred cow in their eyes. Guess not.

Kurtzman is so fired, CBS has him out doing podcasts about Star Trek.

r227 Ha! I wanted to post that but there's really not much new in there apart from saying they're still thinking about giving Mount his own spinoff. And the animated shorts being for kids, which took me by surprise.

[QUOTE] Not to derail the thread,

Hunty, did you miss the 700 posts about hair and wigs in a thread about a show that stars a bald man?

You're fine.

We're discussing all sorts of other semi-related stuff until something more substantial about this show comes out. That's nothing unusual for a Trek thread.

Frakes announced he's finished directing his two episodes today, so the season is halfway in the bag.

There was some minor twitter drama about Marina Sirtis not liking the images a fan site was using of her. I love how real and slightly diva-esque she is:

[quote] I have hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world and the loyalty and love that I get from them humbles me. Come to a convention and see for yourself.

I want to see Troi on Picard, but with Marina's actual personality used for the character instead.

I mean, Marina talked recently about having filmed something in LA without specifying what she was filming, which lead a lot of people to think it was Picard.

[quote]I want to see Troi on Picard

Me too!

R231 Marina has something of a reputation for being difficult at times. I've seen her at conventions and she's a bit of a mess but in a good way! That being said, I've seen her being very rude to people who work the conventions and that's turned me off from her a bit since. I'll give her credit though, she's one of the few actors who make their living doing conventions that still engages with her fans heavily. Some of the other TNG cast (Brent Spiner) are pretty clear they just do conventions for the money. Others like Levar Burton and Gates McFadden actually donate their convention appearance fees and don't pocket them - Burton to Reading Rainbow related stuff and McFadden to a theatre organization in LA.

This was talked about on another Trek thread but there was tension between Marina and Gates on TNG mostly stemming from Marina. Marina would get jealous that she felt Gates was sometimes treated better by producers than she was. For example, Marina was allegedly furious that McFadden got real hair wigs and a personal makeup artist when she returned in season 3 but Marina continued to wear crappy fake wigs and had to share an artist. Jonathan Frakes also accidentally spilled the beans once saying Marina would get furious when they hired blonde actresses to guest star on TNG. I thought the Gates/Marina tension was faked until I saw them in person at a convention once and you can tell that while Marina likes Gates, Gates doesn't give off a warm vibe towards her in the same way she does with other cast members.

I think Gates (whose real first name is Cheryl, much to the delight of DLers) is just more naturally shy and reserved. I honestly don't get a snobby vibe from her.

The contrast is even more striking when you put her next to Marina, who really hams it up for the audience and basks in their adoration.

It sort of reminds me of the Bea/Betty dichotomy in some ways.

And yes. I love Sirtis and she is an absolute thrill to see at conventions. But I've seen YouTube vids of her getting catty/bitchy towards people running the cons.

She's always super nice to fans (mostly), but there is one video of her going off on a con employee because she didn't want to have to sit behind a table. She demands that they move the tables off the stage so she can walk around more freely. It was a little off-putting seeing that. But I still love her.

An interesting TNG appearance that I think would work perfectly for a Picard series where he is older and haunted by the past, would be Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan.

R235 OMG yes, there is totally a Bea/Betty dynamic to Marina and Gates though unlike Bea/Betty Marina and Gates get along. Watching both on stage together it's clear that Marina does get under Gates' skin from time to time.

I remember one of the TNG cast (it might have been Patrick Stewart) referring to Gates as "the intellectual of the group." I met Gates twice at the big Las Vegas Convention and my take on her is more of a reserved/introverted type who can come across as disinterested when she does group panels but who is very charming and sweet one on one with fans. One thing I noticed about her over the other TNG cast is she'll go out and walk around the convention floor, check out exhibits and stop to talk to people who say hi to her. The other actors tend to stay at their table and then leave by the backdoor.

Also I've watched Marina and Gates with fans and my take away is with Gates the interaction is about the fan whereas with Marina it's more about her if that makes sense. On Twitter, when a fan post a picture of themselves with her from a convention, Gates always brings something up she remembers abut their conversation like "how is your cat doing" or "did you finish that course" etc. Marina will ask for tweets to be taken down if she doesn't like the picture.

So although Marina is far more entertaining on stage, I do think Gates is more genuinely interested in personal interaction with fans.

Marina is awesome.

Had my pic taken with her where she put me in a chokehold.

Then they printed an 8x10 out for me and she asked for one herself to keep.

Troi wanted my pic! I about died!

Marina Sirtis is funnier than a lot of stand-up comics. Her con appearances (many are on Youtube) are always hilarious.

Marina is definitely one of the most entertaining com guests I've ever seen. I'm jist saying she is one of those people who is always "on," and it isn't fair to assume other guests are snobs or bitches because they can't compete with it.

If you're a Doctor Who fan, Katy Manning and Janet Fielding (classic series) and Michelle Gomez (new series) are both similar.

TNG and DS9 writer Peter Allen Fields has passed away. Story and writing credits include "Duet", "In the Pale Moonlight", and "The Inner Light".

Damn, that's like the Triple Crown.

[quote] Michael Chabon wants to shoehorn explicit gay sex in, just like he tried with the ill-fated movie version of Kavalier & Clay

I really need to read that book

R241 Wow! "In the Pale Moonlight" is, in my opinion, the best episode of DS9 despite the fact that it's probably the most antithetical to the Star Trek philosophy of morality in the 24th century, but the most truthful that war is bloody and the lines between good and bad can be easily blurred. "Inner Light" I feel is the best TNG episode even better than Best of Both Worlds.

I've seen Marina at conventions and she's a lot of fun and sometimes a drunk mess. As others have said Gates and Marina have very different personalities. As another person said Marina is always "on," Gates is not but Gates has her moments of being silly and funny but I think she's just a more introverted personality. Also Marina is a "professional conventioneer" meaning she makes most of her money these days by doing conventions so she knows how to put on a good show.

We stan a convention queen!

Marina was molested!

[quote] I can see her "counseling" Picard.

yes indeed

Rather see Picard with Beverly.

On the topic of Marina versus Gates, Marina is more of an high energy, "look at me" kind of personality which works well for conventions. Gates is far more serious and reserved but has a cutting a sense of humor when she wants to show it. In this clip at 12:52, Patrick Stewart asks if Star Trek Discovery (which was just in pre-production when this panel took place) was a prequel, Gates' response cracks me up!!!!

I want Marina and Gates in one more scene together for that one final wig-off.

As long as it ends Alexis and Krystal style.

Can you imagine? The straight Trekkies would FLIP their collective shit.

As much as I love Star Trek, I’m not sure it’s going to be worth signing up for CBS All Access.

r253 I think you can sign up for a trial of All Access and then you can just cancel when you're done watching the series.

Or subscribe for a month, watch everything Trek related, and then cancel.

I'm there - this will likely be the last time we see Stewart as Picard.

Or R253 & R255 you can do what the rest of us do and torrent it.

Streaming is better than torrents. Just make sure you have a strong adblocker.

I signed up for CBS All Access when the first season of Discovery had finished. I was going to cancel after the free trial, but then they gave me two months for free to not cancel. I ended up keeping it, because my local cable company ended ClearQAM and I wanted to be able to watch a local news channel, and I can't get an antenna to work in my neighborhood.

r259 I had no idea they offered their news channel on that platform as well. Makes sense.

Do you watch any other scripted shows on All Access?

R260 Yes, they offer their local affiliate, CBS News Channel, and CBS Sports on the app, in addition to All Access originals and a few library shows. I like the Young and the Restless, so I mainly use it to watch that, plus SEC football, since their games are split between ESPN, CBS, and SEC Network, in addition to Star Trek.

Jesus H. Christ, are they still making these retarded "Star Trek" shows! What bullshit! Who watches this crapola!?

Look out, boys. We have a disgruntled Babylon 5 fan.

r262 is in desperate need of some Captain Janeway (wig) magic in his life. Resistance is futile!

I never knew Kate Mulgrew wore wigs on Voyager. But now with each season's wigs being carefully chronicled, along with side-by-side photos of the rare episodes when Kate had her real hair, I can totally see it.

I have to say the wigs were very good quality, they looked natural.

Which is so weird, because Kate has said her hair is one of her favorite features. She talked about what a strange experience it was for it to be hacked off and garishly colored for the first season of Orange is the New Black.

The wig they slapped on Roxann Dawson for all seven seasons looked like the $5 nylon special at Wig City.

It's too bad the Emmy committee (or whatever they're called) were prejudiced about sci-fi shows being nominated in the main categories, because Kate Mulgrew deserved to be nominated. She's such a strong actress and she was wonderful on Voyager. Even in the episodes where the scripts were complete shit, she still gave 100%.

Agreed, Kate's a workhorse through and through. And her co-stars keep bringing up how she never once forgot her lines or botched them. As opposed to Chakotay, who could barely deliver a full sentence without asking for his lines.

The supporting cast of Voyager could be.......shall we say........"lacking." Mulgrew, Picardo and Ryan could act circles around them.

"Jesus H. Christ, are they still making these retarded "Star Trek" shows! What bullshit! Who watches this crapola!?"

I feel the same way. Who watches this shit? Those weirdos who go to those crazy conventions and pay exorbitant prices to see their over the hill idols?

What's with these shitheads coming into our lovely Trek threads? That's hardly ever happened before. Is there something particularly deplorable in the air right now?

r272 waited five hours, searched for this thread, then posted a reply. Nurse, we've got a runner!

This article is over a year old up spills a lot of the dirt of what happened after Jeri Ryan was cast on Voyager, however, Kate owns up to it in a very gracious way to Jeri:

“Let’s be very straight about something,” said Kate matter of factly “This is on me, not Jeri. She came in and did what she was asked to do. No question about that, and she did it very well. ... "I’m sorry it has to be part of this legacy, and I probably should have comported myself better. I should have been more philosophical about it, but in the moment it was difficult.”

Back to the wig dicussion it's did any of the DS9 women wear wigs? Somehow I think both Nana and Terry wore their natural hair.

I think Terry had wigs every now and again.

Terry used her real hair the entire run except for the season 3 episodes "The Search Parts 1 & 2" and "Through the Looking Glass." Nana wore a wig during season 7 as Nana's hair during that period was short and blonde.

I love the wealth of Star Trek knowledge on DL!

R273 is a sad case. "Lovely Star Trek threads?" No doubt this Trekkie is one of those pitiable types who spends $100 for an autographed photo of their favorite Star Trek has been. Poor soul.

Can't believe the Star Trek: Picard thread has devolved into unrelenting tediousness about hair. STOP TALKING ABOUT THE WIGS - JESUS H(AIR) CHRIST!!

I just rewatched TNG s03e08 "The Price" with guest star Matt McCoy. Damn that man was gorgeous. He could have bought my wormhole.

R279, then don't come onto the thread until there's more solid information about Picard.

Rr280 I am sensing emotions of jealousy from you

Apparently, Michael Chabon is the official big boss of the series.

Yup, that could be either good news or bad news. Good from a creative standpoint, bad from a management one. Has he got any prior experience running a show?

Does he have any experience writing for the screen, small or large?

He has - somewhat.

After experiences with DSC's first couple of showrunners, I am sure they don't give him free range. He probably got some exec producers to his side who is dealing with the budget and nothing else.

He's written Spider-Man 2, John Carter (!!), and the two Short Treks (Chaos Theory and Calypso). However, he is writing and exec-producing the new show Unbelievable on Netflix with Toni Collette and Merritt Wever. But that's in pre-production still.

So this show will basically amount to his training wheels. Eek!

[quote]CBS All Access is bringing its entire existing Star Trek fleet to the San Diego confab later this month with a Hall H takeover that will include the cast of mothership Star Trek: Discovery, the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks, and the legend himself Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

[quote]No word yet if there will be a preview of the 10-episode series set to launch on CBS All Access later this year, but you never know. What I do know is that Picard co-stars Alison Pill, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera and Harry Treadaway, plus Michael Chabon and EPs Akiva Goldsman and Kadin, will be joining Sir Patrick and Kurtzman in Hall H for what now has to be one of the most anticipated panels of the whole fangirl and fanboy fest.

I was wondering if they were going to Hall H this year. That's great to hear.

In today's bizarre Trek news, Rosalind Chao becomes a member of the AMPAS.

That's the new name for the franchise at r288, by the way: Star Trek Universe.

r289 That IS bizarre, though she seems to be working steadily, so what do I know.

She's apparently not the only Trek-adjacent member. Rosanna DeSoto, who played Gorkon's daughter in TUC, was invited to join last year.

I can't crack that at all.

Becoming a member of the AMPAS is by invitation only. You don't get in just because you're a working actor, you have to be someone the board of directors feels is someone of distinction.

r292 Well, yes, but your chances are definitely higher if you're a working actor than if you stopped working sometime in the '90s. Which is what I wrongly assumed happened to Chao.

Of course, sometimes just being in a couple of blockbusters is enough, as that Spidertwink has shown.

R293 I assumed Chao stopped working too but it appears she has worked steadily most confined to guest appearances on TV shows.

Marina was interviewed for this BBC podcast earlier this week. Towards the end she's asked if she will appear on the Picard show. She gives kind of a non-answer saying that she can't say anything anymore because of all the non-disclosure agreements in Hollywood these days. While this doesn't mean she will appear, I'm taking this to mean she and the other TNG actors have all signed NDAs not to talk about anything they know about Picard. It suggests they either will appear OR that they know what is happening to their characters and are forbidden from talking about it. A few weeks ago on Graham Norton's radio show, she stated she had a gig in LA at the beginning of August that she could not talk about it which would be right around the time that the Picard season finale would be shooting.

Marina is such a big mouth so the fact that she refuses to talk about it highly implies she's signed something and can't talk about Picard.

When Marina clammed up about this secret thing, there's no way she's not filming something for the show.

r296 Definitely. Which... fine, drag them out for one last hurrah, I guess.

[quote][R293] I assumed Chao stopped working too but it appears she has worked steadily most confined to guest appearances on TV shows.

Turns out, she's in the live-action Mulan remake.

This is Marina's actual quote after being asked if there was a part for her in Picard: "well no....actually...well, um, we....we are not allowed....ever to talk about anything in Hollywood anymore. I have signed so many NDAs, nondisclosure agreements, recently that I feel like one of Trump's mistresses."

It sound like she say's starting to say no she's not in but then stops as if she's said to much and then sounds like she's about we (the TNG cast) are not allowed to talk about it but again cuts herself of and generalizes it talk about Hollywood.

The jury is still out if she will actually make an appearance but it's clear she knows something about the show and either through NDA or just not want to burning bridges she's not going to talk about it.

[quote]"well no....actually...well, um, we....we are not allowed....ever to talk about anything in Hollywood anymore. I have signed so many NDAs, nondisclosure agreements, recently that I feel like one of Trump's mistresses."

It actually sounds like she's NOT going to be in it, but is not allowed to say that either - though how that could be covered by an NDA is puzzling since you cannot prevent her from speaking unless she's getting something in return.

R300 True. One theory could be that the TNG cast were made aware of some plot elements as a courtesy like what has happened to their character and were asked to sign NDAs in return. My hunch is that some of the TNG cast will show up in the finale of season 1 as a hook to ensure a season 2.

First poster is out! Picard has a dog! Something bad has totally happened LOL!

A close up of the collar shows that the dog tag is a Starfleet communicator that says Number 1 on it. It is also outlined in blue which makes some theorize it's Spock's or Beverly's.

A space doggo? Oh my word! You know, I have been missing pets on DISCO, especially after that ENT rewatch.

Hope DL doesn't lose it because it's a pittie.

He could just call his dog Number One.

The real reason for the dog is Patrick Stewart is an advocate for pitbull rights.

Maybe he calls his dog number one because it pees on the carpets.

Aw, pupper!

LeVar Burton believes he will be on Star Trek Picard at some point.

He says one thing that makes me suspect TNG cast members have already shot some scene. Be basically states that they won't all be appearing together rather one or two at a time.

There is growing speculations that Frakes and Spiner have filmed scenes and that Sirits may be appearing towards the end of the season.

r308 No NDA for LeVar, then?

I've always like how Picard came to regard Troi as a counselor. He actually came to confide in her and seek her professional advice on personal matters.

If he really is going through emotional turmoil, you'd expect him to seek her out.

R309 Here's my theory, Marina either did sign an NDA because she is going to make an appearance or she didn't want to say anything because she didn't want to risk producers not inviting her.

There are two important parts to LeVar's CNN interview: 1) But while the actor speculated that Geordi, Data, Worf, Riker, Troi and the Crushers would likely appear one or two at a time, and he was cautious about expecting a full-blown cast reunion to occur on the new series. "Are you gonna see all of us together, again, in a scene or episode? I don't know," said Burton,

2) "Good things come to those who wait," he suggested

The comment about waiting suggests that none of the TNG cast have appeared yet but they are aware that they might be asked in season 2. Then again his comment about one or two characters appearing at the same time sounds oddly specific.

Another interesting rumor going round is that Beverly Crusher may be dead. She may have died in the aftermath of the destruction of Romulus and part of the reason Picard left starfleet.

How crushing if Crusher has been crushed.

First official picture from the set.

A bit more details here too. Picard will return to space in the series but "with a twist."

Saturday is the first Picard panel at San Diego Comicon so here's what I think we'll get: the first trailer with actual footage from the show, a release date, and a few more details about the plot and the new characters.

This doesn't seem to be an FX heavy show which is why unlike Discovery which usually needs almost half a year of post-production, Picard will be ready to go by the late fall. I'm guessing the show will come out around American Thanksgiving.

Another article from Entertainment Weekly appeared today.

While they could be trying to throw us off, it seems no TNG actors have appeared on the show, but Kurtzman says he's open to it. "What we don’t want to do is just throw in cameos,” Kurtzman says. “There would have to be an incredibly specific story reason [for them to be there].”

Another interesting tease, both Kurtzman and Chabon claim Picard is "haunted" by events in his past. “There are many things that haunt Picard,” Kurtzman teases. This makes me think someone or many people that he cared about died as a result of his actions.

Marina Confirms she has not been asked:

"I'm excited," Marina – currently acting in West End play Dark Sublime – told Digital Spy about the eagerly-awaited Picard. "I'm excited to see Patrick as Picard again because I think he was bloody brilliant in that character.

"If they ask me, I would love to be in it. But I have to be honest, the phone hasn't rung yet, so I'm not holding my breath.

"But I'd love to do it – as long as I don't have to wear that spacesuit again, because I've put on a bit of weight since then, and I don't fancy going to the fat farm to lose it all again!"

Who but Marina would be human enough to say that.

[quote]While they could be trying to throw us off, it seems no TNG actors have appeared on the show, but Kurtzman says he's open to it. "What we don’t want to do is just throw in cameos,” Kurtzman says. “There would have to be an incredibly specific story reason [for them to be there].”

Benedict Cumberbatch is playing a character named JOHN HARRISON - NOT Khan.

Absolutely, positively. Benedict Cumberbatch's character is JOHN HARRISON - NOT Khan.

[quote]Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman admitted that they decided the character could be Khan after the intial scripting process, which makes sense of this problem—the character wasn’t conceptualized as Khan. Later on, they basically just added a couple lines and a Nimoy cameo to legitimize the alteration.

I don't really think we can take Kurtzman at his word, well, for anything.

Cumberbatch should've been an original character, making him Khan just didn't fit.

Yes Kurtzman might be lying it's sounding more and more likely that the TNG cast won't appear, at least not int he first season. Maybe Jonathan Frakes will appear as Riker given that he was already on set but I think that would be all.

Will Frakes be visiting a fat farm?

He needs it.

So, San Diego Comic Con has started. There is a Picard Museum set up by CBS and people have been posting some tidbits that they've picked up.

According the exhibit, Picard remained Captain of the Enterprise-E until 2181 when he was promoted to the rank of Admiral (this would be two years after the events of Nemesis) and given "a special assignment." This is also in keeping with the continuity of the Star Trek Countdown comic which had Picard promoted and Data assuming command of the Enterprise around this period.

Picard is officially established as being born in 2305 meaning he is 95 during the course of the new series. This would be in keeping with the idea that people live much longer and healthier in the 24th century.

Picard retired from Starfleet in 2386 "After more then fifty years of service, returning to a quiet life tending to his family's vineyard." The destruction of Romulus apparently took place in 2387. So either Picard retired before the events or they are changing the continuity a bit. One interesting fact is that there is no references to events surrounding Romulus' destruction which seems to suggest something tragic happened.

[quote]Picard is officially established as being born in 2305 meaning he is 95 during the course of the new series. This would be in keeping with the idea that people live much longer and healthier in the 24th century.

I guess that also means we're going into the 25th century. Or, I guess the second season will, if we're being pedantic.

R321 This seems to be lining up with Star Trek Countdown. In Countdown, Picard was a retired Admiral who helped Spock in his mission to try and save Romulus. If Picard retired in 2386 and the supernova happens in 2387, this is in keeping with Countdown.

In that comic, Nero and some remaining Romulans attacks the Federation rescue fleeting consisting of numerous Starfleet medical ships and heavily damaging the Enterprise. Worf is injured in the comic but survives. Beverly, Troi and Riker are not in the comic but I have a feeling they may not stick to events entirely. I still believe the grim reaper may be calling one of several members of the TNG cast. I think a lot of people died during Picard's rescue mission and he feel very responsible for it hence the reason he goes into seclusion.

[quote]Picard is officially established as being born in 2305 meaning he is 95 during the course of the new series. This would be in keeping with the idea that people live much longer and healthier in the 24th century.

McCoy was supposed to be born in 2227 and Farpoint occurred in 2364 (about 100 years after ToS). That would make him 137.

[quote]Data assuming command of the Enterprise around this period.

So Data is not destroyed?

R325 Data is dead, the comics are not canon

Star Trek Countdown was co-written by Alex Kurtzman so while not technically canon, he has admitted that it has inspired the new show.

If there is one thing Discovery has taught us, it is that the people in charge of Star Trek no longer care about what is and isn't canon.

[quote][R325] Data is dead, the comics are not canon

Well, to be fair, neither is most of Discovery. The jury is out on this show until it airs.

[quote]So Data is not destroyed?

During Star Trek Nemesis, they found a prototype Soong android they named B4. In an attempt to improve its cognitive functioning, Data uploaded all of his memories to B4 with the hope that it would spark his sentience.

At the end of Nemesis, B4 starts singing the song that Data sang at Troi and Riker's wedding - hinting that Data was not actually dead and lived on in B4.

I saw Nemesis when it came out and damned if I can remember a fucking thing about it.

R330 Tom hardy played clone Jean-Luc

Hardy was sexy as fuck in that shitty movie.

Sirtis has said her favorite memory from making Nemesis was having a half naked Hardy laying on top of her in a faux rape scene. She said it was her greatest acting trying to appear distressed and scared while thinking he was heavenly and gorgeous.

I see Discovery's thread has gone subscribers only, so no more Part X threads for these shows. Better to just make a new thread for each season, and maybe cut back on the casual chat as well.

Kurtzman has just confirmed there will be a Picard short Trek that will air before the new series stars and will give us some background story.

r334 I came just reading that. Holy shit. 🤯

CONFIRMED Data, 7 of 9 and Borg appear on Picard!!!!!!

R333 OT, you could just pay the 2 bucks a month, you fucking Feranghi cheap slut

Picard will debut in January 2020.

Data, 7 of 9 and a Borg Cube appear in the new Picard trailer just shown in San Diego!!!!!!!

r337 It's prohibitively expensive for me to get a credit card for international payments where I'm from. Maybe don't open your mouth next time if you don't know the full story.

OMG Jonathan Del Arco is reprising his role as Hugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

r341 Pete can call off his presidential campaign, the gays have officially won !!!

I can't believe this is happening.

CONFIRMED Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirits will appear as well!!

Stop, stop, stop! This is all too much.

The seats in that hall must all be thoroughly drenched at this point.

IT"S HERE!!!!

Are phones and cameras forbidden at Comic-Con? I want to see some videos of nerds creaming themselves.

R345 That trailer has been out for months

R347 it's the new one just out from Comic Con

R345 HOLY SHIT!!!!! This is legit the first time I'm excited for Star Trek!!! 7 of 9 has changed!

Youtube link!

R350 Oh thanks honey, my Majel Barrett does not play twitter clips

R348 Sorry and thanks x

I can't believe they got Jeri Ryan! I stan uniting TNG and VOY fans!

Short Treks trailer, seeing how DISCO thread is restricted now.

I'm saying it now, Beverly is dead. She and Picard married only for something tragic to happen.

So, the girl is part Borg?

r354 Definitely. No fucking way is Gates appearing on this show. MAYBE in the Short Trek prequel, maybe.

TRAILER!!!!

There's a cameo, but so NOT what we were expecting.

Two things that bother me: 1. January 2020 seems like an eternity away and 2. those two Vulcan characters don't come across as Vulcan to me at all. They just look and feel like regular people with prosthetic ears and eyebrows. Could they be Romulan? Or maybe the younger one feels off because... he's young?

R357 Is that the Discovery Spock?

No, Discovery Spock is at r353.

That's Evan Evagora, who is playing a new character.

This is the BEST Comic Con ever.

How much do you want to bet that all the conspiracy theorists who were talking about how Kurtzman had been fired because the response to Picard had been so bad are now masturbating furiously to the trailer?

r362 And when their masturbation sesh is complete, they'll start picking it apart and coming up with new conspiracies for those sweet clicks.

The Short Trek with Pike saying "Good luck...Captain" is totally him addressing Kirk, isn't it?

r364 Hm, that hadn't occurred to me at all. I think it'll end up being just some random captain. Doubt they'd introduce Kirk in a short like that. Although you never know...

I'm just (pleasantly) shocked to see the guy who voices Archer on Trek.

This is so unmanly, but I honestly squealed with delight when they showed Seven.

Heterosexual Trekkie presidential candidate.

I'm assuming Marina and Jonathan are going to appear together but Marina for sure hasn't yet filmed anything for Picard since she's been in London doing a play. She told Graham Norton she has to be LA during the first week of August because she has a gig which we now know is Picard.

As For Beverly, LaForge, and Worf it could be that they're saving more news for Las Vegas in two weeks (Gates is going to be there) or that they will appear in a second season if one happens. I had thought may be some of the TNG crew were dead BUT it seems that they're going out of their way to make us happy.

Panel!

They way the trailer is put together, whoever the girl is will make or break this season as it appears to be a central mystery.

If she's someone new, exciting, and interesting - great.

Among the current guesses floating around are: some hybrid borg queen, Lal or a successor to her

My optimism goes down if she turns out to be (bio-engineered or otherwise): Picard's daughter/grandaughter, Shinzon's daughter, Spock's daughter (he's only half-vulcan, so the ears aren't a give away)

Exciting points to me: 7 of 9, Hugh and the convergence of his story with Unimatrix Zero's storyline

r369 Jonathan Del Arco is so precious and fabulous, I'm really glad he's a part of the show. Even though I would never in a million years have guessed his involvement in this.

Absolutely loathe Harry Treadaway's new hair color. I tried to see if there was any indication that Evan is a bit "light in his loafers" but no, he seems straight through and through. Just as I suspected.

You just knew the Borg would be in this, not that I'm complaining.

I think the story about refugees which we assumed would be about the Romulans, is actually about the Borg!

Picard does have some nerve, showing up and drinking Seven's scotch.

Seven has totally embraced her humanity, from that brief clip.

R375 Hope they she hasn't embraced her human name, Annika was so awful

Reading some of the stuff from the panel, the highlight has been this, from Jonathan Del Arco needing to get his head molded for the Borg makeup.

[quote]Del Arco was thrilled to return, but it took some convincing from Ryan to get him there. “We were both like is it going to happen? Cut to the realization that it was going to happen, and I’d have to have a life mask for the Borg makeup. I’m claustrophobic, [but Jeri] said, ‘Honey take a pill and I’ll drive you.’” Ryan sat with Del Arco for the entire makeup process with Emmy nominee James McKinnon, playing the part of a perfect “Borg mama bear.”

They seem like they'd be friends, even though they never actually worked together.

Patrick and the cast sat down with Entertainment Weekly. Gives us a couple little tidbits. It doesn't sound like any of the other TNG actors have appeared to date. Hinted there will be a second season.

I admit I did the "Princess Diana Gasp" when I saw Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine. Thankfully, I was alone when that happened.

I never would've expected her to come back. What a surprise!

I hope the girl is Lol I hated the way they just killed her character off and then pretty much acted as if she'd never existed.

Concerning the Short Treks, we know three will focus on Pike, Spock, etc..., two will be animated, and one will be connected to Picard. Just based on the titles that were released, I wonder if the Picard one is "Q&A," and if that means we will see the return of John de Lancie as Q. It would make sense since the Short Trek will be kind of the start of the Picard series, and Q was, I believe the only character outside of the main cast to appear in both the premiere and finale of TNG, and outside of the main cast he is one of the most iconic from the show. Also, I don't think Q would really fit inside the darker story of the actual show, but could work in a Short Trek.

[quote]I admit I did the "Princess Diana Gasp" when I saw Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine. Thankfully, I was alone when that happened.

I wasn't. And I don't care, because shame is overrated.

[quote]Just based on the titles that were released, I wonder if the Picard one is "Q&A," and if that means we will see the return of John de Lancie as Q

I suspect that "Q&A" is the "Number One and Spock stuck in an elevator" episode. It's the second out of the gate, and I'm assuming the last of the six is the Picard one, timed to air just before the series debuts.

I'm happy that being shot in LA means a return to Vasquez Rocks. I appreciate that filming in Toronto has given Disco some new landscapes (certainly, lusher alien forests), but some things are classics.

Sonequa did say that she'd gone to Iceland to film scenes for S3, which is the only time I can remember Trek venturing outside of North America.

[quote]I think the story about refugees which we assumed would be about the Romulans, is actually about the Borg!

I think you may be right. Between Hugh and what happened in Voyager Unimatrix Zero, the Borg sound like a good guess.

Also, if you look closely, there is a scene where there are Romulan guards and there is a quick sign that says: This Facility Has Gone 5843 Days without an Assimilation. (the scene is right after the sign that say Captain Picard Day.

Maybe the "greatest rescue armada in history" was to save disconnected Borg like Hugh and the "something unimaginable" that happened was that the Romulans attacked, and the girl is the Disconnected Borg Queen.

One thing I don't like is the Romulan (or Vulcan) guy with long hair who looks like he made a wrong turn during filming of the Lord of the Rings show on Amazon. The shaggiest we've ever seen a Romulan or Vulcan was the beginning of TMP when Spock was kicked out of Kolinar school.

[quote]One thing I don't like is the Romulan (or Vulcan) guy with long hair who looks like he made a wrong turn during filming of the Lord of the Rings show on Amazon.

Yup, I also bitched about that upthread. I've since learned he's supposed to be a Romulan martial arts expert. But still, it's not working for me.

I am beyond thrilled to see Jeri Ryan back in Star Trek. But damn wouldn't it be even nicer to discover all the returns IN the show, not months before? I know it's unrealistic with online coverage at every corner. It surely spoils the show though.

r387 Sure, but you just have to show some of your cards this early on if you want to generate excitement. And if this is what it takes to make the show into appointment television that more people will now sign up for, which will possibly result in an additional season because of increased revenue, I'm all for it. It's a tradeoff, is what I'm saying.

R387 I get what you're saying but as R388 said, CBS wants to generate as much buzz around this show as possible and lets be honest yesterday had Trek fans creaming their pants. CBS deliberately picked to reveal the trailer and surprise announcements at San Diego over Vegas because Comic Con gets far more press than the Vegas Trek Convention.

The truth is though we already had rumors of Data, Riker and Troi appearing, so, I think they dropped this announcement partly to make it easier on the actors. I mean looking back on it now, you can tell Marina was chomping at the bits to tell us, and according to her Twitter post this morning, she's known for months she was going to appear.

That being said, you know they are sitting on many more secrets. I think we may get a few more teases at the Vegas convention next week. One of the big question on twitter is are we going to see Worf, LaForge or Dr. Crusher. Dorn, Frakes, McFadden, and Spiner are all making appearances at the convention with Gates and Jonathan supposed to be on stage together on Saturday. My guess is if we don't hear anything by Vegas, then those three will not be appearing during the first season. There are rumors that maybe Dr. Crusher died which is part of the reason Picard decided to retire, but Kurtzman and the others involved seem to be going out of their way to try and please fans so I can't believe we won't see these three at some point.

I was watching the video of the Picard section of the Star Trek panel, and while I don't even think Michael Chabon identifies as bi (despite admitting to have partaking in the homosex in college), but Jesus, a purse flew from his mouth at Warp 9.

I hope they make Hugh gay but I doubt his part will be big enough to get into details like that.

Do we know how many episodes Picard will have?

r390 Really? But yeah, he was super hot back in college so the homosex part doesn't surprise me at all.

[quote]Do we know how many episodes Picard will have?

I believe they said eight.

[quote]I suspect that "Q&A" is the "Number One and Spock stuck in an elevator" episode

I considered that, R383, but I also thought that might be too obvious. After, the panel yesterday I think we have to accept that CBS is being very coy with the fans, and we can't even accept their words and statements. They really like to leave breadcrumbs and surprise the fans. Those scenes would lead us to think that, but could then surprise us. Those scenes could just as easily be part of "Ask Not." Also, they haven't actually released a schedule for the Short Treks, so the release schedule for each one is up in the air.

R392 it's been confirmed that there will be 10 episodes. According to Patrick Stewart at yesterday's panel, they have three more episodes to film and that primary filming will be done by the end of September. It's amazing to see how production of Star Trek shows has changed. Back during the TNG/DS9/Voy/Ent era, they would shot a single episode in 7 days. I believe now each episode of DIS/PIC take about 21 days.

There is an interesting new theory going around online that some of Picard's new crew were actually children aboard the Enterprise-D when Picard was in command. Hence the Captain Picard day banner.

About Dorn, McFadden and Burton. There was a rumor about a short time back that Michael Dorn was seen "visiting" the Picard set. Burton of course gave that interview saying he expects to return, and Gates has been off social media for a few weeks now.

[quote]There is an interesting new theory going around online that some of Picard's new crew were actually children aboard the Enterprise-D when Picard was in command. Hence the Captain Picard day banner.

If this leads to a Star Trek: Marissa spin-off, so help me...

[quote]This Facility Has Gone 5843 Days without an Assimilation.

I'm endlessly fascinated by this tidbit and the blue Borg cube. I was certain they were going with a completely new adventure for this show, but now I'm all in with the Borg stuff.

So based on the information in the Picard First Duty exhibit we now have an accuare timeline of events:

2379 - Nemesis, Data Dies.

2381 - Picard is promoted to Admiral and leaves the Enterprise-E for a "special assignment"

2384 - Picard commands the largest rescue armada in Federation History

2386 - Picard retires (according to Patrick Stewart, Picard' decision is made on an impulse and he regrets this later)

2387 - Romulus is destroyed

2399 - Star Trek Picard begins

R401 interesting. Here's my theory the rescue armada Picard commands has nothing to do with the destruction of Romulus, rather, it is this event that will ultimately causes the destruction of Romulus. This is why Picard is enormously guilty and haunted when we find him in 2399.

One other thing I didn't like about the trailer is the bridge on that ship with Picard and the crew. It looks like it goes on forever and doesn't look like a bridge at all. It actually looks like a large shuttlepod, which it might end up being.

I'm certain they'll manage to talk Mulgrew into appearing next season or the season after that.

[quote] Here's my theory the rescue armada Picard commands has nothing to do with the destruction of Romulus, rather, it is this event that will ultimately causes the destruction of Romulus.

Romulus was destroyed by the Hobus supernova. While that is from the new movies and a different license, I can't believe they would actually create an alternate version for the same event. Fans would collectively shake their heads and tune out. There would be no reason to do so and the backlash would be big, I would think.

It's possible, but why would they?

R404 A supernova does indeed destroy Romulus but there is a lot of ambiguity about why the supernova occurred in the first place. There is some speculation that the supernovas was actually not a natural occurrence but perhaps the result of some kind of weapon...perhaps connected to the Borg?

Patrick Stewart states in his interview with Entertainment Weekly that Picard's decision to retire was "reactionary and he has come to regret it."

another nail in Beverly's coffin?

Dr Crusher could be dead but still appear on the series.

400 posts already?

NEWS FLASH, NERDS: IT'S NOT EVEN OUT YET

The All Good Things... timeline might never have come about since thing ending pointedly says that they actively changed their behaviors so that some things never happened (like the Worf/Riker rift).

Picard might not have married (and divorced) Crusher. They're also likely ignoring the Irumodic Syndrome because who really wants to see a senile Picard (we've already seen a senile Professor X in Logan). I don't think you can use Picard's marital status or sleeping arrangements to infer anything about Crusher at this point.

One thing is for certain...

I really don't want to see Q pop up on this.

Some great tidbits in this interview.

Picard is effectively no longer in contact with the old Enterprise gang.

Spiner confirms that he's Data again not B4 (although B4 is the android we see disassembled). And that Data's return in handled in a unique way.

Jonathan Del Arco implies Hugh became the leader of the Borg we saw in Descent Part II.

Stewart states that there will never be a full blown TNG cast reunion but that other characters "some announced, others in the planning stages" will return. not just principles but other other people too. He also hopes there will be a second seasons so they can bring back others. But he doesn't want gimmicky cameos. It sounds like he basically promised the TNG cast that at some point they would come back.

Picard will be seen a Starfleet uniform in a flashback they are due to film this week.

R412 I bet you one of those is or be Whoopi!

Who's the cute twink behind Patrick Stewart in that video? R413

Meant R412

R411 That is why I was saying, if they want to bring him back, a Short Trek would be the best place, because a little bit of Q goes a long way. He is an iconic TNG character, with a following, so they might want to bring him back but he just doesn't seem to fit in the feeling of the new main show.

r414 Evan Evagora. His Insta is at r3.

R417 Thanks! Not sure how I missed that

Stewart confirmed on IGN that that the group he joins are renegades.

Have they revealed who the girl is yet?

R420 No, of course not. Some people think she is Lai, Datas' offspring from Offspring.

I think she is some kinda Borgy hybrid Miss Thing

I bet it's Jenny.

The current conspiracy theory is that she's a combination of the DNA of both Picard and the Borg Queen, which A) she's too young, and B) is basically the plot of Logan.

I'm thinking the girl is a new version of Data's daughter Lal.

* Data downloaded Lal into himself before she "died." When Data connected to the Borg during First Contact, they would have had access to her programming.

* She would have been a hybrid that they were seeking.

* The Hugh (and his faction), the Romulans (who've clearly captured a cube), or the Borg themselves (since they can grow whatever organic body they needed) may have been experimenting with that sort of sentience. She looks like Lal.

* From a story perspective makes sense in light of Data's return.

A couple things,

the girl is not Lal, if you watch the trailer there is a scene where she appears to be a prisoner aboard the Borg Cube that looks it occupied by the Romulans. She is surrounded by other non-borgifed young people which makes me think these are children who were in maturation chambers but freed whenever the Borg ship was damaged (likely by Picard and the rescue armada). She is connected to the Borg somehow.

regarding Beverly, I don't think she and Picard married or that she's dead. Based on the things Patrick Stewart has said, it sounds like Picard basically turned his back on everyone after he retired and is no longer in contact with his old crew. We will likely see Beverly turn up either this season or next. It sounds like they are making sure that there is a legitimate story reason for bringing old characters back.

I should clarify, I don't think she's actually Lal.

I think she's some sort of Borg / Soong technology hybrid. The Borg would have had access to Soong's technology for positronic brains, as well as Lal's program which would be a natural starting point if they were trying to recreate it.

Hugh, 7, and Data all need to figure prominently in whatever this mystery is. Borg and Soong technology would make a deadly combination and evolutionary jump for the Borg. Remember that Hugh had joined Lore in Descent. But, Lore was a defective version of Data - Soong hadn't perfected the positronic brain at that point.

Whoever she is, I hope she doesn't turnout to be another Mary Sue character, or worse, after all the conjecture, it turns out that there's nothing interesting in her backstory, like Rey.

Robert Picardo hints he may be appearing on Picard. He commented on the news that Jeri Ryan, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes would be returning saying "very interesting developments afoot." Jeri Ryan responded saying "Now we just need you" and Picardo responded "We Shall See. My lips are sealed"

My guess is that Beverley is not dead. She's presented as one of Picard's closest friends (and possible love interest) on TNG, so they would have to deal with the impact of that death. It's just simpler from a story perspective to keep her alive and off screen. I think they should use this opportunity to address the unresolved relationship between the two characters. Although, I suppose I wouldn't be surprised if they choose to ignore the Bev-Picard friendship in favor of something more exciting.

R428 I agree. I don't think Beverly is dead either. From what Patrick Stewart said in his interview with TV Line, after Picard retires he has very little contact with his former Enterprise crew. My guess is that while Beverly and the others are still around, they are no longer in regular contact. The major writers of Picard are longtime TNG fans and they seem to be going out of their way to try and please fans, so, I don't think they'll ignore it. Beverly will be referenced in some manner but either they got divorced as we saw in alternate future shown in All Good Things, or they never got together. Patrick hinted that there would be no romantic story line for Picard in this show. Another reason I don't think they'll kill Beverly is they're already "resurrecting" Data and we'll see Picard dealing with that grief. I don't think it would be redundant to have Picard grieving over two characters.

Although ironically I actually think Beverly being killed off would actually be good for the character as her absence would create an emotional arch for the other characters and draw attention to her character in a way that she didn't get in the movies.

I wonder if they're actually "resurrecting" Data. The clip of him from the trailer looks like a dream sequence.

R430 I'm guessing that they extracted Data's memories from B4 and then placed them in a holographic version of Data as a way of preserving them.

R429 I agree. Killing Beverly off would actually give her more relevance than she ever had on the series and in the movies. It also wouldn't preclude Gates McFadden from making an appearance in a flashback or something.

R429 I doubt the other TNG characters will be getting arcs, so killing her off would mainly affect Picard. I don't think that "fridging" Beverly to give Picard a bit more development would go over that well. It's kind of a cheap way to add drama.

So apparently, there is word going around the fandom that Bryan Fuller may be suing CBS. Allegedly, Fuller pitched a Picard focused Star Trek show featuring the Borg prior to the creation of Discovery. It's even registered with the Writer's Guild.

R433 While there is no word the Fuller is suing CBS, as they likely own anything he did with Star Trek, it is true that Fuller did pitch a Picard/Data show. In that show, the Data memories overtake B4's programming, Data was reinstated to Starfleet and eventually became Captain of the Enterprise. From what has leaked out, the Borg have been liberated thanks to the events of Voyager's endgame and 7 of 9 and Hugh have become the leaders of the liberated Borg. These liberated Borg are somehow involved in saving Romulans. Picard is an Ambassador and also beginning to suffer from that dementia disease he had in the TNG finale.

Does this Bryan Fuller news have anything to do with Midnight's Edge or some other youtube rumor mill? If so, it's most likely bullshit.

r435 Robert Meyer Burnett came up with it on YouTube on Monday and then Midnight's Edge ran with it. Fake news and conspiracy theories are now banned in the main Star Trek subreddit, but they're doing marvelously on its 500-member alt-right version. It's all based on this article from two years ago:

[quote]According to Entertainment Weekly, Bryan Fuller’s original pitch to CBS had the show starting in Discovery‘s time, but then moving through the eras of Kirk and Picard and then going beyond that, reaching a time period that hasn’t been seen in Star Trek before. He wanted to do something like American Horror Story, which resets its storyline each season, and described it as a “platform for a universe of Star Trek shows.” However CBS decided to create a single serialized show and see how it performed before agreeing to anything that elaborate.

So no talk of Picard having his own show, just visiting "Picard's era".

R436 Robert Meyer Burnett and Midnight's Edge along with a number of YouTubers are just a bunch of nutjobs who create all these conspiracy in a bid to get viewed. Every single one of their theories has panned out to be untrue.

I'll pay attention to Fuller again when he sticks with a show, any show, for a full season.

Jeez, why do we have to wait until 2020?

What happen to icheb?

....

....

[quote]What happen to icheb?

Didn't he become a Trump supporter like Roxanne Dawson?

R443 Yup. The guy who played Icheb is a right-wing pig. Allegedly he's been banned from most conventions from being super creepy and inappropriate with female fans. When Anthony Rapp discussed his dealing with Kevin Spacey, Icheb victim blamed Rapp. He's also been creepy towards Jeri Ryan twitting her about how he used to hide his boners when they were working together on Voyager.

He had some indie or something like that to shill last year and has dialled back the Trump thing as a result substantially.

He's now low-key begging on Insta to be included in the Picard series.

So much for my hope that he banged John de Lancie's gay son.

That episode was one of the most homoerotic things Star Trek has ever done, and this is the show that invented slashfic.

Manu looks so gross now: like he spends all day smoking, drinking and sun bathing. No one wants to see that.

Where are y'all getting that Manu Intiraymi, Icheb, is pro Trump? He has multiple anti-Trump posts on his instagram. Here is one from 2017.

I saw some deplorable things on his Twitter account years ago. Maybe it was a manic episode or a breakdown of sorts and he's now reinvented himself to try and get on the rebooted Star Trek train again, I don't know.

[quote]When Anthony Rapp discussed his dealing with Kevin Spacey, Icheb victim blamed Rapp.

And he likes most of Rapp's tweets these days. Seems like someone who puts his foot in his mouth on a regular basis.

R449 Then show your proof, because I've looked all the way back to prior to the 2016 election, on both Istagram and Twitter, and he is consistently anti-Trump. Also pro-LGBT.

It was before 2016. And also, people delete their problematic tweets all the time.

R451 So if it was before 2016, you can't say, he has changed to get a part on Star Trek, as there was no Star Trek show at the time. I also know that people delete their tweets, but he seems fairly consistent in his political views. I would like to know what you think is deplorable? Also, you seem unable to understand that people's views can change over time.

Deplorable behavior existed before Hillary said that word for the first time. If I may borrow your rude language: you [italic]are[/italic] able to comprehend that, right?

I distinctly recall being on my first complete VOY rewatch since my childhood, when I got to the episode where Itcheb appears. Because I had such a crush on him as a kid, I googled to see what happened to him. The homophobic shit on his Twitter timeline turned my stomach. And trust me, I don't easily forget a piece of my childhood dying in a second like that.

Anyway, I don't intend to engage you further because you're quite rude.

Asking for proof is not rude. It is rude to just attack a person without proof.

Manu Intiraymi is a drug user and has mental problems. He has been banned from appearing at the annual Vegas Trek convention after sexually harassing several young female fans.

I think Manu might be a liberal with deplorable tendencies (met quite a few of those). He seems like he might be mentally unstable.

So the Star Trek Vegas schedule is out. Originally it was rumored that Jonathan Frakes and Gates McFadden were going to make an appearance together on stage on the Saturday, but sadly that doesn't appear to be the case. Gates will appears with all the other living Trek doctors (except Karl Urban) followed by Jonathan Frakes and "Picard Cast." They didn't say who from the Picard cast will be present, however, or if there will be new announcements.

Manu posting about cutie Keegan De Lancie

If this show won't be broadcast for another year isn't this nearly full thread premature?

We can discuss a show before it premieres R459

Jeri Ryan either has a phenomenal plastic surgeon, a phenomenal dermatologist, or a painting in the attic.

Jeri Ryan has always lived a super-healthy lifestyle, so that's definitely part of it.

Remember that thanks to Jeri Ryan not letting her husband fuck her in sex clubs, Obama became a Senator.

Glad to see Jeri Ryan, the sexiest woman ever on Star Trek back. I wish Robert Duncan McNeill had held up as well, Tom Paris was fucking SEXY!!!

R464 ........Tom paris was fat. Fat and a bad actor

[quote] Jeri Ryan either has a phenomenal plastic surgeon, a phenomenal dermatologist, or a painting in the attic.

Not to mention a padded skintight catsuit.

R465 He was neither fat nor bald when Voyager began.

Sadly, he is now

[quote]If this show won't be broadcast for another year isn't this nearly full thread premature?

The Star Trek universe is coming back to life again, after a decade of drought and Abrams movies which were neither here nor there (I enjoyed them but let's be real). So of course people are excited about it. We had never dared to imagine we'd see Picard have his own show. And it'll premiere in January 2020, so it'll be broadcast in six months, not in one year as you said.

In an interview with IGN, Jonathan Frakes has hinted that Riker and Troi are no longer in Starfleet.

R468 That was my point. I'm sad he didn't hold up as well as Jeri Ryan. :(

I bet the girl will get the name Picard at some point and it'll carry on with her. Doesn't matter if any of us want or don't want it, I have doubts the showrunners would put the fate of the show on Patrick's whims or health.

[quote]That was my point. I'm sad he didn't hold up as well as Jeri Ryan. :(

No, the sad part is the pic at r468 is a cleaned up version of him.

Most of the time, he looks so much worse - red-faced, greasy unkempt hair (and given his hairline, it looks even worse than it sounds), and huge.

I prefer to remember him in his prime.

Robert Duncan McNeill was attractive in the early seasons of Voyager. Around season 4 his weight starting fluctuating and he started noticeably aging. He got back into shape during the 5th season but then started packing on the pounds during the last two seasons. Actually out of the three 90s spin-offs (TNG, DS9 and VOY) I think the Voyager cast all aged the most noticeably over the course of the show.

The Voyager cast did seem to age fast. Well, except for Jeri Ryan who looks pretty much the same 20 years later.

Are the JJ Abrams Trek movies officially over?

Saw Frakes on Saturday. Fat and very thin hair.

R477 Fuck, let us hope so, and also an end to the stupid Kelvin timeline

I think there’s supposed to be one more JJ Abrams-Trek movie, right?

R480 Screamed a la Shatner in Wrath of Khan after Ricardo tells him he is stuck inside the planet, buried alive, buried alive....

NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

There was supposed to be a Trek 4, but Chris Pine was acting like a diva over salary or maybe the script, I can't really remember. It was a while ago. I don't know if the project has been officially canceled or is still in limbo.

There's supposed to be a Quentin Tarantino Star Trek movie coming

R483 Thought he was giving up making movies after nine, OUATIH is the ninth

I don't think I would want to see a Tarantino Star Trek film.

Tarantino has said he loved Pine's performance as Kirk and was inspired to do Trek because of it. So speculation is if he can't get Pine to sign up, he might bail.

A Tarantino Star Trek film would be two hours of close-ups of Yoeman Rand's bare feet, interspersed with moments of McCoy calling Spock a motherfucker and Scotty torturing to death a Klingon who scraped the Enterprise's rear bumper.

So please Pine, be busy elsewhere.

The Kelvin films and Quentin Tarantino's film were two separate films intended to be released.

In 2016 just before Beyond was released, Paramount announced a sequel that (Star Trek 4) that would among other things reunite Kirk (Chris Pine) with his father played by Chris Hemsworth. Beyond under performed at the box office and while Paramount intended to go ahead with Star Trek 4, they decided they would have to cut the budget back. For a while it seemed to be on track with Paramount even hiring a director for the project. The problems happened because Paramount attempted to renegotiate Pine's and Hemsworth's salary for the film. Both Pine and Hemsworth refused to renegotiate and walked away. The project has seen been cancelled and it appears to Kelvin timeline has ended.

Around the same time Star Trek 4 was in the works, word began coming out that Quentin Tarantino was working on a Star Trek film. The original plan was that Star Trek 4 would come out by 2019 or 2020 and that Tarantino's film would come out the following year. Quentin Tarantino's Trek film while still be discussed has not been officially green lit.

There is also another factor why Star trek 4 and the Quentin Tarantino probably won't happen which is the rights issue. CBS owns the rights to Star Trek but Viacom (a subsidiary of Paramount) owns the Trek movie library but not the rights to Star Trek. In order to producer ST09, Darkness, and Beyond, Viacom had to purchase a license from CBS. Basically Paramount cannot produce new Star Trek content without making a deal with CBS. The original deal Paramount struck with CBS to make what became the Kelvin films was a decade long agreement that expired in 2018. When CBS signed the deal, they had no interest in resurrecting Star Trek. That of course has changed now and rather than creating a new agreement with Paramount, CBS has been negotiating a merger with Viacom which would untimely put Star Trek (movies and TV) completely under CBS's control. If the merger happens, as it appears it's going to, it's likely an future movie will be based on the current round of Star Trek tv shows.

I have to wonder what's going to happen with the Star Trek Expanded Universe novels. With no new Star Trek being on TV, the authors were given permission to build out an incredibly rich universe (including Star Trek's first fleshed out gay characters) with evolving stories and well-drawn new characters. Disco even borrowed Control from a book of the same name that was published in 2017. And the way it was depicted was pretty consistent between the two. They also redid some of the special effects for TOS Remastered and put in a starbase that was based on Vanguard from the series of the same name.

They can hand-wave Disco, but some of Picard seems to conflict with what they've established, although only some of the books have gone beyond 2385. Plus, Kristen Beyer, who was the one who I think pitched the Picard series initially, is the author of all the Voyager novels set in that timeframe.

R489 Star Trek novels have never been considered canon. The post-Nemesis novel universe should be considered an alternate timeline. While I'm thrilled that Picard is coming back and we'll finally see a post-Nemesis Federation depicted on screen, the novels had some really good stuff in them. I was happy that in the novels Picard and Beverly ended up getting together and having a son...a much happier ending than what I think we'll get with the new Picard show. I also think in the novels, Picard continued commanding the Enterprise for a much longer period of time.

R475 & R476, yes looking back on it now, the Voyager cast did really age a lot in seven years. Kate Mulgrew looked better style wise by the end of the show but she did age noticeably. Robert Duncan McNeill and Garrett Wang aged and expanded a great deal. Interestingly though, I swear Robert Picardo had something done during the course of the show. He's noticeably less wrinkly around his forehead and the bags under his eyes are gone in later seasons.

Most of the women in the spin-offs have aged well. Jeri Ryan, Terry Farrell, Nana Visitor, Nicole de Boer and Linda Park all look fantastic and I really don't think have had anything major done. Gates McFadden, who I actually thought was far better looking than Marina Sirtis, was aging well but then did something to her face and has gone to heavy on the botox and fillers which looks all the bit odder given she has let her hair go natural. Marina is looking a little rough these days.

I think Marina still smokes, and of course that's hell on a person's looks.

R489 They're not cannon, so what's going to happen is that they will be ignored. Showrunners have never been expected to respect what happened in novels, comics, or games. They're just fun diversions for fans. I doubt many people even read the novels, so most fans will be none the wiser about any contradictions.

It's not that I expect the producers to hew to them, it just bums me out a little that they won't be able to continue to tell stories in that non-canon continuity.

Star Trek Las Vegas starts on July 31.

I wonder whether they will provide more trailers and info or just stick to what they showed in San Diego.

Robert Picardo has confirmed that Picard producers have reached out to his agent about appearing in Season 2. Guess the show has basically already been renewed and is in the works?

Would it kill them to get someone from DS9? Nana Visitor would do it, especially if they had Kira in charge of something.

Bring back Ezri Dax

R496 Interesting! LeVar Burton has stated he expects to return which makes me feel that he's been approached for the second season too. From the TNG cast, that leaves Michael Dorn and Gates McFadden. McFadden and Dorn are both appearing in Vegas this week so I'll expect we'll get more. I get why Dorn likely hasn't been asked because there's the issue with his makeup. Do they do the TNG version of Klingons or the new Discovery update. I do find it odd that we haven't heard anything about Beverly Crusher given that she was one of Picard's closet friends and his love interest at times. To me out of all the TNG characters, Crusher seems the one Picard would likely remain in contact with regardless. This is why I'm still thinking the writers plan to surprise us by revealing that she has died.

Well, I for one am waiting for the announcement that Wesley shall return

r496 Amazing. People are going to freak the fuck out when Mulgrew pops up in the season 2 trailer, I'm calling it now.

Would love to see Picard "command" a new vessel with First Officer Kira, Science Officer 7 of 9, Holo doctor, Security Chief Odo, Engineer Chief Geordi and Counselor Troi.

R502 The NCC-1??? Shady Pines?

Picard bluray series coming out soon which includes a comic that services as a prequel to the series.

R496 Earlier this year Patrick Stewart stated that Star Trek: Picard's story has been plotted for a three year run. If what Robert Picardo is saying is true, it's likely there already rolling out the story making sure the actors they want are available.

When your linchpin character is 79 years old, you better get as much in the can as possible now.

So apparently during his appearance at Galaxycon in North Carolina last weekend, Jonathan Frakes let slip that other characters from TNG are appearing in Picard that haven't been official announced. After saying this he realized he wasn't supposed to say anything and backtracked because those appearances might give away some of the plot.

Please God...no Q!

Interview with Roxanne Dawson (a Trump supporter) talking about her faith.

Hard pass.

For those who can't access the Discovery Thread, Wilson Cruz confirmed on Twitter that season 3 has just began filming today in Toronto.

Some Picard updates from Star Trek Las Vegas today.

1) a 3 part comic called "Star Trek Picard: COUNTDOWN" will start being released in November and is a prequel to the new series.

2) The first Picard centered novel will be pushed in February and is called The Last Best Hope. This means the show is likely set for February debut.

3) Picard producers are working closely with Simon & Schuster to at least incorporate some of the novels' post-nemesis continuity into the new series. It appears these novels will be rebranded as expanded universe novels similar to what happened when Star Wars decided to do the new sequel trilogy.

Dawson followed up her faith-based movie with directing the series finale of The Deuce. That's quite the leap. Maybe they all find God in the end!

[quote]Picard producers are working closely with Simon & Schuster to at least incorporate some of the novels' post-nemesis continuity into the new series

SWEEEET!

OMG I love Kate Mulgrew and this is a fantastic interview. She looks great.

It appears that the CBS-Viacom merger is all but a done deal. Once the merger actually happens, CBS will officially own the movie franchise including the current movie library of 13 films. Paramount may still be the movie distributor but would no longer be able to create Star Trek content.

R516 Of course it is, the only person standing in the way of a remerger of the two was Les Moonves because Shari Redstone wouldn't guarantee him the top position at the new company. The Redstones were stupid to break them in two when they did it. The recombined company will have incredible reach. Under one company, they will have a major motion picture company (Paramount), numerous cable channels such as Showtime, MTV, CMT, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, etc... and two major broadcast networks in the US (CBS & the CW), and in the UK (Channel 5 and its subchannels) and Australia (Network 10 and its subchannels), among other properties.

I'm not sure they'd be able to retain their portion of the ownership of the CW. Disney wasn't allowed to buy Fox Network, because they already owned a broadcast network.

[quote]OMG I love Kate Mulgrew and this is a fantastic interview. She looks great.

I'd forgotten how gorgeous she was when she started out on Ryan's Hope.

Unforgettable as Mrs Columbo

I watched an episode of TNG last night on Netflix that centered around a little girl on the Enterprise and her "imaginary" friend who was one A-class level cunt!

This little blond bitch had THE sourest look on her face and made life hell for everyone from the Aleksander to Troi.

I honestly believe she has to be a bigger cunt than that shapeshifter Dauphin who was always cockblocking poor Wesley Crusher.

Latest update from Vegas, Michael Dorn seems to confirm he will not be appearing on Star Trek Picard, LeVar Burton was more ambiguous. They appeared on stage together. When asked about Picard Dorn said "I'll let you [Burton] answer that." Burton said "Well, yeah, if they put some zeros behind the ask! (To Dorn) You don't need it, you have that DS9 money!"

I don't think Dorn would want to endure the makeup again, unless they paid him all of the money, so that doesn't surprise me.

[quote] a little girl on the Enterprise and her "imaginary" friend

If I recall correctly that little girl was Nikki Cox.

R518 That is because FOX is considered a major network, the CW isn't.

[quote]If I recall correctly that little girl was Nikki Cox.

Nikki Cox was in the episode "Pen Pals."

The actress in "Imaginary Friend" was named Shay Ashtar.

correction noted

CBS has trademarked Star Trek: Section 31 and Star Trek: Prodigy.

The latter is likely the name of the Nickelodeon animated series.

Just posted from Vegas. I wonder why Cruz isn't in this since he's there according to his twitter.

Dear Lord, what did the Face Sharpener do to Gates?

"I need to speak to your manager...immediately!"

Drops in Jan

Some interesting theories.

Short Trek #2: "The Trouble with Edward."

Surprisingly dropping on Thursday.

Unlike a lot of Trek comedy, "The Trouble with Edward" is actually funny.

Amusing, but we all know Tribbles only multiply like that when they have an abundant food source.

Here's the other thing that bugs me. In TOS, the Enterprise first encountered tribbles from a trader. It was a species previously unknown to them (which is why McCoy studied them and found they were born pregnant. If, as this Short Trek says that tribbles were a result of a Federation experiment gone awry during the PIke era and it ended up disabling a Federation ship and causing huge planetary disruption, why didn't the TOS crew know about them? Surely that crazy story would be a well-known bit of folklore at the academy.

R537 If it was an experiment gone awry, it would make sense that it would have been classified.

Did anyone else think that was Aubrey Plaza as the captain?

Gates McFadden has cancer and apparently had surgery this week.

Did anyone else notice that there were Trill in the new Disco trailer that dropped at NYCC?

Of course, the Trill and their symbiotes were not well-known when first encountered on TNG.

R540 Shit

The symbiotes weren't. The Trill had been around for a while, given that Curzon Dax helped negotiate the Khitomer Accords.

R540 Oh no :(. Gates was previously diagnosed with breast cancer around around 2010. Hope she is ok!!!

Yes Gates did have breast cancer, she's fairly open about it, but I believe she is still in remission. It appears she had Collarbone attachment surgery.

Re-watching the newest Picard trailer...the starbase under attack at 2:22 appears to be the research facility in orbit of Jupiter as seen in the Voyager episode "Life Line"

Denise Crosby seems to have confirmed during an appearance at Destination Star Trek that "Empress" Sela will appear in Star Trek Picard. She was vague about whether or not she has already appeared or will appear in Season 2.

Oooooooohhh, Sela is back!

Shit's gonna get real.

That's really cool.

Please, Gods, give me a DS9 character.

I've always loved Denise Crosby and while I get why she left, it deprived TNG of a seriously potential kick-ass female character. I think if Crosby had stayed producers would've actually written Troi out of the show (Marina Sirtis has basically confirmed as much). Gates would have still been fired due to her conflict with show runner Maurice Hurley. It's also a question of what would they have done with Worf if Yar hadn't left.

R549 I would love to see someone from DS9. I think it's possible we could see Miles O'Brien give that he served with Picard. Speaking of DS9, there is rampant speculation that we will see the latest Dax host in the new season of Discovery. Given that Nicole de Boer lives in Toronto, it's also possible we could see Ezri in a flashback.

Fuck Yes Denise Crosby!

R550 Yes, writing Troi out of the series was very much in the cards during the first season. Marina has talked about this openly for years, but she knew she was about to released from her contract. She has openly said she owes her job to Crosby.

Troi had been written out of four or five episodes during the first season because the writers didn't like and didn't know what to do with her character. The only reason she was brought back into the fold was it had become clear that Crosby wanted out and that Roddenberry was going to grant this request. Also plans were in place to show Gates the door by the end of the season. Troi was retained because it would have looked bad if they all three female characters had left by season 2.

Those producers really had problems with women in the Trek world

Shit. I probably would have stopped watching if Troi had left.

Do people still watch this endless Star Trek bullshit? Why?

R556 Well, we rarely watch the old eps, which is why it is so fucking exciting and cool 25 years after the show finished these characters we loved are coming back to TV.

Why did you comment? Is there an old show or movie thing you love?

[quote] Well, we rarely watch the old eps,

Actually, since streaming became available I tend to rewatch TNG, VOY, and Enterprise every year and DS9 and TOS every couple of years.

R554 Denise Crosby has hinted recently that her departure may have been partly been motivated by a MeToo related situation. Also, it's been rumored for years that part of the reason Gates McFadden was fired was because she rejected sexual advances from Maurice Hurley.

So Patrick Stewart appeared at Destination Star Trek this past weekend, and he dropped some interesting hint:

1) By the end of episode one we will know the current status of the Borg Collective and more of their origins.

2) When asked if the other TNG main cast will appear (Beverly, Worf, Geordi) Stewart said "I think so" and then winked.

3) He also revealed Picard is not alone on his vineyard. He has two Romulan workers who help him and also "keep him safe."

"Ask Not," the final Pike-based Short Trek dropped today.

The next two are animated. Following that, it's the one which dovetails into Picard.

^ I would love to dovetail into Jean-Luc.

The first Picard prequel comic is due out next week. Syfywire has given a sneak peak. The Comic features a cameo by LaForge who is now a full commander and head of Utopia Planitia Shipyards

I haven't read the comic but this post contains a great review and a number of theories about what could be happening. I like the idea that the Romulans attack Starfleet's shipyards to prevent a mass rescue mission.

Michael Chabon out as Picard show runner.

Well, at least it's not because he was fired, so we're not stepping back on to that particular Merry-Go-Round.

I didn't realize Ayelet Waldman is Chabon's wife....I thought he was gay.

R566 I dunno. Networks don't just offer development deals out of the blue. Often times, development deals are offered to talented writers/producers when there are issue at their current show. Chabon is a talented writer to me it seems if there were issues with Kurtzman CBS would re-shuffle him rather than fire him outright.

R567 Chabon has never really directly stated his sexuality, other than the fact he is against labels, but he has his wife have been married for almost 30 years and have four kids. Waldman has written several articles about their marriage, and it certainly sounds hot and heavy. I would guess he's probably bisexual but happily married to his wife.

New trailer is out

Jonathan del Arco tweeted this, with a clear view of Hugh’s face.

Looks like a more extreme version of Seven.

R570 I'm guessing Hugh's Borg implants weren't removed by a federation doctor. Interested to see the development of his character

Is there another thread? Or zero fans of Jean-Luc?

I think all the Star Trek discussions have been moved to here

[quote]I didn't know Romulans could be so hot!

Was that bitch yanking my tractor beam?

[quote] Dear Lord, what did the Face Sharpener do to Gates?

I sent her to my personal one myself!

[quote][R567] Chabon has never really directly stated his sexuality, other than the fact he is against labels, but he has his wife have been married for almost 30 years and have four kids. Waldman has written several articles about their marriage, and it certainly sounds hot and heavy. I would guess he's probably bisexual but happily married to his wife.

His first major relationship was with a man, and so he thought he was bisexual, and made the main character in his first novel ("The Mysteries of Pittsburgh") bisexual and in a relationship with a man. But I think he never again had a major relationship with another man.

I actually liked last week's episode, although it was mostly just lots of hugging and hanging out on a planet that seemed to be like Eureka/Arcata. (The hippie is so strong in Michael Chabon.) I came away with lots of unanswered questions about Riker and Troi, though: is her mother dead? Did Troi inherit her mother's bizarre Betazoid titles if she died? Why didn't Kestra seem to have any Betazoid empathic powers? (Is the Betazoid heritage too diluted in her?) Why is their house furnished with tacky 1970s furniture? Why didn't Troi serve chocolate after dinner? Why did they name their son "Thad" (ugh)? ("Kestra" I get, because it was a family name)

So is Thaddeus. Riker had an ancestor named Thaddeus Riker who fought in the Union army. They used to call him Ol' Iron Boots.

Now, why they wouldn't have named him Kyle or Ian after one of his grandfathers, I can't rightly tell you.

Thanks, r578. I had forgotten that.

I was also happy Riker called Troi "Imzadi."

R577 According to Michael Chabon on his IG Q&As: Kestra has heightened emotional awareness but is not empathic like her mother. He stated that Thad, however, was empathic like Troi. Chabon also said that producers decided not to mention Lwaxana Troi because they felt it would add another layer of loss for Troi and dealing with Thad's death was the main arc of Troi/Riker's story at this point. The death of Lwaxana would have added questions of where is Troi's brother who is only a couple years older than Thad (remember Lwaxana was pregnant with a boy the last we saw in her in DS9's 4th season episode The Muse).

One Question I have was, what was up with Deanna's sudden wardrobe change? Troi wear blue when Picard arrives, then is suddenly wearing pink a short while later, and then back to blue, then pink, then blue again. I'm Guessing Marina didn't like the blue shirt and the late scene's she shot were in the pink.

Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've seen Star Trek crumble worlds with the Genesis Device, deploy invincible Borg Cubes and poison planets with the Abronath.

But I've NEVER seen Star Trek drop the "F"BOMB before!

This show has brought back so many emotions and memories for me. It's like having my family back again. I know I sound like a geek but I can't help it.

r581, they've already done it a few times this season.

[quote] But I've NEVER seen Star Trek drop the "F"BOMB before!

Don't you remember when on the original ST: TNG, Troi, disguised as a Romulan SS officer, said, "I'll have you FUCKING EJECTED into FUCKING SPACE!"?