The Star Trek Thread, V5.0

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Some people argue that his death allowed the franchise to grow. TNG started off really slow when he was still in charge.

Yeah from all accounts Gene was pretty bad to deal with. Wesley, Riker, and Picard were suppose to symbolically himself at different points in his life.He truly believed humanity had to become his version of it. "There is no hunger, disease, and greed, and all the children can read" this was his mantra when people wanted to add drama to the series. It was sad when he died, but Rick Berman took the reigns, and allowed Micheal Piller to bring the necessary drama and epicness to the show.
 
https://www.polygon.com/2018/10/25/18023092/star-trek-lower-decks-cbs-all-access

New trek series was just announced.

Star Trek : Lower decks

The animated comedy series, which was given an order for two seasons, will be called Star Trek: Lower Decks and will be developed by Rick and Morty writer Mike McMahan. While “Lower Decks” is also the name of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation — in which junior officers vie for a promotion, this series won’t be much like previous Star Trek shows. Rather than the traditional Star Trek format of following the captain and key crew members, this series will follow the forgotten members of the United Federation of Planets working on one of the least important ships in Starfleet.

According to Star Trek: Discovery creator Alex Kurtzman, whose Secret Hideout production company will also be producing Lower Decks, McMahan, who has written five Rick and Morty episodes including the season 3 opener, “The Rickshank Rickdemption” pitched the series by saying, “I want to do a show about the people who put the yellow cartridge in the food replicator so a banana can come out the other end.”

This will be the first animated show for CBS All Access, and will be produced largely by the company’s new animation studio, CBS Eye Animation Productions. The new animated Trek series, which will be the first in the series since Star Trek: The Animated Series back in 1973, looks to be a part of the four upcoming Star Trek series that Variety reported were in development for CBS All Access back in June. These shows include the upcoming return of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who will be played once again by Sir Patrick Stewart.
 
https://www.polygon.com/2018/10/25/18023092/star-trek-lower-decks-cbs-all-access

New trek series was just announced.

Star Trek : Lower decks

The animated comedy series, which was given an order for two seasons, will be called Star Trek: Lower Decks and will be developed by Rick and Morty writer Mike McMahan. While “Lower Decks” is also the name of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation — in which junior officers vie for a promotion, this series won’t be much like previous Star Trek shows. Rather than the traditional Star Trek format of following the captain and key crew members, this series will follow the forgotten members of the United Federation of Planets working on one of the least important ships in Starfleet.

According to Star Trek: Discovery creator Alex Kurtzman, whose Secret Hideout production company will also be producing Lower Decks, McMahan, who has written five Rick and Morty episodes including the season 3 opener, “The Rickshank Rickdemption” pitched the series by saying, “I want to do a show about the people who put the yellow cartridge in the food replicator so a banana can come out the other end.”

This will be the first animated show for CBS All Access, and will be produced largely by the company’s new animation studio, CBS Eye Animation Productions. The new animated Trek series, which will be the first in the series since Star Trek: The Animated Series back in 1973, looks to be a part of the four upcoming Star Trek series that Variety reported were in development for CBS All Access back in June. These shows include the upcoming return of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who will be played once again by Sir Patrick Stewart.

Alright, this can be total shit or totally awesome.
 
“Mike won our hearts with his first sentence: ‘I want to do a show about the people who put the yellow cartridge in the food replicator so a banana can come out the other end,’” Kurtzman said. “His cat’s name is Riker. His son’s name is Sagan. The man is committed. He’s brilliantly funny and knows every inch of every ‘Trek’ episode, and that’s his secret sauce: he writes with the pure, joyful heart of a true fan. As we broaden the world of ‘Trek’ to fans of all ages, we’re so excited to include Mike’s extraordinary voice.

If I am not mistaken, that is the guy from the Season 8 Twitter handle who is also responsible for one of the Short Treks.
 
If I am not mistaken, that is the guy from the Season 8 Twitter handle who is also responsible for one of the Short Treks.
Yes it is. The guy is a huge trek fan. He is also one of the main people behind Rick and Morty. I don't expect it to be so off the wall and extreme like Rick and Morty, but more of a satire on these crew members, working these behind the scenes jobs on a star ship. Everyone joins star fleet, to command your own ship and save the galaxy, but there can be thousands of people on the star ships. Might be interesting to see what a 24th century janitor goes through.
 
So is the DS9 docu out yet ? Where can I watch it ?
I hope this will be awesome.
 
So is the DS9 docu out yet ? Where can I watch it ?
I hope this will be awesome.
They just had the world premieres. Reviews so far have been stellar.

You still have time to pre order it, before they start shipping out in a few weeks. I'm not sure if they will sell it in retail or have it on streaming sites, since it was crowdfunded, but they are also licensing and working with CBS on it. Actually wouldn't shock me if it came to all access at some point. But to be safe, pay the $35 and get a copy of the bu ray/DVD combo. Remember the more they sell, the more CBS see interest in DS9, and will finally give it the HD treatment it deserves.

https://ds9documentary.com/
 
Next Star Trek short is out. This weeks entry is called Calypso, and it is simply fantastic sci fi. The writer Micheal Chabon, is one of the main writers on the new Picard Series, so that make me very excited. Not to mention that hes a beloved Pulitzer prize winning author.....
chabon-writes-short-trek-calypso.jpeg


Here's the latest review.




best Star Trek stories in years.
BY SCOTT COLLURA Full spoilers follow for this episode.

The second of the Short Treks, “Calypso,” is not only a huge improvement over the first installment, which debuted last month, but also a high watermark for CBS All Access’ Star Trek output in general, which began with the debut of Discovery last year. And it makes its stylish and poetic impact with a story about just two characters, trapped together on a lost ship, neither of whom we’ve ever met before (and quite possibly won’t ever meet again).


Scripted by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon, from a story by Chabon and Discovery writer Sean Cochran, “Calypso” is on its face a fairly simple story, a 16-minute rethinking of the titular tale from Homer’s The Odyssey, and yet Chabon elevates the material to an almost sublime degree, offering up a lonely hero and a perhaps even lonelier nymph… who happens to be a computer.

Aldis Hodge stars as Craft, a soldier from the planet Alcor IV who has been adrift and lost in space, only to be saved by the USS Discovery. Or more specifically, by the Discovery’s artificial intelligence, which calls itself Zora and is charmingly voiced by Annabelle Wallis. Zora nurses Craft back to health, and an unlikely love affair between the two soon begins.

How and why the Discovery now has an AI is unclear, as is how the ship wound up in its current situation -- stuck in some kind of space storm while awaiting the return of its crew, who have been missing for a thousand years. A thousand years! No wonder Zora is so smitten when Craft shows up…


Aldis Hodge as Craft in "Calypso"

This retelling of the Calypso story from The Odyssey works as well as it does not just because of the scripting, which is emotional and yet understated, but also because of the performances from Hodge and Wallis. Craft is war-weary and lonely, longing to return to his wife and child back home, while Zora is weary in its -- her -- own way, having spent a millennium alone, willing herself to evolve in order to pass the time. The resulting giggly yet sad computer voice is so instantly likable and sympathetic that it’s impossible to begrudge her for wanting to keep Craft all to herself to ease her burden.

And yet, once Zora manifests a holographic body in order to reenact a dance from the Audrey Hepburn/Fred Astaire musical Funny Face -- a recurring fixation of Zora’s that is perhaps a tad too reminiscent of a similar concept in Pixar’s WALL-E -- Craft comes this close to losing himself to her. The bond between the two is undeniable, but Craft won’t leave behind the memory of his family, and in that moment they both realize that their life together on the Discovery cannot continue.

The entire package culminates touchingly enough as Zora imparts on Craft a “name” -- Funny Face, of course -- even as we learn that on his homeworld, the custom is for a lover to do the same.

And then the story ends. Will Craft make it home? What will happen to Zora? Is this truly the fate of the USS Discovery, to be abandoned by its crew at some future point and left alone in deep space for a thousand years? Who can say, but this is certainly the kind of story that the Short Treks should be telling -- tales that are not only set outside of the normal scope of Discovery’s characters and world, but also outside the storytelling norms of the show. It’s a new form of Star Trek on TV, essentially, and we can only hope for more like this in the future.

Questions and Notes from the Q Continuum:

  • Chabon is also part of the writing team behind the upcoming Picard show.
  • Is the name Zora a reference to Blade Runner’s Zhora?
  • Annabelle Wallis also starred alongside Tom Cruise in Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy.
  • Chabon told me in an interview about this episode that he would like to further explore the world of Craft, essentially retelling the story of The Odyssey with the character (but, he added, there are currently no plans to do so).
  • One can’t help but notice that the age difference between Zora and Craft isn’t all that different from the age difference between Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn. Ahem.
  • The state of the Discovery here leaves so many questions that one must assume will remain unanswered for the foreseeable future… unless a Season 2 episode somehow addresses them?
The Verdict
Calypso” is one of the best Star Trek stories to come around in quite some time, benefitting from its willingness to introduce new characters and scenarios that don’t rely on pre-existing canon. Stylishly directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi and beautifully acted, the short is touching, romantic, and sad, playing a classic Trek riff -- what does it mean, really, to be human? -- while adapting an ancient story, but feeling fresh and new all the same.

shorttreks-blogroll-scored-1541722999050_400w.jpg
 
George R.R. Martin Tells Why He Was Rejected As Writer For ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’
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In the mid 1980s George R.R. Martin was still a decade away from writing A Game of Thrones, the first novel in the Song of Ice and Fire series that spawned the hit HBO series, but he was already a well regarded science fiction writer with multiple Hugo Awards. He also had some experience writing for television, so when Paramount decided to bring Star Trek back to TV, he went in for an interview to talk about joining the staff. Apparently, it didn’t go well.

Speaking at at a workshop at UCSD’s Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination in May, the prolific writer got onto the subject of how there has long been a stigma against science fiction. To illustrate this, he told the following story about being rejected by Star Trek: The Next Generation:

I had an interview with Star Trek: The Next Generation for a possible job as a staff writer. I remember coming in to the office of this producer – who thankfully did not last long on the show and you can see why when I tell the story. He said “I don’t know who you are can you tell me your credentials.” And I said “I am just coming off Twilight Zone where I worked for a while, but before that I wrote novels and short stories. I am primarily a science fiction writer.” And he said “Oh really, well Star Trek is not a science-fiction show, it is a people show.” I was fooled by the photon torpedoes and starships. I was misled. Needless to say I did not get that job.

While he did not specify the name of the producer, it is a good bet that it was Maurice Hurley, who was the showrunner for much of the first and second seasons of TNG. Hurley, who had no experience with science fiction before Star Trek, had a reputation for not getting along with a number of writers on the show and left at the end of the second season.
 
Pretty cool montage at

1:50


That was a cool moment. Its criminal the lack of awards the series has received. Its crazy Patrick Stewart or even Brett Spiner were never nominated for a emmy.
 
This has been largely true, across several shows.
Well that was a quote from Maurice Hurley, who was hated by both the actors and the production staff. You learn a bit about him in the Chaos on the bridge film, that's on netflix.
 
So the short was pretty good, It's a shame that it took place 1000 years in the future because I like the actor and I was hoping he'd become a member of Discovery.

I wonder if season 2 will get into the "long ago" and why humans are warring with other humans.
 
So the short was pretty good, It's a shame that it took place 1000 years in the future because I like the actor and I was hoping he'd become a member of Discovery.

I wonder if season 2 will get into the "long ago" and why humans are warring with other humans.
Chabon said he's hoping to possibly do a mini series on his craft character. Basically doing a Sci fi take on Homer's Odesessy.
 
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