Start Trek Discovery, Start Trek Picard, and Start Trek Short Takes

[Auggie]

Finally got around to streaming (CBS All Access) these and binged-watched the lot of it in one month.

(Spoiler warning)

Short Treks may have been my favorite of all three -- 10 to 16 minute segments similar to one-act plays, based on the new series (Discovery, Picard), using the same sets and some of the same cast members, and two episodes with ties to the original 1960s series. Some shorts are funny, some poignant, some just fun to watch. Trek fans should love these.

Discovery blows the roof off special effects and production values, but I found the series storyline a little too familiar (parallel universes, time travel) and missing Gene Roddenberry's original intent, which was to explore what it means to be human. Picard, on the other hand, nails the question in a storyline examining synthetic life and extreme prejudice. It's a very satisfying second act for Patrick Stewart and a lot of former TNG cast members (and one Voyager member as well). Not as epic as Discovery, perhaps even a little "dated" in feeling, but it's still really fun to watch.

After Discovery made its jump into the future, I found myself pining for an Enterprise reboot with Captain Pike, Spock and Number One (Rebecca Romijn). That's a great story waiting to be told.

[exboyfil]

1. You think a whole lot more highly of them than I do

I thought Discovery totally gutted the source material and ruined Spock as a character. It got me missing the Star Trek V Spock's brother with shoe horning in Michael Burnam as Spock's adopted sister. The show itself ripped off the IP of a video game. I do agree that the best thing they did was move Discovery into the future.

I thought after all these years that the next view of the Star Trek prime universe post Nemesis and ST: DS9 was a mess. Again they showed little respect for the source material. It was contradictory to what went before (the Star Trek reboot that started in the Prime universe). It did not feel like Star Trek. It was petty, inconsistent, and derivative.

I would be totally on board with a Pike Enterprise show though. Pike was the best part of Season 2, and they did do a good job integrating the Talos IV story line. I would highly recommend they they at least spend some time with the prequel novels to mine for story ideas.

[Auggie]

3. "Petty" is a good word to describe it ...

reminded me of ST Enterprise 2001 a little.

Just how much is left in the Star Trek idea vault anyhow? What happened to "seek out new life and new civilizations" and "explore strange new worlds?" This is core to Star Trek and what I was missing from both Discovery and Picard.

Well, Discovery has a fresh set of downs for Season 3. Maybe this is where it finds itself. Took TNG two years. But please, no more time travel.

On further thought: I'm not one to hold series producers accountable for adhering to specific timelines from previous series. To do so, I think, would really hinder creativity. Inconsistencies occur all the time in television and film sequels and prequels.

[NeoGreen]

2. My understanding is that there is a...

...Pike based Star Trek show in the works. Set on the Enterprise before TOS era and will bring back at least the 3 characters/actors we saw on Discovery (Pike, #1 and Spock).

[rogue emissary]

4. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - New Star Trek Series To Follow Captain Pike, Spock, and Number One

[catchnrelease]

5. Your wish is granted!

See above post about the planned series with Anson Mount as Pike et al. Also planned is a series about Section 31 with Michelle Yeoh as Phillipa Georgiou. I'm looking forward to both of these.

I felt that the first season of Discovery was just ok--too much cgi, battles etc. I didn't really care about the whole plot line of the love interest of Burnam, who was partly Romulan etc. But thought the second season was better and more about the characters. I'm not one that looks at the details of timelines etc, so that kind of stuff doesn't bother me. I think that Mount's Pike was excellent. He seemed like a 'real' person, had a sense of humor etc vs just a stoic Starfleet captain.

Loved Picard, probably most because of the cameos of old favorites, but the story was decent too.