Star Trek: All Things Trek

We watched The City on the Edge of Forever yesterday. An instant favourite! The title felt familiar, so I supposed that we were in for a treat, and I was not mistaken. By browsing through the Internet afterwards, I learned that it’s considered to be one of the highlights of the whole franchise, and rightfully so.

Such a simple, brave, and powerful story. And a great, poignant ending.

It also felt special seeing the Brooklyn Bridge on the TV screen, because that was the first time ever that I saw an American landmark in a movie or TV show after I had actually visited it (I was there last Tuesday). The world has surely become a smaller place, but in a nice, inspiring way.

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The story behind the writing of City on The Edge is really fascinating — apparently Harlan Ellison’s initial draft had a scene where Spock ordered a firing squad to execute someone caught dealing drugs on the Enterprise.
 
Spock to his fiancée when they decided to go separate ways: "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting."

This is Proust. Pure Proust.
 
Apologies: just saw this. I don't seem to be getting notifications when people reply to me anymore!! First off, I hope I didn't come over as in any way didactic. It's the unfortunate thing with writing the way you speak: text can be read so many different ways.

I watched both The Cage and The Menagerie, so I don't really see a problem. I was aware of what The Cage is and how it's related to the rest of the franchise, so watching it in no way lessened my enjoyment of other episodes or The Menagerie itself. On the contrary, I enjoyed being pleasantly surprised by the improvements in production values between The Cage and the first official episodes.
The reason I was surprised you watched The Cage first is that you were so keen on a 'correct' order. The Cage wasn't broadcast until decades after the original series. Indeed, they only 'finessed' the sound mix and edit in the 2000s for the Remastered project. The Cage is in no way canon.

I actually quite enjoyed The Cage, to be honest. And maybe I missed some things, but why shouldn't it be considered canon?
Anything not seen in The Menagerie never happened in the continuity. This is the issue: 'ground zero' for Star Trek is season one, whether you start on Where No Man Has Gone Before or The Man Trap. The foundation of the viewer's understanding of Star Trek and its universe is the Kirk era. Then we get the flashback story, The Menagerie, which is a Kirk and Spock story guest starring Christopher Pike. The Cage - an actual story with Pike as the lead, has many different aspects, notably warp travel. It's a failed pilot and a curio, not a 'proper' Star Trek story.

If I recall correctly, almost all of its footage was incorporated into The Menagerie, meaning that all of its events did, in fact, "happen". Or am I missing something?
No, Check out the colour and black and white version and you'll see all the extra bits in context. The Menagerie happened. The Cage didn't.

By the way, if by "that peculiar TV show on Paramount+" you mean Strange New Worlds, I have to say that I love that show. It's the closest that the Kurtzman-era Star Trek has come to the original spirit of the franchise (TOS and TNG), and the show has only been getting better and better, so I don't have any real issues with it. You don't like it?

Strange New Worlds is a disgrace. It's a televised Las Vegas show masquerading as a Star Trek series. Where to begin... hmmm...

I'm fine with prequels in principle, if the people who created the originals are involved or if the prequel is set somewhere else and doesn't involve any of the original characters. So by all means make a 23rd century Star Trek as long as no characters or situations from the original show up. I can tolerate the Kelvin films as they're set in a different reality.

However, Secret Hideout purport to be making canon Star Trek, so what you see Pike and co get up to is effectively what Jeffery Hunter's Pike supposedly did. So you're changing original series continuity. That's a problem. If Gene Roddenberry had created Strange New Worlds, I would have accepted it. I mean, I'm not big on the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but it's George Lucas's baby, so fine. Sequels made by other people are less of a problem: if you want to read books by a continuation author, you can, but equally, you can disregard them and imagine your own follow ups. I can toss aside the Star Wars sequel trilogy as the inept corporate garbage it is.

However, we now have people with no working connection to Gene Roddenberry (Rod Roddenberry, who gets a vanity credit, sadly never got the opportunity to know his dad very well) using Roddenberry's characters and - crucially - changing them. Gene Roddenberry never got to say that Spock had learning disabilities (complete bollocks idea, by the way!) for example and neither did Leonard Nimoy. So, while Secret Hideout might have the technical legal right to make such a change, they don't have the moral right. It's vandalism of an established character. The same goes for the use of the Guardian of Forever. That was Kirk's discovery in one of the greatest original stories. On top of that, Harlan Ellison - had he been alive - would certainly have kicked up a stink about its use. Similarly, you don't f--- around with Balance of Terror. It's all unimaginative and it's disrespectful.

The Trek universe has also had a ground up redesign, effectively rewriting the originals. The Berman Treks were content to let the original designs stand, incorporating the original designs into TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise. Part of this is because the team now making the series believe that Star Trek should be 'our' future, which is ridiculous and has involved scrapping and rewriting large chunks of established continuity. It has long been accepted that Star Trek is its own timeline and that's not the same reality as ours. That's part of what made it so interesting.

The theft of characters such as the Kirks, Spock, Pike, Uhura, Chapel, M'Benga and others shows a lack of actual creative ability on the part of the writers. Number One shows one of the most disgusting aspects of the series: her entire backstory was nicked from a Star Trek novel by DC Fontana and no accreditation has been given. But that's the level these fraudulent 'creators' have reached.

The only thing produced by Secret Hideout to come close to TOS and TNG is Picard Season Three, which interestingly restored the original Constitution class designs and resolved long-running issues from the TNG films. The TNG films were the first 'corporate' Star Treks and Ron Moore, among others, has discussed the mistakes they made, notably casually destroying the Enterprise and tossing away Jim Kirk's life. That team came to understand that you don't interfere with someone else's creation. They could do what they liked to Picard and co, because they were the creative team. Kirk was the child of Roddenberry, Coon, Meredyth Lucas, Fontana and others. Showrunner Terry Matalas came from the Berman era and his season three respectfully repaired the many errors, notably with regards to Jim Kirk, while Kurtzman and Goldsman had given up on the series and gone away to make Strange New Worlds.

Ultimately, I'm fine with people writing their imaginary continuations, but when you mess with the foundations of a series and the characters who are part of the foundations of a series, you're stepping on dangerous ground. Strange New Worlds and Discovery should never have been made. Picard Season Three should have been made in 2017 and launched a new 'Next, Next Generation' of Star Trek. That the fraudulent creators have had to rely on characters such as 'Mikey Spock', Spock's never-before-mentioned smarter foster sister and recast many original series characters shows a complete lack of originality and imagination on their part.

I hope the sale of Paramount might lead to a wholesale rethink of Star Trek, because the modern Trek series have never done all that well, with Picard season three being the only one to get consistent ratings.

I dearly love Star Trek going back to my childhood. I've been reading the novels since the mid-1980s. I remember an era where there was only one iteration of Star Trek. I hate to see the jumbled mess it is right now.

Put it this way: imagine in 20 years time someone gets hold of the rights to Twin Peaks and makes a prequel, recasting everyone, that shows Coop going to Twin Peaks when he was younger, features Laura Palmer as a child, Windom Earle working with the Renaults, reveals Nadine was actually shot by Earle using a sniper rifle to distract Big Ed who was due to meet Gordon Cole to set up the Bookhouse Boys to protect the entrance to the Lodges. Meanwhile, Major Briggs is in Seattle training Coop, Desmond and Jeffries. Plus the series redesigns everything for 'modern audiences' and changes the dates the story is set in, because it 'makes more sense' for it to be set in the 2020s. I doubt Twin Peaks fans would be very happy. In essence, that hypothetical Peaks scenario is what's happening to Star Trek.
 
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Apologies: just saw this. I don't seem to be getting notifications when people reply to me anymore!! First off, I hope I didn't come over as in any way didactic. It's the unfortunate thing with writing the way you speak: text can be read so many different ways.


The reason I was surprised you watched The Cage first is that you were so keen on a 'correct' order. The Cage wasn't broadcast until decades after the original series. Indeed, they only 'finessed' the sound mix and edit in the 2000s for the Remastered project. The Cage is in no way canon.


Anything not seen in The Menagerie never happened in the continuity. This is the issue: 'ground zero' for Star Trek is season one, whether you start on Where No Man Has Gone Before or The Man Trap. The foundation of the viewer's understanding of Star Trek and its universe is the Kirk era. Then we get the flashback story, The Menagerie, which is a Kirk and Spock story guest starring Christopher Pike. The Cage - an actual story with Pike as the lead, has many different aspects, notably warp travel. It's a failed pilot and a curio, not a 'proper' Star Trek story.


No, Check out the colour and black and white version and you'll see all the extra bits in context. The Menagerie happened. The Cage didn't.



Strange New Worlds is a disgrace. It's a televised Las Vegas show masquerading as a Star Trek series. Where to begin... hmmm...

I'm fine with prequels in principle, if the people who created the originals are involved or if the prequel is set somewhere else and doesn't involve any of the original characters. So by all means make a 23rd century Star Trek as long as no characters or situations from the original show up. I can tolerate the Kelvin films as they're set in a different reality.

However, Secret Hideout purport to be making canon Star Trek, so what you see Pike and co get up to is effectively what Jeffery Hunter's Pike supposedly did. So you're changing original series continuity. That's a problem. If Gene Roddenberry had created Strange New Worlds, I would have accepted it. I mean, I'm not big on the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but it's George Lucas's baby, so fine. Sequels made by other people are less of a problem: if you want to read books by a continuation author, you can, but equally, you can disregard them and imagine your own follow ups. I can toss aside the Star Wars sequel trilogy as the inept corporate garbage it is.

However, we now have people with no working connection to Gene Roddenberry (Rod Roddenberry, who gets a vanity credit, sadly never got the opportunity to know his dad very well) using Roddenberry's characters and - crucially - changing them. Gene Roddenberry never got to say that Spock had learning disabilities (complete bollocks idea, by the way!) for example and neither did Leonard Nimoy. So, while Secret Hideout might have the technical legal right to make such a change, they don't have the moral right. It's vandalism of an established character. The same goes for the use of the Guardian of Forever. That was Kirk's discovery in one of the greatest original stories. On top of that, Harlan Ellison - had he been alive - would certainly have kicked up a stink about its use. Similarly, you don't f--- around with Balance of Terror. It's all unimaginative and it's disrespectful.

The Trek universe has also had a ground up redesign, effectively rewriting the originals. The Berman Treks were content to let the original designs stand, incorporating the original designs into TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise. Part of this is because the team now making the series believe that Star Trek should be 'our' future, which is ridiculous and has involved scrapping and rewriting large chunks of established continuity. It has long been accepted that Star Trek is its own timeline and that's not the same reality as ours. That's part of what made it so interesting.

The theft of characters such as the Kirks, Spock, Pike, Uhura, Chapel, M'Benga and others shows a lack of actual creative ability on the part of the writers. Number One shows one of the most disgusting aspects of the series: her entire backstory was nicked from a Star Trek novel by DC Fontana and no accreditation has been given. But that's the level these fraudulent 'creators' have reached.

The only thing produced by Secret Hideout to come close to TOS and TNG is Picard Season Three, which interestingly restored the original Constitution class designs and resolved long-running issues from the TNG films. The TNG films were the first 'corporate' Star Treks and Ron Moore, among others, has discussed the mistakes they made, notably casually destroying the Enterprise and tossing away Jim Kirk's life. That team came to understand that you don't interfere with someone else's creation. They could do what they liked to Picard and co, because they were the creative team. Kirk was the child of Roddenberry, Coon, Meredyth Lucas, Fontana and others. Showrunner Terry Matalas came from the Berman era and his season three respectfully repaired the many errors, notably with regards to Jim Kirk, while Kurtzman and Goldsman had given up on the series and gone away to make Strange New Worlds.

Ultimately, I'm fine with people writing their imaginary continuations, but when you mess with the foundations of a series and the characters who are part of the foundations of a series, you're stepping on dangerous ground. Strange New Worlds and Discovery should never have been made. Picard Season Three should have been made in 2017 and launched a new 'Next, Next Generation' of Star Trek. That the fraudulent creators have had to rely on characters such as 'Mikey Spock', Spock's never-before-mentioned smarter foster sister and recast many original series characters shows a complete lack of originality and imagination on their part.

I hope the sale of Paramount might lead to a wholesale rethink of Star Trek, because the modern Trek series have never done all that well, with Picard season three being the only one to get consistent ratings.

I dearly love Star Trek going back to my childhood. I've been reading the novels since the mid-1980s. I remember an era where there was only one iteration of Star Trek. I hate to see the jumbled mess it is right now.

Put it this way: imagine in 20 years time someone gets hold of the rights to Twin Peaks and makes a prequel, recasting everyone, that shows Coop going to Twin Peaks when he was younger, features Laura Palmer as a child, Windom Earle working with the Renaults, reveals Nadine was actually shot by Earle using a sniper rifle to distract Big Ed who was due to meet Gordon Cole to set up the Bookhouse Boys to protect the entrance to the Lodges. Meanwhile, Major Briggs is in Seattle training Coop, Desmond and Jeffries. Plus the series redesigns everything for 'modern audiences' and changes the dates the story is set in, because it 'makes more sense' for it to be set in the 2020s. I doubt Twin Peaks fans would be very happy. In essence, that hypothetical Peaks scenario is what's happening to Star Trek.
You bring up a lot of interesting issues about the ownership of creative works.

I think I might be inclined to agree with you in a hypothetical sense, but in practice I’m actually going to disagree. I’ve never really considered Trek to be the sole creation of Roddenberry — coming on as a fan in the 90s I was presented with several iterations: TOS, TAS, the movies, TNG, DS9, VOY, not to mention comic books and tie in novels. I’m personally not as tied to a singular vision or delivery of Trek as say older fans might be.

I’d even go so far as to say that TOS isn’t the sole product of Roddenberry, as Gene Coon, DC Fontana, Matt Jeffries, Nimoy, and many others had substantial creative input into the development of that world. And correct me if I’m wrong — but Roddenberry had next to no involvement in S3, due to money disputes with NBC.

I do think that the high minded ideals Roddenberry placed at the center of Trek are what make it special. It feels like so much science fiction and genre media is simply about the good guys trying to not get killed by bad guys, and Trek certainly has stories like that (KHAAAAAAAAN), but the characters of Trek aren’t simply content with winning the day. They are also deeply concerned with how to win while living up to the high standards of the Federation, and that’s what elevate Trek for me. Roddenberry definitely deserves credit for that.

That being said — I think the TOS movies got great after Roddenberry was pushed aside, and TNG got great after Roddenberry and his lawyer were pushed aside. And DS9 only got green lit because Roddenberry wasn’t around to block its production, according to legend anyway. And I’d say that these productions all honored his core vision of Trek (to varying degrees) while simultaneously expanding and adding to it.

As for Strange New Worlds, I personally enjoy it. On some level it’s strange to ponder how much more advanced the Enterprise looks 10 years before Kirk’s escapades, but that’s just not something my mind gets caught up on. Were SNW to suck I might be more critical, but I enjoy the characters, and I love the episodic format of the series. It can go from silly comedy with the lower decks crossover to DS9 style war intrigues to the musical ep… it just hits so many notes that land right for me. But to each their own, I guess.
 
You bring up a lot of interesting issues about the ownership of creative works.

I think I might be inclined to agree with you in a hypothetical sense, but in practice I’m actually going to disagree. I’ve never really considered Trek to be the sole creation of Roddenberry — coming on as a fan in the 90s I was presented with several iterations: TOS, TAS, the movies, TNG, DS9, VOY, not to mention comic books and tie in novels. I’m personally not as tied to a singular vision or delivery of Trek as say older fans might be.

I agree with you more than you think! I've long been vocal about the 'Cult of Roddenberry' being a fraud. Gene was a great ideas man, but Gene Coon made TOS great when he established the dynamics of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. However, none of the people involved with TOS are around overseeing SNW's or Disco's alterations to characters. As a matter of respect, these characters should be left alone in a series that's established a system of succession to new crews. Equally, when situations and characters are lifted from the novels and comicbooks, credit should be given to the writers. To nick material written by Dorothy Fontana of all people and not credit her is a disgrace, especially when Rodders screwed her over on Farpoint.

As for Strange New Worlds, I personally enjoy it. On some level it’s strange to ponder how much more advanced the Enterprise looks 10 years before Kirk’s escapades, but that’s just not something my mind gets caught up on. Were SNW to suck I might be more critical, but I enjoy the characters, and I love the episodic format of the series. It can go from silly comedy with the lower decks crossover to DS9 style war intrigues to the musical ep… it just hits so many notes that land right for me. But to each their own, I guess.

It's just too 'jazz hands!' I like Anson Mount. I just wish he'd been given an original character to play rather than a postmodern reinterpretation of Pike.
 


A thing of beauty. If only modern TV Trek could reach a tenth of the maturity of this film from the Roddenberry Archive. It shows that fast cutting and excessive dialogue about feelings aren't essential. The raw emotions on William Shatner's face say it all.
 


A thing of beauty. If only modern TV Trek could reach a tenth of the maturity of this film from the Roddenberry Archive. It shows that fast cutting and excessive dialogue about feelings aren't essential. The raw emotions on William Shatner's face say it all.

Wow. Thanks so much for this. So moving—gave me a nice cry!
 
Wow. Thanks so much for this. So moving—gave me a nice cry!
The finest piece of Star Trek in decades. I captures the spiritual side of the series, lacking in modern incarnations.
 
I just watched the video. I would love to see Shatner make a major appearance in Star Trek once more... Please, make it so!
 
I just watched the video. I would love to see Shatner make a major appearance in Star Trek once more... Please, make it so!

I'd love to see that as well. The man, now 93, has to be some kind of "superager." It's amazing. did you see him go up in that rocket a while back? Wild. He's an international treasure.

Anyway, there's a brand new Shatner interview from the same channel, and he addresses your desire at the 18 minute mark.

 
Wait, you're saying that William Shatner returned to Star Trek? Officially?
Kind of. William Shaner was involved in the production, although Sam Witwer and Lawrence Selleck were the people actually on set doing the roles. You can occasionally see it, because foreheads are very distinctive and Witwer's forehead isn't quite the same, but it's still an amazing piece of work.

Most of all, the film is nicely open to interpretation. Some people are immediately saying 'It's the afterlife' and that Kirk's ghost is going to visit Spock. My take, given the appearance here of the displays from the Daystrom Institute seen in Picard Season 3, is different. Kirk has been resurrected. In Picard Season 3, there was a sickbay sound effect where Kirk's sarcophagus was stored. The display showed an intact skeleton, not a broken, crushed one.

The garden looks like the Shore Leave planet where Leonard McCoy was killed, then 'repaired'. So the resurrected Kirk is called upon by Saavik (Spock's wife in the books - Spock's marriage is also referred to in TNG) and Sorak (Spock's son, conceived in Star Trek III) presumably have some level of telepathic link to Spock and know he's dying. Perhaps, because of Kirk's brush with the Nexus, it's easier for him to pass between universes.

Yor, who featured in STD, is an interdimensional wanderer. He gives Kirk back his Starfleet badge, taken by Spock from his temporary grave on Veridian III. Yor then sends Jim to the Kelvin Universe. It's been established before that time travel and crossing between universes can cause some disorientation. STIV:TVH included some trippy imagery during the time travel sequence. Here we see a Nietzschean 'three ages of man', as described in Also Sprach Zarathustra and seen in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Finally, Jim walks into a light similar to that JM Colt walks into in the first of these short films (so she's another dimensional wanderer, from the look of things) and arrives on New Vulcan in the Kelvin Universe. He then holds Spock's hand as Spock dies.

Spock goes to his 'undiscovered country', death, and Kirk's journey continues. It's a nice nod to the Generations 30th anniversary. Generations remains a sore point for many of us: a nice-looking, but messy film with a contemptuous attitude towards Jim Kirk. And between STP season 3 and OTOY there's been some attempt to rectify a stupid unnecessary death of the series' most iconic character.

More than anything, this is a film made by professionals (not fans) who worked on Star Trek up to the end of Enterprise. It feels comfortably familiar - authentic - because this is distinctly the Star Trek seen from 1966-2005. It doesn't reflect the visual reboot of 2009 to the present by Bad Robot and Secret Hideout, except in the New Vulcan scene. This could easily be a post-credits sequence in Generations. There are hints of Dennis McCarthy's Generations score - particularly the cues from the scenes in the Nexus.

So, I wonder what they'll do for the First Contact anniversary. Perhaps they'll return to Spock on Veridian III and use the ending of The Ashes of Eden. There's an attack on the Enterprise-D saucer and Kirk's body is beamed out of the grave... It would also allow the opportunity to recreate Admiral McCoy and a younger Jean-Luc Picard.
 
Anyway, there's a brand new Shatner interview from the same channel, and he addresses your desire at the 18 minute mark.
Well, there it is. They should do it while he's still willing and before it's too late. They should bring Kirk back (hopefully, Unification is a sign that there's hope) and they should also make Star Trek: Legacy. My impression - or more of a feeling - is that most fans would love to see those two things happen.

(Shatner is definitely a "superager" - he's going on a cruise to Antarctica in three days.)

On a side note, we're still watching The Original Series - we just reached A Piece of the Action yesterday evening. The episodes are truly hit-or-miss, but it's all still fun and charming. And Kirk is rapidly climbing on the list of my favourite Star Trek captains.

Tonight, we'll begin watching the final season of Lower Decks, which I'm really sad to see end. I love that show, it could have gone on forever. But, hopefully, with Picard, Discovery, and Lower Decks all being over (and Prodigy in a sort of limbo), there's enough space to greenlight Legacy already!
 
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Well, there it is. They should do it while he's still willing and before it's too late. They should bring Kirk back (hopefully, Unification is a sign that there's hope) and they should also make Star Trek: Legacy. My impression - or more of a feeling - is that most fans would love to see those two things happen.

(Shatner is definitely a "superager" - he's going on a cruise to Antarctica in three days.)

On a side note, we're still watching The Original Series - we just reached A Piece of the Action yesterday evening. The episodes are truly hit-or-miss, but it's all still fun and charming. And Kirk is rapidly climbing on the list of my favourite Star Trek captains.

Tonight, we'll begin watching the final season of Lower Decks, which I'm really sad to see end. I love that show, it could have gone on forever. But, hopefully, with Picard, Discovery, and Lower Decks all being over (and Prodigy in a sort of limbo), there's enough space to greenlight Legacy already!
Legacy isn't going to happen. I wish it would, but there isn't a chance in Hell.
 
Just my take but I also think Legacy won’t happen.

I really wish it would happen, as Picard set this potential series up so perfectly. Paramount seems to have cooled on its Trek spending spree, and might be reigning in costs across the board in anticipation of a sell to some other media conglomerate.

Also with Starfleet academy about to begin production and strange new worlds still going strong there might not be the funds available for a third live action trek series.

Personally I am holding out hope for a legacy movie or three released direct to streaming! But I guess we’ll see — I’m still getting caught up on all the trek they’ve put out the past decade or so! I enjoy some of the recent series much more than others.
 
Just my take but I also think Legacy won’t happen.
I think most of you here have a much better understanding of how these things work business-wise, but to me, Legacy seems like a no-brainer. My impression is that all the Star Trek fans on this forum liked the third season of Picard; all the people that I know in real life who watched it loved it (I myself wasn't that excited about anything new on TV since The Return); it was also critically acclaimed (97% on Rotten Tomatoes); and they are even selling Picard-related toys in a shopping mall next to where my parents live (Jack Crusher Funko Pop! and such) - all in all, I would say that the third season was a hit. And all those people would love to see Legacy.

Personally I am holding out hope for a legacy movie or three released direct to streaming!
That would also be great! I'm a movie guy anyway - I don't watch that many TV shows.

But I guess we’ll see — I’m still getting caught up on all the trek they’ve put out the past decade or so! I enjoy some of the recent series much more than others.
The only one I still haven't seen is Discovery, but I'll make up for that right after we finish watching The Original Series and its sequels.

By the way, Lower Decks ended yesterday - have you watched it? Or anyone else for that matter? I'm sad to see it go, but they wrapped it up nicely. Highlight being that certain episode 😊
 
I think most of you here have a much better understanding of how these things work business-wise, but to me, Legacy seems like a no-brainer. My impression is that all the Star Trek fans on this forum liked the third season of Picard; all the people that I know in real life who watched it loved it (I myself wasn't that excited about anything new on TV since The Return); it was also critically acclaimed (97% on Rotten Tomatoes); and they are even selling Picard-related toys in a shopping mall next to where my parents live (Jack Crusher Funko Pop! and such) - all in all, I would say that the third season was a hit. And all those people would love to see Legacy.
Yeah I think it’s a no brainer too! But perhaps the big wigs at Paramount have no brains.

Picard set Legacy up so well — so many potential stories and characters. Starfleet is still rebuilding from the events of the Borg plot, and the survivors are dealing with the trauma of being assimilated. Older officers might harbor resentments towards younger officers that did horrible things while they were Borg, and maybe scores of officers refuse to use the transporter again. Not to mention Seven growing into her new role as Captain, and Jack Crusher’s own development.
That would also be great! I'm a movie guy anyway - I don't watch that many TV shows.


The only one I still haven't seen is Discovery, but I'll make up for that right after we finish watching The Original Series and its sequels.
I watched two and a half seasons of discovery. It certainly has some cool stuff but it also has things about it that make it a chore to watch sometimes. I intend to watch it all at some point in time, but maybe I’ll watch Prodigy first.
By the way, Lower Decks ended yesterday - have you watched it? Or anyone else for that matter? I'm sad to see it go, but they wrapped it up nicely. Highlight being that certain episode 😊
I’ve watched the first two eps last week. I’m glad it’s back for another season (even if it’s their last) but I’ve just been a little busy and fallen behind on watching stuff. It’s definitely on the better side of new-Trek content for me — I think I would rate it slightly beneath Strange New Worlds and Picard S3.
 
ST: Picard had failed. After two unsuccessful seasons, Secret Hideout handed the series over to freelancer Terry Matalas (who had worked on season 2) to burn it off, closing its three season contract. Terry Matalas then turned around and produced the best Trek series since Enterprise Season 5: a series that felt like a genuine progression the original Star Trek: TNG, rather than some sort of revisionist reboot.

It brought back a lot of fans put off by the approaches of Bad Robot and Secret Hideout. It addressed head-on issues people had discussed for many years, from Jean-Luc's sometimes absurdly dogmatic obsession with 'duty', mixed in with revealing the fate of Ro Laren, all the way through to the unpopular destruction of the Enterprise-D and the killing of Jim Kirk in Generations. It even retconned an unpopular death from Picard Season 2. It also addressed the ageing of the cast of what was once the 'young' successor to the original Star Trek in a mature manner. It was the first modern Star Trek season to enter the streaming top ten.

Terry Matalas, a freelancer, without the oversight of the Secret Hideout head honchos, who had washed their hands of it, made a critical and commercial darling. People started campaigning for more 'Terry Trek'...

The media is full of petty egos, so Secret Hideout's response was to announce Starfleet Academy. There's spite at work here, I'm afraid. The success of Picard season 3 embarrassed Secret Hideout's bosses. Legacy won't happen as long as Secret Hideout has the licence to make Star Trek. Terry Matalas has moved on to other projects and Star Trek will continue in the direction Alex Kurtsman, Akiva Goldsman and co want to take it in, essentially pretending Picard season 3 never happened.
 
Pedant alert: I should have said Enterprise Season 4!! :D There are interesting parallels between Enterprise Season 4 and Picard Season 3: both were series that had essentially been given up on by the people in charge and left to outsiders and both demonstrated a knowledge and love for the original Star Trek that the top bods didn't have. Both were extremely popular with the fans who returned and those who stuck around.

For me, Picard Season 3 should have been the first Secret Hideout series, with everything else spinning off from that.
 
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